Chương 35: Chapter 34: Witch, Please!

Little Yara held out both hands.

"Pass him here, then. Let us see what you have done to your throat." The seriousness in her voice was unusual coming from someone so young, but Ren appreciated it. Whoever had taught her had done a good job. Tessa transferred him carefully. Little Yara settled Ren against one arm and pressed two fingers beneath his jaw. Her grip was steady as she tilted his head toward the light, checked his mouth, and lightly felt along his throat.

"He has been making lots of sounds," Tessa said.

"Has he now?" Yara encouraged Ren to make one. He obliged with a hoarse baby noise, and her eyes remained on his face as she listened. She checked his forehead, then watched him swallow.

"No fever. No swelling worth fretting over." She glanced at Tessa.

"He has strained his voice, unless he spends his nights arguing with ghosts."

"He does practice a lot."

"Then his diligence has outrun his good sense." … Ren could hardly object. Little Yara carried him toward the worktable while she spoke with Tessa. She selected a narrow bottle, uncorked it, and added several drops to a spoon before mixing them with warm water. Ren watched every movement. The bottles, dried herbs, carved pieces, and colored threads offered more useful possibilities than he could sort at once. Yara knew medicine. She made charms. She had filled an entire room with things he could not yet understand.

Or her master did? Ren did not know for certain. And there was still the candy. Tessa hovered beside the table with the treasury pouch clutched in both hands.

"Will that make him better?"

"It should soothe the irritation. Rest will accomplish the remainder, provided your brother can be persuaded to stop exercising his throat."

"He is very stubborn!"

"So I gathered." Yara touched the spoon to Ren's lips. He tasted something bitter and cool beneath the warm water. He swallowed carefully. The roughness remained, but the scrape eased quickly enough to make the effort worthwhile. Little Yara watched his reaction.

"Better?" Ren almost nodded. He stopped the movement before it became too deliberate and reached toward the spoon instead. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Uh oh, had she noticed him stop the nod? Yara returned the bottle to the shelf and continued talking with Tessa about how often Ren could take the mixture. Ren followed her hand when it passed a carved disk, then shifted his gaze to the thread binding a small bundle near the window. Yara noticed and moved the bottle. Ren ignored it and kept looking at the charm.

When her attention returned to him, he had his second confirmation that she was watching what he chose rather than merely where his eyes wandered. He waited until she turned back to Tessa, then leaned toward the worktable and reached directly for the carved disk rather than the bright bottle beside it. Little Yara caught his wrist before his fingers reached the thread.

"Not that one, little one." Ren looked from her hand to her face. She had distinguished intention from ordinary grabbing without hesitation, which made her worth testing further. Tessa continued explaining the treasury rules the kids set up, unaware of the quieter exchange. Ren pointed toward the charm, then toward Yara. She went still, her gaze moving to Tessa before returning to him.

"You wish to know whether I made it?" Ren nodded. The movement was slow, controlled, and impossible to mistake for a wobble. Little Yara studied him, and Ren held her gaze. She had noticed him at the door, tracked what he watched inside, and understood the question he had formed without words. Hiding more would only waste the chance he had come to find.

"Teach," he whispered. Little Yara's expression did not change, but her fingers tightened slightly around his wrist. Tessa stopped talking. Yara's eyes glinted. Her face sharpened into sudden focus.

"Level four?" she said.

"You have been a busy baby." Ren stilled. The last time he tried Appraising somebody else, nothing showed up, but as it turned out the Little Lady Witch had no such limitation. Anxiety gripped him even as his mind idly wondered what level his Appraisal needed to be for that to become possible.

"And you have Mana Sense and…" Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Mana Manipulation?" Tessa glanced between them.

"He has what?" Ren nodded before Yara could answer. Whatever amusement had remained in Little Yara's face disappeared. She lowered herself until her eyes were level with his.

"Boy, if you understand me half as well as you appear to, do not attempt to make anything with mana without proper training. Especially no Invocation." Ren held her gaze.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Say it."

"No Invo-ca-tion."

"Again." This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. He dutifully repeated. She watched him for another moment before releasing his wrist.

"Mana is eager," Yara said.

"Once it begins following an intention, it may continue farther than you meant it to. And someone like you, clever enough to speak this young, may decide to experiment with voice and push mana into it merely to discover what happens." Ren had not considered that yet. Now he had. Little Yara's eyes narrowed.

"DO NOT do it. Especially no Invocation," she repeated.

"It is one of the easiest ways to hurt yourself before you understand what you are doing. You might damage your throat, lose control of what you begin, or kill yourself." Tessa tightened her hold on Ren's shoulder.

"He already hurt his throat."

"With ordinary practice," Yara said.

"Let us not improve upon the mistake." Ren disliked how reasonable that sounded. He pointed toward the floor.

"Down." Yara lowered him carefully, watching throughout. His feet met the boards. Ren steadied himself against the table leg, found his balance, and took three deliberate steps before stopping beside her stool. Tessa beamed as though she had personally invented walking. Little Yara looked from Ren to Tessa.

"How long has he been doing this?"

"A little while," Tessa said.

"It's a secret!"

"I gathered as much." Ren pointed toward the shelves, then toward Yara.

"Teach me. Please." Little Yara lifted Ren back onto the stool and returned to the worktable, but not to the medicine. She took down the charm beside the rear window and placed it in front of him. Three carved pieces had been bound with white thread around a dark seed.

"First, show me what you can do without straining." Ren reached for Mana Sense. The charm pressed faintly against his awareness, distinct from the warmth beneath his skin. He drew a little mana upward. It moved, but the moment he tried to guide it toward the charm, the thread slipped sideways and dispersed. Little Yara watched without interrupting. Ren gathered another trace and pushed more carefully. This time it reached farther before losing shape.

