Rhainnon got them both up bright and early the next morning. Rosalea blinked awake. She was clearly very excited for what the day would bring. “Come on, get up!”
She had breakfast already. Annie flicked her tail irritably and flattened her ears at Rhainnon. Rhainnon was used to the mare’s overall bad attitude and just patted her a bit condescendingly. The mare huffed at her.
Rosalea sat up with a large yawn and brushed her hair as Rhainnon set a plate down in front of her that had some cooked eggs on fresh bread. Rosalea was coming to absolutely love Haidi’s cooking. She re-braided her hair as Rhainnon pestered her about whether she needed to bring anything with them to the larger town. Rosalea shook her head and yawned again.
“You have the strangest color of hair. It looks even odder when you have it down,” Rhainnon observed.
“I know,” Rosalea said with a wry grin. “I have the hair of an old woman.”
Rhainnon grinned right back at her. “It is kinda neat though. Maybe you should wear it down more often. More people would look at you.”
Rosalea bit down into her bread and eggs. Rhainnon started eating her own. “I think we both know that I like to avoid people looking at me,” Rosalea responded after a gap of silence.
Rhainnon laughed. “Yes, that’s true. Anyone who looks at the way you dress and act knows you like to fade into the background whenever possible.”
Rosalea allowed herself a small smile. It was true, and they both knew it. Rosalea even avoided going into the main part of Mire, where the inn and shop stood. Rosalea finished her breakfast moments after Rhainnon had quickly dispatched her own. Rosalea dusted herself off, and pulled on her best dress over her shift, which really only meant that she had mended it the fewest times and it was not the leather hunting dress.
Rhainnon hustled them out of the door, dragging Annie along with a halter she had slipped on. Rosalea assisted in getting Annie hooked up to the cart. Ian appeared a moment later with a second horse, which Rhainnon explained had been borrowed from a neighbor for just this occasion. The horse was solid, black, tall, and much larger than Annie. He said that his name was Gorion. When Rosalea spoke to him, he was quite amiable. Annie was quite angry about now having to be a cart horse. “I will buy you some sugar,” Rosalea informed her, “as soon as we reach this River’s End place.”
Annie sighed, and Rosalea did what she could to help get them under way. It wasn’t long before they were going. Ian was almost as impatient to get them out as Rhainnon was. He pressed three gold pieces into her hand as they left. “For the last two weeks and this week. In case you want to buy things.”
Rosalea thanked him and climbed up in the cart with Rhainnon as she flapped the reins to cue the two horses to go.
Gorion was so friendly, and talked to Annie so nicely, that the mare soon found herself distracted and even approaching a good mood as she whined about Rosalea to the older gelding.
Rosalea rolled her eyes and left well enough alone, though she was tempted to point out that she could in fact hear their conversation. However, it seemed to have Annie complacent, so she left well enough alone no matter how annoying. Rosalea glanced at Rhainnon, who seemed to be thinking about something intensely. “Will you teach me how to drive?” Rosalea asked.
Rhainnon twitched a bit, blue eyes staring at Rosalea for a moment, as if she had quite forgotten that Rosalea was there at all, but then she smiled. She gave Rosalea the reins and gave some instructions. Rosalea listened attentively, but also knew if things got too complicated, she could always speak directly to the horses about what she needed. After a few moments, Rhainnon announced that she felt Rosalea had the gist of it.
“How long until we get to River’s End?”
“Late this evening,” Rhainnon answered. She looked entirely too thoughtful at the moment, looking out over the swampy bottoms where the cattails were waving back and forth in the breeze.
“What are you thinking about?”
Rhainnon looked a little startled again and then shrugged. “Nothing in particular.”
Rosalea let it go. After a second or two of silence, “So, have you ever thought about magic?”
Rhainnon stopped looking so distant and looked at Rosalea. “A bit. Sometimes I wish I had some… at times it makes things so much easier. Like you being able to pick up heavy things and fill a tub without having to pump it all…” She shrugged, indicating that was all she really had to say about it.
