[33] Bless the Forest Father


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tanisha originally thought she had decent flexibility. Her confidence in that quickly changed as the exercise continued. She never thought that stretching would tire her out. However these stretches required bnce and proper cing of every limb. Not to mention her breathing, which Joha had to correct what felt like every other breath. Slow, deep and controlled breathing was an important focus of each position.


    <span style="font-weight:400">There was a fluidity to the motions that Tanisha could see her one day enjoying. That day was far off, as today she struggled to keep her breathing under control while also focusing on bnce and cement. She felt like Joha had made her run several miles by the end of the hour and a half they trained.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That will be all for now,” Joha said as he corrected her posture on thest position. “We will start basicbat form this afternoon. For now…” He held out his hand. “Helina.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tanisha hadn’t even noticed the small goblin woman until Joha drew attention to her. She plopped down onto her butt as soon as Joha said she was done. She lost control of her breathing as she leaned backward on her arms, looking up at the sky for a moment before closing her eyes.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, my she looks tired,” Helina said as her soft footsteps drew closer. “You didn’t go easy on her at all.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“All we did was light stretching. She is fine,” Joha responded. “Are you able to test her magic aptitude?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, but it won''t be as urate as what I am sure her academy did,” Helina stated, sitting down in front of Tanisha. “This is more like a goblin way to go about it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tanisha sat up and saw that Helina held six orbs, each with a different color. She tried to copy Helina’s lotus sitting position as best she could, failed, and went for legs crossed instead. Tanisha was actually already familiar with this version of the test aptitude test. Each orb represented one of the six magical disciplines; nature, starlight, darkness, elemental, spellcraft and anti-magic.


    <span style="font-weight:400">A mage would have a strong affinity towards one of the magical disciplines, causing that orb to float and glow. They would be able to master that discipline to its apex if given the proper training and time to explore it. A wizard, on the other hand, wouldn’t have any affinities and would find all disciplines equally as difficult to learn and impossible to master.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Everything alright?” Helina asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tanisha was caught off guard by the question and realized she had been staring at the orbs in Helina’s hands for a full minute without speaking.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wh-huh? Yes, sorry I have seen this test before. I didn’t have an affinity,” Tanisha said. “After I failed the test Salstar’s patriarch put me through, he had me tested in every way imaginable.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, I see. Well, this time we are just trying to see the best way to train you,” Helina stated.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tanisha responded in an airy breath. “I know.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Helina handed Tanisha the orbs, each one about the size of a grape and made from colored ss. There were fine ridges along the outside of each one, creating a magic diagram along the surfaces. Tanisha rolled the six orbs in her hand and waited for instruction.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Okay, make your hand a cup with all six in the center.” Helena exined, and waited for Tanisha toply. “Good, now focus mana into your hands. There is no need for incantations with this one.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Like this?” Tanisha asked as her mana flowed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The orbs rattled in her hands for a moment, then stopped with no further reaction. Tanisha sighed and lowered her head, reaching out to hand Helina back the orbs. She knew nothing would happen. Yes, casting wind hand and using her mana was easier but she wasn’t a mage after all. She swallowed her disappointment but it was expected.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Helina pushed her hands away. “More mana this time, try again.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tanisha’s shoulders drooped as she looked at the colored marbles, but she took another breath. She wanted to just drop them and walk away. She knew it wouldn''t work; why try again when she was going to get the same result? She wasn’t a mage even if she wanted to be. That wasn’t how it works. You were born a mage or you weren’t. In the same way you could use magic or you couldn’t.


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">Well, whatever, once more with more mana then we can put his whole thing behind us</i><span style="font-weight:400">, Tanisha thought to herself.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She focused more mana from her core into her hands, this time saturating the orbs with it. The orbs rattled, faster this time, then one by one they stopped; white, purple, clear, ck. However blue and green kept moving; the ridges of blue started to glow, and it rose a few inches above the others. Tanisha froze, her eyes open wide in shock, amazement, fear, she didn’t know what she felt in that moment. She was a mage, she was a mage! She couldn’t believe it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Blue-blue, blue! Helina, what does that mean?” Tanisha asked, bouncing up and down.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Blue is… wait.” Helina stopped her exnation as she stared down at the orbs.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tanisha looked down at the marble, and after a few seconds the ridges of the green one started to glow. It too rose in the air. The green and blue marbles spun around each other as if orbiting an invisible sun in the middle of her hand. Tanisha stopped the flow of her magic and they dropped.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What does that mean?” Tanisha asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Helina hastily took the orbs from her hand and in a moment the blue one rose in the air. Tanisha could tell that Helina was using far more mana than she had. The orb stopped floating, and she examined each one for something. After a few minutes of this she handed the orbs back to Tanisha and told her to try again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tanisha was confused but did exactly as she was told. This time she put even more of her mana into her hand, and the blue and green rose together almost immediately. Helina observed, but she seemed almost mad at the result. She snatched the orbs out of the air then the remaining four from her hands.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What the fuck?” Helina asked as she looked at the orbs.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh?” Tanisha questioned.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Joha bent down. “Is something wrong?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What does that mean?” Tanisha asked. “Am I a mage or what?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No one can have two affinities. Blue is nature magic and green is elemental. White, starlight; purple, spellcraft; clear, anti-magic; ck, darkness.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Two rose, what does that mean?” Joha asked. “Two affinities?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s impossible,” Tanishaughed. “No can have two affinities. That’s only talked about in myths and legends.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why can’t someone have two?” Joha pressed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Helina spoke while she again used the orbs herself. “A person’s magic core is uniform. It can grow in size, it can be manipted, but you can’t change its nature any more than you can change the color of the sun. That is why it is difficult to impossible for someone with one affinity to learn magic in another discipline. The magics just aren’tpatible that way.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What would it take for someone to have two affinities, then?” Joha asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Helina stopped manipting her mana and looked at the orbs in her hand.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I am not a magic schr or anything, but someone with more than one affinity would have a core that is so chaotic it would be a miracle to… use magic at all.” Helina looked Tanisha in the eyes. “May I see your magic core.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uhhh yeah sure,” Tanisha stated. “I’ve always had a chaotic core.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The goblin woman stood up and ced a hand on Tanisha’s chest over her heart. Her other hand touched the center of Tanisha’s forehead. She closed her eyes, then after a second she gasped and stepped back.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wh-what? How can you use magic at all with that core?” Helina looked dumbfounded.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I alway had a hard time with it. That’s why I was disowned,” Tanisha responded quickly. “It was only after I formed a contract with Bjorn could I use magic like I can now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Let’s not say anything official yet,” Helina said as she pocketed the orbs. “I will ask some of the other wendigo to try the orbs. Maybe it is because of some difference in our species. These orbs were meant to test goblins after all.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Helina quickly walked off towards the camp, leaving Joha and Tanisha in the field. Tanisha looked down at her hands. The test may have been off but she still raised the orbs, meaning she had an affinity. She was a mage, she couldn’t believe it. She was a mage, finally, after all this time and pain and rejection and ridicule, she was a mage.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Bless the Forest Father!” she eximed as she jumped to her feet.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm. You still have so much energy?” Joha asked with a smirk.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Therge, heavy bag she had to carry on her first day appeared in a puff of red mist.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No.” Tanisha slumped. “I can’t just celebrate a little?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Johaughed, his deep voice sounded like rolling thunder “We will have delicious meat for lunch to celebrate, but you missed a day. This will make up for it.”