by Viola Grace
“It was good. It was weird though. I didn’t use any tomes. I just did what Minerva said to do. I listened to the ingredients.”
“Minerva?”
“Yes. She is a friend of a friend. She is also in the process of purchasing one of the herbal supply shops in Redbird City.”
“I knew a Minerva. Tall woman. Exceptionally smart with a weird aura.”
“That does sound like her.”
She put together a sandwich and made another one for Mr. E. She brought everything to the table and sat down.
Reegar poured her a glass of iced tea and brought it over. “So, tell me what you got.”
She blinked. “You know the format?”
“I do. I was part of the crew that invented the course. It has been the same for the last seven decades.”
She took a bite of her sandwich and swallowed. “Flowers. It was flowers.”
“Oh, what kind of flowers?”
“Sunflowers, narcissus, roses, white roses, yellow roses, and gardenias.” She kept eating and spoke between the pauses.
“What did you do with them? Love spell?” Reegar was grinning.
“No. We had to use one of our listed ingredients, so I used oatmeal.”
Reegar stared at her, and then, he whispered, “Genius. Letting love pass.”
“Right. According to the silver cup, the spell works.”
“Did you try it?”
“No, I don’t have any love that I want to turn into a memory.” She finished her sandwich.
“Why did you choose oatmeal?”
She sat back and sipped at her iced tea. “When I was a child, I wandered into a patch of poisoned oak. My skin burned, and the only thing that helped was oatmeal baths. I see flakes of oats, and I see comfort. There is nothing better than comfort after the love brought on by obsession or self-involvement. Also, it binds stuff and carries it away without harm.”
“Wow. You know a lot about oatmeal.”
She smiled. “I like it.”
Mr. E finished his sandwich and curled into a ball on the plate. Wake me when we have to go back to class.
“Is Midian teaching your course?”
“Yes, she is.”
“She’s good. Fair and direct. Just what you need. There is nothing subjective in her class. Did she give you study aids?”
“No. This is a lab course. It is full days for a week and then once a week until the end of the course.”
“So, why are you home?”
“Lunch break. I have to head back in half an hour.”
“Ah. Well, in that case, I will keep meals ready for you.”
She smiled. “Thanks. I would not have been able to get this far without your help.”
Reegar put his hand on her shoulder. “Sure, you would. It just wouldn’t have been as fun.”
She laughed. “Fun. That is a word for it.”
He chuckled. “Life in our world is odd. I know it is a jolt from Sakenta, but you are adapting well. Think of this as a transition between here and Redbird City.”
“A halfway house.”
“Precisely.”
She looked around. “It is a very nice halfway house.”
“Thank you. And thank you for letting me keep my home under control.”
“Where are the other students who are supposed to be moving in?”
He waved his hand. “They will wait until you no longer need privacy and support.”
She sighed. “I hate to think I am depriving someone else of this shelter.”
“Don’t. Kitigan is moving in next term, and she will need your advice long distance.”
Imara chuckled. “She told me. I think she will be fine here, but you are going to have to make room for her bees.”
He quirked his brows. “I didn’t know about them.”
“She doesn’t know about them, but I was watching them when we did the harvesting. She is their queen. I just don’t know how to tell her that. She’s letting the guild take her bees and their honey.”
“Huh. Then, how are they going to come here?”
Imara grinned. “They are going to follow her.”
“You are sure?”
“I looked up bee behaviour, and it is definitely something that will happen. There is too much magic tying them together.”
“Ah. Yeah, those things can’t be broken. Well, not without one party losing their lives.”
She shivered. “That isn’t worth thinking about.”
“No, but stupider things have happened with less reason.”
Imara nodded. “Right. Life is complicated.”
“More and more as you live in it.” Reegar smiled. “You will get used to it. You are simply reaching the end of one goal. You need to find another.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Your focus has been on attaining your license, but that is nearly within your grasp. You need to look wider. Find a new focus and gain a new purpose. Your consulting business is passive. You need a goal to reach for.”
Mr. E looked up from his plate. He is not wrong.
“How would I even start finding something else?”
“There are counselling services offered by the college. You also might want to speak with the XIA or the Mage Guild and ask if they have any programs or if the can use your services on a more regular basis.”
“Oh. Right. I forgot about that.”
“Or even possibly run your own garden of rest. You are a master now. You can prime and create spectres. There are many options open to you. You are smart. Once you finish with today’s class, get out a corkboard and start planning. Figure out what your options are and then start making a decision.”
She nodded. “Thanks for the pep talk. It is helping.”
Imara’s headache faded, and she smiled. “Do you want to come back to class with me, Mr. E?”
No. I am fine here. I will see you after class. He yawned, got up, turned around, and sat back down on the plate.
She made a face and headed back to class. She had a lot to think about, and the walk would do her good.
