Author Note -  Estel is a term elder students use to refer to their younger classmates.   The alternative for older students is Sistrel.     

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“Little mice are known to scurry when they’re afraid so we’ll need a little something to keep you in place,  but before that let’s go somewhere a little more out of the way.”    Chizuru said ordering her henchman with a snap of her fingers.  

As the two girls flanked her Mari struggled but her strength was failing there,  this was more than fatigue this was something more her eyes grew heavy and her breathing slowed to a crawl and than she noticed it out of the corner of her eye.    

An older girl with dull eyes and messy strands of dirty brown hair bound in pony tail was casting a spell that Mari had never witnessed before.  

“You finally noticed,  that’s Kaya lady Chizuru’s personal body guard and one of the only people in the village who can use two kinds of magic.”    One of the girls chirped with a toothy grin.

As her legs buckled and her strength evaporated Mari heard Chizuru’s voice as her she began to fall into a deep slumber.    

“Slumbering Spines how does it feel, you were pricked with it the moment we showed up but my radiance held your attention so nobody can blame you for noticing”  Chizuru said basking in her own radiance.

“That’s dirty…”  Mari’s reprimanding trailed to a slurred whisper as her consciousness ebbed away and only the bliss of darkness remained.  

When Mari awakened she found herself bound with vines in a place that she was unfamiliar with,  she could tell she was in the forests that encircled the village but this was a place she hadn’t ventured too.   

The babbling of a stream suggested that they weren’t deep into the forest.  

“Shinobu,  Fumiko, Hiroko,  head up the trail and keep look out,  we wouldn’t want any prying eyes”   

The first girl Fumiko seemed all to eager to follow her leaders instructions but Mari could see a small hesitation in Shinobu before she did as she was ordered too.   

‘As you wish, Lady Chizuru.”   

Shinobu whispered her words trailing of like a rustling of dead leaves,  the other girls followed upon Shinobu’s heels leaving Mari alone with resident princess and her protector.   She was a tall muscular woman with gaunt features and and scarring across her neck and nose.  

“That was Vinea magic wasn’t it,  I read about in one of Papa’s books”  Mari said sluggishly.   

“You’re very knowledgeable for a person of such lowly birth”  Chizuru said playing with her long strand of her meticulously brushed hair.    

“You seem more clever than I expected,  but you’ve made a big mistake,  My Estel”

Mari at last felt a small amount of strength returning to her numbed limbs as she struggled to return to her feet,  her strength might be returning but her legs were still stiff and tingling.   

“ You want to fight me to huh?”  Mari said staggering towards Chizuru.  

“As if I’d lower myself to fight a blacksmiths daughter,   

No Estel,  this isn’t a fight,  it’s a lesson”  Chizuru said with a quick snap of her fingers.  

In the blink of an eye vines had ensnared Mari forcing the young girl to her knees.  

Her eyes shifted to Chizuru’s protector who was muttering under her breath and was washed in a pulsing emerald glow.   

“Water is such a funny little thing don’t you think?”   

” I dunno hard to think when I’m all gross and sweaty like this”    

“Water is shapeless,  formless and ultimately quite harmless if left alone”  Chizuru giggled steadily approaching Mari.  

ᚡᚨᛏᛏᛖᚾ ᚹᚨᛏᛖᚱ ᚹᚺᛁᛈ

A tiny sphere of water danced and shimmered above her hand and soon shifted it’s form a crystal clear whip.    

Mari knew this spell too it was in one of her Mama’s tome’s in the library, a third class Vatten spell that altered the water’s form into a sharp whip that caster manipulated at will.  

“Seeing how this is a first offense I’ll let you off easy,   How many letters are in Shinobu… Seven,  You’ll get seven lashes this time, feel free to cry if you like.”

The watery whip came down fast striking her on her legs and arms each hit resulting in a stinging sensation that lingered before fading to numbness.    Small lacerations formed were the whip landed.  

