Elise sat at her desk taking notes on the Master Tome of the Arcanist. Her father always criticized the way she took notes. She found it was easier to remember what she was learning if she took notes on what was happening in her life at the time, resulting in her notebooks being more like diaries. Tobias said it was unprofessional, but Elise stood by her methods.

In all the commotion of finding the spell book, she hadn’t gotten the chance to chronicle her findings until Mary went home a few days prior. She had also gone through and reread the passages she skimmed through, and it turned out the book thoroughly described the process of converting air affinity Ichor into the fire affinity, and they had accidentally skipped it in their excitement. Unsurprisingly, the book’s process was almost identical to Elise’s, just more streamlined.

There was a knock at her bedroom door, causing her to jump. “Elise, dear,” came the voice of her father. “Did you remember you have a lesson with Anna today? She should be here soon”

“Shit,” she called back, having completely forgotten. She scrambled to put away her notes and all evidence of anything magical.

“Thought so.” She heard him chuckle. “Might I take Biscuit while you give your lesson?”

“Sure,” she said. Anna would likely have a hard time focusing if there was a cat around, she thought, but it would be rude to leave Biscuit on a shelf in book form.

Before giving him to her father, she quickly coated her hand in fire Ichor and doused her candle. She was getting faster at creating fire Ichor, however she was still unable to control it without the book. When she opened the door, Tobias was holding the books that she had been using to teach Anna. She took them in exchange for Biscuit.

“Good luck,” winked Tobias just as there was a knock on the front door.

“Mornin’ Miss Ellie,” came the ever-excited voice of Anna as Elise opened the door.

“Good morning,” beamed Elise as Anna rushed in for a hug.

“Thanks again, Elise,” said Anna’s mother. “I have a meeting later so I can’t come pick her up at our usual time, but she’s been practicing and can find her way home on her own now. Oh, and here is last week’s book.” She handed Elise the book she had assigned Anna to read at the last session.

“Bye Mama,” Anna called.

Elise waved to Anna’s mother and closed the door. “So, how’s my favorite student doing?”

“Good! I put my tooth under my pillow and got two whole coppers!” Anna held up two coins as if they were the largest fortune she’d ever seen.

“That’s great!” Elise led Anna to the dining room table where she had placed all of the day’s reading material. She held up last week’s book. It was a large children’s book about knights and dragons. Elise had figured out long ago that the only way to get Anna to focus on anything was to make it about dragons. “What did you think of this one?”

Anna got stars in her eyes. “It was so cool! I loved the way the dragons looked! Though it was sad when they had to fight the knights.”

Elise nodded. Anna always hated when there was conflict in a story and, despite her love of large fiery beasts of destruction, she much preferred when everyone got along. “Yes, it is very sad. Were there any words you had trouble with or didn’t know at all?”

Anna thought for a moment, then nodded and began flipping through the book’s pages. When she found what she was looking for, she held up the book to Elise and pointed at the word “Matlinis”

“Oh, no one’s taught you the months of the year yet?”

When Anna shook her head, Elise pulled out an empty parchment and began to write the names of months. “Every year has eight months in it. “Numinis, Unemor, Uneris, Matlinor, Matlinis, Elminor, Elminis, and Numinor. Each month has 42 days, that’s 6 weeks. They’re also named after the four gods. Do you know the names of the gods, Anna?”

“Yeah! They’re Mator, Elon, Unerie, and… umm…” Anna frowned and stared out into nothingness. “Numin!”

“Very close! I’m impressed. It’s Matos, Elos, Unera, and Numinos. Each god has two months named after them that also relate to the four seasons. You know the four seasons?”

Anna scoffed. “Duh, everyone knows the seasons, Miss Ellie.”

Elise laughed. “I’m just checking. Numinos is winter, and his months are Numinor and Numinis for the first and second half of the season. Unemor is spring with Unemor and Uneris being the first and second half of spring. Matos has Matlinor and Matlinis for summer, and Elos has Elminor and Elminis for autumn.”

Anna looked at the parchment where Elise had been writing this down in confusion. “Why are Numinis and Numinor so far apart?”

