Chương 11: Chapter Eleven

Mana swirled around my room in tantalizing patterns. Watching them, I can just see the same type of writing Benna used to make my cooling stick before the mana would dance out of my vision. It was as though it was trying to hide from me. Like it didn't want me to see the patterns Benna drew. That's crazy. Isn't it? But what's crazy when it comes to magic? It's magic! Benna didn't hold back on the rooms either. The beds were made from tree roots. Or rather, a tree root. A big one.

That seemed to have grown around the mattress and formed perfectly level stairs leading up to it. I want to be able to do that. I don't know why her and Mom butt heads about it so much. It's not like anyone is limited to a single type of magic. Right? I frown thinking. Benna said that destruction was a good place to start. Implying not. And she admitted to being good at destruction magic also. So it's obviously not a concern. It's probably just friendly rivalry.

I nodded to myself understanding having decided it was fine. All the information was there. And I'm positive I'm putting it together right… mostly. I would learn destruction and creation magic. While selling potions to support myself. And I would be able to start making potions again after this shopping trip. I hope ten silver is enough. I need a mortar, pestle, and small cauldron. With those, I would have the same equipment I was working with in Hindor. After that it was all me!

Plan in place I got out of bed and headed to the washroom. It was strange having water you didn't need to fetch from a well indoors. And where does it take that stuff to anyway? Deciding I didn't want to know, I hurried through getting ready for the day before heading towards the common room. Mom and Neera were already there.

"Morning… ish, Lyra!" Neera greeted me as I came in and sat down.

"Is it really that late?" I asked looking at the window, but I couldn't tell anything other than the sun was all the way up.

"A little before lunch." Mom said.

"But we understand needing to sleep in after almost blowing up the place." Mom slapped Neera on the arm.

"What? It's always hard after exercising a muscle for the first time, or after a long break. And she worked the hell out of her magic yesterday." It wasn't a dream. My head felt woozy.

"Oh, don't listen to Neera." Mom said, seeing my flounder.

"Everyone messes up at first." Neera was nodding.

"You just seem to be bigger than most." I opened my mouth to say something but she continued.

"Let's hope that's a trend that doesn't continue." Mom clapped her hands.

"Shopping!" She said happily then hustled over to the sofa where Boyan had been resting in a bassinet made from green vines. They were rocking him by themselves.

"We're going to look for some more things than just your alchemy gear." Neera was nodding, smiling.

"What else are we getting?" I asked as mom resumed her seat. Boyan made a grab for me, and I caught him before he could meet the floor.

"Clothes!" Neera exclaimed in jubilation. Mom rolled her eyes.

"Yes, clothes. We have to wait until we get home to get your wardrobe, so the tailors have time to do their work. But don't think I haven't noticed that you only have the one set of underclothes." Mom said, wagging her finger at me. At least she did until Boyan grabbed it. Way to go bro!

"We'll be picking you up a few sets. A girl has to be mindful of hygiene. Especially on trips. And you can't always expect me to be there to cast clean on you. In fact, clean is one of the first spells you're going to learn when you can." My eyes went wide, my ears folding back. If I run… Ow! Neera hit me on top of the head with two fingers. Rubbing it I scowled.

"You need them. So don't think you can run away from this. If you do…" Her smile turned dark.

"I'll choose for you." I suddenly felt ice run down my spine.

"Enough of that. Let's get Lyra some food and head out." She stood up, scooping up Boyan along the way. We found the tavern empty when we walked in. I guess, that's to be expected given the time. The mana seemed agitated. Moving between the nature elements of the room in a frenzy only to slow down as it passed a tree or stream. We took a seat and Benna comes over with a plate of eggs and ham and another mug of juice. I immediately put the cooling stick she made me the other night into it.

She frowned at it when I gave it a stir and ice formed.

"Huh. That spell should have faded last night."

"Hmmm?" I asked through a mouthful of egg only to have mom scold me. She picked the stick up and looked at it, carefully making sure the juice didn't drip on the table.

"This should have run out of mana yesterday, but it hasn't. In fact, it looks like it has more mana now than it did when I first cast the spell." She saw me looking at her. I made sure I swallowed.

