"These horses have been trained to do many special stunts. Nike- up!" Kat
cried, while squeezing her legs into her horse. Nike obeyed, lifting
himself onto his hind hooves, his front hooves flailing in front of him.
Alder involuntarily took a step backwards, leading Kaila on a lead rope.
"Forward!" Kat commanded, and Nike hopped forward on his hind legs. Alder
laughed; it was a funny sight. Though I am sure if I was in front of a
horse doing that I'd be absolutely terrified of having my head bashed in!
Alder shuddered.
"This trick is usually used on the battle scene. This can be used to defend yourself if you don't have any weapons handy," Kat said calmly. Alder envied her, to stay so calm while balanced atop a rearing horse. That would take a lot of talent! "I have also trained these horses to guard things if command it. Down, Nike." Nike gently plopped down onto all four hooves. "We'll learn this once you and your horse are comfortable together and she responds well to her name. And once I am assured that you can stay ahorse under normal circumstances. So, mount up again, and take a trot around the field," she said, and patted Nike's neck.
Alder mounted Kai and adjusted herself to the new tack. She took the reins in her hand and squeezed her knees. Kai started at a walk, and another squeeze quickened her pace to a trot. Kai's pace was perfect, and not at all bumpy like all the other horses she had ridden. She and Kaila trotted around the field, and came to a walking halt in front of Keren, who had been observing her.
"Good posture and seating, but you have to work on your control of Kai. You have to lead her where you want to go, not what she is used to. I want to see you running your own course, don't let her control you. She is a steady horse, and won't throw you!" she said, and Alder nudged Kai into a trot again. This time, she pulled on the reins to turn every once in awhile. Kai, at first, wouldn't respond. Kat was right, you did have to show the horse who was boss. Kaila was testing her. She led Kai back to where Kat stood. "Good. We don't want to push the control on Kai, though. Why don't you have her follow Avery's Casey for awhile. She'll show you the paths. I have to get back to my office. It has been nice meeting you, Alder. Let's continue lessons same time tomorrow." At that, Kat turned Nike and trotted back to the stables. Avery came to join Alder. "D'you wanna see the waterfall and hot springs? They're really pretty," Avery offered. "Okay then. Let's go!"
The waterfall was one of the biggest that Alder had ever seen. At the place where it all pooled together, it branched off in several directions. Alder followed a couple of the streams, to find that each one led to variously heated pools. "We didn't have anything like this in Callista. How were these created?" Alder inquired.
"Magic. Specifically Mage-Gift," Avery said, while petting Casey.
"Will I ever be able to do that?" Alder asked.
"Yes, definitely. In time, once you learn good control and basic techniques."
"That is so cool. I never imagined magic making stuff like this," Alder said, and felt the water in the pool nearest her. "This feels so good. If we didn't have our horses it would be nice to go in," Alder sighed, and got up.
"We might as well go to the stables and groom our horses. Then we can go back to the suite, or wherever you want to go," she said, looking oddly relieved.
The next day, Damon found Alder by the fireplace. "Good morning! Today you get your first Magic lesson with Syris. He is one of the rare few with the fire-starting Gift. Syris has most of the Mind-Magic gifts- but he doesn't have any Mage-Talent. Syris will teach you Mind-Magic, and Keren will teach you Mage-Gift. Then Kat is going to give you lessons in riding. You have quite a busy schedule. A candlemark after breakfast you come with me to Syris, then to Keren with Avery, then to Kat with both of us. Avery has some Mind-Magic, but only strong MindSpeech, small FarSight, and a small Fetching gift. She has already learned to the extent of her ability. So now she is focusing on Mage-Gift. Would you be ready to go to Syris in half a candlemark?" He asked.
"Definitely," Alder said, and went to her room to change. In half a candlemark, she and Damon were out the door and on their way to the Mage School. As they walked into the courtyard, a man sitting in the garden waved at them.
"Damon!" Damon and Alder jogged over to the man. "I suppose you are my newest student, Alder of Callista?" the tall man asked.
"Yes, and I suppose that would make you my new teacher, Syris?" Alder returned, surveying him. Syris was extremely tall and dark skinned, with broad muscular shoulders.
