Dishwater blonde hair flopping into his blue eyes, Isaac dodged another cart trundling down the cobbled street. The driver yelled curses at him, trying to be heard over the clatter of the iron shod wheels. Isaac paid him no heed, slipping through the crowds of people with the ease of someone who has been doing so for years.
It was a beautiful day, after a long, hard winter. Beyond the village tender shoots of new grass had begun to appear, and the first daffodils and narcissus were beginning to show their shy faces. The bare branches of trees had become green with new leaflets overnight, and birds could be Dishwater blonde hair flopping into his blue eyes, Isaac dodged another cart trundling down the cobbled street. The driver yelled curses at him, trying to be heard over the clatter of the iron shod wheels. Isaac paid him no heed, slipping through the crowds of people with the ease of someone who has been doing so for years. The bare branches of trees had become green with new leaflets overnight, and birds could be heard giving full chorus to Spring.
Within the confines of the village, however, everything was dead and paved over. Yet the wind that blew along the streets was pleasantly cool in the hot sun, and no longer carried the stench of winger. Isaac knew Summer was fast approaching. Not because of the green without, or the warmth, but because he could feel it in his bones, despite the constricted feeling he had whenever he went into town. Hama told him it was because he was a Venus Adept, and could feel the seasons changing in his soul.
Which made very little sense to any other eight-year-old.
Finally, he reached his destination. A small stand set between and slightly behind two larger stands. Ducking beneath the arm of a rather large man and squeezing between two whispy women, he made it to the wooden counter that he could just barely see over.
"Isaac, dear! Back again?" the elderly woman behind the counter turned and smiled at him. At one time she had been beautiful, but that beauty had faded over the years. Her face was lined and care-worn, and her once auburn hair was now a silver grey. "You are such a dear, running errands for Hama."
I'm her apprentice, ma'am!" he told her, like he told her ever market day, and put his basket up on the counter top. "It's part of my training to do what Master Hama asks!"
"I'll expect you'll be wanting what you usually get," she smiled again, deepening the creases around her mouth and eyes.
"Yes, ma'am!" Isaac confirmed, fishing the pouch of money Hama had given him from a pocket on the inside of his vest. He tried to ignore the meat pies cooling on the counter, and their enticing scent.
Hama had only given him enough to buy the herbs she needed from the old lady's stand, and he couldn't ignore his Master's orders. His stomach protested, he hadn't had breakfast, and already it was far past noon. He ignored that little fact, too.
"Here you go, Isaac," the old lady handed the money pouch back, no limp and empty, along with the basket containing a bottle of some liquid and several cloth bags full of powders and dry herbs.
"Thank you, ma'am!" he replace the pouch in his pocket, put the basket handle in the crook of his arm and bowed slightly.
He was very much surprised when she gave him one of the meat pies. "Oh, no, ma'am I couldn't, I don't have any more money and-"
"It's on the house, dear," her eyes softened. "I know a hungry little boy when I see one. Now, get back with you! You wouldn't want to keep Hama waiting, would you?"
"No, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am," he bowed again before melting back into the crowd.
***
Hama's home was well away from the town's outskirts. It looked more like a Chinese Temple than a house. The dark roofed, white walled building was three stories tall, but was dwarfed by the forest trees around it. A small, manicured lawn ran up to the stream that wandered in front of it. Tiny cherry trees spread their way ward branches over the grass and little flower gardens.
"Master Hama!" he called out once he had opened the front door and flown into the house. The inside was very different from the strict looking outside. Rambling staircases and rooms were thrown together with no particular order in mind. Twisting hallways that led to dead ends and rooms of no significance filled the levels of the house. Hama had told him it was to confuse any enemies that might try to enter her home.
"Master Hama?" Isaac called out again.
"Yes, Isaac, I'm home," Hama strode towards him from on of the hallways. She was still very young, though a widower. Her violet hair was piled on top of her head, but unbound it fell to her waist. She was wearing a pale blue dress, very simple in style. "Have you done what I asked?"
"Yes, Master Hama," Isaac held out the basket with one hand and retrieved the money pouch from his pocket with the other. "Well done," she smiled and relieved him of his burden.
