CHAPTER FOUR
"Let's see. I'm assuming people on the. . .other side of the ocean. . .don't believe in magic?" Briar asked. "Don't believe?!" came Ness's exclamation. "We don't ~believe~ because it ~doesn't exist~."
Sandry and Briar looked very confused at this point. "They. . .don't have magic?" he asked, bewildered. "No." Came all three girls replies at the same time. "How can there not be magic?" Briar demanded. "There just ~isn't~." Adi replied. "It's impossible." "No, it's not impossible!" Briar continued. "Because ~you three are mages. You have magic.~"
Silence. Nothing except Adi, Lutra, and Ness blinked.
Finally, Adi said something, a brilliant notation on her part: "Huh?"
Sandry sighed. "Okay, then, let's start with the basics." She began. Sandry turned back to Briar. "How exactly ~do~ we explain this?" Briar stared blankly at Sandry before she turned black to them. "What do ~you~ think magic is?" She asked. "It's a way of influencing things around you." Ness said. "Yeah, without actually ~touching~ it." Adi grumbled. "Okay. . .that's. . .close enough, I guess. Why is that impossible?" "Just because!" Adi burst out. "You can't influence something without physically touching it! I mean, you can't pick up a glass without touching it!"
Suddenly, a glass appeared in Adi's hand. She dropped it in surprise and said, "Uhh. . ." in a very deflated manner. Ness turned to Adi and said, "Bad example." Adi sighed. "Well, ~you~ think of something then!" Adi glared at the glass which didn't break when she dropped it-it shattered. She turned to Lutra. "Well, help me out here!" She exclaimed exasperatedly. "It's impossible, right?" She looked expectantly at Lutra. "Um. . ." Lutra began. Adi smacked her forehead. "This is ridiculous!" She exclaimed. "Do you ~all~ think it could be real?"
Ness and Lutra glanced at each other. "Um. . ."
"I. . .hope that was a rhetorical question." By now, Briar and Sandry were getting suspicious. It couldn't be ~that~ different on the other side of the ocean, could it? "Adi, you like ranting, don't you?" Lutra asked. "Yes." Adi replied.
"Okay!" briar said, cutting through the heated "debate." "Let's just say, hypothetically speaking of course, that there ~is~ such a thing as magic." He paused, looking around. No arguments. . .yet.
"Now let's just say, once again hypothetically, that you three have magic." Adi opened her mouth to argue. "It's ~hypothetical~. Calm down!" Sandry interjected. "Then that means, hypothetically of course, that by law we are required to teach you." Briar said finally. "Or unless we can find another teacher." Sandry interrupted again. Briar smiled gratefully at her. "Oh, I'd forgotten about that! But back to the. . . 'hypothetical' situation. If we hypothetically have to teach you, we have to at least know your names." He turned to Adi.
Lutra pointed to Ness. "This is Vanessa, or Ness as we call her." "Nessa!" Ness interjected. "As I said, this is Ness. And the lovely raving lunatic over there is Adriana, or Adi." Adi gave an extravagant bow. "And I'm Lutra. ~No nicknames!~" "But if you really want to annoy her, call her Lute or Lutie." Adi put in, grinning evilly. Lutra glared at Adi, and held up an imaginary knife. She them made a *pphhhttt* sound, in which Adi replied by saying, "Ahhh!" and clutching her chest and pretending to fall backwards. Briar and Sandry exchanged very confused glances. "Don't worry, you get used to it." Ness reassured them. "I'm sure we will." Sandry replied dryly.
Briar just rolled his eyes.
After a long, tedious debate (mainly involving Adi completely refusing to believe the existence of magic), Sandry and Briar convinced the three girls to at least spend the night, since they didn't exactly have any place to go (or any reason even to be there).
