《Spear of Aiste》 1 – A beautiful day ¡°You¡¯re hiding in here again?¡± The boy¡¯s head rose from the book he was immersed in. He recognized the voice, and he knew the man would find him here eventually. He knew the boy well. This shoddy log cabin full of books was his favorite place. The boy would come here to read and avoid the outside world. ¡°Come out. Your father¡¯s been searching for you¡­ if he finds you here, he¡¯s going to punish me too!¡± The boy hesitated. He most certainly didn¡¯t want to come out. But he also knew it was hopeless; the punishment would come eventually. If only he wasn¡¯t a coward, maybe he¡¯d come out and spare his friend from any consequences ¨C like the heroes in the books. ¡°Please, Spear! Don¡¯t make me drag you out¡­ You know I have no choice!¡± ¡°But you are the wizard!¡±, the boy finally spoke, revealing his presence behind a huge pile of books. Not that Jeneth, the village wizard, had any doubt that Spear was hiding in his home. ¡°You know as well as I do that that¡¯s worth nothing around here!¡± Silence. Motes of dust could be seen in the sunlight filtering through little gaps in the roof. The most magic the wizard ever used was to keep rainwater off his books, which were just scattered without any apparent organization in piles and shelves everywhere, with barely the space to walk around. Not that there were that many books ¨C Spear had probably read them all by now; it was just that the place was really small. Being the wizard was indeed not worth very much in the village of Dustwater. The boy shuffled uncomfortably. He still didn¡¯t really want to come out. He just wanted to curl up and hide for the rest of his life. Jeneth sighed. ¡°You know that I would help you if I could. You¡¯re the only one with half a brain around here. But you have to get out now.¡± Spear finally came out, putting his book on top of the pile he was hiding behind. His shoulders were slumped, his face the expression of dread. He looked like a prisoner walking to their execution. In fact, an execution sounded like a good deal to him at the moment. A swift end to his cursed existence. Dragging his feet, he finally walked outside the door; sighing again, the wizard closed the door. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining, fluffy white clouds adorning the sky. Birds were twittering, flowers were blooming, the trees¡¯ leaves were rustling under a gentle breeze. Spear couldn¡¯t see any beauty in it, though. He didn¡¯t notice any of those things ¨C except for the sun hurting his eyes. He fantasized about running away from the village and going as far as the end of the world; he didn¡¯t believe for a moment that he¡¯d be able to. He tried to think of somewhere else to hide, but nothing came to mind; he kept wandering aimlessly, hoping to delay the inevitable. ¡°There you are! You useless coward! You¡¯ll regret wasting my time!¡±, he heard the booming voice of the General ¨C his father ¨C and flinched. He wasn¡¯t really a general, mind you, as there was no army to speak of in the village. But he didn¡¯t like to be called leader or chief; he fashioned himself to be a mighty general and the village to be his army. He grabbed Spear and started dragging him toward the square. He certainly didn¡¯t avoid hurting him in the process. The boy tried his best to hold back tears ¨C crying would only make the General more furious. ¡°Your brother Whip will take care of your punishment¡±, he said with the hint of a smile on his face. Whip was already waiting in the square, in front of a wooden post, the weapon he was named after in his hands, smirking. ¡°No! Please, no! I¡¯ll do anything you say! Please!¡± Spear couldn¡¯t avoid sobbing anymore, horror in his face; he uselessly struggled; he was dragged with little difficulty, his shirt removed, finally tied to the post. He kept sobbing uncontrollably while the General looked with disgust. ¡°Damn coward! I should have never expected anything from the likes of you!¡±, he spat. Whip enjoyed Spear¡¯s wailing as he lashed out on his back. After the third lash, the boy passed out and stopped making noises, slumped on the post, blood drizzling down his back. ¡°The weakling has already passed out!¡± Whip¡¯s face was full of disappointment. Then it was lit by an idea: ¡°father, may I continue once he wakes up?¡± The man shook his head slowly, ¡°Do whatever you want with him, he¡¯s useless to me.¡± He turned and left. A huge grin spread across Whip¡¯s face. The sun was shining, fluffy white clouds adorned the sky; birds were twittering, flowers were blooming and leaves were rustling under a gentle breeze. It was a beautiful day indeed, while Spear lay unconscious, tied to a wooden post, in the middle of the square, with Whip waiting with anticipation next to him. ? ? ? ¡°Spear, wake up!¡± Jeneth was whispering while shaking the boy¡¯s shoulder. It was a dark night with just a sliver of moon. Sara, Spear¡¯s sister, was next to him, looking around to make sure nobody could see them. The boy had been unconscious for hours, still tied to the post. He had woken up, not long after the first time he passed out, and Whip had eagerly resumed with his lashings, which caused him to quickly pass out again, to the great disappointment of his brother. ¡°Wake up, come on!¡± Spear groggily opened up his eyes. His entire body was in pain, except for the parts he couldn¡¯t feel anymore at all. His mind was too addled to understand what was happening. Jeneth was cutting the ropes that tied him to a wooden post. Once he was done, the boy fell to the ground, barely able to move and still confused. ¡°Drink this¡±, said the wizard, shoving a nasty potion down Spear¡¯s throat. The boy coughed a few times, and quickly started to regain some sense. The pain didn¡¯t fade. ¡°I already put an unguent on your back. It will prevent infection and help healing. There¡¯s no time. You have to get up.¡± Then, facing Sara, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have let you convince me to do this, there¡¯s no doubt that we¡¯ll be in big trouble when they find out!¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The girl ignored him and grabbed her brother¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Damn you Spear, all you had to do was endure for a few more years and we could have left together once we became adults! But I can¡¯t see you like this, and now you¡¯ll just be Whip¡¯s plaything or even be killed. You need to leave now!¡± She pressed a bag on his chest and continued: ¡°Here are a few coins and some food. It¡¯s not nearly enough but it¡¯ll have to do.¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Spear was still confused. The girl continued, ¡°Our dear brother got bored after a while waiting for you to wake up and decided to leave. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be back in the morning but he could decide to come back at any time. Hopefully everyone¡¯s asleep right now and you can just leave the village.¡± Spear¡¯s brain was getting clearer. ¡°Leave? How? Where would I go?¡± ¡°Just hide somewhere nearby, I¡¯ll come find you in a few days. You just need to make sure Whip doesn¡¯t find you first. I doubt the General will bother searching for you.¡± She said ¡°the General¡± with all the sarcasm she could muster. ¡°The guards will never let me out! Besides, I¡¯ll never survive outside the village!¡± Sara snorted, ¡°Those guards are sleeping soundly at this hour, it¡¯s not like there are any competent people in this stupid village! And¡­ I think your chances are better outside than tied to this pole.¡± The boy didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. He was too scared to leave. But, at the same time, he¡¯d do anything to escape further lashings, and he couldn¡¯t even imagine what else his brother would come up with to torture him. He tried to get up, but the pain stopped him; tears started flowing down his face again. Jeneth grabbed him and helped him up, while looking around for any sign of discovery. After a bit, Spear regained the ability to speak. ¡°Even if the guards are sleeping, they are sure to wake up if we open the gate¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s what the wizard is here for!¡± the girl said with a wide smile. Jeneth wasn¡¯t amused, he clearly didn¡¯t want to be here. Spear was quickly running out of excuses. They started walking toward the gate, though the boy was basically being carried along. The two guards were indeed sound asleep. One of them was, incredibly, sleeping upright, leaning on his spear. That must require some skill, the girl thought. She turned to face Jeneth, who said ¡°be quick!¡± and started concentrating. Spear was now able to walk a little bit, and Sara went to open the gate. The wizard¡¯s magic suppressed any noise, and it opened silently. She hurried her brother along. ¡°Just go hide somewhere. I¡¯ll come find you as soon as I can.¡±, she whispered, then closed up the gate. The boy was standing outside the village, alone, trying to muster the courage to walk away. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll be lucky enough to find a quick death in the belly of some beast¡­¡±, he mumbled to himself. He slowly, painfully started walking away from the village. ? ? ? Spear woke up in the late morning. He was laying in the trunk of a weirdly shaped tree, mostly hidden by bushes and other undergrowth. It wasn¡¯t a great place to sleep, but it was the best he was able to find last night, given his condition. He was still pretty close to the village, and as he regained his senses and remembered where he was and why, he was quite surprised they hadn¡¯t found him already. He was really sore from sleeping in a weird position and hard, uneven surfaces; the pain in his back had faded a bit, but it was still pretty bad. He was able to get up, but his body was very much unhappy with that; he scanned his surroundings to make sure he was alone and it would be safe to come out of the bushes. For quite some time, he considered just giving up and laying there, waiting for whatever horror may come next; instead, he started walking farther away from the village, hoping to get some distance and to find a proper hiding place. He lazily nibbled on the food that Sara had put in the bag she gave him. After walking for quite a while, he decided that this plan of hers was a really bad one. First of all, he had no idea how she was so confident she could find him ¨C he imagined that if he made it easy for her, it would be easy for Whip too; and if he did his best to hide himself from his brother or any search party, then certainly Sara wouldn¡¯t have any hope of finding him first. All this was even assuming that she could get out to search for him without raising any issues. There was a decent chance that his father had already guessed who had helped him escape; and if not, sneaking out to find him would raise his suspicion, to say the very least. Maybe she had concocted some plan where she could get Jeneth to help her with magic? He was not aware of the village wizard being able to do anything like that, and he doubted his friend would put himself under such risk. No, he really didn¡¯t think any of this made any sense. Even if he told himself to trust his sister, this wouldn¡¯t be a long term solution. In the best of cases, he¡¯d still have to make it out on his own after whatever help Sara would bring him. He decided: there was no point in following her plan, it just couldn¡¯t work. His best bet was to walk to another village, far away enough that news of his arrival wouldn¡¯t reach his family, and try to convince the local wizard to hire him as an assistant; in any case, it seemed that the worst he could find in another village would still be better than what was waiting for him in his own. He could teach other kids to read and write, at the very least, and there would be a good chance any wizard would be grateful for being relieved of that chore. The bad news was, he¡¯d never been outside Dustwater, and he didn¡¯t really know where and how far away other villages were. He knew, from reading Jeneth¡¯s books, of the kingdom capital, Redoaks city; but that was supposedly too far away in the north to reach by walking. He doubted he¡¯d survive the journey. He¡¯d love to get there eventually, he¡¯d dreamed so many times of going to the Wizard Academy ¨C just a dream, he knew, but even being able to see the capital with his own eyes would be beyond what he ever imagined. Well, none of this would help him right now. He resolved to find a road. If he was careful enough, he¡¯d be able to follow it to a village without being noticed by anyone. Actually, maybe he could join a merchant caravan going away from Dustwater¡­ would his coins be enough to get to the next village? He didn¡¯t know, but it was worth asking. This was good ¨C it was all pretty uncertain but there was actually a decent chance of things working out ok. Definitely much better than finding a hiding place in the woods, and either being eaten by some beast or being found by his brother. His body was still in pain, but his mood improved. He was able to walk more briskly. He was confident he¡¯d be able to find a road before the end of the day. ¡°What do we have here?¡± Startled, Spear turned to his right. A bandit! The boy¡¯s face paled and his brain was jumbled by fear. He stood there frozen. ¡°A kid alone in the woods? Didn¡¯t they teach you it¡¯s dangerous, boy?¡±, the bandit said, smirking. Run, run, the boy tried to think. But his body didn¡¯t move. ¡°You don¡¯t even look like someone who has things of value with them¡­¡± The bandit frowned. Spear managed to take half a step back. Then a sharp pain in the back of his head. Then blackness. ¡°There¡¯s just a few coins here¡­¡± Another bandit had sneaked behind the boy and hit him with the hilt of his dagger; then he knelt to check the contents of the kid¡¯s bag and told his partner. ¡°This wasn¡¯t even worth the time, what do we do with a kid now?¡± ¡°I never expected him to have anything. We¡¯ll sell him as a slave, a kid is worth quite a bit.¡±, the first bandit said, quite pleased with himself. 2 – Could this get any worse? The carriage jolted from the uneven road. Carriages were a rarity on this road; it was much more common to see a farmer¡¯s cart, or occasionally a merchant caravan. Fancy people didn¡¯t travel here. Not that the person inside the carriage thought it was fancy; quite the opposite, in fact, and very uncomfortable given the state of the road. She was pretty displeased at the moment; the entire journey had been for naught. A very uncomfortable waste of time. Another bump, and she swore under her breath. Could this get any worse? She¡¯d traveled from Redoaks city to a town in the south. The town had been getting prosperous in recent years because of trade, and a couple of merchant families had risen to wealth and status. She had gone to promote her private school, hoping to gain at least a new student or two, but none had joined. She knew that it was important even to just create some new connections, so technically the journey had been worth it, but she couldn¡¯t help feeling otherwise. All she was bringing back was a sore bottom. The carriage suddenly stopped. She heard a yelp from the driver outside, and some other voice. She opened the door to step outside and see what was happening, but was stopped by a dagger pointed to her throat. She looked in disbelief at the bandit holding the dagger in his right hand; in his other hand he held a rope which was tied around a kid who looked as deflated and defeated as anyone could possibly look. ¡°Glad you joined us; I¡¯m feeling quite generous today, so if you give us all your valuables and the carriage, we¡¯ll leave you completely unharmed.¡±, a voice said from the front of the carriage. She turned to see another bandit, holding a bow with a nocked arrow pointed to her driver. This must be the one who stopped the carriage. ¡°What¡¯s with the kid?¡± Raising an eyebrow, she asked the bandit in front, who appeared to be in charge. The other bandit pushed his dagger closer to her throat and barked: ¡°You don¡¯t get to ask questions!¡±. She sighed and turned to look at the one threatening her. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m already in a very bad mood, if you don¡¯t leave right now you¡¯re going to regret this very much.¡± The bandit in front of her was surprised by her tone, while the one in charge frowned and said: ¡°Well, you just lost the chance of being left unharmed!¡± The bandit with the dagger attempted to stab her in the shoulder. But, shockingly, the blade crumbled like it was made of dirt. Before even having the time to be surprised, the bandit grabbed with both hands at his throat, suddenly unable to breathe. The bandit with the bow quickly turned towards her and loosed the arrow. It, however, swerved to the side as if blown away and didn¡¯t even land close. The shooter also started suffocating. Both bandits dropped to the ground after a few seconds, still thrashing. After a while, they passed out and stilled. The passenger stepped out of the carriage and turned to the kid, who was still looking at his feet and seemed to not have noticed what happened, dazed. ¡°Joe, help me tie them up. Ugh, we¡¯ll have to drag them to the nearest village or something. I almost want to leave them tied up on the road¡­¡±, she said addressing the driver, who was still quite surprised by the turn of events and took a while to move. The woman moved to untie the kid, who suddenly realized that something strange was going on. ¡°What¡¯s your name? What happened to you?¡± she asked him. He looked at her confused. Then he looked around and saw the carriage, and the two bandits on the ground. Wide eyed he turned back to look at her. He saw a rather plump woman dressed in expensive clothes. ¡°Can¡¯t you hear?¡± she said, busy undoing the knot. ¡°I¡­ what¡­ how¡­¡± the boy finally spoke, still wide eyed. The woman asked again, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ Spear¡­¡± he said, finally free of the rope. ¡°What happened to you?¡± she repeated her previous question. ¡°I¡­ they¡­ I think they said they were going to sell me as a slave¡­¡± the boy finally answered. ¡°Slave? Are there slavers around here? Damn, we¡¯ll have to bring those two back to the capital to be interrogated¡­ I doubt we can trust any of the villages around here to do that¡­ Ugh¡­¡±, she said while dragging one of the bandits to tie him to the other with the help of her driver. ¡°Did they kidnap you?¡± She asked the boy. ¡°They surprised me in the woods¡­ How did you¡­¡± Then, a sudden realization hit him: ¡°Are you a wizard?¡±, he asked, his eyes once again as wide as can be. ¡°Yes.¡± was her answer; ¡°What were you doing alone in the woods? Did you get lost?¡± He didn¡¯t answer, instead, he ran to her and started begging: ¡°Please! Please! Take me with you! Teach me! I¡¯ll do anything you want! Please!