Chapter 4
-Magical Trains and the Secret in London's Streets-
----------------------------------------
The rest of yesterday passed like a blur after lunch; I just remember bits, but at least I had a good night of sleep. With Loa's help, my clothes were cleaned off and ready to be used for today's trip, and even as my mind tells me not to bother Milesian with new clothes, she made it very clear that she believes it's her duty to 'provide at least the basics for her apprentice'. It's strange, since yesterday she didn't mention anything about the 'wife' thing; maybe it was just her way of guaranteeing my stay above the church's law. Still, that does not leave me as relieved as I expected.
On the outside, we walk side by side in the cold of the morning in the direction of the train station mentioned by her before. My gaze lingers on her for a second; her clothes are exactly the same, and of course, she uses her 'human' face, a good choice regarding that if someone saw a person with a raven skull in the place of their head, it would be either general fear or someone could mistake her for a cosplayer, which on thought would be the best out of the two, but maybe she would disagree.
The same dirt path with the same stone wall guides us forward, but in the distance, the top of an old and rusty metal arch perks up, breaking the monotony. It is only upon getting closer that I'm able to see that the metal structure is actually a small bridge going over the rails that allows us to safely get to the other side of the tracks.
On the other side, a broken stone building stands tall against the corrosion of time, held only by sheer will and maybe the vegetation taking over its side, with flowers blooming from between the small gap of the construction.
"Is the place..."
"Abandoned? Even if it looks like it, I can assure you that it is not." Milesian reassures me, pointing with her cane towards the old stone platform where the train should stop. "The humans from this village are shut off from the bigger cities; the only thing from outside that comes here are relatives seeking their elders. Even so, the human sentiment towards the locomotive made it the perfect spot for spirits that disguise themselves as humans; they copy human behavior, and so they control the train from city to city. Always on point, as you'll see."
Timely, hints of smoke rise from the end of the tracks as it travels downwards a mountain. The sound is unfamiliar but still so close in memory that it manages to strike a certain chord in my heart from the times I watched the movies passing late at night.
"Our schedule will be to first visit the workshop and get your mage kit, and then we will buy you some clothes. We should be returning in time for lunch if everything goes right according to my plan."
We cross the bridge, and the train passes below us, stopping slowly until it does completely. The moment our feet hit the platform and we approach the locomotive, its doors creak open for us. With the little time I have to look at the windows as we pass by them, I can't spot anyone inside, so I assume the train is empty, or at least it seems. On the door, a man as tall as the ceiling bends down to look at us and to not hit his head on the ceiling; the way he bends his spine to do so is what nails down Milesian's words about the train being managed by spirits.
"Welcome to Spirit Express; please do come with me. I'll show you two your seats." He says with a melodic voice. Something about his voice and glowing eyes has a strange, deep effect, like hearing an old man's voice, even if his appearance is young.
Milesian bows her head and enters the train, with me going right behind her as she takes hold of my hand to pull me delicately. At first, we pass rows and rows of couch-like seats, all empty and looking the same, some even having traces of old newspapers resting atop them; when I try to take a good look at one, we end up getting past the carriage. Now a different one is presented to us; instead of rows of seats, this one holds separated rooms with two seats in front of each other. Milesian, still guiding me, pulls me to one of them as the man bows to us and leaves quietly. She settles herself on the opposite side of me and rests her cane between her legs as I sit down and put my backpack at my side.
"It should take some time for us to arrive there," she comments, letting her eyes wander over the outside view the round window presents as the train starts to come to life. After about thirty seconds, she reallocates her eyes to my face. "If there's anything you would like to ask, please don't refrain yourself from doing so. And don't say you have nothing to ask; I can see clearly on your face that you're bothered by something."
"I'm not bothered," I answer with a low tone, being careful not to sound accusatory. "I'm curious but didn't want to touch on a topic I shouldn't."
"There is not a topic or question you can't ask me; as my apprentice, you have the duty to ask anything magically relevant so you can learn, and as part of my family, you can speak to me freely about any type of personal thing you wish."
Her words make me look down at my feet to hide my troubled expression. She's right; I should try to at least be more myself with her. "You and this person we will meet; how did you meet each other?"
"Oh, that's indeed a good question; let me see if I remember correctly." Milesian expresses something in her face besides emotionlessness, deep thought, and a hint of something more. "I believe it was about fifty years ago when I met her for the first time. I remember walking in an interesting field of wheat as golden as the midday sun. I was traveling in search of a specific beast whose feathers could help make medicine to help a client of mine, but I knew nothing of the beast and had the luck to find a young woman who was in search of the same thing as me. Ayla Marlowe."