“That’s just when the new year starts. New Years is in the middle of winter, the first day of Numinis. So Numinor and Numinis are still next to each other, it just looks weird written in order like this.”

“This is hard,” Anna scrunched up her face.

Elise could hear her father coughing from upstairs in his study. She winced but tried not to let Anna notice.

“It is a little annoying. Spring just started, so right now we’re on the 14th day of Unemor. And in 21 days it’ll be halfway through spring and the month will be Uneris. Does that make sense?”

Anna nodded.

Tobias coughed again, this time harder and with an audible wheezing. Roland had told them there wasn’t anything to do besides cough it out and drink water, so she tried to tune it out.

Anna started to read through Elise’s notes again when they were interrupted by a loud “Meow!”

Anna gasped and turned to Biscuit who was standing on the stairs. “Miss Ellie, I didn’t know you had a cat!”

Elise looked and saw Biscuit standing on the foot of the stairs, staring directly into her eyes. Her heart skipped a beat. Biscuit was with Tobias before; if he had left to come get her right after a loud coughing fit… Something was wrong.

“Biscuit? What happened?”

Biscuit gave another stern meow and turned to look up the stairs.

“Stay here Anna,” said Elise as she bolted to the stairs.

“But I wanna pet the—”

“Stay put!” She winced at her own tone. “Please.”

Elise rushed up the stairs to the third floor where her father’s study was, Biscuit in tow. Her anxieties and dreads worsened with every step she climbed. Tobias’s coughing continued, louder and harder each time. When she was a few steps from the third floor landing she could feel the impressive heat emitting from the study. Tobias was leaning on a wall and coughing outside his study, nearly on his knees. Smoke was pouring out of the open study door.

“Dad! What happened?” Elise ran to her father’s side, leading him away from the room.

“Fire– spell–” Tobias managed to get out through wheezes. His lungs were weak at the best of times, and the amount of smoke he must’ve inhaled was alarming.

“Anna,” Elise shouted down the stairway. “Anna, can you hear me?”

“Yeah!” She could hear Anna shouting back.

“Anna, please, go get Roland. Run as fast as you can, there’s an emergency!”

Elise didn’t hear a response, but through a nearby window she could see Anna sprinting towards the outer city at full speed. Once she was sure Anna was gone, she tied a piece of cloth over her mouth and nose and held out her hand for Biscuit to jump onto. He did so right away, transforming into his book form. She had to work fast so she could put out the fire before Roland got here and discovered the book. She closed her eyes to sense the Ichor inside the room, and quickly she could see the streaks of deep orange that was fire. It was at its most dense around the desk and was spreading quickly. She saw that there was little to no fire obstructing the door, so she burst in.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

She quickly observed the danger and tried weighing her options. She didn’t know any water spells; all she knew how to do was slightly move air around and create more fire. She hesitated, hating having to think under pressure, but when the heat began to singe her legs she was forced into action. She blew out a stream of air to open a window on the other side of the room and force some of the smoke out. She ducked down low to avoid inhaling any of the smoke, and quickly coated her hands in fire Ichor. With her fireproofed hands, she piled up all of the burning books and parchments into a stack and tried stamping them out. She considered just throwing them out the window, but she didn’t have time to check if any of them had any information on magic.

With the paper extinguished, and accidentally fully destroyed, she attempted to pick up the burning desk to throw it out the window, but it was too heavy. She began to panic and started coughing out some smoke. Thinking quickly, she used some of the Ichor she already had coating her hands to try levitating the desk while physically lifting it at the same time. That provided just enough leverage to get the desk up and onto the window sill. Thankfully, the window wasn’t facing a street so Elise didn’t have to worry about anyone being hit by flaming debris. With a hearty push, the desk was ejected from the window, landing in a large crash on the cobblestones below.

Taking a small peek out the window, she could barely see that Anna was about halfway back with Roland and a few guards. She had to finish this and hide the magic quickly. She moved the fire Ichor that was coating her hands into coating her shoes and feet. Now that the most prevalent fires were dealt with, all she had left to do was stamp out the smaller fires on the floor. She stomped furiously, but the fire didn’t stop. She coughed out more smoke, and only then realized the much easier way to put out the fire. Elise thought back to her failed attempts at transforming air Ichor into fire Ichor. She had tried converting all of the air into fire, when in reality… Fire needs air to keep burning!

