LaTao fakes a smile and rises. “Yes, Ms Lyttle?” This is bunk! I have no clue what she was talking about! I’ve got to figure it out from the context. Okay, Teach… give me something I can work with.
With all eyes on LaTao, the teacher continues, “Your peer seems to be struggling with the basic defensive concepts. Would you mind giving them a hand?”
“Hmm…” Well… this is so vague. How can I respond? I could ask for clarification! Yeah! LaTao raises her hand.
“You’re already standing, LaTao. The floor is yours.”
“Well, it depends on the specifics of the situation,” the clever Red Apprentice says, still fishing for clues.
As hard as it is to normally see Ms Lyttle’s pupils, her eyes all but disappear as she squints at her stalling student. “...The ‘situation’ is a lightning attack.”
“In that case, I would suggest casting the ‘Wet Fader’ spell.”
“Interesting…” she replies. Her head slightly tilts with intrigue. “Go on….”
LaTao looks around the class to see the eyes locked on her. “Assuming the attack is coming from an Apprentice or even an average-level Mage, this would be the best course of action. First of all, the full incantation can be broken down and just partially spoken. You can omit specifications about the spell’s shape because there’s no exact shape you’re aiming for. This means the ‘Wet Fader’ spell will be spoken in fewer syllables than the general ‘shield’ spell, meaning it can be cast in a hurry, and time is of the essence. Finally, not only is the ‘Wet Fader’ spell less magically demanding, but you can easily cast it using mostly ethis from your surroundings.
“Quickly, and with minimal cost, the magical wall of moisture will disrupt most electric spells and require little effort to maintain. As the erratic field of moisture spreads the effect of the electrical spell, you have more time… this means that the time you would be spending maintaining a shield spell can now be spent casting whatever spell you intend to use in retaliation....” Students once watched, awaiting her failure, but now are gripped in anticipation. Several, including Noa, are writing notes. Two, however, bear a different expression.
Why is Kiara looking at me like I just messed up? Why is everyone acting like what I said was so unexpected? She looks back to find Meeka’s bright blue eyes wide open.
Her friend leans forward and whispers, “She wanted you to recite the basic ‘shield’ spell.”
LaTao returns her attention to the front of the class, where Ms Lyttle is sighing. Should I… say the shield incantation anyway? She crosses her fingers, just in case.
“Miss LaTao… I apologize. I should’ve known better. I mean, I studied with and served beside your mother. LeNaiah is an amazing teacher and was an outstanding Kingdom Mage… but she was a terrible student.” She motions for LaTao to take a seat. “Her body may have been in the classroom, but her mind never was. Her and her sister; The Mischievous Monie and Naiah. It’s hard to believe a rambunctious girl like your mother grew to become such a remarkable teacher… and here you are, her little doppelganger.”
Little? I’m pretty sure you and I are the same height.
She walks from side to side as she continues. “The basic shield spell will create a wall or bubble capable of deflecting all attacks, both physical and magic. As LaTao said, it uses a lot of ethis to maintain that barrier. However, if you can predict the element of the enemy attack, you can use ‘element-specific defensive spells,’ or E.S.D.S., like ‘Wet Fader.’ Knowing such spells can mean life or death in the field of battle… which is why there’s a whole week on this specific subject in the syllabus.”
Her eyes return to LaTao. “I knew you weren’t paying attention… but it’s safe to say you already know this topic.” She returns to the lectern and says, “But again, we’re covering the basics. E.S.D.S.’s are a topic for another week.”
The teacher raises her right hand with her pinky and ring finger crossed. “Anyone care to tell me why LaTao’s fingers were crossed just now?” Many hands rise. Ninifer and Deska are among the few glancing about as if they were lost. “Kiara’s hand rose first. If you would….”
Kiara stands, once again resting a hand on her hip. “It’s so that if you say the words to do a spell, the ethis won’t go thinkin’ you’re seriously sayin’ the sh– stuff. Sorry… ‘stuff.’”
Ms Lyttle sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“I mean, if you say a command in the common tongue and you’re just some average person, nothing will probably happen… but if you say it right and use Ancient Tongue, I mean, duh… you’re literally ‘saying the magic words.’ Whatchu expect to happen? Ain’t that complicated.”
With her fingers still crossed, the teacher points to the center of the room and loudly an the incantation in the ancient tongue. The phrases are unfamiliar to most of the class. A few, however, can make out random terms.
Nothing happens.
The teacher repeats the same phrase, this time without her fingers crossed. She turns, and with a single swipe, the images on the whiteboard disappear. She continues the display with a few choice phrases.
LaTao leans forward in her chair. “Hmmmm….” Something about remembering something. Is that a code? She squints her eyes as if that will make her hear better. Wait… Oh! I see! The enchanted ‘ink’ within the board must have a spell cast to remain in stasis as Ms Lyttle designed! That’s pretty useful. As vocabulary words appear, LaTao nods. That’s pretty awesome! None of my other teachers used that spell!