"The one from the diary?" I ask, allowing some of my excitement to escape me in my tone as it regains some of its sparks.
"Yes, back then she, as her own words stated, was in search of a purpose greater than magic, something to connect herself to that would make her complete. We walked kilometers of forest, fields, and mountains before we reached the beast we were after; the problem was that the conditions weren't the best. The beast was on its last string of life due to old age; we didn't know at the time that it was a rare thing to find one and that only a few existed in the world due to a bad adaptation to modern times. Our luck was that it had laid an egg, so when we got there and found the beast taking its last breath atop it, Ayla was devastated. I got the feather I needed, but Ayla had not gotten what she wanted. Her determination, though, was admirable; she used the fact she had helped me get there to ask me something in return. She begged me to take the egg back with me and take care of the little yet-to-be-born beast, in hopes that one day it would become an adult and have a chance in life. That was a promise I kept; the beast grew well, and once the time had come to part ways, it flew, and to Ayla's surprise, it flew right to the window of her workshop a few days after she bought the place."
"You trained the creature to do it?"
"No, magical creatures are beings of freedom; they do what they want and live their own way. It chose to go to her on its own behalf."
After the conversation, the silence takes over. I look at my hands, taking in deep breaths to create the courage to do what I'm about to do.
"You know, you can ask me things too if you want." I force a smile on my lips to hide my anxiety, telling myself that this is only fair after she opened herself to me to allow me to get to know her better. "I can't promise to answer them all; there are things I'm better off remembering, but I feel like hearing you makes me know you a little better, and I want you to know a little about me too."
Milesian, instead of asking anything as I expected, lays her cane on the seat and gets up; she takes my backpack and moves it to where she was seated before taking the now empty space beside me. Her hand caringly stops on my shoulder as she takes a moment to study my expression.
"It's true, I don't know much about humans, but I studied enough on how emotions work to know that what you're doing is more for my sake than yours. Rest assured, once you're ready, I'll ask you the world, but for now, I'm satisfied with what I see."
The expressionless face, the unemotional eyes—in a different situation with another person, I would say they are trying to manipulate me or at least create a false connection, but maybe she's just this way; she just looks devoid of connection but in reality seeks it slowly. With a nod of my head, I place my hand atop her and smile, for real this time.
"Thank you," I whisper, and so a comfortable silence is interrupted only by the train moving on the tracks. Sometimes in the travel, I feel her knee pressed against mine as I notice how close I am to her; something about her smell too calms me down, so it helps me not shy away as much.
The rest of the trip is uneventful. Milesian spent her time reading a book as I just glued my eyes to the outside of the window, watching as we passed by abandoned railroads and long tunnels before, finally, approaching the so-famous city of London. The train seems to stop at one level below another train station, and as Milesian and I leave the train, our surroundings are of an abandoned subway-like project. We don't take much time lingering around the not-so-lightning place and climb a set of stairs behind a metal door. Once we get up, as the door opens, it reveals lots of busy people all dressed up to work walking all around, too occupied to notice Milesian and me appearing from a clearly restricted area.
"The witch's workshop is a walk away from here, in a more calm area of the city." As she states that, the woman grabs me and pulls me into her arms in a clear movement to carry me like yesterday. "While we transit this area, to avoid getting separated, please bear with me for the time being."
"Wait, wait, wait, there's no need to carry me."
"There is... not?"
"We can just lock arms, you know, get less attention to ourselves."
Milesian seems to stop for a good second, analyzing the others on the platform and their ways, and once she concludes her study, she nods her head, allowing me to step back and locking arms with me. "If this method is the most common, then I thank you for the warning."
I nod my head, feeling the soft lock of her arm with mine as she starts to move, making me move alongside her in the process. There is a certain feeling of safety it brings that I bathe in without noticing how it makes my chest less heavy and helps my anxiety not to go to the roof amidst the sea of people that never seems to end when once I would be having a panic attack. The cold air coming from the outskirts of the city, the sound of cars moving all along in the busy streets, the people all around us walking past without even batting an eye—that's how every city is—just people too busy with their lives to care about anything or anyone else, something I appreciate at the moment.