¡± She was startled, then shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly, we have to bring you back to your family. They must be worried sick.¡± The boy recoiled. ¡°No! Anything but that! I can¡¯t go back!¡± He took a few steps back. ¡°Did you run from home?¡± She asked with a raised eyebrow. The bandits were tied and laid back on the ground. Joe had taken their weapons and put them in a box on the carriage. ¡°I¡¯m sure your family will be happy to have you back safe and they¡¯ll forgive whatever has happened before.¡± The boy shook his head and attempted to turn and run away. Quickly realizing his intentions, she grabbed him and held him firmly. ¡°I can¡¯t leave you here! Don¡¯t you realize how dangerous it is? You were lucky these two idiots decided to attack an unguarded carriage. What will you do if you stumble upon more bandits? Or a beast?¡± The boy started sobbing. ¡°Please! Don¡¯t bring me back! Please!¡± His words became less and less intelligible as his crying intensified. He started looking as defeated as the first time she saw him. She sighed. Could this get any worse? ? ? ? After the bandits woke up, they were tied to the carriage, sitting (quite uncomfortably) on top of the luggage in the back. The boy and his savior were inside the carriage; Spear wasn¡¯t feeling grateful though, he was just slumped in a corner crying. They headed towards the closest village, which to the boy¡¯s dismay happened to be Dustwater. The journey took less than an hour ¨C going by carriage on the road was much faster than walking through the woods, especially when the person walking through the woods doesn¡¯t really know what they are doing. At the village gate ¨C which was, as usual, open during the day ¨C they were stopped by the guards, who were quite surprised to see a carriage ¨C probably for the first time in their life. The woman stepped out of the vehicle and addressed them. ¡°I¡¯m Miranda Wellspring, schoolmaster of the Wellspring Private School of Magic in Redoaks city.¡± She hoped that flaunting her position would help things along with these villagers. ¡°We were attacked by bandits not far from here, those two tied in the back; they had kidnapped a kid, perhaps he¡¯s from this village? In any case I¡¯d like to speak to the village chief; the kid mentioned being sold to slavers, which would be troubling news and requires immediate attention by all the authorities.¡± The guards looked at each other. They seemed to have no idea about what to do. Great, more idiots, thought Miranda. She looked at them sternly and raised her voice. ¡°Go call your village chief!¡± One of the guards woke up from his stupor and ran inside, while the other stood there uncomfortably. Sighing again, the schoolmaster went to grab Spear from inside the carriage. The boy didn¡¯t resist, once again resigned to his fate, but she still had to drag him out, and he tried to hide behind her. The guard immediately recognized him though. ¡°Spear! You¡¯re in big trouble, boy!¡± His face turned red with rage; the night guards had been severely punished for allowing the kid to get out unnoticed, and Spear was less popular than ever in the village. The guard moved to grab him, but Miranda stopped him. ¡°The boy is already frightened, he doesn¡¯t need any of this right now!¡± she told him. The guard turned his anger towards her: ¡°This is none of your business! I don¡¯t care who you are, your fancy titles don¡¯t matter here!¡± He pointed his spear towards her.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She raised her eyebrow. ¡°Seriously?¡±, she said. Before anything could happen though, the General arrived with a group of guards (including the one who went to call him). ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± he asked with a loud, commanding voice. Then he saw Spear, and his expression turned into disgust. ¡°You! You¡¯ll regret wasting my time once again!¡± He turned to one of the guards, ¡°Go get Whip!¡±, then moved to grab the kid, who had started crying again. Once more, Miranda got in the way ¨C she was getting pretty annoyed at this point. ¡°Are you the chief? We have important¡­¡± He interrupted her, barely sparing her a glance: ¡°You¡¯re not getting any reward for bringing this piece of trash back.¡± Then tried to push her aside. She grabbed him and her voice grew loud: ¡°Now listen! I¡¯ve wasted too much time already! There are¡­¡± but she couldn¡¯t finish again. ¡°How dare you!¡±, he raged, then slapped her, turning her head to the side and forcing her to take a half step back; at the same time all the guards had pointed their weapons at her. She turned back to him and raised an eyebrow. Nobody present was able to process what happened next. Their brains refused to accept the sensory inputs they received; it was like reality had broken and made no sense anymore. Miranda slapped the General back. The General flew to the side and slammed into the palisade surrounding the village. It was like a child throwing a rag doll. In a moment, Spear¡¯s father¡¯s body was sprawled to the ground, unmoving. One of the guards, perhaps quicker than the others at regaining his senses, or perhaps just in denial of reality, thrust his spear at Miranda. The weapon crumbled as if it was made of dirt. The guard stumbled forward, carried by his own momentum, and landed face first on the ground. The woman, furious, grabbed the crying boy and walked inside. ¡°Is there a single person with a functioning brain in this damn village?¡±, she yelled. Attracted by all the commotion, Jeneth was approaching. The guards were either still dazed or unable to decide what to do. The one who had been sent to fetch Whip had stopped in his tracks and was now staring at Miranda wide eyed. The wizard looked at her, then he noticed she was holding Spear (who was still crying), and grew concerned. (From his position, he couldn¡¯t see the General, still unconscious outside.) ¡°Let the boy go!¡±, he yelled at her. Miranda turned to face him. ¡°Finally someone concerned for the kid!¡±, she said. ¡°Are you the village chief?¡± Jeneth was taken by surprise. ¡°No¡­ I¡¯m just the village wizard¡­¡± he said, frowning. ¡°Ah, well, at least I can hope you can understand speech!¡±, she said, then continued: ¡°I¡¯m Miranda Wellspring; my carriage was attacked by bandits, and they had kidnapped this poor boy, apparently to sell him as a slave. Hopefully you understand how serious that is. I was planning on informing the village chief, and bringing the poor kid back to his family, before I head back to Redoaks city and deliver the bandits to the authorities to be properly interrogated.¡± Jeneth¡¯s eyes widened, then he glanced at the carriage outside the gate and back at the woman. ¡°You¡¯re that Miranda Wellspring?¡±, he asked incredulous. She sighed and nodded. He hurried to kneel in front of Spear, who was still sobbing. ¡°Spear! It¡¯s me! Are you hurt?¡± The boy looked at him, and finally realized who he was. Then he looked around, confused. What happened to his father? Where was Whip? The wizard insisted: ¡°Are you hurt?¡± The boy shook his head. Then his brain, finally working again, realized what had happened in front of the gate; his eyes widened and he turned to look at Miranda, jaw gaping: ¡°You defeated my father!¡± The woman spoke again: ¡°If you¡¯ll take care of the boy, I¡¯m going to get going. No point in spending any more time in this stupid place.¡± She started to turn around, but Jeneth called to her: ¡°Master Wellspring, please! We need to talk!¡± He stood up and looked at her with determination. She sighed and covered her face with the palm of her hand. ¡°Speak, then¡±, she said. The man looked around. ¡°Not here; if you¡¯ll follow me?¡±, he said. Resigned, she nodded, and he started walking towards his cabin, with Miranda and Spear in tow. ? ? ? ¡°Master Wellspring, allow me to apologize first for not being able to offer proper accommodations¡­¡± Jeneth said, as they entered his cabin. Miranda looked around, there was hardly enough space for the three of them to stand; the cabin was shoddy, the books were old and worn, and they were just laid around everywhere with no apparent organization; it was rather dark, except for rays of light filtering from holes in the roof. Once again, it was worse than her already quite low expectations. A perfect symbol of my journey so far, she thought. The boy seemed to be much more at ease now, as if everything was right again, being inside this messy, ugly place. Jeneth explained Spear¡¯s situation, the lashings, and how he and Sara had helped him escape, hoping that the woods would be better than whatever his brother Whip had in store for him. Miranda frowned; ¡°In other words, he was being whipped for reading books?¡± She covered her face with the palm of her hand and shook her head slowly. ¡°I can see why the boy wanted to run back in the woods rather than let me bring him back here¡­¡± Then she turned to him: ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me all this?¡± Spear was surprised by the question. ¡°Would it have changed anything?¡± he said, in a low voice, looking away. The woman thought for a moment. ¡°Perhaps not; perhaps I would have dismissed anything you said as a lie or an exaggeration. I admit that I was just eager to get rid of you and the bandits and move on; but, normally, I would have tried to confirm your story before putting you in any risk. So I guess I should apologize to you. It¡¯s embarrassing to confirm your distrust of adults.¡±, she said, lowering her head. Spear couldn¡¯t hide his shock; never in his wildest daydreams he could have imagined hearing that. He looked at her with renewed admiration. Then a memory from a book came to his mind, and his shock reached levels he didn¡¯t know it could reach. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ that¡­ Miranda¡­ Wellspring¡­¡± his expression was quite amusing to watch, his jaw doing its best to reach down to the floor. ¡°Yeah, yeah, no greater wizard in the whole kingdom and all that.¡± She waved her hand as to quickly dismiss the whole topic. She turned back to Jeneth: ¡°So, why have you allowed any of this to happen?¡± The man looked at his feet. ¡°Do you think if I was a proper wizard I would be living here?¡±, he said, ashamed. ¡°I know a few tricks and can make some potions, that¡¯s all.¡± She continued: ¡°Therefore you¡¯re going to ask me to rescue him from this place?¡± She was more amused than annoyed, if she were to be honest, but she made sure to appear offended. ¡°Master Wellspring! I beg you. Spear is very talented. With proper guidance he could become a real wizard!¡± The man bowed as far as he could, given the cramped cabin. Miranda raised an eyebrow. ¡°And I should trust the word of someone who knows a few tricks and can make some potions?¡± Jeneth grew stiff, but said: ¡°I know enough to say that he¡¯s better than me.¡± Spear turned his still gaping face to him. Miranda continued: ¡°And you¡¯re going to pay my school¡¯s tuition?¡± The man raised his head a little and looked at her wide eyed. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to imply¡­¡±, he started to say, but she laughed. ¡°You two are amusing.¡± she said, then she turned to the boy and her face grew stern. ¡°I¡¯m going to give you a test. Of course, you¡¯ll have some time to prepare. Three months, let¡¯s say. If you somehow manage to impress me, I¡¯ll admit you as a student in the Wellspring Private School of Magic.¡± Then she chuckled: ¡°You¡¯d be the recipient of the first ever scholarship in my school.¡± Her face turned serious again: ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up, it¡¯s very unlikely you¡¯ll impress me; but, some other wizard in the city might take you as an apprentice. I¡¯d say if you put enough effort your chances are pretty good.¡± Then she smiled to herself: ¡°If you actually impress me then this cursed journey will not have been for naught.¡± Jeneth bowed deeply again. ¡°Thank you!¡± Then he barked at the still gaping Spear: ¡°boy!¡± That made him regain his senses, and he bowed as well. ¡°Thank you, Master Wellspring!¡± She said: ¡°Well, with that settled, it¡¯s time to go¡±, and turned to the door. Then she sighed: ¡°I don¡¯t suppose they¡¯re just going to let us leave?¡± ? ? ? All the village guards were arrayed outside the cabin, their weapons pointed at the three who had just come out. Whip was with them, weapon in hand, and started grinning as soon as he saw Spear. Most of the villagers were also looking with curiosity. The General was nowhere to be seen, perhaps still unconscious or maybe too hurt to walk. One of the guards, supposedly the one in charge with the boy¡¯s father indisposed, took a step forward and spoke loudly: ¡°You attacked our General! You will receive thirty lashes, then you¡¯ll wait in a cage for him to decide what to do with you!¡± Then he smirked: ¡°Unless you decide to resist, then you¡¯ll never leave here alive.¡± Miranda raised an eyebrow. Jeneth stepped forward and yelled at them: ¡°Do you know who you are talking to? Lower your weapons!¡± The guard turned to him: ¡°And you, Jeneth! Don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll get away with this!¡± Then he addressed his men: ¡°Grab them!¡± A gust of wind. All their weapons turned to dust and were blown away. The guards that had been at the gate earlier turned and ran away. The others didn¡¯t know what to do. The one in front turned red and stepped forward: ¡°I don¡¯t need weapons to kill the likes of you!¡± Then he started suffocating; he surprised Miranda by continuing to step forward even while his face turned blue. After a few steps, he dropped to the ground, still struggling. Seeing this, Whip yelped, and ran. After a few moments the remaining guards decided to follow suit. The one on the ground finally passed out. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste any more time.¡±, Miranda said, and started walking. 3 – What you don’t know It was getting pretty late in the day. Ideally, they would have stopped in Dustwater for the night, but that was out of the question; so the carriage was speeding along (as much as one can speed on such a road) towards the next village, hoping to find a decent accommodation before nightfall. Here¡¯s to hope that the next village won¡¯t be filled with crazy people, Miranda thought to herself. The bandits were still tied on top of the luggage in the back of the vehicle; they were very unhappy, and had of course tried countless times to free themself, but apparently the woman had used magic on the ropes and nothing they did seemed to help. They were starting to get resigned to a long journey of pain, and eventual jail or even execution. Inside the carriage, Spear sat in front of Miranda. He was very different from the always crying, defeated kid she had gotten to know; he was brimming with excitement and had a million questions, about the capital, about the school, about magic, about her adventures¡­ The schoolmaster stopped him though, she didn¡¯t have the patience to deal with any of that right now. The boy was disappointed and still clearly unable to sit still, but surprisingly he showed restraint and didn¡¯t bother her further. She noted to herself that it was a good sign. They did discuss a few things, though. First, before leaving, Spear had wanted to talk to Sara, but Jeneth had told him that it was a bad idea. He explained that nobody had suspected her of her involvement yet, and it was better to leave things that way. He promised that he would say goodbye to her for him. Once in the carriage, the boy had told Miranda that he was worried for his friend and if there was anything she could do. In the boy¡¯s opinion, she responded pretty harshly to that: ¡°He¡¯s an adult, he¡¯ll deal with his own problems. If you ask me, he¡¯s as responsible for the whole situation as the rest of the village. Goodness is in the actions: there¡¯s nothing good about doing nothing.¡± She was used to lecturing children. Spear was unconvinced, but he didn¡¯t press the issue. Then the schoolmaster asked about his family. The boy¡¯s father¡¯s name was Garret; he had chosen his own name during his coming of age ceremony, which was uncommon. Apparently it was the name of a famous general from the past. Nobody called him that though, everybody just referred to him as ¡°the General¡±; Miranda rolled her eyes. The topic reminded Spear of something however, and he grew fearful again for a few moments. ¡°Will I have to go back for my coming of age ceremony?¡± She assured him that it wasn¡¯t necessary; it was very unusual for someone other than a parent to conduct the ceremony, but not unheard of; in any case it wasn¡¯t something to worry about at this point. The boy felt a little better. He continued to explain that his father believed in the power of names; the name chosen during the child birth ceremony would dictate the disposition of the baby¡¯s body and soul. The schoolmaster noted that it was a common but baseless belief. The General, wanting soldiers, had named his children Sword, Spear, Whip and Bow. (Sword was already an adult, and he had left to head a group guarding merchant caravans; it was a great way to gain experience, his father said. Bow had probably been out with the hunters today.) Sara had been the only exception; apparently, the General needed somebody to take care of more mundane tasks, and thought that a ¡°weak¡± name was more appropriate for the job. What would the guy think of being beaten to a pulp by someone with a ¡°weak name¡±? ¨C Miranda thought to herself and chuckled; then she also wondered if the other villagers ever got a chance at child birth ceremonies; five children was a very uncommon thing, usually considered too much for someone to care for; she guessed he didn¡¯t do much caring anyway. She slowly shook her head while hearing the whole thing. Spear had never wanted to be a soldier. He always preferred to read and learn; he dreamed of becoming a wizard. His father said that wizards were weaklings and he had no need of one. The schoolmaster was tempted to go back to make sure the General understood he had been beaten by a wizard named Miranda. The whole thing sounded like the gods had sent her there to delight in the irony. ? ? ? They were able to reach a village just after sunset. Miranda couldn¡¯t believe it: apparently it was common for merchant caravans to pass through, and it had an actual inn. The food wasn¡¯t great, but they were all hungry. (Spear thought it was pretty good food, though; he worried that he didn¡¯t have any money to pay for it, but the schoolmaster told him that children shouldn¡¯t have to worry about such things.) They rented a room to sleep (the bandits had to sleep outside, in the carriage, still tied by the ropes); Spear¡¯s wounds on his back had not yet healed, and the schoolmaster apologized for not knowing any healing magic and not having any potions or unguents with her. The boy didn¡¯t understand why she was apologizing; he also was confused by the look of anger on her face when she saw his back. She asked Joe to go buy an unguent or something, but Spear reassured them that Jeneth had already treated his wounds and he¡¯d be fine, besides, it was night already and the villagers would probably be asleep. Miranda looked at him skeptically but didn¡¯t press the issue; they¡¯d be in the city soon and she¡¯d be able to take care of it. The boy still couldn¡¯t lie on his back, but a bed was much better than a tree trunk in the woods, and he was able to sleep ok. They got up right before dawn and prepared to leave at first light. The innkeeper was a little grumpy, but they got some breakfast. Joe reassured his passengers that they¡¯d be able to reach Redoaks city by sunset; the schoolmaster was glad to hear that; the bandits weren¡¯t. She decided to make use of the time to teach Spear; he needed not waste any moment if he wanted to impress her in three months. ¡°To start, let¡¯s make sure you understand the basics.