AUTHORS NOTES:
I hope everyone is staying safe, please leave me a review and favourite/follow if you like my story!
Archer1eye - It was all those 'exceedingly's! Things are very quiet here on the railways, not many people going out (which is good!). I wonder what Shard 'said' to the goddess to make her relent?
Firestorm2408 - Thanks for following!
Chapter 371st-28th Day of Early Spring 768 n.c
The first trees started to sprout green leaves on the second day of Early Spring that year and the Winter's Heart flowers dropped their leaves that night as they always did. Missus Eldarwood was the first to appear in the town square with a green leaf and as tradition dictated, shouted "Spring is here! All Hail The Light!". Everyone who wasn't already out rushed out of their houses into the square, little kids ran door to door knocking and announcing in loud voices "Spring is Here!" It was the first time for me witnessing this event as out on the farm we had only ever heard of it. Two days later everyone gathered in town for the Spring Welcoming festival. Some of the fist edible plants to sprout from the ground were the servach leaves. They were best eaten in the first days of sprouting and preceded the rest of the plant which would eventually produce a delicious fruit in Middle Spring. Servach leaves were picked and gathered into two baskets in the town square. Just before the festival one basket was emptied into frying pans and cooked (some with just butter and some with butter and garlic), the other basket was turned into a salad in different bowls (one with an egg dressing poured over it and the other with an oil and herb mixture). A number of spring lambs had been brought out into the town square earlier in the day and slaughtered, their blood collected to be distributed amongst the farms. These lambs were butchered and their carcasses were tied up over long wooden posts and thus hung over beds of coals near the river. For each carcass, a younger boy (eight or nine year olds) was assigned to turn the post at a slow but steady rate to ensure that it was cooked evenly. It was deemed an important job and each one would be granted first pick on the meat as payment for the task. A big bowl of lamb sauce (made from fermented milk, garlic and mint) was whipped up and provided at the feast to go with the meat, salads and cooked Servach. There was dancing and music afterwards and much drinking of ales and wines. Mari and Tomas were in an awkward stage of their relationship where they were promised to each other but not yet married. It was traditional for marriages to happen in Middle Spring with the birthing of animals providing good fortune in the creation of their own family.
It was a few days after Spring-coming when Malkarov first asked me to cast Detect Magic for him. When I asked him if I was now okay to use magic he seemed surprised, as if he had forgotten. When I reminded him of what Alladrial had said he told me that it should be alright now. Detect Magic came out very easily, as if the magic inside of me was eager to be used like a racehorse champing at the bit.
Alladrial dropped in occasionally and it wasn't uncommon for Malkarov and I to eat dinner alone one day and then all three of us to be present for breakfast the next. After one such incident of cooking only enough breakfast for two and having to reheat the pan to cook again (and berating Malkarov for failing to notify me), they took to hanging a scarf through the outside handle of Malkarov's bedroom door if Alladrial had dropped by. Alladrial cooked us elvish dinners on a few evenings and while it was absolutely delicious, he enforced strict discipline over my learning of the alien elvish etiquette.
The better portion of Early Spring seemed to go by very quickly indeed. As the weather was starting to improve and flowers beginning to bloom we spent more and more time out and about. When we did so, Malkarov took ample opportunity to point out various components for the spells that he knew.
"Even if some of us don't even need them, the rest of us do!" he exclaimed in huff when I asked why I needed to know which ones did what, "Even if you don't need them, if you spend time collecting them you can always sell them onto other wizards who might be happy to pay for them to save collecting them for themselves. Also, the more you collect now, the less I'll have to collect later."
We wandered all over Easthaven Shire with Malkarov pointing out the locations where he had often found various bugs, plants or other components.
Our wanderings were filled with little facts such as "Here, near this stream in the first tenday of Early Summer is where I was able to catch the most fireflies." or "I found these clear crystals surrounded by this reddish clay in this cliff, It took a lot of work to find enough but it's been the most reliable location."
When we went into the Shadowmark Forest (looking for a patch of goldenberries, the juice of which was apparently quite useful in a number of potions), I tried to steer Malkarov away from the area where I knew Shards altar to be. Unfortunately, he wanted to stay away from the area where he now knew the kobolds to be and we ended up walking straight into her clearing.
"So this must be the Shrine of Kobold God!" He exclaimed when he first laid eyes on it, "I'll let the council know of this location just in case."
He examined the stone and was immediately suspicious, "This is extremely old and the stone is of a sort that I do not recognise at all. I don't think that the kobolds made this themselves, it must have been here long before their arrival and they've just co-opted it."
Little did he know.
I whispered a quick greeting and prayer to Shard before we left the clearing and we did end up managing to find the patch of goldenberries.
