[OOC][PLOT] The Fifth Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals

[Labster]

I'm trying to think to what degree Round Shield seems like calculus, because most things that are calculus kind of scream that they are calculus.  I suppose a surface integral makes some sense.  And possibly casting the spell involve magical flux in a certain pattern, probably some sort of PDE that moves into steady state once it is fully cast.

In terms of getting a staff, there are lots of ways.  Urd would know how to make one.  Or Akari has a friend of a friend of a cat who would know.  Or well, wandless magic.  Some wizards are so powerful they can't use wands, or so I hear. <grin>

What Sakura Kinomoto does is kind of different, though.  Her raw magic power is still weak, it probably doesn't match any of the other people mentioned recently, except perhaps Rin.  But I was talking to an old friend a couple days back and mentioned that I thought Sakura was really powerful.  At which point he replied, "Yeah, you can really min-max her powers."

Anyway, here's a little bit of magic theory about Sakura Kinomoto:

Urd asked, "Can I take a look at your cards?"

Sakura hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Sure!"

Urd picked up the deck, and started sorting though her bright materials.  "Wow, there's some pretty cool powers in here!  You made these all yourself?"

She shook her head. "No, I inherited them from Mr. Clow."

"My ancestor, Clow Reed, was renowned as the world's greatest magician," Shaoran explained.  "These cards are his most powerful legacy."

Urd asked Sakura, "But they feel like you?"  Sakura's hesitation must have disappeared, because not only could Urd see the powers, but read their connection to Sakura like an open book.

"Oh, that's because I had to convert them to Sakura Cards so they could live off my own magic."  As Urd thumbed through the cards, she blurted, "Converting them all was really tiring."

"I bet.  Oh, now here's an interesting one."

"That's the only one Sakura-chan has made herself so far, The Hope,"  Shaoran said with pride on behalf of Sakura.

"Yeah, it's not much, but I'm going to try my best to be as great as Mr. Clow!"

Urd looked down and smiled.  "I'm sure some day you'll make it if you keep trying."  She stacked the deck, and handed it back to Sakura.  "You've come this far with their help, so keep trusting them.  Keep them all close to your heart, and you'll get there for sure."

"I will!  Thank you!"

Right after she left, Urd sighed.  It was lies like that that would always keep her from becoming a Goddess First Class.  She'll be as great some day?  Urd sighed again.  That day had already come; it was the day she made that card.

The Clow Cards converted to Sakura Cards were neat little pieces of spellcraft, Urd had gathered.  The major arcana were something like bound elementals, providing the raw elements to the rest of the cards in their suit.  Except they weren't really that at all -- they were familiars, every one of them, serving Sakura by choice.  Impressive enough on its own.

But when she picked up The Hope, it felt different.  It felt more than anything else like the aura of her sister.  It was like a fragment of Skuld's presence bound up in a familiar.  With slots for expansion -- that was so like Skuld, really.

If the other cards were Clow's greatest Working, then this little girl had already surpassed him.  If he were capable of making it, he would have.  It probably took him half a mortal lifetime to come up with the theory to make those cards, Urd figured, and Sakura's intuitive leap had blown clear past.  Well, standing on the shoulders of giants and all that -- Urd figured that blowing up the ego of such a young girl wouldn't do any good, so she lied.

The making of the card was brilliant, really.  The possibilities of the future are largely emptiness and failure, but the most important threads are exciting and joyful.  She bound out the nothingness to hold a little piece of the true gift in her hands.  The binding was the maiden's pure love, prompting Urd to think about how Sakura and Shaoran really needed to get together already.

Urd liked a maiden's pure love more than she would admit, but too much of it was just a little bit sickening when it came down to it.  They had to know they were in love already; their binding was among the tightest weaving she had known.  So why hadn't they made it past first base?  They really should get on with it, she decided.

Maybe a love potion?  No, she rejected that option, too messy to use with children.  Probably wouldn't work anyway; true lovers recognize fake love in an instant.  But a real date, though.  Yes, that would work, she could definitely set up a romantic date for them.  It wasn't long before the wheels were in motion.