¡± she said. ¡°Do you know how many types of magic there are?¡± ¡°Magic of creation, which can only be performed by the gods. Magic of alteration, which allows manipulating the world. Healing magic, which allows healing people. Alchemy, which allows creating magical potions and so on.¡± The boy appeared to be reciting from a book. Memory is great, Miranda thought, but understanding is far more important. ¡°Do you know why only the gods are able to create?¡± she asked. Spear frowned. ¡°None of Jeneth¡¯s books ever said¡­¡± She nodded: ¡°The answer is: we don¡¯t know.¡± He raised his eyebrows and looked at her in surprise, then frowned again: ¡°It was a trick question?¡± ¡°Not exactly. Knowing what you don¡¯t know is far more important than what you know. If you can only remember one thing from this whole lesson, make sure it is that.¡± He grew pensive. ¡°Knowing what you don¡¯t know means you know what to learn next?¡± She raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting way to look at it.¡± Maybe Jeneth isn''t wrong, after all, she thought. ¡°But, that¡¯s not the most important reason. People believe they know things even when they don¡¯t. In fact, most of the things people will claim to know turn out to be wrong. And it¡¯s not that they are lying, it¡¯s just that they don¡¯t know that they don¡¯t know.¡± He kept frowning, deep in thought.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°But¡­ then how do I know whether anything I learn from you is wrong?¡± When he realized he had said that out loud, he flinched as if expecting punishment. Instead, when he looked up again he saw a huge smile on her face. ¡°That is the question, isn¡¯t it?¡±, she said. She was getting excited. How is this boy from that cursed village? Maybe, just maybe, this journey hasn¡¯t been for naught, she thought. ¡°Sadly, we¡¯ll have to talk about this topic another time. You only have three months, don¡¯t forget. So, let¡¯s get back to the basics of magic.¡± Will this seed grow? She couldn¡¯t wait to see. ¡°Let¡¯s put aside creation magic; priests and philosophers debate endlessly but nothing ever comes of it. You¡¯ll find plenty of books if you¡¯re curious. Alchemy is mostly about following specific recipes; one could say that it¡¯s just part of how the world works, rather than being a type of magic.¡± She shrugged. ¡°For the other two categories, I prefer different names: mastery of the world, and mastery of life.¡± She paused. He was looking at her with unwavering attention. ¡°In order to affect something with magic, you have to understand it first. It¡¯s like¡­ touching it with your mind. Without understanding, it¡¯s like groping in the dark.¡± Another pause. ¡°What that means is, you have to master the world. Then the world will obey you. In the same way, in order to affect living things, you have to understand them first. You have to master life. The two things are similar, but they are different enough that people usually specialize in one or the other. You¡¯re not going to find someone who is both a master of the world and a master of life.¡± ¡°Are masters of life just healers?¡±, he asked. ¡°No¡­ but nobody likes to think of a wizard specializing in inflicting curses or diseases, while everybody likes healers. Still, anyone who can heal a disease must also be able to inflict it.¡± His eyes widened. ¡°Then¡­ aren¡¯t healers the most scary wizards?¡± Her smile was huge again. ¡°Indeed they are.¡± ¡°But¡­ aren¡¯t you the greatest wizard in the kingdom?¡± ¡°Comparing people like that is a fool¡¯s errand. First of all, contrary to what some ignorant brutes like to believe, fighting is not the only thing in the world. It¡¯s not even that important, but I guess that¡¯s my opinion. But even then, you can never tell in advance who would win a fight.¡± Spear recalled the events of the previous day. ¡°Nobody in my village could possibly defeat you!¡± Miranda chuckled. ¡°Ok, so let¡¯s consider a scenario. Imagine that your father, instead of being an arrogant imbecile, had welcomed me, and promised to take care of you and the bandits. He could have promised to send a messenger to other villages and the capital to warn them about the slavers. I was quite in a hurry to leave, and had no desire to drag those two in the back with me. I was planning to just leave you there anyway. I wouldn¡¯t have given any of this a second thought. That would have been his victory, don¡¯t you agree?¡± He opened his mouth, but then grew pensive instead. ¡°You¡¯re saying that even I could have defeated my father? Clearly that¡¯s impossible!¡± Her eyes pierced him. ¡°If by that you mean preventing him to torture you and having some time to read and study, I¡¯m sure there could have been many ways.¡± He slumped his shoulders and looked at his feet. ¡°Sara said the same thing, basically. She was angry with me for getting myself in trouble.¡± She nodded, but continued: ¡°That being said, children shouldn¡¯t have to worry about how to avoid their parent hurting them. None of this is your fault. The adults bear responsibility here; that¡¯s why we have a coming of age ceremony. Jeneth could have done something. Your sister should have been angry with him, not you.¡± Spear was still looking at his feet. He looked sad and deep in thought. Miranda quickly broke the silence: ¡°We are digressing. We should be talking about mastery of the world.¡± He raised his head, then frowned. ¡°What about mastery of life?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be a good teacher for that. The basics are the same anyway.¡± She continued her lecture: ¡°As I said, the first step is to understand how the world works. The study of how the world works is called physics. That¡¯s most of what you¡¯ll be learning in the next three months.¡± He nodded, a look of excitement back on his face. ? ? ? Jeneth didn¡¯t have any books on physics. Spear listened with great interest to Miranda¡¯s explanations, occasionally asking questions, more often having to answer them. Time passed in a flash; the carriage stopped a few times to let the horses rest (the boy learned that there were special places just for that all along the road); at some point they ate some travel provisions they had bought at the inn; through all this though, the schoolmaster never really stopped teaching. Therefore, the boy was surprised when the carriage stopped once more and Miranda told him they must have arrived. It was just past sunset, the sky still light; he asked to be let outside to look; he saw a line of many types of carts, some empty, some full; a merchant caravan; another carriage. Everyone waited for their turn to enter the gates. He was amazed by the tall stone walls, and the guards wearing full plate armor. He walked next to the carriage, gawking at everything and everyone, until it was their turn to be inspected by the guards. Miranda poked her head out of the carriage and the guards bowed. She asked them to take custody of the two tied in the back, and said that she¡¯d talk to the captain in the morning. The resigned bandits were dragged away, and the vehicle was let in without further questions. Spear was disappointed to have to get back inside it; he had wanted to see the city. The schoolmaster laughed and assured him that he¡¯d have plenty of occasions to see it in the next few months, besides it was quite dark already. After about fifteen minutes of smooth cobblestone roads, Joe left them in front of a mansion. ¡°It¡¯s late, so you¡¯ll just stay with me for tonight.¡± she told Spear. The boy had never seen anything like this. Nothing was like he had imagined from the descriptions in the books he had read. The building was surrounded by an iron fence with ornate iron gates. Past the gates, a small cobblestone path cut in the middle of a garden, which was faintly illuminated by magical lights. Spear could see flowers, beautiful bushes, marble statues, even arches made of plants. The building was made of bricks but decorated with marble, including three step stairs leading to a porch with columns. The front door was impressive and made of carved dark wood. He was gawking at everything. ¡°No questions, and no exploring. It¡¯s late and I¡¯m tired.¡±, Miranda preempted him. He was disappointed, but only for a moment, since the excitement and anticipation overwhelmed any other emotions. The door opened and a butler welcomed them; the schoolmaster instructed him to get a room ready for the boy and asked for a quick dinner, wanting to rest as soon as possible. The butler nodded and, after they walked inside, closed the door behind them, then disappeared somewhere. Spear saw a hallway with colored marble floors, so shiny he could see his reflection. Everything was brightly illuminated by magic lamps. The furniture was elegant and made of carved wood, the walls were covered in paintings and beautiful tapestries. Red was the dominant color. They walked to double doors that opened into a large room with an impressive dining table and even more impressive decorations; even the ceiling was decorated! Miranda gestured for him to sit at the table, then she also sat. In a matter of minutes, a servant appeared with food. It was also unlike anything he had seen before, and it tasted more delicious than anything he had ever eaten. They ate in silence, the boy too overwhelmed to say anything, and the woman just looking forward to finally sleeping in her room. Afterwards, they said good night and the butler guided Spear to a guest room. It was much bigger than Jeneth¡¯s cabin, and dimly illuminated. It was what, in the boy¡¯s imagination, a king¡¯s room looked like, with a large canopy bed again made of dark, carved wood. The bed was bigger than any bedroom he¡¯d seen in his village! It was also incredibly soft and full of fluffy pillows. He wondered if he was really allowed to sleep in it? Maybe there was some kind of mistake? After a few minutes of hesitation, he laid on it. Despite all the excitement, and his body being sore from the carriage and the wounds in his back, he quickly fell asleep. 4 – The school Spear was woken by the butler knocking on his room¡¯s door. Light was filtering through the heavy curtains on the window. It took a few minutes for the boy to convince himself that this was real. He was in the capital. He slept in this bed. In this room. In this mansion. Everything told him that it must be a dream or a hallucination from the torture. But the pain in his back and the memories from Miranda¡¯s lessons were real. The butler knocked again, and he got up. He was guided to a large bath and given new clothes. He hesitated to accept all this but the man was impassive and didn¡¯t leave any room for him to do anything else. The wounds on his back stung in the bath but it was otherwise very welcome. Once he was clean and dressed again he was guided back to the dining room where breakfast was ready. Miranda was waiting there for him. ¡°I am very busy today, as I¡¯ve been away more than planned, and I have to deal with the issue of those bandits. I¡¯ll leave you at the school. Master Sparrows will take care of you, he¡¯s in charge of admissions. Once you¡¯re settled in, I suggest you find the library and continue studying physics.¡± They ate quickly and left to find Joe already waiting for them in front of the gates. Spear was disappointed to not be able to walk through the city, but he didn¡¯t bother Miranda and sat quietly in the carriage. They reached the school in less than ten minutes. Two people were already waiting for them just past the gates. The schoolmaster immediately went to talk to one of them, but the boy didn¡¯t listen, too focused on the sight in front of him. It was a tall, U-shaped building, with a large courtyard in front. In the middle of the courtyard was a beautiful marble fountain. Besides the courtyard, the building was surrounded by green grass interrupted by trees, benches and winding paths. The building had so many large glass windows; Spear had never seen this much glass all at once. The man that had been speaking with Miranda addressed him, with a frowning, stern face. ¡°I¡¯m Master Sparrows, follow me.¡± He was tall and thin and sported a fancy moustache. He turned and walked towards the entrance of the building. The entrance was marble and quite impressive; the hallways were richly decorated but looked almost plain when compared to the schoolmaster¡¯s mansion. They walked to an office ¨C still larger than Jeneth¡¯s cabin ¨C with a large wooden desk and rows of shelves with books and other objects that the boy didn¡¯t recognize. The man sat behind the desk. He flipped through some papers and grabbed a pen. (The boy had never seen anything like it, perhaps it was a magic pen? He was used to quills and inkwells.) ¡°Your name?¡± he asked. ¡°Spear.¡± The man waited a moment then looked at him with impatience. ¡°And your family name?¡± The boy frowned. ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have a family name?¡± The man sighed and muttered to himself: ¡°I don¡¯t know what Miranda¡¯s thinking¡­¡± then asked: ¡°Does the place you come from have a name?¡± Still frowning, the boy answered: ¡°Dustwater.¡± The man wrote it down. ¡°The next time you¡¯re asked, you will answer with ¡®Spear of Dustwater¡¯ or simply ¡®Spear Dustwater¡¯.¡± Shaking his head, he kept writing, then after a few minutes he got up and gestured for Spear to follow. As he opened the door, he found another man who was about to knock. ¡°Ah, Master Nantee, you¡¯re here already. Please come inside.¡± He let him in and closed the door again. ¡°Is this the boy?¡± the newcomer asked. Master Sparrows nodded and addressed Spear: ¡°Master Nantee is a healer; please remove your shirt.¡± The boy had a moment of confusion, then did as asked and turned around. The healer looked at his back then turned to stare at the other man, who in turn looked surprised for a moment, then frowned. Master Nantee shook his head, stepped forward and placed a hand on the boy¡¯s shoulder, concentrating. In a minute or so, any trace of wounds had disappeared. Spear had never experienced anything like this; Jeneth had healed him many times, with potions or unguents; but it was a slow and imperfect process, just a little better than doing nothing; preventing infections, perhaps. This was completely different. This was¡­ magic. Real magic. The boy turned, wide eyed, to look at the healer, but he had already turned and, still shaking his head, opened the door and left. Sparrows was still looking at the boy, frowning. He sighed again. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad we dealt with that problem already. Please follow me.¡± His expression seemed less harsh than before. What Spear didn¡¯t know was that he was deeply impressed; the children he knew wouldn¡¯t have been able to walk around with such wounds on their back; not to mention what those wounds implied ¨C whip lashes. He couldn¡¯t imagine what kind of horror this boy had been through. Master Sparrows guided Spear through hallways and a wide staircase. They reached a door on the third floor. ¡°This will be your room. Make sure to remember it.¡± He opened the door. The room wasn¡¯t much smaller than Jeneth¡¯s cabin. Spear made a mental note to stop comparing everything to Jeneth¡¯s cabin. Clearly he had to adjust his idea of what was normal. There was a desk with a chair, and an empty bookshelf. A bed was on the other side of the room, then a dresser with three drawers. There was a soft carpet on the floor! He kept staring at the room. The man spoke again. ¡°Since you don¡¯t have any belongings, there¡¯s no reason to stay here; I¡¯ll show you where the library is. Oh, Master Wellspring said that she¡¯ll have some clothes and basic supplies delivered here; make sure to thank her later.¡± Spear didn¡¯t think he could say ¡°thank you¡± to her enough times. They walked back to the second floor where the library was located. The boy couldn¡¯t stop gawking. The room was huge. There were many rows of bookshelves, all filled with books. So many books! He decided that he must have died on that wooden post and had been summoned to the realm of the gods. There was no other explanation for this sight and what he was feeling. The man shook him. ¡°You will listen when I speak to you!¡± he said, irritated. Spear quickly came back down to the realm of the living and flinched. ¡°Sorry!¡± He scrunched his face, waiting for pain. Sparrows was surprised by his reaction, then realized his mistake; he quickly withdrew his hand and spoke in a calmer tone. ¡°The librarian is not here today; school is supposed to start in three days; I¡¯ll show you the section with books on physics relevant to you.¡± He walked across the rows of books to a specific shelf and pointed to some of them. ¡°You can read on the desks over there. Do not take any books out of the library. Is everything clear?¡± The boy nodded. The man turned and left. Spear turned to look at the books. He hesitated. He really wanted to explore the entire library, wander in this maze of books and learn all its secrets. How many stories would he find? How many topics were there to learn? How many things he had never heard about or could have never imagined? He should be studying and preparing for his test. He only had three months. He didn¡¯t want to go back to Dustwater. He didn¡¯t even want to leave this school, if he had to be honest: this was beyond his wildest dreams and he would never again have a chance like this in his life.