Alessandra and Evan

Alessandra fiddled with her new broach as she walked to the training yard. She liked game night, and it was even better with loot prizes. Why Father thought she wouldn’t be very good at poker still baffled her, but she was more than happy to take all his peanuts and claim the loot. Mother had stopped the game before she could take everyone’s peanuts, though. She also took most of the loot for ‘safe keeping and to keep you from selling it to the first pawn broker you see for a fraction of its value’. She did tell her she would get it back when she was older, and she trusted Mother more than the Maid-Thieves to actually give it back. She did let her keep some of the ‘baubles’ though. She bumped into a set of legs and fell onto her rear. Evan turned around, picked her up, and tossed her gently into the air, catching her on the way down.

“Phenomenal magical powers and a piece of pretty jewelry still distracts you.” He tossed her lightly into the air again and set her giggling back onto the ground. “Guess magic doesn’t change little girls’ nature much. We’re here, though, and it’s time to get serious.”

Evan motioned her to a cushion in the middle of the training yard. The cushion was sitting in the middle of a simple magical circle. She walked towards the circle and crouched down to examine it. This was the first one she had seen in person; her Educator/torturer had shown her some of the boring books he insisted on making her read. It was made of silver-colored metal and a permanent part of the floor.

Evan explained, “This room is set up for new Mages to practice in relative safety. The circle, which Paladin Arabelle and I will charge, will absorb any stray mana you send out. Today I will start instructing you on fine control of your Aura so you can start walking around without the suppression bracers on. This circle can be crossed freely, but please don’t cross it without your bracers on.”

Alessandra nodded in understanding. Father, Mother, and Arabelle had explained, many many times, how dangerous her Death magic was and how very important it was that she always wear at least one bracer unless several Paladins and Miss Kat were around. She didn’t want to kill someone by accident, only on purpose. When she told Mother that she had to talk to Counselor Ufton for a lllooonngg time about how killing someone was a big thing and little girls shouldn’t be thinking about stuff like that. She had realized that Mother and Father were worried about how much death she had seen. She would need to figure out when and who it was okay to kill. Why was it ok for Mother to kill the annoying lady yesterday, but it was not ok for her to shank Miss Suzzane for taking Bitey away? After so long in a safe place, she was beginning to realize that violence and death were not a normal part of rich kid life. She liked it. Alessandra winced; Evan had just bonked her head, and she quickly placed her hands on her head to protect it from any more bonks from her brother.

“Keep your thoughts from wandering. You need to pay attention; this is important. Now take a seat on the cushion. Paladin Arabelle will remove your suppressors after I charge the circle. After she steps out of the circle, I will talk you through the beginning steps of aura control.”

Alessandra nodded and walked over to the cushion with Miss Arabelle and sat. She watched as Evan knelt by the circle and placed his hands on it for a few seconds and then stood and nodded at Miss Arabelle. Nothing had visually happened to the circle, but Alessandra assumed it had worked as Miss Arabelle unlocked her bracers and stepped out of the circle with them.

“Alessandra, close your eyes and think about your mana. If you are able to feel it try to call it into yourself.”

Alessandra did as instructed, Father had told her that Evan was a good instructor and do what he told her. She thought of how it felt when she Shadow-jumped, how she felt a coolness spread from her tummy and spread out all around her; almost like when she spread her fingers and ran them over the grass in a garden. She grabbed that feeling and was surprised when she felt the coolness all around her. She also felt other things, a stillness that reminded her of death; making a logical leap, she realized that must be her Death Magic. There were also other weaker feelings; one was smooth, another was fluffy, and another warm. She tried to cup all of the mana in her mental “hands” like water, but it slipped through her “hands.” She decided to focus only on the coolness and stillness as those were the most “solid” mana that she could sense. She struggled for an unknown amount of time to call the mana to her, but it resolutely ignored her. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she got the feeling that the mana was mocking her. In frustration, she finally reached out with her “hands” and tried to grab the mana by its metaphorical neck. To her surprise, it sort of worked, and she “felt” a string of mana in her “hands”. She grabbed a string of the cool mana in one hand and a string of the still mana in the other and pulled it towards her chest. She thought of trying to pull the mana towards her but felt that wouldn’t work. Continuing to hold the bits of mana in her “hands,” she sat there thinking for a while. Then she had a thought and moved the mana to her “mouth” and started sucking the mana in as if she were taking a deep breath. When this worked, she wanted to stand up and dance for joy but remembered that Evan had instructed her to concentrate, so she sat there calmly and continued to “suck” the mana in. After another unknowable amount of time, she started to feel tired and full. Her “vision” blurred, and she felt herself fall over.

