Chapter 6: Lessons In Patience

It's been days since Ikora's duel with Riven and her recovery. 

Sitting outside the disciplinary office with her bag slung over one shoulder, she tapped her fingers against her knees.

The door creaked open and she looked up as an assistant waved her inside, where she followed and sat.

“Miss Blackhart,” Aliss said, not looking up from the papers on her desk. “Your community service assignments have been prepared.” 

“You are to promptly report to each location and complete your tasks without complaint unless necessary.”

“Understood, yes or no?”

“I have one question though, what about Riv–”

“Yes or no, Blackhart.”

“...Yes ma'am…” Ikora muttered.

“Excellent.” Aliss handed Ikora a list. “Your assignments will be as follows: Tend to the gardens on Elementis Isle, assist in the library’s organization, and repair the floating pathways on Evarji.”

“You are to ask the supervisors of each task whenever you require assistance.”

Ikora blinked. “Wait, that’s it? No detention? No suspension?”

The dean raised an eyebrow “Would you prefer detention, Miss Blackhart?”

“No, ma’am. Just… surprised.”

“Surprised about what?” The Dean asked.

“This doesn't seem much like a punishment at all. What are these, chores? I thought It’d be worse.”

“Ohhh I see…” Aliss let out a laugh.

“I see, you think that's too easy? I suppose we could, oh I don't know, have you clean all the islands top to bottom.”

“Perhaps do a deep clean of the campus depths, does that sound good to you? Does that suit you better?”

“No, no, I'm good! I can start on these!” 

“Good, now consider this your lesson in responsibility, just as all Novices should learn.”

“Take this watch, it's a timer that will alert you every two hours to move on to your job.”

“Now, get to work.”

“Understood!” Ikora replied as she grabbed her bag, took the watch, and rushed out of the office.

After hours passed, Ikora finished with her classes and now found herself at the academy's garden. 

She set her belongings down before meeting the Caretaker who greeted her kindly and began showing Ikora the ropes. 

A hunched old man—polite and respectful, often trying to make small talk. He wore a loose green shirt, and dirt-stained trousers, topped off with a wide-brimmed hat that shaded his eyes.

The garden of Elementis Isle was a vibrant sweep of color, alive with movement and filled with creatures and plants of every kind—many unfamiliar to Ikora’s eyes.

Once the Caretaker finished showing her around, he passed her a set of tools. Without a word, she got to work.

Hours later…

She knelt on the ground with her hands buried in the soil with the dirt stuck between her nails. Around her, plants of every color and size swayed gently, their leaves glowing as they each made distinct noises.

A small rabbit-like creature with glowing antlers hopped over, sniffing at her boots.

“I'm working, shoo!” she muttered, pulling weeds from around a bed of flowers that snapped their thorny teeth at her when she got close.

“Can you guys stop being so difficult…”

The Caretaker approached her and spoke. “Careful with how you handle those. They’ve got quite the temper and are quite delicate.”

Ikora rolled her eyes. “What are these things, why do we keep them anyway?”

“Those are Snapdragons, youngin’.” His hunched frame approached one of the Snapdragons as he held his hand out. 

A purple Snapdragon let out a low growl, slowly stretching its leafy wings as it rubbed up against the man's glove. 

“Believe it or not, these pretty fellas help keep the garden safe from both insects and threats to the student's safety.”

“Oh?” Ikora stopped and looked up at the Snapdragon she was tenting to. It turned to her and stretched outwards, letting out a bit of smoke from its nostrils as Ikora scooted back. 

“Treat them like the friends that they are. Snapdragons can be some of those most loyal partners you've ever had.”

“Just be patient.”

“Patient, huh?” She thought to herself. 

A moment later, an alarm on the watch had gone off, prompting Ikora to pack up her tools, grab her bag, and head to the neck island.

Working at the library's archive was like navigating a maze of towering shelves, each filled with millennia-old books, grimoires, books, and glowing scrolls. 

Ikora balanced herself on a ladder, trying to reshelve a book as she gripped its spine tightly from its wriggling in her hands.

But it slipped.

“Stand… still!” she hissed as she grabbed the book again, and it snapped at her fingers before taking off.

Ikora covered herself as she tried to swat the book away from her, only to lose balance and fall down the ladder, piles of scrolls and books falling on her as she watched the flying book's pages flap like wings.

“Are you serious?!”

The book landed in the arms of an individual. “Miss Blackhart,” Atilus said while approaching her. 

“Perhaps you shouldn't be so rough with the books?”

Ikora groaned, moving the piles of books off of her as she rubbed her head.

“Why so?”

“Hmm, how would you feel if you were grabbed by your hair by Hotel staff and dragged all over the place before being forced into a different room?”

Grabbing a stack of books, setting one hand on top and the other on the bottom. 

Atilus carefully sorted them out while humming to himself, fitting the books into their designated places with ease.

“Is that how the books see us? Hotel staff?”

Atilus nodded. “Now then, you try.”

Ikora eyed him for a moment before approaching another stack of books. This time, she gently placed one hand at the top, and one hand at the bottom, then lifted them both.