“Little mice are known to scurry when they’re afraid so we’ll need a little something to keep you in place,  but before that let’s go somewhere a little more out of the way.”    Chizuru said ordering her henchman with a snap of her fingers.  

As the two girls flanked her Mari struggled but her strength was failing there,  this was more than fatigue this was something more her eyes grew heavy and her breathing slowed to a crawl and than she noticed it out of the corner of her eye.   

 An older girl with dull eyes and messy strands of dirty brown hair bound in pony tail was casting a spell that Mari had never witnessed before.  

“You finally noticed,  that’s Kaya lady Chizuru’s personal body guard and one of the only people in the village who can use two kinds of magic.”   

As her legs buckled and her strength evaporated Mari heard Chizuru’s voice as her she began to fall into a deep slumber.    

“Slumbering Spines how does it feel, you were pricked with it the moment we showed up but my radiance held your attention so nobody can blame you for noticing”

“That’s dirty…”  Mari’s reprimanding trailed to a slurred whisper as her consciousness ebbed away and only the bliss of darkness remained.   

When Mari awakened she found herself bound with vines in a place that she was unfamiliar with,  she could tell she was in the forests that encircled the village but this was a place she hadn’t ventured too.   

The babbling of a stream suggested that they weren’t deep into the forest.  

“Shinobu,  Fumiko, Hiroko,  head up the trail and keep look out,  we wouldn’t want any prying eyes”   

The first girl Fumiko seemed all to eager to follow her leaders instructions but Mari could see a small hesitation in Shinobu before she did as she was ordered too.   

‘As you wish, Lady Chizuru.”   

Shinobu whispered her words trailing of like a rustling of dead leaves,  the other girls followed upon Shinobu’s heels leaving Mari alone with resident princess and her protector.   She was a tall muscular woman with gaunt features and and scarring across her neck and nose.  

“That was Vinea magic wasn’t it,  I read about in one of Papa’s books”  Mari said sluggishly.   

“You’re very knowledgeable for a person of such lowly birth”  Chizuru said playing with her long strand of her meticulously brushed hair.    

“You seem more clever than I expected,  but you’ve made a big mistake,  My Estel”

Mari at last felt a small amount of strength returning to her numbed limbs as she struggled to return to her feet,  her strength might be returning but her legs were still stiff and tingling.   

“ You want to fight me to huh?”  Mari said staggering towards Chizuru.  

“As if I’d lower myself to fight a blacksmiths daughter,   

No Estel,  this isn’t a fight,  it’s a lesson”  Chizuru said with a quick snap of her fingers.  

In the blink of an eye vines had ensnared Mari forcing the young girl to her knees.  

Her eyes shifted to Chizuru’s protector who was muttering under her breath and was washed in an pulsing emerald glow.   

“Water is such a funny little thing don’t you think?”   ” I dunno hard to think when I’m all gross and sweaty like this”    

“Water is shapeless,  formless and ultimately quite harmless if left alone”  Chizuru giggled steadily approaching Mari.  

ᚡᚨᛏᛏᛖᚾ ᚹᚨᛏᛖᚱ ᚹᚺᛁᛈ

A tiny sphere of water danced and shimmered above her hand and soon shifted it’s form a crystal clear whip.    

Mari knew this spell too it was in one of her Mama’s tome’s in the library, a third class Vatten spell that altered the water’s form into a sharp whip that caster manipulated at will.  

“Seeing how this is a first offense I’ll let you off easy,   How many letters are in Shinobu… Seven,  You’ll get seven lashes this time, feel free to cry if you like.”

The watery whip came down fast striking her on her legs and arms each hit resulting in a stinging sensation that lingered before fading to numbness.    Small lacerations formed were the whip landed.  

“And seven”  Chizuru said exasperated.  

“How’s that,  You wanna cry,  You learned not to touch what belongs to me?”  Chizuru said gloatingly standing over her supposed victim.  

Mari raised her head and cracked a wide smirk.

“That’s it?”  Mari said raising her gaze to meet Chizuru’s.

“And seven”  Chizuru said exasperated.