Rosalea felt awkward as she tried to think of a way to approach the subject with Rhainnon. After a bit of hesitating, she decided to just be blunt, however awkward it made her feel. “Your father says he has definitely been able to see you have magic,” Rosalea began, watching Rhainnon. She looked a little startled, “And he sent me along with you so I could teach it to you.”
“Really?” was all she could manage at first.
Rosalea nodded to her. “He wants me to train you how to use it while you are away from home.”
“What if I am not a weather mage or a gray mage?” she asked, looking at her, naming her father’s essa magic by the more colloquial name. Rosalea noted the question left the possibility open that she was indeed a changer mage, though Rosalea felt she did not add it to the list merely because she expected it was unlikely she would be one. After all, other than herself, every other changer she had met had definitely darker skin than almost any Myradulian and dark hair, and even she had yellow eyes despite otherwise not looking like a changer.
She seems so on edge about it, and I am not sure why. Maybe it’s because of her mother? After a moment, Rosalea shrugged uncomfortably. If it turned out Rhainnon was a plant mage, then Rosalea could only teach her bare minimum basics, but Rosalea would still have something to teach her. She did have plant magic, she just pretended she didn’t lately. “I can still teach you a little,” Rosalea offered. “I learned the beginning steps of magic from someone who had very little magic in common with mine.” That was true, though it was more Rosalea’s magic lacked common ground with Ulric’s.
Rhainnon was quiet. “I thought I would never get a magic teacher. My mother is so determined…” Rhainnon trailed off, and Rosalea was surprised to see she was struggling for what to say next. “Well, she is determined that I shouldn’t have magic,” she finished.
So, it is exactly what I thought from before. Ian all this time has been trying to figure out how to get her the training she needs without the consequences at home. This probably really will be the last that I work for them. No wonder he went ahead and paid me. Rosalea suddenly felt a large pang of sadness. She realized she had come to start thinking of Rhainnon as a friend, and she even felt liked by Ian when he gave her a nickname. And yet, here she was about to cause their friendship to end. Once Haidi found out Rosalea had taught Rhainnon magic, then she would probably send her away. Rosalea was silent for a while. Rosalea didn’t know what to say then. She didn’t know what to tell Rhainnon. She knew Rhainnon would have to learn some amount of control of whatever magic she had. It would come out later in sporadic ways, and ultimately even shorten her life if she didn’t learn it. Or at least, that was what people believed.
“Well, I always did hope I would have some,” Rhainnon finally breaking the awkward silence. “I mean, no matter what mother thinks. I really have wished I could do some of the things only a mage could do… and well, I just want it.” Rosalea smiled with a bit of relief that Rhainnon seemed willing to forge ahead anyway. Rhainnon patted Rosalea’s shoulder, suddenly wearing an especially bright smile, “So, I will just do what I can not to tell mother, and then she doesn’t have to get so angry about it.”
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Rosalea was surprised. Rhainnon really didn’t strike her as the sort of person to hide anything. At the same time, she was grateful. She would like to stay where she was at least a bit longer. Rhainnon was the first girl her own age she had any chance to be friends with, and it felt nice. “Do you think you are ready to learn?”
Rhainnon nodded. “Can we really do it while we drive?”
“If you are able to focus well enough, and if you cannot, we can start after you show me what we are supposed to do in town.”
Rhainnon nodded, “All right. So… then what? What should I do?”
Rosalea was quiet for a moment. Rhainnon had been taught nothing of the magic theory that Ulric had taught her… but on some level, Rosalea was not certain it was important to know. After all, it taught her nothing all that practical about magic… just what it was supposed to be able to do and what it looked like. After a moment, Rosalea concluded she would start with what did seem important: which was how to organize magic. “Inside each one of us is a magic core, or a center,” she began, and looked to Rhainnon to see if she was making sense. The girl just looked back at her, her face blank with a bit of anticipation. “Even those who are not mages have this core, it is part of what it means to be alive. Uh, your body has a heart, right? It beats and sends blood through you so that you live and feel. Magic cores are the hearts of our spirits, and it is what makes us part of the world, and it can also be what you use to influence the world. The difference between someone who can use it and someone who cannot do so is how much magic lives within your magic’s heartbeat.”
“Is that why my father was able to see my magic?” Rhainnon asked.
