Alys hated her morning classes. Chants and their Purpose, Mystical Interactions, Mana and the Body, it was all theory that she had already learned. She had considered skipping, but the thought of ruining her perfect attendance was just enough to keep her going, even if she mostly did her own work during class time. Thankfully the school’s belltower, chiming eleven times, signified the end of classes and the start of her private tutoring session with Agatha Marigold, the resident professor of Conjuring. It was a rather broad subject, as you could technically classify most any casting as a ‘conjuring’ of some sort, but that only meant there was a lot to learn and the lessons were often practical.

Professor Marigold’s office was in one of the rooms that backed onto the central garden of the school, an open area in the rough centre of the complex that was overgrown, in Alys’s opinion, but that the caretakers insisted was ‘thriving’. Alys knocked on her door, an ordinary oak as opposed to Professor Practim’s Elven breed of the same tree, decorated with carvings of her namesake flowers that were enchanted to turn to the light and dance in the breeze as if they were ordinary flowers blooming from the wood, and entered when invited in.

“Professor Marigold.” she greeted.

“Miss Alys, it’s a pleasure to see you.” replied Marigold, the dappled sun shining through plants that clung to the windows into the garden behind her. Most of the professors, and wizards in general, decorated their spaces with all kinds of odds and ends, though Procto Practim was a bit of an exceptional case as he boasted the most trinkets in the school and was quite proud of it. Marigold, on the other end of the spectrum, kept her room relatively sparse. Relatively being the key word, as there were still an assortment of things scattered about her office. Plants were the dominating factor, including craspedia, roses with seven differently coloured petals, passion flowers in all sorts of shapes, and a marigold the size of a kick ball. Thankfully she kept the room under spell, allowing each plant their own little climate and making sure they didn’t bleed into the surrounding area. This meant each plant got just what they needed and the room didn’t feel as hot as a greenhouse.

Alys heard a chitter by her feet and looked down, noticing Marigold’s companion Spillsoft, a small brown squirrel, running around her legs excitedly. She tried to make her way to the desk and have a seat, but the little animal made it difficult to do so without getting stepped on, which resulted in Alys performing a teeter-totter, high legged tip-toe sort of walk to avoid it. Marigold giggled, a light and musical sound, her bright yellow curls bouncing as she covered her mouth with a dark hand.

“Come now, Spills,” she beckoned, and the squirrel finally left Alys alone in favour of its master, running up the leg of the desk and up her arm, perching on her shoulder. She stroked it with a finger as Alys sat down across the desk and placed her staff within easy reach.

A lighthearted scene, to be sure, but one that happened each time Alys visited. ‘Stagnant,’ she thought. An apt choice of words.

“What will we be working on today, Professor?” she asked.

“Conjuring, of course.” she laughed again and Alys smiled politely at the joke. “We’ll be picking up from where we ended last time. Do you remember everything or would you like a quick refresher?”

“You were teaching me about the process of conjuring an item or object. I believe we ended after I had successfully made a wooden key.” she recited, eyes drifting slightly up and to the right as she thought.

“Very good,” she said and clapped, softly and quietly. “Today we’ll be moving on to another aspect, the conjuring of an effect.” she raised her left hand and one of the vines on the window began to move. What had once appeared to be just another plant growing on the outside of the glass revealed itself to be on the inside of the room, and it began floating into Marigold’s palm. It was her staff, a dark green and naturally bending thing, it blended right into the vinework. The crystal on its end, almost entirely transparent with the barest tinting of yellow and shaped like a flowerbud, glowed softly as it sedately floated over.

