52. Under the Apple Tree- Takeharu Ishimoto
Mana had always liked apples. Even though it was unseemly, she learned to climb trees just so she could get them without asking for help. Until the day she died, the image of Atem reaching for one juicy apple and Mahaad being bitten by a snake would live with her. She promised herself that day: she would never need to rely on others for something she wanted. She would learn to cope by herself so nobody would ever get hurt over something so silly and small. Dying was too momentous for it to be wasted on fruit.
"You shouldn't be doing that." The voice came from below her.
"I know." Mana swung her legs around to straddle the thickest branch. From there it was simple enough to reach up and pluck a particularly nice apple. However, instead of biting into it she threw it down without looking where she was aiming. She heard the thunk of it hitting a dry palm, and the crunch of teeth breaking its skin, and she reached for another. "You shouldn't be enjoying my ill-gotten gains."
"I know." Another crunch.
She munched in companionable silence for a while. It was pretty much the only time she could manage any kind of silence, actually. Mahaad was always telling her she talked too much during their magic lessons, but she replied that he always wanted to teach her a selection of impressive but complicated spells when she was more interested in finding out how to do the wide range of simple magics.
"You are going to be a court magician someday," he would say stiffly. "That 'complicated stuff' will be your livelihood, and you will only know how to do them in part."
"So maybe I'll give up courtly life and, I dunno, go work on a fruit farm or something."
And Mahaad would always shake his head, sigh and mutter, "I don't know why I even bother with you."
"Because I'm cute, and Atem thinks I'm fun, and you can't say no to me."
She sat astride her tree branch now, stared up at the sky and flicked her apple core away.
"Some might say it's a bad idea to throw your food leavings into the hair of royalty."
She grinned, still not looking own at the person standing under her. "And some might say it's a good idea for royalty to remember how to do simple stuff like catch one measly apple core before it hits him."
