Amara woke early in the morning to the sound of chirping birds, hoping to make it to Arinthea’s lesson on time. The last two days she had overslept and had to dash to make it to Arinthea frantically, but not this time. She got up and quickly got dressed in a simple tunic and trousers. She left her room to make breakfast. She pulled out some bread and cheese, said her prayers to Inja, and mercilessly devoured her meal.

She left her small home and began walking along the road at a leisurely pace. The cold morning air crashed against her as if she were swimming in the ocean, but it was rather refreshing for her. Her small hometown Stonehaven was rather quiet at this point, with only the birds chirping to keep her company. Most people were asleep inside their farmhouses. Still, she continued her short but cautious journey to Arinthea’s cottage. 

Amara arrived just outside of Arinthea’s cottage, a small building of wood and stone nestled away in the woods. Although the monsters made many hesitant to live in the woods, a powerful high mage like Arinthea couldn’t be bothered. However, it meant that she always had to be careful when she journeyed to and from Arinthea’s. She walked up to Arinthea’s cottage and knocked on the door, and after a few seconds wait the door opened. Amara smelled the aroma of chamomile tea and burning wood as the door opened and Arinthea stepped outside.

She was greeted by Arinthea, a sharp woman with flowing violet robes who always had her hair in a bun. Arinthea looked at Amara with a stunned look on her face for a while before she spoke.

“Amara, are you early for once, and not only that but to be the first one here! Truly a miracle I am witnessing today. Come on in and I’ll get you some tea,” Arinthea said.

“Thank you, what are we studying today?” Amara asked.

“You will studying your formulaic magic, and Landon will be studying conjuration magic,”

“I thought I was going to be studying divination magic today?”

“With your shaky foundation, you can barely divine cardinal direction and couldn’t even scry a leaf,”

“Why do we need to study the basics so much while Elora and Riven are already casting intermediate spells?”

“Because Elora uses primal magic and has a bloodline, and Riven uses spiritual magic and has a manifestation, meanwhile the two of you use arcane magic and have neither a bloodline nor a manifestation. Therefore, we need to study our magic thoroughly in order to reach mastery. Now hold this cup of tea in the air using that technique I taught you yesterday,”

Amara reached out with her mana and formed a simple sigil. The mana coalesced to form a red disk underneath the cup. She then raised her arm and the disk rose from the ground, carrying the cup with it.

“Now hold the cup for five minutes,” Arinthea said.

Amara winced at the prospect, it was already difficult enough trying to remotely supply the disk with enough mana to prevent it from being erased. To do that for five minutes was an impossible undertaking in her mind.

Fortunately, Amara was saved when someone else knocked on the door, Arinthea told Amara to go open the door. Amara then lowered the disk and ran off to the door. She opened the door and was greeted by Landon. The young man ducked underneath the door and entered the room.

“Am I late? my pocket watch says I arrived just on time, but seeing Amara here makes me doubt that,” Landon said.

“Oh no don’t worry, you’re on time. Amara was just early by some stroke of divine luck and I decided to have her start early. You still shouldn’t trust that contraption of yours though, it will get you into trouble one day,”

“I am glad to not be late. What am I studying today?” Landon asked.

“You’re going to do some basic conjuration, I think it's time you expanded your knowledge past basic divination,”

“I thought you said that my formulaic foundation was so broken I couldn’t even make a summoning circle?” Landon said.

“Your foundation is indeed broken, but it will be good enough for you to start conjuration lessons, today’s goal will be to fill this cup with water. And Amara, make recreate that disk and hold the cup for Landon,”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Amara grimaced and recreated the dreadful disk. Red mana formed underneath the cup, lifting it into the air toward Landon. Arinthea produced a scroll from off the table and handed it to Landon. Landon glanced over the scroll before tracing a sigil in the air. The sigil came alive with blue mana, and a few drops of water emerged before the sigil shattered. Landon tried to create more water but had a similar result to his first attempt.

As the minutes rolled by, Amara’s face became increasingly scrunched, struggling to keep the cup afloat. At times, the red disk flickered in and out of existence briefly, and the cup almost fell to the ground. However, Amara persevered, and Landon slowly filled the cup with water. 

