A Meeting of Equals (Sophia/Iris)

Sophia sat in her office, grading essays as she hummed quietly to herself. Magus flew in through the window and landed just short of the parchments atop her desk. The woman smiled at her familiar, fondly stroking the raven's feathers.

"Welcome back, Mage, lad," she murmured. "Did you deliver it, then."

Magus fluffed out his feathers as though offended.

Sophia laughed. "But of course you did." The professor glanced at the clock atop her mantel. "Now, we just need to wait for Miss Frances to arrive."

The raven gave a soft cruck, and Sophia went back to her grading, waiting patiently for her apprentice to arrive.

Iris rushed for her master's office and fortunately found it amidst the confusing staircases. She knocked on the door - waiting for the signal. She breathed heavily and hoping to cease it. She dusted her robes and made herself presentable for their first meeting.

Sophia kept her Occlumency shields up as she rose to answer the door. She could have waved it open, of course, but it felt more personal, more friendly, to open it herself. The woman smiled at the girl on the other side.

"Ah, right on time, Miss Frances," she praised. "You're very prompt. Do come in."

She allowed the girl a moment to take in her office. It was a tidy room, bookshelves featuring prominently in the decor. Spread throughout the room was her personal collection of Divination equipment. A row of fine china teacups sat upon one shelf, with a matching teapot. Charts decorated the walls between shelves; Chinese astrology, lunar phases, and a couple others. A special case held her tarot cards, which rested near the place she kept her runes and her scrying glass. Figurines, candles, crystals, and artifacts from various religious and cultural beliefs the world over were in that room, and each of them had their place without the office seeming even the least bit cluttered.

"Let's sit at the tea table, shall we?" Sophia suggested, gesturing to the small round table next to the window opposite her desk. Another teapot rested upon it, this one obviously used for entertaining company. She gracefully took a seat and waited for Iris to do the same.

"Now, before we begin, do you have any questions or concerns?" the woman asked, gentle brown eyes focused upon the girl.

Iris came into a different world. Indeed, she was fascinated. She nodded with awe and followed Professor Wyse. She first answered before taking a seat. "It's very nice here professor. Nothing actually. We can continue on." She smiled and can't take her eyes off the whole room.

Sophia grinned. "Very well, then," she said.

"Now, I have taken you as my apprentice to teach everything that I know about the art of Divination. There's a lot of it," she gestured vaguely to the room, "but I'm certain it shall prove interesting, if nothing else.

"You may call me Sophia when we are in private," Sophia told the girl. "I aim to be a mentor to you, and a guide, when I can. While I shall be your teacher, I also wish to be your friend. You see, Iris, though I am much older and more experienced than you, we are, in a sense, equals. Kindred.

"Having a Gift of any sort can, at times, seem a burden, and the stronger a Gift, the more distant the rest of the world can seem. It can be difficult for others to truly understand."

Sophia kindly regarded the girl for a moment. "In our lessons, we will, of course, touch on many of the same topic as you'll learn in class. In fact, you'll often learn more about them than your classmates. Lest you think I might favor you in front of your peers, I warn you now, that I have very high expectations of you.

"Now, was there anything that you've learned in my class thus far that you had difficulty with or didn't quite understand?"

Iris nodded entirely throughout the whole conversation. "I won't disappoint you, Sophia. This is rare opportunity, and I am very blessed. I get most of the lessons and found them interesting. I can sometimes relate to them though. But I always have that question in mind that why am I chosen for my gift? I still don't clearly know its purpose until now. I suppose those things are telling me something I can't point out." She continued on with curious eyes.

"Ah, that ever pending question which seldom has a response," Sophia said. "'Why me?' I'm afraid the answer to that can only be discovered by yourself. Every Gift is unique to the person it was bestowed upon. Even I, to this day, do not for certain the purpose of my own abilities. I do find that oftentimes, our Gifts serve as a warning, but as to whether they serve a greater purpose, that all depends upon the person.

"For instance, most Gifts fall within three... spheres of focus, if you will. What do you reckon those might be?"

Iris was contented enough of the explanation and asked again this time, sort of hesitating to do so. It was unrelated with Sophia's question. "Not to bother you professor - I mean Sophia, but what gift do you possess? Is it somewhat similar to mine or really different?" She didn't know what she has done and apologized once she realized it. "I'm so sorry if it's too private. You don't have to tell me right away if you don't want to speak of it." She then answered the other question regarding their equality, their gift. "I will soon discover it after some time. Uhm, I am clueless about them though. Pardon me. This would be my first encounter making sense with my gift. And I don't usually think of it much." She eventually became shy and worried what might her mentor think of her.

Sophia smiled. "Not at all," she reassured. "I don't mind. How best to explain... Well, you probably know, of course, there are three primary precognizant Gifts, those being dreams, visions, and prophecy. There are lesser gifts, of course; foresight, which is largely just a knack for divining probable futures, intuition - both of which can be learned to one degree or another. You also have your sensitives, or people who can pick up the projections of others; what a person might do in the near future or perhaps what define them at that moment.

