Gaelen stepped outside through the door his companion so gallantly opened, hunkering back down in his trusty cloak. The rain might’ve died down but the blackening clouds brought strong gales, and so his garment billowed with every gust of wind. It was impossible to keep him down his hood either, and so his auburn braid danced along in the wind behind him. Luckily, the winds had also made the roads a bit more accessible again, and the lessened rain really improved their visibility of the surrounding area.<br/>It was an increasingly gorgeous sight. The roiling cloud cover overhead lit up with premonitions of the thunderous display to come, while down in the darkened rolling hills Callanish’s rustic cobblestone houses ignited their lights and lanterns, surrounded by the faint fog of frigid drizzle. All the while, the Stones of Callanish await on the hill at the end of the village’ road, their jagged silhouette at times contrasting with the horizon’s glowing heavens.<br/><br/>But despite the scenery, Gaelen’s thoughts had largely been redirected to Ike’s apparent abilities. He knew, of course, that the Verbintenis employed agents with a large variety of magical know-how, but this sounded rather impressive. Then again, Ike’s intended use of magic  made a lot more sense than a portable device, as that’d probably require a lot of power. But what’d Gaelen know; this was hardly his expertise. Whatever the case, he was certainly impressed.<br/><br/>“That’s quite something!” he bellowed against the wind. It seemed the louder Gaelen spoke, the more British his declination became. “I do wish I could provide the same sort of shelter, but I fear that’s an area of study and ability rather outside my own. But perhaps..”<br/>Slipping a small booklet from his jacket, he flipped through pages of sigils and strange mathematics, all while bent over to prevent the misty rain from damaging it too much. “Ah, yes! How perfectly fitting to our predicament!” he exclaimed as he rested his finger upon a particular symbol; a Neptunian trident surrounded by arcane geometry, and turned the sign to display it to Ike. “It’s not quite Goëtian theurgy..” he paused for a moment to remove a strand of hair from his eyes- “..but it<span style="font-style: italic">might</span>give us an edge against the elements! I’ll only need a few moments to establish it once you have your barrier raised. As they say; nothing ventured, nothing gained!”<br/><br/>A few villagers had come out to close their wooden storm shutters, with some shaking their heads as the Verbintenis researchers strode past. Gaelen couldn’t really blame them for their judgemental look, how would they know he was accompanied by a potent magic-user? At least, he sure hoped he was. Ike did exert a level of confidence that didn’t leave much room for such doubt. “I’m very curious to see the extent of your abilities, sir. I’ve had a passing interest, but capable mages- is that the right word?- are few and far between at the campuses I frequent, so hope you don’t mind if I study you somewhat as well.” he warmly laughed as he finished speaking, and turned back to studying the sigil he had been searching for.<br/>It had been quite a while since he practiced applying<span style="font-style: italic">any</span>sort of invocation, let alone one belonging to this particular system. He searched his pockets for accompanying books and documents, but it seemed most of these were still back at the inn, safe for his copy of the Mathēma Theanous- but that one required some more midnight fuel to be properly applied.<br/><br/>Though, if the time of day was ambiguous before, the dark overhead and the warm lights of the village made it seem like evening had fallen very early, so perhaps midnight would have to be a flexible concept today.