Adept

by J. P. Larson

  The girl held out both her hands, and a moment later, magic began to form above them. It was skittish and didn't last long before it popped. The girl laughed.

  "Oh, excellent," I said.

  "She didn't do anything!" the mother said.

  "Allenda," Eva said. "Adept Kia and I need to speak with you and Lillyanne, and her father too."

  "Why do you need to talk to us?" she said. "Are you going to make me pay for the healing? They said it wouldn't cost anything."

  "No, we're not going to make you pay for the healing," Eva said. "The queen pays us very well to help the people of Ordeen. No, we need to talk to you about Lillyanne. You see: your daughter is precious. She is very, very precious. Those lights she talks about? That's her magic, Allenda. Your daughter is a sorceress."

  * * * *

  The woman didn't want to believe us. She told us we were ridiculous and would have left, but Eva and I insisted she talk to us. She continued to deny her daughter was anything special.

  "We can prove it," I said. I retrieved paper and handed them to Eva. Then I turned to the girl. "Lillyanne, would you like to play a game?"

  "Sure," she said. "Like kings in the corner?"

  "No. We're going to play a magic game." I lifted my hand and pulled together some magic. "Can you see this?"

  "Uh, uh," she said. "It's really pretty."

  "Do you see the different colors?"

  "Lots of colors," She said. "Pink and red and blue and green." She cocked her head. "And some purple and some yellow."

  "Very good," I said. "I'm going to point, and you're going to tell me if you see the color I am pointing at. You'll say 'yes' or 'no'. And then Magus Eva will write down what color I am pointing to. Then you'll tell us, and we'll see if you and Magus Eva see the same color. Okay?"

  "Okay," she said.

  "Perhaps I should point," Eva said. "That's healing magic?"

  I laughed. She wouldn't see it very well. So she pointed to a streak of yellow. The girl climbed down from the table and walked carefully around my magic, then pointed to the same yellow. "I see it," she said.

  I took the paper from Eva and wrote down, "Yellow."

  "What color, Lillyanne?" Eva asked.

  "Yellow," the girl declared.

  I turned the paper so her mother could read what I had written. The woman stared at the word.

  "Next color." Eva pointed to a section that was blue.

  "This one?" Lillyanne asked, pointing herself. "Or this one?"

  "Um. I'm not sure."

  "You see two colors there?" I asked.

  "Yes," she replied.

  I wrote down light green and dark green.

  "What colors do you see?"

  "This is a light green," she said. "And this one right next to it is dark green. It's like two evergreen trees."

  I turned the paper for the mother to see.

  "Point to another color, Lillyanne." She found the red. "There's just a little of that color."

  "Just a drop," the girl agreed. I wrote down red. "Red," she said.

  We did four more colors before her mother said, "This isn't a trick?"

  "No, Allenda. This isn't a trick. Your daughter is very, very special. Please, we need to talk to you and her father about this."

  "I don't have a daddy," the girl said. "Just Mama and Grandmama."

  "Well then," Eva said, "I believe we should talk to you, and your mama, and your grandmama."

  "About the pretty lights?"

  "Yes," Eva said. "About the pretty lights." She turned to the mother. "We insist."

  "What?" the woman said. "Um. Of course. When?"

  Eva didn't answer. Instead, she turned to me. "You have four more patients. Perhaps you should take care of them, and I will make arrangements to visit."

  "Don't do all the talking without me!" I said.

  "I wouldn't think of it, Adept Kia." She smiled. "Were we done here?"

  "Did either of you have more healing?"

  "I have a bump on my knee," Lillyanne said. "And a scrape on my elbow." She rolled up her sleeve to show me. "Missy Wharton pushed me down."

  The girl's mother thinned her lips, but didn't say anything.

  "Magus Eva, perhaps you can step outside with Allenda and make arrangements to visit. I'll take care of Lillyanne's little bumps and we'll be right out."

  Allenda eyed me nervously, but I said, "I am a healer. She is perfectly safe with me." After that, she let Eva herd her outside, and I knew my partner would work her magic of charm.