“All magic stems from desire,” Marigold began the lesson with the first lesson any student is ever taught. Alys found it trite. “I desired my staff,” she said as it found its resting place in her hand, and she gestured to it with the other. “And so it came. I desire a flower,” she tapped the tip of her staff on the desk, and a sprout quickly grew from the wood and bloomed into a lily of the valley. “And so it appeared. Near anything can be achieved with only two things; desire and focus. You did an excellent job creating an object during our last session, faster than even myself when I was your age, and so today I’ll have you create an effect.” Her cheerful face turned serious, she needed to impress upon Alys the severity of casting. “These are generally considered more difficult, as not much can really go wrong when conjuring an item, and if not controlled properly you could create a dangerous phenomenon that could hurt or kill.” a slight pause to let the lesson sink in, which Alys committed to memory, before the smile quickly came back. “But you’re a talented wizard, Alys, and I’m here to make sure everything goes well, so there’s no need to be afraid.”

Alys nodded and took a deep breath, as she had unknowingly began to breathe shallowly.

“What effect should I conjure?” she asked, and Professor Marigold smiled as if she was expecting the question.

“It’s entirely up to you, dear. It is often easier to create and control if it is a desire born from yourself.”

That didn’t help her one bit. Alys lifted her staff to rest on her lap, closed her eyes under Professor Marigold’s patient eye and began to focus. What sort of effect did she desire to call forth? Even further, what did she want at all? She’d like to be more independent, not treated as if she was a child, not cooped up in the school all day. She enjoyed her lessons for the most part but it was… stifling. She felt as if she’d learned as much as was appropriate in a class. But what would happen if she willed that desire to become true now? She had to hold her wants in check, she couldn’t use that one, something might go wrong. But what else was there? To learn was the only other that was as strong, and she’d never heard of spells that could just place concepts and ideas into your mind. Surely the schooling here would look a lot different if that were possible. Something simple, something easy, anything that wasn’t those two. Wind, she would produce a breeze, she decided.

But her heart just wasn’t in it, and when it came to magic, that was one of the most important parts. An hour went by wasted, trying to think only of a gentle breeze and not getting anywhere, frustration growing every time she tried and failed. And the whole time Professor Marigold’s patient yet expectant gaze. They all looked at her like that. She had so much potential, she knew, they knew, the other students knew, everyone knew, but she had to put in so much work to live up to it, to come into her full power, it was exhausting. And all she could picture was how they’d look when she failed, the expectation turning so easily, effortlessly, into disappointment, two sides of the same coin. “Just stop looking at me like that, just let me out, let me live!” she thought, and felt her magic sharpen and then a part of it disappear as it felt to her when she cast a spell. A breeze played with her sleeves. She’d done it then, finally. Summoned the wind she wanted. Letting out an exhausted breath she opened her eyes.

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Eyes stared at her, an uncountable amount, in shock. She was surrounded by a crowd of people in the city square, and they were all witness to when she suddenly appeared there, she deduced. But a city can only stop for a moment, and the street filled with people who weren’t close enough to see it happen, and they swept away all the people who had. Alys, just as surprised as they, gripped her staff tighter. The nerves began to set in. What would Professor Marigold think? Or Professor Practim? Even before that, how was she supposed to get back to the school? She’d only been out on errands before, and never to this part of the city. Tall, shabby-looking buildings towered around her, and she couldn’t see any of the university spires to use as a landmark. Her mind ran in circles, telling her to find someone, ask for directions, or just do something, anything at all, but all it was getting back was white noise. Her brain asked itself for answers and found that it had none to give.

“Hello?” a voice, and the belltower chimed a single time. Slightly startled, Alys raised her eyes which had lay unfocused on the ground for longer than she thought had passed. In front of her was a young man, shorter than her by a few inches, though she was on the taller side for a woman. He had messy blond hair that drifted just above his eyes, and behind him was another man with a long green scarf. He was taller and lankier than most, and watched with disinterest.

“You alright?” the blond boy asked, and Alys realized she hadn’t answered his question yet.

“Ah, yes, just fine.” she spoke, clipped.

“Are you sure? You were staring at the ground for quite a while there.” Alys felt a slight flush. She should have been paying at least enough attention to notice two people watching her, she chastised herself.

