9 Years, Home. Meeting

I found the way home without problems or noteworthy occurrences, and am standing in front of the shed. Before I enter, I empty my pouch on a close stone, and separate the usable meat from the butchery waste, which I dispose of on the garbage pile adjacent to our domicile. I put the meat back into the pouch, which insides are soaking wet from blood and tissue, and push open the door afterwards.

My mother sits on a stool, her left leg exposed. She seems to be massaging the leg, but stops immediately after she takes notice of me, even seems a bit startled. She covers the leg with her trouser, and gets up. “You are back early, Rei... Welcome home!” Without effort, she composes herself, and greets me.

I nod. “Indeed. I brought some meat, have a look over it.” I pull the dark red meat chunks out, and put them down on a wooden plate laying on the small table in the middle of the room. In fact, I am not the only one who is back early today. Normally, my mother would still be gone for a few hours, foraging through the forest, and taking what she could. However, those times became shorter and shorter over the course of the last months. She never disclosed her reasons, but it is apparent that she has strong pain in one of her legs, and that it only gets worse over time.

“You went out hunting, and even butchered it for me? I should have noticed immediately, there is fresh blood on your clothes. However, that is sweet of you! Thanks, Rei! You do not have to butcher it for me, I still can do that.” She seems to pout a bit while saying this, but rather to keep me from worrying about her, and not because she actually thinks I think she is incapable. “Yes, I will make a fine stew with that... Hare? Squirrel? How did you even even catch it?”

“Meat is meat.”, I state, and close the discussion. I remove my pouch and my knife, and put them into my corner.“Mother, I have a request.” While I got rid of the butchery waste and the meat, I still look like a person who did not clean himself properly in months. Which admittedly, is almost true. I know where to get rid of the dirt covering my skin, but there is one thing I cannot do.

“A request, from Rei... That's rare! Go on, tell me!” Mother seems to be eager to help, she probably wants to repay me for the squirrel.

“Please, tell me: How do I get rid of blood stains?”

“Oh, my... I mean, of course I can show you... but it never bothered you before, did it?” I think a few seconds what to say to that, insecure how to react, but before can I open my mouth, my mother continues. “You should be aware that while I can help you make those stains less visible, fade out a bit, bleach here and there... They will stay with this robe as long as you have it.” Blood sticks harder than dirt, I should have guessed... If there is no way to fully remove them, I might as well wear them with pride. Plus, what she said sounds like a lengthy process, and I do not have that much time, after all I announced that I would show up at the mayors door today.

“Actually, forget about it. I have to go.” With those words, I barge out of the room, uncomfortable with the whole situation. I hear my mother calling after me, but I do not turn back. I do not even why I went in such an abrupt manner, but it felt like the right thing to do at the moment. Only a kilometre away from our house, I stop running. Why did I run? I do not know. There was no reason, my mother had no ill intentions, quite the opposite really. Even though it seemed like I just ran away, I actually had a target: A nearby creek flowing through the forest.

I cannot do much against the dirt and blood on my clothes, but very much so against filth on my body. I strip naked, and place my clothes on a nearby rock. It is only a small creek, barely reaching my ankles. Needless to say, it is also ice-cold. I intensify the heating magic, to better ward myself against the impending frost, and lay down. In a way, it feels like a cold wind on a warm summer day, but more intense, and not nearly as good. It is an interesting feeling, to say the least. People around the village do not bath very often, and my family is no exception. The mayors family is probably such an exception, as they are quite wealthy.

I scrub my arms, legs and torso, but lacking a brush and soap, its only better than nothing. There is soap available for sale in the village store, and the unscented one is not even expensive, but our family is lacking the money nonetheless. There are a lot almost affordable chemical things in there, soap, bleach, even some Medicines that are not herb-based.

They all are manufactured by a guild associated with the magic guild, and sold by caravans to the village merchant for low prices, so that they can turn a profit selling it to other villagers, like us. The caravans could easily make fortunes by raising the prices, but there are laws by the magic guild preventing that. The magic guild wants to secure a generally high living standard for this country, for reasons that are unknown to me. What does it interest them if a random villager has proper hygiene or not?

All these thoughts rush through my head while bathing, but I am not getting any cleaner by scrubbing at this point. I get up, haze is forming on my skin, and I quickly feel hotter. I turn the heating back down to a normal level, just to offset the ambient temperature. I look at my clothes – they are dirtier now than me, but there is nothing to be done here. I put them back on, it is not great, but better than the alternative. I set of into the direction of the village.

