fleets: meh, I feel a little guilty that nothing really goes on in this chapter...but I had trouble putting this one together with the next chapter so I had to lop it off. I guess it's a transition chapter. Forgive.
Chapter 10: The Books
Vaati was disappointed to learn that he wasn't going to be learning anything about magic for the first couple of days. Instead, Ezlo set him straight to work on helping him tidy up their new house. Because he was a master sage and all, Vaati had assumed that Ezlo would know a handy spell that would help them sort out the things in the packing boxes with a wave of a hand, but apparently magic wasn't as fancy as people made it out to be. The most Ezlo could do was burn the trash using a fire spell, but the sage quickly became tired so he called Vaati to get a fire going the traditional way instead.
Ezlo had also brought almost everything he had owned to the village, so there was an endless stream of things to put away. Vaati, so covered in dust he looked like a dust bunny himself, coughed and pulled out a wrinkled, slightly yellow parchment-like object from one of the boxes he was assigned to help empty. It was somewhat clear and rustled whenever he turned it over in his hands, and there was a slightly unpleasant odor. Vaati scrunched his nose. "Sir…I mean Master Ezlo?" He called. Ezlo stopped placing his books into the bookshelf and looked up. "Does this belong in the trash?"
Ezlo squawked, and ran over to his apprentice and took the thing from his hands. "Goodness no, boy! Treat this with care, this is a sample of the scales from the rare Golden Rope. It's from a snake so rare they call it legendary."
Vaati arched his brows skeptically and took another look at the pale yellow thing. Shrugging, he went back to sorting through more of what he thought were Ezlo's junk. Suddenly, he found something that caught his eye. Vaati turned around to see if Ezlo wasn't looking at him before he went on to examine the wooden chest he had come across. He felt a little bad about sneaking around his master's belongings, but he felt he had some right to look at what he was going through because he was helping him clean after all. Besides, Ezlo shouldn't have anything to hide from him, right? So that meant he could look at his things if he wanted to, right?
The chest caught Vaati's interest because of the words etched into its lid. It read The Wishing Cap in fancy letters. He opened it gingerly and took a moment to marvel at the red gem inside it, surrounded by a soft red cloth. It appeared to be a work in progress, for pieces of gold that seemed to be part of the cap frame were in the chest as well. His hands moved over the glittering crimson jewel, appreciating its eerily beautiful glow until…
"What are you up to, boy?"
Vaati jumped and slammed the chest's lid closed. "N-nothing sir! I mean, Master Ezlo!" he yelped. He hurriedly went back to sorting through the other things in the boxes but accidentally stumbled and dropped several jars of powder in his panic. Ezlo strode over swiftly and relieved him of the chest with the jewel and dusted off the powder that was now all over his apprentice. Shaking his head, he rapped the boy out the door with his cane.
"I'll take care of things from here. In the meanwhile, patch up that hole in the roof – we've been lucky so far it hasn't rained but one of these days a rainstorm is going to come and we'll be sorry about that hole."
Vaati looked up at the roof, then back at the chest in Ezlo's hands, and then at the roof again. He sighed. "Yes Master Ezlo."
XXXXXXXXX
"Hey Vaati, we don't really hang out after school anymore and I couldn't get a hold of you over the weekend. What, are you busy or something?" Delta asked the following week in school during recess. With his chin on his elbows, Vaati grumbled a reply.
"Master Ezlo's keeping me busy."
"Did he teach you anything cool yet? Oooh can you summon fire and stuff?"
"No. He's making me clean the house and put away his belongings."
"Really? No magic yet then?"
Vaati shook his head.
"What about finding some ancient tomes of forbidden spells in some of Ezlo's stuff?"
Vaati shook his head again. "It's mostly junk. I don't understand why he needed to bring most of the things he brought, but Master Ezlo insists that everything he brought is important. I mean, some things look as though he found them from a big person's trash bin!" He was in the middle of sighing tiredly when he remembered something. "There was one thing though…"
Delta's ears twitched and he perked up. "What?"
Vaati shrugged. "It was this chest I found. There was this bright red gem inside it and some red cloth, and on the top of the chest's lid I found the words 'The Wishing Cap.' I don't know what it could mean – I wonder if you can grant wishes with it."
"Woah, that would be so cool," Delta said in awe. He absentmindedly began a tic-tac-toe game on the dirt. "If you could grant any wish what would you wish for?"
Vaati stared at the sky thoughtfully and bit his lip. After a while, he frowned and rubbed his chin. "I don't know. That's too hard…"
"Come on, any wish you can think of. Just think of something."
Vaati placed his last 'x' on a corner box, allowing him an instant win in Delta's game. He wiped the dirt clean to start a new one. "Hmm. Maybe…maybe to go on one of those legendary adventures. You know, the ones people remember and tell their grandkids and stuff."
Delta made a face. "Really? That's it?"
"Don't you think it'll be fun? Fighting huge monsters and travelling all over the world?"