“And you were watching me for so long because?” she sat up more, straightening her back, which put her eyes on the same level as his. She was slightly irritated now, miffed even.

He straightened as well, putting his head above hers again which did no favours to her mood, and averted his eyes, rubbing the back of his head as a pink tone overtook his cheeks. ‘Of course he’d be thinking something like that,’ thought Alys.

“Well, you see miss, I just noticed your robes and staff is all,” he began slowly, politely, but energy filled his voice as he continued. Alys noticed the man in the scarf roll his eyes and start bouncing on the balls of his feet. “And my mentor told me a lot about wizards, so I was hoping I could ask you a few questions? I didn’t mean to be rude by watching you, really, I was just waiting for the right moment, because I know magic is all about staying focused, and I didn’t want to interrupt in case you were in the middle of a spell, so-” Alys raised her hand to interrupt him and he stopped. He was a little childish, but the innocence of it all and having someone be impressed she was a wizard had a small smile on her face.

She rose to her feet—her head above his now—and brandished her staff. Not in too showy a way, though. The trick was to make the staff known without others knowing that’s what you were trying to do, a sort of effortless display of status. The blond boy’s eyes sparkled with excitement, but the scarfed one scoffed, and Alys turned a brief glare on him that was met with a raised eyebrow, as if he’d seen right through her. She decided she didn’t like him.

“My name is Alys Merwen, protege wizard extraordinaire.” She introduced herself.

“Alder. Alder Col,” he reached out to shake her hand, which she gracefully returned. His hands were solid, calloused and rough, smaller in total size but thicker as a whole. She looked over at the other one and daintily raised an eyebrow. He frowned and didn't seem inclined to give her his name, but Alder also turned his eyes to him and he unenthusiastically relented.

“Louie.”

Alys took the high road and haughtily smiled at him. He sneered back.

“So can you show me a spell?” Alder asked.

“Unfortunately, as a student, I am not permitted to cast magic outside school grounds for frivolous reasons.” a rule she was pretty sure most students broke regularly, but she wasn’t most students. Alder looked quite disappointed though.

“Oh. That’s alright.” he said, begrudgingly acceptful of the rule.

“Although, to return to your original question, I find myself a bit lost at the moment.” she said. “I wouldn’t mind answering a few of your other questions if you show me the way back to the school.”

This brightened Alder’s mood considerably.

“Yes, we’d be glad to!”

“Speak for yourself.” Louie interjected, approaching Alder and dragging him a few paces away where they engaged in a whispered argument.

“I appreciate you agreein’ to help me, so I let you go this long, but I’m sorta on a tight schedule at the moment.”

“I know, I know, but she needs our help, we can’t just leave her.” Alder gestured back to Alys.

“‘Needs our help’ my ass, she’s lost, she can ask anybody else.” Louie snipped.

“Yes, but she asked us. I can’t say no.”

“Yes, you can, it’s easy. Watch.” Louie began to walk towards Alys, glowering at her, but this time Alder grabbed him and pulled him back.

“Don’t even think about it. Who else is she going to find to help her?” he said.

Louie widely gestured to the various passersby.

“I just feel that the people in this neighbourhood won’t be inclined to actually help her.” Alder said, trying to put ‘this is a bad part of town’ in as nice a way as he could.

“‘Scuze me, but I’m from around here.” Louie said indignantly, though he wasn’t actually offended, just trying to make a point.

“Then you should know that as well as anyone.” Alder said, voice growing firm.

“Is there a problem?” Alys said. Their voices had risen enough for her to catch most of the latter half of the argument, and she had pieced together what was going on. “I’m sure I can find someone else, or find my way on my own.” she turned her head away from them, annoyed.

From the corner of her eye she saw Alder glare at Louie, and they had a short stare-off before he raised his hands in exasperation.

Alder turned to Alys and smiled, excitement glittering in his eyes again.

“No problem at all, Alys!”