Flowers

FALL TERM - DAY 7 (Continued) 

It was one of those early autumn afternoons where the sun burned hot but the breeze was cool. I knew that days like this existed more from books than lived experience. 

"It gets like this in Hyhill sometimes," Aisling said. We were sitting out on a sunlit courtyard on the wide ledge of a dry central fountain. I was still flipping through my combat class textbook, trying to figure out just how I could have gotten the chapters so mixed up. 

Aisling had learned a new spell today that she was using to coax wildflowers into sprouting up through the cracks in the pavement so she could weave them into a flower crown. 

"Did you ever have weather like this in Caburh?" she asked. 

I was momentarily so fixated on the text in front of me, I nearly missed her question. "No… we didn't. Not a lot of sunny days in Caburh." 

"Right," Aisling nodded. "With the vampires. Silly me." She went back to fiddling with her flower crown. "I heard it's going to get cold here soon. Hot summers, cold winters. Can you imagine that?" 

I was still only half listening. I had the casting diagrams for be still laid open in front of me. "You don't have that in Hyhill?" I asked. I wasn't trying to ignore her, but I also didn't want to show up unprepared for Blackclaw's remedial lesson. Already a week in and I'd managed to stick myself in remedial lessons. It would be a much smaller class and it didn't take a genius to guess who else would be there. I couldn't make this a habit. 

Aisling shrugged. "I hear it's different. But… we don't have to talk if you're busy. You look busy. And you're making that face."

"What face?" 

Aisling scowled and her eyebrows turned thicker and dark, more like my own, and twisted into a furrowed glare. On her it looked absurd. I laughed if only because I couldn't help it. And that made her laugh too. Her face morphed back to her usual features. 

"Sorry, it's not you. It's just something from Blackclaw's lessons. I somehow studied a spell from a chapter weeks ahead in the syllabus, instead of the spells for this week. I'm still trying to figure out how that happened." 

Somewhere in my mind's eye, I could see the toothy grin of a skeletal beast, and I knew why, or at least, I had my suspicions. 

"You know how it happened," Aisling said quickly. "That look! You remembered something." 

"You can't know that," I said.

"But I already do! Come on, what is it? What did you remember?" 

I shifted uneasily where my back rested against the lip of the fountain. "I don't know, it's kind of unbelievable." 

"Gah, would you stop with the doubting? I'm unbelievable. You're talking to a girl who was born in a different realm and can change her face at will! Just spit it out."

Aisling was still one of the only people at the Midnight Court that I'd actually liked. She was a friend and for that alone I felt I owed her something. An answer at least. 

"Have you ever heard of Orendell?" 

"Is that a place?" So, that was a no. 

"He's kind of a deity, I guess. I don't know really all that much about his pantheon. But anyway, I have this strange feeling that—" what was I meant to say? That a werewolf god made me study the wrong spell? It was a bridge too far. So I said something instead that felt more measured. "I get the feeling that he's laughing at me for ending up in Blackclaw's remedial lesson."

Aisling remained unphased. "Some deities have a strange sense of humor." 

She took her flower crown and tossed it onto my head. In one swift movement, I could tell she'd managed to get it over my horns. 

"Before you say anything, it was just my practice crown, I'm making one for myself next." 

There wasn't a way to say I really didn't want to show up to Blackclaw's lesson with flowers in my hair without sounding rude. Another part of me was touched that she'd taken the time to make a flower crown for me at all. Uncomfortable to have it on, uncomfortable to take it off. It's strange to say, but I think she knew this and found it amusing.

"I think the flowers soften you a bit. It's hard to say though. You always look so grumpy."

I cocked my head, felt a dozen little flowers jostle against my horns. "I'm not grumpy." 

"It's not a bad thing," she said. "Like now that I know you, I know it's not personal. You just are always kind of like that." 

I was still thinking about this on my way to Blackclaw's remedial lesson. No one at The Stag's Court would have called me grumpy. But also that was assuming anyone called me anything at all. I was a minor courtier who'd existed so much in the background there. It had been a place that fed on a looming sense of dread and fashionable ennui. I neither loved it nor hated it. At the end of the day, it was still home. 