  I smiled at Lillyanne. "Let's look at your elbow first," I said. I eyed her tunic. "Can you roll your sleeve up? Or do you need to take your tunic off?"

  "I think I need to take it off." She frowned. "Turn around."

  I smiled. Some of my patients were shy. I turned around and retrieved a blanket she could wrap around herself. I held it out behind me and said, "You can wrap this around you. Let me know when you're ready.

  There was rustling, and then a moment later, she said, "I'm ready."

  I turned back to her. She was already waving her elbow at me. It wasn't that bad a scrape, but I could clean it up for her. I stepped closer. "Okay, I'm going to make your arm go numb for just a few minutes. This feels weird, but it's harmless." I held her arm and numbed it then sent a cleansing spell into the scrape before healing it. I set her hand in her lap, retrieved a clean, damp cloth, and washed her arm for her, then dried it. "All better," I said. I removed the paralysis spell, and she looked at it.

  "Wow," she said.

  "Pretty cool, huh?" I asked her. "How would you like to be able to learn how to do that?"

  "Me?" she asked.

  I nodded. "I can't promise it. Magus Eva can't do that, even though she's a magus and I'm an adept."

  "Magus is better than adept?"

  "She has learned more than I have and taken another test. So in a way it's better. But I'll be a magus someday, too. Now, let's look at your leg."

  The bump on her knee was actually pretty significant. I spent a couple of minutes then asked her how it felt.

  "It's good, Adept Kia," she said. "Thank you." She cocked her head. "I could learn how to do that?"

  "Maybe. You would certainly learn other things. Want to see the first spell I learned?"

  "Yes!" she said.

  So I did the light spell, lifting it before her. "Poke that with your finger," I said. She did, then she stared at her finger and began beaming.

  "Can you teach me that?" she asked excitedly.

  "It takes a long time," I said, "but after that you learn more spells pretty quickly." I smiled at her. "I'll turn around, and you can get dressed again."

  A few minutes later, I led her out of the tent. Eva was still talking to the mother, and I brought Lillyanne to her.

  "Lillyanne is all better," I said. "Is there a plan?"

  "We'll meet with Lillyanne, Allenda and Marcora for dinner," Eva said.

  "Excellent," I said. I clasped hands with mother and daughter and told them I was excited to get to know them better. I excused myself and returned to my other patients.

  * * * *

  We met Lillyanne, her mother, and her grandmother at the local inn. Eva explained she didn't want Allenda to have to pay to feed us, but she didn't want to risk insulting her by offering to bring supplies or to pay for them. Eva even made arrangements for a private space at the inn, which I thought was convenient. We arrived early and prayed they wouldn't have a change of heart.

  "How are we handling this, Eva?"

  "I don't know, Kia."

  "This is important."

  "I know. It's her future, and Ordeen needs more sorceresses."

  "If we screw this up, we're going to have to tell Quartain, and she'll send Erin."

  "I know."

  Lunia and Loralai were listening to us, and Loralai said, "Oh, please. The two of you together could charm anyone. Don't overthink this. Be yourselves."

  We looked at her. Beside her, Lunia was nodding. "
Kia, think about how Magus Erin and Adept Malla should have talked to you and your parents. What would you have wanted?"

  "The truth," I said.

  "And your parents would want to know you would be well taken care of, and that you weren't going to disappear forever," Lunia added.

  "But don't lie!" Loralai said. "You're a lousy liar, Kia, and your entire body language will betray you if you aren't honest."

  "I wouldn't lie," I said defensively.

  "I didn't think you would, but it's better to be clear, don't you think?"

  We were still talking about it ten minutes later when the innkeeper escorted our guests back to us. We did a fresh round of introductions and ordered drinks before sitting down.

  "What's this rubbish about my granddaughter being a sorceress?" the grandmother spat. "That's ridiculous. She's just touched."

  "People used to say that about me," I said. "I believe we can put that issue to bed." I summoned another light spell and held it in front of Lillyanne. "Do you see that, Lillyanne?"