"Next week I will be needing new ingredients. Be prepared."
"Yes Master Hama, I will be," Isaac wasn't sure if the small tasks she gave them were actual training. He highly suspected that Hama simply did not have time to be running the countless errands she sent them on, the hundred of menial tasks her pupil's attended to, and train young children in the art of Alchemy all by herself.
Hama bent down to straiten the brown and green vest he wore over his tunic. "Garet and Mia are in the back, if you want to meet them. How about you see how their lessons are coming along?"
He bowed slightly. "Thank you, Master Hama."
Then, all formality quite suddenly shed, he bounded down one hallway, up a staircase, and down another. He knew his way around the strange house better than he knew himself, and could have found the back door with relative ease in the dark.
A wooden porch stretched the length of the house in the back, sheltered from the weather by a shingled overhang. Just outside of the door a young girl and boy were sitting cross-legged. The girl had blue hair tied back in a ponytail that matched her blue and white vest. The boy had auburn hair that didn't seem to want to lie flat. Both had their backs to the door, and seemed to be concentrating on something a little ways off.
"Mia! Garet!" Isaac slid the back door open and, with his usual energy, cannoned out onto the porch.
"Back already?" Mia turned. "I thought it would be another hour at least. That's how long Garet takes when he goes to Market."
"Only because he has to look at everything," Isaac squeezed in-between his two friends.
"Only because I like the Market place," Garet punched him lightly in the arm. "And you hate it."
Mia rolled her eyes. "Of course he hates
it! He's a Venus Adept! Master Hama only makes him go
because he has to get used to everything
being paved over like that." Isaac nodded in agreement, it made sense.
Trust Mia to make a reason for every task Master Hama set them to.
"And she makes me wash dishes because I'm a Mars Adept, and she makes you tend to the fires because you're a Mercury Adept," Garet waved one hand. "So, why doesn't she make Ivan do anything?"
The trio fell silent at the mention of the fourth Adept under Hama. Ivan was only six, two years younger than the rest of them, but just as powerful. He was a Jupiter Adept, like Hama, and from the same clan. Unlike his three fellow Adepts, he still had parents that would take him back when he was finished with his training.
"Well, Ivan doesn't need to do anything, because nothing really bothers him," Mia said slowly, after a moment.
Garet snorted. "And he's got parents that pay for him to stay here."
"That, too."
Garet made a face but didn't bother to correct Mia. Isaac knew he was bitter, his own parents had abandoned him to the school when he showed the potential to use Psyenergy. Mia's poverty stricken grandparents left her in Hama's care "for the best".
Isaac didn't remember any of his relations. His parent had died in an accident when he was little, and the only family he remembered was at the school.
Ivan, on the other hand, was Hama's spoiled nephew. His parents paid their instructor to teach their only son, and he had learned quickly. What Ivan lacked in physical strength, he made up for with his devastating Psyenergy attacks. The members of the Jupiter Clan had the ability to read minds, tame storms, reveal what was hidden, and even predict the future. Which was much more than the rest of them could do.
"We need to train," Mia broke into Isaac's thoughts. "Master Hama is testing us tomorrow."
She motioned to a dark, pillar shaped rock two yards away from the edge of the porch. They had been moving the same rock a little to the left or the right with their Psyenergy for as long as Isaac could remember. The rock never went very far, but Hama insisted that they were improving each day.
"I've already tried," Garet admitted. "It didn't go very far. Wanna give it a go, Isaac?"
"I guess so," moving objects wasn't one of Isaac's stronger skills. Garet was much better than he was. Regardless, he lifted one hand and concentrated on moving the training stone.
Waves of Psyenergy swirled around him,
and the stone scraped across the ground. He barely heard Mia's
gasp or Garet's whoop, his entire world
narrowed on the stone, that glowed a deep emerald with power.
Quite suddenly, the power around him died down, leaving him feeling rather dizzy.
"You did it, Isaac!" Mia squealed. The stone had moved once again its own width to the left. The farthest he had ever managed to move it.
"I did it," he muttered, still feeling very disoriented. He shook his head to clear it.
