Chapter Four

Just as the light of dawn began to peep over the horizon, I awoke by my internal measure of time, chirping as the birds do to greet the sun. I quickly raced to get dressed and find some bindings to erase all evidence of my femininity, meager though it is. I was fully prepared by the time the Commanders fist hit my door and I opened it before his fist could land twice. For my troubles I nearly received a fist to the face before he pulled back and whispered with a startled tone "Your ready all ready? I see I'm going to have to be on my toes to take you by surprise, well since I didn't expect you to be awake yet so I really have nothing for us to do for another half hour… Why don't we go to the front yard so that I can test your skills? After that we will come back inside and eat breakfast."

I was afraid I'd wake someone so I said nothing, just nodded and gestured for him to lead the way. Once we reached the courtyard he ordered me to run its boundaries fifty times, or until I could go no more. This task I found surprisingly easy and completed all fifty of the half-mile circle in no time, running through the city on a regular basis was good for me it seemed. He followed this with sets of fifty push-ups and sit-ups each, and then set me through several sword routines. I finished the sets no problem, and then discovered that I really had no idea what a basic sword routine consisted of, and was forced to admit defeat. The Commander was shocked then laughed with relief, "I had thought there was nothin' you couldn' do Lad! I'm grateful to see that you really are a normal person, not some sort of all knowing being." I just stared at him in confusion until he stopped laughing and began to show me all of the routines he expected me to learn, telling me that I had better memorize them, because he wasn't going to show me again.

I took him for his word and had them memorize the next day; unfortunately it took me a good week to get through all of them reasonably well. And so my days began to pass: mornings were exercises then we broke out fast; before lunch we would go on rounds, mostly these were just inspecting the troops and guards training, Commander Kato was always certain to have me participate in the archery practice; during lunch we would review paperwork and most of the afternoon he had me learning my numbers and writing reports for him to work on my penmanship; we would attend dinner and then finish the day with another set of practice, this time hand to hand. We continued on this pattern for just over two moons. Then I met someone who would add more work into my day, but who would also broaden my horizons farther than I had thought they would ever go.

I stretched and sat down next to Kato, I had already started eating when someone cleared their throat and I looked up. Sitting across from Kato was an elderly looking man staring straight at me. 'Great' I thought grumpily 'some old geezer who was either offended that I started eating before him or who is some sort of creeper. What's 'e want?' I glared at him and waited for him to say something.

"You'll have to forgive young Mint; I kept him up late with training last night," Kato said, nudging me to be polite. I wiped the glare off my face but didn't say anything.

"Young… Mint, is it?" at my nod the old man continued. "Well, Mint, my name is Albert, and I am the castles resident Mage. Tell me young one, have you ever considered learning magic?" I promptly dropped the spoonful of soup I had been bringing towards my mouth and gaped at him. Magic? Me? I nearly scoffed at the very idea then shook my head as I recovered myself. "Well Lad, you have it running through you very strongly, would you consider learning at least?" He queried with a hopeful look on his face.

As I opened my mouth to tell him that I was already an apprentice, Kato quickly said, "Of course he will, won't you Lad? It will be a perfect complement to the skills that I am teaching him, what do you say I'll give him over to you… afternoons I think." He never even gave me a chance to answer and before I knew it, I was being dragged off by Albert.

We went down several hallways and up more flight of stairs then I had known existed. Finally, fed up, I had to say something "Sir, if I may ask… Where are we going? And I can walk on my own you know…" He looked startled and I realized that he had forgotten that he still had my hand.

"Of course, of course child, it should be right around this corner. Now when we get there I'd like to do a more thorough test of your magic to see what type you shall be learning. Oh this is so exciting! It has been ages since I've seen someone with a connection to magic so strong! Ah here we are now, sit there and I will be back in a moment"

'Oh boy, is this guy 10 or what? He has more energy then Birdy does...' I thought in exasperation as I waited for him to return. He came back with a mirror, a strange shiny whitish blue colored stone, a twig and a bird with a dislocated wing.
"Now child this stone," he said while pointing, "is an opal, a stone that is highly useful to mages. It will act as a magnifier to force a magical reaction from you. Good now take it in your hand and study it, then tell me what it makes you feel." I did as he asked and picked the opal up and studied the way the light reflected off of it after a moment looked more deeply too study the lines that made their way through it. As I did so a strange warmth began to flood through me.

"It's as if I am being welcomed home, or how I imagine being welcomed home would feel. It seems to ask where I've been all this time. It's practically vibrating with excitement." I looked wonderingly at him. "Does magic always feel like this?" I asked.

"When you use it properly it will always feel like this, but the moment you try to overextend yourself it will turn fiery," he said seriously. "Now look into the mirror please, and tell me what you see."

I nodded, as a thief I had learned that all good things could become bad. I turned my focus to the mirror and wondered what exactly he wanted. "I see myself hmm, I guess my eyes are glowing a little, they seem almost purple how odd…" I looked up at him, and shrugged as if to say sorry.

The odd man smiled and said perkily, "Not divination then hmm? Well pick up the twig next, no need to say anything this time." Once again I did as he bid. This time though, when I picked up the twig, it started to sprout leaves.

"What the heck!?" I shouted as I hurriedly dropped it. The old man just laughed with delight.

"Nature it is! Excellent, excellent! Now, let your magic lead you in your action towards the bird."

'What a strange man,' I thought, 'he acts as though my magic had a life of its own… oh well' I looked at the bird and decided to try closing my eyes. Opal firmly in hand I shut my eyes, a strange purple light moved my hand to touch the bird and just as I was about to touch her I was engulfed by purple flame. Startled I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with the bird, which had grown to my size.

"What?!" I squawked then attempted to clap my hands to my mouth only to find that I could not and that they were if fact wings. Just as I began to enter full panic mode the mage jerked the stone out from under me and surrounded me with a blue flame that seemed to some from his skin. Slowly I regained my human form and as soon as I could I began to ask questions "What just happened? Was I really a bird? Was that supposed to happen?" I would have continued but Albert held his hand up to silence me.

"Yes, that was supposed to happen and yes, you were just a bird. Now would you like to hear what type of magic you shall be learning?" I nodded rapidly. "Very well you are what is known as a Nature Mage. Once you are fully trained, you will be able to grow plants at will, speak with animals as well transform into them, who knows you may even be able to hide your gender…"

'That look in his eye spells disaster, I know it! Wait, what if he knows? Well, think Mitsu, he hasn't told anyone yet, or they would be here already. Maybe he will keep it a secret? Best not to mention it.' Frenzied thoughts raced through my mind.

Once I had reached my decision I opened my mouth, "What happens now then?" I asked.

"You, my dear, are now both my pupil and Commander Kato's. However since your magic is untrained, I am going to request that your quarters are moved to the cottage out back, so that any outbursts you have will not harm anyone. After all, untrained magic is quite unpredictable." And that was that, he sent me to my quarters just in time to eat and train and after that I began the most intense training regiment of my life.