Later pages of the tome Jace had to read were a heavy read and full of concepts and words he didn’t know the meaning of. Maybe there was a glossary in the back?

Evaliena knelt down to Jace’s level as he sat at the table facing a blackboard. “Too hard?”

“I can read it. Just I can’t connect everything together.” Jace leant to the side, defeated by the book’s complexity.

“But that’s why we’re here.” Evaliena softened her expression with understanding. Crossing her arms on the table, and laid her chin atop them.

Jace pointed to the unknown script on the page. The book called them ‘Runes’. It looked like a chicken scratch to him. Evaliena gave a curt smile. “And this is what you’re going to learn over the next year.”

“An entire year?!”

“You might have learnt imperial common in a season. But the Runic system will certainly not be as easy. And we’re not going to spellcrafting until you’ve learnt all these.” Evaliena traced her clawed brown furred finger across several lines of runes. “And you’re going to write them perfectly.” She placed slow emphasis on the last word.

“Does every Therian child need to go through this?” Jace dropped his forehead on the table. He let out a sound of complaint.

“They only have to learn the first set, the basal runes.” Evaliena stroked her hand over the back of Jace with a certain proudness. “After that, it’s up to them to further their studies. And I tell you. Cedar may have been a powerful spellblade, but he could never hope to rival my knowledge of spellcraft.”

“I heard that, old girl!” Cedar shouted from another room.

“And after you learn the Basal Runes. Then we’ll start on spellcraft.” The yellow vixen assured, pushing off and walking up to the blackboard. Each one of the Runes came with an imperial common pronunciation beside them. And there were eighty-four different runes in total…

Evaliena drew a single curved stroke across the blackboard in yellowing chalk. “Can you match this Rune to the reference in the book?” She tilted her muzzle up to look at Jace.

He scanned the lines of Runes, searching across the group of ‘Basal’ Runes. He felt a little embarrassment when he noticed it was the first Rune in the entire alphabet. “L-l-lehf?” He struggled to pronounce it.

“Good try. This is Lethf.” She turned around and gestured to the board. “And at the risk of repeating myself, you’re going to write it over and over until you do it correctly.”

“Why do I have to do that?” Jace asked, as there had to be a point behind this.

“Good question.” Evaliena threw the chalk into the air and caught it. “If you don’t write the rune correctly. Someone who reads your work. Has a very good chance of screwing up any ritual, artifice or spell you put down. Hells even you might misread your own work. Possibly losing your life or a limb or two.” She looked at Jace with a pernicious stare.

Jace took the warning to heart. He gulped. “How many times do you think it’ll take?”

“As long as it takes for you to do it in your sleep.”

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The months ticked by, the deep weald was in full bloom. The scents of many flowers filled Jace’s nose. And pollen choked the air. The trees sprouted with full green leaves and blossoms of every colour. He had to tone down his sight just so he could see where he was going. The forest being so thick with mana.

He hadn’t been down here since that fateful day. He wondered if the monsters he encountered had moved on. But today he was accompanying Burr and Baysil in foraging through the deep weald for ‘components’. Not berries, not fruits, not herbs and mushrooms. ‘Components’, whatever that means. He wasn’t happy. As burr had forced him to remove his kilt and poncho so he’d just wear his travel cloak. It was not that he was uncomfortable anymore. He had fur that neatly covered everything. More than it was being told what he was allowed to wear… and it was still rather cold despite it being spring.

“So, what are we looking for again?” Jace stepped over a large root bulge on the floor of the forest. He had to keep a whisper for the safety of the group.

“We’re looking for blight and death eater blooms. So Ashwood, use those fine senses of yours to help us find them.” Burr said, replying to Jace in a hushed tone. Those flowers sounded toxic. “And if you see anything else of use, we’ll be picking that up too.”

“I’ve never seen them before, so I don’t know what to look or feel for.”

“You’ll know them when you see them.” Baysil added as the three kept navigating through the root knotted forest floor. Unlike Jace and Burr. Baysil’s chestnut black-tipped tail raised and visible out the back of her travel cloak. Its waving back and forth was a distracting and tempting target. Jace took a sniff of the air. He couldn’t smell either Burr or Baysil, just the stale musty air of the forest and the ever present pollen.