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. But¡­ an hour or two of looking around couldn¡¯t hurt anything, could they? ? ? ? The boy spent the entire day wandering between the rows of bookshelves. He forgot to eat; he forgot anything else. He looked at titles, he wondered at cover decorations, fancy bindings, impressive illustrations, and at the variety of topics. He found all sorts of books on magic; he especially spent time looking through introductory books that tried to teach how to ¡°sense the world¡± for the first time. They all started with teaching meditation, which was a way to focus on your senses and, by ignoring all the other ones, finally find your ¡°magic sense¡±. Apparently, in addition to the usual five senses like sight and touch, there was a sixth, magic sense that allowed people to perceive the world around them, or the life in their own body or other creatures. Contrary to the ¡°normal¡± senses, this did not develop naturally, unless you learned to use it and trained it. The most popular method to ¡°awaken¡± this magic sense that was taught to aspiring wizards involved using an unguent that causes your skin to itch; then you would meditate and focus on the itching sensation, trying to identify the magic behind it rather than just the mundane feeling. It was considered to be the best way to teach because it involved focusing on your own body ¨C which was much easier than trying to focus on anything external ¨C and the itching forced you to focus on a very specific part of it. It was of course greatly preferred by aspiring healers since being able to sense wounds, diseases etc. was the first step to learning how to cure them. In fact, if you were able to sense the itching via the magic sense, you would be able to make it go away. Spear found all this fascinating. He wanted to try it right away, but he didn¡¯t have the itching unguent. He reasoned that any strong sensation in his body would work; he was suddenly disappointed that the wounds on his back had been healed. He proceeded to pinch his own arm very hard, then stifling tears he tried to meditate and focus on the point the pain was originating from. He probably spent an hour or two doing this, occasionally pinching some new part of his body. He finally thought to re-read the instructions carefully. That¡¯s when, in one of the books, he noticed a paragraph that said that most students were able to awaken their magic sense in just a few months. A few months! He didn¡¯t have all that time! He slumped his shoulders and was about to give up. Then he decided to look at the other methods used. Apparently some people liked tying a weight with a string and then swinging it (this was apparently called a pendulum); then they would meditate, trying to sense it with magic. The boy thought that this would be more convenient than hurting oneself, though the book noted that sensing the world was harder than sensing your own body. Alas, he didn¡¯t have a string or any other way to make a pendulum to test this. He gave up on this endeavor and decided to look at other topics. That¡¯s when he found the book that stole the rest of his day; it was called ¡°Barry Hotter and the Rock of the Wise man¡± and it was the story of a young boy hero who was a prodigy of magic and had to overcome all sorts of challenges and villains. ? ? ? ¡°Are you Spear?¡±, he heard a voice. Turning to his left, he found another boy looking at him. It took his brain a few moments to return to reality and understand what was in front of him. ¡°Ah¡­ yes, that¡¯s me.¡± ¡°Hi. I¡¯m Claude. I¡¯m in charge of the dorms. I represent all the students that live in the school. I wanted to introduce myself and explain a few rules and such, but you weren¡¯t in your room; I was told you might still be here.¡± Spear looked at the window and realized it was almost dark outside; the room was illuminated only by the magic lamps. How was the day already gone? This was a disaster! Claude noticed his panic and tried to reassure him: ¡°You¡¯re not in trouble, though it¡¯s getting late and it would be better if we went back up to our floor, there are a couple things I¡¯d like to explain before we go to sleep.¡± That was not what he was panicking about, but he didn¡¯t think there was any point in explaining, so he just sighed, put his book down, and got up. Claude continued: ¡°I was not expecting to find another student here already; most kids arrive the day before school starts. I didn¡¯t see you at dinner either. Well, the refectory is not open yet, so it was just sandwiches, but still.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I¡­ didn¡¯t notice the time, and¡­ I forgot¡­ to eat¡­¡±, Spear said, ashamed. Claude¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°What? Oh, hmm, I think it¡¯s too late now¡­ should we go check?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s ok, I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Claude looked at him skeptically. ¡°Are you sure? When did you eat last?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ this morning, I guess¡­¡± Claude stopped walking and stared at him. Spear tried to change the topic. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m used to it. What did you want to talk to me about?¡± Claude still looked at him skeptically, but resumed walking. ¡°Just some of the rules. Usual stuff, be quiet, don¡¯t cause problems, don¡¯t leave your room at night, and so on. More importantly, we have a schedule for the baths, and I wanted to show you how to deal with laundry and stuff like that.¡± Spear looked at him quizzically. ¡°Today it¡¯s just us, and I bet tomorrow too, so you can take a bath whenever you want. But normally please follow the posted schedule. If you miss your time slot you¡¯ll have to skip the bath, no exceptions. Trading slots with other people is technically not allowed, but they do it anyway.¡±, Claude shrugged. They reached the third floor and he pointed to a small door in the wall. ¡°This is the laundry chute. There¡¯s a bag in your room marked with your name, you can put your laundry in there, close it, and then drop it in here. Clean clothes will be delivered back to you the next day.¡± Spear realized that all the kids here were nobles or at least very rich, and must have a different standard of living compared to normal people; he decided to say nothing and just nod. ¡°Do you have any questions?¡± Spear shook his head. ¡°Ok then, good night. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow at breakfast.¡± Claude vigorously patted Spear¡¯s shoulder, then turned towards his room. Spear hesitated for a moment, then he also turned and went to his room. ? ? ? In there, he found a stack of blank paper on his desk, as well as a bag (he imagined it was for carrying books and paper), and something he hadn¡¯t seen before. Examining it with curiosity, he finally recalled something that Jeneth once told him. This was like charcoal, but much harder¡­ graphite, he thought his friend had called it? It was wrapped in something like wood, and sharpened to a point. He thought that it must have been made with magic. He tried to recall what Jeneth called it¡­ Pencil? Sounded about right. It was very uncommon, he thought. Well, he guessed that it might as well be very common in this place. And it seemed much more practical than a quill and inkwell. Unless you had a magic pen like Master Sparrows, of course. He tried to use it to make a line on the paper. It worked surprisingly well, though the line was much more faint than what ink would have produced. He put it back down on the desk, still amazed by it. As he turned, he noticed a bunch of clothes on the dresser. He realized they had left them for him to organize in the drawers. He figured he could do that tomorrow. He hoped he would be able to see the schoolmaster to express his gratitude. Thinking about sleep, he turned his attention to the two magic lamps attached to the wall with the desk. He reasoned that there must be a way for children to snuff them out without magic. Examining them closely, he noticed that the round base could be turned left or right; turning it right, the light grew brighter, while turning it left it dimmed until it completely went out. He stared at it for a few seconds in amazement before moving to the other lamp and snuffing it too. Then he looked outside the window; he could see some of the magic lights that illuminated the city streets at night. He debated whether he should close the curtains. He decided that it was better to get up at first light, to do some studying ¨C the studying he should have done today ¨C and that he didn¡¯t think the magic lights would bother him, so he left the curtains alone, and hopped on the bed. A lot of thoughts swirled inside his head, and he was hungry; but above all, he was tired, and quickly fell asleep. 5 – Surprise me Spear woke up a bit later than he had wanted to; the sun was already shining, though it mustn¡¯t have been more than an hour after sunrise. He got up, put the blank paper and the pencil in the bag to carry, and walked out the door. He needed to get back to the library and study, but he was hungry. He realized he didn¡¯t know how to get food; he hoped he could find Claude again and ask. He was pretty sure there were only rooms for the students and a bathroom on this floor, so he walked downstairs. Uncertain about what to do, he started exploring the hallways. Most of the rooms had rows of desks and chairs. He recalled a story he read once; these must be classrooms. He kept exploring until he reached the library; he decided to check the other side of the building. While walking over he noticed Claude walking down the stairs. The other boy saw him. ¡°Oh, good morning. What are you up to this early? School starts the day after tomorrow!¡± ¡°Ah¡­ good morning¡­ I¡­ was hungry¡­¡± Claude¡¯s eyes widened a little. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know where the refectory is? Follow me, I was just about to go have breakfast as well.¡± He started walking downstairs towards the first floor. They reached a large room with rows of tables. On top of one there were sandwiches, containers with milk, and a basket with fruits. ¡°This is all we get until the kitchen is open again, probably for dinner tomorrow¡±, Claude said with sadness. Spear couldn¡¯t understand what he was sad about. Then he recalled the food at Miranda¡¯s mansion and wondered if people here ate like that every day. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad they already delivered the food at least¡±, Claude continued, grabbing a sandwich and a glass of milk. Spear didn¡¯t say anything, but marveled at the fact that they had cups made of glass. After some hesitation, he decided to grab a sandwich and a fruit that looked delicious. Then he went to sit next to Claude at the next table, and started eating his sandwich. It was made with fluffy white bread and slices of cheese and meat! ¡°So, I forgot to ask last night, what family are you from?¡±, the other boy asked him; he hadn¡¯t started eating yet, but after speaking took a sip from his milk, still looking at Spear, who recalled what Master Sparrows had told him: ¡°Dustwater¡±, he replied. Claude frowned: ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that¡­¡± He kept staring at Spear. ¡°Uh¡­ it¡¯s the name of my village¡­¡±, he said, worried about the direction the conversation was going. Claude¡¯s frown deepened. ¡°A new upstart merchant family I haven¡¯t heard about? They keep popping up lately¡­¡± he mumbled to himself while scratching his chin. Spear quickly tried to change the subject. ¡°Uh¡­ how long have you been here?¡± Claude¡¯s face brightened: ¡°It¡¯s my last year! I expect to have my coming of age ceremony this year as well!¡± ¡°You can already do magic?¡±, Spear asked wide eyed. ¡°Of course!¡±, the other boy said with pride. ¡°How did you learn to use your magic sense?¡± ¡°Ah, that brings back memories¡­ I was sent here right after my growing up ceremony¡­ My family doesn¡¯t need healers so I was told to focus on sensing external objects. They have a room here with all sorts of pendulums, spinning tops and so on. It took me about a year to start feeling something.¡± Claude slightly shook his head. Spear internally panicked at that statement, but he tried to stay calm and asked: ¡°Could you show me where that room is after breakfast?¡± The other boy narrowed his eyes: ¡°I don¡¯t know why you look to be in such a hurry, but sure¡­¡± He started eating his sandwich, while Spear had finished his and had started on the fruit. It was incredibly sweet and delicious! The boy was tempted to go grab another one or two. Claude chuckled at him and said: ¡°You didn¡¯t eat yesterday, you should get some more food. And don¡¯t forget to eat today!¡± Spear quickly went to grab another fruit and ate it while the other boy finished his breakfast. ? ? ? As promised, Claude showed him the location of the room used for practicing magical sense; Spear was tempted to start right away, but he didn¡¯t want a repeat of what happened yesterday, so instead he went back to the library. There, he ignored his desire to continue reading the Barry Hotter book and picked up the books that Master Sparrows had indicated the previous day. Hours passed. The boy didn¡¯t find the material particularly hard, but it was for the most part new to him, so he wasn¡¯t moving through the books at a fast pace. Unexpectedly, Claude showed up around lunchtime to drag him to the refectory; Spear was much less immersed in the books than yesterday, but he admitted that he was planning to skip lunch to study some more. They ate sandwiches again ¨C quite unhappily, in the case of Claude, who complained about having to come back to school so early and having to deal with most of the staff still missing. He also asked Spear a bunch more questions, but he did his best to evade them, ate quickly and ran back to keep studying; luckily Claude didn¡¯t seem to have any interest at all in the library, which meant he didn¡¯t have to deal with him. Spear was making less and less progress with his studies though; he was clearly getting tired. So, in the mid-afternoon, he decided to go try to train his magic sense. Meditation seemed a good way to take a break and still work on something important. In the practicing room, he saw a lot of devices that he didn¡¯t recognize, but he also saw a few pendulums and spinning tops; he decided to sit in front of a pendulum, make it swing and then meditate. Initially, it was quite hard to focus; all sorts of thoughts kept swirling in his head; everything told him that he would never sense the world in less than three months, and he didn¡¯t think Miranda would be impressed by him just learning some physics. Perhaps he could find a job in the city, maybe even assisting some wizard, but he didn¡¯t want to lose the chance to study at this school; it was clear that this was even better than the Wizard Academy, and that already had been an impossible dream. He opened his eyes; the pendulum had almost stopped. He sighed and pushed it again; he stared at it swinging for a few minutes. He had to succeed! He had to focus! He closed his eyes again and tried his best. He thought he could see the pendulum swinging in his head; he opened his eyes but the weight was in a different place than he expected; he had just imagined it, not sensed it. He frowned. Then he sighed and tried meditating again. ? ? ? Claude was surprised to find Spear already in the refectory; he expected to have to drag him away from the library again for dinner, but hadn¡¯t found him there. The new boy was eating fruit. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I would ever see you leave the library without being dragged away¡­¡± Spear raised his head and looked at the boy that had just arrived.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Uh¡­ I was tired of studying and decided to try practicing magic sense¡­ but I wasn¡¯t making any progress, so when I got hungry I came here.¡± Claude narrowed his eyes: ¡°You were expecting to make progress? Did you start practicing before coming here? For how long have you been trying?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ no, I only started this afternoon¡­¡± Claude started laughing. ¡°And you expected to make progress in a few hours?¡± He kept laughing for quite a bit; Spear was growing quite uncomfortable. Then Claude sighed and spoke again: ¡°I don¡¯t know what your deal is, clearly you don¡¯t want to talk about it so I¡¯m not going to press you. But you need to understand that it takes years to learn magic! Even geniuses don¡¯t learn in a day!¡± He shook his head, then he went to grab another sandwich; he sighed while looking at it, then sat next to Spear and started eating. ¡°Sorry¡­¡±, Spear said. Claude turned to look at him and narrowed his eyes. ¡°What are you apologizing for?¡± Spear didn¡¯t know how to answer, so he just looked down. Claude sighed. ¡°You know, without you being weird I would be all bored here.¡±, he said. Spear raised his eyes to look at him, but didn¡¯t know how to respond. ¡°I¡¯m just poking fun at you¡­¡±, Claude added, then continued: ¡°You¡¯re not much for jokes, are you?¡± ¡°Sorry¡­¡±, Spear said again. Claude sighed and shook his head, then resumed eating. ? ? ? After dinner, Spear decided to take a bath and then go back to his room. He tried to meditate some more, but since he was quite exhausted mentally he fell asleep after not long. He woke up the next day at first light. He decided to go to the library before breakfast, and there he reviewed the things he had learned the previous day. Some time later, he went to the refectory where he found Claude, who was looking forward to the school staff arriving today. He explained to Spear that he¡¯d be quite busy with all the students arriving; in particular he was in charge of helping first years settle in the dorms. He also told him that all new students would be addressed by the schoolmaster tomorrow morning. ¡°Do all students here live in the dorm?¡±, Spear asked. ¡°No, a good portion of the students is from this city, so they just live with their families. But students from other places live here as it¡¯s better than most other accommodations in the city.¡± Spear nodded, that made sense. They didn¡¯t talk much more, he quickly finished his breakfast and went back to the library. He didn¡¯t get far in his studies, though, before Claude showed up; Spear looked at him in surprise. ¡°The schoolmaster wants to talk to you.¡±, Claude said, looking at him with suspicion. ¡°Uh¡­ ok¡­¡±, he replied. They just stared at each other. ¡°You don¡¯t know where her office is, do you?¡±, Claude asked, narrowing his eyes. ¡°Uh¡­ no¡­¡±, he replied. The other boy sighed. ¡°Follow me.¡± ¡°Sorry¡­¡± ¡°Stop saying ¡®sorry¡¯!¡± ¡°Sorr¡­ uh¡­¡±, Spear flinched and looked down. Claude sighed and shook his head. ¡°What kind of trouble are you in that the schoolmaster calls you even before school starts?¡± he asked while walking. Spear didn¡¯t know how to answer and kept avoiding eye contact. Claude rolled his eyes. ¡°Never mind, of course you¡¯re not going to tell me.¡± They reached Miranda¡¯s office on the first floor; Claude knocked. ¡°Come in!¡±, a voice came from inside, and he opened the door. ¡°Schoolmaster¡±, he bowed, then continued: ¡°I found Mr. Dustwater in the library.¡± The other boy entered the room and bowed as well. ¡°Ah, good. Thank you Mr. Penrose.¡± Claude left and closed the door. Miranda gestured for Spear to sit in front of her large, ornate desk. The boy noticed that it was a very comfortable chair. She clasped her hands and looked at him. