Year 10, memory.
"Ah, Jaspar! There you are! Come in, my boy!"
When Jenna told me this story, she held off mentioning who the kid she saved was, so imagine my surprise when she revealed the sniveling baby and Merlin's precious prodigy were one in the same! Although... she insists he's even better than Merlin had let on. Not that I would know. But an assessment of magical prowess doesn't mean shit coming from her.
The shock almost made her forget the Hopeless swarming around outside, but she returned to her task after restocking on ethers.
It would be another few hours before she returned, and when she got back, Grossbeard and Jaspar were in a heated argument over his magic training. It seemed he had recovered from his earlier crybaby phase and was now in his "I don't want to fight those things" phase. So still a crybaby, actually.
"I keep telling you," Jaspar was saying, "I appreciate the faith you've put in me, but it doesn't make any goddamn sense how you would know any of this, or my name, or any of it! Stop it, I am not touching that weirdass rock you pulled out of your beard so stop trying to give it to me."
It was a scene that might have been in a comedy, if it weren't so cringeworthy.
'I've met him, yes. No, I don't hate him. He's a little bitch, but he's not worth the effort of hating him. He's simply there. Being annoying. Having a stick up his ass 24/7. Honestly he had it coming.'
Jenna, tired of watching the scene unfold, ever so graciously explained to our irritable young mage-to-be that Merlin had already met them both due to some strange magic she's never been able to explain, and the old man never felt the need to clarify. She also listed off more benefits to not being fucking useless.
"And when you get advanced enough, you can make a magic shield around you to keep the monsters at bay! Even if you don't fight them, learning magic would be really, really helpful. If not for being a healer, then at least to keep yourself safe."
Somehow, Jenna's speech worked. Despite this, it took further convincing to get him to take the blazing crystal from Merlin.
As you could probably guess, he took to using magic almost immediately.
Jenna acted really proud of him for this, but I know she's holding a grudge. After all, he's better than she is at magic and what kind of person wouldn't be jealous of that?
'If I were speaking from experience, I wouldn't be here speaking at all. I am better than her, which is why I'm the one who gets to walk around to my soul's content.
That said, I'm bored and it's getting late. I'll be back.'