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THUNK! “Ouch!” I shouted as a shot of magical force hit me dead in the center of my head, knocking me to the ground. “Is it too late to go back to Trodthrew?” I groaned as I sat up, rubbing my sore head. “You almost blocked it that time!” an enthusiastic Kat said as she ran towards me, “Last week you couldn’t even get the ward up!” I rolled my eyes and began to stand up, “Perhaps defensive magic isn’t my thing.” I said flatly. “That’s what you said about offensive magic!” she retorted in a mocking tone. I couldn’t really argue as it was true, we had been working on this for six months and I was getting nowhere while she was excelling. So, I did what all wise men do when they lose an argument. Excuses and insults. “Maybe Nequese just can’t do magic properly! You have it easy, picking on a small creature like me!” She dropped her jaw and place a hand on her chest, “Me, enjoy causing pain! Never! The nerve to even suggest it!” she said in a sarcastic tone. Not to be outdone by her wit, I went for her weak point. I dashed over to where a couple of small pastries lay on a stump for us to snack on where we. “Hey Kat!” I yelled, popping a pastry in my mouth, Munch Munch Slurp Slorp Smack! I loudly chewed, mouth wide open. “AAAAAAAAGHH!” she screamed, “I’ll kill you!” she then came at me like a monster out of the pits of hell. Knowing that my life was in peril, I bolted underneath the wooden deck where Aldan was watching. His expression could only be compared to that of a mother who has been up for a week dealing with crying triplets. I hid in a long-abandoned fox den that I had found a week into the training when we were learning the basics of frost magic.
Katherine reached the deck just a moment too late to grab my tail. I had cheated death once again! “I’ll get you one of these days!” she shouted in blind rage. Aldan whispered a prayer for patience to any being that would listen before speaking. “Alright…” he finally said while rubbing his temples. “Kat, please practice holding your wards up until you can do it for a minute without a break, Mak please come see me in my study. Katherine stomped her foot in defeat as she walked over to the training area. “Hah! Victory once again!” I exclaimed with crumbs spilling from my face. I ducked as a small bolt of fire soared just past me. “Don’t talk with your mouth open Mak” Aldan said, his left hand still smoking, “Now come along.” I quickly swallowed and wordlessly followed him inside the house.
Aldan’s study was small but cozy and stocked full of books on every subject you could imagine. The smell of these books created a warm and relaxed feel in the room. He sat behind his desk and motioned me to sit in the overstuffed chair opposite to him. I climbed on top with a bit of effort and sunk a little into the soft seat. “Mak…” he started in his “disappointed parent/teacher” voice. “While I expected magic to come less naturally to you than Kat” he fiddled with a bottle of ink as he spoke. “It seems that you struggle with even the most basic of magic.” I shrunk back into my seat, he was being more than fair, but his words stung nonetheless. “But…” he said in a ponderous tone that made my ears perk. “I don’t think it is your fault,” he said calmly. “Oh no!” I responded, “You are a great teacher, don’t blame yourself!” Aldan quickly retorted, “I never said I wasn’t!” he said with a grin, “I have taught dozens of mages of various learning styles all of whom became extraordinarily successful!” he said proudly. “Then… what are you saying?” I said with a confused expression on my face. “The problem is…” he said as he got up and approached one of the shelves. “I have been trying to teach you like a human, not a Nequese. You see…” Aldan grabbed a large book from the second-to-top shelf. He brought it over and dropped it on the desk with a THUD! “Every species has certain types of magic that they struggle with or excel at” he began in a tone that warned of an incoming lecture. I braced myself for the imminent barrage of information.
“Humans are often mistaken to be generalists when it comes to magic.” Aldan began with a smile on his face. This was the kind of smile that one can only see on a person who has been wanting to talk about this topic for a long time but has had no one to discuss it with. “In fact, on average we are better at offense and magic that manipulates raw elements, while we struggle with magic that changes the biological, such as nature magic or shapeshifting.” Aldan continued. I really was trying to pay attention, but the chair was so comfortable, and the air so warm, my eyes began to droop. Aldan must have noticed this as he cut to the point. “The problem is,” he said emphatically, “There is no existing information on the magical talents of the Nequese!” he lamented. “I tried to research it on my own, but I came up empty-handed. In retrospect, I should have started by asking you. Do you know of any Nequese mages?” It hadn’t occurred to me before, but no one in my pack had been a magic user, at least as far as I can remember. “I’m afraid not,” I said in a sullen tone. Aldan frowned, “Then I guess we will have to experiment,” he said shutting the large book with a THUMP! He got up from his chair, picked up some writing materials, and motioned me to follow.
Aldan led me back outside and called out at Katherine. “Watch your stance! Without proper balance it won’t matter how strong your ward is!”, he exclaimed. Katherine adjusted her feet and straightened her back but expressed her irritation with an annoyed glance. Her glaring was ignored by her uncle as we proceeded to a clearing. “Alright, Mak” Aldan said, “We are going to try a little bit of everything, so don’t get discouraged when you struggle with it.” Despite his encouraging words, I was not confident. We started with nature magic as my species lives in forests and caves, then went to physical enhancement magic, and the elements. We trained for hours when Clementina came out to see us. “Dinner is ready boys,” she said cheerfully, noticing my disheveled appearance her expression turned sour as she faced her husband. “Aldan, I think you have been working the poor boy too hard, that is more than enough for the day!” Aldan nodded, “You’re right dear,” he said before facing me, “We will pick this up tomorrow morning, let’s eat.” As I ate dinner, I wondered if I would ever learn to do any kind of magic well. After eating and doing the dishes I waited until everyone went to bed and snuck out to the fox’s den to sulk.
