#fringilla

A brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) perches in a tree in Sweden

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla), male, in non-breeding (winter) plumage, family Fringillidae, order Passeriformes, Scotland

I get the impression that fire magic, being drawn by expending the life force of the soul, is especially corrosive to attempts to shield from it, sapping the shield-user nearly as much as the person who killed part of themselves, or all of themselves, in order to cast the spell. The more powerful the fire magic, the more of the other mage's power it takes to survive it, in other words, no matter what source they're drawing from. And if they're not careful, maybe it takes some of their life force, too.

In this scene, Francesca went through the mages of Aretuza like a hot knife through butter. Then, after losing Filavandrel in an assault meant for her, she survived tapping into enormously powerful fire magic to bring the ring above Aretuza down.

Fringilla not only expended an enormous amount of power in the fighting and killing of some of the most powerful mages on the continent, she then saved Francesca from that fire.

Then they saved each other from Alzur's Lightning. I need to emphasize how impressive I found that. It struck me on the re-watch how much power was implied in that outburst, and it really drove home to me how impressive, what powerhouses, both of those women are in terms of sheer magical oomph and skill. Tissaia, arguably one of the most powerful mages to have ever lived, expending the entire might of Aretuza in one last awful hurrah, couldn't bring these women down.

And even after that, they survived yet a third round of fire magic, at the hands of Stregobor. (Honestly I hope he burned himself up entirely and let life's door hit his ass on the way out.)

I'm okay, actually.