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Well with a Rhonas Well. It’s not so much reversing as it is, how would you say, tipping it over and figuratively turning it upside down. The draw from the ancient Wells across the sea destabilizes the Well here in Port Glorious…makes it easier to reverse the flow from gathering to transmission. That’s the essential difference between Rhonas Aether Magic and that of Human Anti-Aether Magic of old: elven Wells collect while human Wells disseminate. Of course, what I call the Anti-Aether magic was simply called Aether magic by the humans long ago, so perhaps it would be best if we actually called human magic Aether magic and elven magic—which was stolen from the humans by the elves—the anti-Aether magic even though they incorrectly call it Aether magic.”
    Urulani could feel her headache returning. “I still don’t get it.”
    Braun nodded. “Think of human Aether magic as ‘blue Aether magic’ and elven Aether magic as ‘red Aether magic.’ They’re both Aether but blue flows out of the Wells freely while red is drawn in and tightly controlled.”
    “Blue magic and red magic?” Urulani rubbed her forehead.
    “Yes…or sweet and sour magic if you prefer,” Braun grinned.
    “The point is that we were supposed to break the Well,” Jugar shouted, “and well he knows it! We were supposed to deny the enemy its greatest weapon…the magic of Aether…whatever color or flavor he wants to call it!”
    “And so I have,” Braun said breathing in deeply. “The Well here in Port Glorious is now flowing outward with the Aether—a fountain of mystical energy which
we
can tap but which is contrary to the understanding of the elves and will not function with any of their devices. We empower ourselves and deny the enemy at the same time. Take this fold platform, for example…”
    “I thought there were no folds to Port Glorious,” Urulani interrupted.
    “They never were installed, let alone functional,” Braun answered. “But the pride of the Imperial Will demands that there be two fold platforms created in every outpost whether they are utilized or not. Ah, the mind of the Emperor is ever forward thinking even when it isbackward. There is another platform just like it on the other side of the town, is that not true, master dwarf?”
    “You know very well that there is!” Jugar snarled.
    “They exist here not only because some bureaucrat almost a thousand leagues removed from reality decreed that they must be built here but also because physical connection is at the heart of elven Aether magic. Staves, wands, rings, and platforms are the means by which elves store, focus, and conduct their magic. Without such physical objects they cannot work magic. That’s why Proxis always carry staves and why the Iblisi do the same, though the two groups have radically different abilities. A connection between physical objects like these platforms is required before the Aether can flow through them. The efficiency of this power diminishes over distance but can be replenished again from physical bases like this one or through the interconnection of the Aether Wells.”
    “What are you saying?” Urulani urged.
    “What if our ‘blue’ Aether magic didn’t require physical connection to the Wells?” Braun asked, a gleam in his eyes. “What if you could access the Aether without having to be physically connected with it in some way? That’s what reversing the flow of these Aether Wells makes possible! We can channel it outside the control of the Empire for our own use…and the more Wells we turn, the more powerful we become and the weaker the Empire becomes. We could command a trail of these reversed Wells in our wake…”
    “And leave ourselves vulnerable from the rear,” the dwarf added. “These Wells which he wants to keep intact could just as easily be turned back again. We already have an advantage with these dragon-beasties! We don’t need to have a bunch of amateurs dabbling in magic that they don’t