I got the feeling that this was more a feature of the Stag's Court than all of Caburh. I don't think anyone would have called Aries grumpy, even if he also lived most of his life in a sunless nation. 

And speak of the devil, who else would have been there in Blackclaw's remedial lesson but him. It was somewhat of a relief that it wasn't just the two of us. When I arrived, Aries was already there in mid-conversation with another one of our classmates, Noodle. I got the feeling the golden-furred dogfolk boy didn't expressly dislike anyone, even if Aries was particularly annoying. 

Aries's eyes shot to me instantly. "Hey, Zeph! What are you doing here?" Again with the nickname. 

"Blackclaw told me that learning the wrong spell means I'm already behind." I kept my answer matter-of-fact. If there was an underlying tone of don't expect that I'll be back, it was only the truth.

"Well, that just means we've got all the Vodalysa boys in here today," Aries said, nudging me with his elbow in a way that was a little too chummy for my liking. 

"I don't think that's something Professor Marblebrook would want us bragging about," I said. I'd been here over a week and this was the first anyone had so much as mentioned my coven. At this point, it really didn't feel as though it would factor into my day to day at the Midnight Court, but for an indication of where my living quarters were. Noodle had a room with a roommate down the hall from me and Aries had his own suite just past there. I only knew this because despite the fact that my room was spacious and well-lit, it happened to be in an older part of the Court where all of the Vodalysa mages still had to use the same shared bathrooms. Needless to say, the first time I stepped out of the shower in only a towel and ran into Aries in a cotton robe, it wasn't exactly a pleasant surprise. 

"So, what's with the flowers in your hair?" Aries asked. He wasn't short exactly, but he did stand up on his toes to look at them. His blond head bobbed at the level of my eyes. "You get kidnapped by satyrs?"

"Just Aisling," I said. "Though she'd probably love to hear that you thought satyrs were behind it." 

"Oh." A shadow crossed over Aries's face. "Aisling. Is she like, your girlfriend or something?" 

"She's a friend," I said. It was the first time I'd ever admitted that out loud and that alone made it more real. Just saying it made me feel a little warm and soft. To my surprise, I really didn't hate it. 

"Well, I like the flowers," Noodle said. "They're pretty." 

"They'll probably fall out though when I duel against you," Aries said. 

I snorted. "I'd like to see you try." I hadn't intended on sounding mean, but looking back, it might have been.

Aries's hands moved to cast, but whatever he'd had planned, the magic never materialized and the spell fell flat. 

"We don't cast spells at each other outside of a duel, Mr. de la Fel," Blackclaw shouted. He'd only just arrived and was striding up to take his spot at the front of the room.

"That's only the case with spells meant to cause harm. I don't intend to cause harm so much as prove a point," Aries muttered. He'd kept his voice low enough Blackclaw wouldn't have heard. He was really only talking to me. 

"What spell was that even anyway?" I asked. "Your casting's so ham-fisted it's impossible to tell." 

Aries's eyes went wide. "Real bold coming from you. After all, we're both in remedial lessons." He quickly elbowed me in the gut, hard enough I felt myself lurch forward and steady myself against the desk. 

Now I know I should have let it go. But I couldn't. "You want to duel? Give me a time and place. We'll duel." I didn't even care that he was a shit mage. It didn't matter that he was the worst caster in our class. Maybe I also just wanted to prove a point. 

His eyes only sharpened on me. Aries quickly returned to casting though it was still more of the same - no magic. 

This time Blackclaw stepped in. "Focus on the shape of your hands…" It didn't even really matter where he'd intended on casting the spell. He had the magical know-how of a hamster. 

I realized quickly this wasn't a structured class but a supervised casting practice. Noodle was also working on casting something - maybe shield? It was still hard to tell. 

