Mr. Leverton’s smile falls as I continue to stare at him. “Is there something wrong?”

I gulp. “Mr. Leverton, um, I uh, I can’t read this.” I hold the book up, trying to hand it back to him.

He tilts his head in confusion, then pauses as realization hits him. “Ah. I see, this does complicate things.”

I shrink back, my hand grabbing the box that has the last of my lunch in it.

“Oh- Don’t worry. We’ll just have to teach you to read. I’m sure it can’t be too hard…” He frowns to himself, “It’s time we head back. It’ll give me a chance to figure things out and I’m sure Sarah will be interested in your new staff. You should take the chance to take another bath and change.”

“Another bath?” I ask in wonder

“Of course. Come along now.”

I hurry to follow the mage, worried that if I dally for a second, he might change his mind.

The path back is just as beautiful as it was on the way up, but this time I notice the voices of the spirits in the forest, there’s more than just the tree spirits and some of them are darker than others, but none of them come too close to the path.

As we get closer to Leverton’s home, the voices of the spirits start to grow more distant.

We reenter the courtyard to find Sarah gently working in the garden. Her eyes brighten, growing even wider as she notices the staff and the collar around Wolf’s neck.

Wolf immediately runs up to her, begging for pets. She happily obliges with one hand, while gently touching his new collar with the other.

Mr. Leverton smiles at Sarah. “If you would please make another bath and some clothes for the boy. I have to prepare some things.”

“Of course, Max. Things went well I hope?” Sarah asks. Wolf’s paw starts to move up and down as she finds a favorite spot with her hand.

“Keo is a natural, as you can see.” Mr. Leverton motions towards me and Wolf.

“Yes…” Sarah tilts her head as she studies the staff in my hands. “I’m glad they liked you.”

Mr. Leveton gives a nod of approval and continues into the house.

Sarah continues to pet Wolf while studying his collar.

“Um,” I start, “Miss Sarah?”

“Yes Keo?” She responds distractedly.

I open my mouth to ask about the bath, but change my mind. “What were you doing before we came back?” I ask.

“Just asking the plants how they’re doing.” She says absentmindedly, then pauses. She turns her large eyes onto me. “Come over here, I’ll show you.”

I follow her over to the garden, Wolf a step behind us.

She kneels by a small bush, it’s vines covered in thorns. Its flowers are just beginning to unfurl into a light white and violet color. “This is a heart-throb. She’s still a teenager, and you can hear her complaining if you listen closely.”

“Is she a spirit?” I kneel down next to her, trying to listen in the same way I heard the trees.

Sarah shakes her head. “No.” She turns to me, her large ocean-blue eyes catching mine. “And she will not speak like one. Look at her and feel her energy, then maybe you will hear her words.”

I stare at her, unable to hear anything. After a minute, I turn to look at Sarah, but she motions for me to keep looking. I watch the plant patiently, seeing as her flowers move ever so slightly towards the sun. But I don’t hear her voice.

I let out a sigh of frustration.

“Don’t worry, little one.” Sarah says, placing her hand on mine. “It is not a lesson easily learned.” She pauses, looking back and forth between the flower and I. “Why don’t you join me later when I water the garden?”

I nod hurriedly.

“Good,” Sarah stands up, her vine-like dress not showing a speck of dirt. “Why don’t we get you to that bath?”

I hurry to follow her.

The bath is just as luxurious as I remember it. Wolf enjoys the water even more than I do and we make a game of throwing the ball deep into the pool so that he can chase after it.

New clothes wait for me by the door when I’m finished with the bath. The simple cloth shirt and pants feels nice on my skin.

It’s strange feeling so clean. It doesn’t feel right.

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It doesn’t feel real, like I’m living a dream. What if it is a dream, and I’m lying somewhere in the streets of the city dying from lack of water? It would make more sense than this, and I’ve seen the hallucinations that beggars who haven’t had enough water suffer. Who would want a Laelic street rat like me as an apprentice? It’s ridiculous to even think about.

Tears fall to the floor as I curl up into a ball. Wolf walks over to me, his comforting weight leaning into my side.

I grab onto Wolf, holding him tight and let my tears fall into his already wet fur.

Wolf nuzzles me and I bury my face further into his fur. It smells nice, and it’s so much softer than I remember. He’s still skinny enough that I can feel his ribs, but the mangy dog who was hanging on to life by a thread, is disappearing. So is the Laelic streetrat.

Eventually, the tears stop flowing and I’m able to pull away from Wolf. He moves closer to me and I pet him behind the ears to show him that I’m alright.

I look over to the fur lined boots, the only piece of clothing that hadn’t been replaced during my bath.

I take a deep breath and wipe my face, then grab the boots to pull them on.