"I did it!"
"Impressive, Isaac, to be sure."
They turned to see the source of the comment. A blonde boy with large purple eyes was standing there, his hands behind his back. He was a head shorter than Mia, and obviously younger.
Garet stood up. "Hello, Ivan."
"Good afternoon, Garet," Ivan spared Garet a curt nod. "I hope you are well?"
"I'm okay."
Isaac and Mia rose to their feet, keeping a wary eye on Ivan. He had been known to knock them off the porch when they were unbalanced, but today he made no move. Either he was feeling particularly malicious and would wait until they were on the bridge, or he wasn't in the mood.
"How are you?" Mia inquired, much quieter than she usually was. Despite her ability to reason away all faults, she wasn't overly fond of Ivan.
"I am well," he stepped forward and sat on the edge of the porch, his legs dangling over the side. He was unconcerned that he was in a defenseless position in sight of his three worst enemies. It was mockery enough to cause Isaac's ears to burn with shame. "After all, the day is beautiful. Perhaps you should practice your Frost technique on the bridge, Mia. I am sure your companions will join you."
Isaac glared at him. He knew that if Mia followed his near order, Isaac and Garet would go only to watch her back. Not that it would help, much. Mia's earlier assessment had been correct, nothing really phased a Jupiter Adept. Even if it did, Ivan was a lot faster than any of them.
What was worse, nobody expected Ivan to be the bully. He was younger, smaller, and completely calm in almost any situation. Most assumed that Garet was the bully, hot headed, strong, and taller than any of them.
Even Hama, who could read minds, simply assumed.
"Well, aren't you going?" there was an impatient note in Ivan's voice. Mia bit her lip, she didn't want to be pushed into the stream anymore than she had to. Last week she had gotten her new vest stained with mud, and Hama had blamed the entire fiasco on her. The week before that, she had been practicing the frost technique. Ivan had pushed her face first into icy, waist deep water without remorse. Which was enough to make Isaac's blood boil.
"Im going," Mia finally said, turning to enter the house. It was right then that Isaac lost his temper. Surprising even himself, he kicked Ivan squarely between the shoulder blades. With a strangled noise, the Jupiter Adept toppled off of the porch and to the ground, two feet away. In an instant, Isaac was on top of him, kicking and hitting for all he was worth. It was almost like using Psyenergy. He focused completely on Ivan, and how much he could hurt the little worm. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that Mia was screaming, and Garet seemed to be shouting words of encouragement, but he barely noticed. He could hardly register that Ivan was fighting back.
Something grabbed the back of his vest and hauled him off of Ivan. He struggled for a moment before realizing it was Hama.
"Isaac! What are you doing?!" she sounded horrified.
"He was going to push Mia into the stream," he answered quietly, giddy from the adrenaline rush. "I was not," Ivan stood up. Isaac noted with some satisfaction that he had two black eyes, a bloody nose, a split lip, and from the way he was moving various other injuries. "I just suggested that she should go practice Frost when he kicked me off the porch."
"Isaac, you don't know that Ivan was going to push Mia," Hama turned him around and kneeled so she was eye level with him. "Did you?"
"He was," the giddiness was wearing off, leaving Isaac feeling exhausted. "He's done it before, and he was going to do it again and I just wanted to stop him"
Without warning he started sobbing. He was throbbing, Ivan had kicked him in the side hard enough to leave bruises, and Hama didn't believe him. It wouldn't have mattered if Ivan had pushed Mia into the stream, Hama didn't want to believe that Ivan was the culprit. Hama pulled a handkerchief from one of the pockets on her dress and dabbed at his tears. "Isaac don't cry. Come inside, we'll all talk about this."
He nodded and followed her up the porch
stairs and into the house. Ivan, Garet, and Mia followed closely. The walk
up to the boy's rooms seemed to take much longer than it usually did. Isaac
scrubbed furiously at the last of his tears with his sleeve. First he had
disobeyed the rules Hama had laid down for him as a toddler, then he had
to cry about it. Mia looked like she didn't know whether to scold him or
thank him, but Garet applauded
him.
