A brief shadow of disapproval found its way across the Archmage’s features as Araia began to comment upon one of his more favourite uses of the levitation spell – the thought coming to his mind that were he in the presence of yet another bleeding heart liberal then perhaps it would be best if he were to show her firsthand how the spell worked, that it would be best for all involved if he plopped her down into the depths of the deepest darkest and possibly dankest chasm that he could find to hand at such short notice. This thought faded though as the girl continued, the shadow of disapproval melting away from the Archmage’s face in turn to be replaced with a look of some interest as she spoke of how she would use the spell upon an enemy – it certainly was different he gave her that, and it gave him some small measure of hope for the girl yet. Most who had came to study at his feet could be drawn up into two precise groups – those who thought his use of magic as cruel and sought to teach him the ‘errors of his ways’, or those who revelled in it yet had little imagination of their own and instead said only what they thought he wished to hear. Either sort got boring, and quite frequently dead, rather quickly.<br/><br/>‘I’ll bear that one in mind – perhaps I could grow a couple of more robust rose bushes for that specific purpose’ he said after a time. ‘I’d hate to drop a fat merchant on the rose bushes currently growing in the gardens – they are more bred for their ease upon the eye rather than their potential to cause injury to those dropped upon them. Besides which Leya would be most displeased with anyone who were to damage her plants – something you’d do best to keep in mind should the urge to practice it strike you any time soon.’ He did not bother to explain who Leya was to the girl – he saw little point in explaining everything that he knew and others didn’t know, something that he was pretty certain would take him longer than they had upon this world to do. Besides, it was doubtful that the Dryad would show herself to a stranger – it had after all taken her some considerable years even to make her presence known officially to Kos himself.<br/><br/>‘The best analogy I can think to give you is of the human body itself’ said Kos eventually after taking a moment to analyse the girls question and to prepare an answer that she might understand. ‘Some are born with considerable muscle mass and significantly more strength than others possess – and should they train this over time they will get bigger and stronger. Others are born weak and frail, and no matter how much they seek to grow and strengthen themselves they will find limits set upon them by their bodies that cannot be overcome. The same, to an extent at least, is true for magic users – although in our case there are usually rituals and meditations that must be undergone so that we can learn how to interact with the magical forces that exist around us, that we pull upon to create our spells. Do you understand so far?’ he asked, without so much as pausing for breath or an answer from her before he continued on. ‘Once some semblance of a link is created between us and the magical forces around us, something not all are capable of I hasten to add, we may begin to pull upon them and shape them to our will. And it is at this point the difference between a poor mage and a good mage becomes evident - in time one might be able to cause another to levitate with merely a thought,  while another will need a focal charm, arcane words and gestures and will still find limits to what they might levitate, for how long, for how high and so on.’<br/><br/>Content that he had answered her question as concisely as possible for the moment, he let himself fall quiet – waiting to see if the girl had any more questions, some small measure of the girls curiosity and intelligence that so far he was moderately pleased with until he heard her apology, the Archmage spinning on his heel to face her with a face that had once again darkened considerably. ‘You will never again apologise for asking a question within my house unless I expressly chastise you for asking it. If mankind did not thirst for knowledge, did not question themselves and the world around them, we would still all be sitting in caves in the dark eating lichen off of a rock – something you’ll find yourself doing if you do not heed me’. Kos seemed to take a deep breath after the warning that was fired off so quickly and wish so much venom as to turn his face for a moment a most unhealthy shade of crimson – marshalling himself before turning away from the girl, his next words once again even in tone. ‘I hope we understand each other on this matter’.<br/><br/>Above them it seemed that whatever passed for a roof disappeared in an embrace of shadows that swirled slowly some several floors above them – giving the impression that perhaps there was no end to how many floors one would find within the Archmage’s house, the sweeping staircase in front of them seeming to climb ever upwards and forwards to connect each of the five or so levels that were visible before they were claimed by the shadow. Common sense said that in order to reach those five levels without being as steep as the side of a mountain the stairs would have to reach back some considerable way, yet they showed no signs of doing so – in fact just looking at them for a length of time was enough to instil a sense of nausea and vertigo to one not used to the magic that was wrought upon them.<br/><br/>‘Very good… I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you’ve had a decent, if somewhat mundane, level of education given your families standing – and you might even find a use for your knowledge of Gnomish here, I’m certain I had several scriptures involving their use of illusionary magic somewhere around here’ he said waving a hand idly towards the masses of books that surrounded them. ‘Read what you wish – if I thought it a forbidden subject for a visitor to read then it wouldn’t be found laying around so easily. Of course I don’t have many visitors, and you know what they say about curiosity.’