"More of that 'astral scouting' you were talking about?"
"Yeah, although I'm better at that sort of thing than Lothan, if you ask me," Liada said with a smile. "But if he wants to double-check, that's his business."
"What's it like? The astral plane, I mean. Part of what I read today talked about that."
Liada thought for a moment. "How do you explain what color is like to someone who's been blind all their life?" she said. "No offense," she added, seeing the expression on Kellan's face. "But you said you didn't have any experience with it. That's the hard part about the astral plane. It's a place that isn't really a place, because it's right next door to the physical world, in a way. You see it with a kind of psychic sixth sense, by doing what we call assensing. It lets you sense emotions, mana flows, magical impressions, things like that. Most people see them as colored auras of light, though some perceive them as sounds, or smells, or just strong feelings. It's tough to describe. That's what I mean about experiencing it for yourself. But once you do, there's no greater sense of freedom in the world."
"Sounds wiz," Kellan said.
"Yeah, it is. But don't fool yourself-the astral plane can be dangerous, too. Spirits live there, and some of them aren't too friendly. In fact, some of them are downright nasty."
Liada studied Kellan for a moment like she was trying to assess something about her, and Kellan wondered if the elf was seeing or "assensing" her as she'd said, using that special kind of magical sight.
"I'm kind of surprised you haven't had any experience with the astral," Liada continued. "Some kind of spontaneous assensing or astral projection is pretty common with newly Awakened magicians."
Kellan shook her head. "The only real magical experience I've had was when I set this troll ganger on fire, and the stuff that Lothan has been trying to teach me."
"Interesting. Is Lothan sure that you're a mage?"
"Well, he said that I definitely have the Talent," Kellan said.
"Yes, but is he sure that you're a mage and not a shaman?"
Kellan was puzzled. "What's the difference?"
"Typical," Liada said with a sad shake of her head. "I should have expected that kind of attitude from Lothan." When Kellan continued to give her a quizzical look, she went on. "Magicians are people with the Talent for tapping into and using mana to do magic, but there are different traditions of magic, magicians who do magic in different ways. Mages are magicians who follow the hermetic tradition, like Lothan and like me, but we're not the only kind of magicians. Far from it, in fact."
"Right," Kellan said, "they have shamans in the Native American Nations, like the ones that led the Ghost Dance."
Liada chuckled. "They don't have many shamans like that anymore," she said. "But, yeah, the NAN has a lot of shamans, although shamans aren't just a Native American thing. They're all over the place."
"So what's the difference between shamans and mages?" Kellan asked.
"Shamans have the guidance of spirits they call totems. They're these powerful spirits that come to the shamans in visions and dreams and -tell them how to do magic. They usually show up as different kinds of animals. Through their totems, shamans tap into the power of the natural world. They can contact the spirits of nature and ask them to do things. Have you ever had any dreams where an animal was talking to you, maybe trying to tell you something or teach you a song or special name?"
Kellan thought for a moment and then shook her head. "I don't think so," she replied. "At least, I don't remember anything like that. I don't usually remember my dreams."
"You may now that you've Awakened," Liada said, taking another sip of her soykaf. "Doesn't sound to me like you've been called by a totem, but you never know. You should keep track of your dreams and see if they have anything to tell you. Try keeping a dream journal, writing down what you remember as soon as you wake up. There are a lot of symbols and messages in our dreams."
"How will I know if I'm supposed to be a shaman?" she asked.
"Oh, you'll know, believe me," she said. "The totems have their own way of revealing things, and when they want you to know something, they're not subtle."
"If you're not a shaman," Kellan wondered, "then how come you know so much about them?"
"Some of my best friends are shamans," Liada said, "and, unlike His Majesty," she nodded her head toward Lothan's study, "I think there's something to be gained from studying other traditions of magic and knowing how other people do things." Kellan thought that made sense.
Just then, the glowing light-sprite zipped into the room to hover above the table, bobbing gently toward Liada, then toward the door.
"Oops," she said. "Looks like he's done. Better go see what he has to say." She stood up from the table, leaving the mug where it sat. "Talk to you later, Kellan."
"Yeah. And thanks," Kellan told the elf.
"No problem," she replied. "We'll talk again sometime, okay?"
"I'd like that," Kellan said. She went back to her reading with a new appreciation for the material. She would have to ask Lothan about shamanism and those different traditions of magic Liada mentioned. She wanted to know what her choices were before she committed to something for the rest of her life.
That night, the shadowrunners gathered at Lothan's place once more. Assembled in the troll mage's study, they went over the information they'd gathered and the plans for the run. Jackie Ozone was present again via the Matrix, her anime princess persona on the screen of the telecom sitting on Lothan's desk. The other runners attended in person. Kellan noticed that Orion still refused to mix with the rest of the team.
G-Dogg greeted Kellan warmly when he arrived, and asked her how her lessons were going.
"Learned how to turn people into frogs yet, kid?" he asked, and Kellan wondered briefly if mages could really do that. She'd have to look it up or ask Lothan later.
"Not yet," she said.
"First, I think I'll need to teach her some of the basics," Lothan interjected. "Like lighting candles with something smaller than a blowtorch." The troll chuckled and Kellan blushed.
"Hey, there's times when a blowtorch can come in handy," G-Dogg replied with a wink at Kellan.
Lothan started on one side of the room and asked each runner for their progress report.
Jackie Ozone went first. The decker flashed information on the screen as she went over what she'd learned.
"I confirmed the data that we got from our Mr. Johnson," Jackie said. "The shipment route looks legit and takes our target along the East Road into the metroplex, right along the border of the Redmond Barrens." A map showed up on the screen, and a red line traced out the route along it.
"The security complement for a shipment like this should be Ares standard, which means they'll be well-trained and armed, but we shouldn't face any heavy cyberware or magical support. We can expect at least four guards, plus a driver. Probably AK-97s or SMGs and sidearms, maybe tasers or stun batons for dealing with the riffraff, since they are passing by the Barrens."
"We pinpointed a good spot for things to go down," Silver Max said, and the map on the telecom screen shifted to show a satellite photo image of the highway. It zoomed in on a section of roadway and enlarged to show more detail.
"There's an underpass right before the target site," the dwarf rigger continued, "which provides us with some cover and high ground if we need it. There's enough junk along the edges of the road to provide some additional cover, though no place to hide vehicles unless we park 'em right along the side of the road, which might tip off our targets."