The Girl with an Owl

Chapter 34

After the healing effects of laughter, Ajana felt much better, like part of the burden she felt had been lifted off her shoulders.
She knew that she would have to put in a lot of effort into learning about her magic and how to use it, but still, it was good to know that there was hope.

There was a small seed of confidence that started growing from the depths of her heart upon realizing that she wasn't undetermined after all, she was a witch with healer magic in her blood.

After Wallace explained everything to her, they parted ways as she headed to her new home looking forward to the cozy warmth of the fairy cottage.
Before she even got the chance to enter the beautiful garden in front of the house, she was tackled to the ground by an overexcited Rex.

"Rex miss! Rex miss!" the flying book said.
It took Ajana some time to realize that he was telling her that he missed her, and she started gently stroking his pages having missed the little guy as well.

Once she was back to her feet she almost fell down again as Walnut ran into her.

Steadying herself and Walnut as well, as she looked at the overexcited little guy, his wings fluttering as fast as hummingbirds she wondered what was happening.

"Wow, what's the rush?" She asked.
"You have a message," Walnut said.
"A message?" Ajana asked thoroughly confused.
"Yes, it arrived moments ago by snail mail," Walnut confirmed.
"Snail mail? As in you have a postal system here with a postman and everything?" She asked.
"What is pos..tam somem?" Walnut asked.

Ajana was saved having to explain by Zephyr who soon flew in to stand by his son.

"I am sorry, this son of mine, sure is fast and not very familiar with the systems you have on Earth. That was why I was supposed to explain it to you, but Walnut is too fascinated with flying snails to miss up on an opportunity to get snail mail." Zephyr said.
He gave his son an affectionate smile as he ruffled his hair.

"You see, our snail mail isn't the type of post that you are used to. In this world, the post is delivered by actual snails thereby the name snail mail." Zephyr said.
"But aren't they really slow? Wouldn't it take ages for them to deliver the messages?"Ajana asked.

"The snails in your world might be slow, but as I mentioned, here we have flying snails. They are similar to the snails you are familiar with except for the fact that they have a pair of wings attached to their shells that can move really fast and deliver mail, or messages as it were in an instant." Zephyr said.

For some reason, it was more difficult for Ajana to imagine flying snails than it was to accept the existence of all the magical creatures she had encountered while in Mag.
Her mind seemed unable to comprehend that something she thought she knew everything about could exist in a different form, the one that was completely unfamiliar to her.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she even forgot what started the whole conversation in the first place.

"Don't you want your message?" Zephyr asked.
As he said that, he took out a small piece of something that was half the size of Ajana's fingernail.

"How am I supposed to read that?" She asked.
"Oh, you still haven't learned how to open your mail. Would you like me to open it for you?" He asked.
"Sure," Ajana said.

He put it on the palm of his hand and started chanting.

"Message small

hear my call.

Open your heart

and let your message start." He said.

Then he blew a breath of air on the small piece of what seemed to be some type of material that Ajana had never seen before.
As he did that, the material started floating above his palm and slowly opening up and becoming bigger and brighter until it was the size of a regular piece of paper that Ajana was used to.

"Magic paper," Zephyr said as if that explained everything.
The paper floated towards Ajana, and she could finally see the elegant writing on it.

"Respected Ajana,

You are hereby informed to expect the presence of Kieran the elf of the forests of Bacija, from Aguene, the land of the elves, at your own residence at the hour of twilight's end. The purpose of the hereby mentioned visit is stated to be one of scholarly endeavor.

Respectfully,

Kieran"

The letter's contents only managed to further confuse poor Ajana.
"What does this even mean?" She asked gesturing towards the floating message.

"Oh, he chose the quicker why which means this was one of the millions of possible formats that he randomly chose. The message says that Kieran will come to visit us after dinner to study with you. These things haven't been updated in centuries, so they tend to be a bit on the old-fashioned side. "He explained.

"Yeah, of course. That's understandable." Ajana said.
It was obvious from her confused tone of voice that nothing was understandable to her.
Not only the letter, but also the fact that Kieran would be coming by without even asking her if it was okay.
On the other side, they did have to work on their project together so that was a plus in her books.

"Haha, yeah it might take some time getting used to all the small things about Mag. Why don't we go inside? Cassie has probably finished preparing dinner by now so you can take a bite to eat while you process everything." He said.

"Yes, sure. That sounds like a good idea." She said as she followed him inside.

Rex and Walnut trailed behind them playing tag or at least something similar to that game on their way in.
As they entered the kitchen Ajana was met with Nectarine running towards her and hugging her leg tightly.

"You're here." She said.
It was as if Ajana was her favorite person in the whole world and that confused the poor girl even more since the little fairy was too shy to express any strong emotions in front of her and now all of a sudden it was like she loved Ajana as a family member.

As Walnut flew into the house with Rex hot on his heels, he was met with his mother's scolding gaze.
"What did I say about flying inside the house?" Cassie asked.
"That we shouldn't do it because our wings can get caught on the furniture, and we might get hurt," Walnut said.
He repeated it as if it were a poem he had had to learn by heart as he slowly lowered himself down on the floor and walked the rest of the way to the kitchen.

They all settled down for another delicious meal, but to Ajana it seemed different from the meals she had with the family until that moment.
It seemed like they were more relaxed in her presence, so more often than not the plates and spoons were floating around instead of being physically picked up.

Ajana figured that was the way they usually ate, but that they were trying to control themselves in her presence since they knew she didn't have any active magic.

"I used magic today." She blurted out.
She had no idea why she felt the need to tell them that, but she did.

As they ate their meal she told them all about her day and it felt good to have a family similar to her own to share her good and bad moments with.

Once they finished their meal and the table was cleared, there was a knock on the other and as expected when Walnut opened the door Kieran was standing on the doorstep.

The expression on his face was the one of resignation but there was more to him than met the eye. Still, he shared nothing more with the world around him as he entered the house and was led by Ajana to her room.