Greetings and salutations. Dawn Blair here, your multi-dimensional, time-traveling tour guide. Come with me. I have a great adventure planned today. You see, Ithanes whispered in my ear and told me that I should sneak into Keteria’s workroom and take a look in her cabinets, much like Keteria and Steigan once sneaked into Ithanes’ room. I personally think he just wanted a little revenge, but I kept my mouth shut on that one. Besides, little does he know that someday I want to have a look at all the curios and bobbles he has in his cabinet. Someday…

But for now, I really want to look at that little marble that Keteria placed into Steigan’s hand. Let’s go see if we can find it.

Shh… quiet now. I really don’t want Danis to come inspect what we’re doing. Just a little further.

Perfect. We made it.

No, really, Keteria won’t mind if she catches us in here. We’ve been friends for a long time. But I really don’t want to have to explain this to her if I don’t have to. You see, she used it with such proficiency that she’d probably laugh at me if I asked her how it works exactly.

Oh, here it is, in this cupboard over here along with the crystal that she used in conjunction with it. We’ll leave that for another day because I know you’ll be seeing it again soon. (Hint: the crystal is used again in Elliot’s story — I really need to get a title for it *grin*) Yes, we’ve seen this marble another time too (in Tangled Magic when Ellonia tests Rivic’s power).

As I hold this little piece of cold marble stone in my flat palm, it seems only like a stone. When Steigan held it, it started off as a bright blue and quickly went to a white gold. Now, what I do know about this interesting little piece is that it measure the amount of magic which a person possesses.

It made Keteria so angry when Steigan topped it out, but it makes me laugh every time I think about Steigan nearly falling out of his chair. You see, it’s not only the color that matters, but the weight. While the color indicates the amount, the weight indicates how many magics can be accessed.

Oh look, it finally stopped changing colors and is now a pretty gold-yellow. The weight is moderate, but bearable. Certain not pulling me down to the ground. I guess that means I’d have decent magic and be able to work with the warm magic.

Here, now you try.

Now I’ve always call this the marble stone of magical measurement, at least in my head. Never in the books, because, well, that’s a weird, alliterative name. Don’t you agree?

Red! How very splendid. I don’t think I’ve seen red before. Rivic’s magical ability, as I recall, was a bright reddish-gold. You’re not really a novihomidrak, are you? *grin*

Somewhere, probably in another journal, I have a scale of what all the colors mean which Keteria gave me. Of course, I didn’t think to bring it with me on this journey. Isn’t that the way it always goes?

Let’s put the stone back for now. I do suspect you’ll be seeing it again. Maybe a few times even.

Lucky you. You get to tell your friends that you actually got to hold the marble stone.

Come on, let’s go see if any of the shops in Lilinar are open yet. I’m really craving a cup of strickleberry tea and a honey roll. How about you?