At least this I could do. I'd managed to teach myself conjured frost. Be still in comparison was easy. The gesture was only a little more complicated than shield. It could be cast fairly quickly and seemed effective. I'd originally assumed be still was the spell Blackclaw had cast on me earlier. I could still vividly recall the taut feeling of the magic around my muscles, how it forced me still. But no, that couldn't have been it. On closer review, while this spell was certainly similar, it seemed considerably less restrictive. Be still when cast upon an individual forced them into a complete freeze for the span of three heartbeats. A person under stress might not even notice the freeze - their heartbeat fast enough that it would only slow them down. A footnote on the spell suggested most people who have it cast upon them are never even aware of it. It wasn't the same frozen state Blackclaw had confined me in. It was significantly more temporary. 

I wove my hands through the textbook's detailed choreography. Magic shot up through my fingertips. I didn't have to have a target to know this was going to work. But there was no good reason for me to be in remedial lessons. I could do this. 

When Blackclaw finished guiding Aries through his casting, he came to me next. 

"Did you pick a spell from this week in the syllabus?" he asked. 

"Be still," I said. I quickly worked my way through the casting gesture. The magic came quickly. I hadn't needed days of practice for this one. If anything, looking back, the amount of time I'd needed to get conjured frost under my belt should have been sign enough I'd been missing something. While this spell was harder than shield, it was a challenge by a half-step, not a mile. 

"Good, good," Blackclaw muttered. "You're caught up. Now for next time, stick to the syllabus."

"I plan to," I said. He was harsher than he needed to be. Blackclaw truly looked as though he didn't want to be there. 

"Because after next week, I stop offering remedial lessons. Anyone too far behind is pulled from the class and won't have another shot until next term." I had to have expected that much. He was still going to be a jerk in the moments he could. "You're dismissed, Ashbourne." 

Blackclaw's dismissal was its own relief. I wasn't inadequate or behind the rest of the class. I might not have been ahead exactly, but I was doing what was expected. I was acting as a mage. That was all I needed to be to ensure I had a place here, and as of now, I really didn't have a contingency plan for if that was no longer possible. To some extent, I didn't think this was a real possibility I needed to consider just yet, given Aries and Noodle still struggled to cast even the most basic of spells. Outside of combat class, I gathered, they weren't the only ones. It wasn't easy for all mages at first to access magic. Very few were born with the ability. Many relied on magical artifacts to tap into magic at all. And then, there were the odd ones out, like me, neither born with magic, nor requiring an artifact. My magic was tied entirely to Orendell's wicked brand. The mark in my bicep was what made me a mage and I'd continue to be one as long as he saw fit. I tried not to overthink the stipulations attached to our bargain. It didn't matter. I was here now.

I was just packing up my things to leave Blackclaw's remedial lesson when Aries managed to fire off a quick spell in my direction. His aim had been off, so whatever it was only fizzled into nothing on the classroom's hardwood floor in front of me. 

"What was that even meant to be? Don't tell me silence, because I don't think it worked." 

Aries grit his teeth and groaned. It had to be so terribly frustrating to be this bad at magic. If I was having a laugh about it, it was only because I'd earned it. "You're just leaving? Just like that?!"

I had set my hand on the door handle. "Dismissed for the rest of the lesson. I'm all caught up."

"But you were hardly even here!" 

And wasn't that delightful? "What can I say? It wasn't that hard for me to get back up to speed." It was true after all. 

I saw him start to cast something again, but halfway through he gave up and rushed over to me. I flexed my core, half expecting him to hit me, but instead Aries only reached up and ripped the flower crown from my horns. 

"Would you at least take this off? It doesn't suit you." 

The flower crown was already crumbling to pieces in his hands. He didn't resist when I took it from him and stormed off. 

It didn't suit me? The hell? That really wasn't his to decide. 

I later tried my best to piece it back together before meeting Aisling for dinner that night, but the flower crown only fell more to pieces the more I'd tried. If she was going to ask about it, I'd blame Aries, because of course I would. It was his fault. But then, come dinner, I met with her sans flower crown, and she didn't even mention it. And that was worse.