"Okay, where are we going to put them?" Sandry asked, and she and Briar went upstairs to find a room for them. "What, now we're dogs?" Adi said. "'So, where are we going to put them'?" Adi said before sighing and turning to Lutra. "I'm tired of being indignant. You be indignant for awhile." Adi said to Lutra. Lutra blinked. "Um, I don't exactly see any problems. . ." She said. "What do you mean you don't see any problems? We were. . . nevermind." Adi stopped abruptly, turning in the direction of the door. "Somebody's coming." She said. "Yeah, and they're five minutes late." Lutra added. The door burst open, and standing in the doorway was a tall, dark- skinned girl with her hair in many braids, and carrying an ebony staff.
"Briar, Sandry, I'm home." She called. Briar stuck his head down. "It's about time!" He said. "Yeah, I agree." Lutra added. He first stared at Lutra, muttering, "At least one of them agrees with me one something." He turned back to the new girl. "Daja, could you come upstairs for a moment? We have a. . . slight problem. . . we need to discuss." Daja glanced over at the three girls lounging in the livingroom. "Oh no, not again." She groaned. "Briar, Sandry, you two have a lot of explaining to do!" She marched upstairs to join them, muttering something about 'Jory' and 'staff fighting.'
Ness, who hadn't said much, remarked, "I don't think she likes us very much." Adi raised an eyebrow. "I don't think she even ~noticed~ us." "Well, she did. . ." Lutra added. "But she didn't ~acknowledge our presence~."
The conversation was cut off by muffled arguments and shouts from upstairs. They exchanged glances, and then slowly and quietly snuck up the stairs.
When they reached the door, there was a brief fight for who gets to listen at the keyhole. Ness won, leaving Adi and Lutra to listen against the door.
"Us? Are we ~stuck~ with them?" A voice said. "Why? We have enough to deal with!" "You found them, so ~you~ should teach them." Another voice said. "Me? I have enough to deal with with Evvy!" That, they could tell, was Briar's voice. "So, you still found them." The argument went on like that for quite awhile before someone said, "How about we just find out what their magic is? We can work from there." "Fine. That works."
The door opened, and Adi, Lutra, and Ness all fell into the room. "Oops." Adi said.
"See?" Briar said, pointing to them. "See?" He shook his head. "You three, downstairs." He continued. "Daja, you'll get your scrying mirror and meet us down there." Daja nodded and went off.
Adi, Lutra, and Ness went downstairs. "Sit." Briar ordered. The girls, not knowing what else to do, obeyed Briar and sat.
Daja came downstairs with hers scrying mirror (the one without the little flowers on the back). "Alright, before we get started, this is Adi, this is Lutra, and this is Ness." Sandry said, showing Daja who each of them were. Daja nodded, taking out her mirror. "Okay, then. First, you, Adi, come here." Daja motioned for Adi to come. For once, Adi didn't argue and went to Daja. Daja held the scrying mirror in front of adi.
Adi's face showed at first, but then gradually a starry sky materialized behind her. Things appeared and vanished, and many molecules twisted and swirled around. "Space!" Adi piped up. "Space and molecules!" Daja looked up at Sandry and Briar. "Space." She said. "Who's ever heard of a space mage?" Daja sighed and took the mirror from Adi's face. "Your magic is with space, with molecules and the things around us." Daja told Adi, not giving her any time to argue and say, "I don't have magic!"
Next, she took the mirror to Lutra's face. She was clocks of al sorts, and an array of different times and dates. She also saw strange creatures from years ago arise and then vanish. "Time." Daja announced. "Lutra, your magic is with time. You work with time, all aspects of it." Lutra grinned. Unlike Adi, she enjoyed this. And it made sense to her-her strange fascination of time all her life was actually for a reason.
Adi made a face at Lutra as Daja took the scrying mirror to Ness. When she held it to Ness, she saw a line, dot, square, cube, and places flickering on and off in the distance. Daja looked thoroughly confused at that. There was a long pause as she stared blankly into the mirror. Finally, Ness said, "Looks like dimensions."
Daja took the mirror away. "A space mage, a time mage, and a dimensions mage." She announced.