****

Evan and Paladin Arabelle watched on in silence as Alessandra’s uncontrolled mana lashed the shielding circle, refreshing its mana from time to time. After about an hour, Paladin Arabelle spoke.

“Do you think your instruction was enough? I know her control is supposed to be high, so she should at least be gaining some control by now.”

“She’ll get it. I’ve instructed many young, both in age and Awakening, mages, and I’ve found being vague for the first introduction to one’s uncontrolled Aura is best. Everyone sees their mana differently; if I try to guide someone more at the start, it hinders growth by tainting their expectations. If she does not grasp it this time, talking through her experiences will help me guide her further.”

“I see. My instructor explained the most common ways people sense their Aura to us before they let us try Aura control. When instructing new Shadow Mages, I take a middle road to you and my old instructors. I explain how I feel the shadows and explain that they may feel them differently. However, I usually get older, in age, not necessarily Awakening, students, so my methods may not work with a child.”

“With most children, I would agree they wouldn’t. With Alessandra, I’m not so sure. I’m sure you’ve watched her interrogate her Educator when she gets curious about a subject. She grasps concepts easily that most children usually wouldn’t be able to grasp at her age. I watched her figure out why slavery is not economically viable in ten minutes after the Educator explained all the problems with keeping slaves under control. She is scary smart.”

They stood in silence for a few more minutes until their senses felt the mana inside the circle move. They watched as the mana was pushed around and seemed to try and flee whatever was chasing it. After about half an hour, Evan noticed Alessandra’s face scrunching up in obvious frustration. After a minute, a look of surprise and relief passed over her face, and the mana calmed. Alessandra twitched but then stilled again. For the next quarter hour, nothing happened. Then the mana moved again, and Evan prepared to dump all of his mana into the shield circle in case Alessandra’s mana was about to go wild. He relaxed when he felt the mana move into Alessandra and start forming a calm Aura partially under her control. A good first step, he thought. A few minutes later Alessandra fell over, and the mana settled into what he would consider a novices Aura. Somewhat controlled but still dangerous to weak Mages and normal beings. Better than expected for her first day’s efforts.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“Did she just…?” Paladin Arabelle asked.

“Yes, she was pulling her aura in. Obviously, she couldn’t pull it all in. Give it a few minutes to see if what she did bring under control stays controlled or if she lost control when she fell unconscious,” Evan replied.

They stood watching the mana calm and start to leak back out of Alessandra, though it was a slower leak than with many novice mages.

“Well, that makes me feel better. She’s going to be a good Mage, but she’s not a natural,” Evan said. “I have seen far worst first attempts and a few better, nice middle-of-the-road first attempt. I’m not sure how I would deal with her if she was a genius at both academics and magic.”

“Should I put the bracers back on, or do you want me to wait some more?”

Even motioned for her to proceed and said, “Go ahead; we are done with the practical portion of the lesson for the day.”

****

Alessandra woke up with her head resting on something that was warm and soft. She didn’t panic like she would have in the past; she knew that Father and Mother and her Guards would not let anything bad happen to her. She tried to snuggle deeper into the unknown pillow and heard Evan's voice.

“Good, you’re awake. Does this mean I can have my lap back?”

“No! Comfy!” Alessandra declared, rolling over and burying her face in his stomach.

“While I’m glad my lap is comfortable, you’ve been asleep for a bit over an hour; we need to talk about what happened in the training room.”

Alessandra groaned, punched him somewhere on his chest, rolled over so her face was facing him, and opened her eyes. She stubbornly did not surrender his lap.

“Fine, wadda you wanna talk about?”

