When Master Garthis showed up he brought the trunk again. Kaitlyn came out and finally got to meet Linnmel. She was a beautiful lizard-like creature with a face similar to Fapallo, but instead of a frill of feathers she had a bony plate. The lack of feathers on her wings looked strange to Kaitlyn, but Linnmel allowed her to look closer and found they actually had a fine layer of hairs. She also had a tuft of hair on her long tail, slightly similar to Fapallo’s tail. Linnmel clearly enjoyed the attention, and preened a little under Kaitlyn’s admiration.

“I brought you more presents,” Master Garthis finally said. “I brought you some foodstuff I don’t think you can gather very easily. I know you’ve been surviving on vegetables.”

“Fapallo brought me some birds too,” Kaitlyn said. “I roasted one of them and set the other one drying as best I could.”

“Good,” the wizard master said. “I brought you some grains to make cereal and some flour. I also brought you a mirror, some shoes, and a blanket. I know it isn’t cold yet, but I didn’t want to forget.”

“Thank you so much,” Kaitlyn said, “I really can’t tell you how much I appreciate all this. The shoes… those will be so wonderful.”

“I felt bad I didn’t bring them last time,” Master Garthis said, “I had seen you didn’t have a good pair.”

Kaitlyn hefted the bag of oats and carried it inside. Master Garthis followed, ducking under the door and said, “This place looks so different. You have done an excellent job cleaning it up.”

“Thank you,” Kaitlyn said, “You really should come see the garden. I had to expand it because there were so many plants I wanted to keep. I have a lot of the herbs the potion book says I should use - oh, I think I made the basic sleeping potion. I was worried about how to test it though.”

“I usually keep some rabbits around that I can test on,” Master Garthis said, “I can bring you a pair. How did you make it?”

Kaitlyn explained her process. She had sewn the scrap of linen into a small pouch so she could reuse it. Master Garthis stroked his beard and said, “That is rather ingenious really. I always created a permeable bubble with my magic and held it, but this allowed you to focus on stirring with your magic.”

“What is permeable?” Kaitlyn asked.

“It means water or air can pass through, but not larger particles like the ground herbs,” Master Garthis explained.

Kaitlyn nodded and said, “I’ve also been… looking at the flame spell and I have some questions. I’m hoping you can help me out.”

“What do you mean looking at it?” he asked.

“Well I can’t see the magic, but I found I can feel it,” Kaitlyn put her hand in her flame and said, “It’s like… threads twisting around each other. I was hoping I could make flame without heat or heat without light. It would be useful. It feels like the magic comes from me and… splits into two pieces but I can’t figure out where they go from there or what to do with them.”

Master Garthis looked at her in surprise and said, “You…. can feel it?”

“Yes, it connects to me right here,” she touched the center of her chest and closed her eyes so she could feel it better. She traced the line of the magic until the heat of the flame encompassed her hand.

“I have only met three other master mages who could follow magic like that,” Master Garthis told her, “and of us the four of us, only I have been able to see it. It is a challenging undertaking to shift your vision that way. There are also some who can see the magic but can’t feel it as a tactile sensation.”

“So I can learn to see it as well?” Kaitlyn asked excitedly.

“I don’t know,” Master Garthis said, “It is something that just seems to develop. I was able to talk to Master Kirkard and he, like myself, just found himself seeing them one day. I will say it is possible, so please keep trying.”

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“I definitely will,” Kaitlyn said. “Is that how you were able to see the curse on me?”

“Oh no, that was a spell,” Master Garthis said. “It essentially translate the magic into words.”

“Can I use that on my flame spell?” Kaitlyn asked.

Master Garthis looked at her a long time and said slowly, “Yes.”

He then gestured with his head and they went outside. He sat on her stool and said, “I want you to perfect these basics exercises before you start learning more complex spells. You have the power to use them, but you don’t have the discipline to do it safely. It’s like… a swordsman. You are strong, but if you don’t know how to aim the sword at your opponent, you are just as likely to cut yourself.”

Kaitlyn frowned and asked, “How long will all this take?”