"How did that happen?" I caught Mom and Neera glance at each other. I frowned. They weren't telling me something. She looked away from the stick and directly at me, her eyes glowing green. I could tell you what she saw, or at least what I think she saw, but I had no idea what conclusions she came to. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"I don't know Lyra. But it's interesting." She put the stick back in my drink.

"Try to keep her from blowing up the place." She said to Mom before heading back to the bar.

"Was I really that close to blowing it up?" I asked before turning back to my food. That glance again. Mom waffled her hand back and forth.

"I'm not sure if I would say close. But, if things had continued…"

"I don't know how much mana you have Lyra, but I would expect two or three people working together to get the…"

"Neera! We don't make assumptions, even generalizations, about each other's stats." Neera shrugged unapologetically.

"Anyway, eat up. Let's get to shopping." We walked to the shops. Mom explained that all the demons tended to gather in the same place. One part protection, two parts trust, or lack of it in this case. When we got there, I could see that trust was lacking. One in every two shops were closed. Some of them with boards nailed over their doors and windows. Others had wagons in front and were packing to leave.

"Is this… normal?" As I looked at the handful of people walking the street.

"No. It's usually a bit more crowded." Mom said.

"And not so deserted." Neera added.

"Is this because of what happened at the gate?" I asked walking around a wagon that had a pile of goods waiting to be loaded into it by two wolf-like people.

"Let's not talk about that dear." Mom said.

"Oh good, it's still open." She took me by the hand and led me into a shop that had various herbs drying in the window. The sign said Mangolia's Bed and Mom let go of me to open the door, then held it open as I entered. The pleasant scent of flowers and spices fragrantly fighting for dominance assaulted me causing me to pause and smile as I simply breath. It was so full of life! So much more than my old master's workshop. I moved aside when Neera nudged me.

The tingling of bells rang deeper in the shop and I looked around. There wasn't anything obviously magical in the shop. But I could see that everything was. Magic was everywhere! Glowing script in pale pink etched along the shelves, shifting and moving along the shelves in ordered lines, as though they were ants returning from harvesting food. The walls, windows, even glass containers all had different script, shifting, dancing, and in some cases hiding in that same pale pink mana.

I frowned as I looked at the floor and the script I was stepping on. Not happy about stepping on the mana… things, I lifted my foot and tapped my toe twice. To my astonishment the mana reacted. Racing away from me, knocking into the mana beside it, and pushing further still. The shift didn't stop until I was standing in a circle completely clear of mana.

"Huh." Mom glanced at me, her eyes glowing faintly gold. A grin tugged her lips before she looked away.

"How can I help… Oh Miranda! I knew you were in town." An old Toordor woman said as she entered the room from the far door. Her hair was white, not gray, and her skin held deep lines from age and the sun. I was glad to see that a lot of those lines looked like happy lines, and not sad ones. She chuckled, her voice as affected by her age as her body. Which was still standing straight.

"I think everyone in the Kingdom knows actually."

"How are you Fenly?" Mom asked walking up to the counter Fenly stopped behind and smiling brightly. Neera was standing next to me, staring at my feet.

"Oh fine. Fine. A lot of people are in a tizzy after you withdrew your support of the Telimet Accords, but really? If I were to be on who would be the first to back out it would be you. I'm frankly surprised you were ever talked into it in the first place." Oh I know Mom's look! That's the slump of someone who doesn't want to talk about something, but the other person won't let it go and there was nothing she could do about it! I look like that a lot!

"What's done is done. Hopefully the warning will be heard." Neera didn't look away from my feet as I walked up to Mom and Fenly. The mana shifted around me, only returning to its original state after I passed.

"Oh it hasn't." Fenly said perfectly cheerful.

"I heard house La'Tithe are positioning themselves to have the High Steward push through a law allowing for the arrest and detaining of anyone deemed to be a danger to the city's magical infrastructure." She was still smiling, but I got the sense that she wasn't happy anymore. She felt horribly sad.

