Next Steps from Miriam

Teacher,   Brother Alder said that he'd tell you that I was going with him when they returned across the barrier. I thought about it a lot, and I think this is best for me. It's not just that I don't want to be separated from the family I've come to love, but in talking to Tira, I think my magical journey's next steps are in elven lands as well. If Bran was here, I might ask him, but I feel like at least for myself, I know where my fate is taking me next, and I'm embracing it.   I've been working with Liliales, illusion magic is something we share and the things he's trying to do with bridging other kinds of magic... it lends well to the other half of my gifts. Before you left, you asked me to think about where alchemy overlapped with illusion and I found an answer: They overlap in the mind. There are alchemical formulas that can affect perception, making eyes sharper, ears keener, and Alder knows plenty of toxins to do the reverse - to dull the mind and senses. But what if there was a formula that told the senses to perceive one thing instead of another?   I managed to make something crude, but I need your help and guidance here. Tira says I should ask you for things you want me to be able to figure out in the next 3-5 years so that I can properly work as an apprentice on tasks given by my teacher. The crude thing I managed to make is something I'm calling Nostalgia Sugar. It's a finishing sugar on top of confections - it doesn't have any flavor of it's own other than sweetness but it invokes the taste on the tongue of a favorite sweet. I've tried it on very bland short bread and everyone describes the flavor differently - no one says it tastes like their favorite thing, but that it reminds them of their favorite thing.   I've included my notes. Brother Alder says it'll be a while yet so hopefully you have time before we go to send me some problems to work on. I want to make you proud of me, and I want to be the kind of student that the elves on the other side will see as being worthy of being your student. I know those aren't the same things - that you're proud of me for me, but Hella has Kadia to help her - as the other human in the empire, I'm just me. I won't let you down.   Miriam