“Jee, that helps.” He raised his arm up to look at the bracelet. Staring into the flame as it danced. Just what was he meant to see? Then he noticed darkness, a purple aura out in the distance. “I think I see something?” Jace pointed out with his arm.

The other two stopped and looked at Jace, then in the direction he was pointing. “That has to be a fluke.” Baysil groaned.

“Nope, Jace is on to something. That definitely looks like a blight bloom.” Burr clarified. She walked over to Jace and gave him a thankful pat across his crown and mane. She then looked at Baysil. “Girl, put your tail away. He’s too young for you.” Burr added dryly. Jace felt his cheeks warm.

Baysil shook out and tucked her tail under her cloak. “I… didn’t notice Burr.”

They moved in the direction of the blight bloom. To Jace’s eyes, it looked like a pale, hazy cloud in the distance. Shrouded by the trunks of trees. He could just barely sense the decay it radiated. “Why do we need blight blooms again?” Jace asked.

“The gardens become infected with blight.” Burr explained as she threaded through the undergrowth of the forest. Why would they need a toxic flower to deal with blight?

“Couldn’t we just use the arts for that?”

Baysil spoke in Burr’s stead. “There isn’t enough mana around the castle for that kind of spell. So we need to resort to some alchemy to make a cure.” Surely, Evaliena could just cast a spell and be done with it. But he wasn’t going to start a discussion with two people, his senior, in the ways of the arcane arts. Especially Burr, who was a type of mage who specialised in plants.

“I’ll deal with the blight bloom.” Burr announced and summoned a pair of baskets as they came to the location of the haze. “You two go and look for any berries, mushrooms and herbs you can.” She handed a basket to Jace and one to Baysil.

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“Will it really take so long to fetch a single flower?” Jace tilted his head at Burr.

“I’d rather you not fall ill because of me. Evaliena would never let me hear the end of it.” Burr grinned towards the pair. “Go now. I’ll find you when I’m done.” She pushed Jace in a direction. He started walking. Baysil strode alongside him.

Baysil broke the ice first. “We haven’t really talked to each other yet, have we?” Her feet created soft crunches in the forest soil.

Jace thought on it, despite living the past season in the keep with Baysil and the others. He hasn’t really gotten to know Baysil at all. Maybe it was Evaliena just smothering him all the time? “Yeah, I don’t think we really have.”

“How have you found living in our world?” She asked pointedly, basket swinging on the bend of her arm.

“Jarring, interesting, any number of things. Most of that’s buried now.” he shrugged, he looked to the side, he could see a rainbow like haze somewhere in the distance. “Especially after my Feina was opened.”

“I’m annoyed that I didn’t get to witness that. To see the power crawl over one’s skin and the sparking of a star.” Baysil describing as if she’s seen it before..

“Have you ever seen it before?” Jace kept his eye on the haze he was seeing through the fog of verdantly coloured mana.

Baysil shrugged again. “No, I’m still in training. I got sent away to study with Sandalwood. I haven’t seen my clan in ages.” She stretched her arms out. Jace heard the slight ruffle of the travel cloak as the young vixen’s tail flicked out. “Do you see something?” Baysil leant down her muzzle previously close to Jace’s ear.

“I think I see another plant in the distance.” Jace pointed toward the rainbow like haze.

“That looks like a traveller’s sage to me.” Baysil squinted at the haze. “Good find, I wish my sight was half as sensitive as yours…” There was a hint of jealousy in that tone. They spent the rest of the day gathering all manner of herbs, mushrooms and berries. None of which was considered edible.

----------------------------------------

Another month ticked by. His fur was short now and the mane that was growing out the top and back of his head started to extend down his back. Did they have barbers in this world?

Today, Jace was wearing an odd piece of headgear. It looked like a plague doctor’s mask and cowl. The muzzle of which was filled with many fragrant flowers and herbs to overwhelm his sense of smell. And the shaded eyes prevent him from seeing. “What’s the point of this, Evaliena?” Jace’s irritated voice vibrated around the muzzle.

“You know why, I want you to identify each one of the plants, minerals, and liquids. Without using your physical senses, just your Feina’s.” Jace could hear Evaliena putting things onto the table in front of him. He tried to lift the mask up to spy. “Don’t you dare, or I will make you sit there for a bit longer.” Jace put his hand back down. The urge to just fidget built up.

“This mask is so heavy, though.” Jace leant his head back against the rim of the chair. That was a mistake as that pushed the sack of fragrances against his nose. He sneezed hard and groaned as stitches of pain stung across his chest.

