"So Iris... how far did you get in the spellbook?" Kenneth asks me before he bites the unidentified piece of meat off of his fork.
We are seated at the same table in the living room where I was studying earlier. Kenneth is seated at one end of the table, me at the other. The table has been cleared of everything but our dinner meals, making the wooden surface between us appear barren and long.
"I am most of the way through the the third chapter," I respond.
I rest my elbow upon my chair's arm and my chin upon my hand, tired from the long day spent traveling and then studying. The chunk of meat on my plate is an odd color. It is some shade of light brown, but more yellow than the meat that I am used to eating at home. There are unsightly black patches in places where the meat appears to have been cooked too much. I am hesitant to take the first bite. It probably tastes even worse than it looks. I won't even dare wonder what the fibrous green mush next to it tastes like.
"Did you finish the part about magic safety yet?" Kenneth's words are slurred by the food in his mouth.
"I did."
"Fine, then. Recite the principles of safe beginner's spellcasting." Kenneth cuts another piece of meat onto his fork and lifts it to his mouth.
"Well, I remember one rule was to always get permission from an instructor before reciting a spell for the first time. And then there was -"
"Wrong." Kenneth cuts me off. "You must get permission every time you recite a spell. It doesn't matter if you have recited the spell before. It's still dangerous. Do you understand?"
"Yes." I nod.
"Just to be clear, who is the instructor whom you must ask permission from?"
"That instructor would be you," I reply.
"Good. What is the next rule?"
"The next rule is to never skip words when reciting spells," I recall aloud.
"That is correct," Kenneth replies as he chews. "If you do not recite the spell in its entirety, you will drain your mana but the spell will fail... if you're lucky. What is another rule?"
"The next rule was... hmm..." Before I can say it aloud, the rule barely escapes from my mind. I switch my focus to trying to remember the other rule. "I know one rule involved keeping track of... something to do with my energy."
Kenneth shakes his head. "No, Iris. Not just any energy: your mana pool. You are supposed to keep track of your mana pool. Early on, you will not be able to sense the mana itself, but you will be able to tell when your mana pool is completely drained. Do you remember how to tell?"
"I think the spell is supposed to pull on me somehow... painfully," I reply.
"That's right. When your mana pool is drained, any spell you cast will begin to draw from your own vital energy, and you will begin to feel pain. Now, suppose you're reciting a spell and you begin to feel pain. What do you do?"
"I stop the spell after I finish the sentence I am on," I reply.
"Right. You must finish the sentence to mitigate how much energy is drained, and then stop immediately. Never force a spell. If you feel pain, that's your body warning you that you are exerting yourself beyond your limits." Kenneth crosses his arms and leans back into his chair. "It doesn't matter where the pain is; the pain could start anywhere, even in the very tip of your pinky toe for all we know. It doesn't matter how small or seemingly insignificant the pain may be. By the time the pain starts to spread, it may already be too late. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. What is the last rule?"
"I can't remember..." I admit.
Kenneth's arms remain crossed. His brown eyes raise to meet my gaze.
"Unacceptable," He scorns. "You can't go on without knowing all of these safety rules by heart, and even then that wouldn't be enough. Every word in that book is worth its weight in gold. Unless you memorize that spellbook from cover to cover, you are going to be at a terrible disadvantage when we move on to the next spellbook. Do you understand this, Iris?"
I nod reluctantly. I am beginning to realize that Kenneth is a far stricter teacher than I had anticipated... and I am not sure I like that. Besides, it seems pointless to memorize an entire textbook just to learn the material. It reeks of the rote memorization exercises my schoolteacher Miss Fireheart used to give me.
"Keep in mind, you can't rush through the book just to memorize the words, either. You have to understand what you are reading, and not only that... you must read quickly."
Kenneth turns his head to the side. His brows clench slightly as if troubled by a distant thought, and then he forces his eyes shut. When he opens his eyes, his face is calm once more.
"Consider it a test," Kenneth continues. "You have three weeks to memorize every line, cast every spell, and prove that you understand all that you've learned. Succeed, and your training continues as normal. Fail, and your apprenticeship is over."
My jaw drops. Suddenly, the certain promise that I would become a powerful mage is replaced with just a possibility. What a nightmare it would be to learn the secrets of the energy of nature, to learn how to control it, to learn how to fulfill my dreams and become a beloved hero in the world... only to have it all taken away from me. A dream forever, relegated to story books! And to think Kenneth is the one pulling this ultimatum card on me? It is simply cruel!
"Why can't you just teach me like you said you would?" I protest. "Why must I pass some stupid rote memorization test?"
"If you think that my instruction is stupid, then I can bring you home tomorrow."
"No!" I plead.
"Then listen to me closely," Kenneth snaps. "In a little over a month, I will be attending my own graduation ceremony at the Bellsound School of Wind Magic. You will be coming with me. I have arranged a meeting after my graduation with my advisor, Grand-Mage Harris, to discuss the paperwork which would authorize me as an external instructor. In a nutshell, the paperwork would make our apprenticeship official. However, I first need to prove that the instruction I give you meets or exceeds the quality of instruction available at Bellsound. Otherwise, there's no way Grand-Mage Harris would authorize our apprenticeship, and I will have no choice but to bring you back home. This is the only chance you have to learn magic. Bellsound does not accept students as young as you, and even if they were to make an exception, they would still need permission from your parents, and your parents would never allow it."
I hang my head, feeling a little guilty. I should have known Kenneth was never like Miss Fireheart. He had good reasons behind his plans for my instruction, but I refused to have faith in him because I assumed he was just as dense as any other adult. But Kenneth is no ordinary man; he is a mage. I can only expect to achieve his abilities in magic if I listen to what he says.
"Now do you understand?" Kenneth asks.
I nod, this time in earnest.
"Aren't you going to eat your dinner? You aren't going to study well tomorrow if you sleep on an empty stomach."
"Oh, sorry," I apologize. Driven with new obedience, I pick up my fork and knife and cut into the meat.