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know how to thank you enough for everything you are doing for me¡­¡±, he said, quite a bit shy. ¡°You do know: impress me. I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve been studying. I¡¯m busy though so let me get to the point. Normally, as a new student, you¡¯d be attending the beginner classes; but, there¡¯s no way you¡¯d be any better than you are now in three months if you did that. I¡¯d like to say that you can just attend the intermediate classes, but there¡¯s a problem with that. Can you guess what that is?¡± ¡°Magic sense¡±, he said, without having to think about it. She smiled. ¡°Indeed. You will be attending the intermediate classes on physics, and you¡¯ll have to work quite hard the first week to catch up, but if that turns out to be a problem then we can end our deal here. But, for the intermediate classes on alteration magic ¨C what I call mastery of the world ¨C you need to be able to use your magic sense first. Quite honestly this is a situation the school is not really prepared for. You could say I should have thought of it before making our deal, but if I had you probably wouldn¡¯t be here.¡± His eyes widened and he bowed as deeply as he could while still sitting. ¡°Please! Master Wellspring, I will do anything! I want to learn!¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t fret. I will honor our deal. I¡¯m just trying to explain that things are not so simple.¡±, she said, waving her hand. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t repeat this in public, but I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any point in you attending any classes other than intermediate physics. Instead, your goal will be to learn to sense the world within three months, and somehow catch up to intermediate magic alteration before your test. As I told you in Dustwater, this is basically an impossible task; but, the whole point here is to surprise me.¡± She smiled at him. The boy looked at her with determination. He had to succeed! He nodded. ¡°You will of course want to take advantage of the teachers here to ask any questions though. Miss Goodsmith is the head secretary and you can talk to her to make an appointment with any teacher. Technically that includes me, but I don¡¯t often have open slots to talk to individual students, so you¡¯ll have more luck with Master Bree ¨C your magic alteration teacher. In fact, you may want to make an appointment with him as soon as possible to get a personalized training program for the magic sense.¡± She paused, thinking of other things she wanted to address. ¡°One more thing: have you explained your situation to Claude Penrose?¡±, she asked. ¡°Uh¡­ no¡­ I didn¡¯t know what to say¡­¡± ¡°Good. It¡¯s not that we should keep it a secret, but I imagine a lot of people would consider this unfair and be quite unhappy. So it¡¯s better not to talk about it for now. Ah, you should also skip the first years stuff tomorrow morning; it¡¯s just boring speeches and introductions, as well as general orientation. Just ask Claude if you have any questions, it¡¯s kind of his job. If any student asks you why you¡¯re not attending, just tell them you have direct orders from me.¡± He nodded. She continued: ¡°That will be all. Don¡¯t disappoint me.¡± ? ? ? Spear spent the rest of the morning studying. At lunchtime, he went to grab a fruit and ate it quickly; he didn¡¯t see Claude, but students had started arriving and there were a few in the refectory and walking around the school. He avoided them and hid back in the magic sense room. (He decided that spending the morning studying and the afternoon practicing in front of a pendulum would be the most efficient.) He kept meditating and trying to sense the movement in front of him. It was frustrating, but he reviewed in his head what he had studied in the morning whenever he needed a break, so time passed rather quickly. At sunset, he went back to the refectory, but it was almost full of students; he felt uncomfortable and frightened and went back to hide in his room (some students looked at him with curiosity in the hallways, but he ignored them and looked down at his feet). He hoped he would be able to grab some food in the morning before everybody else got up. Still hungry, he fell asleep not long after. 6 – Up and down Spear got up again at first light. He went to the refectory hoping that everybody would be still asleep. The kitchen staff had just arrived, and food and ingredients were being carried in to be used to prepare breakfast. The boy was able to snatch a fruit and eat it quickly; the staff didn¡¯t know what to make of him, but didn¡¯t bother him. He left for the library to study. He needed to figure out where and when his intermediate physics classes were, but he thought he¡¯d be able to do that while most students were attending the commencement speech or classes. He also needed to get an appointment with Master Bree, he made a mental note to do that at the same time. After a while, he started hearing the noises of students walking through the hallways. As they had started to quiet down, a woman entered the library. She looked in surprise at the boy focused on his books. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be at the commencement speech? I haven¡¯t seen you before.¡± The voice startled Spear, who turned to look at her. ¡°Uh¡­ orders from the schoolmaster¡­¡±, he said, uncertain. She scrunched her eyebrows. ¡°You¡¯re that boy?¡± She kept staring at him. He didn¡¯t know what to do, so he tried to go back to his books, but was feeling uncomfortable. After some time, he gathered the courage to ask a question. ¡°Uh¡­ how do I find the schedule for intermediate physics lessons?¡± She scoffed. ¡°There are billboards posted on each floor.¡± After some hesitation, he decided to head to the first floor, hoping to also find Miss Goodsmith there. He gathered his notes into his bag and got up. As he started to walk out, the woman stopped him. ¡°You¡¯re leaving the books on the desk!¡±, she said with a stern voice. ¡°Ah¡­ I¡­ will be back shortly¡­¡±, he said hesitantly, realizing she must be the librarian. She scoffed but didn¡¯t bother him further. He found the schedule right next to the stairs. There was a timetable for each day of the week. Classes seemed to start every day at the fourth hour, with a break for lunch at the eighth hour; there were never classes after the thirteenth hour. There were no classes on fourthday, and there seemed to be only a few things on seventhday. It also seemed to Spear that classes tended to be more theoretical in the morning and more practical in the afternoon; he thought that it somehow was similar to what he was doing with studying physics in the morning and then trying to awaken his magic sense in the afternoon. Today was secondday, and there was a separate notice for first years about commencement speech and orientation from the fourth to the sixth hour; apparently they got the rest of the day free to get better acquainted with the school. The next intermediate physics class was on thirdday on the seventh hour (tomorrow morning); the boy noted down his schedule on some of his paper. He wondered if people here had some way to tell the time exactly. He reasoned that they must have. He noticed, above the billboard, a disk with numbers all around it; the numbers went from 1 to 24, which made him suspect it was related to the hours in a day. He remembered reading once the word ¡°clock¡± in a book, and asking Jeneth about it, who explained that it was a magical device to tell the time. So, he guessed, that must be a clock, and analyzing it he concluded that the disk must rotate slowly over time, so that the number at the top would indicate the current hour. He thought it was pretty ingenious. If he was reading it correctly, it was now indicating between the fourth and fifth hour, which made sense considering the commencement speech had started not long ago. He made a mental note to check if there was a clock in the library as well, as that would allow him to not only get to his classes on time, but also get to the refectory right before everyone else and grab something to eat, without having to risk being asked questions by other students and embarrassing himself. Then he headed downstairs, hoping to find Miss Goodsmith, but he couldn¡¯t find anyone on the first floor and assumed she must be at the commencement speech. He reasoned that he should be able to find her during the sixth hour, and hoped he wouldn¡¯t bump into many first year students at that time. He went back to the library; he noticed that there was indeed a clock on one of the walls. The librarian still stared at him, and he was uncomfortable, but eventually was able to get back into his studies. ? ? ? Some twenty or thirty minutes after the start of the sixth hour, Spear went back to the first floor to look for the head secretary; he found her office quickly enough, but a first year girl (he assumed) was already talking to her so he had to wait his turn; he looked at his feet when she passed by to avoid any interaction. Miss Goodsmith looked him up and down when he said his name, but he got his appointment with Master Bree on the eleventh hour of fifthday without further questions. He went back to the library and studied until ten minutes or so before the eight hour, when he ran to the refectory hoping to snatch something to eat from the kitchen. He was able to grab a big fruit and eat it before most of the students arrived, then went once again back to the library. There were quite a few students there now, and the librarian still seemed to keep an eye on him at all times; but he kept to himself, focused on his books, and nobody bothered him. He noticed, though, that students were taking books out of the library, and after some time he gathered the courage to ask the librarian. She scoffed and mumbled to herself: ¡°What has this school come up to!¡±, then told him in a lecturing tone: ¡°Depending on how many copies we have of a given book, it can be borrowed for some time. Books must be returned promptly, and must not be damaged in any way!¡± She really stressed the last part.Stolen novel; please report. Spear decided that it was not worth it for today, but he¡¯d try to take the books he needed to his room tomorrow, then return them in the afternoon before heading to the magic sense room. He spent another couple hours in the library then went to practice. Once again, he wasn¡¯t able to sense anything other than frustration; he noticed a clock in the practice room as well, and was able to snatch some food from the kitchen right before dinner, then went back to his room, where he spent a couple hours reviewing his notes and finally went to sleep. ? ? ? The next day, he repeated his routine: got up at first light, snatched a fruit in the kitchen, went to the library, studied until the librarian arrived, then asked to borrow the physics books he was currently working on. She seemed to be reluctant and looked at him with great suspicion, but noted down the books he was borrowing and warned him again about returning them promptly. He went back to his room, avoiding the students in the hallways. He realized that he didn¡¯t have a clock in his room though, and worried about how to get to his class in time. He decided to go to the practice room instead until the seventh hour. Once the time of his class arrived, he went to search for the classroom; it took him a bit but was able to arrive before the lecture started. The teacher introduced himself as Master Correl and spent the hour listing the prerequisites for the class and the topics they would go over during the school year. Spear noted them all down. When they were dismissed, he realized that the refectory would be already almost full, and after some hesitation he decided to skip lunch and go back to his room; there, he went over all the physics topics he had noted down, trying to find them in the books he had and to figure out a study plan. He was behind compared to the class, but he thought he would be able to at least skim through the topics he needed to know before the next lecture ¨C just enough that he would be able to take notes effectively; anything he¡¯d miss he would hopefully find in his books afterwards, and he could still take an appointment with Master Correl to ask questions. He was relieved that this didn¡¯t seem an impossible task, at least compared to the magic sense. He studied for another couple of hours before returning the books and going to practice some more. ? ? ? On fourthday, since there were no classes, he borrowed books in the morning, studied in his room, then returned them in the afternoon and went to practice magic sense. At some point, right before dinner time, he felt that he was able to meditate more deeply than before. He tried to hold on to the feeling as much as possible, but at some point he sensed¡­ he could only describe it as something going up and down. He was startled and lost the feeling, opening his eyes and staring at the pendulum that was moving side to side. He frowned. Did he imagine something again? Why would he feel the weight go up and down? He looked at the time, and since he didn¡¯t want to skip dinner he, a bit reluctantly, went to grab something to eat. Back in his room, he kept thinking about what happened. He recalled what he had studied about the physics of pendulums; he thought about the velocity of the weight, which would certainly increase and decrease over time as it moved from side to side. A glimmer of hope appeared in his thoughts: he would have to ask Master Bree tomorrow! On fifthday, he had a two hours class in the morning. He was able to follow most of the lecture, and he noted down the parts he wasn¡¯t able to as clearly as he could, hoping to figure them out later with the help of the books. After they were dismissed, he went to his room and went over his notes. He spent hours trying to resolve his questions, or at least note down the topics that he needed to study to be able to. He realized that he had skipped lunch, and it must be getting close to his appointment. He panicked and went to check the clock in the hallway. He had a bit less than an hour. He decided to meditate for a bit before heading down to the first floor. ? ? ? ¡°Come in.¡±, Master Bree¡¯s voice said. The boy entered the office and sat in a simple chair in front of the teacher¡¯s desk. The man looked at his schedule, then frowned and looked at Spear. ¡°Mr. Dustwater¡­¡±, he almost spat, a look of disgust in his face. The boy had seen that look so many times, from his father; his brain grew foggy with fear. ¡°Uh¡­ ah¡­ well¡­ the schoolmaster said¡­ I need help to learn to use my magic sense¡­¡±, the boy said hesitantly, in a low voice and not meeting the eyes of the teacher. ¡°You will attend the beginner classes on alteration magic, then!¡±, the man said with finality, but his expression said that he didn¡¯t think the boy had any chance of ever learning anything. ¡°But¡­¡± the boy managed to say, working hard to hold back tears. ¡°You have wasted a precious slot of my time! I could have helped an actual student!¡±, the teacher said angrily. Spear was using all his strength to avoid crying and wasn¡¯t able to say anything further. He ran out of the office and back to his room. He cried for what seemed like hours; he wouldn¡¯t be getting any help from this teacher. He would fail. His father was right after all: he was worthless. His hunger prompted him to go grab something right before dinner time; after that he hid in his bed and wasn¡¯t able to sleep right the whole night, dreaming of failure, of disappointing everyone, and of Whip coming to torture him. 7 – You’ve got to be kidding me! Spear woke up late the next morning. (Luckily he had no classes.) He was still tired and didn¡¯t feel any better. It was too late for breakfast already. He glanced at the books on his desk: technically he hadn¡¯t broken any rules, but he was afraid of talking to the librarian. Then he glanced at his bag, the stack of paper, and the pencil. He remembered Miranda¡¯s words: ¡°Don¡¯t disappoint me¡±. He wished he didn¡¯t always disappoint everyone. He wished he could be like Barry Hotter. He cried some more. After some time, his hunger prompted him to at least try to get some food. He tentatively opened his door and peeked at the hallway. He gathered his courage to go check the clock; when he did, he found out that he probably needed to wait a couple hours before going to the refectory. He was going to go back to his room, but without a clock, he¡¯d have to keep coming to check the one in the hallway; he was afraid of encountering someone. The practice room had a clock and was still always empty, so after some hesitation he went there. Out of habit he sat in front of the usual pendulum. He stared at it. He made it swing and kept staring at it, his thoughts about being a failure and a disappointment still spiraling in his head. He spent a long time staring, his gaze empty, his thoughts swirling. He felt like crying again; he decided to try to meditate in order to escape his thoughts. Maybe if he managed to focus on the exercise he wouldn¡¯t have to think about what was going to happen to him. But focusing was really hard; no matter what he did, he couldn¡¯t chase away his thoughts, and could never flee from them for very long. He tried to remember the sensation from the other day; he tried as hard as he could to focus on that memory and shut away all the other memories ¨C memories of failure, and pain, and helplessness. He opened his eyes, the pendulum had almost stopped; he pushed it again and kept trying; he wanted to forget everything, he wanted to stop feeling anything. He remembered the feeling from last time clearly. In fact¡­ he wasn¡¯t remembering, he was feeling something going up, and down, and up, and down. He focused more on it, he tried to escape to it. It was like¡­ a number, increasing and then decreasing. But¡­ there seemed to be more to it. He felt that if only he could reach it, if only he could actually escape into it, he would find so much more in there; he would be able to get away from his thoughts and his pain. It was like passing a threshold; suddenly, a cacophony of numbers assaulted his mind. It was like being in a very crowded room, with thousands of people screaming at him, each voice saying something different and drowning the others. He recoiled; his head hurt so much he couldn¡¯t even think anymore. It took the boy quite a while to recover from the pain; the headache wasn¡¯t gone, but it had subsided enough that he could somewhat ignore it. He glanced at the clock: it was almost time to go grab some food; between the hunger, and the pain in his head, he struggled to get up and walk. Slowly, he was able to make his way out of the room. ? ? ? Miranda glanced at the clock. It was getting close to lunch (her food would be delivered to her office, as that saved her time). She had spent the entire morning doing paperwork, and she still had a bunch of letters to write and problems to deal with. She sighed. She would probably need to reschedule some of her afternoon meetings. Instead of calling the head secretary, she decided to go to her office: a little break would do her good. She got up and walked out. As she was walking towards Miss Goodsmith¡¯s office, she noticed Spear walking down the stairs; he looked pale and unwell. She frowned. When the boy noticed her, he recoiled and tears started flowing down his face. She grew concerned and ran to him. ¡°What happened?