“So you are the two boys are going to be my students?” said the bald man with the long beard. “I am Yvan, what are your names?”

Gandon looked at the man apprehensively. “The king said a great master was going to teach us how to cast magic.”

Yvan laughed warm heartedly. “Great is a matter of subjective. What makes someone great according to you?”

“Their intellect,” said Gandon without hesitation.

“True, you need a good head on your shoulder if you are going to learn the art of magic.”

“Then maybe I shouldn’t be here,” said Ilmur while looking at the ground.

“You boys, are still young, there will be many years yet before you have reached your full potential. But now at the moment I need your names.”

They gave them to him and Yvan nodded. “This is a very peculiar situation, you Gandon wants to learn fire, and Ilmur wants to learn Ice, isn’t that so?”

“Ice is much cooler!” shouted Ilmur.

Yvan laughed again. “Well, that is true in a sense.” Yvan’s expression changed into a serious one. “Practicing magic is a serious matter, normally someone who can cast fire never learns the art of ice. To my knowledge, I am the only one who can. That’s why I have been chosen to teach you both magic at the same time.”

Yvan unlocked the gates and they walked into the garden of magicians. “I am an elemental mage, I need these berries that we grow here to harness my power.” He paused to inspect the berries. “There are four ways to cast magic, but there could be many more ways that we do not know about. I have already revealed one, do you know any other?”

“I have read about light magic, but that is really rare, never heard about anyone who has access to that magic,” said Gandon.

“And there is no light without a shadow,” said the master spookily.

“Are we going to learn dark magic?” asked Gandon.

“We are going to learn about it. But if I ever hear that you have been practicing with it you are out of here. I’m born on a remote Island called Oban, and according to legend it was us who discovered the dark arts. To my great shame.”

“You can’t throw us out! The king has ordered you to teach us magic, you’ll be exiled from the whole kingdom!”

The older man shrugged. “Perhaps, I have been in exile before, Oban is a place who accepts all outlaws, we have no loyalty to no king, and we govern our own affairs.”

“He didn’t mean it master, he is just a little bit too excited, that’s all,” said Ilmur.

“If you two don’t take your studies seriously and aren’t coming here with a certain amount of maturity, I see no reason to waste my time on any of you. We have covered three areas of magic, what’s the last one?”

None of the boys knew.

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“This does hardly surprise me; they are very rare and stay out of cities. They are called blue mages, those who learn magic by studying the magic in nature and in other beings. This is the slowest way of learning magic, and most people don’t have the patience for it. But they aren’t as restricted as we elemental mages. If you ever stumbled upon a blue mages, I suggest you ask them a thing or two, you might learn something. Even though they seldom like to talk to people. I spent a summer myself with mermaids in my youth, but to no avail.”

“Dirty old man,” snickered Gandon behind Yvan’s back.

Ilmur gave a sign that he should stop. He looked afraid. Luckily the man didn’t notice.

“Your father asked about this, but they couldn’t afford to have you leave the capital years upon years. So, this is the way it’s going to be,” said Yvan with his arms behind his back. “The studies are hard, but both of you are son to a king, and we will make sure that you will have time for your other tutors. Still interested?”

“I can’t be without sword practice, Calvin master at arms says that I have great potential.”

“Fear not, life shouldn’t be painted in one colour, I have other interests and duties as well.”

“So, when can we begin?” asked Gandon.

“We have already begun, see the berries over here that grow in four rows?”

“Yes of course, I am not blind,” said Gandon.

“Your attitude you can leave behind the gates, my dear student,” said Yvan.

“I just don’t like when people ask me questions that I can witness with my own eyes,” said Gandon with his arms folded.

“I was informed about you Gandon, you seem to do very well in your studies, but that is no excuse walking around thinking that you are better than everyone. You two are only 7, you have seen nothing of this world yet, and barely started figuring out what life actually means. You will come to realize that when you study magic you are like a new-born babe, being forced to learn everything all over again.”

“It’s about time someone gives me a decent challenge,” said Gandon.

Yvan sighted. “This will be a lot of work, but I have dealt with troublesome students before. I would like to slap the fool that said that there are no bad students, only bad teachers.” They walked over to a stone table that was displayed in the garden.

“We are going to crunch some dried berries in this mortar, your bodies will not be used to the berries yet, and I will have to give them to you in very small doses. If your stomachs hurt during the night call for me right away.”

*

Several hours later the boys were upon a hill practicing with their wooden swords. They weren’t allowed to go here without supervision, but they did so anyway. Gandon’s fingers were hurting, he tried a piercing attack but that was to no avail. He had never beaten Ilmur in a fight, and today was no exception. The thick forest was next to Gandon’s back, they liked to play in the tall trees, but they never dared to venture very far. Some people believed that the forest was cursed, strange that the woodcutters seemed to be doing alright then.

Gandon threw away his sword, enough is enough. The sun was starting to go down over the hill and the city it was a beautiful view, and his favorite place. Here he could feel at peace, he was often angry in the city.

“What are you thinking about?” asked Ilmur.

“The people at court call me a bastard, they have started doing it more recently and they are not bothering to hide it. I wonder who my parents were, why did they abandon me?”

“What do you mean? father is father”

“Ilmur, look at me. You are white as a ghost compared to me, there is no way we have the same mothers.”

Ilmur looked uncomfortable. “I guess I never really thought about it, but I guess you are right. Whoever they were, they didn’t abandon you, they made sure that you would have a good life, that you were cared for. Father and mother treat you like their own son, I would say that mother treats you better than the rest of us even.”

Gandon sighted. “Will I ever know where I come from? I asked Elram about it, and he said we’ll talk about it when I’m older, but that sounded like an excuse to me.”

It was clear that Ilmur didn’t know what to say. “Let’s go back, otherwise we’ll be in trouble soon.”

“Yeah, maybe a game of five towers before bed?”

“Yeah, who knows, I might even win tonight!”

“Oh, Ilmur, how I envy your optimism, you never seem to run out of it.”

Gandon slept well during the night, but he heard during the morning that Ilmur had called the servants to fetch Yvan, fearing for his life.