"Enough," she said. He stopped before the pressure behind his eyes could build. Yara turned the charm once between her fingers.

"You can move mana, but you cannot hold a direction at all." Ren frowned, then nodded.

"And your sensing is broad. You notice that something is there, but not how it is arranged." That was… a fair assessment. And explained why the charm felt like pressure instead of separate pieces. Little Yara returned the charm to the window and crouched beside a cabinet beneath the worktable.

"I have something more suitable." Ren leaned forward as far as the stool allowed while she opened it and searched inside. Yara withdrew a short wand made from three fitted wooden sections. Small charms had been embedded at different points along its length. She placed it on the table in front of him.

"This is for learning to push mana into objects," she said.

"Begin with the first section. Once you can use it reliably, move to the second, then the third. Each offers more resistance than the one before it." Ren reached toward the nearest charm. Yara shifted the wand beyond his fingers.

"I am still speaking." He withdrew his hand.

"You will not force mana through it. You will stop when your head begins to hurt, and you will not attempt to take it apart." A smug little curve touched her mouth.

"I believe you will enjoy the results." Ren looked along the three sections again. She had deliberately not told him what those results were. …That just made him want to try it right away. Yara reached into the cabinet once more and removed a smooth wooden ball. Fine seams divided its surface into layered curves, each covered in shallow carved patterns.

"This trains Mana Sense and Mana Manipulation together." Tessa leaned closer.

"It is a ball."

"It is several." Yara traced one of the outer patterns with a fingertip.

"Follow the pattern with your senses, then guide your mana through it. Complete it correctly, and the outer layer will unlock to reveal the next."

"How many are inside?" Tessa asked.

"A few." Tessa pouted, but Yara just turned the ball in her hands, revealing denser carvings continuing around the other side.

"When you can open the final layer easily, both skills should have reached approximately level fifteen." Ren stared at it. Ten levels of training built into a wooden puzzle. His master was amazing! Yara placed the ball beside the wand and folded her hands behind her back. Satisfaction radiated from her despite the careful neutrality of her expression.

"I made them in case some child happened to require suitable instruction."

"Just in case?" Tessa asked.

"Preparation is a virtue!" Ren looked from the little wand to the layered ball, then up at Yara's poorly hidden smugness.

"Cute," he said. Tessa followed his gaze, and her grin widened.

"Yes, Lady Witch is cute!" Yara's satisfaction vanished.

"I am not!"

"You made little magic toys for children!" Tessa pointed out.

"They are training implements."

"Cute training implements!"

"Hmph," a faint flush crept into Yara's cheeks.

"I simply did not expect the child using them to be a baby." Ren placed one hand on the nearest section of the wand before she could take it away. The embedded charm pressed faintly against Mana Sense. Yara tapped his fingers.

"Not today." Ren looked up.

"You have strained your throat and nearly given yourself a headache in my workroom. Today, you take the medicine and rest." His shoulders lowered.

"Tomorrow, you may begin with the first section and the outer pattern. Brief attempts only." Ren nodded.

"No trying anything weird," Yara continued.

"No forcing mana into patterns. Especially no Invocation."

"No Invo-cation," Ren repeated.

"Good." Then, Little Yara took several wrapped herb candies from the narrow jar and counted them into the pouch. Tessa watched each one fall in with growing delight.

"Those are for the Treasury?"

"They are. For you, and for helping your brother."

"All of them?"

"You carried him here, explained his condition, and will apparently be responsible for stopping him from killing himself with Invocation." Tessa tightened the pouch at once.

"Yes! I can do that!" Ren looked at her. She looked back.

"... Um, probably?" Noise rose from the garden before Yara could answer.

"We found them!" The door opened, and the other children crowded inside with leaves and white flowers clutched in both hands. Lysa entered first, carrying her herbs carefully by the stems. Pella and Davi followed with smaller bundles. Corin had gathered twice as much mint as anyone else and looked proud of the excess. Niko held several crushed leaves in one fist and a single intact flower in the other. Little Yara inspected their work.

"These are good," she told Lysa, and Lysa straightened.

"These are also good," she said to Pella and Davi. Corin presented his armful.

"I found the most."

"You certainly removed the most." His pride weakened. Then Yara reached Niko and looked at his fist. Niko opened it. The mint had become green paste.

"I carried it firmly," he explained.

"So I see." Little Yara accepted the surviving flower, then patted him on the head.

"You all helped. Therefore, you all earned another." The children gathered around the dish while she handed out the promised sweets. Tessa guarded the treasury pouch with both hands when Niko looked toward it. Once the rewards had been distributed, Yara wrapped the three-part wand and handed it to Tessa. The wooden ball followed, cradled separately in her other arm.

"Take him home," Yara said.

"He rests today." Tessa nodded with all the solemnity of a child entrusted with treasure, medicine, magical equipment, and a dangerously ambitious baby at the same time. Little Yara fixed Ren with one final look.

"What are you not going to attempt?"

"Invo-cation."

"Then from now on, you are my student. Visit whenever you wish."

"Thank. Master." Tessa shifted the wooden ball securely into the crook of one arm, then reached into the treasury pouch and unwrapped one of the pale green sweets. She secretly held it to Ren's mouth. Ren sucked slowly on the herb candy. Cool mint eased the last scrape in his throat while he looked between the wrapped wand and the patterned wooden ball. Little Yara knew medicine, charms, and exactly how dangerous his ideas could become.

Better yet, she had already built training tools for problems he had barely begun to understand. He might have just found an amazing magic teacher! The future was looking bright.