Our shed lies in the peripheries, and as I can reach the training spot without, I enter the main village only rarely. Every time I do, people give me a weird look, but they do not pay much attention overall. It is not different this time, and like always, I do not care. Through the marketplace, I head directly to my destination – the largest house in the village. It is the only one with two stories, and build with bricks, opposed to wood like it is common here.

Finally, I stand in front of the door. It is decorated by a metal door knocker, which I promptly make use of without hesitation. After half a minute, a middle-aged lady opens the door. She takes an extensive look at me, and looks amused, but I can not comprehend why she would be. When her gaze sees my bare feet standing in the snow, she shivers a bit, as if she were cold as well. “Yes? How can I help you, young boy?” She asks. It is the mayors wife – the very same woman that taught me to read over a year ago. She has a friendly face, and does not look like one to hold prejudices.

“I have come to speak to the mayor.”, I come straight to the point.

“You are Iuli and Kuums little Reiland, aren't you? I should have known at first glance.” I nod, and she chuckles a bit more. “You sure want to speak to my husband. I just don't know if my husband also wants to speak to you.” She chuckles again, slightly. Probably at the absurdity of this situation. “I can go and ask him, if you want.”

“Do that.”

“Alright!” She leaves, and I hear stairs squeaking. After about two minutes, Iones brother comes to the doorstep. “You actually came?” He says, as if it surprises him.

“Why would I not? It was the mayor who called for me, after all. Plus, he has something that belongs to me.” Silence follows, and after a short pause, a voluminous voice fills the corridor.

“Something that belongs to the magic guild, you mean.” A tall person with fiery hair enters the corridor, and my view. “I am very interested in how you acquired it, son of Kuum and Iuli. I had a premonition that you would be the one that lent this book to my children. Come in, I have to speak to you.” He examines me, and adds: “But clean your feet before you step inside.”

I have seen this man on a handful of occasions before. He is undeniably the mayor, the mightiest person in this village. I rub off dust, mud and snow from my soles, and step through the door. Without further assuring that I follow, which I do of course, the mayor proceeds to go further inside the building, up a staircase, and finally enters a spacious room through a solid, ornamented wooden door. This room alone is larger than the shack I live in.

Once we entered, the mayor closes the hefty doors, and takes seat in a leather padded chair behind a desk, which top is littered with paper, books, feathers and ink jars. “You are probably freezing to death, judging from what you are wearing. I know your parents are poor, but there must have been a way to get warmer clothes for their own child... Anyway, you may stand in front of the fireplace.”

His attitude immediately rubs me the wrong way. That my family is poor I cannot deny, but suggesting that my parents do not care for me is something different. “I am perfectly fine with this little cold, thanks for your concern.” I position myself in the middle of the room, facing the desk. On my right are the doors we came through, and to the left are windows almost replacing the whole wall, letting in light and granting a good sight of the marketplace.

I wonder if the mayor had watched the magic coefficient tests. The windows are made of a special kind of glass, which only see-through from the inside of the building. One of the windows is actually a glass door leading to small balcony, from which the mayor could speak to people on the marketplace, would he wish so. There are no empty walls in this room, as where possible bookshelves filled to the brim cover them.

“I am pretty sure about the answer, but tell me: How did this book get into your possession?” The mayor opens a drawer on the side of the desk I cannot see, and pulls out a familiar book: What is magic? The basics. The fact that the magic meter on the backside is broken proves that this is the exact book I lent to the siblings.

“Arstibal gave it to me when he left.” I state the facts.

“I figured that would be the case...” The mayor sighs deeply, and pauses for a few seconds. “He surely told you the reason as to why he gave you the book, did he not?” I shake my head. Arstibal gave this book to my parents, but he never told me why, and what it was, and how I should use it. The mayor sighs again. “Did he say anything else?”

“Only that he would come for me in a few years, and find me a place at the magic academy.”

The mayor reacts heavily to that. “Utter foolishness!”, he bursts out, as if he could not believe what I just said. He calms down a bit after a few seconds, and now just looks tired. “It is not your fault. This man, however... I have met him only once, and thought he was a free-willed, quick to decide and prone to exaggeration. All of that are bad traits for a magician. But for him to have lost his mind in that manner...”

I have took an liking in Arstibal, and for that reason do not like the mayor talking about him in this derogatory way. “I think you make him look worse than he actually is.”

