Robin panted, feeling the skin underneath her fingers become sweaty, and she bit her lip in further concentration.
And the look of expectation on Alice's face was getting on her last nerve.
"Why isn't this working," Robin shouted, releasing her frustration with a slam of her hands to the floor.
Alice sat crossed-legged across from her, a pot of soil placed between them.
"You need to stop trying so hard," Alice advised nonchalantly.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Were you trying when you broke through your mother's barrier?"
Robin leaned back, supporting herself with her hands as she took a break to think about Alice's question.
"Not really. I just thought of leaving."
"What about when you got to the roof?"
"That was just a thought too. I was curious."
"See? Magic isn't something you overthink about. Let's take a break, we've been at this for hours."
When Alice's words registered, Robin looked outside the window and could see the sun moved significantly across the sky since they first sat on the floor. Alice got to her feet, offering a hand to help Robin up, and the apprentice followed suit.
"Would you like some tea?" offered Alice.
"You sure drink a lot of the stuff," Robin teased.
Alice walked over to the cupboard on the wall and opened its doors to reveal shelves and shelves of tiny pots, containing what Robin could only assume to be tea herbs.
"It's easy to preserve when you have limited access," Alice explained.
While Alice prepared their beverages, Robin took a moment to gaze around the small room and noticed just how little Alice possessed. Much of it basic necessities, with a few choice things for entertainment, but nothing she seemed to truly value above the rest.
"Where's the painting you were working on?" Robin asked.
"I burned it."
Robin's eyes grew wide at Alice's casual dismissal of the artwork.
"It wasn't very good, and it just made me think about the argument I had with Mother Gothel," Alice explained.
"I thought it was good," offered Robin, despite the lateness of the compliment.
Alice smiled in thanks, offering the cup of tea. She gestured to the window and Robin followed her to the sill. When Alice took a seat, Robin did the same and let her legs hang off the side while Alice sat cross-legged.
"You must get tired of this view."
"You'd be surprised. You can have a lot of different views, just staying put. Look over there," Alice pointed out a set of clouds, "What do you see?"
"I see… two ships," Robin answered, seeing the outline of the boat and sails in her mind's eye.
"Now what about way down there?"
Robin could see the tiny head of a gopher just popping up from under the ground.
"A gopher playing peek-a-boo."
"And in that tree, far over there."
This time, Robin could see nothing but greenery.
"Uh, leaves?"
"Look closer," Alice instructed, putting down her teacup and pointing directly into the tree.
Robing leaned closer, trying to pinpoint the end of Alice's finger, when she saw them. There, within the top of the tree flew two songbirds. They would come together before they flew apart, moving in swift circles.
"Two competitors fighting over food, or territory."
"Are you daft? They're obviously dancing. It's a courtship."
The laugh exploded from Robin before she could help it. Her stomach tightened and her lips started to hurt from smiling so wide. Only the perplexed look on Alice's face got her to try and stop.
"You have a funny way of looking at the world, don't you, Tower Girl," Robin noted.
Alice's brows creased at the observation.
"Don't worry, you'll get to see more of it. I did make a promise," Robin reminded her, shifting her leg to bump Alice's knee.
The action caused Alice to bump her teacup and the two women watched as it descended from the tower.
"I'm so sorry," Robin started but Alice shook her head.
"I'll just get another one in town. Maybe even today before the market closes," Alice hedged.
The look of complete confidence on Alice's face made the tightening in Robin's stomach worse, and she wondered if she enjoyed the feeling or should be terrified of it.
Thousands of feet below them, Alice's cup swung loosely from the momentum of its fall, its handle hanging upon a newly sprung sapling.