Rosalea nodded. “You have enough to be a mage. Otherwise, your father would not have seen anything. Gray, or essa, skilled mages have an advantage over other mages in the sense that they can see any magical activity.” She wondered now if maybe magic theory was actually important. But, now Rhainnon was silent and waiting for her to continue. “So, anyway… your magic is wild until you learn how to tame it,” Rosalea struggled. Now Rhainnon looked confused. Rosalea floundered for a way to explain it better. “Well, magic does not work unless you discipline it. It is like… like teaching a horse to be ridden. Both you and your magic must learn to cooperate.” Rhainnon looked slightly less confused.
“How do I do that?”
Rosalea felt like this might be moving in a slightly better direction. “Well, you have to reach inside yourself, have to sink into your magic core… and when you get there, what you should see is all black. The magical core always looks like a pond with a river flowing from it. The river will look all black and tangled. You are supposed to untangle the mass…” Rhainnon was giving her blank and very confused looks. “You’ll see when you get there. Everyone goes through it,” Rosalea offered.
“So how am I supposed to get there?”
That question was more difficult to answer. Get thoroughly beaten by your mentor and cornered and forced to it? she thought, remembering how it happened to her. For a moment, she almost felt like she was back in the dry air of the desert. She pushed the feeling away. “So, meditating is a way of sitting still and clearing your mind. When you do that, you can focus inward, and separate yourself from the physical part of your being so that you can reach the spiritual.” Rhainnon was staring at her. “Umm… do you ever get lost in daydreams?” Rosalea asked. Rhainnon nodded. “It is sort of like that… except it is more like getting lost within yourself, reaching your magic… it is more real.”
Rhainnon sighed. “So, this is something I just need to try right? And then it works?”
Rosalea nodded. Rhainnon was quiet and looked ahead for a while. It was silent save for the sounds of the cart moving. Rosalea had not even noticed Annie and Gorion had gotten quiet until she had started listening to other things. She was a little relieved: she didn’t like being basically an eavesdropper on a conversation about herself. Especially when it involved so much griping.
“Rosalea, how do I tell if it is working?” Rhainnon asked.
Rosalea started to feel rather uncomfortable. She was afraid she wouldn’t know how to teach Rhainnon to do this. Ulric had often pointed out to her that magical exercises came to her easily. “Umm… all the sounds and the feelings around you will fade out, and you will come out overlooking the river or pond.”
Silence again. Rosalea’s attention began to wander a bit. She was thinking about the Ieshans… and trying not to feel like she missed Genya or Nerric too much. “Rosalea… am I doing something wrong?”
Rosalea almost jumped, it had been quiet long enough she had started to think maybe Rhainnon had been successful. “What are you doing?”
“I am just trying to tune out the sounds around me, and what it feels like to be me, but the more I do it, the more I feel and hear it…”
“Hmm… maybe if you think of it as more just sinking into yourself, going deeper within your heart or mind and so then the other sounds don’t matter?”
Rhainnon nodded. Rosalea watched her out of the corner of her eye for a while. She was fidgety and trying to keep her eyes closed, her face slightly frowning as she concentrated. Rosalea could also see some distinct elements of frustration.
She wished Nerric were here. Nerric always knew how to get around Rosalea’s frustrations. He always started with a demonstration, maybe Rosalea should have demonstrated? But what was there to show with finding one’s inner core?
Rhainnon sighed and opened her eyes. “I don’t think I can do this. It isn’t working. The more I try to become less aware of things, the more aware of them I become.” She leaned her head against the cart, looking a bit dejected.
They were both quiet for a while. Rosalea knew she was not a patient person, but compared to Rhainnon, she felt she could lay some claim to the virtue. She tried to think of a way to calm down her friend and refocus her. “Think of it as examining yourself more closely maybe,” Rosalea offered after a while. “Like you are reaching inside and trying to find a center only known to you. It won’t be easy at first, because your body is in the way of your soul…”
Rhainnon gave her a speculative look. “So, it’s like the physical gets in the way of the magical?” she asked.