¡±, she asked, but he only sobbed. It was like they were back in Dustwater. She grabbed him and dragged him to Master Nantee¡¯s office. As she entered his room with the boy, he lifted his eyes from some papers on his desk, looked at them, and frowned. ¡°John, please check if he¡¯s hurt.¡± The man got up from his chair and walked to him; he put the boy¡¯s head in his hands and concentrated. After a bit, color seemed to come back to Spear¡¯s face, and the healer turned to look at Miranda wide eyed. ¡°Why is he malnourished?¡±, he asked. ¡°Malnourished?¡±, the schoolmaster frowned. The man made the boy sit on a chair. ¡°Malnourished and sleep deprived¡­¡±, the man added. The woman kneeled in front of the boy and grabbed his shoulders: ¡°Spear, listen to me. You are safe. Nobody will hurt you here. Please, I need you to talk to me.¡± She tried to speak as calmly and soothingly as possible. His sobbing calmed down a little bit. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± he kept saying, still avoiding to look at her. ¡°Spear, everything is ok. You are safe. Please tell me why you haven¡¯t been eating?¡± ¡°I¡­ all the students¡­ I didn¡¯t know what to say, didn¡¯t want anyone to find out¡­¡± ¡°Did some students say something to you? Did anybody hurt you?¡± The boy shook his head. ¡°Why did you start crying when you saw me?¡± ¡°Master Bree¡­ I¡­ I didn¡¯t want to disappoint you! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡±, he said and started crying again. She sighed and turned to Nantee. ¡°Can you keep an eye on him and try to help him calm down? I¡¯ll go talk to Lina.¡± The man nodded, and she got up and walked out the door. She quickly reached the head secretary¡¯s office, who was surprised to see her coming in. ¡°Lina, can you please go find Master Bree and bring him to John¡¯s office?¡±, she told her, then after some thought she added: ¡°Also, see if you can find Claude Penrose too, and bring him there.¡± Miss Goodsmith nodded and got up from her desk. They both walked out and Miranda went back to the healer¡¯s office. Spear had calmed down a little bit. She grabbed a chair and sat close to him; John moved to give them space. ¡°Spear, can you please tell me what happened with Master Bree?¡± It took the boy a minute to calm down enough to speak intelligibly. ¡°I¡­ took an appointment with Master Bree¡­ like you said¡­ to ask for help with the magic sense¡­ and I also had questions¡­¡±, he said, then after a few moments he added: ¡°He got angry because I wasted his time¡­¡±. Miranda frowned. A few moments later, someone knocked, then opened the door; it was the alteration magic teacher. ¡°Ah, Master Bree. I have some questions for you. I believe Mr. Dustwater, here, came to see you?¡± Bree saw the boy and his expression changed to one of disgust. ¡°If he wants to learn magic, he will attend the classes like every other student!¡±, he said, then he mumbled to himself (but loud enough that Miranda could hear): ¡°Not that a savage could learn anything!¡± Miranda pierced him with her eyes. ¡°I see. In that case, you are dismissed for now.¡± The man scoffed and left, closing the door a little bit too loudly. As soon as he had turned away, she covered her face with the palm of her hand and shook her head. Then she turned to the healer again.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°John, can you give him something to sleep, and get one of your students to watch him? Make sure he comes to my office once he¡¯s awake and feeling better.¡± He nodded, and helped the boy to get up. As they were walking outside, they found Claude and Lina about to knock. ¡°Ah, Mr. Penrose, come inside for a moment. Lina, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to clear my afternoon. Let me know if there are any issues, and please ask Minrog if he can join me sometime after lunch.¡± Claude walked in, looking surprised and confused, as well as concerned for the other boy, while Lina nodded and walked away. ¡°Apologies for interrupting your lunch, Mr. Penrose. I have a favor to ask of you.¡±, Miranda said. ¡°Of course, schoolmaster.¡±, the boy nodded. ¡°Mr. Dustwater is having trouble adapting to the school. There are some exceptional circumstances that make things especially difficult for him. May I ask you to keep the following to yourself?¡±, she said, and the boy nodded again. ¡°I won¡¯t give you the details, but in short, I saved him from slavery and torture.¡± As he heard this, Claude¡¯s eyes grew wide and he stared at the schoolmaster. ¡°I would like you to make sure he eats his meals in the refectory, but also, if any other student asks questions, please make something up, or change the topic or something. I don¡¯t think he knows how to deal with other people, it may take him a while to learn to relax and speak to others.¡± The boy¡¯s eyes were still wide, but he once again nodded. ¡°Also, please report to me immediately if you notice anything unusual. He doesn¡¯t seem to know how to ask for help when he¡¯s in trouble¡­ we¡¯ll all have to keep an eye on him until he learns.¡± ¡°Yes, schoolmaster.¡± ¡°That will be all, for now, and thank you for your kind help.¡± ¡°Of course, schoolmaster!¡± The boy bowed and left. Miranda sighed again and walked back to her office. ? ? ? ¡°You know, Minrog, the main reason I created my own school was that I was tired of being surrounded by idiots¡­¡±, Miranda complained, looking at her friend, Master Sparrows, with her piercing eyes. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be done, Miranda, and you know it. Even if you could find a new teacher, you can¡¯t make an enemy of the Bree family. You already have too many enemies if you ask me!¡± ¡°And you worry too much about idiots!¡± ¡°Idiots are the most destructive force in the damn world! You¡¯d do well to fear them!¡± They stared at each other for a while. They weren¡¯t angry with each other, of course, they just needed to vent their frustrations; they both knew there was nothing they could do, that stupidity was unavoidable. But, Miranda thought, nobody could stop them from being angry about it. ? ? ? Spear woke up just before sunset. The orange rays of the sun streamed through his window. It took him some time to make sense of where he was and why; there was still pain in the back of his head, and when he focused on it his brain was once again flooded with too much information. He sat up on his bed and breathed heavily. ¡°Are you ok?¡± There was a girl sitting on his chair, a book on her lap. She looked at him with concern. He looked at her in confusion, while rubbing his head with his hands. She reminded him of Sara. ¡°Are you in pain? The potion shouldn¡¯t have any side effects¡­¡±, she said, while getting up and putting her hands around his head, then concentrating. He remembered taking the sleeping potion from Master Nantee. Remembering everything that had happened made him feel like crying again. ¡°Strange¡­ I don¡¯t feel anything wrong¡­¡±, she said after a few moments. ¡°Does your head hurt?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯ve had this headache since meditating this morning¡­¡±, he said. She frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of anything like that. Perhaps we should talk to Master Nantee¡­ He¡¯s probably left the school for today though.¡± She looked deep in thought. ¡°The schoolmaster wanted to see you as soon as you woke up, she¡¯ll know what to do!¡± Spear didn¡¯t feel like facing Miranda, but he didn¡¯t have any excuses¡­ so he hesitantly got up. ¡°My name is Silvia, by the way.¡±, she said while they walked out. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ Spear¡­¡±, he said awkwardly. ¡°I know!¡±, she chuckled. He looked at his feet and kept walking. She scrutinized him a bit but said nothing more. When they reached the schoolmaster¡¯s office, she knocked, and when asked to come in they both entered and bowed. ¡°Miss Grommer, thank you for your kind help. How is he?¡±, Miranda said. They talked about Spear for a bit, and she told her about the strange headache. The boy felt uncomfortable listening to them. Then the girl bowed and left, after Miranda thanked her again. ¡°Spear, please sit down.¡± The boy did as told, but he was clearly nervous and on edge. She tried to calm him down: ¡°Everything is ok, there is nothing to fear. You have done nothing to disappoint me.¡± He calmed down a bit after that, but it was clear he didn¡¯t fully believe her words. ¡°Will you tell me exactly what happened this morning when the headache started?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I was in the magic sense practice room¡­ I was meditating in front of a swinging pendulum¡­ The other day¡­ this is what I wanted to ask Master Bree during our meeting¡­ while I was meditating I felt¡­ I can only describe it as a number going up and down? Not sure if that makes any sense¡­¡± Miranda¡¯s eyes grew wide as he said this. ¡°Anyway, I was trying to sense that again¡­ and when I did I kept focusing on it¡­ until at some point¡­ it was like my brain was flooded with too much stuff, and it was really painful, and I¡¯ve had this dull pain in the back of my head since then¡­ But if I focus on it the pain comes back in full force¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me!¡±, she yelled, getting up from her chair. Spear recoiled. Realizing her mistake, she calmed down and tried to speak soothingly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ Everything is ok, I¡¯m not angry, you have no reason to be afraid. Please look at me.¡± It took a minute for the boy to calm down and look at her. ¡°You don¡¯t realize the meaning of what you¡¯re saying, do you?¡± He shook his head, confused. ¡°Ok¡­ listen to me. I¡¯m going to teach you personally. I¡¯ll try to find all the time I can, but I want you to spend at least an hour every day focusing on that feeling. That is your magic sense. Even if it¡¯s painful, you need to learn to control it.¡± Spear didn¡¯t like the sound of that, but nodded. ¡°It¡¯s late for today, and you need to eat dinner. Claude will make sure you eat properly from now on. Tomorrow¡­ try to study, as soon as I can I¡¯ll come find you and start training you.¡± She got up, and went to open the office door. Claude was waiting outside, and bowed to her. She gestured at Spear to go. He left with the other boy towards the refectory. She stared at him walking for quite a bit. Then she ran to Sparrows¡¯ office. ¡°Minrog! You¡¯re not going to believe this¡­¡± ? ? ? Spear and Claude ate in silence. Most other students had already eaten ¨C it was quite late. Claude didn¡¯t ask any questions. Spear thought the food was incredible and kind of regretted avoiding the refectory so far. After dinner, they went back to their rooms, and Claude told Spear that he¡¯d wait for him in the morning for breakfast, and to not be late. Spear wasn¡¯t entirely comfortable but the other boy didn¡¯t give him any choice on the matter. In his room, Spear glanced at the books on his desk and worried about what the librarian would say. Technically, he was not in trouble yet, but he didn¡¯t like monopolizing those books like this. Since he had slept all afternoon, he wasn¡¯t tired yet, so he decided to do some studying; it was also a good way to escape his thoughts. After a few hours he decided to try to sleep; as he laid in bed, his thoughts were torn between excitement and fear. For the most part, he thought that he would surely disappoint everyone and fail at everything ¨C he couldn¡¯t even sense things right. But, at the same time, the chance to become a wizard ¨C a real wizard! ¨C excited him; being trained personally by Miranda Wellspring was something that he couldn¡¯t even reconcile with what he thought was reality ¨C him being worthless and a failure. With all those thoughts, and his headache still there, it was hard falling asleep. He laid there for a long time. He eventually fell asleep, but only a couple hours before sunrise. 8 – What I want to do Spear woke up to someone knocking on his door. He groggily got up, and noticed that the sun had been up for a while. He opened the door and found Claude in front of it. The other boy narrowed his eyes at him. ¡°You¡¯re late!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±, Spear said groggily. Claude rolled his eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s go eat, I¡¯m hungry.¡± They walked to the refectory, which was still full of students eating their breakfast. Spear felt very uncomfortable, and kept looking at his feet and avoiding any contact with the other kids. They sat down and one of the kitchen staff put plates of food in front of them. Everything looked amazing and Spear started eating, looking only at the food and trying to pretend there weren¡¯t other people around him. Claude managed to keep the attention of the other students at the table; they kept glancing at Spear, some in curiosity, some in confusion, some looking offended by his behavior, but Claude kept them from bothering him in any way. Once they were done eating, they left the refectory and Claude told him that he¡¯d wait for him for lunch, and not to be late this time. ¡°Uh¡­ There¡¯s no clock in my room¡­¡±, Spear told him awkwardly. Claude sighed. ¡°Students don¡¯t normally spend all their time cooped up in their room¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±, Spear said looking at his feet. Claude rolled his eyes. ¡°Come with me.¡± They walked back up to the third floor, to a room full of spare furniture and supplies. Claude handed him an object. It was similar to the clocks on the walls, but smaller and made to sit on a desk. ¡°Now you¡¯re out of excuses!¡±, Claude said while smiling at him; then he left to go to his classes. After a few moments, Spear went back to his room. There, he noticed the books on his desk. He dreaded talking to the librarian but he didn¡¯t want to get in trouble. He reluctantly walked to the library. The librarian stared at him from the moment he entered the room, which made him feel even more uncomfortable than he already was. ¡°Uh¡­ I wanted to¡­ apologize¡­ for not coming to the library in the past couple days¡­¡±, he said hesitantly, avoiding eye contact. The librarian kept staring at him. After a long, awkward pause, he continued: ¡°Uh¡­ would it be ok¡­ to keep the books for a while longer? I will bring them back well before dinner¡­¡± The woman scoffed. ¡°Apparently the schoolmaster wants you to have priority over the books here.¡±, she said with a tone that suggested she was deeply offended by the idea. Spear looked at her with confusion. After a few moments she scoffed again and rolled her eyes. ¡°That means that you can keep them as long as you want.¡± She then looked at him as if daring him to say anything. ¡°Oh¡­ uh¡­ thank you¡­¡±, he said hesitantly, a little surprised. After another awkward pause, he left and went back to his room to study. ? ? ? Some time after lunch, Spear heard a knock on his door, and heard Miranda¡¯s voice from the hallway: ¡°Come to the practice room.¡± He quickly got up from his desk and left to follow her. They found Silvia waiting in front of the room. ¡°Miss Grommer, thank you again for your kind help.¡±, Miranda said to her, and she nodded. Then the schoolmaster addressed the boy: ¡°She¡¯s here in case you hurt yourself; that should not be possible, but, well, this whole situation should not be possible, so better be safe.¡± Spear didn¡¯t know how to feel about this. They entered the room, and Miranda asked him to show her what he¡¯d been doing. The boy sat in front of the usual pendulum and made it swing. He explained how he would meditate and try to sense it. Miranda raised an eyebrow. ¡°Who taught you to do this?¡±, she asked. ¡°Uh¡­ I read it in a book¡­ and Claude showed me this room¡­¡± ¡°Hmm. Try it again.¡±, she said. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ really painful¡­¡± Spear wasn¡¯t looking forward to it. Miranda pierced him with her eyes. After some hesitation, he closed his eyes; as he did so, Silvia put her hands around his head. After a moment, he screamed in pain, and opened his eyes, breathing heavily. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything wrong with him¡­¡±, Silvia said to the schoolmaster, really puzzled by this. She held him while he regained his senses. ¡°Hmm. We¡¯re in uncharted territory. I suggest you try with your eyes open, paying attention to the pendulum, and focusing only on it; you need to be able to endure the pain and narrow your focus. If you can limit how much you¡¯re sensing, it should stop hurting.¡±, Miranda said. Spear looked at her. He really didn¡¯t want to do this. This felt worse than the whip lashes. ¡°You think he¡¯s sensing more than just the pendulum?¡±, Silvia asked Miranda. ¡°From how he describes it, he¡¯s sensing the whole room, probably more.¡±, Miranda said. ¡°But¡­ that¡¯s impossible!¡±, Silvia said, looking at her wide eyed. ¡°I know!¡±, Miranda said, a huge smile on her face. Spear looked at them in confusion. Am I failing so badly that everyone is amazed by it? ¡°Miss Grommer, would you forgive me for dropping formality while it¡¯s just the three of us?¡±, Miranda said. Silvia was surprised to hear this. ¡°Of course, schoolmaster.¡±, she replied. Miranda kneeled in front of Spear and grabbed his shoulders. ¡°Spear, I need you to try again. This is not physically hurting you, it¡¯s just pain. It will go away if you learn to control it. Do you trust me?¡± Silvia was taken aback by seeing this, but she said nothing. Spear hesitated. ¡°Uh¡­ of course¡­ I trust you¡­¡±, he said, still not entirely convinced. Miranda kept staring at him with her piercing eyes. After a few more moments, he took a deep breath and faced the pendulum again. He stared at it and focused on it. At the same time, he tried to access his magic sense ¨C the dull pain in the back of his head. It was harder than just focusing on the pain, but after a bit it came back in full force; he tried to endure it, but he almost passed out. ¡°Maybe we can try giving him a numbing potion?¡±, Silvia said, a look of concern on her face. ¡°No, I doubt that would work, besides, he needs to be able to focus.¡±, Miranda answered.