"Words?" Dera'nah looked at the rune in front of her. "Yes, words. What did your folks teach you about words?" "Well, words transfer information and can change people's minds." "Yes, quite literally!" Nuella chuckled as Dera'nah raised her eyebrow. "Seems that we have to start from the beginning my dear. Yes, words can be used to pass on information and can change people's minds through argument, and everybody knows that. But even arcane users have figured out long ago that words can be used to summon and change energy patterns. Words have power if spoken right, and have already been used through the eons for showy wizardry." Dera'nah thought about this. "You are talking about creating fire and lightning bolts?" "Yes! Exactly! Sorcerers and wizards have it all figured out, they think!" "But they are powerful!" "Actually, my child, the most powerful wizards know about their shortcomings and have long tried to study old texts, to find out where they went wrong!" Nuella chuckled again "Good that we don't write things down, don't you think?"
"What they don't understand is why words have power. They think they command reality and reality bends to their will!" Another impish laugh. "Oh my, I have seen many a powerful wizard try and fail to even command the simplest animals or elementals!" She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes. "No, my child, words have power because many of them resonate with the melody that created the world. The Great Song that creates our reality is a complex symphony and many words, even by accident, come close to resemble small parts of it, creating a small change in The Song and thus a tangible effect. " Dera'nah looked at her unbelieving. "You mean..." "Yes, child, the Great Song that creates all and everything, the song that is all around us and within us, can be changed. By words." Nuella smiled and Dera'nah fell back in her chair. "That is what grandmother always hinted at. She always said I have to tune in, to concentrate on the melody of life." "Yes, that ability is the secret of all druids and gives us immense power and responsibility! Wizard and sorcerers luckily use the wrong language. They created their own arcane languages, capturing only parts of the important melodic components. The old languages came into being when The Symphony could still be clearly heard and thus naturally resonate strongly with the tunes of life and reality. Druidic is one of the oldest and is so close to the base melody that it has to be spoken carefully to not disrupt reality and create dissonance and disaster."
Dera'nah silently formed the words of known spells in her mouth, feeling for their melody. "Yes, the better you hit the intended melody, the stronger the effect will be. This is why you have to meditate each morning to tune yourself to the Great Song again, to feel the melody. Once you get better, you will feel the song in your body and all around you and it will become easier. You will be able to intuitively correct or cause dissonance and change the melody to mold reality around you. But we are getting ahead of ourselves, are we!" Dera'nah traced with her finger the outline of the rune that was etched into the wood. "What happens to the words once written down?" "Oh, a good question my child! That is where it becomes interesting! Sorcerers write down their spells just to be able to remember them. Little they know! All living things, and even things that had once life in them, can retain a memory of a melody. After all, they only exist because of The Song and so by remembering a tune, they can constantly change the Song by adding their little chords into it." "Oh, so the words don't have to be written?" "They can! It often helps the creator of the item to focus their thoughts, but the melody of those thoughts impressed into the item is what counts. The clearer and more focused the melody is, the stronger the item!"
Dera'nah looked at her pendant. The little piece of wood somehow had come to her mind. Nuella looked at the pendant with a knowing smile. "The piece of your mother already contains memories of The Song, since she was born when the Great Symphony was still young. It would be easy to imbue it with some extra tunes. Why don't you try to store some strength in it? You remember the words of the spell I taught you today?" "Bull's strength, sure!" "Then sing the words in your head. Try to align the melody of the words as closely as you can to The Song inside you and then include the piece of wood in your melody as well." Dera'nah closed her eyes and repeatedly spoke the words, listening to the tune they created. It sounded wrong in the beginning, but after a while, and some changes in intonation, it somehow felt better, more fluent, and she could feel strength flowing through her. She touched the pendant and could feel a second faint melody joining into the first. She tried to weave it into the first and after some reprises, the melodies slowly converged to form a new small tune. The melody filled her mind, blocking everything out. Slowly, she could feel the strength not only coming from within her, but flowing into her through her arm. Startled, she looked up and could feel the pendant in her hand pulsating. Nuella smiled. "Well done! Still weak, containing many small discords still that hurt my ears, but a start!" Dera'nah looked at the pendant in awe. It felt as if energy was flowing from the pendant. She could feel the strength. "You created your first magical item! But be careful, each creation drains you and a small piece of your own melody is always staying behind to act as a bridge. Create too many too fast and you create disharmonies in yourself. But now, let's eat! Even watching you work magic has left me peckish! You must be starving! And tell your pony, if it nibbles at my roses again, I will literally root it to patch where only dry grass grows!"
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