"Oi, Natt," the spellweaver greeted Nattia, lifting her broom from her shop's steps.1045Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ886s8a9R3p
"Hey, Aress!" the farmer eagerly replied, "How are you?" She smiled at the older lady, Aress' greyed hair and warm smile welcoming the younger lass.1045Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJH8JhQjEk
"Fine. I see you brought your brother with you."
"We're selling potatoes to our normal vendors."
"Potatoes this year? Has the old woman run out of bronze bits? Where's the tobacco, I tell ya."1045Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmqdbYDXEJ
"She's younger than you, though! And we've decided that this year is best for potatoes. Plus, we need crop rotating else the soil will dry."1045Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYEHPXdgqP
"Yes, yes. Now, will you practice today, or take your brother home?"1045Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UbTK2UmUv
"He's staying right here; he wants to watch. Oh, and I've gotten the hang of the healing spell."
"Really?" She looked at Nattia in disbelief. I hadn't been very good with healing for months now, ever since we started it in late spring when my mother introduced us to each other, Nattia thought. "Well, you should be proud. Just remember that as far as we know, healing is your weak area and blinding is your strong area. How are your attacks, by the way?"
"Better. I can show you, if you want."
"Then show me at the triangle."
The two ladies and the young boy entered the spellweaver's shop and were greeted by books of every kind: spell tomes, history books, ancient writings, humorous stories, theatre scripts. Two customers were currently browsing, but they took a moment to catch sight of who entered. When they saw the young boy, they showed pity on their faces. The young child had a piece of cloth over his mouth with a horizontal line over it, showing that he is a mute.
"Don't show the child pity, man,"Aress told one of the customers, "He's lived like this his whole life. He doesn't know any other living. He needs not pity." With that, the two customers faced away and started browsing again, fidgeting uncomfortably a little in their stances.
The three went into the back of the shop, into a living area with two doors leading to different small rooms, a low table with a quilt under it and several stools, and a pile of quilts and fabrics that acts as a bed, and down stairs to a cellar with an old furnace, more shelves, and a chest with a broken lock. As they went down the stairs Aress muttered something to bring a triangle on the ground in front of the furnace suspended in the air. It weaved through the air to rest on the face of the old furnace, which was damaged beyond repair, considering that Nattia had practiced on it often and Aress before then.
Aress instructed Nattia to test her shots on the triangle. She did so, and missed the triangle. She tried again, and hit the triangle on the spot. The triangle rumbled lowly for a moment, then subsided.
"You're still horrible at accuracy, but the attack is definitely better than last we met a month ago. I might teach you a slightly bigger attack spell later, after we practice accuracy and precision. You should show me your healing spell on the matter I have in the jar."
"Ew, but that stuff is creepy. It's like a bare gut."
"There's worst in the Northeast where I'm from, so bear with the bare guts."
Aress went and grabbed a jar filled with lumpy, slimy grey matter and slopped it on the floor. The matter slowly moved like a snail. It knew what was coming; the torture again. This torture was different from the torture inside the see-through container because it could see the cause of the pain. It wasn't an advanced organism, so it barely had thought, but it knew pain. It couldn't express its pain outwardly, but its insides became a dark pink when pain comes to the matter. It was running for its life, its sad, meaningless life. Why had it been born in this world only to be tortured by its creator? It was a cruel world. The worst part is that once this torture is finished, the matter must be tortured by invisible forces inside its container.
But the spellweaver and farmer didn't know what this organism was going through. Aress cut the matter. Nattia tried to use her healing shot spell, and the matter began to quicken its pace. After a little extreme pain on the matter's part, it slowed down again. Although it had quickened its pace, it only moved a couple of centimeters. The wound was healed, and the grey matter mourned the fact that it would be put back into solitary, seeing the world outside through vibrations that caught on the glass jar.
A little ding-a-ling was heard from the bell at the front desk.
"That must be one of the customers," Aress guessed, putting the matter back in its jar and onto the shelf, "I'm going to go check them out. You can fool around or leave. But I'd rather you to stay until two hours before sundown, so we can practice more until you have enough time to leave and make it home at sundown. I also want to use your brother as a Guinea pig for enchantments."
"Alright," Nattia replied, "But don't go around putting sticking stuff on my little brother, okay?"
"Right. That is, if Arren here is okay with me enchanting him?"
The child pulled down his mouth cloth began moving his mouth. When he finished and pulled the cloth back up, his sister translated, "He's fine with it."