"That's me. Keren wasn't exaggerating. You DO have a lot of magical talent. It should be fun teaching you," he said genuinely. "Let's go inside." Damon and Alder followed him inside and down several hallways. "To practice magic, we go into the Practice Room. The shields in there can take anything short of an explosion big enough to ruin all of Brighton. No mage alone could do that, especially because we HAVE shields. Since we are using Mind- Magic, things are less likely to explode. The only things we really need shielded are your thoughts, and feelings if you are a projective Empath-and Fire-Starting. That is by far the most dangerous of the Mind-Gifts."
"Shield feelings?" Alder wondered aloud.
"In the Gift of Empathy, you project any certain feeling at another person. Or you could use Empathy to read emotions. In the beginning, you don't want your feelings to be projected to every sensitive Empath in Brighton, do you?"
"Not particularly," Alder muttered.
Alder and Damon followed Syris to the Practice Room. Syris held the door open and ushered them in. "Keren taught you shielding. Now I want to teach you how to use your abilities, not just to block them. Damon- can you go get Margot? I want you to practice projecting emotions and scenes together. You both need the practice," Syris said, and Damon let himself out of the practice room.
"Let's first start with Fire Starting. Without training, that is the most dangerous MindGift. This room can't go up in flames, so don't worry. Now, hold your palm face up," he said, and Alder complied. "Later on you won't need to do this. Physical gestures seem to help a lot of mages. You really don't require all the silly waving of hands to get a spell in place," he said, laughing. "Now, send yourself into a light trance and find your Channels," he said, and after a minute she grunted for him to continue his instructions.
"Find your Fire Starting magic. Now keep in mind: for your magic to work, you have to believe that it will work. If you don't believe you can do it, you won't. So, take a thread of your fire-magic, and imagine that you are forming a fire in the palm of your hand. Imagine that it isn't hot. That is always important!"
Alder searched her Channels for her Fire-Magic. She quickly found it, and coaxed a wisp of power out of the Channel. She imagined that in her hand she held a ball of fire. She put the wisp of magic into that thought, and opened her eyes. In the center of her palm burned a ball of ice-blue fire.
"Wow. Most of my students couldn't even get it in the first couple days of practice, much less on their first attempt. Good job! I am very much impressed. You also have the most unique fire-color that I have ever seen," Syris said, and held out his palm. Immediately a bright ball of crimson fire appeared. "With practice, you will be able to do it without much work, and it will come more quickly. Now extinguish your fire by taking out the thread of magic and funneling it through your center and back into the ground."
Alder followed these directions, and the fire dissipated. "You are a natural at this! Now I want you to call fire and then extinguish it again. Practice makes perfect." Alder proceeded to practice until she felt quite exhausted, and had an extreme reaction headache.
"Alder!" came Damon's voice, waking her from her trance. "You and Syris may not have heard it, but the noon bell rang. It's time for lunch," he said, and they bid farewell to Syris and went back to the Palace. Alder and Damon went back to their suite and Alder went to her room to change.
Alder came back into the common room to find Avery and Damon waiting for her at the table. "We had lunch brought up here. We didn't think you'd feel up to going down to the cafeteria," Avery commented. "How was your first lesson with Syris?"
"It went surprisingly well. He taught me the basics of Fire-Starting. He drilled me into the ground!"
"Could you actually make fire?" Damon asked incredulously.
"Yes." Alder said timidly. She put her palm out and called her ice-blue fire. After a moment, she extinguished it, and slumped back into her chair.
"Syris did drill you into the ground! You are exhausted. Eat," Avery commanded. "I'm not hungry," Alder said, and Avery sighed.
"I forgot," she mumbled. "You lose your appetite when you first start working with magic. You're going to have to eat anyways, if you don't want to collapse. I promise you, you will feel a lot better if you eat," she said.
Alder picked up a sandwich and took a bite. She felt part of her body repulse the food, but then a wave of energy washed over her, and the objection in her stomach died. She then ate as if she had been starved, and the new energy made her feel human again. "I don't feel as if I was a walking shadow anymore, but Keren is probably going to ruin that soon," Alder said, and laughed.