I’m not sure how much time had passed, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes when I heard someone walking on the deck. I snapped open my eyes and dried them with my arm. I tried to sneakily look out to see who was there as everyone should be in bed, was it an intruder? Then something fell in front of the den with a quiet thump! I strained my eyes to look at it, it was a pastry? “Mak,” said a familiar voice, “I know you’re down there,” she said as she walked down the steps. Clementina approached the den and sat in front of it. “I know things have been rough for you, magic isn’t easy, I struggled with it at first. And Aldan is a tough teacher, I know that from experience.” Clementina spoke while looking up at the sky fondly. “Aldan taught you?” I asked, moving slowly out of the den. “Yes, it was a long time ago.” she said with a smile “We met in a way not too dissimilar to how you met Kat.” I stopped for a moment, “Did… did you lose your family as well?” She continued her smile, but her eyes gave a look of sadness. “Yes… and also no, they are still alive, but I left them when I was young.” I wanted to ask why, but I thought it better to let her continue. “I had traveled the streets begging and stealing for food for a couple of years, and then I tried pickpocketing a handsome young man.” she gave a sly grin. “Little did I know, the wallet had a tracking spell on it. He found me a few minutes later going through it. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the street, I thought he was going to turn me over to the guards.” Clementina let out a chuckle, “The meathead led me to the market place and bought me a bunch of food! He brought me home and his parents grabbed me even harder than he did and cleaned me up.” I stared wide-eyed at her as she spoke, my ears perked. “This is a lot like my story,” I said in amazement. Clementina looked at me, “I told you so” she said in a jokingly smug tone. “Aldan’s family adopted me, without knowing anything about me other than that I tried to steal from them. Aldan’s younger sister, Elizabeth, became one of my best friends, she was Katherine’s mother.” I interrupted her, “What did happen to Kat’s parents?” I said inquisitively. “Shh,” she said, “We’ll get to that.” She continued with her story, “The three of us became quite the team, slaying monsters, finding treasures. My Aldan became the kingdom’s head of magical research, and I the captain of the guards. Elizabeth decided to settle down with a man that she saved from an ogre.” Suddenly, her tone became more serious. “About a year ago her husband became sick, he had always been frail, even after months of treatment he wasn’t getting better, so they decided to come see us.” I could see that tears had begun to well up in her eyes. “Aldan and I had retired to a quiet life in the country, we had enough of the big city and our own children were grown up, so they were going to meet us here.” Now the tears were flowing in earnest, by now I was sitting next to her and I grabbed her hand. “Raiders attacked the village they were staying in, both Elizabeth and her husband perished, but Kat survived and fortunately ran into Aldan who had gone ahead on horseback to meet with them.” I thought for a moment, “You mean she lost her family only just before I did? But why didn’t she say anything!” I exclaimed, now I was beginning to cry. Clementina smiled down at me, “I don’t know, all I can say is that she takes after her mother and uncle in that regard. When Aldan came back and broke the news to me, he kept asking if I was alright.” Her hands began trembling, “That big, selfish moron, his own sister dies and he has the nerve to ask if Iam alright!” Clementina let out a soft chuckle before standing up. She dusted off her clothes before taking a deep breath and speaking, “Let’s go inside, it is cold tonight and I am sure that you would be better off anywhere than there.” My eyes widened and my jaw dropped, “Anywhere but here…” I whispered that was it! “Thank you so much!” I said and gave her a hug before running inside towards the study.
I awoke the next morning to hand on my back shaking me. “Mak?” Aldan said, “Why are you sleeping in my study?” he asked in a concerned tone. I yawned and rub my eye, then pointed down at the book I had been reading. One cannot expect someone to answer questions this close to waking up. “You were researching!” he exclaimed, “I’m so proud,” he said pretending to cry. “Let’s see what you found…” Aldan said as he picked up the book and looked at the section I was using as a pillow. “Portals?” he said as he scratched his head. I got up and began to stretch, “Yeah, the idea came to me because…” I began to say but I was interrupted. “Because portals increase in magical energy use exponentially as the size increases!” Aldan yelled in excitement. “For most mages, portals are merely ways to store items and weapons in a pocket dimension for easy access, but you are small enough to use them to move yourself!” Aldan scrambled for a notepad on his desk and began writing furiously. “This is brilliant, a new way to use a standard utility spell!” he could barely contain his excitement, though the only reason that I could was that I was only half awake. “Breakfast!” I heard Clementina call out. “One moment darling, we have had a breakthrough!” Aldan responded. “I am going to break through your skull if this food gets cold before you eat it!” Clementina yelled. Aldan and I looked at each other gravely, “Coming!” we yelled in unison. As we got to the kitchen Kat entered in too. “Good morning worm-tail, I hope you slept well last night, cus it’s time for some payback for your chewing sounds!” she said while cracking her knuckles. I then rushed up to Katherine and hugged her. “Wha- What’s that for?”, she asked. “Payback,” I said as my eyes began to well up in tears.
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