"Can I ask you another question?" I keep my voice low, something that makes Milesian lean her head closer to me to hear. Something I'm noticing just now as well is that she's always been very tall compared to me; it seems that every time I really stop my eyes on her, I notice something new.
"Like I stated before, you have the permission to do as you please."
"What the priest said, aren't you like, not allowed to walk among humans too?"
"Ah, yes, the law. Well, the best way to oversimplify it for you is that I'm not allowed near humans if it's to interact or interfere, but if I'm delivering medicine, I can very well do so, but only to the extent of the request. If I need to run errands or anything that requires more contact with people, I used to rely on the church to do so, but now with Loa, things are simpler to carry on. The church can be very keen against my existence, but even being a demon, I have some of what you call 'human rights'."
"And about the law..."
"What about it?"
"I just don't get it. For all I've seen from you, you've been doing good to people, like Miss Rose, so why do they treat you like a caged animal?"
"Fear is the strongest human sentiment related to the unknown. If being a demon was not good enough, I'm a witch too; to them, my potential to do harm is greater than my potential to do good. And too, I'm the last of my kind to stay among humans; most demons migrated to the spiritual realm, abandoning their bodies to live in peace. Just don't get me wrong; I don't hold any resentment; I understand their reasons and even believe they are right about wanting me on a tight leash."
"It... must be lonely, to be the last one and all."
Milesian stops out of nowhere, breaking the conversation in the middle. At that moment, I wait for her to talk, thinking I touched a sore spot, but she only turns to me and nods her head. "We are here."
In front of us is a simple store that, at first glance, doesn't seem to have anything special about it—just one more in a sea of various shops we passed by on the way here. Like a cube, the door is circled by white walls with the lettering indicating the name of the store: Ayla's Goodies: Materials and Repairs. Atop the store, just like the other shops, lies a red brick, two stories tall apartment from what it looks like from the outside.
My thought about not being anything special, though making sense, lasts about half the minute we use to cross the road, open the door, and get inside; once we step in, a flying something approaches my face, and before it hits me, Milesian holds the thing. I blink two times before focusing my eyes on the culprit, who is revealed to be a beetle made out of crystal, and yet the thing seems alive.
On a counter across from us, a woman raises her head from below and prepares herself to apologize before noticing who entered. Upon recognizing Milesian, the woman perks up with a wide grin. "Great, you caught it." The woman wearing a witch hat with the inside colored orange jumps over the counter and sprints closer to us with a small golden cage tightly in her hands. She opens the small door of the cage carefully before taking the beetle and placing it inside the containment, which, on a closer look, has a small fauna of more crystal insects that are only visible through the cage's door, not the outside. "Thank you; this one has been a real pain lately. It entered its rebellious phase."
"Ayla, it's been a while; I'm certain."
"Thirty years, to be exact, Mili." It takes me a few seconds as I remember the dates she told me. Fifty years ago was when they first met, according to Milesian, but looking at the woman in front of me, she looks no older than twenty-five. The same woman turns her head to me, making a sunset orange curly of her hair move out from inside her hat where it rested and sway in front of her left eye, which she resolves by blowing some air and resting it behind her ear. "What do we have here? It's rare to see you accompanied by anyone who isn't from the church or that maid of yours." With her green eyes, the woman looks closely at my face with the same grin from before, only now more flirty, approaching ever so slightly. "My, oh my, you're an interesting thing, human. It seems someone woke up and chose to get over the church."
I don't say anything, choosing only to stay quiet and remain motionless, as Milesian has other plans. Her hand pulls me closer to her and away from the witch in a hurried action, like pulling a child away from the fire. "I talked to John yesterday, and I believe at this moment the church must be reviewing their laws once again to make sure the mistake I exploited in it was real."
"Wait, I want to hear the full story. I can't help you if you kidnapped a girl from her home; humans are not like stray dogs for you to feel sorry and take with you, you know."
"She was being chased by a Lost Hunter; the options she had were limited, and so were mine."
The witch looks at me curiously before looking back at Milesian with a more serious face, even letting out a sigh, preparing herself for a long conversation. "Let us talk more privately in the back, just the two of us; I'll need a cigarette for this one."
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Nodding her head, Milesian turns to me and pushes me towards a chair out of nowhere, so quick that I almost fall before reaching the chair. She lowers her head to my level and stares at me with her empty, red eyes. "Stay here; I'll be back shortly."
"Geez, she's not a dog, Mili; I'm sure she understood what I said." The witch, Ayla, comments with another sigh, not managing to make Milesian budge as she continues to stare at me, waiting for a response.