  "Yes," she said. She grinned at it. I held it a little outside her range so she couldn't trigger it easily.

  "There's nothing to see," Marcora said.

  "Yes, there is," I said. "I created a minor spell. Lillyanne and Eva, please point at it." All three of us pointed, our gestures intersecting at one place in the air. "I'm going to move it around. Keep pointing to it." So I did.

  "I don't see anything," Marcora said.

  "I'm sorry, Marcora," Eva said, "but with very rare exception, only a sorceress can see magic."

  "There's nothing there. This is a trick."

  I moved the spell closer to Lillyanne. "Lillyanne, you know what to do."

  The girl poked the spell with another finger, and now she had two glowing fingers. She waved them in the air and giggled.

  "What just happened?"

  "She poked the spell, which triggered it," I said. "Do you want another demonstration?"

  "Yes," the woman said.

  "All right." I climbed to my feet and moved behind her. Her granddaughter was seated at the other end of the table. "Marcora, if you put your hand behind your back, only you and I will see it. I am going to raise another spell. Then if you gesture with your hand, I will move the spell in the direction you gesture. Lillyanne, you need only continue to point to the spell." I created the spell and hung it over the table. Lillyanne began pointing at it.

  Marcora huffed at me, but she reached behind her back and curled a finger upwards. I lifted the spell, and the girl continued to point at it. Marcora huffed again, but I proceeded to move the spell around based on her gestures. She had me move it around quite a bit of the room before turning to me. "You're telling her somehow. This is a trick."

  "Hang on." I dismissed the spell but then assembled raw magic instead, a small bouncing ball. I hung it over the table. "Marcora, hold how out many fingers you want. I'll split my magic into that many pieces, and then Lillyanne will tell us how many."

  Marcora held open three fingers, and I split the magic into three.

  "Three!" said the girl. We went through about five numbers before Marcora made a fist and I dismissed the spell. "Hey, where did it go?"

  Marcora looked back at me. "This isn't a trick."

  "No, it's not a trick."

  "What do you want?"

  "We want to get to know each other and then help decide what is best for Lillyanne," I said.

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "Just what I said. But let's not jump ahead. We'll have a nice meal. We'll get to know each other. That's where we begin."

  I sat back down, and Eva took over. She had them charmed in minutes, and she kept the conversation going throughout the meal. She was, as always, brilliant.

  She was just as brilliant when she steered the conversation towards life at the school while making it look like it was Marcora's idea. We talked casually about the school, keeping the conversation positive.

  Finally the meal was over. Allenda turned to Marcora, and it was Marcora who took over the conversation. "I would like to know what you want."

  "Kia, did you like the school at first?" Eva asked.

  "No. I hated it." That resulted in a variety of shocked expressions. "Would you like to understand why?" Of course they did, so I explained how I arrived.

  "I don't think I'd like Magus Erin," Lillyanne said at the end.

  "She's a hard person to like," I agreed. "The way I was introduced to the school was entirely wrong. But I'm very, very glad they made me go, and I'm glad they made me stay."

  "Why, if you hated it?" Allenda asked.

  "Because while there are times it has been very difficult, it was right for me to learn to use my magic. Now I can help people."

  "I'd like to make some guesses," Eva said. "Lillyanne, I bet you don't have very many friends."

  "I don't have any friends," she replied.

  "The kids pick on you?" The girl nodded. "Call you names? Push you down? Won't let you play with them?" She nodded to all of those.

  Then she turned to Allenda. "I imagine it has been difficult for you. All sorceresses are small. Look at how small Adept Kia is, and I'm only a little larger. I am perhaps average size for a sorceress. You have seen we wear gloves, and you can guess why."

  "It's so the metal doesn't burn!" said Lillyanne.

  "That's right," Eva said. She turned back to the girl's mother and grandmother. "At the school, all of us have been through this. None of us are weird. We all see magic. We all wear gloves, but there is almost no metal, because everyone living there, with the exception of the swordsmen and swordswomen, are burned by metal. At the school, the girls all share this thing in common that sets us apart everywhere else."