"That's what Keren is for!" Damon joked.
"Speaking of lessons with Keren, we had better go soon," Avery intoned, and excused herself from the table and left to her room.
A minute later, she came out, changed. "Let's go," Alder said, and went into the hallway. Avery soon followed. "Keren likes to work in a practice room in the Palace, right?"
"Yeah- its near the basement, though. It is out of the way of the Court dining room," she said, as they reached a flight of stairs. Two staircases later they arrived in a dusty hallway. "Not too many people come down here," Avery said, after noticing the direction of Alder's gaze.
"N-" Alder started, and sneezed. "Noticeably," she muttered thickly.
Halfway down the hallway was a door with a tarnished silver plaque that read "Practice Room". Avery held the door open for Alder, and followed her in. This room was completely devoid of dust, but it did have an air of disuse.
Two minutes later, Keren poked her head inside to see if they were there. She came in, saying, "Alder, Avery. First off: get your shields up. If I see that you have a weak spot in it, I might randomly strike with a Mage- bolt. Be forewarned!" Keren said mischievously.
:Second, I want to only talk in MindSpeech. You both need practice.: she Sent, and smiled. :Today I want to teach you to mesh shields. In the future you may work together, and this is a vital skill for multi-person magical workings. I won't attack while you are trying to mesh shields, so don't worry. Now- take your "mental hands" and hold them out to each other. Alder, I taught you Mage-Sight. Use it to see Avery's hand.:
Alder invoked her Mage-Sight. She could see Keren's presence watching them, and she soon saw the "mental hand" of who she guessed was Avery. She hadn't seen this presence before; Avery's was a glowing violet. She took her own mental hand and placed it in Avery's, and felt a strange sensation of warmth and the feeling that something was right. :Good.: came Keren's Mind- voice. :Now take your combined magics and mesh them together. Once you've done that, work together to make a shield.:
At the same time, Alder and Avery pushed their magic into one another, and tried to mix it. Experimentally, Alder sent a wave of congratulations at Avery through their link. Seconds later, Avery sent the wave back. In unison, they pulled their meshed magic and formed a dome of blue-violet fire around them. Avery linked their power into the ground as Alder smoothed out cracks in the shield. :How is that?: Avery Mind-Sent.
:Excellent. Good work.: Keren Sent, and they relaxed. Without realizing it, there was a fluctuation in the magic, and Keren took that moment to send a bolt of pure power at the crack. The shield's magic flew up and back down towards the ground, and reflected back up through Avery before they knew what had happened.
On an impulse, Alder seized the magic and grounded it, and then dissipated it the way that Syris had taught her. Alder was panting by the time she was done. Avery's eyes were opened wide with shock.
:I underestimated your combined force. I didn't realize that the reaction would be so. violent. I'm sorry. Good handling of the situation, Alder. Syris taught you that?: she asked, with overtones of stress in her Mind- voice.
:Yes. I learned basic Fire-Starting today and he taught me how to dissipate magic. I thought the theory could be applied to Mage Gift, too.: Alder said.
:Amazing. You really do keep your head in a new situation- which probably looked like a crisis. Avery, are you okay?: Keren Sent, and Alder looked towards Avery.
She had gone quite pale, and looked faint. Her forehead was creased in a frown. Her arm was bracing her against the wall, and her hand was trembling. "I-I-" she started, and her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted into Alder's arms.
"What happened?" Alder yelped.
"Magical backlash. She was sick recently, and was left quite weak. I think that just put her body in shock." Keren said, while helping Alder adjust Avery into a manageable position. "We need to get her back to the suite. She refused to take a Healer when she was sick, and I wasn't here to make her see one. So now I am bringing in a Healer to see her. But how can I get her back to the suite and get a Healer at the same time? I want the Healer to be there when we get there," she said, running her fingers nervously through her hair.
"I don't know where you'd get a Healer. She is light enough- I can carry her back."
"Up three flights of stairs? Wait, I could spell her to make her lighter."
"Will that make her condition worse?" Alder asked nervously.