As the cup filled with water, it became heavier, and harder for Amara to hold afloat. However, a smile crept over her face as she strengthened her disk. She could also see Landon smiling even as he strained his mana to create more water. 

After a miniature eternity, Landon had filled the cup with water, and the five minutes for Amara had passed. Amara let go of her spell and gasped for air. Landon caught the cup and offered it to Amara, an offering that Amara hastily accepted.

“Good job you two, normally I would have you two practice more, but you two look tired from this small endeavor. I’ll just give you some scrolls to read and call it a day,” Arinthea said while desperately trying to stifle a laugh. As if to make amends for her cruelty, Arinthea handed a pair of scrolls to Amara and Landon and sent them off.

Amara and Landon left the cottage and began to make their way back to Stonehaven. Although they were in good spirits, their bodies were too tired to truly show it. They walked at a slow pace as if each step was a battle against gravity.

After spending a long time walking, the two of them entered Stonehaven to see it a lot more active than when Amara walked to Arinthea’s cottage in the morning. People were farming, selling their wares in the market, performing in front of others, or working hard at their craft.

Amara and Landon sat down at the edge of a stone building. The two then began looking through the scrolls Arinthea had given them. Amara’s scroll covered formulaic magic and some alteration magic while Landon’s scroll covered conjuration and divination magic. As the two of them read through their scrolls hoping to find some magical insight, Riven approached them.

“How was today’s lesson with Arinthea?” Riven said.

“I had no idea holding a cup could be so exhausting,” Amara replied.

“And I had no idea pouring a cup of water could be so exhausting,” Landon chimed in. Upon hearing this, Riven broke into laughter, crushing any chances of responding until he could regain his composure. 

“Sounds like you two had a fun lesson today,” Riven said once he had recovered from his laughter.

“A very informative lesson,” Landon replied.

“Either way, Elora and I finished work for today, so why don’t you come to hang out in the shop?” Riven asked.

“I’m fine with it,” Landon said.

“Sounds like a great idea,” Amara answered.

The three of them then proceeded to make their way to Riven’s smithy. When they arrived they saw Elora sitting in a chair drinking a glass of water.

“I didn’t think you would work at the smithy Elora, did you finally cool down?” Amara asked.

“That’s never going to happen, it just turns out that being able to easily create really hot flames is helpful for a blacksmith. Plus I get to take some of Riven’s products as part of my payment,” Elora replied.

“Speaking of products, did you finish enchanting my clock?” Landon asked.

“Of course, it took me a while because I’m not used to clocks, but I finished enchanting it,” Riven replied. He pulled out a small mechanical clock with some runes carved on it and handed it to Landon.

“Thank you, how has learning magic from Thomas been going?” Landon asked.

“He says that I lack imagination and that I need to pour all of my creativity into my magic or else I will go nowhere,” Riven replied with a sigh.

“Marquis keeps telling me to learn how to control my flames instead of just creating more,” Elora said.

“Couldn’t you control your flames when helping Riven forge tools?” Amara asked.

“Exactly! Thank you Amara,” Elora said.

“She almost burnt down the smithy several times,” Riven added in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Why did you have to tell them that?” Elora groaned.

“It was an important detail,” Riven replied with a grin.

“Either way, I heard that the Stoneheart meeting was going to happen here in Stonehaven,” Amara said.

“Makes sense, it’s been a while since we hosted the Stoneheart meeting. Does anyone know what the topics of discussion will be?” Landon asked.

“Hopefully a mage tournament, we haven’t had one of those since the Red King took over,” Elora said.

“You just want to show off. But with the Red King dead, we could actually have a mage tournament,” Riven said.

The four of them then began discussing what they could do at the Stoneheart meeting. With Riven considering how to best advertise his tools and weapons, Elora wondered what she should do if they hold a mage tournament. Landon was pondering how everyone would respond to Finford’s recent expansion. Meanwhile, Amara was reading through the scroll that Arinthea had given her and commenting on Arinthea’s instructions. The four continued their chatter right up until the sun reached the horizon, at which point they all left and went their separate ways.