"I'll stay put; don't worry."
"Good, now excuse me." Adjusting her clothes, Milesian leaves towards the door leading to the back of the shop. As Ayla gives me one last curious look, it seems she waited for Milesian to go first to ask something.
"You okay, kid? You look burdened."
"Please don't worry about me; I'm fine."
My answer seems to convince her much as I watch her squint her eyes in suspicion. From her hand, a small pinkish crystal starts to form; it glows and starts to take form. First, it forms a tail, then a body, and soon it ends as a finished product: a dark gray lizard with crystals and mushrooms growing and glowing on its back. "Theo, keep her company while I'm occupied."
The lizard only sticks its tongue out, which seems to make Ayla put it down. Glowing pink eyes stare at me as the magical lizard crystal thing makes its approach. Ayla just disappeared in the midst of the situation without more words or looks. It climbs my leg without a worry in mind before placing itself on my lap like a guard, looking from side to side attentively, prompting me to do the same without noticing.
The store is filled with strange items; some glow, others move inside glass jars. If there is a thing here that doesn't seem like it would kill me, I can't really see it. They all look like materials of some sort, probably what she uses to make spells or something. Not a usual repair shop, I'm sure, nor a normal goods store.
She commented I look burdened; why? I mean, I wasn't in the best situation before finding the library and Milesian, but I should be fine now; something I wanted and sought for a long time is happening before my eyes, and yet, there is a tiredness that takes me behind the eyes that I can't explain. It's hard to not ask myself what I'm doing and why; the reasons seem to leave my mind, leaving only doubt and strangeness.
I shake my head to push the thoughts away, focusing instead on caressing the lizard's head in a desperate attempt to regain the calmness from before in the station. At first, the creature looks at me without understanding what I'm doing, but soon it starts making some strange noises that sound happy, at least I assume, and so I continue, watching it close its eyes and move to the center of my lap. My eyes stop at a clock in the wall ticking and ticking infinitely in repeat; its hands don't seem to move, forever stopped at a time I can't tell. I should have learned to read those. Even the sound doesn't seem to disturb the deep rest of my scaly friend.
Seeing the creature so relaxed for obvious reasons makes me do the same; the darkness that comes upon closing my eyes is not one that brings tiredness. A song comes to me, one old, sung by someone whose face I can't remember anymore; it pushes me towards humming the tune out of the moment.
Every time I try to remember her face, only a shadow comes to mind. I know so little about her; it was told to me that she liked to take care of plants, that she was good at painting, and that her singing voice was out of this world. It is a shame I never got to know her before... That happened.
The sound of the cars outside blurry until there's nothing to be heard by myself; the ache in my legs from walking here dilutes into numbness. It's one moment I try to appreciate, even if it brings me the promise of a headache in the near future. Time passes by at a rate I can't even tell as the ticking of the wall clock disappears, but it is interrupted when someone forcefully grabs my wrists and pulls me away from the peacefulness.
"This is exactly as I told you," Milesian comments with an emotionless tone, pulling me to my feet forcefully and without minding her own strength, making the lizard jump to my free arm so as not to fall. "I am rather relieved that this time it is only crystals; I wouldn't want her to almost freeze to death."
I wake up back to my senses and look at Ayla with drowsy eyes, seeing an expression I would never in a million years expect; her face turns into a deep frown as she takes a step back, minding her step not to step on something that upon a closer look is frightening. Crystal flowers grow all around my feet, using their roots to climb my legs and crystallize parts of my shoes in the process. On my side, sitting in a crystal chair, lies a faceless person holding a baby in their arms and looking down at it without an expression. My eyes widen in terror at first; unfortunately, the moment to get surprised is not given, as the tone of a voice ringing manages to cause me more fear.
"Milesian," The witch gestures for her lizard to get back to her, something it does in another jump as fast as it can. "What in the world is this... thing?"
"That is a question we both share; all I know is that she's definitely human, even if not exactly the usual type."
"I..." I try taking a step forward, and I'm met with Ayla stepping back from me. Her reaction is so genuine that it hurts; there is hate in those eyes, and they scare me back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do any of this."
The witch seems to realize her facial expression as she touches her face with her free hand, stopping for a moment and shaking her head. "No, who should be sorry is me. It's easy to forget that humans age accordingly when you live so reclusively; you're just a child. After what Mili told me, I should have guessed this would have happened." She steps closer to me and puts a hand on my shoulder, forcing a smile to take on her lips. "Look, this is not a bad thing; I'm sure some creatures will like the treat."