  "I had no friends growing up. I lived in a tiny village, and the only people who were nice to me were my own family. But even they thought I was worthless, except my Grandmama." I looked at Marcora. "You love your granddaughter, don't you?"

  "Of course I do."

  "You want what's best for her."

  "You want to take her away!" Allenda said.

  "She'll be happier," I said. "It's not always easy, but it's the sort of hard work she can excel at. I bet you're worried she'll grow up to be worthless. If she attends the school, she won't grow up to be worthless. She'll be highly valued. And when she graduates, she'll have a good job." I paused. "The queen is a personal friend."

  "The queen?" Marcora said.

  "Yes." I smiled. "I don't say that lightly. We are on a first-name basis. Think about that for a minute."

  And they did.

  "She would meet the queen?"

  "I can't promise friendship with the queen," I said. "But yes, she would meet the queen. The queen would know her name. She would eventually work for the queen, as Magus Eva and I do."

  "She would learn to be a healer?" Allenda asked.

  "Now, here's where you hear some of the bad parts," Eva said. "Neither Adept Kia nor I know how to test her magic. We aren't trained in this. We're trained in other things. But I think if she's going to go to Northmere School of Magic, you would rather she receive an introduction to the school from us than from Magus Erin."

  "Not everyone is a healer," I pointed out. "There are other skills. I also have plant magic, like my grandmother. Healing is more valuable than botany. But it is a good sign that Lillyanne could see my healing spells. That may mean she has healing magic, but it would take quite some time for her to learn to use it."

  Both the adults looked back and forth between Eva and me.

  "We'll answer any questions you have," Eva said.

  "My granddaughter is really a sorceress?"

  "Well," Eva said. "I would really like to see her raise her magic again." She turned to Lillyanne. "Can you do that?"

  "Make the pretty lights?"

  "Yes."

  "Mama gets mad when I do."

  "I won't get mad this time, Lilly-love," her mother said. "Promise."

  The girl cocked her
head as if she wasn't sure her mother was serious, but then she smiled, lifted her hands in front of her, and between them she made a glowing ball of magic.

  Eva and I immediately grinned madly at each other.

  The girl stared at her magic. It flickered badly; of course it did. But it was clearly magic, and it was actually quite strong.

  "Better than I was at that age," Eva said. "How about you, Kia?"

  "I don't think we should compare," I said with a grin. "Lillyanne, that is very pretty. I see so many colors."

  "I like the pink," she said.

  I smiled at her, raised my own magic, then thought of Eva, and the magic turned rose quartz. "This is my favorite pink," I said.

  She glanced at my magic. "Yours is all one color!"

  "This is what I get when I think of Magus Eva," I said.

  Eva looked sharply at me. "You never told me that." We exchanged smiles. She turned to Lillyanne. "That's very pretty. Thank you for showing us. Please put it away now. Do you know how?"

  She nodded sagely. Her magic sputtered out, and she lowered her hands.

  "Thank you," Eva told her. "You are a very precious child."

  "I am?" she asked.

  "Yes. Very, very precious."

  We turned back to the mother and grandmother. "This is hard," Eva said. "You love Lillyanne. We can give her an amazing future. She seems very sweet, which means she will make friends at the school. But it is far. You would see her, but unless you can travel to the school, it won't be for some time, and it won't be very often."

  The two women looked to each other. I saw Marcora's eyes glisten.

  "What-" said Allenda. "What would we do?"

  "Well, there are different things that could happen," Eva said. "First, you could refuse to let her go. Or she may not want to go. If that happens, we will be required to let the school know she exists, and it is almost certain you will get a visit from someone far more insistent than we are. I do not know if they would force her to go like they did Kia. It would be outside our control."

  "What if we're willing to let her go?"

  "Then two things can happen. We can send notice to the school, and they would send someone for her. Or you could bring her yourself. And she is eleven, so she could go now, or you could wait a year. Sooner is better."

  "I want to go with you and Adept Kia!" Lillyanne said.