Lissa woke, much as she had for the last several weeks of travel, in an unfamiliar place with the soft sounds of her mother moving about nearby. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but dawning awareness of the inviting smells of yeast, citrus, and bacon had her sitting up and throwing off her woolen blankets. She stopped short when she looked about her at the swirling rainbow striations of her large room's stone walls. Her room. In their new house. Their arrival yesterday filled her mind in a rush; a city in the forest that felt more like a child's treehouse dream; trees that glowed with their own light; a pile of treasures; richer food than she had ever tasted; the charismatic king; the beautiful blue queen; the adorably shy prince; her aunt's vow; and that blinding silver bead now secured on a bracelet about her eldest cousin's wrist.
She swung her feet onto the wooden floor. It was not like having a dirt floor at all. The golden timbers under her feet were glossy and smooth with lacquer. The small chest with all her own belongings sat in the northeastern corner of the room at the foot of her bed, waiting to be unpacked into the many spaces her new room held. Shelves lined the eastern wall, interrupted only by the door leading into the rest of the house, while the southern wall that was part of the front of their house, held a large window. Its shutters had been drawn closed last night, but bright morning sunlight peaked through teeny tiny gaps, providing just enough light to see. There was a heavy wooden wardrobe in the southwestern corner and a smaller window on the western wall that had also been shut tight. A small nightstand sat in the northwestern corner at the head of her bed, which had been set up lengthwise along the northern wall. One of her family's larger braided rugs had been placed in the middle of the room, but it didn't take up even half the floor, allowing Lissa's bare feet to rest on the glossy, amber wood.
Without any more hesitation, she opened her trunk and located a suitable pair of clothes for the day. After weeks of traveling with strangers, she had finally gotten in the habit of dressing herself for the day before greeting others. Adults were funny about things like clothing, she had decided, but dressing kept her from being chided every morning, and that was good enough for her. She swiftly made her bed and unshuttered the windows, taking a small sense of pride in how nice her large new room looked with the sun shining in. The warm, early morning sun caused the rainbows in the stone to scintillate and glisten, casting tiny refracted rainbows further about the space. Yes, she was going to like it here.
No longer in just a nightshirt, Lissa emerged from her room and swiftly ran over and hugged her mother's leg. Tecka, who was carrying plates full of steaming food to the low dining table nearly fell from the growing child's weight suddenly crashing into her.
"Careful, Lissa!" She chided. "Good morning, sweetling. Did you sleep well?"
Lissa, who did not release her mother's leg, but moved with her as Tecka strained to set the low table, replied, "Yes! I love our new house, and I love bacon! This is the best morning ever!"
Tecka laughed even as she grunted to lean down without pouring the steaming contents of the plates she held. She asked Lissa, "Will you please go out to the field and tell your father that breakfast is ready?"
The exuberant child's yelled reply only came when she was halfway through the front door, "Okay!"
The morning sun was rising off to her left as she ran south through the field. Much shorter than the emerald prairies had been, the grasses and flowers of this meadow only came up to her knees, and she ran with uninhibited glee. Lissa followed the distant sound of bleating sheep for a couple of minutes before she found her father standing watch over them near the murmuring brook. The rocks and sand in the crystal clear water appeared to be the same kind of beautiful stone that their new house was made of. It cast dazzling sparkles across the faces of the sheep who stooped to drink. Spot was making wide circles around the flock and paused only briefly to snuffle at her in greeting before continuing his circuit. When she reached her father, who was sitting on a larger stone by the creek side, she slipped her small hand into his calloused one.
"Good morning, daddy," she said at a reasonable volume. "Momma says that breakfast is ready. It smells really, really, really, really good."
"Is that so?" He turned and smiled down at his little girl, squeeze her hand, and stood with a groan and stretch. "Keep an eye on them, Spot," he said, and walked with Lissa back to the house.
His expression was pensive, but Lissa didn't notice, focused as she was on all the dazzling newness around her. She babbled about what they had seen and done the day before, finally remembering that her cousins were living in an even bigger house than this one, way, way up in the trees. "Can we go visit Bup today, daddy? Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase?" she begged.
Her father hadn't given her a straight answer by the time they'd arrived back at the house. "Let's ask your mother what she thinks," he said.
"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy! Can we go see Bup and Artaxes today?" Lissa gave her mother a piteous expression that could melt the heart of even the most avaricious dragon.
Tecka was apparently even sturdier than that, since she replied with only, "Let's see how much unpacking we can get done before it's too late in the day, hmm? Then we'll see."
Together they sat down for their first morning meal in their new home. Could food taste even better if you liked where you were? It wasn’t quite as amazing as the king’s food had been the day before, but it tasted better to Lissa than breakfasts back at their old home.