"Treat?" I ask confused, both by her sudden softness after the storm and her words.
"Yes, those crystals are filled to the brim with magical energy, and that makes them the perfect treat for any magical creature or spirit." She kneels down and takes one of the flowers, breaking it off the rest and taking my palm, allowing her to place it in its center. "Try to give it to Theo."
The moment the flower is on my palm, the crystal lizard, upon hearing its name, perks up and looks hungrily at it. I only move my hand closer to it before Theo shoots its tongue and grabs the flower, eating straight up.
"You see? This is what I meant." The witch looks at Milesian and points with her head to the place they had gone before. "Come on, let me at least offer you two some tea."
Amid the walk, Ayla looks at me curiously. "Say, Milesian told me you have some charm with the magical creatures; if you want, I can give you a copy of my diary."
"Uhum, Milesian already showed me one copy she has of it."
"That's just the first one I've made; I have two more regarding other species."
"Oh, okay. I guess I'll accept it then if it isn't much trouble."
We reach a living room one stair up, where the apartment part I saw before rests. This area holds both a wooden-decorated and old-looking living room that smells of dirt after rain and a kitchen separated from here by a wall. A long sofa with two armchairs on the side is where I'm pulled by Milesian. I try to sit down on the sofa like normal, but Milesian acts first and pulls me to her lap before I can.
"I can see you are nervous; please try to calm yourself; there is no need to be on your guard, I assure you. If there was, I would protect you regardless."
The witch claps her hand, and at the sound, her lizard jumps down to the ground, sprinting towards the kitchen. She sits down on the armchair and crosses her legs. Timely, the lizard returns with a silver tray on its back holding three steamy tea cups; it brings to the living room a new fragrance of citrus and sweetness.
"Do you mind a lemon honey tea? Unfortunately, as the notice was not given, I didn't have any time to buy other options." Ayla asks with a smile, taking one tea cup from Theo's back and gesturing for it to walk toward us. The lizard does as told and bows its head, leaving the tea cups for us to take.
"No, no, it's fine for me." I accept the refresher and cup it in both my hands carefully. The hot porcelain, paired with the steam invading my nose, makes for a comforting sensation. "Thank you."
"So, Milesian told you about me before bringing you here, I'm sure." She nods to herself and grins in a friendly way. "That means I deserve to know you some too, don't I?"
I take a moment of silence. My eyes focus on the waves in the tea cup going round and round as I start to unwittingly hit the ground in a newfound cycle. A smile comes to my lips, a forced, horrible one that does not convey what it was supposed to, leaving me looking like I'm about to cry. It's at this moment that Ayla opens her mouth to take her question back, but I don't allow her to.
"You're right, I just don't know what to say; my story is pretty boring. I'm an orphan, which means I grew up in a place I didn't want to be my whole life, but that was fine, I guess, for some time. Until the day it wasn't anymore. I worked in some places when I was sixteen to cover for my stay there, as I was constantly threatened with being thrown to the streets if I didn't cooperate back for all the years I abused of their good intentions. I just turned eighteen two days ago and was able to pay them fully for their wasted time with the money I had made in those two years working; then I decided to take some buses across the country and see where I would end up. If I died or not, it would be a coin toss. That was when I met Milesian, who helped me not be mangled to death in the forest.
"There are things I don't want to talk about or get deeper into, so I hope that was enough to pay you back," I say, bitterly looking at the tea in my hands before gulping it down, not even allowing the taste to coat my tastebuds in the process.
"I'm sorry if I touched on a sensitive topic; it was not my intention to leave you feeling like you had to tell me anything if it was against your will." The witch replies, awkwardly sipping on her tea.
Well, damm; I just made the table awkward. Good work, me.
Ayla rises to her feet, and as she walks towards me, her eyes quickly move somewhere else, specifically in the direction of the stairs, where she frowns. "Good, what are you doing here, priest boy?" At her words, John appears from the stairs with the rapid breathing of someone who ran a distance to get here. "Didn't I tell you before that in my place, your people are not welcome?"
The priest sighs and puts both hands on his knees to get some breath. "I know; I'm sorry. The church has sent a request for Milesian to take care of, and they wanted me to be on mail duty today because of a certain someone's midlife crisis." He gazes at Milesian with a frown before it washes away.