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Spear was still struggling to fully regain his senses; Miranda sighed. ¡°I think we may have to stop here for today. Spear, please try again tomorrow. Try to spend as much time as possible doing this.¡±, she said, then addressed Silvia: ¡°I don¡¯t think your presence will be necessary, he¡¯s not really getting hurt.¡± ¡°Actually, if Spear doesn¡¯t mind, I would like to assist him tomorrow too¡­¡±, Silvia said, surprising the schoolmaster. ¡°That¡¯s very generous of you, I¡¯m sure he doesn¡¯t mind. I¡¯m grateful, Miss Grommer.¡± ¡°No need, schoolmaster¡±, she said bowing deeply, ¡°I just don¡¯t like not being able to help.¡± Miranda nodded and, after making sure Spear would be ok, she left. Silvia helped him walk back to his room. Before parting, she addressed him: ¡°I have classes all morning tomorrow, and I have training at the clinic in the afternoon; I¡¯ll try to come back a little early; let¡¯s meet by the practice room, say, one hour before dinner time?¡± He just nodded; he was curious about what she meant by ¡°clinic¡±, but didn¡¯t ask. She said goodbye and left, and the boy decided to study some more until dinnertime. ? ? ? Claude found Spear already waiting in front of the still almost empty refectory. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you voluntarily left your room early!¡±, he said with a big smile. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±, Spear said. Claude groaned loudly and went to sit at a table; Spear followed him and sat next to him. Plates of food started to appear and they started to eat. ¡°Hi!¡±, Silvia said, sitting in front of them. Claude immediately nodded to her. ¡°Uh¡­ hi¡­¡±, Spear said. Claude narrowed his eyes at him. ¡°So, you can speak to people besides me?¡±, he asked. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±, Spear said quietly, avoiding eye contact. Claude rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. ¡°Claude, don¡¯t be mean to him!¡±, Silvia said reproachingly. More food had been delivered in front of her and she started eating too. Claude narrowed his eyes at her. ¡°How do you know each other anyway?¡±, he asked. ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out how to cure his headaches.¡±, she said. ¡°Headaches?¡± ¡°When he uses his magic sense, his head hurts so much that he passes out.¡± Claude rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not falling for it. What¡¯s the real reason?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the truth!¡±, Silvia said indignantly, feeling offended. Claude narrowed his eyes at Spear. ¡°Uh¡­ it¡¯s been hurting since yesterday morning¡­¡±, Spear told him. ¡°Wait¡­ that can¡¯t possibly be true¡­ you want me to believe that you learned to use your magic sense yesterday morning?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ well¡­ I think I sensed something on fourthday¡­¡±, Spear said in an apologetic tone. Claude stared at him, then he stared at Silvia, then he stared back at him and his eyes grew wide. ¡°He¡¯s a big mystery!¡±, Silvia said with a smile. ¡°The schoolmaster is training him personally!¡± Claude¡¯s eyes widened more and more. Spear kept eating awkwardly. ? ? ? It was firstday and Spear had two hours of intermediate physics in the morning again; he studied in his room the rest of the day, still trying to catch up with the rest of the class. When he got tired in the afternoon, he decided to go to the library to read more of the Barry Hotter book; he knew there was a chance he¡¯d forget his appointment with Silvia, but he did his best to check the clock as often as possible. A few minutes before the agreed upon time, he went to the practice room to wait for her. He sat in front of the usual pendulum. He stared at it and was scared of having to try again. Fifteen minutes or so later, she entered the room. ¡°Hi! Did I make you wait?¡±, she said. ¡°Uh¡­ hi¡­ no¡­ I¡­¡± He wanted to say that he was hoping she wouldn¡¯t come and he could just go back to his room, but he was ashamed of himself and said nothing. She sat next to him. ¡°Ok, so¡­ I¡¯ve talked a bit with Master Nantee and did some research¡­ Apparently it¡¯s rather common for wizards to get a headache if they overuse their magic. Nothing like you are getting though, and definitely not by just using the magic sense. So it¡¯s still a mystery, but, if what the schoolmaster said is true, you may be overusing your magic sense.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ thank you¡­¡±, he said and frowned; ¡°Why are you doing all this for me?¡±, he asked, knowing that he wasn¡¯t worth it. ¡°Helping people is what I want to do. It¡¯s why I came here. So this is just me doing what I want to do; I¡¯m not really doing anything for you.¡±, she said, looking directly at him and with a smile. He avoided eye contact; she was just another person he would disappoint. After a few moments, she continued. ¡°Anyway, I think that what you should be doing is trying to shut your magic sense out; like closing your eyes or covering your ears or whatever. You want to sense less, not more; once you can do that, and get rid of your headache, then you can try to sense a little bit more, and see how far you can go without pain. What do you think?¡± He looked at her, deep in thought. What she was saying made sense; additionally, doing the opposite of what he¡¯d been doing seemed a far better idea than experiencing that pain again. He had no confidence that he could control his magic sense, but it was worth a try. He stared at the pendulum; there was actually no reason to be in this room for this, but they were here now. He sighed and closed his eyes. Instead of trying to focus on the dull pain in the back of his head, he tried to push it away. No matter how much he tried, though, it was still there. After many minutes, he opened his eyes. Silvia was looking at him with curiosity. ¡°Uh¡­¡±, he said, ¡°The pain is always there¡­ I don¡¯t know how to make it go away¡­¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡±, she scrunched her eyebrows in thought. ¡°Have you tried focusing on something else?¡± He thought about it for a second and shook his head. Then he closed his eyes again and tried to think of something else. Eventually, he started imagining the adventures of Barry Hotter he had read about. He started picturing in detail all the scenes in the book ¨C he could almost hear the characters talking and see them going to visit places and battle enemies. Then he felt something on his shoulder; his eyes snapped open to see Silvia staring at him with some concern. ¡°You¡¯ve been sitting there with your eyes closed for a long time¡­¡±, she said. ¡°Oh¡­¡± He realized that he had been lost in his imagination again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°Did the pain go away?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ not exactly¡­ but I kind of forgot about it¡­¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s progress or not.¡± She was deep in thought for a few moments, but then added: ¡°We have less than ten minutes before dinner, is there anything else you want to try?¡± After thinking about it, Spear shook his head. They got up and walked towards the refectory. ? ? ? Claude was surprised to find Spear and Silvia already waiting for him in the refectory. On one side, he was glad that the boy was starting to make friends. On the other, he was curious about what was going on between those two; clearly a lot of stuff was happening around Spear, but Claude had little hope of getting anything out of him directly. As they sat down and the staff started to deliver food, he considered if he wanted to get involved more; if he did, maybe he¡¯d find out what was really going on; but, he was already busy with all his responsibilities. However¡­ if the schoolmaster herself was willing to teach him personally, then maybe he should make time for him too. ¡°So¡­ you guys are going to meet again tomorrow for practice?¡±, he asked. ¡°Yes, I have another busy day so we¡¯ll meet at the magic sense room one hour before dinnertime.¡±, Silvia answered. It was tough, but he decided he could make it. ¡°Do you guys mind if I tag along?¡± Silvia shrugged and looked at Spear. ¡°Uh¡­¡±, he said awkwardly, ¡°I don¡¯t mind¡­¡±, even though he would feel even more self-conscious about failing with more people around; he was too ashamed to say it though. ¡°Ok then, I¡¯ll be there!¡±, Claude said and started eating. 9 – It would be silly to say that it should be impossible ¡°What about that other matter?¡± ¡°Ah, I have the full report here. My recommendation would be to allow it to use as many resources as needed.¡± ¡°Hmm. You really think this would be worth the costs?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way to say for sure, but it is my opinion that it¡¯s worth the risks.¡± ¡°Hmm. Do it then. Let¡¯s hope you¡¯re not wrong.¡± ? ? ? Spear spent the next morning studying in his room as usual; he had met with Claude for breakfast in the refectory, but he hadn¡¯t seen Silvia there. It was almost lunch time when he realized that the dull pain in the back of his head was gone. He was really surprised by this, and immediately closed his eyes and tried to find it again. His mind was quickly flooded by a cacophony of different sensations, and it took him quite a while to regain his senses ¨C but there was no pain! He stood there stunned for a bit. What happened? What¡¯s different? He couldn¡¯t figure out why the pain was gone ¨C but, given that nobody seemed to have figured out exactly why the pain had come in the first place, he decided that there was no point in questioning it further. He ran to the magic sense room. He sat in front of the pendulum, made it swing and focused on it. It was like having a thousand people screaming inside his head, but among all that chaos, he thought he could find that sensation of something increasing and decreasing in synchrony with the movement of the pendulum; the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like he was sensing the velocity of the weight. He grew excited once more. ? ? ? Claude had to wait again for Spear to get to the refectory for lunch; he didn¡¯t say anything though this time ¨C Spear always took everything too seriously. He did notice, though, that the other boy seemed to be in a much better mood. ¡°You look better today¡­¡±, Claude said. ¡°Uh¡­ my headache is gone¡­¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°I¡­ think I can feel the velocity of the pendulum¡­¡±, Spear said hesitantly. ¡°You do?¡± (Claude didn¡¯t really know what to think anymore.) ¡°I¡¯m not sure¡­¡± They sat and they ate without talking more. Claude looked at Spear with a mix of curiosity and skepticism. When they were about to leave, Silvia sat down at the table. ¡°Hi!¡± ¡°Apparently his headache is gone¡­¡±, Claude told her. ¡°It is?¡±, Silvia asked with some confusion. Spear nodded. Claude and Silvia looked at each other for a few moments, then she said: ¡°He¡¯s a total mystery, isn¡¯t he?¡± They said goodbye (they¡¯d see each other again in the magic sense room one hour before dinnertime); Spear went to practice some more. He looked at his notes about the physics of pendulums and tried his best to confirm what he was feeling. He then looked at the physics of spinning tops and tried to feel one too ¨C it was much harder because, for example, the angular velocity didn¡¯t change much, so he couldn¡¯t really tell it apart from all the other ¡°noise¡± that he felt. He spent the entire afternoon trying different things, but despite the excitement it was mostly frustrating since he didn¡¯t really know what he was doing. He looked forward to Claude and Silvia coming ¨C he hoped that the other boy could give him advice. He didn¡¯t expect Miranda to show up with them. ¡°Claude told me your headache is gone and you can use your magic sense.¡±, she said entering the room. He was a bit startled but recovered quickly. ¡°I¡­ think so¡­¡± She sat in front of him and Claude and Silvia sat next to him. ¡°Do you remember what we talked about in the carriage?¡±, Miranda asked. After a moment, Spear nodded. ¡°Well¡­ I don¡¯t really know much about the magic sense.¡±, he said, his excitement starting to visibly evaporate. ¡°What do you know?¡± ¡°I¡­¡±, Spear began to say, but stopped thinking for a few moments. ¡°When trying with the pendulum, I feel something like a number increasing and decreasing; this seems to match what I know about the velocity of the weight, so I¡¯m thinking that¡¯s what I¡¯m feeling.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a fair assumption at this point; but, what do you mean exactly when you say that you feel a number?¡± ¡°Well¡­ It¡¯s almost like I could see a number in front of me¡­ but I¡¯m not really able to read it? It feels that if I could focus on it more, then I could read it¡­¡± Miranda raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s interesting; I¡¯ve never heard anyone describing it like that.¡± After a few moments, she added: ¡°Have you tried practicing with a spinning top?¡± ¡°I have¡­ but¡­ it¡¯s like trying to hear a whisper on the other side of the building while in a room packed full of people screaming¡­¡±, Spear said, frowning. Miranda raised an eyebrow again. ¡°I think I¡¯m feeling the angular velocity, but¡­ I''m not sure how to confirm it¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s play a simple game. I¡¯m going to spin two tops, and I¡¯ll use magic to make sure they make no sounds. One of them is going to stop before the other. Before we play, focus on them and see if you can feel them stopping.¡± She took two spinning tops and started both of them in front of the boy; he looked at them intently, until one stopped, then the other; she started them again and he kept focusing on them. When they stopped again she spoke once more: ¡°Do you think you¡¯re ready?¡± Spear wasn¡¯t really sure, but he nodded. ¡°Ok, now close your eyes. I¡¯m going to spin them again, and you¡¯re going to keep your eyes closed, and raise your left arm if the one to your left stops first, or your right arm otherwise. We¡¯ll keep going, with your eyes always closed, and we¡¯ll see how many times you get it right.¡± Spear nodded again and he closed his eyes; Miranda started the two spinning tops. When the right one stopped, the boy hesitantly raised his right arm. ¡°Ok.¡±, Miranda said, he lowered his arm and she started the spinning tops again. This time, though, after a few moments she grabbed the one on his left, as silently as possible. Spear scrunched his face, then raised his left arm, opening his eyes. He looked in confusion at the schoolmaster holding one of the spinning tops in her hand; she had a huge smile on her face. ¡°Close your eyes, we¡¯re not done!¡±, she said.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. They kept going for a bit; sometimes she would only spin one top; sometimes she would grab them both at the same time. Spear managed to get them all right, though he was very hesitant about most of them. Claude looked at him in disbelief; if he didn¡¯t know better he¡¯d assume that Spear had been training for a year or two. Silvia was mostly curious about the whole thing ¨C she certainly wouldn¡¯t have been able to get them all right. ¡°I think this will be enough for today. I should say, it¡¯s very impressive: I¡¯ve never met a first year able to do this, let alone after just barely more than a week of practicing.¡±, Miranda said; Silvia and Claude vehemently nodded. Spear didn¡¯t know what to say. After a few moments, she added: ¡°Do you three plan to meet again like this tomorrow?¡± They nodded. ¡°Mr. Penrose, would you be so kind as to test Mr. Dustwater with the spinning cylinder?¡± Claude was a bit surprised but responded: ¡°Yes, schoolmaster.¡± ¡°Thank you. Hopefully I¡¯ll see you again on fourthday, I can¡¯t wait to see how much progress you¡¯ll have made.¡± Miranda got up and walked towards the door; before she left the room though she heard Silvia: ¡°I guess I¡¯m useless at this point¡­¡± Miranda stopped, then turned around and addressed her: ¡°Actually¡­ Miss Grommer, would you be so kind as to attempt to teach Mr. Dustwater to sense his body?¡± Silvia was quite surprised. ¡°Of course, schoolmaster¡­ but¡­¡± Then, after some thought, she added: ¡°I guess it would be silly to say that it should be impossible¡­¡± Miranda smiled and left. The three kids got up and left for the refectory. ? ? ? The kids agreed to meet at different times the next day; Silvia had some free time in the morning, before Spear¡¯s physics class; Claude instead was busy all day, so they agreed to meet by the practice room some time before dinner. Silvia came by Spear¡¯s room ten or so minutes after the fifth hour (there was no need for them to be in the practice room). The boy was curious about what sensing his body entailed; the girl thought that the whole situation was surreal and, therefore, kind of fun. ¡°Ok, so¡­ I¡¯m not a teacher, so don¡¯t expect too much from me¡±, she said as she sat down on Spear¡¯s chair (he sat on his bed); ¡°but I think I can help you with a simple exercise. The idea is this: I use magic to affect one of your arms, and you try to sense it; it¡¯s something like mild weakness, so it¡¯s even less trouble than the itching unguent that most people use.¡± She grabbed both of his arms in her hands. ¡°To start, I¡¯m going to place the affliction on your left arm; try to focus on your body and your arms in particular and see if you can sense the difference between the two¡­¡± Spear nodded, and concentrated; he focused on his left arm in the same way he focused on the pendulum or the spinning tops; once again there was that ¡°noise¡± he could sense all around him; but, he thought he could feel something completely different from his body: it wasn¡¯t like numbers at all. More like¡­ a color? A more abstract sensation that he couldn¡¯t easily describe. Once he tried, he could feel something similar from Silvia¡¯s body as well. He focused more on his left arm, and attempted to sense any difference from his right arm; it was actually pretty obvious once he tried: it was like sensing a different color. More specifically, there was the same color underneath, but his left arm had something like a stain on it. He told this to Silvia. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a new way to describe it¡­¡±, she said. She was a bit skeptical, but she had to admit that Spear defied all expectations. ¡°Ok, now I¡¯m going to do the same thing without telling you which arm it is, and you tell me. Ready?¡± He nodded. After a few moments, the boy identified the correct arm. They repeated the exercise a few times and he quickly and easily got it right. Silvia looked at him with great surprise. Then she narrowed her eyes at him: ¡°If it turns out that you¡¯re even more talented at sensing life than you are at sensing the world I¡¯m going to be so jealous!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±, he said, looking down. She chuckled and said: ¡°Don¡¯t be silly.