Page 27 of The Sundered Realms

Lord Vhannor nodded shortly, his expression back to its usual equanimity.

Assuming that meant he’d resolved whatever internal conflict he’d been wrestling with, as they started walking again Liris judged it safe to ask, “What are we looking for up here?”

“I’m going to keep that to myself to avoid biasing you.”

Liris frowned. “I don’t know anything about spells. How could I be biased?”

“I can’t explain without biasing you,” Lord Vhannor said dryly over his shoulder.

She rolled her eyes. “If you want to know what Jadrhun showed me, you’re going to be disappointed, because the answer is nothing.”

“Nonetheless.”

Fine. “Can you tell me what I should prepare for at the university, then?”

“Sure. “ He faced forward again, and although the word was clipped, his shoulders relaxed a fraction.

Liris felt a glimmer of satisfaction that she’d read him right—he did like to give instruction.

Which dissipated when he said, “But there are too many ways to answer that question. Do you know why casters study languages?”

Now it was Liris’ turn to scowl; fortunately she was behind him where he couldn’t see.

Another test? Fine.

“The more complex the language, the more powerful magic it can work.”

“And?”

“And Serenthuar ambassadors don’t train in spellcasting.”

He frowned at her over his shoulder. “You know this. Power is one factor. The other—“

Oh. “Direction. Specifying what the spell is to do.”

“Yes.” He turned back, and Liris took a breath.

That was a closer brush with failure than she preferred.

“Invented languages don’t have the power of dead languages for spellcasting, but they have an advantage on clearly defined rulesets,” Lord Vhannor said. “If you can’t effectively communicate your intention in the language’s parameters, the spell won’t work. The magic can’t interpret it correctly.”

Now Liris frowned. “That implies human consensus on meaning affects whether magic works.”

An almost imperceptible hitch in his step before Lord Vhannor nodded. Ha, recovered. “Exactly. We may use a dead language differently than people who once spoke or wrote it, but as long as those who use it do so in a consistent way, the spell works.”

So that accounted for why any proposed reinterpretation of a language was so contentious—and why thorough dictionaries and grammars were so valuable. Serenthuar had libraries full of treatises arguing about words’ historical usage and contemporary understandings, though since ambassadors couldn’t cast spells, she’d always thought that was a strange choice for how to use their space.

Lord Vhannor’s next statement scattered that thought as he said, “The theory is that magic derives meaning through human understanding.”

Liris stopped and stared for a second. He heard the lack of sound and paused too, looking back inquiringly at her as if to say, Was there something?

And yeah, there sure was. “But then if the human caster understands their intention, why should it matter if they write the spell correctly?”

He snorted and started walking again, and she scrambled to catch up. “Fortunately for us all, magic doesn’t change based on feelings. We can feel hate in our hearts and still choose to build a bridge rather than tear it down. So to your question—“

“What I should expect is to learn a mix of dead and invented languages.” Liris didn’t know any invented languages, since they were only used for spellcasting, so at least that would be a new challenge.

At first. She knew enough organic languages that it wouldn’t last.

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