First Apprentice

Chapter 22 Part 2

Endellion slipped the satchel off her shoulder and handed it to me. I peered inside and saw three inlaid wooden boxes similar to the ones Martha kept on her dresser. My gaze landed on a chip in the veneer. The day I summoned the Ancient Gate I snuck into Martha's room, looking for the glowing ring Grandfather gave me and Martha promptly confiscated. The box chipped when I dropped it. Then Martha started screeching and I fled, climbing down the rose trellis with my violin strapped to my back and Lily, my rag doll, stuffed down the neck of my pinafore. The jewelry boxes didn't look like Martha's. They were Martha's.

"Every piece is accounted for," Endellion said. "Your mother's favorites, including her mating band, and your father's watches and buttons are all here. The more formal jewels are in Mitchel's vault, which I understand you can access."

"He added me a few years ago."

"Good." Hesitating, Endellion brushed her fingers across my cheek. "Alannah, being independent doesn't mean that you never ask for help. No one can do everything on their own. There simply aren't enough hours in the day. Accepting help and letting others benefit from your expertise while you benefit from theirs is the only way to fulfill your duty while remaining mostly sane."

"Just mostly?" I asked.

"Only the truly crazy believe they're completely sane," she said primly. "Now, last time I saw this place, it was only a little larger than your table. It's grown, but so have you. Why don't you show me around a bit? I'm sure there's more to it than decrepit furniture and seals. Then we'll sit down, have a nice cup of tea, and discuss what has you so on edge, preferably before you explode."

Shoulders hunched, I glared at her. "It's not decrepit."

"Alannah, those wardrobes are little more than barn doors hung on a box." Endellion strode past me and tapped a cracked leather hinge with her claw. "This is hanging on by a thread." Her sharp eyes turned to my kitchen area. "The stove's decent, but I recognize that table. There's a reason the servants didn't want the old kitchen worktables when Mitchel remodeled. You're liable to find your meal in your lap."

"I love that table."

"Only because Cook used to sneak you downstairs and ply you with cookies." Head tilted, she stared at the tea tin on the table and then back at me. "Why did you plant basil in one of my old tea tins?"

I shrugged in answer. While Endellion appreciated nice things, she didn't attach sentimental value to them. Same for Uncle Manfred. "I like it."

"Of course you do," she muttered. "Because I love you," Endellion turned and nudged the corked flask of masticating gall nuts and white wine I kept by the door. I moved it once and promptly forgot that making magic infused ink requires daily stirring. "I shouldn't tell you it looks like a cross between a druggist shop, a bathhouse, and a rubbish heap."

Affronted, I crossed my arms over my chest. "It's clean."

"It is," she agreed. She grabbed my elbow and steered me past the bathing area. Her gaze lingered on the waterfall and large bathtub. "Remind me to show you how to shape stone sometime. Nothing beats a heated, stone pool for strategy discussions and other informal talks."

"You mean a public bath like you built at Grandfather's." Grandfather and I were the only Vinettans that used it. Uncle Manfred, Aunt Sumati, Endellion, and the Central Keystone's guardians, all had no problems stripping their clothes off and soaking for a few hours. It was another cultural difference between modern Vinettans and the clans.

Mastering a clan form like Endellion's guaranteed shredded clothing. Hence, the clans had no taboo on nudity.

As we entered the study area, Endellion stopped and slid her toe under the floor cloth. Pushing it back, she revealed the seals I carved directly into the basalt. The combination fire suppressor and containment ward added an extra layer of safety to my early experiments. Now, I no longer activated test seals inside the study. I used another subplane with more stringent protections, accessible only through a portal permanently carved in the wall at the back of my study.

Endellion folded the cloth back. She crossed to the back of the study and ran her hand over the portal. "Another for testing?" When I nodded, approval and amusement appeared in her aura. "Keeping the explosions away from your living quarters, smart."

Hand on hip, Endellion turned and surveyed the small raised garden bed I recently added. She tilted her head. "Dare I ask?"

"Subplanes are dead space. No smells or sounds. The nothingness nearly drove me insane until I added the waterfall and potted plants. I enjoy growing them so I thought I might try something bigger."

"You may want to ask Selim about creating daylight and water cycles. Conjured glows work well enough, but I'd investigate other methods before expanding the garden."

"I will. Thanks."

Endellion knelt and trailed her fingers through the dirt while I headed to the stove. I grabbed the kettle and stuck it under a small, wall fountain to fill while I unsealed Endellion's favorite tea. A coffee addict myself, I rarely drank tea except with Endellion and Grandfather. Thus, I kept her tea under ten-year preservation seals stored inside a disk like the ones on my bracelet. I normally left a few staples unsealed, but the rest of my food was either sealed away or stored in the preservation chamber (meat locker, according to Uncle Manfred) located between the pantry and the screen cordoning off my bedroom area and hidden behind a burlap curtain.

After the kettle filled, I activated the seals etched inside the converted wood stove and placed the kettle on the burner. Endellion joined me, selecting the least chipped of my cups and placing them on the table along with two mismatched silver spoons. "Sometimes I wonder about you," she said as she pulled out a chair. After testing its wobbliness, Endellion gingerly sat down. "Especially when I know you can well afford furniture that isn't falling apart or, at least, glue."

Endellion twitched her finger and levitated the chair tucked under my sewing machine over to the table. It set down soundlessly.

"Show off," I groused.

"Showing off is what I did to Terry. That was a perfectly executed control exercise."

"My control –"

"It is exceptional for your age and maturity. Maybe I don't tell you this often enough, Alannah, but no one has perfect control before their first transformation. No one, not even me. Rainer and I," Endellion paused. Her breath sounded harsh then evened out. "We theorized that we had such control because we entered battle at a young age. We started with broad area magics and worked our way backward. The first two decades after a transformation are crucial for control. They say it plateaus after that time period. That's why I insisted you start learning aes a decade before most teachers would have even considered it. That's why I taught you as many broad area techniques as we could manage given the space. It's also why I think you should ask Terry to teach you how he manipulates ice like I do fire. When your magic settles after your transformation, you should also have Joel test you for any illusion abilities you may have inherited from your Marstow ancestors. The bigger the affected area now, the better your control will be later. I demand perfection because I never want you to settle for good enough."