Each morning when Red sits down to study he pull out his dagger and the stone. He sets the stone down before him. He holds the dagger with care. He goes over each part of the spell to bring flame from the blade. Each gesture, each word, each change in temperature, each way the energy moves. Careful he is to not actually bring forth the flame, but to merely warm the blade. Attention is paid to how the energy moves, where it comes from, how it interacts, where it goes. Slowly he practices. Always aware of the presence of the stone.

While traveling Red will take as much time as he can in the cart, going back over the scrolls. While he appreciates they have a ‘natural order’ he attempts to find other ways to organize them. First he just mixes them up, like one would a deck of cards. A fresh take on an old subject.

Next he looks for similarities and rearranges them around theme, common words, general similarities and even opposites. Each reordering of the scrolls reveals new dimensions to the words.

Each morning after study Red approaches Alexis, stone in his palm and ask it today is the day. So far, no.