Delta snorted. "Sure, that'll be fun up until the point you get squashed by one of the big monsters you're fighting."
"It's all right. The good guys never lose."
"Only in fairy tails they don't."
"That's why I said 'legendary adventure.' The good guys don't really die in those." Vaati cocked his head. "What about you? What would you wish for?"
This time, Delta grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Um…actually…I think I'd wish for something similar…"
Laughing, Vaati punched him lightly in the arm. "You copycat!"
"That's why I wasn't too thrilled you had the same wish; I knew you were going to say that!" They both looked up when the bell rang, signaling the end of recess. Delta turned to Vaati, grinning. "If we ever have to make a wish, we should just make the same wish together."
"Agreed."
"Cool! Oh, and let me know when Ezlo finally lets you learn stuff. I can't wait to see what kind of things he's going to teach you."
Vaati smiled, excited at the prospect. "Yeah, me too. I think we're almost done with unpacking, so I'm hoping he'll start teaching me stuff for real within a day or two."
XXXXXXXXX
"Come down here boy, I've got something to give you!"
Vaati looked up from his homework at the sound of his master's voice and quickly scampered to Ezlo's study. "Yes Master Ezlo?"
Ezlo had his nose buried in one of his enormous books and he kept his head down even as he addressed his apprentice. Waving his cane at a heavy book on the edge of his desk, he motioned Vaati to take it. When the boy took the book in his hands, his beady black eyes pinned him to the spot. "Have you finished your homework?"
Vaati looked at the cover of the book. It was tattered and worn from use, and behind the faded yellowness of the thing he could tell it had once been a navy blue color. It looked like a dictionary more than anything, and when he flipped through the pages he felt his eyes would fall out from trying to make sense of all the fine print jammed in its pages. The title read The History of Sorcery: A comprehensive guide to the beginnings of magic. "Yes Master Ezlo. I was just about done when you called me."
The sage nodded approvingly. "Good, good. Because I'm going to assign you some extra homework. Don't get all excited now," he added when he saw Vaati's face fall from looking at the hefty book in his hands. He nodded his head knowingly. "I want you to read the book at your own pace. Oh come now, don't make that face at me, boy. That book is nothing compared to what you will be reading in the months to come. It's elementary next to books like this one." He stood up from his chair and hobbled over to the bookshelf. His cane swung from one book to the next until he finally came across the one he was looking for. His wiry hands pulled it out from its place and showed it to Vaati. It was at least twice the size of the first book. "This one is called The Hadeiran Spells, named in the honor of one of the greatest sages ever known, one who was even rumored to have taken part in discovering the magic of the light force. It contains one of the most obscure spells ever known and the trickiest to master. Reading it is no cakewalk, as you will find out when you get to read this. However, first things first. You must master the basics so I'm starting you off with that one."
"I want you to read the book at your own leisure. I don't care if you never end up reading it, I really don't. Just remember that I will never, EVER, teach you anything regarding magic so long as you don't read it. Once you are finished with reading it, remember to let me know so I can quiz you to see if you understood everything the book had to offer. After all, what use is reading if you don't understand anything it had said?" Ezlo sat back into his chair and stretched. "Any questions?"
Vaati looked at the book he was given again. It was huge, and it was more difficult than anything he had ever read before. Even from taking a quick glance at it from before he knew he was going to have to rely on a dictionary several times to understand some of the vocabulary. This is going to suck…
Still, if this was what he had to get through to progress to the next level, he was willing to do it. After all, he needed to show this old man that he didn't make a mistake when he chose his apprentice. Vaati pocketed the book beneath the crook of his arm. "No Master Ezlo."
"Good. Get to reading now, you have a lot to go through." Ezlo resumed going back to his own work. "There's a couple of sandwiches out on the table. Take them when you feel hungry."
"Thank you Master Ezlo."
Vaati walked out of the room and dropped by the kitchen to take two sandwiches that he assumed were going to be his dinner. When he arrived in his room upstairs, he plopped open the book to begin tackling its several thousand words on the history of sorcery. This is going to take a while. He leaned back in his bed and started reading.
marium: Yeah, work seems to follow me everywhere I go. Happy to hear you like this so far though :D
Shadow Blues: Oh wow, good luck with finals (or hope you did well if you already had them).
Darkwind: Hee, Ezlo can't cook XD
Reily96: He is. I always made him talk a ton in MC because he sometimes said the weirdest things
Victoria-BlackHeart: The ones in the last chapter weren't even the worst ones I found O.o (where do all those puns come from? - shakes head)
101: Thank you :)
Bishieluver01: It's interesting for me to write because there can only be one ending...which is Vaati going down the bad road
H-bomber: Oh, he'll definitely have more housecleaning later. (shudder) I hate housecleaning...
Peka The Corsair: (tries to wiggle out of logical conundrum) I guess the house was rushed? That's a really good point, actually. XP
NOES NOT MORE PUNS! 8O