She had very little experience moving air Ichor for the sake of moving it instead of simply drawing it into her core. She was even impressed with herself for using only the Ichor in the air to open the window, though she imagined she was greatly fueled by adrenaline. She worked up her courage, prayed, and pulled on the air Ichor from the room, focusing specifically on the air around the fire. It took a great deal of concentration, but the air slowly began to move towards her. She tried redirecting it to flow out the open window, but she lost control and was impacted by nearly half a room’s worth of air all at once. She gasped from the collision, but she pushed through it and kept pulling air away from the flames. Without the air it needed to sustain itself, the fires slowly petered out. Elise released all the Ichor she was holding and fell to her knees.

She pulled off her face covering and took a moment to catch her breath until she heard footsteps running up the stairs. She willed Biscuit to turn back into a cat and placed him on her shoulders. Taking one last look to make sure there were no more flames or evidence of magic, she rose to her feet and took a few shaky steps into the hall. Tobias had sat on the floor and was taking frantic wheezing gasps for air. Elise’s arms and legs were singed and she was still coughing out smoke.

The first up the stairs was a guard carrying a bucket of water. “Where’s the fire? We saw the smoke—“

“—I got it,“ Elise coughed out. “Fire’s out.”

The guard relaxed and stepped aside to let Roland up the stairs. He was carrying his medicine bag and was covered in sweat. He paled when he saw the two of them and rushed to Tobias’s side.

“What happened?” Roland put his ear up to his adopted father’s chest to listen to his breathing.

“Fire,” wheezed Tobias. “Elise put it” —he coughed— “put it out.”

“Let’s get you both some fresh air,” Roland said, helping Tobias to his feet. “Elise, can you get downstairs on your own?”

Elise nodded and tried taking a step forward but stumbled, catching herself on the wall.

“Excuse me, Mr. Guard,” said Roland to the guard who snapped to attention. “Could you help Elise get down the stairs?”

The guard saluted, placed his bucket of water down, and went to Elise’s side, offering his arm for her to put her weight on. They slowly and carefully made their way down to the ground floor on shaky legs. Elise and Tobias were sat on the ground in front of the house and given a moment to enjoy the fresh spring air. Anna shyly walked over and sat next to Elise.

“You did a good job, Anna,” said Elise as she tussled her hair. “Thank you.”

Anna smiled at the praise, but didn’t say anything.

“Oh!” Elise pulled her cat off her shoulders. “Do you want to pet Biscuit?”

That, apparently, was what Anna was waiting for. She beamed with happiness as she reached for the cat as he glared at Elise for her betrayal.

“The smoke irritated your lungs but we won’t know if there’s any real damage until later,” said Roland to Tobias. “Keep taking your medicine as usual and come see me if things get worse.

“Don’t sugar coat it for me,” Tobias said. “What’s the damage?”

Roland grimaced. “Worst case scenario is that we’ve lost a couple months of healing. It’s too early to tell, but I’ll keep an eye on it and we can increase your dosage if need be.”

“Thank you, my boy,” said Tobias shakily.

Roland smiled and turned to Elise, assessing her for injuries and listening to her breathing. Elise was exhausted and had a splitting headache from using so much Ichor, but she couldn’t tell Roland that.

“You have some light burns on your arms and legs, but luckily it doesn’t look like there will be any scars.” He applied salve to the burns and lightly bandaged them. “It’s going to hurt for a while, but come see me if it still hurts in maybe a week.”

“Thanks, Roland,” Elise replied.

“Glad I could help.” He sat on the ground facing Elise and Tobias. “So what happened, how’d the fire start?”

Elise was in favor of telling Roland about the book, but she knew her father wasn’t. Anna still being in earshot didn’t help matters either. She turned to Tobias and let him handle the question.

“I knocked a candle over accidentally,” Tobias said after a moment. “All my books and papers spread the fire quickly.”

“Did you lose anything important,” Elise asked.