Once done, the teacher turns to face the class. “Who here can tell me the significance of this list of ingredients?” As she walks from side to side, her class struggles, reading and rereading the list to no avail. “Somebody? Anybody? Guesses?”
LaTao wasn’t going to even look… but the silence is painful. Curiosity wins. She decides to give the list a quick read. Hmmm… everything is grounded to a powder, even the devil’s claw. Bonemeal… hmmm… a few metals in the list. I can think of a few answers, but I can’t quite tell wha–
“Yes. Meeka.”
Meeka stands with a look of pride in her eyes. After clearing her throat, seemingly for effect, Meeka says, “These are the basic ingredients for summoning powder. This particular one seems likely for making Magic Circles.”
“Correct, howev–”
“However, the iron powder is missing. I’d say… for those measurements… about half a teaspoon should suffice.”
“Ah… as expected, Lady Meeka of Astrisia.”
The blonde Apprentice bows before taking a seat with a cocky smirk fighting its way onto her face. She hears LaTao thump her own chest twice, then sees her friend reach her fist back. Meeka immediately thumps her chest, then bumps LaTao’s fist with her own.
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***
LaTao enters the dining hall behind Meeka and the others. She looks up and smiles in awe. That vaulted ceiling gets me every time. We could easily use this room to practice flying, I swear. I love that this school is as ‘prestigious looking’ as its reputation suggests, but it still feels like their budget’s way too high.
The illustrious ceiling arcs three stories above rows of polished, round tables. Natural light shines through its multitude of windows. Between them and along the center are beautiful paintings of the ancient deities. The two most prominent goddesses looking down upon the students below: LuNacia, Goddess of healing, hope, and song, smiling kindly with outstretched arms– and Lalumalu, Goddess of Dark Magic, who seems ready to leap from the painting to attack those she deems unworthy. The paint floats inches from the marble as if trying to pull free from the walls.
As LaTao stares, mesmerized, the other girls march straight to their usual table. The heavy, round, darkwood circle easily seats Meeka’s coven of seven with one chair to spare. Eventually, the awestricken Apprentice joins the table. The girls chat, half-bragging, about how their spring vacations were spent… a subject upon which LaTao cannot chime in. As the others toured fancy resorts or enjoyed shopping sprees, out LaTao was with her best friends, Sage and Kain, risking her life on dangerous quests and adventures… and she knows most of the coven would deem them to be elaborate lies.
Unable to care about their frivolous stories, LaTao continues to look around. I may be the only one here who’s been to a public school. After all these years, I still can’t get over the fact that we order from our tables here. These girls probably would revolt if they had to carry their own food to the table. Will I ever fit in with them?
“Okay, ladies,” Meeka says as the waitress hurries away. “I’ve got two jobs off the board for us this weekend. One’s a lamp lighting assignment, but I made sure it’s in a nice area.”
“Eew,” April whines with rolling eyes. She stares into the mirror of her compact. Her makeup is, indeed, flawless. Her hair hasn’t strayed one bit from being the perfect orange curls she had carefully styled this morning. Her light brown skin is without blemish, but she keeps checking as if a zit might appear any moment now. “Can’t we just pay someone to do this stuff for us?”
Meeka shrugs. “I mean, the ‘service merits’ are for ‘competent magical tasks performed,’ so if we aren’t performing the task, it won’t exactly be much practice for us. We need to chip away at the three hundred merits or we won’t take our Mage tests till we’re old and gray.”
Ethur looks off to the side and whispers, “Don’t ask me how many I have so far.”
April huffs. “I guess… ugh… this food is taking forever.”
LaTao’s right eye twitches. Girl, we literally JUST ORDERED IT!? She resists the urge to ask if April has ever worked a day in her life. The answer is obvious. I have to play nice. Knowing her father, April’s probably gonna grow up to be some bigwig bureaucrat. Future HER can make life for future ME rather difficult. I’ll let her crappy attitude slide for– oh! The food is out already!?
Halfway through her meal, LaTao feels all of their eyes on her. She covers her mouth and says, “What?”
Ethur giggles. “Girl! You’re way off in another world, aren’t you!”
With her mouth still covered, LaTao replies, “Maybe.”
“We were all picking who was doing what on Meeka’s list,” Ethur says. “We three are lamp lighting. Those three are wind-sweeping streets. Meeka has us all in the same borough! Four easy credits, each!”
“Oh,” LaTao says. Her mouth is finally free of food. “Oh, I already have plans.”
Meeka raises her hand. “Stop!” She closes her eyes, presses a finger against her forehead, and pretends to be focusing on something with great intensity. “Let me guess… Sage and Kain?”
“Wow!” LaTao replies with wide amber eyes of faux surprise. “How did you know?”
“Oh, my dear!” Meeka replies with a randomly posh accent. “You know I divine such things from the spirits.”