"No. Once you reach the room, the spell will be gone." Keren closed her eyes and a minute later, Avery barely weighed anything. "Thank you so much. Let's go." Keren opened the door and held it open for Alder. Alder quickly picked Avery up as if she was holding a baby. She made sure her neck was supported, and then walked down the hallway with Keren. After they had hastily climbed the three sets of stairs, they parted on different paths. Avery couldn't have weighed more than 5 pounds. Her lips were faded, and her face was pale. Alder looked upon Avery's limp body, and began to worry. Why isn't she waking yet? What if she is really sick? Her thoughts were haunted all the way back to the suite.
Alder carried Avery into her room, and lay her down on the bed. She gently put her hand to Avery's forehead to find that she was burning up. Alder hadn't learned much about Healing at Callista, but she did know that when you had a fever, you sweated it out, and when you fainted, you were supposed to drink a lot of liquids. Alder went into the Common Room and set a pot of water to the fire to make tea. A dew minutes later, Keren and a Healer came into the Suite, and then to Avery's room. Alder paced the Common Room until the tea was done, and poured a cup. She knocked on the door to Avery's room.
"Come in," came the muffled reply.
"I made some tea for Avery," she said quietly. "How is she? When will she get better?" "She has not yet awaken. After checking her, it seems that she has not been sleeping well lately, and was previously weak due to sickness. Then I can detect that her mind is still in shock due to the magical backlash. Basically she is overworking herself and the magic attack put her over the top. The tea was a good idea. She does need rest. No lessons for a couple days. I am also giving her some herbal medicine that will help her sleep. She really just needs to take it easy. Bed rest for two days, at least. She'll be fine."
"She'll be fine," Keren repeated, at Alder's skeptical expression. "And if I am correct, you do have a riding lesson with Kat soon. I'd understand if you are too jittery, but staying here won't get anything done. Gary says that she won't wake until tonight." Keren said. Gary, apparently the Healer, nodded.
"I am staying here with Avery to work more Healings. Kat will be waiting for you." Gary said, and his eyes unfocused. "Amazing. You have Healing magic, too!"
"More lessons?" Alder groaned. "My schedule is busy enough as it is!" She exclaimed. "You don't need Healing lessons yet. In the future, I think you'll want them. When you do, find me." Gary said.
"You should go now, or else you will be late."
"This trick is usually used on the battle scene. This can be used to defend yourself if you don't have any weapons handy," Kat said calmly. Alder envied her, to stay so calm while balanced atop a rearing horse. That would take a lot of talent! "I have also trained these horses to guard things if command it. Down, Nike." Nike gently plopped down onto all four hooves. "We'll learn this once you and your horse are comfortable together and she responds well to her name. And once I am assured that you can stay ahorse under normal circumstances. So, mount up again, and take a trot around the field," she said, and patted Nike's neck.
Alder mounted Kai and adjusted herself to the new tack. She took the reins in her hand and squeezed her knees. Kai started at a walk, and another squeeze quickened her pace to a trot. Kai's pace was perfect, and not at all bumpy like all the other horses she had ridden. She and Kaila trotted around the field, and came to a walking halt in front of Keren, who had been observing her.
"Good posture and seating, but you have to work on your control of Kai. You have to lead her where you want to go, not what she is used to. I want to see you running your own course, don't let her control you. She is a steady horse, and won't throw you!" she said, and Alder nudged Kai into a trot again. This time, she pulled on the reins to turn every once in awhile. Kai, at first, wouldn't respond. Kat was right, you did have to show the horse who was boss. Kaila was testing her. She led Kai back to where Kat stood. "Good. We don't want to push the control on Kai, though. Why don't you have her follow Avery's Casey for awhile. She'll show you the paths. I have to get back to my office. It has been nice meeting you, Alder. Let's continue lessons same time tomorrow." At that, Kat turned Nike and trotted back to the stables. Avery came to join Alder. "D'you wanna see the waterfall and hot springs? They're really pretty," Avery offered. "Okay then. Let's go!"
