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Listening carefully to Professor Daun’s explanation, Aaron didn’t judge the task too difficult—an estimate he made cautiously, of course, given his proven tendency to fall on his face through the simplest of tasks. Reasonable apprehension aside, though, he was feeling fairly confident; his performance in Professor Daun’s class had been generally impressive (or so he was told) and on top of that, Meredith seemed to adopt the tougher of the two parts of their task: shaping the light into the pyramid. All Aaron had to do was draw more light into the pyramid to maintain brightness, presumably at a rate matching Meredith’s so there wouldn’t be any spikes or dips. It was a clever first test: it built on an already well-developed skill, but challenged him with finer control at the same time. 

Honestly, Aaron was really just excited to tackle a job he actually knew how to do. 

Eyeing the pyramid for a moment, he raised his hands in front of him, taking a long, slow breath. As he exhaled, his ring began to glow; however, a moment’s hesitation dimmed it. The mention of encountering another’s magic sprang a memory to mind, one of his first Affinity Mastery class at the Academy. It seemed so long ago now, back in the brief window where he and Salem were on decent terms: they’d grown bored of the crystal exercise, and decided to have it out in what amounted to a magical arm-wrestle. It didn’t really occur to Aaron until now that that night, having his magic interact with someone else’s, was a much bigger step in his learning than he’d given it credit for. 

Despite the fresh bitterness associated with Salem, Aaron couldn’t help but chuckle. [color=f0d705]“As a matter of fact, Professor, I’ve actually done it before.”[/color] 

Back on task, his ring brightened once more as he focused on drawing light from his surroundings, his eyes glossing over in glowing gold to match. Blinking the sensation away—he’d have to get a handle on that eventually if he wanted any semblance of discretion when he practiced, but that was a job for another time—he took another breath, bracing himself for first contact with Meredith’s magic as he guided the light into the pyramid. 

“Touching” Meredith’s magic was like a static shock, and Aaron’s light flickered in surprise before stabilizing again. It was a while ago, but he remembered his contact with Salem’s magic pretty well: not nearly as shocking, it was… earthy, he supposed, with the strange sensation of being both dynamic and rooted at the same time. Like an old tree, or a field of grass; changing, sure, but never budging. Salem had described [i]his[/i] magic as a puppy, eager to please—he supposed that was a fair enough interpretation, if a little simplified. 

But Meredith’s was nothing like Salem’s. Where his had a sense of stability, Meredith’s was all over the place, buzzing with excitement—much like its master, Aaron supposed. His own magic got a little overwhelmed at first, but stayed surprisingly stable. There was no explosion of magic or fearful fizzling out, just a moment of adjustment for his magic to learn the new rhythm before it melded cooperatively with Meredith’s, blending Aaron’s supplemental light into her pyramid. 

[color=f0d705]“There, not so bad,”[/color] Aaron muttered, focus still on the pyramid as he checked that the flow of light within was even, with no bright or dark spots. 
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