Dear Ani,
    I believe I've discovered some things to make you believe in sorcery at last. I'm posting them secretly, as the mages are so very strict about students working on enchantments that are "beyond one's level." Certainly they must consider almost everything of interest to be beyond my level as yet, and seem determined to keep it so. They forever find reasons to refuse me the examinations for adept's rank, though I've mastered work well beyond most third- and second-rank adepts already.
    But their pig-headedness shall not prevail. A few days ago, I was researching an essay, and the library hound, Adept Nidallo, refused as always to admit me to the vault where they keep all the oldest books. So I returned after hours and let myself in.
     Hush your scolding, elder sister! Were it not for picklock magic, I'd have learned nothing these six years! Everything of interest is kept in the vault.
    Someone had been there before me and left a book open on the worktable. It was one of an odd collection usually stuffed in a corner because no one has been able to read them since the Blood Wars - not even Dullfish Duplais when he was librarian. Though the bindings are worn and the books are spellbound, they bear no titles, and all their pages are blank. Seeing one left open pricked my curiosity. If someone else at Seravain had learned to make something of them, I could too. So I absconded with one from the stack.
    Over the next few days, I dabbled with some encryption spells Adept Guerin and I had been working on - and there it was, A Discourse on Gautieri Personal Protections. After a few days, I traded that book for another and then another. Ani, these books are a revelation!
    The Gautieri methods seem to rely more upon innate power than exact balancing of the divine elements, and on reasoning and desired results instead of the specific formulas and endless memorizing that pass for learning here. One book called The Gautieri Invariants of Dimensional Mind and Spirit describes enchantments I've never heard of anywhere.
    I've used these books to make three marvels especially for you, because I do want you to understand why I stay here instead of coming home to be with you. If I learn enough, I might be able to help Mama or set Ambrose free of the blighted Spindle. I know the power is in me.
    So. Your gifts. The silver bead in the ring is a courret, a wardstone. It will glow blue if you're in danger from spellwork, red if you're threatened by fire, and black if poison is within arm's reach. The book lists many more variations of the ward, but they are devilish complicated, and I just didn't have time. It's unlikely a volcano is going to pop up at Montclaire any time soon! You're not likely to be poisoned either, but the poison ward was the easiest to work and the easiest to test.
    I am not going to tell you exactly what the powder in the case will do, but only say that you could run naked through Vernase, snatch a chocolate comfit from the little box beside Mistress Constanza's couch, and no one would ever know! Shocking, yes? Mix a pinch of the powder in two spoonfuls of wine. Make sure you're alone, and taste it only in the smallest amounts. Each drop prolongs the effects for about a quarter hour. The keyword is aventura.
    The pendants are the most amazing. They're called nireals or soul mirrors. One is mine, a gift to you, and one is for you to bind and send back. Hold mine tight in your hand, speak the keyword, soror deliria, and you'll see what it does. To complete your own for me, you must focus all your mind and spirit on it, then think of all the things you love best in the world - and only those. Once you feel the magic open to you—and you certainly will - say the word you wish to key the spell - in Aljyssian, remember! Send me your pendant along with the keyword you’ve chosen.
     You have always been the strongest of us, Ani, and the cleverest, and the wisest - the rock that will hold while the rest of us wander. But you mustn't hide yourself away at Montclaire forever. Perhaps my little gifts will make you bold enough to venture out.
    All my love,
    Lianelle

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