“And you simply believed all the nonsense he told you... It is not your fault, you are a good boy. But quit talking about matters you don't understand.” The mayor sighs again. No matter what I say, at this point it will probably backfire. There is a half minute of silence, safe for the usual, muffled sounds coming up from the marketplace. “Yes, only 4 secun and 5 prim for this as good as new pair of shoes!” Another voice speaks, too quiet to understand. “You are ruining me, Ma'am! But well, let 4 secun and 3 prim be the final price.”

Finally, the mayors face softens up, and his tone as well. “I suppose this book is the reason why you wanted to learn to read, now over a year ago?” I nod in reply. “I should have asked why a boy who would never see a book wanted to learn reading, then we would not be holding this conversation right now. However, your father worked for the lesson, and you learned surprisingly quick, so I have no regrets. In case you do not know already, I should tell you why it is such a big deal that this Magician gifted you this book.”

He holds my book into the air. As if I would not know what my book looks like. “It is, in fact, is issued by the magic academy for students, and for students alone. The academy guards its secrets closely. Even though this book holds no real information, except for the adapter language vocabulary which is useless on itself, giving it away to a stranger is something one could easily be expelled for. Therefore, I cannot give it back.”

I am disappointed. Mad, even. But I know that arguing is pointless. “I understand.”, I reply. For now.

The tension leaves the room as if it never existed. “Good we got that out of our way! The scale on the backside, was it broken when you received the book?”

Oh, that. “I am well aware of the toxic properties of mercury.” This should be all the answer he needs.

“Okay, then. Where?” The mayor tucks an eye brow, and he seems to understand what I am saying.

“Forest. A few minutes in. Nothing to worry about.”

“Fine. I will take your word for that. Now, tell me: What did you think of the book?” A faint smile is visible on the mayors face now. He almost seems like a different person, compared to when he reprimanded Arstibals behaviour. Back then he saw me as a child which caused trouble, now it is a discussion between two people, about magic. Kind of.

“It was interesting, for sure. However, it only contained Information about the magic academy and the organisation behind it, interesting, but irrelevant. It lacked everything I hoped for, in reality.”

The mayor grins, as if he found my answer amusing. “Oh? What kind of information could a child miss in such a book? An easy way to turn vegetables into sweets?”

While it is a more balanced conversation than before, the mayor still takes me for a kid, huh... That is understandable in his position. For the sake of the conversation, I will bear with it. “I had hoped for tips to chant magic without an adapter.”

The mayor stares at me in disbelief. Then, he bursts out in laughter. “Shooting for the stars, I see! I like it, I like it.” He chuckles a bit for himself, and in the span of a second turns dead serious again.

“You are more similar to my children than I thought. This passion for magic... I can almost feel the disappointment you must have had when this book contained no practical Information whatsoever. I felt the same, over twenty years ago now. But I will recommend you to not bother with the academy. Do not even try. I would not even recommend that to my own children. Should you, for whatever reason, still get to attend the academy – Do not bother with adapterless chanting. Stick to the adapter.” The mayors green eyes look right into my own at this point. His face was clear of every however so small sign of joking.

“The way you phrase it, it sounds like you attended the magic academy yourself?” A flash of realisation hits me – the mayor was a magician himself. I do not even have to wait for his answer, as I am certain. In hindsight, it took me an embarrassingly huge amount of time.

“You are lacking basic knowledge at some interesting places, kid.” There it is again, the look of tiredness, exhaustion on his face. “Every governor, be it village or town, is a magician, or rather a member of the magic guild.”

“I see.” This does not even surprise me at this point.

“I will shift topic now – enough of this depressing talk about magic.” The vigour returned to his face, he even seemed a bit cheerful now. “How did Brian put it again when I asked him: You are a “magician”, and are “teaching” him and Ione “magic”? Are you actually repeating to them what you read in the book?” The tense atmosphere was blown away, as if it never existed before. It seems like this is a topic the mayor was looking forward to address the whole time.

I could of course explain everything to him, and show him what magic I actually can do. But the whole talk was tiring. I also dislike the mayors condescending attitude. “Not really.”

“Well, whatever you do, please continue. While Ione has no problems socialising, Brian is very direct, and always says what he thinks. He was never able to make friends, and since Ione stays with him all the time, she has made none either. You were one of the last children I thought Brian would make friends with, but I am glad it happened. If their magic curiosity is fulfilled by harmless games, even better!

The bratty kid is not my friend. Ione is not my friend, either, but I can respect her. I see no need to correct the mayor, though. It is beneficial for me if he thinks like he does now. Awkward silence turns in.

“Now, now, you have other things to do as well most likely, don't you? You may go now.” The mayor signs me off, and I am relieved that it was finally over. I nod, and leave.