LaTao leans toward Meeka with wide-eyed awe. “Wow!”
“... and then there’s the fact that those two boys are your only other friends.”
“Hey… quality over quantity. Me and those two could take over the Kingdom if we wanted to.” She forces a chuckle to seem as if she’s exaggerating.
***
Fresh from lunch, LaTao and Meeka’s crew return to class. This time, there are a few new faces. Those who missed the previous lecture are easy to spot, betrayed by sweaty clothes, sunken eyes, and disheveled hair. With looks of dread, they sink into their seats and eye the teacher like leery prey, hoping not to be pounced by the Lyttle ‘lioness.’
Once the door is shut, Ms Lyttle makes eye contact with each of the magically drained students and says, “Good. So you can be taught.”
LaTao smirks.
Ms Lyttle walks to the front of the class. “I reviewed the accreditation status of each of you.” She stands behind her podium and smiles. “At least half of you are taking advantage of the ‘Easy Board’ and have spent the past few years accumulating constant one and two-credit tasks. A number of you have even assisted in tougher tasks. Some of you, however, are excelling at impressive rates… surprisingly impressive.”
LaTao throws her gaze out of the window, lest the teacher expose her zeal. Yeah yeah. We get it. Move on before people think I’m some ‘overachiever’… I mean… I AM, but I don’t want THEM to know that.
“Less than a third of most students become Mages, and that’s fine. There will always be a need for Graduate Apprentices. That being said, I’ve no doubt nearly half of this class are destined to become Mages, in due time.” With eyes shining with optimism, the students share hopeful glances while the teacher prattles on. Their vigor is renewed, and their aspirations are fueled.
“Some of you will be Unit Mages, serving our great kingdom in various capacities. Perhaps you’ll roam the streets beside soldiers, or march ‘round the castle beside knights. A few of you may spend years in laboratories concocting potions, elixirs, and enchanting weapons and armor. Heck… Years from now, one of you may become the Tester that sends the rest of your class’s future kids crying home to them.”
She points to the boy closest to the front of the class. “Dezmon.”
He stands tall with his perfectly curled, shiny black hair. It looks perpetually wet. The long curl dangling at his forehead sways as he awaits the teacher’s command. “Yes, Ms. Lyttle.”
“What is the difference between a WarMage and a BattleMage?”
“A WarMage can make those big spells, like, if you wanted to blow up a whole slew of enemies at once,” he begins with a light and nasal voice, diminishing whatever attraction he once had to those once charmed by his looks. “So like, if you have all day to do it, that’s the way to go.”
Ms Lyttle nods. Her facial expression reads ‘close enough’ as she motions for him to continue.
“BattleMages are, like, you know… super fast. The war ones know the big damage spells and can make a strong magic barrier, but the battle ones have to know, like, a whole lot of different spells for different situations and do them real fast.”
“Correct. WarMages focus on controlling and wielding massive amounts of ethis. That also means you must be okay with knowing that you will possibly be slaughtering people en masse. You also must be prepared to be all that stands between innocent civilians and an invading army. Those willing to bear such a burden are the cornerstone of a kingdom’s defense,” she says with pride.
“BattleMages focus on the ability to cast quickly. BattleMages often accompany soldiers on missions or parties on quests. In duels, you don’t have time to say long, drawn-out incantations, nor will you be able to draw a magic circle. In a life-or-death situation, you won’t have time to whip a book out and look up what spell to use for this or that situation.”
LaTao covers her mouth, holding back a giggle.
“You can’t tell your party, ‘Hold on! I have the perfect spell for this!’ and start flipping through pages!”
LaTao finally lets out a snicker. Luckily, it is accompanied by chuckles throughout the class. The teacher mimes flipping through pages and throwing a finger up as to say “One moment, please.” LaTao shakes her head with a smile on her face.
Satisfied with the applause, Ms Lyttle motions for the class to calm. “In the last weeks of this class, I will be testing how much you can wield, how much you can remember, and how fast you can cast. Until then, I’ll teach you techniques to memorize and tips on how to best react in certain situations.
“Of course, not everyone is meant to be in combat or out there adventuring, so for those of you who are here because your parents want you to have the prestige, no worries. There are plenty of jobs out there for civilians. First and foremost, our libraries, or rather ‘Ethiseaums,’ can only be worked and managed by magic users.
“As you know, one can’t even enter the Mage-level sections of an ethisaeum without the credentials on them. There are also apothecaries throughout the land. Remember, not everything can be cured with a potion or a general ‘heal’ spell.”
The teacher continues with her lecture about the expectations for the semester, to the tune of jotted notes. LaTao’s eyes, however, stare off at the distant trees. Her ears perk when the four-day weekend is mentioned, but by the time Ms. Lyttle mentions the test scheduled for next Forsday, LaTao’s mind is already gone again. She smiles in anticipation of adventures soon to come.
What do you think LaTao needs most right now?
