Issue 22 of Code Name: Hunter showed Moraine using magic to check up on Roderick and his crew.
Moraine has a number of abilities when it comes to her magic. Altering her appearance…
…and performing a little light healing we’ve both seen previously.
The one she’s using in Issue 22 allows her to see folks, no matter where they are. What looks like a galaxy of light specks is actually an infinite number of pathways to individuals. By focusing on a person, she can pick them out of the fog of lights and gain a quick peek into their life.
There are limitations to this ability. Some are from external forces. Others are limits Moraine herself has set.
Not everyone wants to be watched in such a matter, mages especially. Mages can attempt to block themselves from a seeing cloud’s sight. The stronger the mage, the more powerful the block. When a basic, low-level block is in place, the mage using a seeing cloud can still locate the person, but may not be able to fully see what’s happening around them. Their vision is faint and out of focus. A high-level block can disable a seeing cloud to the point where the mage creating the block cannot be located at all. Powerful mages can even misdirect a seeing cloud, making it appear they are somewhere else entirely.
Unfriendly nations with high magical abilities seem to create natural, nationwide blocks, almost as if the will of their leaders has taken on a mind of its own and resents outside snooping.
Using a seeing cloud takes a great deal of focus and power. As a result, it can drain a mage if one’s used for too long at once. Prolonged use of a seeing cloud by mortals often results in headaches, nausea, and exhaustion.
A seeing cloud can also be overwhelming for the mage using it. If they’re not careful they can become caught in the endless flow of life visible to them. (Think of it like looking up a topic on TV Tropes only to find, when you check the clock, that hours have gone by without your realizing it.) Mortals have been known to lose themselves completely to a seeing cloud, becoming an empty shell of their former selves. Awake, yet unresponsive to their surroundings.
Seeing clouds are an advanced form of magic that not every mage manages to master. Due to the amount of power required to use a seeing cloud, as well as the number of years necessary to learn how to control such a level of magic, most mages have little interest in perfecting this skill. Even when interest is present, the mage’s ability to see is limited by the amount of power they can control. So while Rashanna, a powerful mage in her own right, can generate a seeing cloud, her view is very limited compared to Moraine’s.
Does this mean Rashanna doesn’t need to use a mirror to check up on Gadel? Correct. Gadel, who can’t use a seeing cloud, needs to use a mirror scrying spell and assumes it’s the same for Rashanna. Not that Rashanna minds. Sometimes it’s to one’s advantage to hide just how much strength they possess.
Due to the risk of getting drawn too deep into a cloud’s lights, as well as the power required to generate a cloud in the first place, most mages find it safest to focus on a specific individual they want to seek out. This lets them generate a very small cloud containing mainly the path to their desired person along with a few others who are nearby or linked to the individual they’re seeking.
So why is Mori’s cloud so large? Moraine has a great deal of power at her disposal. Part of this is due to the fact that she’s a queen. The larger reason… she’s also, in the Code Name: Hunter timeline, an Aspect. (What she’s an Aspect of, we’ll discover later in A Year and a Day.) While Moraine isn’t in full Aspect mode here, she is skirting the edge of Aspect-hood. That’s why her eyes, and the outline of her speech bubbles, are a pinkish-purple.
But, as we’ve seen earlier during the Fairy Tale arc, it’s very easy for Moraine to accidentally draw magic from others around her, draining them to the point of exhaustion and possibly, if she’s not careful, death.
With this mind, Moraine tries to limit how much magic she uses at a given time. She can generate a very large seeing cloud without drawing power from others around her. If she tried to focus on anyone too far outside of her influence, such as trying to locate lost agents in Astoria, she would need to pull magic from the essence of others.
There’s also the simple matter of respecting people’s privacy. Just because you have the ability to spy on someone magically doesn’t mean you should. Moraine understands this and so rarely uses this ability.
So what can Moraine see? People she feels a connection to are the easiest for her to seek out. The stronger the connection, the brighter their spot of light appears to her and the more clearly she can see them - even to the point of being able to sense their emotional state and their health. Full agents of RCSI as well as members of Mori’s family and close friends fall under this category. While Ruby hasn’t taken her oath to become a full agent yet, Moraine was easily able to locate her due to Ruby’s relation to Allen and Emily, two of Mori’s closest friends.
People whom Moraine has had little to no interaction with will appear as fainter lights. They can still be tracked, but it requires more effort to do so and results in just knowing their location and being able to see a little of what’s around them. Folks who are far outside of Moraine’s influence, including those stuck in Astoria, are the faintest lights. Moraine can basically see that they’re alive and get a general idea of where the are - this continent versus that one. That’s all.
She can even tell when someone dies. Their light goes out.
Can Mori see other Aspects? Yes. Likewise, they can see her. As a general rule they’re not interested in Moraine’s actions so, tend to ignore her. All Aspects have the ability to use seeing clouds. They tend to use the clouds to locate people who fit their needs. So Cu Sidhe, the Aspect of Death, uses seeing clouds to track folks whose time is up. Leanna Sidhe, the Aspect of the Muse, uses clouds to hunt for people who desire fame and fortune. The Wild Hunt uses the clouds to avoid people who have outmaneuvered the Hunt in the past… Unlike mortals, the Fey are not in danger of loosing track of themselves in a seeing cloud.