Chapter Seven
“Well, we have lost Mr. Nolthin. It appears that the idea of improvisation was too much for him. We lose a lot of students on the first day, so I am very pleased to see that you have returned and that you have abided by my rules to keep your familiars out of the lab.”
Mage Midian smiled and paced back and forth in front of her class. “Now, we are getting down to the details of the course.”
Midian slammed her hand on the nearest lab station. “For the next five days, you will be in here all day, every day or for at least six hours if other courses interfere. I hope none of you are stupid enough to have additional courses this term.”
Imara kept herself quiet and paid attention.
“After the next five days, you will have the following seven weeks to prepare a single spell. That spell will have to be what the books consider to be a great spell. The spell will have to be powerful, exotic, and here is the fun part... you must execute it equally three times. You will be allowed to keep one example of your spell, one will be executed in a protected space, and one will be kept in the archives.”
Margo asked, “What ingredients can we use?”
“Anything you wish as long as you have enough for three spells. You can use any materials, any containers, any combination of the above, but it has to be an original spell. We will test the result against all known spells, and if you have come up with an original spell, you are fast-tracked to Master Mage status. If it is a derivative but mostly original spell, you will qualify for Senior Journeyman Mage status. A copied spell is an automatic fail.”
Imara nodded.
“On the wall behind my desk is the largest collection of how-to guides for writing spells that we have located. Know your ingredients. Have fun.”
Imara asked, “How are our days to be structured? Will we receive one box of ingredients per class?”
Mage Midian smiled slig
htly. “You can have as many boxes of ingredients as you can manage. Practice is key in mastering your ingredients.”
Imara nodded. “Do you wish us to provide you with notes as to our ingredients, recipes, and the spells?”
“Yes. I would like a copy of everything you hand in.”
The students nodded, and Midian looked at them with an expectant air. “Well, the new boxes are on your workstations; you have two hours, ten minutes to create a spell from the contents within. If you find something poisonous, feel free to do something creative with it.”
Imara looked over and found the box on her station. She opened the box and lined up the ingredients in even rows.
A quick glance at the other tables showed her that they all got different contents. No two boxes were the same.
Imara’s ingredients were dry herbs and minerals. She got her notebook out and started to make notes as she started with the lapis lazuli and a mortar and pestle.
Sweat dripped into the mortar containing the multicoloured sand comprised of herbs, flowers, and rocks. The sweat activated a tiny cascade in the mortar, so Imara called it quits.
Now came the tricky part. She took a piece of obsidian from her own collection, and she centred it above the mortar. The sand gathered around it and sank deep.
Imara watched and murmured a low, wordless chant over the work, coaxing the desert storm into the obsidian.
She watched as it began to swirl and twist, pulling the ingredients down into the stone. The obsidian was shiny, and the storm of sand was visible inside the glass.
Imara lifted the stone out of the mortar, and she set it on a soft chamois. Midian was at her station before Imara could wash out her mortar.
“So, what do we have now?”
Imara smiled. “I think it is a desert storm.”
“Not very useful.” Midian looked at it and frowned.
“I am working through some personal issues, so this reflects my current state of mind.”
“Ah. Well, let’s see if it is what you think it is.” The mage picked up the stone and eased it into her silver cup.
The roar of wind that spiralled out of the cup accompanied the whirl of light.
“Well, you have definitely created a solid spell here. This is a concealment spell mixed with a sandstorm. Well done. Partial marks as you didn’t know about the other half of your spell, but good start, Death Keeper Mirrin.”
Imara sighed. “Thank you.”
“Clean up and go home. You look wiped out.”
Imara nodded. “Halfway there.”
She finished up, watched that the master was putting her stone in one of three boxes near the window, Imara guessed that it was what would become her collection.
Midian smiled slightly, and another box appeared on Imara’s desk. With a glance at the clock, Imara opened the box and started her next spell.
She paused and smelled each of the items and smiled. That was what she was creating, a spell to ease laughter into the world. Since scent had tipped her off, she was making a concentrated oil to become a vapour.
It was going to be a rush to finish in time, but she knew what to do. All that studying of techniques was finally paying off.
She focused on laughter as she bruised the plants and set them into a decoction flask. They swirled around in a bright solution of purified water and saffron.
While the flame did its work to heat the herbs and release the oils, Imara worked to clean up after her previous spell.
She knew when it began to drip the oil through the small still, that she had created a flight spell. It was a dangerous spell as the euphoria that it created was not an amazing combination for the power of flight.
She kept her thoughts on the spell as she recorded the ingredients and her technique.
When she had a sixteenth of an ounce of oil, she poured the oil into a tiny vial, and she capped it. She took the rest of the herbs off the flame and disposed of them.
Midian had been checking on Carlos, but she changed direction when Imara was washing up.
“What do you have now?”
Imara looked at the clock. She had five minutes to spare. “Icarus oil.”
