It breaks my heart not to get ANY reviews, despite having about 100 hits.
"Rustyn" Sand shook her shoulder delicately "Rustyn!"
She slowly opened her eyes.
"I suppose you don't want to sleep at the desk, right?" he asked, smiling.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, master!" she raised her head from the pages of the thick book "I suppose I wasn't paying enough attention and…"
"Come on, Rustyn" he leant down and kissed her hair "you're the most attentive student in the world. Now, you can sleep in my bed, I'll just lay on the couch."
Rustyn nodded and walked to a door, but Sand stopped her.
"No, don't enter here… I… um… keep my experiments in this room! My room is over there!"
She apologized and turned away, Sand sighed in relief. He didn't want her to see what he was making in the "secret room".
It's been two months since he took Rustyn as his apprentice, and sometimes she was even allowed to stay at his home for the night, so neither of them would have to walk the dark, cold streets of Darromar at night. The little girl fell quickly asleep, then Jaral jumped on the bed and curled up at her feet.
Sand loved her, originally just as a clever girl, by then a talented apprentice, and in the end as his own child. She was the daughter he'd always wished to have, especially since an incredible event took place.
Rustyn managed to scribe a few scrolls of Light, which was amazing enough on its own for a nine-year-old, but what she did when Sand gave her a few coins of the income he got by selling them was truly beyond belief.
"Go get yourself some candy" he said.
"Thank you, master! But… maybe… no, I think I'll get something else."
"Why, you don't like candy?" he was pretty sure even elf children loved it.
They walked past both the candy shop and the clothes shop. Sand thought Rustyn was heading towards the jeweller's, when she suddenly took a turn to the left, and entered the bookshop.
"Good afternoon!" she smiled at the shopkeeper "remember the book I read here? Now I can finally buy it!"
"Oh, thank the heavens" the middle-aged man grunted "here!"
"Thank you!"
Rustyn exited with one of the thickest books Sand has ever seen, but didn't seem weighted down too much.
"I casted Bull's Strength" she told him "and last time I sat here for an hour reading this, as it isn't in the library, but now I could finally buy it! Books are my candy!"
Sand dropped his bag, feeling dizzy. But what Rustyn said next nearly made him faint.
"Amin mela lle, turaamin."
She carelessly began looking through the pages.
"You know, I learned this last time when I first read this Basic Elven Dictionary, um, not sure if what I said is correct or the book is reliable, but I wanted so badly to tell you and… master…?"
She was more than a promising, talented apprentice, or a wannabe wizard with great prospectives.
"The greatest wizard of all time…" whispered Sand, as he picked flowers in the garden of Crossroad Keep, before dawnbreak, of course, so nobody would see him. If anyone did, he'd say he needed them for potions; he kept this answers ready also during his time in his shop at the Docks, just in case people would inquire about the ones he grew outside. The Hosttower mages couldn't be fooled this easily, though, and they just wouldn't mind their own business when he magically grew the plants and picked their blossoms; they seemed quite pleased, though, when he innocently said they were meant to be offerings to Umberlee.
The deity he hated the most.
But during his days with his beloved little Rustyn, this didn't matter. Yes, she loved flowers, but which little girl doesn't? Sand completely forgot about the Hosttower mages, by then, he just wanted to settle in Darromar. Not that he had given up on his dreams on pursuing knowledge, of course: he was just sure he didn't want to do it alone. Ever since Rustyn began to form simple sentences in Elvish, he knew why fate took him to Tethyr to teach a class of incompetent fools: to find the place where the key of his happiness lay. Before, he never gave too much thought about settling down, marrying or having children. But when he had Rustyn by his side, it was as if the pieces were falling into place. Their destinies were intertwined.
He didn't know that Rustyn was the reason why another one he knew later became the greatest wizard of Darromar. The two of them undoubtedly had their fun moments, though. Like one day, when Sand noticed Xavier giggling over a piece of paper that obviously wasn't a scroll, while Rustyn looked in front of herself quite annoyed, arms crossed.
"Give me that!" he pointed.
Rustyn paled and Xavier blushed, but in the end, they complied.
"Oh, kids…!" Sand shook his head, then burned the letter, not to let the others laugh too much at them, for the letter read:
Dear Rustyn,
when will you marry me?
Dear Xavier,
in your dreams!
After the lesson, Xavier whistled carelessly, one hand holding Rustyn's while blowing rainbow-coloured bubbles by snapping the fingers of the other.
"I'm pretty sure the Lantanese gnomes make better bubble-blower machines!" she smiled slightly.
"Oh, but no one blows them for you!" he laughed and snapped his fingers again, this time blowing a huge read heart-shaped bubble "I'll make even bigger and better ones at our wedding, which…"
"…will never happen!" Rustyn rolled her eyes, but let him hold her hand nonetheless.