Over breakfast, Tecka and Drust spoke of practical matters about running a household and a business that Lissa didn’t care about yet. Little did she know that any apprenticeship to a tradesperson would involve such details. She ate quickly and was soon looking for something to do. She was gently reminded that her desire to visit her cousin would only be considered after she was unpacked. She rushed to her room with vigor.
Several hours later, when Tecka went to fetch the girl for lunch, she found that somehow Lissa had managed to stay focused long enough to unpack almost all of her belongings into appropriate storage places. She had finally gotten distracted when she found her pair of small wooden toys, a poorly carved dragon and a felted sheep, at the bottom of her traveling trunk. The two toys were locked in a death match in the middle of the rug next to the snoozing Lissa.
Lissa woke to her mother's gentle strokes along her back, and she looked up to see Tecka's pleased expression. "Good job, sweetling. We can try to go see Bup after lunch on our way to set up the shop."
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The trek through the trees to her cousins' place took much longer than it had yesterday. Without a guide, Tecka and Drust needed to stop to ask for directions several times, and after wandering in circles for more than an hour, they finally came to the lowest doorway of a vaguely familiar, four-storey structure that wrapped around the trunk of a large tree. When Lissa saw Artaxes roosting outside though, she ran up and tried the nearest door. It was Hayzen, her uncle, who opened the door a crack to see who was calling. When he recognized Lissa and the two smiling adults behind her, he opened the door wide to invite them in.
The house was bustling with the sounds of furniture being repositioned and cabinet doors being opened and shut. While the porters had placed all of their belongings inside their respective houses, they had done so without consulting the new occupants and not everything had been positioned to their preferences. Lissa ran off into the building immediately to find Bup, her cousin and best friend. The large, multi-story house was filled with steps, stairs, and ladders made of branches. Not all of the rooms were connected by hallways either, and she dashed across a railed exterior walkway that ran halfway around the outer circumference of the glowing tree that hosted the house. Soon enough though, she neared the room with the window where Artaxes was perched just outside.
She burst through the doorway, crying, "BUP!"
The small blonde boy had just enough time to look up before her mad tackle pushed them both to the wooden floor with a resonant THUMP. Bup, ever resilient, smiled his close-lipped smile at her in greeting. "Hi, Lissy," he answered cheerfully.
For the next few minutes, Bup showed her his room and the perch and overhanging shelter for Artaxes that their [tree] had grown overnight. Apparently the [tree] that hosted their house was aware, and had grown the house specially for them. The [tree] would provide them shelter, water, and syrup, and they would protect, pollinate, and fertilize the tree (whatever that meant), and ensure that at least some of the trees seeds were planted and nurtured into strong saplings. Weirder still to Lissa, was that the [tree] had no name and felt no need for one. It was a small portion of the whole forest, and that was quite enough for it.
Bup was unsuccessfully trying to explain to Lissa how their [tree] had even talked with them at all, when the resonant thuds of two pairs of running feet sounded outside Bup's open doorway. Falton's figure dashed past, racing downward, and a breath later, the slightly slower, shorter Cammind ran past the doorway. They heard Falton's voice below and around, calling out for his mom and dad. Neither wanting to be left out of whatever excitement was there to be had, Lissa and Bup took one look at each other and dashed after the two older boys. Somehow, not one of the four careening children stumbled along the way, as if the planks and branches and twigs that made up the walkways were shifting subtly to ensure their footing.
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They arrived breathless at the bottom level of the house where the four adults turned in surprise as, first Falton, followed quickly by Cammind, and then the two youngest children at least ten seconds later owing to their shorter legs, came rushing through the far doorway. Lissa and Bup collapsed together at the entrance to the room, heaving, as the older boy, Falton, took deep breaths as he swiftly approached his parents.
"Something," he paused, working to catch his breath. He tapped on his heaving chest while leaning over slightly. "Something is happening. In here."
His mother Igmi's eyes narrowed, and her lips thinned into a tight line. They'd hardly even been here a full day, and he was coming fully into his magic just now? The timing couldn't be more convenient for the [king] if he had planned and orchestrated it. She thought bitterly that maybe somehow he had.
As all that went through Igmi's mind, Hayzen had gone to his son, stooped a little to meet the lad's wide eyes, and said, "It's alright, son. You're just getting your magic now. Come have a seat."
Falton allowed himself to be steered toward a low couch that ran along the curved outer wall of the room. He sat down, still working to bring his breathing under control. It wasn't just the physical effort of dashing headlong down the stairs that had his breath coming fast. This was it. It was finally happening. Hayzen pulled a floor cushion over to sit directly in front of Falton, and Igmi sat down on the couch beside him.