The waterfall was one of the biggest that Alder had ever seen. At the place where it all pooled together, it branched off in several directions. Alder followed a couple of the streams, to find that each one led to variously heated pools. "We didn't have anything like this in Callista. How were these created?" Alder inquired.
"Magic. Specifically Mage-Gift," Avery said, while petting Casey.
"Will I ever be able to do that?" Alder asked.
"Yes, definitely. In time, once you learn good control and basic techniques."
"That is so cool. I never imagined magic making stuff like this," Alder said, and felt the water in the pool nearest her. "This feels so good. If we didn't have our horses it would be nice to go in," Alder sighed, and got up.
"We might as well go to the stables and groom our horses. Then we can go back to the suite, or wherever you want to go," she said, looking oddly relieved.
The next day, Damon found Alder by the fireplace. "Good morning! Today you get your first Magic lesson with Syris. He is one of the rare few with the fire-starting Gift. Syris has most of the Mind-Magic gifts- but he doesn't have any Mage-Talent. Syris will teach you Mind-Magic, and Keren will teach you Mage-Gift. Then Kat is going to give you lessons in riding. You have quite a busy schedule. A candlemark after breakfast you come with me to Syris, then to Keren with Avery, then to Kat with both of us. Avery has some Mind-Magic, but only strong MindSpeech, small FarSight, and a small Fetching gift. She has already learned to the extent of her ability. So now she is focusing on Mage-Gift. Would you be ready to go to Syris in half a candlemark?" He asked.
"Definitely," Alder said, and went to her room to change. In half a candlemark, she and Damon were out the door and on their way to the Mage School. As they walked into the courtyard, a man sitting in the garden waved at them.
"Damon!" Damon and Alder jogged over to the man. "I suppose you are my newest student, Alder of Callista?" the tall man asked.
"Yes, and I suppose that would make you my new teacher, Syris?" Alder returned, surveying him. Syris was extremely tall and dark skinned, with broad muscular shoulders.
"That's me. Keren wasn't exaggerating. You DO have a lot of magical talent. It should be fun teaching you," he said genuinely. "Let's go inside." Damon and Alder followed him inside and down several hallways. "To practice magic, we go into the Practice Room. The shields in there can take anything short of an explosion big enough to ruin all of Brighton. No mage alone could do that, especially because we HAVE shields. Since we are using Mind- Magic, things are less likely to explode. The only things we really need shielded are your thoughts, and feelings if you are a projective Empath-and Fire-Starting. That is by far the most dangerous of the Mind-Gifts."
"Shield feelings?" Alder wondered aloud.
"In the Gift of Empathy, you project any certain feeling at another person. Or you could use Empathy to read emotions. In the beginning, you don't want your feelings to be projected to every sensitive Empath in Brighton, do you?"
"Not particularly," Alder muttered.
Alder and Damon followed Syris to the Practice Room. Syris held the door open and ushered them in. "Keren taught you shielding. Now I want to teach you how to use your abilities, not just to block them. Damon- can you go get Margot? I want you to practice projecting emotions and scenes together. You both need the practice," Syris said, and Damon let himself out of the practice room.
"Let's first start with Fire Starting. Without training, that is the most dangerous MindGift. This room can't go up in flames, so don't worry. Now, hold your palm face up," he said, and Alder complied. "Later on you won't need to do this. Physical gestures seem to help a lot of mages. You really don't require all the silly waving of hands to get a spell in place," he said, laughing. "Now, send yourself into a light trance and find your Channels," he said, and after a minute she grunted for him to continue his instructions.
"Find your Fire Starting magic. Now keep in mind: for your magic to work, you have to believe that it will work. If you don't believe you can do it, you won't. So, take a thread of your fire-magic, and imagine that you are forming a fire in the palm of your hand. Imagine that it isn't hot. That is always important!"
Alder searched her Channels for her Fire-Magic. She quickly found it, and coaxed a wisp of power out of the Channel. She imagined that in her hand she held a ball of fire. She put the wisp of magic into that thought, and opened her eyes. In the center of her palm burned a ball of ice-blue fire.