“Firstly, if you’re going to talk like that around Mom, make sure I’m around. That would be a fun lecture to watch.” Alessandra rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut. “Secondly, I need you to describe, as best you can, how you saw and interacted with the mana when you were meditating.”

Alessandra furrowed her brow and thought about what she had felt when searching for the mana. “It was feelings, like how a shadow is cooler than the sunshine or how you can tell someone is dead by how still they are.”

“Did you only feel two types of mana?”

Alessandra shook her head, liking the way Evan's lap felt under her head, “No, there were others, but they felt weaker. One was fluffy, and the other was smooth like metal.”

“Just to be sure it was all feelings you didn’t see or smell anything?”

“Nope, just feeling. It was weird; it wasn’t like I touched it but more like when you know not to go down an alley. I was able to grab the mana, and I just knew to touch it to my mouth and suck it in, and the still and cool mana started to fill me up. I can still feel a little bit coming in.”

“Well, that’s my next few questions answered.” Evan reached over and grabbed a book from what Alessandra assumed was a table; she wasn’t going to risk losing the lap to see. Staring up, she tried to read the title of the book but couldn’t, she could make out the letters, but they made no words she knew. She didn’t dwell on the book and started to drift off to sleep again. The next thing she knew, there was a finger in her ear.

“GAAYAAAHHH!” She jumped and crouched, staring down at Evan and Arabelle from the bookcase she now found herself on top

Arabelle glared death at Evan, who was getting up from the couch, “You startled her; you get her down.”

Alessandra thought of throwing a book at Evan but remembered the spanking from the last time she threw one and decided against it. Instead, she smoothed her skirt, sat down, faced the wall, and sulked. Fingers in her ear, really brothers were the worst, she thought. She ignored Evan’s pleas to Shadow Walk back down for a few minutes. He tried explaining that if she stayed up there she would miss lunch. HA! She thought as if missing a meal would bother her, despite the first protests of hunger her stomach was making. Then he suddenly stopped pleading with her. Good, she thought, I’ll just come down when I hear him leave, she thought. She then heard a sound almost like a carriage. She resisted the urge to look and see what it was. This turned out to be a mistake because she was unprepared for what happened a few seconds after the noise stopped. She found herself grabbed from behind and flung over Evan's shoulder and unceremoniously carried to the floor. To make matters worse, her brother ignored her protests to set her down and carried her through the house to the dining room and plopped her in her chair in front of Father and Mother! She crossed her arms over her chest, turned her head away from Evan, and refused to look at him.

“Do we want or need to know?” she heard Father ask.

“Nah, normal sibling stuff,” Evan said.

‘Nothing? He thinks scaring me awake with a finger in my ear and carrying me through the house like I was a sack of potatoes is nothing!’ Alessandra thought. ‘I’ll definitely get him back for that.’ Alessandra put on her best sad face and looked at Father.

“I was having a nice nap, and he,” She pointed a finger at Evan, “put his finger in my ear. I screamed, and accidentally Shadow Walked to the top of a bookcase. The brute dragged me down, and then the brute carried me all through the house over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes!”

Father looked like he was trying not to laugh, which just made Alessandra angrier. She was about to get up and stomp out of the room when Mother cleared her throat.

“Alessandra, unfortunately, that is normal sibling stuff like your brute of a brother said,” giving the brute in a question a LOOK that Alessandra already knew well. “Older brothers love to tease their younger siblings, especially sisters. You will have to learn how to fight back without always running to your Father or me unless they really hurt you, which being adults, I doubt they will.”

Alessandra thought for a moment and decided she better ask before she carried out her defense plan.

“Does fighting back mean I can shank them?”

She got the LOOK from both Mother and Father.

Hanging her head in mild disappointment, she mumbled, “I guess that means no.”

“””DEFINITELY NO!””” Father, Mother, and Evan yelled at the same time.

Father gave her a LOOK that she hadn’t seen before, and it worried her. It didn’t look like his ‘you’re in trouble’ look or his ‘I know what you’re doing, but I won’t tell ‘cause it’s funny’ look either. She knew she would find out later what it meant, Father did not like to give out punishments at mealtime. She just hoped that it wouldn’t be taking away her dessert again; a spanking was much better than no dessert.