Later that afternoon Maril was sitting at a cramped desk in a nook of the Student Mage Library. The desk space was inconveniently small and the mage light sitting on the desk was a little too dim. It was unfortunate that she didn’t think to bring her light from home. She considered putting a little more mana into the light to see if it would brighten up but decided that today was not the day to get arrested for working on projects outside her mage permit.
On each back corner of the desk was a stack of books. One stack was of books that she had flipped through looking for references to mana storage runes. The other stack was of books that she had not yet looked through.
She sighed and rubbed her eyes. Her notebook was filling up with notes about different uses for mana storage runes. But none of the references were anything like the mana storage rod Bert had described. They were all legal uses using one and sometimes two storage runes to help maintain complicated structures of runes that used a lot of mana. Or items that needed to last an unusually long time, like traveler’s clocks and boat hull waterproofing systems.
She paused looking around. Owen was nearby, standing out of the way writing in a pocket-sized notebook. Sometime she needed to ask him what he was writing. Or drawing. There were probably close to a dozen other people studying in the dim room. Some were at small desks like hers and some were at larger desks in the middle of the room. They had to pay extra, more than just the entrance fee, to use the larger desks. But they also gained the benefit of being able to leave their books and notebooks on the table when they left. As long as they paid the fee, that desk was reserved and no one would bother their books and stuff. Most of the other studiers looked like they were students. Which made sense since this was the Student Mage Library.
Besides the other studiers, there was the occasional chaperone, like Owen, and a few library workers walking around. Most of the workers were shelving books that had been left on the reshelving tables, but occasionally she would see one walk by that looked to be simply ensuring that rules were being followed and that no one needed assistance. Probably one of them would be able to help her find what she was looking for, but it didn’t seem wise to ask for help looking for something she suspected to be illegal.
She pulled out the letter sender and its writing stick from her bag to continue her conversation with Bert.
I still can’t find anything useful. All of the references are for using one or two storage runes in an application that is intended to slowly consume the mana. I can’t find any references to using storage runes to store mana for the mage to use later.
She moved over to dodge a section of the letter sender surface that had been painted grey and continued writing.
Do you have any ideas about where I should look next?
She put the letter sender under a notebook on her desk and waited. The last time Bert had replied he had said that he was sweeping in the workshop and commented that he wished he could be with her studying in the library, it sounded much more interesting than collecting piles of sawdust.
Maril started looking through the next book. But it was essentially an encyclopedia of runes and the most relevant thing she could find was simply the rune diagram and the definition of a storage rune with a couple of examples of how it could be used.
She scowled and moved the book to the stack on the other side of the desk. She pulled the letter sender out to see if Bert had replied. He had.
So you can’t find anything in the magic usage section of the library. Have you looked in the mage law section yet? Maybe there are references to illegal use of storage runes.
His writing skipped down to jump over another small blob of grey paint.
Also, I talked to my father and he says he needs me to help in the workshop tomorrow, so I can’t go with you to the city wall tomorrow.
Maril quickly struck through one of her previous notes. That section of writing faded from the letter sender’s surface and she began to write in the newly cleared space.
That is a great idea! I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll go check the law section right now.
No worries about missing the trip to the city wall. I will go to the aqueduct tomorrow and save the city wall for later.
Then she dropped the letter sender and her notebook into her bag and stuck the writing stick into her hair on top of her ear. She slung her bag over her shoulder and picked up the stack of books that she had looked through. The books were large and bulky and the stack was unruly. Why did they have to make each book so big? They could have made three or four smaller volumes instead and it would have worked just as well. And been easier to carry around.
Owen took the stack from her with one hand under the bottom book and one hand shuffling the edges so the books aligned neatly. Maril had not noticed him put away his notebook nor had she seen him walk over. She smiled her thanks at him anyway and pointed to the nearby table where she had been putting the books she was done with. He nodded his understanding.
Freed from the heavy stack of books she hurried out towards the center of the library. One of the library attendants frowned at her and motioned at her to move slower and walk quieter. She meekly nodded.
Stopping near the center of the room, she began reading the labels on the ends of the shelves in the section of the library where she had not yet searched. There was a shelf labeled ‘Tellas History’. The shelf row beside it was labeled ‘History of Magic,’ the next was ‘Magic Law History.’ But then, the one she was looking for. ‘Current Magic Law in Tellas.’
She headed towards that shelf, careful to not rush, disturb the other studiers, or draw attention from the library attendants.
Twenty minutes later Owen was holding a stack of books that she thought were worth looking through. She could not find any books that looked exceptionally promising based on their titles. But she thought these at least had potential.
Back at her desk, Owen placed the new stack on the corner and returned to his position nearby but out of the way.
Maril started with the first book. It was a book describing the offenses that were handled by a specific judge during his lifetime. It was essentially an exceptionally bland biography. But it did have a very useful index that referenced cases that involved specific runes. So she was quickly able to make a list of all the cases in the book that involved mana storage runes.
She went through the book reading the descriptions for each of those cases. Many of the cases referenced a specific clause in the magic usage laws. Based on context, this clause had something to do with using mana runes for something other than providing mana to a rune network. Interestingly, multiple of the cases also referenced another clause that sounded like it has something to do with using skulls as magical devices. Maril wrote down the reference numbers for both clauses.
After she had gone through the book reading the descriptions of all the cases relevant to the storage rune she reviewed her notes. Almost all of the cases referenced that the accused did not use mana storage runes correctly. A large fraction of the cases resulted in the offender being charged with ‘Crimes Against the Tellas Mage Council.’ Even Maril, who was not overly familiar with mage law knew that the standard punishment for crimes against the mage council was lifetime imprisonment in the Tellas Mage Prison. A few of the cases had other penalties. Three of the cases involved untrained child mages, they were put into mage school under strict guidance. Two other cases resulted in death sentences.
She carefully closed the book and moved it to the other corner of the desk to start a new pile. Searching through her unread pile, she hunted for a specific book that she remembered pulling from the shelf. It was partway down the stack, she shoved the other books over so she could drag it out.
The title read The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Tellas Mage Law. She opened the book and began to read the introduction.
This book is a simplified beginner-friendly introduction to the Tellas Mage Law. It is organized in the same manner as the full-length volumes. This reference is intended for the beginner student only and should not be used for legal reference.
The introduction continued with additional disclaimers.
Maril flipped through the book to find the clause numbers she had recorded earlier. After reading through each of them them once, she carefully copied them word for word into her notebook.
TML-Vol.15-Sec.B3-Clause8.2.3: It is unlawful for anyone to use a skull or part of a skull (human, gnome, animal, or any other type) as a magical device. Standard punishment for an individual found in the possession of a skull being used or intended to be used as a magical device is a lifetime sentence in Tellas Mage Prison.
She flipped back to where she had stuck a scrap of paper to mark the other clause.
TML-Vol.4-Sec.V9-Clause11.4: A mana storage rune, see Figure 11.4.A above, is to be used exclusively to maintain networks of runes. Under no circumstances should more than two mana storage runes be used for a single rune network. Standard punishment for individuals found to have fabricated or to be in the possession of a magical device using mana storage runes unlawfully is a lifetime sentence in Tellas Mage Prison.
Maril slumped back into her chair and stared at the mana light in shock. There were dozens of mana storage runes on each side of every wood square in the puzzle box. Hundreds of storage runes, probably over a thousand counting all of Bert’s boxes. Then she pulled the letter sender from her bag to let Bert know that they needed to meet to talk.