"Wow. Most of my students couldn't even get it in the first couple days of practice, much less on their first attempt. Good job! I am very much impressed. You also have the most unique fire-color that I have ever seen," Syris said, and held out his palm. Immediately a bright ball of crimson fire appeared. "With practice, you will be able to do it without much work, and it will come more quickly. Now extinguish your fire by taking out the thread of magic and funneling it through your center and back into the ground."
Alder followed these directions, and the fire dissipated. "You are a natural at this! Now I want you to call fire and then extinguish it again. Practice makes perfect." Alder proceeded to practice until she felt quite exhausted, and had an extreme reaction headache.
"Alder!" came Damon's voice, waking her from her trance. "You and Syris may not have heard it, but the noon bell rang. It's time for lunch," he said, and they bid farewell to Syris and went back to the Palace. Alder and Damon went back to their suite and Alder went to her room to change.
Alder came back into the common room to find Avery and Damon waiting for her at the table. "We had lunch brought up here. We didn't think you'd feel up to going down to the cafeteria," Avery commented. "How was your first lesson with Syris?"
"It went surprisingly well. He taught me the basics of Fire-Starting. He drilled me into the ground!"
"Could you actually make fire?" Damon asked incredulously.
"Yes." Alder said timidly. She put her palm out and called her ice-blue fire. After a moment, she extinguished it, and slumped back into her chair.
"Syris did drill you into the ground! You are exhausted. Eat," Avery commanded. "I'm not hungry," Alder said, and Avery sighed.
"I forgot," she mumbled. "You lose your appetite when you first start working with magic. You're going to have to eat anyways, if you don't want to collapse. I promise you, you will feel a lot better if you eat," she said.
Alder picked up a sandwich and took a bite. She felt part of her body repulse the food, but then a wave of energy washed over her, and the objection in her stomach died. She then ate as if she had been starved, and the new energy made her feel human again. "I don't feel as if I was a walking shadow anymore, but Keren is probably going to ruin that soon," Alder said, and laughed.
"That's what Keren is for!" Damon joked.
"Speaking of lessons with Keren, we had better go soon," Avery intoned, and excused herself from the table and left to her room.
A minute later, she came out, changed. "Let's go," Alder said, and went into the hallway. Avery soon followed. "Keren likes to work in a practice room in the Palace, right?"
"Yeah- its near the basement, though. It is out of the way of the Court dining room," she said, as they reached a flight of stairs. Two staircases later they arrived in a dusty hallway. "Not too many people come down here," Avery said, after noticing the direction of Alder's gaze.
"N-" Alder started, and sneezed. "Noticeably," she muttered thickly.
Halfway down the hallway was a door with a tarnished silver plaque that read "Practice Room". Avery held the door open for Alder, and followed her in. This room was completely devoid of dust, but it did have an air of disuse.
Two minutes later, Keren poked her head inside to see if they were there. She came in, saying, "Alder, Avery. First off: get your shields up. If I see that you have a weak spot in it, I might randomly strike with a Mage- bolt. Be forewarned!" Keren said mischievously.
:Second, I want to only talk in MindSpeech. You both need practice.: she Sent, and smiled. :Today I want to teach you to mesh shields. In the future you may work together, and this is a vital skill for multi-person magical workings. I won't attack while you are trying to mesh shields, so don't worry. Now- take your "mental hands" and hold them out to each other. Alder, I taught you Mage-Sight. Use it to see Avery's hand.:
Alder invoked her Mage-Sight. She could see Keren's presence watching them, and she soon saw the "mental hand" of who she guessed was Avery. She hadn't seen this presence before; Avery's was a glowing violet. She took her own mental hand and placed it in Avery's, and felt a strange sensation of warmth and the feeling that something was right. :Good.: came Keren's Mind- voice. :Now take your combined magics and mesh them together. Once you've done that, work together to make a shield.:
At the same time, Alder and Avery pushed their magic into one another, and tried to mix it. Experimentally, Alder sent a wave of congratulations at Avery through their link. Seconds later, Avery sent the wave back. In unison, they pulled their meshed magic and formed a dome of blue-violet fire around them. Avery linked their power into the ground as Alder smoothed out cracks in the shield. :How is that?: Avery Mind-Sent.
