II.

Harmonia was just as I remembered it from my vague childhood memories. Birds singing, flowers blooming, a perfect blue sky... It was as its name implied: harmonious. It was holy.

The tournament was still two weeks away, but competitors had to attend many classes and safety briefings, to brush up old skills and make sure we understood and obeyed the rules to the letter. Of course, if rules were broken, we could be disqualified...or worse, depending on the degree of the offense. I didn't plan on breaking any rules. Provided...HE...didn't make me.

Oh, yes; I still quite vividly remembered my old school rival, Sasarai. I wondered what had become of him? Probably studying black arts with some dark wizard, waiting for the day when he could finish what he'd started with me all those years ago.
We were twelve then. Since we'd met, when we were probably about eight years old--my! has it been so long?--we'd developed a growing distaste for one another, bordering on hatred. Finally, that hate had come to blows. Two novice magicians can do more damage than two master magicians, you may have heard. It's quite true. We burned down an inn and two barns before we finished, and in the end harsh words were spoken (with many a curse) and we'd parted ways that night for what I'd hoped would be forever. Now, at my master's order, here I was back in Harmonia, where my life had never been anything but discord.

"Yes, my old foe," I murmured to myself. "I remember you, and I'll bet you remember me as well." But what if he didn't? Wouldn't that be much better? I almost laughed aloud at myself. Was I afraid? No, merely nervous. I'd waited all this time, studying my damnedest, only to prove myself more skilled than he. But was I? Would I be ready to put that power to the test?

Now I did laugh. I was being ridiculously silly. There was no reason for me to believe that Sasarai would remember me, or that he would even be in this city still yet, waiting. Or...was there?

A crowd was gathering on the lawn inside the school gates, and I winced as I watched a fruity-looking girl in pink wave a wand at her cat. Unfortunately, she caught me looking, and I'm afraid she got the wrong idea. I looked away quickly, hoping not to attract further attention. I'm young, but old enough to know that the world of women holds no interest for me. If a man or boy even my age felt no attraction to a lovely woman such as Lady Leknaat, he would have no choice but to accept the truth.

It was too late. The girl had made the mistake I feared, and was at my side in an instant. "Haven't seen you here before," she chirped, and I looked up. Her small, cute face was sprinkled with freckles, her long hair pulled up into a high ponytail. "I'm Meg," she said, holding out her hand. Unfortunately, her wand was still clenched in her grasp.

There was a burst of light, and I flinched as the wand hummed. Apparently, she'd forgotten she was holding it. I moved just in time. A split second later, the grass on the spot where I'd been standing went up in smoke.

"Oops!" she cried, fumbling with her fairy stick and turning beet red. She could have walked away then, embarrassed and humiliated as she was, but she stood her ground and transferred the wand to her other hand before reaching out again to shake.

An admirable exploit, but a true lady would know better. I was hardly impressed. Reluctantly, I let her take my hand, and she gave it a firm shake. "Meg," she said again. "And that's Mina." She pointed to her cat, who didn't seem nearly so surprised as I about the little earth-destroying incident.

"...Luc," I said slowly, still not wanting to be friendly with this dangerous little girl.

"What do you do?" she asked.

"...Do?"

"I'm a trickster!" she said proudly. "My Uncle Juppo taught me everything I know! I'm here to try my hand at some real magic, though. What kind of magic do you do? Who's your master? Mine's my uncle, Juppo."

"You said that already," I complained, trying to back away. She kept coming at me.

"Well, he's really good, y'know? Kind of famous, so he says. Anyway, about your magic--what do you do?"

"Um..."

"What is that thing on your forehead?" she interrupted. "Can I touch it?"

"Wind rune, show your power!" I said quickly. I vanished.

Okay, okay. So maybe what happened next is my just desserts for using magic freely like that on school property--forbidden act that it was. However, I was being smothered and in such a bind, I'd felt I had no choice. Besides, no one had exactly told us not to use magic yet, though I knew better. Still...at the time it had seemed the only choice I'd had.

I reappeared across the lawn where there was no one about--well, almost no one. I had failed to foresee that just around the corner of the building, someone was walking towards the gathered apprentices.

"Oof!"

At the exact moment I teleported to the far side of the school, a young man walked into that very spot. We collided inevitably, and fell to the grass in a tangle of limbs.

"Oh, dear me! How clumsy!" I tried to apologize, while trying to hide the fact that I'd already broken a tournament rule in my first five minutes on campus. I was on top of someone I'd already determined by his slight cry was a young man, and I struggled to climb off of his robed form. The clean, white apparel made me fear that I'd unwittingly tripped over a master--perhaps even one of the judges from the Wizard's Board!

The young man beneath me merely laughed. "My fault," he apologized back.

Somehow I managed to get off of him, my face redder than that silly girl's had been, and we struggled to our feet. I looked down as he brushed off his garb, stooping to retrieve his hat for him.

"Thank you," he said as I handed his article back.

"Oh, it's the least I could--do..." My voice trailed off as I looked up, gazing into the beautiful eyes of a memory.

The boy standing there facing me was Sasarai.