“A party is a group of mages, anywhere from three to ten, who have formed a unique bond with each other,” Zach stated from where he stood next to the chalkboard. “This unique bond is formed by sharing magic. If the two mages have magic which is compatible with each other, then their magic will mix to a certain degree. The rate of mingling is what we call compatibility. The more compatible your magics, the stronger the bond. We measure the mixing by a percentage. The lowest percentage required to form a party is 50%. At this percentage you can first see and feel the lending of magic to boost spells and augment rituals.”

Jeremy raised his hand from where he sat at one of the desks. “We’re not even allowed to form parties until after we graduate, right? So why are you telling me all this now?”

It probably was confusing at first. They were the only two in the classroom and Torvik wasn’t one of the top general track students. His goal was probably (based on Zach’s observations) to find a strong wife who would make a good addition to his household and then spawn more little general track mages.

A waste of talent if Zach ever saw one.

“You have a quiz on social etiquette with parties in two weeks, an exam on party dynamics at the end of the semester, and you’ll begin attending sorties immediately following graduation. Do you really want to go into those with no idea what’s going on?” Zach tried.

“You know I’m going to be one of those mages who doesn’t get a party,” Jeremy whined. “Unless they find me and, I don’t know, we’re some sort of record 90% compatible or something. Parties go on quests and fight monsters and all that. No way my parents let me leave the estate if there’s even a chance of that.”

“And if I told you I think I know some members of your party, would that change your mind?”

Jeremy waved the possibility off. “That’s impossible. Only seers can predict parties, and there hasn’t been one of those in, like, 200 years.”

“Closer to 50, and that’s only that we know of,” Zach said with an eye twitching. “With the number of untrained wandering about and the fact that seers often don’t know they’re seers it’s highly likely there have been many more we don’t know about.”

“I could’ve gone to dinner with Lisa Greenevelt.”

Zach almost - almost - sighed. He reminded himself that Jeremy didn’t know they were a party, and that this wasn’t Torvik denying their link. This was just Torvik being a pain because he hated studying.

“If you score in the top five on the party exam, I’ll get you a date with Vivian,” Zach promised.

Torvik’s eyes lit up. Vivian was beautiful, wealthy, and completely uninterested in anyone less intelligent than her. He’d need to score in the top five to even have a chance at a date. “Fill my head with magic, teacher!” Jeremy cheered, suddenly enthused. “I want a date!”

Zach briefly wondered if this childishness would persist, and if it would get more endearing or more annoying as they aged.