"Are you going to leave?" Mom asked gently, only to be swatted by the woman.

"Goodness no. I've forgotten more about magic then that kid calling himself the High Mage remembers! They'll leave me alone long before I get to any of my good tricks. Besides…" She added trailing off.

"It's mainly the families that are leaving. The ones with young kids. Mine are all grown and off doing whatever it is that they do. Unless the clan calls." She nodded. Her eyes drift to me, and the sadness fades. A new spark entering her eyes.

"What do we have here? I thought Boyan was the first of your new batch of little'uns." She said.

"And aren't you the cutest thing. Didn't stay Toordor, but that doesn't mean you aren't family dear. So keep that chin up. And let me know if there is anything I can do for you." I looked up quickly, a stray bit of mana was working its way past me by trying to quickly go under my foot. Which it seemed to have problems doing.

"Oh! Uhm. We're here for potion making supplies." I said carefully.

"Well, we have all the herbs you could ask for. Well, unless you're trying to brew something rare or… illegal." She examined me again.

"You're not trying to brew something illegal are you?" My eyes shot open and I immediately deny what she was implying only for her to break out in a laugh. Mom was rolling her eyes.

"She always used her… teacher's equipment to make her potions. Now she needs her own. And a book on that explains the basics thinking about it. I'm not sure how comprehensive her past instruction has been." Fenly stopped chuckling.

"Oh, you can't blame me for having a little fun. So you need the basics do you?" She nodded to herself.

"I don't keep them in stock, but if you don't mind used…"

"I don't mind." I piped up immediately.

"In fact, I prefer. I only have ten silver to spend on it so anything we can do to cut the price I would be grateful for."

"Oh that much. That's impressive young lady. Well, I can sell you my old kit if you want it. And my old book I used when learning myself. It might be written on a bit. Is that okay?" I was already nodding before she finished causing her to chuckle. Mom had a small smile on her face as she looked at Fenly, but Neera still hadn't looked up from the floor. I stopped myself from kicking her in the shins for being rude. Fenly disappeared into the back only to reemerge several minutes later with two satchels.

The larger one she set down and opened pulling out a book with worn leather that had bleached over the years, but was otherwise in fine shape having been well cared for. A cauldron, just large enough to brew a single potion sat at the bottom of the satchel with a mortar and pestle nestled inside. They were made from some glossy material I had never seen before. Not iron, like I would expect. And next to them was a intricately carved wooden box. Fenly sees what I'm looking at.

"That's a stand and fire crystals to use with the kit. The fire crystals are better then any flame you could use and offers you excellent temperature control." A fire crystal? What the heck is a fire crystal and how does it allow me to control its temperature? My head swirls with ideas but over all of that… THAT'S AWESOME!

"How much is it?" I asked not thinking I had enough.

"Oh, well since you worked so hard to save up, I guess I have to charge you something hmm? How about nine silver for this?" She said, indicating everything she pulled out. Then she looked at the other bag.

"This old thing was a potion carrying case I used to use. Don't have much use for it anymore. It won't protect the potions if it gets hit by a rock or something, but will keep them whole even with moderate abuse. It holds fifty potions, and I think I might have left a bunch of empty potion vials in it. A silver should do nicely I think." All that for ten silver?!

"If you want it of course." She smiled at me, throwing a wink at Mom who mouthed something that had Fenly waving her away.

"Yes! Yes, please." Fenly took my money and I put the bags around either shoulder. As the second satchel came to rest two elves came in, causing the bells to jingle. Mom shooed me off so she could talk to Fenly, and Neera came with me to look at the herbs. The elves were wearing matching robes with a silver falcon embroidered on their chest. They must be sisters. The bird, depicted diving, is cute. I jerked, pulling my finger to my mouth as pulse of mana pushes the cactus-like plant I was examining into me.

A drop of cyan spread on the plant as I looked at the women who quickly walked between the aisles, and I lost sight of them. I scowled. I don't think that should have happened.

"Come on Lyra. We need to get you clothes and head back before Evan is done for the day." I nodded and was swept up as Mom passed. Neera didn't look up until we were out of the shop.