“I don’t know,” Master Garthis admitted. “You are so different from any apprentice I’ve heard of, and I told you before I’ve never taken an apprentice. I will promise you this Kaitlyn, I will never hold you back from something without a good reason. If you don’t understand or you don’t agree, I want you to tell me. One of the most common reasons young mages die is trying spells they aren’t ready for and they lose control. There are reasons there are so few true mages.”

Kaitlyn considered this and said, “Ok, why can’t I learn the identification spell?”

He smirked at her and said, “Well I didn’t expect you to challenge me quite so soon.”

Kaitlyn didn’t smile, but instead crossed her arms in front of her. He nodded and said, “It isn’t that it is dangerous in and of itself. I just worry that you don’t have the discipline to realize when you might be running low on magic. The spell can be pretty consuming. I think your power is slowly coming in, but I don’t want you to push yet. Let me do some testing with you today and I’ll consider it, fair enough?”

Kaitlyn nodded. They sat and he had her do a variety of things with her floating flame. They talked about meditation and Master Garthis asked her to recreate her process for the potion. She ground up the herbs while the water came to a boil. While she worked, Master Garthis picked up the pants and said, “Not what I expected you to make.”

“I thought that would be more useful than a skirt, but I kind of need some buttons,” she said.

“Buttons?” he asked.

“Yes, I need about six buttons,” Kaitlyn said. “My brother used to carve buttons out of wood, but I have no idea how to even start doing that.”

“Hmmm, I think I could actually teach you a spell to help you with that,” Master Garthis said, “It is designed for fighting, but I saw an apprentice once using it for delicate carving. Which honestly is another great practice for control.”

“Oh, that would be useful,” Kaitlyn said, “Does it work on bigger things like trees?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it really, but yes it could,” Master Garthis said.

“Why shouldn’t I use it on trees?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Three reasons, you don’t yet know which trees might house someone or something magical that would take offense to your meddling,” Master Garthis held up a hand and ticked off the reasons, “and the second has to do with actually felling trees. I assume you don’t know how to aim a tree to fall where you want it to go. And finally, it would take too long. This spell is limited in size to a tool no larger than your hand, or your arm if it is long and thin. It will fall apart if you try to make it larger.”

“No, I don’t know about making trees fall where I want,” Kaitlyn admitted, “I never even thought about it.”

“Exactly,” the master wizard said, “so let’s start working on it.”

This spell was more difficult, because Kaitlyn had to envision the type of tool she wanted. She quickly started to incorporate feeling the threads to weave the shape she wanted. Master Garthis was impressed when she made a pair of scissors. She was delighted to learn she didn’t have to hold the blade. She set the scissors to cutting flowers in the front yard while she utilized a second blade to begin trying to carve from a piece of wood.

Master Garthis watched her for a time and then said, “You don’t seem to be losing as much magic as I would have expected since you are keeping up three spells. So let me warn you of some the symptoms you are straining your magic limits.”

The list seemed endless possibilities. From simple headaches before her spells began to explode and injure her. More elaborate things like having to pee frequently and the pee being strange colors. Then there were the truly strange ones like hearing voices or seeing visions. Apparently there was a very rare master who managed prophetic visions when he reached this point.

It was almost dark when Master Garthis rose and said, “I do need to get going. Send Fapallo if you need me urgently, and remember to be careful spending your magic.”

“Master?” Kaitlyn stopped him. “Will my family be able to contact me?”

“I don’t think so,” Master Garthis admitted after a long drawn silence, “I didn’t tell them how to contact me, only that you have joined my household to recover from some minor injuries in the attack which killed Claus. I thought this would be close enough to the truth to help assuage their fears. My fae contract will watch them for a year, at that time we can try to determine if the black unicorn is even a threat.”

“Thank you Master,” Kaitlyn said firmly.

Master Garthis smiled and said, “I feel like I could be thanking you. I thought I understood magic, but the way you are learning it and using it… it is unlike any of the masters I know. It will be my own education to teach you, and I suspect it will make me a better wizard.”