"How do you know what he's saying?" Aress was confused. Did the young farmer girl know telepathic magic? Not in slightest. Only Freirs can do that, and they're long dead. I was forced to kill one of them, Aress thought.
"I can read lips. It's useful for when eavesdropping, too." Now that makes sense, Aress thought. But I can't let her know I do, Nattia thought. Everyone knows telepathy is illegal and punishable by death, especially in Eslientia.
"Oh, I bet so. Now excuse me." She went up the stairs and disappeared into the shop.
"So, Arren, you want to see that something cool that I've been telling you about?" Arren nodded his head eagerly. "Well then, this is that. You know that a Magon can only use either shot or orb. Some also say the crazy stuff the Northeast warriors can do, too. Anyways, Magon are born with it. But, somehow I can use orbs, too! Isn't that neat? So, with every shot spell that I learn, I change its powers into an orb spell. It's really weird, and I'll show you now. Just don't tell anyone, okay? I still have to worry about you writing something to Mother or Aress. I'm planning on telling Aress sometime when I decide to enroll in Five Triangle Arts." The mute nodded in understanding, a bit confused as to how his sister could have such power.
Nattia shot at the triangle with an orb. She hit it spot-on, but for some reason the triangle turned blue. It started going through the colors of the rainbow. The current spirits controlling the triangle were overjoyed! A Freir has been found! That's second one currently, the other being a fifth degree student at Five Triangles, who excels in healing. They had been told by the farm spirits, but they didn't believe them. But it's true, a Freir is here! The Freirs were hunted a long time ago by the Northeast Nigon-Magon breed such as those who have resided in town as well as the master spellweaver herself. The spirits had to relay the message to the Northeast spirits. To the East spirits. To the monsters of the Far Lands! A revolution should begin! The spirits must become in mortal form by possessing animals and critters and protect the two Freir! They should surround the female one to block any unwanted spirits! Finally, Magon and Nigon might be able to live in peace, like in the old Freir queen's reign. So happy! Overjoyed!
"It does that whenever I use a shot and then an orb on the triangle at home," Nattia informed her brother, "Don't worry about it. Sure it's nothing."
Arren was interested in this. He didn't know that any Magon could do that. Maybe she was magically mutated? Or maybe a special breed? Nigon-Magon like the Northeast? Well, then again, he didn't know that a Nigon couple could birth a Magon. He just didn't like trifling with Magon disputes. But then he remembered the promise of enchants on him as a test subject. He pulled down his mouth cloth and asked his sister what enchantments this could be.
"Well," she began, "Probably something like giving you the hiccups or another thing that's funny. She doesn't do harm in her experiments. If she did, though, she would test it on the grey matter."
The boy nodded in relief. He didn't want to go home a duck. He wouldn't mind going home with a golden tooth, though...
"Alright, kiddies!" Aress yelled down the stairs, "I bet you haven't eaten anything since this morning. Come up here and have some food!"
"Yes ma'am," Nattia answered, walking up the stairs with Arren close behind.
The two children walked up the stairs and into Aress' main living area. They sat on the quilt under the low table and waited for Aress to bring the bowls and wooden spoons over onto the table.
"It's mushroom stew today. I couldn't manage to bargain a price with the vendors for meat, but I had a good managing for herbs. There's Winter Frostquills in the stew, so it may be a bit cold tasted."
"Thanks for the food, Aress," Nattia said, taking a spoon and bowl. Arren nodded his head in thanks, taking his own spoon and bowl.
The three ate the stew and chatted about small matters. Aress was a bit distracted, which Nattia thought that she was distracted by thoughts. Aress was not distracted by thoughts but more by the spirits swirling around Nattia. Nattia, on the other hand, was shivering a little from the spirits, thinking it was just a large dose of Winter Frostquills. Arren was simply eating the stew and listening to and looking at the ladies. He thought it was funny that Nattia was shivering; she's a summer person. Aress, though, looked oddly at Nattia, and Arren wondered why. Oh well, he thought, I can at least have nice food around nice people. My sister should never leave such a place.
After the three were finished eating and Aress took care of another customer, they went back to the cellar. Aress cast a small enchantment on Arren, trying to see if he could see in the dark; instead, he could see farther than normal. Eventually, the two children left and the familiar spirits of the shop left with them. Aress was wondering why the spirits were being so peculiar; usually they just play with the different types of matter in the jars in the cellar. Odd.
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