“Now, Jace.” Evaliena put her hand down on the table. “Can you make out my hand?” he lazily tilted his head down. And shook his head. “Well, as I taught you, increase the sensitivity of your eyes. Slowly, I might add. Don’t want you getting mana sickness again.” Jace did as told, slowly increasing the sensitivity to mana in his eyes. Eventually he was able to see Evaliena’s faint yellow gold aura, along with a bunch of other faint auras.

“Now, what’s this?” Evaliena pointed to a greenish aura. It had a minty, musky essence to it.

“That’s sage.”

“And this one?” She pointed to another green aura. It had a peppery sweet essence to it.

“That’s thyme.”

This went on for a while, with Jace correctly guessing the material the yellow vixen was pointing to most of the time. A few gems and roots he hadn’t encountered before he couldn’t name. Then she pointed to a brightly glowing liquid at the end of the table that had a certain bitter feeling to it. When Jace recognised what it was, he became disgusted. “You didn’t!?”

Burr and Cedar started laughing. Evaliena couldn’t hold her snicker. “What it’s rich in mana and certain essences, makes it great for alchemy once it’s distilled.”

“That’s disgusting!!!”

“Just wait until he finds out what goes into regeneration and a lot of mana potions.” Burr slapped her knee. “I think he’ll pass out! Heh!”

“Alright, let’s move on to your sense of smell and hearing.”

----------------------------------------

Jace let out a loud, relaxed sigh as he threw himself onto a new mattress. His own room. Freshly cleaned. It was significantly smaller than Evaliena’s. It was on the same floor too after they moved a lot of furniture out of one of the spares. But it was his own for however long needed to stay here. The others wouldn’t understand why he wanted his own little room. Maybe it was being constantly dragged over for cuddles during the night was part of the move. Not that he minded being hugged by Evaliena.

He even had a new pillow and some nice blankets. He buried his head into them all, taking into the freshly washed scent.

“You moved out.” A certain spirit’s voice purred in Jace’s ear. “Did you get tired of the witch’s company?” “Did she leave you stiff every morn—”

“Are you done yet?” Jace groaned sharply and buried his head against the blankets harder. “Also, why would you say that? She’s basically my mother now. I’m not even of age either…”

“So you admit she’s attractive.” The spirit cooed as she rubbed her shoulder and side sensually against Jace’s hip.

Jace rolled over and stared at the yellow, canid spirit. “Don’t put words in my month.”

The spirit rolled her onyx eyes, slowly swayed her tri-fork tail to the side, and turned to look at Jace with a sly expression and a paw tucked to her cheek. “You’re so easy to tease.”

“I’m not going to be your plaything.” Jace growled into his sheets. “What is your name, anyway?”

“My siblings and creator named me Topaz.” She performs a polite bow with her head. “I guess I should avoid riling you up too much.” Topaz sneered as she stood back up.

“Answer me this, then. Why does it take you so long between visits?” He cocked a questioning brow.

The spirit leaned to one side and leered. “You didn’t bother to ask her, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t I. I haven’t had the time.” Honestly, Jace was afraid of asking too much about the spirit.

Topaz shrugged rather humanly, sitting on its haunches and raising both its forearms. “Fine then. It takes me a long time to gather the mana from my armature and the waxing of either of the moons for me to be able to just wander around.” She sat back down. “I told you before, this isn’t my real body. You could…”

“I could what?” Jace leered back at the yellow canid. He didn’t like the way this conversation was going. Curiosity perked in Jace’s mind of what the spirit would say.

“You could find my body and free me.” the words dripped smoothly from the spirit’s mouth. She moved her head down to look as nonthreatening as possible.

“Evaliena would kill me,” Jace growled angrily at the spirit.

“So, the answer is no?”

“What do you think?”

The spirit sighed and started walking away. “You’re just no fun. Like all the others.” And disappeared into the darkness.

“I hope she doesn’t make this a habit.” Jace cursed and readied his new bed to sleep in.

…

The spirit returned to Jace’s room while everyone slept. “Time to teach you a lesson, little boy.” The spirit smirked and put her forepaws ever so delicately on the sides of Jace’s head as he snoozed. “Let’s give you some ‘pleasant’ dreams.” “Oh… Oh, that’s unfortunate…”