The Dracomancer

CHAPTER SEVEN: FELICIA

Alex arrived a few minutes after dark and found that Felicia had been waiting. He hoped he hadn’t kept her waiting long, but if he had, it was nothing he could control. He decided to play it safe.
“Sorry if I kept you waiting long,” he apologized.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve only been here for about five minutes, so I’m actually impressed at your punctuality,” she replied. “Now, I heard Artemis kissed you and you held her for a night.”
“Yes, she did kiss me, but she later admitted that it was premature. As for holding her, that’s all that happened. There was no…other action,” Alex replied, trying to keep a straight face.
“Then why did you flirt with me last night?” Felicia asked.
“Honestly, I wasn’t trying to flirt. I was just trying to help you overcome your shyness.”
“Oh! Thank you for your honesty. This really clears things up. I’ll talk to Artemis about it tomorrow. Hopefully she’ll understand. I still like you,” she replied.
“You’re welcome. And thanks. I don’t think I’m in any position to speak with Artemis about it, so this will really help. And to be honest, I like you, too,” Alex responded.
“You’re welcome,” Felicia said, blushing.
The next day in strategy, Serena taught Alex that a wise leader was a leader who was able to keep his or her people satisfied to be part of the nation the leader ruled. Usually, this was done by making sure the people had everything they needed and some of the things they wanted. She asked him if he knew the difference, and when he gave her a positive response, she seemed happy to know that she wouldn’t have to waste time explaining. She stated that a wise leader would have to listen to his or her people in order to do so, but Alex had already deduced that.
In attack spells, Artemis apologized for telling Felicia what had happened and stretching it a bit. Felicia had already spoken to her about it. Alex was grateful to her for that. He forgave Artemis and they continued on with the lesson. Artemis taught him an ice spell, probably because of his previous performances with the fire and lightning spells. Alex didn’t mind. He tried it on the practice dummy, but it wasn’t as powerful as his fire and lightning spells. Nevertheless, it was effective enough.
In defensive spells, Jaden taught him an evasion spell that would help him dodge attacks. When he had cast it, Jaden tried to rake Alex with his claws, but Alex easily dodged the attack. Jaden then spat a blast of fire at Alex, and he dodged that as well. This spell would be ideal if he was faced with several enemies and he was the only one fighting them, but if he had allies with him, he was best off using the shield spell that he had learned the previous day.
In his fourth lesson of the day, Serena worked with him again with the warded chest, and he noticed that he was seeing slightly more energy, but it would still take him a long time to master this technique. Serena told him that it would probably take him longer to master it than some, which was what he had already figured. Nevertheless, he was a little disappointed because he was wondering what was in the chest.
In shape shifting, Nick taught him a Lesser Dragon form. As he had promised the previous day, it was a little more difficult to master than the Drake form, but it didn’t take long. However, he had a feeling that Dragon form would be more difficult.
Healing and resurrection again. He thanked Felicia again and she blushed again while saying that he was welcome. Then they got to the lesson.
This time, she assigned him to resurrect the deer, which had died only recently. He wondered how the deer could receive an infected injury one day, and die the next, but he didn’t question. It took a little more effort to bring it back from the dead than it did to heal it, but Felicia was still impressed that Alex got it on his first try. He had used compassion to fuel it, but he knew there would come a time when he would have to use sadness. He just hoped that wouldn’t happen any time soon. He wasn’t quite ready to let Felicia see him break down. He would prefer for that to happen when he knew he could trust her not to judge him. Until then, he would try to use compassion as much as possible.
After the lesson, Felicia asked Alex if he was free that night, and when he said yes, she told him to meet her there again. He hadn’t expected this to happen so soon, but he wasn’t one to turn down such an opportunity. He just hoped it would go well. He had had too many like this that had gone sour. He would find out in due time.