"Oh, but sure it will!" he suddenly hugged her "and we'll make lots of cuuuuuute half-elf children!"
"Shut up!" Rustyn wiggled free.
Sand watched them smiling; they were simply too adorable, bickering, making up and giggling like a real little couple. He wouldn't dare to shatter Xavier's dreams by telling him that he would probably be a decrepit old man by the time Rustyn even reaches maturity.
"Xavier, lle naa amada!"
"Oooh, did that mean Xavier, I love you?"
"Rustyn, come along!" Sand took her hand "sorry, you'll continue planning your wedding tomorrow!"
"Master…!"
"Sure thing!" Xavier waved "we'll have white doves released!"
"I totally don't wanna marry him…" muttered Rustyn as they walked home.
"Not for a single moment I thought you did" smiled Sand.
"But he's funny!" she looked up at him.
It was about a week later that the two strange happenings took place, shortly after the headmaster of the Wizard's Academy made the announcement that a portal was set up with the help of some graduated, and, by then, accomplished wizards, leading to Myratma, the port-city of Tethyr. Travellers wouldn't have to walk long ways if they wanted to embark on a ship or see other places.
"One day I'd love to see some distant lands" upon hearing the news, Rustyn raised her head from the actual book she was reading after class, as she waited for Sand.
"I'm sure one day you will, but you'll need some company" smiled her teacher, exiting the classroom.
"I'll go!" Xavier began waving his arms like a monkey.
Rustyn looked at him… and suddenly a ray of frost hit him.
"Aaah, cold!" he ran off to find a fireplace.
"What… what was that?" Sand looked at his apprentice stunned.
"Ray of Frost… I guess I managed to cast it silently or something" she leant over the pages again, not minding too much.
"So, uh, anyway" Sand shook off the strange feeling "by company I meant that I had a surprise for you."
"Really?" her sunset eyes lit up as she closed the tome "show me!"
The sky was graying as they walked home, where Jaral greeted them by purring and running up to them.
"No, it's not you" Sand told the kitten "it's her."
Rustyn screamed in excitement upon seeing the tiny black and white bunny in the cage.
"Oh, master, thank you, thank you, diola lle! Can I hold her? Can I?"
"Of course."
Rustyn instantly freed the small animal and held her up.
"So cute!"
"You should think of a name."
"Um…" she wondered for a moment… no… too simple… ah! I got it! Falmarin!"
"Nymph?" asked Sand.
"Yes! There's this book which says nymphs can turn into various animals… what if she's one too?" she laughed.
Sand picked up Jaral, as he seemed jealous.
"I already love you, Falma… whoa!" Rustyn stopped as the first lightning struck and heavy rain hit the windows.
"Let's keep it Falmarin" said Sand.
"Sure… who would name a bunny wave?" she said as she sat down beside him.
The second, much more disturbing event happened a few days later. After class, Sand allowed a few of his most talented students – there were a few apart from his little wonder and Xavier – to train in a couple of empty classrooms. No dangerous spells, though: mostly scribing scrolls, brewing basic potions and trying out weaker spells. Xavier, of course, immediately took Rustyn's hand and declared loudly that they would train together; she didn't seem to mind, so Sand let them. He was confident enough they wouldn't cause any damage or be particularly follish, so, after they closed the door, he began to check the pupils in all the others, in order. It took him quite a long time, as he once had to wake up a child, then heal one, then tell another one that he'd better not burn off the ceiling, not to mention repairing the various broken items or ill-written scrolls.
Finally, he went to check on Rustyn and Xavier when he heard screaming from beyond the door.
"Help me, Xavier! Help!"
"Rustyn, how did you do that? Help! Somebody!"
"It wasn't me! I don't know! Help!"
Sand noticed with horror water seeping from under the door.
"Xavier, open the door! Open the door!" screamed Rustyn.
"I can't reach the latch, it's submerged!"
Water sprayed from the keyhole and some cracks on the door too by then.
"Knock!" thank goodness, Sand's spell worked.
The door opened and icy cold water splashed out, nearly flooding the entire corridor and knocking Sand over.
Rustyn and Xavier, scared and shaking, held on to each other.
"What happened in there?" asked Sand, as he helped up the two soaking wet children.
Rustyn looked at him completely lost, while Xavier couldn't say a word either.
"Did one of you use Ice Storm and the other melted it?"
The two children stayed silent.
"I see… wild magic, it happens… Rustyn, come along…"
He said wild magic just to somewhat calm them down, but he began to feel it was something much more complicated, especially when he licked his lips. The water was salty.
Hail storm. Crumbling ice death.
He had to find out what was going on.
Sand finished picking the flowers, and arranged them in a pretty bouquet. He couldn't cry any more.