Rosalea nodded. “Magic is something that is not physical, but acts on physical things. Like a soul acts inside a body.” She mentally reached for her imber magic, and then made a “come” motion with her hand. Droplets of water from the air condensed on her finger tips. “I have to focus on something not physical, my magic, to affect the water physically… just like my mind will act on my body now.” She flicked them at Rhainnon who gave her a pouty expression as water droplets splatted on her.
Rhainnon made a speculative noise, and then made herself as comfortable as she could. She closed her eyes. The quiet stretched out passed fifteen minutes, and Rosalea began to have significant hopes that Rhainnon had succeeded.
In the silence, her attention began wandering again. She felt homesick like she never had before. She wished she could see Nerric and Genya again. She wished she could speak with them somehow, but there was nothing for it. She could never go back to the Ieshans.
And they do not know that I might actually be the One, she thought of the prophecy. If they knew it… how different would that make things? What would they want me to do? What the Uryans said they wanted? Part of her wanted to know… and the rest of her was afraid to know it. Rosalea deliberately steered her thoughts in another direction. She did not like to think about being someone that was supposed to be a legendary prophecy figure. She did not like to think about what that might mean. Furthermore, she didn’t know what it really meant. It does not make sense anyway. Even if I have plenty of magic, how am I going to go around destroying all those people. What an inane thing to think in the first place. She took a deep breath in and then slowly let it out.
I wonder how long I should stay at Mire. It is really nice there, and it is nice to be with people— Rhainnon sighed and sat back. Rosalea saw the frustrated look on her face. She shook her head. Rosalea stared at the horses for a minute, and Rhainnon was quiet except for the tapping of her foot. “It takes a lot of persistence,” Rosalea offered. “And it is the hardest part.”
“Oh, yes?” Rhainnon demanded. “How long did it take you?”
Rosalea flushed and debated whether she should lie or not. “It took me a little while.”
Rhainnon rolled her eyes. “So, I take not answering the question to mean not this long?”
Rosalea flushed a bit deeper. Rhainnon sighed heavily. “No, listen, it takes time. Just keep working on it, every mage had to learn to do it at some point. Without it, you cannot use your magic.”
Rhainnon sighed. “All right.”
It was quiet again. After a while, Rosalea noted Rhainnon’s breathing had become rather measured. Rosalea glanced at her, and her face was completely slack. She debated whether that meant Rhainnon had succeeded at last.
After an interval, they went over a significant bump, and Rhainnon did not readjust, and Rosalea knew that meant she had succeeded. Rosalea used her magic to put Rhainnon in a better position on the bench again and they drove on in relieved silence.
She found herself thinking about Taigan again. She thought about winter evenings by the fire, the quiet… She also thought about the day the slavers had come. It was vivid in her mind still, even though it had been almost a year. It always took a little while to stop thinking about the violence that had occurred once she started thinking about it. I hope Taigan is all right.
Rhainnon did not awaken even as they drew near the town. Rosalea had to ask Gorion where they were supposed to go and was relieved the gelding had taken the trip enough to know. He brought them into the marketplace, after which Rosalea was able to locate the merchant guild booth and find out where Rhainnon was to set up shop and where they could quarter their goods and stay. Rosalea carefully drove them there, relieved that it was dark and no one could make a mention about her yellow eyes.
It was long after Rosalea had fumbled with and finally gotten the horses unhitched and stabled, goaded several times by Annie’s contempt for her ineptitude when Rhainnon showed some signs of stirring. Rhainnon did not come out of it until after Rosalea had gotten pallets set up in their corner and looked up blinking thickly. She slowly moved, her joints creaking a bit. She yawned and blinked a few more times. “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get out for a moment,” she said.
Rosalea said nothing, just brought over the bowl of soup that was now a little chilled. Rhainnon looked at it for a moment, as if trying to recognize what it was. Rosalea remembered feeling disoriented like that.
She drank from the water Rosalea gave her, bit into the bread, and made it through a few bites of soup before she fell asleep. Rosalea carefully caught the bowl before it fell to the floor using her magic and set it aside. She used her magic to put Rhainnon into the beds set aside for them, and she knew she would have to wake Rhainnon very early to get some of the magical training done before it was time for the market to open at just past dawn.