"I've been wanting to do that ever since he came here," he said wistfully. "Next time, you can kick him down the stairs."
Mia gave him a disapproving look, and Isaac smiled. Garet was right, whatever punishment Hama decided to give him, it would be worth getting the best of Ivan. Even if it was just this once.
***
Polishing every floor until it shone was Isaac's sentence. Whatever Ivan's punishment was, if he had one, he never found out. Hama had sent him out so she could discuss the matter privately with Ivan. Most likely a slap on the wrist, from what Isaac could see, he wasn't given extra chores.
Towards the middle of his punishment, Isaac was wishing bitterly that he HAD kicked Ivan down the stairs. Hama had strictly forbidden healing of any kind for their injuries. The slightest movement sent fire lancing across his bruised ribs, and the other tender spots from Ivan's kicks were no better.
Between cleaning the floors, training, and other small tasks he was set to, like bringing in wood for the fire, he was left exhausted and sore at the end of each day. Every morning he woke up not the least bit refreshed, and so stiff he could barely move.
A week later the floors were clean, the purple and black bruises had faded to yellow, and he was getting a full night's sleep. It was at this time that Hama told them what would be occurring later that day.
"My good friend Master Feh and his daughter Feizhi re coming," she explained. "They are not Adepts, but Feh runs a school for Kung Fu, and he is the reason that this school is kept running. I want you all to be on your best behavior."
"Yes, Master Hama. We will, Master Hama," the chorused.
Hama seemed satisfied with this, and nodded. "Alright, we have some chores to do before they arrive this evening. I need you four to air out the guest rooms on the third floor, bring in firewood, and clean the windows."
"Yes, Master Hama."
They finished breakfast and tried to decide how to go about the day's tasks. Garet suggested that they all fight it out, but Mia quickly put an end to that idea.
"I'll wash the windows if Isaac and Garet
will go get the firewood," Ivan suggested. They looked at him,
astonished. Both Garet and Isaac highly
doubted that Ivan had done any work in his entire life, and bringing in
the firewood was simple compared to the task Ivan was volunteering to take
on.
"Then I'll air out the guest rooms," Mia shooed them away. "Hurry! We don't want to disappoint Master Hama, now, do we?"
Nodding, they set out on their various tasks. Garet was not impressed with Ivan's willingness. "Probably didn't want to get splinters," he muttered, dumping his load to the side of the house. Isaac began addng the sticks to the small pile stacked neatly against the wall. "Probably thought soap and water would be better for his hands."
"Maybe," Isaac used his teeth to pull a splinter out of his thumb before he continued stacking. "But that much water will soften the calluses we get form training." Garet ignored him. "And he's too short, anyway. I don't see why he volunteered to do the windows."
"If you want to do the windows, I'm sure Ivan would appreciate the help," Isaac interrupted his complaints. "I can do this by myself."
Garet shook his head. "No, we'll help him when we're done."
"But-"
"I thought we were supposed to be learning teamwork and that many hands make light work," Garet pointed out. "Even if we hate each other, WE can't do anything until the windows are washed.
Isaac felt the heat rising to his face, and bowed his head over his work to hide it. It wasn't often that Garet was insightful, but when he was, it made far too much sense. "You're right," he muttered. "I'm sorry, it's just it's just"
"You hate him?" Garet supplied. Isaac shook his head vigorously. He didn't hate anyone, not yet, anyway.
"I think he's afraid of me," he admitted. "I've been the only person stupid enough to beat him ever since he came here."
"Maybe," Garet shrugged. "You'll have to keep yourself entertained. We still have work to do!"
That said, he trotted into the woods. Isaac stacked up what remained of the pile Garet had brought and sat back to wait for him to bring more.
"Isaac?"
He whipped around to face whoever had spoken, but it was only Ivan. "Do you ENJOY sneaking up on people like that?"
"Sorry," he didn't sound completely sincere, but Isaac accepted his apology anyway.
"It's just I can't reach the top of the windows "
"You want my help," Isaac realized this had to be very hard for Ivan. Coming to ask for help, coming to him of all people "Alright. Garet can do this by himself."
***
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