We even crossed into Sunhaven Shire, which was a momentous occasion for me even though Malkarov hadn't actually pointed it out until we were already a mile or so past the border. On that same day that I first stepped foot out of Easthaven Shire, I also saw the home of the Baroness Eastholm; Eastholm Castle. Sunhaven Shire didn't really look any different to Easthaven Shire, which was a little disappointing to me; until Malkarov explained that much of Carn looked like any other part, except of course for the Baronocracy of Oscura which had been decimated by the Orc Wars. We stopped at the town of Sunhaven that day for a lunchtime meal at the Lazy Cricket Inn (which I was pleased to see stocked Merryman Ales). The publican; Master Willowbrush recognised Malkarov immediately and was greeted with a hearty welcome. Malkarov introduced me to him as Apprentice Wizard Sharein and he greeted me in a much more sedate (and respectful) manner. While nice, the meal wasn't anything to compare to Missus Roses cooking, although Master Willowbrush's cook did use an interesting combination of herbs than I normally would that I thought I might try myself later. Sunhaven itself was very similar to Easthaven, just slightly bigger and busier. It made sense that the only people who went to Easthaven had business in Easthaven as there was nothing else past us, while Sunhaven had roads leading to Easthaven Shire, Amarthis District, Castlemere and the Baronocracy of Oscura. I got just as many stares in Sunhaven as I did around Easthaven but I couldn't tell if it was because I was a stranger, by being in the company of Malkarov or because of my trousers.
We spent almost an entire tenday looking for a suitable piece of wood to make a staff from and although we were continuously distracted by other things, I did eventually find a long piece of Jarrah that Malkarov assured me would be eminently suitable for a staff. It was a lovely red wood and we spent a couple of days stripping the bark away from it and rubbing it down with a block of sandstone. It had a semi-circular groove in it which by rubbing along the length of the staff caused it to eventually take a smooth, round appearance. The end result was a plain length of wood the same height as me. Although I would not be enchanting it for a while and didn't actually need it to cast spells, Malkarov was adamant that I would need a staff regardless. He wouldn't actually say why, but I had the feeling that it had more to do with tradition and appearance than anything else.
All up the exercise was doing me well and although I was out of breath and tired after the first couple of excursions, I soon built up my energy (Missus Rose's meals helped, as Malkarov refused to let me cook until I felt better) and was as good as new after a tenday. A tenday later, I was starting to look a lot less haggard, more filled out and healthy looking.
On the days when we weren't going out and about, we covered the theory of the spells that Malkarov had already taught me, continued on my learning of runes and worked on brewing potions. Although I did mess up three more times, I did eventually manage to successfully brew a potion (a potion of Gorgon's Milk that would prevent the consumer from being petrified) and Malkarov was very pleased with my improvements. I read through the potion recipes prior to working on them and concentrated on learning the things to look for. I had learned half of the runes with another thirty more to go until Malkarov promised to start teaching me to combine runes and empower them. Casting Detect Magic made it easier to see the runes carved on my inhouse and read the runes to operate the lights and water and I could see some of the runes that I had learned incorporated into larger patterns. I looked forward to learning enchanting as the prospects seemed so fascinating. Essentially, using runes, so long as I could make them work I could make an object do anything with magic!
I voiced my first idea; "A rune scheme to evaporate the water from anyone who stands on the rune platform, to dry you after you get out of the bath."
Malkarov explained that to do that then you'd first have to figure out a rune scheme to differentiate between the water on the person and the person themselves, then you'd have to invent a rune scheme to do something with the water after it evaporated. It got Malkarov thinking though and when I came back from my parent's farm the next tenday I discovered that he had planned out a rune scheme to create a constant blow of wind to come from the roof to blow the water off a person. His first attempt blew a chilling wind so cold that it actually created small flurries of snow to fall. His second blew a warmer wind so hard that it knocked him to the ground when he attempted it.
He worked on it every night with the explanation that, "Once I get an idea in my head about an enchantment, I just have to work until I get it out."
He got so obsessed with the idea that I even had to wake him up in the mornings, he was staying up late until he actually fell asleep at his desk. It was fascinating to watch the rune schemes grow though. He turned it into a 'learning experience', drawing up the current iteration of the rune scheme onto a large piece of slate using chalk and explaining to me what each part did. Most of it flew straight over my head but I did pick up bits and pieces of how things worked, especially when I asked him to explain specific parts and why two runes combined to make a specific effect.
My family was very happy to see me when I returned to the farm for my visits. Mother had assured my sisters that I would be alright, that I would just sleep for a while until I recovered, but they were still very anxious for me and extremely excited to see me. They were extremely jealous when I told them about seeing Sunholm and Easthaven Castle and begged Mother to take them to see it.
Mother laughed and told them "Someday, if it's something that you will wish to see then I'm sure that you'll be able to see it. The world is a big place with so many different things to see."
Once I was cleared by Malkarov to use my magic again, I impressed all of my family with the new spells that I had learned (although Mother wouldn't let me demonstrate Feather Fall to my sisters.)
Being able to visit the farm was a nice distraction from Malkarov's lessons, but I was always eager to return for more.