With focus, the stack of books began to float between her two hands with little resistance.

She worked, and the books worked with her. Ikora moved from shelf to shelf, pointing her fingers at each open spot. With guidance, they fit into their appropriate sections as Atilus watched.

“Very well done!” He smiled as he clapped his hands. “It's not every day I see somebody who gets along with the books that quickly, they must have a thing for you!”

“Thanks for the advice; if you weren't here, the library might have been down a book or two!”

“Ha… ha… yeah…” 

“Come here, I need you to listen.” Atilus leaned in close and Ikora did the same, lending her ear to him.

“Be careful what you say in the library, the books here understand all languages and remember!”

“Ohhhh…”  Her gaze moved up, watching the sea of shelves, and it felt as if they were watching her.

“That is all, just treat them how you'd want to be treated!” He said.

“Thank you! I'll be sure to do better next time I'm here!”

With the new information and her second job done, she left the library and made her way to the school's maintenance building.

Ikora lay under a narrow platform, a wand in hand and flashlight held between her teeth as she worked to repair a section of the floating pathway.

The wind whistled through the gaps of the floating platforms as Ikora steadied herself. 

“C’mon, work with me…” She muttered.

Mana flowed from the tips of her wand and into the tile. The stone flickered, stabilized—and then dimmed again with a dull flick.

Groaning, Ikora dropped the flashlight into her hand. “Seriously, what's going on here?”

The tile above her rattled slightly, revealing faded spots on its surface that marked enchantment lines.

“Huh…”

Ikora brought herself closer to the tile in an attempt to open it up further, not noticing the footsteps approaching behind her.

“Yep, that one’s always been picky,” came a voice from above. “Always has issues.”

Ikora jolted, smacking her head on the tile. “Ow—what the—?”

Sliding out from under the platform and wiping the dirt and dust off her face, she looked up to see a man standing nearby. 

He was middle-aged, wearing worn work robes and boots, and carried a bag of tools over his shoulders.

A patch on his coat identified him as part of the WAMA's Maintenance Crew.

“I didn’t mean to startle ya,” he said with a smile. 

“Name’s Harren, Supervisor of the Maintenance Team. You’re the new guy—girl—assigned here today, I take it?”

Ikora pushed herself to her feet, dusting off her pants as she nodded.

“You were the guy that left the note of instructions! What were you doing?”

“Ah yeah, ‘pologies, I had to handle something rather important,” Harren said as he walked past her. “Glad you seem to know what you're doing, got some prior experience?”

“Fixing pathways? No, just detected the patterns of how the Mana seems to flow through the tiles.”

He nodded his head. “Mhm… nice!” Glancing around the pathway, a look of satisfaction grew on Harren's face.

“Well done, well done!”

“Thanks! But, I couldn't figure out what's wrong with this tile here.”

He stepped over and crouched beside the malfunctioning tile, producing light from the tip of his wand.

“So let me guess—you transferred the Mana, some brief stabilization, light up, then poof, smoke?” Harren asked as he shifted around with the path.

“Pretty much.”

“Yep, path’s been through half a dozen enchant cycles over the years.” He explained, gesturing to the lines where the mana flowed in.

“So what do we do about it?” Ikora asked, kneeling beside him again.

“Well, we could either replace it or use some tape and glue, get it going for another couple ten-twenty years? Maybe thirty.” Harren replied. 

“It ain't dangerous, just uh… temperamental.”

“How about this, you make the call.”

“Are you asking me to choose or are you telling me to choose?” 

Harren didn't respond.

“Right–uhh, let's replace it!” 

“Replacin’ it is.”

Harren motioned over to something out of view, and dozens of crystal plates flew over before neatly getting in line. 

“There we go, see somethin’ you like?”

Ikora tilted her head and then pointed towards one of the tiles.  “That one looks pretty!”

Harren shrugged, “All of ‘em are pretty, but a'ight.”

Silence passed as the two stared at each other.

“Are you… going to replace the tile?” Ikora asked.

“Oh, pfft! Nah, nah.” Harren picked up the tile and tossed it to Ikora who caught it. “That's your job ain't it?”

“But I will…” Harren took off the old panel, then held his hand out as it floated in front of his face and began to disassemble itself. “Take care of the hard part.”

“That doesn't look hard at all…” 

“Because I have experience and precision with my Mana control, allowing me to take apart the smallest of things. Do you have that much control of your own?”

“N-No, but I'm sure I could figure it out. Thanks, Harren.” She set the new tile in place, then took out her wand as she began to channel Mana into the new tile. 

“Supervisor, Harren.” He corrected.

“Yeah–right, Supervisor Harren.”

He gave a small nod, adjusting the strap on his bag. “Uh-huh, report to the Maintenance Hall when you’re finished checking the last tiles, you’ve done enough.”

Ikora watched him leave before getting back to her assignment, Gertrude passing over her head and casting its shadow as she finished up with the checks.

Afterward, she gathered her tools, slung her bag over her shoulder, and made her way back to the Maintenance Hall.

“Phew, that was a bit harder than I expected.”