"For instance, say you are planning to study in the library later. I would catch a Glimpse of that. Or perhaps, you had recently suffered a traumatic experience. I'd be able to see that, too.

"Anyhow, to get back to your question," Sophia continued, "you have the three primary classes of Seers: those who have precognizant dreams, those who Speak prophecies, and those who See visions. When you have someone who possess all three of these Gifts, they are what is known as 'fully Sighted.' For the most part, a fully Sighted person would not be as powerful as someone with only one Gift, like yourself, simply because any sort of magic can be draining on a person, and the more Gifts a person has, the more draining it tends to be. There are, however, a few exceptions.

"I am fully Sighted, and a sensitive, to boot," she said. "I sometimes think that were I not a natural Occlumens, I'd have gone mad long ago. The world is rather noisy place."

Sophia reached across the table and gave Iris' hand a reassuring pat. "It's not a worry, Iris," she told the girl. "Had I expected you to know everything, I'd have nothing to teach, now, would I? Everyone's clueless starting out. I'm assuming there is no one else in your family who possesses a Gift?

"Now, as to the three foci of precognizant Gifts. There is self, which is the least common, though a lot of seers do foresee their own possible futures, as well. Then, there is family and friends, which is the most common. It is my understanding that that is where your Gift currently lies, am I right? And finally, there's, for lack of a better description, anything else. Anything that does not necessarily coincide with a person's personal life. The Potter-Voldemort Prophecy is an example of this, as is the vision of Mabel Frye, who foresaw the current feud between Muggles and Wizards," Sophia explained.

"Any thoughts or questions, so far?" she asked. "I tend to get to lecturing and I forget to stop so people can breathe." The woman smiled wryly.

Iris nodded heavily and her eyes widen. Her mentor knew so much. "Yes. My dreams are about family and friends. Tragic, happy, awkward things. I don't quite know if those will happen or just a sign of the past. I hope the tragic ones will not happen. I encounter them every time I sleep. Even if just a nap. There's no point when I had a dreamless one." She inhaled and continued. "Nothing to question about. I do got it. Now I've realized I haven't known so much. But how did you deal with your gift through the years? I think I'll need some advice 'cause I'll be like this until it lasts. And I don't know then actually. Maybe never. Anyways, I'm still glad to be given this gift -as they call it. And I really should pay more attention to it." She reassured a smile and finally relaxed.

"I've found that with dreams, it tends to be a mixture of both," said Sophia. "Though, sometimes, of course, a dream is a dream, the worries and concerns of the subconscious mind making themselves manifest. If you're having trouble sleeping, I have a tea that could help. It's an herbal blend. It won't prevent you from dreaming, but it should curb some of the nightmares."

Sophia sighed softly. "Would it sound a bit cliche to say 'one day at a time'?" She laughed. "Learning to cope with my abilities - especially those I possess as a sensitive - was rather troublesome when I myself was an adolescent. Age and maturity do help, though. Simply learning how to cope your Gift and to a small degree, control it.

"At this point, it's rather like your mind is super-sensitive to every stray bit of foreshadowing you happen across. Naturally, some of this is legitimate and should not be taken lightly. As for the rest... well, as I recall, its main purpose is to keep you on edge and prevent your from resting properly." She gave a wry smile. Well did she remember weeks and months without restful sleep.

"As you get to know yourself and your Gift better," Sophia assured, "your slumbering mind should settle a bit, and then only true Dreams or your ordinary nightmare should trouble your sleep.

"We've already been talking for some time, now, and I know you've got schoolwork, so perhaps we'd best wrap up this meeting," said the woman. "Did you have any other questions you'd like me to answer you?"

Iris smiled and nodded again. This time, delighted for her longing to answer all of those questions were now fulfilled. "One more thing actually Sophia, you can read my mind do you? Well, my secrets cannot be safe after all." She chuckled and asked quite the obvious from her encounter before which she just remembered at this moment. It's possible. "That's all of it I guess. Thank you very much and I had a great time before cramming for schoolwork. I haven't been encountering nightmares lately. But I think the tea would do some help one day."

"Only Glimpses," Sophia replied, "and only when my shields are down, which they usually aren't. I make a rather poor Legilimens, actually."

She stood and when to a cabinet, pulling out one of the many small boxes from within before handing it to Iris. "It's already divided into packets," she said. "All you need to do is dissolve it into a glass of hot water. Let me know if you ever need anything else. My door is always open." The woman smiled kindly at the girl, brown eyes warm.

"Oh. Thank you, Sophia." Iris grinned back and took her package. "I'm quite excited for the next lesson. And I should get done with my homework." She waved at her mentor with a bow and headed for the door. Turning for Magnus and did the same wave - the smile stuck in her face. She had many thoughts in her mind about school work and how to get them all done before the next lesson tomorrow.