"What next?"
"Let's see. I'm assuming people on the. . .other side of the ocean. . .don't believe in magic?" Briar asked. "Don't believe?!" came Ness's exclamation. "We don't ~believe~ because it ~doesn't exist~."
Sandry and Briar looked very confused at this point. "They. . .don't have magic?" he asked, bewildered. "No." Came all three girls replies at the same time. "How can there not be magic?" Briar demanded. "There just ~isn't~." Adi replied. "It's impossible." "No, it's not impossible!" Briar continued. "Because ~you three are mages. You have magic.~"
Silence. Nothing except Adi, Lutra, and Ness blinked.
Finally, Adi said something, a brilliant notation on her part: "Huh?"
Sandry sighed. "Okay, then, let's start with the basics." She began. Sandry turned back to Briar. "How exactly ~do~ we explain this?" Briar stared blankly at Sandry before she turned black to them. "What do ~you~ think magic is?" She asked. "It's a way of influencing things around you." Ness said. "Yeah, without actually ~touching~ it." Adi grumbled. "Okay. . .that's. . .close enough, I guess. Why is that impossible?" "Just because!" Adi burst out. "You can't influence something without physically touching it! I mean, you can't pick up a glass without touching it!"
Suddenly, a glass appeared in Adi's hand. She dropped it in surprise and said, "Uhh. . ." in a very deflated manner. Ness turned to Adi and said, "Bad example." Adi sighed. "Well, ~you~ think of something then!" Adi glared at the glass which didn't break when she dropped it-it shattered. She turned to Lutra. "Well, help me out here!" She exclaimed exasperatedly. "It's impossible, right?" She looked expectantly at Lutra. "Um. . ." Lutra began. Adi smacked her forehead. "This is ridiculous!" She exclaimed. "Do you ~all~ think it could be real?"
Ness and Lutra glanced at each other. "Um. . ."
"I. . .hope that was a rhetorical question." By now, Briar and Sandry were getting suspicious. It couldn't be ~that~ different on the other side of the ocean, could it? "Adi, you like ranting, don't you?" Lutra asked. "Yes." Adi replied.
"Okay!" briar said, cutting through the heated "debate." "Let's just say, hypothetically speaking of course, that there ~is~ such a thing as magic." He paused, looking around. No arguments. . .yet.
"Now let's just say, once again hypothetically, that you three have magic." Adi opened her mouth to argue. "It's ~hypothetical~. Calm down!" Sandry interjected. "Then that means, hypothetically of course, that by law we are required to teach you." Briar said finally. "Or unless we can find another teacher." Sandry interrupted again. Briar smiled gratefully at her. "Oh, I'd forgotten about that! But back to the. . . 'hypothetical' situation. If we hypothetically have to teach you, we have to at least know your names." He turned to Adi.
Lutra pointed to Ness. "This is Vanessa, or Ness as we call her." "Nessa!" Ness interjected. "As I said, this is Ness. And the lovely raving lunatic over there is Adriana, or Adi." Adi gave an extravagant bow. "And I'm Lutra. ~No nicknames!~" "But if you really want to annoy her, call her Lute or Lutie." Adi put in, grinning evilly. Lutra glared at Adi, and held up an imaginary knife. She them made a *pphhhttt* sound, in which Adi replied by saying, "Ahhh!" and clutching her chest and pretending to fall backwards. Briar and Sandry exchanged very confused glances. "Don't worry, you get used to it." Ness reassured them. "I'm sure we will." Sandry replied dryly.
Briar just rolled his eyes.
After a long, tedious debate (mainly involving Adi completely refusing to believe the existence of magic), Sandry and Briar convinced the three girls to at least spend the night, since they didn't exactly have any place to go (or any reason even to be there).
