The Courting of Bryn - Ch 5
"Alright, just focus. Feel the magic run through you, just guide it to where you-" Maeve was trying to help her fellow apprentice with some of the basics but was not really succeeding.
"Ack!" Bryn exclaimed as the power burst forth from her all on its own.
The mast started sprouting branches.
Sinbad looked like they'd grown another head. "Fix this!" Was the only order he managed to get past his lips. There were some other words he would like to hurl at them but he'd been taught never to say those things to women. Even annoying ones who were in the process of turning his ship into trees.
"Told you it was an evergreen!" Maeve smugly told the captain.
"He'd been assured it was an oak and the oaf believed him," Maeve explained to Bryn.
Bryn looked sick. "How did I?" she made a vague gesture towards the still sprouting mast.
"No idea, but once the captain realizes that this means we'll never have to stock up on firewood again, he'll love you forever," Maeve shrugged, clearly not as bothered by this accident as Bryn was.
"No, the captain will not. I will be happy to stock up on firewood if it keeps my mast's structure intact, the lines untangled and the sails manageable, not to mention that we'll be a laughingstock in every harbour we dock at with a mast like this," Sinbad appeared just behind Maeve, clearly not amused.
As this was clearly going to be a long and hot-headed discussion between the two Bryn wandered off, still feeling miserable about her failure.
.
Her cabin smelled like a rose-garden and looked like one too. The roses had kept fairly well and always seemed to perk up when she was near. Only the one red rose didn't sit in one of the vases, she'd hung it upside down in a corner, wanting it to dry out so she could keep it as a memento, together with the little vial of honey-based bath oils.
She sat on her bed and buried her face in her hands. Her body clearly remembered something, her magic certainly had its own pathways! Why couldn't she just…
Someone knocked on her door, Bryn quickly wiped her eyes and put on a smile before opening it.
"You looked like you needed a friend, maybe a shoulder?" Doubar said.
"Come on in," Bryn stood aside and motioned him over to the bed- the only place to sit in the tight quarters.
She sat down next to him, took one of his hands in both of her own and leaned her head against his broad shoulder. Then she started to talk.