Too, the witch sighs and gestures for him to sit down. "Sit and drink some tea; I'll give you the room." She says that and walks to me as she was about before, placing her hand on my knee gently and kneeling down so she can have a clear look at my face. "Look, kid, you seem to have your heart in the right place, and I know you just entered this world, so my request can come across as unfair, but please do try to share your worries and pains with those you trust. I know things need to happen at the right times, so take yours, okay? My door will always be open if anything happens. Your mentor isn't one to have many people around them, so keep that in mind, because right now they seem to care about you."
Milesian guides her head down to join in the talk. "What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing about which you need to be concerned," Ayla responds with a smile, getting herself back to her feet and walking away as John gratefully sits down on one of the armchairs.
"Uf, now that's a little better." He reaches for the tea and stops before taking a sip. "Witch, this tea, had you not taken it?"
"What? Are you afraid of an indirect kiss with little old me, boy?" Ayla replies midway through her exit. "Some would be honored to have the opportunity." Even if I can't see her face, I can tell she's grinning.
"More afraid of getting cursed, that's for sure." He uses a clean cloth he pulls out of his pocket to clean the cup brim before drinking the liquid. He makes sure that Ayla has left the room before turning his attention fully to Milesian. "I'm sure you knew that already, but the higher-ups are not happy with your choice of... wife. They requested from you one of your medicines." He finishes his words and tries to sip on the remains of the tea, finding none reaching his tongue.
Milesian takes her untouched tea cup and slides it on the table for the priest, who doesn't think twice before refreshing himself. "Allow me to guess; they want the same item I refused to make last year."
"Yes, that or they are threatening to talk with the witch's academy to inform them of your new-found interest in teaching."
Her face, as always, stays the same, but this time there is a feeling of discontent behind her eyes. "If that is the card they want to play, then communicate to them that their request was accepted."
"Look, I know you aren't happy about this outcome, but know that I tried to talk to them to ease your punishment, and this was all I could do. It was either this or they would have taken the girl away from you." He says, getting up to his feet and stretching his arms tiredly.
"I appreciate your help, John." Milesian comments, locking her eyes on the priest.
"Don't mention it; now go enjoy your day. I'll have to run back to the church; my train is bound to leave in ten." He says, taking a clock out of his pocket and checking it with a deep sigh before moving his gaze to me and nodding his head, finally acknowledging my existence. "Remember, the offer still stands. A good day to you two." Without waiting for anything anymore, he starts taking the stairs down and sprinting away on the streets that I have a glimpse of from the window to our left.
Milesian taps my shoulder to get my attention back to her, using her free hand to turn my legs more towards her to an almost in-her-arms position. "When we return, I'll need to get this request out of my way. If you wish you could come with me, it can be a good thing for you to learn more about those who live alongside us in the forest. I'll respect your decision If you want to stay at home instead, then you can practice your knowledge in spells."
I take a moment to think about this decision; it makes sort of sense to go with her to learn more about what this world can offer and all, and yet, there's a lingering feeling in my mind that I'm messing up things. I've created a problem for her in the priest's words, forcing her into a corner of accepting something she explicitly didn't wanted. If I go, the chances I fuck it up more increase by a large chance.
Lowering my gaze to my knees, I shake my head. "I think it is best if I stay in the library."
Milesian's eyes study me for a good ten seconds or so before she nods. "Very well, then when we return, I'll leave you to your studies and take care of the request. Please remember that if anything appears that you might need assistance with, you can count on Loa's help."
The decision is made; I stay quiet for the rest of the conversation that happens when Ayla returns; I don't intrude in their talk as they simply comment about the kit materials.
"Okay, so I'll get the books ready today along with some extra items that she can use to build her own workstation; do you know which area she will aim for?" Ayla asks while scribbling on her notepad.
"For now, she will practice all just to be sure, and then with time and experience, she can make the choice."
"Great, just leave the rest to me then." Ayla rises to her feet, and so does Milesian, who compels me to do the same. "Expect the package tomorrow morning."
"Will do." The two witches shake hands and turn their attention to me, with Ayla being the one to say something.
"Hang in there, kid, and know that I'll visit to see your progress when I can." Her smile is simple and sincere.
I simply nod my head and keep quiet; Milesian then takes this as our time to leave, something we do without more words, leaving the witch to her work and us in the way of the station to take the train back home. Now, thinking about it, we both completely forgot that she said we would go clothing shopping.
----------------------------------------