"Okay, where are we going to put them?" Sandry asked, and she and Briar went upstairs to find a room for them. "What, now we're dogs?" Adi said. "'So, where are we going to put them'?" Adi said before sighing and turning to Lutra. "I'm tired of being indignant. You be indignant for awhile." Adi said to Lutra. Lutra blinked. "Um, I don't exactly see any problems. . ." She said. "What do you mean you don't see any problems? We were. . . nevermind." Adi stopped abruptly, turning in the direction of the door. "Somebody's coming." She said. "Yeah, and they're five minutes late." Lutra added. The door burst open, and standing in the doorway was a tall, dark- skinned girl with her hair in many braids, and carrying an ebony staff.
"Briar, Sandry, I'm home." She called. Briar stuck his head down. "It's about time!" He said. "Yeah, I agree." Lutra added. He first stared at Lutra, muttering, "At least one of them agrees with me one something." He turned back to the new girl. "Daja, could you come upstairs for a moment? We have a. . . slight problem. . . we need to discuss." Daja glanced over at the three girls lounging in the livingroom. "Oh no, not again." She groaned. "Briar, Sandry, you two have a lot of explaining to do!" She marched upstairs to join them, muttering something about 'Jory' and 'staff fighting.'
Ness, who hadn't said much, remarked, "I don't think she likes us very much." Adi raised an eyebrow. "I don't think she even ~noticed~ us." "Well, she did. . ." Lutra added. "But she didn't ~acknowledge our presence~."
The conversation was cut off by muffled arguments and shouts from upstairs. They exchanged glances, and then slowly and quietly snuck up the stairs.
When they reached the door, there was a brief fight for who gets to listen at the keyhole. Ness won, leaving Adi and Lutra to listen against the door.
"Us? Are we ~stuck~ with them?" A voice said. "Why? We have enough to deal with!" "You found them, so ~you~ should teach them." Another voice said. "Me? I have enough to deal with with Evvy!" That, they could tell, was Briar's voice. "So, you still found them." The argument went on like that for quite awhile before someone said, "How about we just find out what their magic is? We can work from there." "Fine. That works."
The door opened, and Adi, Lutra, and Ness all fell into the room. "Oops." Adi said.
"See?" Briar said, pointing to them. "See?" He shook his head. "You three, downstairs." He continued. "Daja, you'll get your scrying mirror and meet us down there." Daja nodded and went off.
Adi, Lutra, and Ness went downstairs. "Sit." Briar ordered. The girls, not knowing what else to do, obeyed Briar and sat.
Daja came downstairs with hers scrying mirror (the one without the little flowers on the back). "Alright, before we get started, this is Adi, this is Lutra, and this is Ness." Sandry said, showing Daja who each of them were. Daja nodded, taking out her mirror. "Okay, then. First, you, Adi, come here." Daja motioned for Adi to come. For once, Adi didn't argue and went to Daja. Daja held the scrying mirror in front of adi.
Adi's face showed at first, but then gradually a starry sky materialized behind her. Things appeared and vanished, and many molecules twisted and swirled around. "Space!" Adi piped up. "Space and molecules!" Daja looked up at Sandry and Briar. "Space." She said. "Who's ever heard of a space mage?" Daja sighed and took the mirror from Adi's face. "Your magic is with space, with molecules and the things around us." Daja told Adi, not giving her any time to argue and say, "I don't have magic!"
Next, she took the mirror to Lutra's face. She was clocks of al sorts, and an array of different times and dates. She also saw strange creatures from years ago arise and then vanish. "Time." Daja announced. "Lutra, your magic is with time. You work with time, all aspects of it." Lutra grinned. Unlike Adi, she enjoyed this. And it made sense to her-her strange fascination of time all her life was actually for a reason.
Adi made a face at Lutra as Daja took the scrying mirror to Ness. When she held it to Ness, she saw a line, dot, square, cube, and places flickering on and off in the distance. Daja looked thoroughly confused at that. There was a long pause as she stared blankly into the mirror. Finally, Ness said, "Looks like dimensions."
Daja took the mirror away. "A space mage, a time mage, and a dimensions mage." She announced.
"What next?"