Lissa began untangling herself at once from the pile of limbs that she and Bup had made just inside the doorway. Once free, she offered a hand to Bup, who allowed his cousin to help him up. Lissa immediately marched over to watch what was happening to Falton up close, but her father, Drust, caught her up in his arms before she was able to get in Falton's face. Lissa squirmed, trying to see better.
The fuss made in the attempt to keep Lissa quiet and out of the way was all a hazy background for Falton. Only his father's calm voice that still seemed far away was able to penetrate very far into the thick fog that seemed to surround his mind. "Close your eyes, son. Don't be afraid," his father was saying. "Let the magic take its course."
He instinctively obeyed, eyelids closing over the mildly chaotic scene, and he focused on breathing, trying to stay calm. It had started when he was putting away clothes in his new room. Not exactly a tightness, but something tugging inside him. No, not quite inside, it wasn't like it was in his physical body. It was halfway between his physical body and his mind, like it was both and neither. A subtle twisting or wrapping or tying, but it didn't hurt. It just felt... odd. The oddness continued to spread out from his center throughout his body.
As it reached his eyes, he suddenly noticed that even though his eyes were closed, there were new patches of fuzzy light all around him. His entire wrist lit up like a bright silver blob where he knew the [oath bead] to be. In front of him, his father glowed in a soft cerulean; and there beside him, his mother's body also seemed to glow with a fuzzy cerulean light. The tension in the oddness seemed to recede just then, as if finding an equilibrium. From there, it settled into the background of his awareness, present, but unobtrusive. He opened his eyes and looked up at his parents who were watching him patiently.
All of a sudden, a voice—no, a multitude of voices—spoke as one in his mind, "Greetings, young human. A gift we have given the world, we now give you. Choose wisely. We will be watching." It was impossible to tell any individual voice from the others, they were deep and high, quiet and loud, gravelly and velvety and crystal clear. Just as suddenly as they had spoken, they fell silent again.
Falton's mouth went dry, and his eyes widened in shock and fear. His father's knowing eyes met his, and he put his hand on the boy's trembling shoulder. Hayzen spoke quietly, "It's the same for everyone, Falton. A welcome and a warning." He waited a moment, then winked and added to lighten the mood, "Unless they asked you to become a priest."
The boy's high choked laughs broke the tension in his mother's shoulders, and she sighed in relief, hugging Falton tightly to her side. She kissed the top of his blonde head before he could push her away in protest as boys around his age often began doing. He didn't resist, still too overwhelmed by the odd sensation that yet lingered at the edges of his awareness, not to mention being spoken to by the gods. He laughed until his sides ached and tears leaked out the sides of his eyes. The joke hadn't been that funny really, but it had been what was needed to break the dam holding in the stress of moment.
When Falton had finally quieted, Tecka motioned Drust to allow Lissa back inside. She ran straight toward her eldest cousin, and was once again grabbed by a parent, who prevented her from mobbing the exhausted boy. Tecka squatted down by Lissa's ear, while still holding her shoulders firmly.
She said, "You may go over there Lissa, if you walk and speak quietly. Can you do that? Otherwise we'll have to go straight home."
At the threat of missing out on anything else exciting, Lissa's shoulders stopped resisting so quickly that Tecka almost lost her hold on the girl. Lissa nodded, soberly looking at her mother. Tecka nodded and let go. It wasn't exactly a walk the whole way. Lissa started off walking normally, but within a few paces her excitement had her at power-walking speeds. Fortunately, there weren't more than 10 paces for her to cross to where Falton and his parents still sat. She halted when she arrived at the small group.
Her voice was dutifully quiet, but no less eager. She whispered aggressively, "What happened? What was it like?"
Her oldest cousin looked almost pleadingly at his father, but the man simply smiled and said, "We want to know too, son."
After a moment of pregnant silence, the boy did his best to explain the odd experience, the remaining sense of tightness somehow between his body and his mind, and the different fuzzily glowing globs he could see around him. Finally, he relayed the message he was told by the multitude of voices. His audience listened attentively; even Lissa didn't interrupt with any of the thousand questions bouncing around inside her. When he was finished speaking, Drust and Tecka, who had quietly pulled up seats for themselves and the other children, assured him that what he described was very normal.
They sat together, exchanging their own coming-of-magic stories until Lissa, who had been trying her very, very best not to be forced to go home early, finally burst out, "but what does your fancy bracelet say now!?"