:Excellent. Good work.: Keren Sent, and they relaxed. Without realizing it, there was a fluctuation in the magic, and Keren took that moment to send a bolt of pure power at the crack. The shield's magic flew up and back down towards the ground, and reflected back up through Avery before they knew what had happened.
On an impulse, Alder seized the magic and grounded it, and then dissipated it the way that Syris had taught her. Alder was panting by the time she was done. Avery's eyes were opened wide with shock.
:I underestimated your combined force. I didn't realize that the reaction would be so. violent. I'm sorry. Good handling of the situation, Alder. Syris taught you that?: she asked, with overtones of stress in her Mind- voice.
:Yes. I learned basic Fire-Starting today and he taught me how to dissipate magic. I thought the theory could be applied to Mage Gift, too.: Alder said.
:Amazing. You really do keep your head in a new situation- which probably looked like a crisis. Avery, are you okay?: Keren Sent, and Alder looked towards Avery.
She had gone quite pale, and looked faint. Her forehead was creased in a frown. Her arm was bracing her against the wall, and her hand was trembling. "I-I-" she started, and her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted into Alder's arms.
"What happened?" Alder yelped.
"Magical backlash. She was sick recently, and was left quite weak. I think that just put her body in shock." Keren said, while helping Alder adjust Avery into a manageable position. "We need to get her back to the suite. She refused to take a Healer when she was sick, and I wasn't here to make her see one. So now I am bringing in a Healer to see her. But how can I get her back to the suite and get a Healer at the same time? I want the Healer to be there when we get there," she said, running her fingers nervously through her hair.
"I don't know where you'd get a Healer. She is light enough- I can carry her back."
"Up three flights of stairs? Wait, I could spell her to make her lighter."
"Will that make her condition worse?" Alder asked nervously.
"No. Once you reach the room, the spell will be gone." Keren closed her eyes and a minute later, Avery barely weighed anything. "Thank you so much. Let's go." Keren opened the door and held it open for Alder. Alder quickly picked Avery up as if she was holding a baby. She made sure her neck was supported, and then walked down the hallway with Keren. After they had hastily climbed the three sets of stairs, they parted on different paths. Avery couldn't have weighed more than 5 pounds. Her lips were faded, and her face was pale. Alder looked upon Avery's limp body, and began to worry. Why isn't she waking yet? What if she is really sick? Her thoughts were haunted all the way back to the suite.
Alder carried Avery into her room, and lay her down on the bed. She gently put her hand to Avery's forehead to find that she was burning up. Alder hadn't learned much about Healing at Callista, but she did know that when you had a fever, you sweated it out, and when you fainted, you were supposed to drink a lot of liquids. Alder went into the Common Room and set a pot of water to the fire to make tea. A dew minutes later, Keren and a Healer came into the Suite, and then to Avery's room. Alder paced the Common Room until the tea was done, and poured a cup. She knocked on the door to Avery's room.
"Come in," came the muffled reply.
"I made some tea for Avery," she said quietly. "How is she? When will she get better?" "She has not yet awaken. After checking her, it seems that she has not been sleeping well lately, and was previously weak due to sickness. Then I can detect that her mind is still in shock due to the magical backlash. Basically she is overworking herself and the magic attack put her over the top. The tea was a good idea. She does need rest. No lessons for a couple days. I am also giving her some herbal medicine that will help her sleep. She really just needs to take it easy. Bed rest for two days, at least. She'll be fine."
"She'll be fine," Keren repeated, at Alder's skeptical expression. "And if I am correct, you do have a riding lesson with Kat soon. I'd understand if you are too jittery, but staying here won't get anything done. Gary says that she won't wake until tonight." Keren said. Gary, apparently the Healer, nodded.
"I am staying here with Avery to work more Healings. Kat will be waiting for you." Gary said, and his eyes unfocused. "Amazing. You have Healing magic, too!"
"More lessons?" Alder groaned. "My schedule is busy enough as it is!" She exclaimed. "You don't need Healing lessons yet. In the future, I think you'll want them. When you do, find me." Gary said.
"You should go now, or else you will be late."