Midian blinked. “What?”
“A levitation potion that elicits elevated mood as well as the physical side effect.” She handed over the vial.
Once again, the silver cup came out, and when a drop struck the bottom, the energy in the cup sent a cascade of golds and yellows skyward with enough force to jar the cup from the mage’s hand.
Master Midian stared at the cup. “You didn’t make a lot.”
“No, it is dangerous. I considered it unwise to make more.”
Midian nodded. “Huh. So, you are concerned with the welfare of those around you?”
“Of course. I would never want to be responsible for someone getting injured, or high, for that matter.”
“And yet, you made the oil.”
“It was what the ingredients wanted to be today.”
“Interesting. I will see you tomorrow morning. I am working on some strange combinations that I think you can do justice to.”
Imara swallowed, but her stomach filled with lead. “I look forward to it.”
“Don’t lie. It doesn’t suit you. Dismissed for the day. See all three of you tomorrow.”
The ingredients, spells, and paraphernalia disappeared from every workstation.
Margo blinked. “I was nearly done.”
Carlos patted her on the shoulder. “I don’t think she cares.”
Midian smiled brightly. “I don’t care. In your careers, if you are creating spells, or executing them, there is a time limit involved. The only time in this course that you are not held to a time limit is your final exam. It is your creation, take your time. Now... get out.”
Imara nodded and left with the other two.
Carlos asked, “You come from a long line of spell crafters?”
“I have no idea. I was fostered.” She smiled brightly. “But, I do have supportive friends that have helped me to study and get my head in the right place.”
Margo asked, “How could you study for this?”
“You have to focus on each ingredient and how it makes you feel. What do you associate with it? When you know that, you know what to do with it.”
Carlos stopped. “You are joking.”
“I am not. Crafting a spell is more about the mage and less about the ingredients. It makes things predictable if you work it from that angle. If you are in the mood tonight, and you have a space where you live, enchant some of your favourite spices and see what happens when you add them to bread or even just flour.”
Margo snorted. “I am not even going to waste my time.” She stalked past them and exited through the main doors into bright daylight.
Carlos nodded. “I don’t think that kind of experiment is a waste. So, I just focus on the ingredients?”
“Focus on the way they make you feel and add magic to the mix. The rest works itself out.”
He nodded. “Thanks for the tip. Can I buy you a coffee?”
They had emerged from the magic lab building and were on their way to the quad. Across the way, she saw a familiar figure. “Another time, perhaps.”
She stepped away from him, and she began to jog toward the familiar figure of Argus as he was moving in her direction.
When she got to him, she shocked him by throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her for a kiss, in full view of the assembled and curious students.
When she pulled back, he smiled at her with a foolish grin. “What was that for?”
“I have missed you, and I am going to be a hellish bitch for a week, so you are going to need to be scarce.”
He grinned and kept his arms looped around her waist. “How would I notice?”
She punched him in the bicep. “Funny man.”
“I thought it was amusing. Rough course?”
“One week of full-day classes, including weekends. I am
going to be completely fried.” She looped an arm around his waist. “So, what brings you here?”
“I have your insurance cheque for your car and all of your possessions. You keep a really clean car.” His admiration was audible.
“It wasn’t new or fancy, but it was mine. Now, I have to go looking for another one.” She grimaced. “Stupid-whatever-it-was.”
“We are still analyzing it, but it appears to be an ancient serpentine shifter.”
“Wonderful. Mr. E said it could be a lamia.”
“That would be unlikely. They hunt in pairs. This was solitary, so we are guessing some kind of naga.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Mr. E fought it, so I am going to trust his guess. As soon as I have a spare minute, I am looking it up as thoroughly as I can.”
“I know a few people who can advise you on ancient shifters, but I don’t know if they would be willing to travel here to talk to you.”
She sighed. “I think I know who you mean, but I am comfortable making that call. Benny should be able to tell me what I need to know.”
He nodded. “She is an excellent choice, but I was thinking of her parents. They don’t travel much though.”
“Ah. Well, I will ask her anyway.”
They were slowly making their way toward Reegar Hall.
“What does Reegar think of this course?”
“He knows it is necessary to reaching my goals, but he has given me some good advice.”
“What is that?”
“Now that I have almost achieved a goal I set myself when I was a child, it is time to go looking for new goals and activities to focus on. I am the type of person who needs to drive themselves. Without that drive, I start to lose focus on the moment.”
“I see. What is driving your public display of affection?”
She smiled. “There are two factors. The first factor is that the guy in my class was giving me looks that made me a little uncomfortable. I thought it best to nip his intentions in the bud. The second was that you are part of the new plan I need to make, so I thought I would test out public affection. I rather enjoyed it.”
His voice got lower. “I did as well. It is probably a good thing that it was in a public place. My beast tried to snap my controls and fly off with you.”
