Word: Aeromancy

aeromancy

[air-uh-man-see]

noun

1. the prediction of future events from observation of weather conditions.

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              “So what did you drag me out here to show me?” Dave asked once he had finally reached the top of the hill.

                “You asked why I’m so good at guessing things, right?  I figured I might as well show you.” Julius said.  He stood looking at the almost cloudless sky instead of his roommate. 

                “Great, so why are we out here?”

                Dave looked around at the large field of nothing.  There was tall grass for what seemed like miles in every direction and very little else.  The only thing that interrupted the grass were a few low shrubs here and there.  Dave so no reason to be there, but he had still followed Julius out of sheer curiosity.

                “Two reasons, one is that there’s nobody around or miles.  The second is that it’s a wide open space with a  great view of the sky.”

                “So?  We could’ve just gone up to some roof top and gotten the same effect.”

                “Not really.  City air’s no good.  This is better, trust me.”

                Dave wasn’t so sure.  Julius was good at guessing correctly, but he had a tendency to misjudge how important things were.  Dave had little doubt that was the case here.

                “If you say so.”  Dave said halfheartedly.  “So, what’s the secret to your lucky streak?”

                “Well, simply put, I’m an aeromancer.”

                “A what?”

                “An aeromancer.”

                “What, you mean like a wind mage?”  Dave asked, calling upon his somewhat limited knowledge of the fantasy genre.  “So does that mean you can , like, call up gales and wind and stuff?”  Even as he asked, he didn’t exactly believe it.  Julius waved his head like a bobble head figure.

                “Mmmm…well, yes and no.  I guess I can kick up a good stiff breeze.”  He turned his hand at the wrist in a circle.  Dave heard the distinct sound of wind moving.  That caught Dave’s attention quite a bit.  he actually wondered if he was just hearing things.“But it’s not my specialty.  See, I’m more of the old school aeromancer.”

                “Old school?”

                “Yeah.  See, these days the word mancy is kind of a blanket term for a magic user with a  specialty.  You know, pyromancer for a fire mage and stuff.  But it didn’t always mean that.  It used to be a subtype of divination.  Basically we use our specific element to tell the future. Well, to an extent anyway.”

                “So, what, the wind tells you the future?”

                “Well, the weather specifically, but yeah.”

                “And that works?”

                                “Mostly.”  Julius said, turning his attention back to the sky.

“Mostly?  How so?”   

“Wind is kind of fickle.  It tells the future all right, but it’s not always what you want, and it has a sense of humor.  A big one.  Unless there’s something really big happening, it can be kind of minor.  See, once I asked if anything bad would happen to me in the next week, and Wind told me I would stub my toe.”

                “And did you?”

                “Yup.  Hurt like hell, but that was it.  Tons of things that were worse than that happened to me.  Wind had a big laugh at that.”

                “Huh.  So what about the guessing thing?”

                “It all depends on the questions.  If I ask the right question, it can be fairly reliable.”

                “Huh.”

                “Yeah, but still…”

                “What?”

                “I just wish I was a hydromancer, you know?”

                “No.  Why?”

                “Hydromancers are the best.  See, each element is different.  Wind has the best foresight, but it’s a joker.  Earth Is nice and reliable, but it tends to have a skewed sense of time.  Short term for us is a few days.  Weeks at most.  But for Earth, it’s decades or even centuries.  So yeah, you have to be really specific about time with Earth.  Fire is…temperamental.  It’ll tell you your future, but only if it feels like it.  If it doesn’t, you’re lucky if it doesn’t try and burn you or something.  Plus, it doesn’t necessarily have the best foresight.  But Water, that’s the best.  Good foresight, cooperative, and tells you more or less what you want to know.  So yeah, Hydromancers get it good.  I mean, yeah, I’m glad to be in touch with any element at all, but still.”

                “Huh.”

                “Yeah, so, that’s my secret.”

                “So, can you show me something?  You know, ask it a question?”

                “Sure, hang on.”

                Julius held his hand up over his head.  Wind started swirling gently around his hand.  A few grains of pollen or dust accompanied the wind, letting Dave see—more or less—that it was real.  Julius let out a long, slow breath, and repeated it several times with different pitches and lengths.  Then the wind blew around his head and he stopped all movement and closed his eyes, listening.  It wasn’t long before he dropped his hands and huffed.

                “Well?  How was it?”  Dave asked.

                “I asked Wind if anything bad was going to happen to either of us in the near future.  It said a bird will poop on your head soon.”

                “Ah.  That sucks.  How soon is soon?”

                The sound of a bird of prey reached his ears.  Julius looked up to see it.  Dave had a sudden bad feeling, and so refrained from following suit.  Sure enough, he felt something wet hit him in the exact middle of the top of his head.

                “Sense of humor, huh?”   

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Amazing how the meaning of words can change over time, isn't it?   It happens to words all the time in our language.  It's kind of interesting to look into.  Well, if you happen to be in to languages and stuff.