I stomp the ground with the boots, motivating myself to see Mr. Leverton again. I open the door to the bath, to see no one in the hallway. After a second’s hesitation, I head towards Mr. Leverton’s office.

The door is closed, so I stand in front of the door, not sure if I should knock or not.

“Come in Keo.” Mr. Leverton calls, taking the decision away from me.

I push the door open, Wolf following in my footsteps.

“Perfect timing! Please sit down, I managed to find some basic books for you.” I sit across from him, reminded of us being in similar positions yesterday.

He hands me a thin book and a piece of paper recently written on. Wolf settles down between me and the door, quickly falling into a nap.

Our lessons on the alphabet start. Thankfully, Laelic isn’t too different from empirical common and I manage to pick up the basics within the hour and even manage to read the first page of the thin book he gave me. It’s a kids story about nature spirits.

I stay in the room with him for several hours, just focusing on memorizing the letters and the occasional picture-symbols that are substituted for words.

I let out a breath after I feel that I have the majority memorized.

Mr. Leverton looks over my shoulder at the writing. “Well done. I’m glad you already had the basics of Laelic, it’ll make things go so much faster. We might even be able to move onto Druik in a couple of weeks.”

I pause in the writing of one of the few pictures-symbols. “Druik?”

Mr. Leverton nods. “I’ll want you to have a basic understanding of ancient Carthenian as well. Imperial knowledge on death magic and spirits is rather low. The texts that do exist are closely guarded by the inquisitors. Druik, Laelic and ancient Carthenian texts will be the majority of your learning.”

That- that’s a lot. I’ve never met anyone that can read more than two languages!

Mr. Leverton laughs at my expression. “Don’t worry, it might sound like a lot now, but each language will become easier after the last, and I’m sure you’ll learn to enjoy the knowledge like I do. You’re honestly lucky you don’t have a space calling like I do. Even the most basic of texts for space magic and spirits tend to be written in the most obscure languages.”

I pause, then ask hesitantly. “You have a space calling?”

He smiles at the question. “I do. It’s why Sarah and I work so well together. She’s not only a nature spirit. I also have another spirit who you haven’t met yet. He’s a little shy.”

I want to ask more questions, but stop myself. I don’t want to anger Mr. Leverton by asking something I shouldn’t.

We continue our lesson in imperial common for a little longer before Mr. Leverton ends the lesson so that we can have dinner.

We meet in the same room where Sarah made dinner for us last time. It’s another dish I don’t recognize, and the meat falls apart in my mouth. It tastes unlike anything I’ve ever had.

I manage to restrain myself a little more this time, and eat the food a little slower. I take breaks between bites to watch as Wolf happily guzzles down the food that Sarah made for him.

He looks happy.

“Max, I’d like to borrow Keo after dinner.” Sarah says, bringing my attention to her.

Mr. Leverton looks a little surprised, then smiles. “Of course, we can continue our lessons tomorrow.”

I finish my food quickly, curious and a little worried about what Sarah could want me for.

As soon as I’m done, Sarah motions me to follow her, and I do. Wolf moves ahead of me to get pets from Sarah as we walk.

My mind starts to spiral as I wonder where she’s taking me, until we reach the front door and I remember that she asked me to come with her to water the plants.

She leads me over to the garden, where a bucket filled with water waits for us. She picks it up and hands it to me.

I hold it by the bottom, carefully balancing the heavy bucket.

Sarah leads me over to the heart-throb plant that I’d been trying to listen to earlier.“Keo, as you water her, listen to see when she tells you that she’s no longer thirsty.”

I nod seriously, turning all of my focus onto the thorny, flowering plant. Slowly, I pour the water onto her, listening for any signs that she’s had enough water.

A hand on the bucket stops my pouring. “She’s done. Can you hear her joy?”

I look at her, noticing the slight vibrance in her leaves and the clearer color of her flowers. Still, I don’t hear her.

I shake my head.

“That’s alright.” Sarah says, patting my shoulder. “You’re learning, I can tell. Why don’t we see if you can hear any of the others?”

We water the rest of the plants, and I start to notice small changes when Sarah tells me that each plant is happy with their water. But I don’t hear them.

“You’re disappointed.” Sarah says after I’ve finished with the last plant.

“I can’t hear them.” I answer, dropping the bucket onto the grass.

“Not all lessons can be learned in a day, Keo. This is one that most humans never learn.” Sarah kneels down in front of me, matching my eye level. “I can see you beginning to understand, which is more than I expect from any human. Do not give up, because although the journey is long, the reward is worth every minute.” She gently wraps her arms around me and gives me a hug. “I have faith in you.”

I almost resist, but something about the kind spirit puts me at ease and I end up hugging her back.

“Why don’t you join me in taking care of the plants?” she asks, still holding me. “I think you will enjoy spending time here with me.”

I nod into her shoulder. “Thank you.”