¡± She smiled at him. ¡°Wait until Claude finds out. And the schoolmaster¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°You really are special.¡± Spear didn¡¯t know what to say, so he avoided eye contact and said nothing. After saying goodbye and that she hoped to see him at lunch, the girl left, and the boy went back to studying, before heading to his class. ? ? ? ¡°I still can¡¯t believe you can sense life after trying just once!¡±, Claude said, after the two boys sat down in the practice room; it was half an hour before dinnertime. Claude had directed Spear to sit in front of what looked like a metal cylinder. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±, Spear said. Claude groaned. I can¡¯t say anything in front of this guy, he thought. ¡°Anyway, this thing here has a cylinder inside that can spin. You can¡¯t see it from the outside, and it can only be spun using magic. The idea here is that I magically spin it and you tell me in which direction I¡¯m making it spin, and so on. So it¡¯s like the spinning top, but you can¡¯t see or hear it, so it¡¯s a bit harder I guess.¡± Spear nodded. They went through the exercise a few times; initially, Spear was very hesitant, but he got confident with each attempt. Claude was really impressed, but didn¡¯t say anything; he decided that nothing would surprise him anymore when it came to the other boy. ? ? ? On fourthday, they all met again in the practice room. The kids had to wait some time for the schoolmaster to arrive. She sat down in front of them. ¡°Miss Grommer, was Mr. Dustwater able to sense his body?¡± ¡°All too easily¡­¡±, Silvia said, almost pouting. Miranda raised an eyebrow. Then she turned to Claude. ¡°Mr. Penrose, how did the test with the spinning cylinder go?¡± ¡°He¡¯s pretty good with it.¡± Miranda nodded. ¡°Great. Mr. Dustwater, now I want to do the same thing that you did with Mr. Penrose, except that I want you to close your eyes and keep them closed at all times.¡± Spear nodded, and she went to grab the cylinder. She put it in front of the boy, and he closed his eyes. She spun the internal, hidden cylinder and Spear indicated the direction it was spinning. She repeated this a couple times, with the boy identifying when she stopped or spun the object and in which direction. Then, without making any noise, she grabbed the cylinder, got up and started walking away from the boy. He kept sensing the movements of the object correctly. She walked towards the door, even stepped outside the room, and got as far away as she could while still being able to see and hear Spear; he still sensed it correctly. She had a huge smile on her face, while Claude¡¯s eyes were as wide as can be and his mouth was open; Silvia was just amused. ¡°You can open your eyes now.¡±, Miranda said. Spear did so, and was surprised that the cylinder wasn¡¯t in front of him anymore. He was confused to find the schoolmaster outside the door to the room and looking at him with her huge smile. She walked back in. Claude¡¯s mouth was still open. ¡°I think it¡¯s fair to say that no other student in the school would be able to do this.¡±, Miranda said. Then she added: ¡°In fact, I doubt anyone except me can do it in the whole kingdom¡­ and I¡¯m not going to tell you how many years of practice it took me.¡± Claude¡¯s mouth was still open. ¡°Now, can you show me how you sense your body?¡±, the schoolmaster said. Silvia turned to Spear and gestured for him to turn towards her. He did so and she grabbed his arms; she explained to the schoolmaster that she would inflict some weakness to one of his arms and he would sense which one. ¡°Do it the other way around ¨C inflict weakness to one of your arms.¡±, the schoolmaster told her. Silvia was about to protest, but instead she shrugged and asked Spear if he was ready. He nodded and they went through the exercise a few times. It appeared to be much easier for Spear than the ones sensing the world. Silvia was quite surprised (she didn¡¯t expect him to be able to sense her body), while Claude had finally managed to close his mouth. Then Spear asked a question: ¡°Why are you holding my arms if you are inflicting the weakness on yourself?¡± ¡°How do you expect to sense my body without touching me?¡±, Silvia said. Spear¡¯s face showed confusion. ¡°Miss Grommer, why don¡¯t we try with some distance between you and Mr. Dustwater?¡±, Miranda said. ¡°But that¡¯s¡­¡± Silvia stopped herself from saying ¡°impossible¡±. She frowned, released Spear¡¯s arms, got up and walked a couple steps away. They repeated the exercise, and the boy could easily sense her body. Miranda started laughing, while Silvia¡¯s expression grew terrified. Claude and Spear were just confused. ¡°You have no idea what this means, do you?¡±, Miranda said after a while. Spear shook his head. ¡°Do you remember what you said in the carriage about healers?¡± ¡°They are the scariest wizards?¡± ¡°Right, and that¡¯s with the fact that they have to touch people to even sense life!¡± Realization dawned on the boy¡¯s face. 10 – Unintended consequences After the four recovered from the little shock, Miranda sat back down in front of the kids. ¡°All three of you, promise me not to say anything to anyone about this. Do you understand?¡± They all nodded. ¡°I will tell Master Sparrows ¨C he has my full trust ¨C and Master Nantee ¨C he will need to train Mr. Dustwater. But, nobody else needs to know for now.¡± They nodded again. Miranda sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±, Spear said, looking down at the table and appearing deflated. The schoolmaster raised an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re sorry for completing the impossible task of impressing me in just a week?¡± The boy looked up at her in confusion. ¡°I guess I have to say it in clear terms. You have passed your test ¨C not in three months, but in just a little more than a week. You have accomplished things that nobody could have ever imagined anyone might accomplish. I¡¯m excited and looking forward to what you might accomplish in the future. All of my resources, and all of the resources of my school are at your disposal so that you may grow and continue to impress me and everyone else in the world.¡± One of her huge smiles spread on her face again. Spear¡¯s eyes grew wide, and the two other kids were also quite taken aback. ? ? ? Spear was back in his room; he was not sure how to deal with his confusing, contradictory emotions. Of course, Miranda¡¯s words made him happy, and he was excited to be able to stay permanently in the school and become a wizard; but he was also anxious, and convinced he¡¯d fail and disappoint everybody; he felt the pressure of the schoolmaster¡¯s expectations. He also didn¡¯t know what to make of his magic sense ¨C it was somehow different from everybody else¡¯s and he had no idea if it was a good or a bad thing. The fact that everything happened so quickly ¨C it was just a while ago that he was hiding in Jeneth¡¯s cabin ¨C didn¡¯t help at all. Miranda had told him that she¡¯d ask the head secretary to set up a schedule for him to have personal lessons with her and with Master Nantee; other than that, he¡¯d be free to choose which classes to attend and what to study; she encouraged him to widen his knowledge, but told him that so long as he¡¯d keep improving, he¡¯d be free to do whatever he wants. She also said that he should take the time to explore the city like he wanted ¨C Silvia was very excited about this idea and promised him that she¡¯d be his guide on the next fourthday. They had then all said goodbye. After a while, feeling overwhelmed, Spear went to the library and finished reading the Barry Hotter book; Claude had to come find him and drag him to the refectory for dinner. ? ? ? The next morning, Spear went to see Miss Goodsmith first thing after breakfast. He noted down his schedule for private lessons from the schoolmaster: one hour on firstday on the seventh hour; one on thirdday on the fourth hour; and two on seventhday starting on the twelfth hour. She told him that Master Nantee would see him right away to discuss his schedule, so the boy thanked her and went to the teacher¡¯s office. ¡°Ah, Spear of Dustwater¡­¡±, he said as the boy entered the room. ¡°We¡¯ve met a few times but I have never properly introduced myself. My name is John Nantee and I teach all about healing in this school; or, as your schoolmaster would like me to say, mastery of life. It is my understanding that your situation is very peculiar, therefore regular attendance of my ¨C and others¡¯ ¨C classes would not be the best approach here.¡± He continued: ¡°First, if I understand correctly, you¡¯re not specifically aiming to become a healer; such great aptitude for both branches of magic is unheard of, so the usual structure of classes here is not adequate. Additionally, your¡­ special ability¡­ makes it very critical that you learn at least enough to not cause disasters.¡± He said the latter with a very serious look on his face. ¡°Therefore, what I propose is this: first, I would like time to observe your ability, and for you to practice sensing life; for that, I would like you to come to my clinic as often as possible in the following weeks. I spend my time there every afternoon on firstday, secondday, sixthday and seventhday. We¡¯ll decide everything else after that.¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know what a ¡®clinic¡¯ is¡­¡±, Spear said, feeling very self-conscious. John laughed. ¡°Not something you would encounter in a village, indeed. Allow me to explain. It is simply a place where healers treat people with diseases or wounds or whatnot. Mine is a little special: normally, healing is very expensive; but, since my main purpose is to teach students to become healers, in my clinic anyone can be treated for free ¨C so long as they are willing to be treated by a student. The poorer citizens of the city get a chance at a service they couldn¡¯t get anywhere else, and my students get priceless experience.¡± The boy nodded, finally understanding. ¡°I imagine Miss Grommer can show you where to find it; I hope to see you there tomorrow afternoon.¡± Spear nodded again; the teacher went back to some papers on his desk, and the boy bowed and left. ? ? ? On sixthday, Spear met Silvia at lunch and then they walked together to the clinic. It wasn¡¯t far from the school, and the building was much less impressive than the others the boy had seen so far. He was surprised by the number of people waiting for treatment. ¡°We noticed that people are less careful, knowing that they can be healed for free, and therefore they get hurt much more often¡­¡±, Silvia explained to him. Spear frowned. ¡°In fact, it seems that the number of fatal accidents has increased, if only a little bit, since the clinic opened a few years ago¡­¡±, she continued, frowning too. ¡°Ah, there you are.¡±, Master Nantee said as he saw the boy. ¡°You should observe everything we do here today, and use your magic sense as much as possible; just don¡¯t get in the way of the healers. I will ask you questions, and answer any that you have, whenever I have some time.¡± Spear nodded. He spent the afternoon doing as asked ¨C he observed all sorts of people with all sorts of ailments coming to get help from students, and occasionally from Master Nantee himself (who used the opportunity to teach). Silvia really seemed to be in her element here, doing everything she could to help. Spear used his magic sense to see what was happening; it seemed to him that diseases and wounds were like stains on the magic of the body. As promised, the teacher sometimes asked him questions, mostly about what he felt, and what he could tell about people waiting to be seen; he also explained to him, when he asked, that some of the ¡°stains¡± Spear was sensing were beneficial effects rather than ailments. Most of the ability of a healer was in recognizing them.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. They walked back to the school at dinnertime. ? ? ? That night, in his room, Spear kept thinking about what Silvia said about people being less careful and getting hurt more. He couldn¡¯t understand why people would behave that way; were they not afraid of pain? Was it a mistake to offer healing for free? The whole thing bothered him to no end and he felt that he couldn¡¯t rest until he had found a solution ¨C but he also had no idea what a solution looked like. He had never encountered problems like this in his books. ? ? ? The next day, Spear studied in the morning, and went to the clinic again in the afternoon. He was starting to recognize some of the ailments people had. He left around the eleventh hour to go to the magic sense room for his lesson with the schoolmaster. When she arrived, he had to ask about the problem with the clinic, as it was still bothering him. ¡°Ah¡­ that¡¯s what we call ¡®unintended consequences¡¯.¡± Spear frowned, and she continued: ¡°Allow me to digress a bit. At this point, I could ask you to predict how long a spinning top will spin for: if you have seen it a number of times, and can feel its angular momentum well enough, you can feel at which rate it¡¯s slowing down, and determine how much time until it stops. Let¡¯s try it: I¡¯m going to spin two tops and you tell me your prediction about which one will stop first.¡± She took two tops and spun them; Spear studied them for a few moments, then indicated the one on the left. Miranda nodded, but still waited until they stopped, and indeed the one on the left stopped first. Then she spun them again, and after some hesitation Spear pointed to the one on the right. The one on the left suddenly stopped, Spear frowned and looked at Miranda who smiled at him. ¡°Why was your prediction incorrect?¡±, she asked. ¡°You stopped it with magic!¡±, he said, still frowning. ¡°Indeed.¡± He frowned some more. ¡°Your understanding of the system you were observing was incomplete: you did not account for me. Now, think about a situation where your intention is to help someone; if your understanding of the situation is not complete, then you can¡¯t really predict the outcome of your actions; it may be that you end up hurting them instead of helping them. For one to predict the effects of Master Nantee¡¯s clinic on the city, one needs to understand the whole city, or even the entire world. That usually is impossible ¨C therefore a good idea, like a free clinic, may have unexpected results, because you didn¡¯t really understand people and everything that is going on in Redoaks city.¡± After a pause, she continued: ¡°I must say that I spent quite some time thinking about this particular case. My conclusion is this: the free clinic is still a good thing, and it¡¯s not what is directly causing people to change their behavior; rather, it is enabling it. The cause is something else ¨C I suspect an environment where they have to give their all just to survive.¡± Spear was deep in thought. The schoolmaster is right! The clinic is only one of the factors! If we can find the others, maybe we can reduce the number of accidents without changing anything about the clinic! ¡°We still have our lesson to get to¡­¡±, Miranda interrupted him. He was startled and immediately felt embarrassed. She asked him to do increasingly difficult exercises for his magic sense ¨C trying to sense some subtle property of objects rather than the most prominent one like he had done so far; in particular, he needed to learn to sense the position of objects ¨C how far away they were from him etcetera ¨C since at this point he had no idea where an object was if he couldn¡¯t see it. Towards the end of the two hours lesson, she also told him that he needed to start practicing actually using magic; for example, stopping the pendulum, or making it swing without touching it. She explained that if his magic sense was like ¡°reading¡± numbers for him, then using magic was like ¡°writing¡± them instead ¨C replacing the current velocity of the pendulum¡¯s weight with a new one. He was very excited to start experimenting with this! He spent the two hours he had before dinnertime doing just that ¨C it was frustrating because he wasn¡¯t really sure how to do it exactly. Right before the end though, he thought he had changed the velocity of the pendulum a bit; he went to the refectory practically jumping up and down from excitement. ? ? ? Spear spent the following days between studying, practicing and observing in the clinic. He was getting a better idea of what all the noise he was sensing was about: things like the position of objects, their mass and its distribution, the materials they were made of, their temperatures, the forces on them, all sorts of vibrations¡­ not to mention the air itself! He realized why studying physics was so important: he had a long way to go even to just understand half of all that. He thought that one day, all that noise would start to make sense to him, and the most exciting part was that he might even be able to control it! So far he had only been able to affect the pendulum a little bit ¨C but every time he did, he jumped up and down from excitement. I¡¯m doing magic! I¡¯m doing magic! When Miranda saw that he was making progress, she told him there was one rule he had to follow at all times, with no exceptions: ¡°Don¡¯t mess with what you don¡¯t understand!¡± ¡°It¡¯s lucky that we already discussed unintended consequences. You must understand how hard it is to predict the consequences of some action; only in specific cases can you be confident that your actions won¡¯t lead to disaster. Don¡¯t ever try something you are not sure about; if you want to experiment with something, ask me first, or at least ask someone else with more experience first. In doubt, don¡¯t use magic. I can¡¯t stress this enough: in doubt, don¡¯t use magic. This is so important that a little demonstration is required.¡± She led him to a room on the first floor that opened to a staircase; the stairs went pretty deep underground, and they led to what looked like a long tunnel that had clearly been created with magic. The walls looked like to be made of smooth metal; he could barely see the end of the tunnel. In front of them there was a table, with a bunch of metal balls similar to the weights of the pendulums he was practicing with. ¡°Now, let¡¯s say that I decided to mess with the velocity of this little weight here, not unlike you are doing in the practice room¡­¡± The ball suddenly shot towards the end of the tunnel, and there was a loud, deafening noise. After a few moments, she led him to the end of the tunnel: there were metal shards everywhere and the spot where the ball had hit the wall was still red hot. Spear looked at the destruction wide eyed. ¡°This is what might happen when you practice with the pendulum in the magic sense room. Please, understand what it is that you are doing before you do it. Too much velocity means disaster. If you¡¯re not sure about something, ask me first. In doubt, don¡¯t use magic.¡± The boy, still wide eyed, nodded.