Tobias grimaced and shrugged. “It’s all important, but I haven’t gotten a chance to assess the damage.”

“I’d let that room air out for a while before going back in there,” said Roland. “It’s lucky it didn’t spread too much. How did you put it out, Elise? Tossing a flaming desk out of a window must’ve been hard.”

“I honestly don’t know,” she said, staring out at nothing. “Pure adrenaline, I guess.” It was a half truth; she believed that adrenaline had something to do with the scale of the spells she was able to cast. It hurt her heart to keep such a big secret from Roland, but she understood her father’s logic.

“Adrenaline will do that to you, yeah.” Roland nodded. “Good job. And you, Anna, great job coming to get me.”

Anna beamed at him, though she was so engrossed in petting Biscuit that she likely didn’t hear what he said.

“Oh!” Roland leaned over to look at the cat. “Who’s this little guy?”

“That’s Biscuit! We found him like a week ago,” said Elise.

“Such an odd color,” Roland muttered at the cat’s dark blue fur and cloudy white eyes. “Is he blind?”

Elise shook her head and gave Biscuit a scratch under the chin. “Nope. I dunno why his eyes are like that but he can see fine.”

“He sure is cute.” Roland rubbed the cat’s head. “And he sure likes attention more than any cat I’ve seen.”

They sat for a while longer, enjoying the cool spring air and chatting about nothing. A large shadow came overhead, and they all looked up. The clouds above had turned dark and the air began to smell earthy and humid.

“Looks like rain,” Tobias said.

“It’s getting late too,” Roland said. “I shouldn’t be away from the Apothecary too long.”

“Oh shoot,” Elise said, suddenly remembering why Anna was there. “Anna, I’m sorry we never finished your lesson. We can pick it up again next week?”

Anna nodded, completely unbothered that she wasn’t made to learn more. She was, however, upset with the implication that she had to stop petting the cat and go home.

“Are you sure you can make it home on your own,” Elise asked.

“Yep! Bye Miss Ellie! Bye Rollie! Bye Biscuit!” Anna took off for home with a wave.

“I should be getting back too,” said Roland. “Be safe, ok? Come get me if there’s any issues.”

“Thanks Roland, you’re the best,” Elise waved.

“See you son, thank you for your help,” Tobias said.

Elise sighed loudly once Roland and Anna were out of sight. “Gods, it feels so bad to lie to him like that.”

Tobias sighed too. “I know. We’ll find a good time to tell him soon. But Elise,” he turned to face her. “I’m proud of you. I’m very impressed with how you handled that. You saved the house and, probably, my life as well.”

“Well it would’ve been a lot worse if Biscuit hadn’t come to get me when he did.” Elise scratched Biscuit affectionately. “If the fire was any bigger I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop it.” She sighed. “But yeah, I’m honestly surprised with myself. You know how bad I am under pressure.”

“You did very well, nonetheless. You did too, Biscuit.”

Biscuit meowed happily and curled up into a ball on Elise’s lap. Elise could feel a few drops of water hit her face, and she looked up to welcome the rain.

“What were you doing that would cause such a big fire anyway, just practicing?”

Tobias blushed and shook his head. “I was experimenting with something new and just lost control. I was trying to solve the problem that only one of us can use the book at a time, and I found out that there’s a way to inscribe a spell rune onto a piece of parchment that allows someone to use it like they would the book. The book calls it a spell scroll.”

“Woah,” said Elise. “That sounds useful.”

“My thoughts exactly. I tried making one for the arcane flame spell, and if it worked then someone would’ve been able to use it to cast that spell a few times before the scroll ran out of Ichor. I thought that would help us learn spells faster, but apparently in order to make a spell scroll, you need a much deeper understanding of the spell than I have.”

“That’s a good idea though. We can work on it together.”

They both sat back and enjoyed the beginning of the rainfall, letting the cool drops of water soothe their aches and burns.

“This is nice,” sighed Tobias, then he chuckled. “If only the rain came sooner, though.”

“Yeah. That reminds me,” Elise turned to face her father. “Neither of us are allowed to use any more fire until we both know how to cast a water spell.”

“Agreed,” Tobias laughed.