She gazed at the gleaming artifact longingly. It didn't matter that her bracelet had come from a dream and that his had come from a [king]. No, what mattered to Lissa was that his was shiny and it worked, and that was what made Lissa jealous. She reached out and just barely touched the shiny carved surface. The display once again sprang to life. Falton's eyes had once again widened when she'd asked her question, having completely forgotten he could check his own status this way. As she activated it, he swiped the display fully open, so that he could see what had changed.
There it was in plain, blocky, blessedly-intelligible text. It had updated. He collapsed the sections that he already knew about and read quickly until he reached the section he was looking for. Magical attributes.
Name: Falton Zag Albehson
Species: Aware Human
Age: 10>11 years
Patron: --
Profession: [choose]
[-] Skills: 0
[-] Attributes:
[+] Material: 6.2 average, notable [speed] and [strength]
[+] Mental: 5 average, notable [willpower]
[-] Magical:
Potency: 4
Capacity: 4
Finesse: 2
Acuity: 0.99
[+] Special: three special attributes
[+] Spells: 4, all locked
[+] Fundaments: 1/3 Earth and 2/3 Sky
[+] Equipment: 1 magical, 8 mundane
There it was. Potency and capacity were both at the human adult average. Finesse was middling at 2, and what had the [king] said about [acuity]? It was higher than the human average of 0.7 at 0.99, but what that good or bad? He held his wrist out to his parents. "What does 0.99 [acuity] mean?" he asked.
It was Drust who answered, "You described seeing fuzzy blobs of light. [Acuity] is how in much detail you can sense the magic around you. Someone with very low [acuity] senses very, very small details. High acuity senses things fuzzily. With a potency like yours though, lad, you won't need to worry about the fine details." His uncle smiled reassuringly.
Lissa strained to read the rest of his status as he waved his wrist around. Whatever magic the [king] had put into the bead's construction included the ability for anyone viewing the display to read its contents. Lissa only struggled because Falton had moved it away from her faster than she was able to read it. She did notice that his species had changed to "aware human" and his profession now read [choose]. But, before she was able to ask anything else, a knock came at the outer door.
Igmi huddled over her son protectively, and quickly swiped the display closed. Hayzen was about to get up, when Drust stood and crossed the short distance. Without opening the door, he asked, "Who is it?"
A woman's voice answered in a polite, business-like manner, "It's Milty, the [king]'s [attendant], Sir Brightglenn."
Drust's head reeled back in shock. No one had referred to him by that title since before he had even met Tecka. He hesitantly opened the door but did not move out the way for her to enter.
"I apologize for the interruption of this auspicious occasion, but I have been tasked with bringing this summons to one Squire Falton Zag Albehson," she held up a sealed scroll of vellum.
Drust held out a hand for the scroll, without moving from the doorway.
She replied, "I apologize a second time, but I must deliver it directly to Squire Albehson's hands."
Drust looked over his shoulder and met Hayzen's eyes. The man nodded, though tension tightened the corners of his eyes. Drust moved out of Milty's way, allowing her entry into the Albehson's treehome. The [attendant] moved briskly to Falton and extended the scroll with a small bow. Igmi's narrowed eyes watched as her son gently received the document. As soon as it left her fingers, Milty smiled, bowed more deeply to the entire room, and exited just as quickly as she had come. Drust, who was still standing next to the door, closed and locked the door behind her, only then realizing that this wasn't his house.
Falton was already breaking the wax seal on the vellum scroll and rolling it out. It was not a magical item, but bore a short note in the same flourishing script that Uncle Drust's spells used, a well-drawn landmark map that clearly had both his house and a destination marked on it, and a few symbols that he understood to mean morning, but not first light. Hayzen called his brother-in-law over to read the letter at the top.
"His royal majesty Zharim, the first of his name, sovereign of Zhareem, Reforger of the Broken Kingdom... ," Drust skipped over several more appellations and only then continued,
"To Squire Falton Zag Albehson:
Congratulations on your coming-of-magic, young squire. As I mentioned would happen, you have been assigned as a squire to one of my knights, Sir Atex. You will meet with her and her page at the location marked on this map six mornings of every week starting tomorrow. Judging by the distance, if you eat breakfast at first light and immediately head out, you'll arrive on time. Obey her, learn well, and make your [king] proud."
Drust lowered the letter toward Falton, though Igmi was the one who took it. She looked over the map and concluded that they should try to find the way this afternoon while it was still light before Falton attempted to make the trip by himself in the dimness of early morning.
Poor Lissa, Drust thought, she had been so good, but playtime was over now anyway. The smaller Brightglenn family gathered up what few things they had brought and said their farewells—very reluctantly on Lissa's part.
This was the new life they had all come to find, and it was starting off at a run.