Chapter 3

Tobian swore me to secrecy, not that I knew really anything about his past beyond what he just showed me. No one seemed to know anything about him as he had just shown up one day, slept under the cluster of trees, and hunted the occasional wild animal. As far as strangers went, he existed in a nebulous cross between a wild hobo to steer clear of and a harmless passerby that simply hadn’t settled in yet. It helped that he was friendly, greeting and introducing himself to anyone he saw more than once. So the neighbours, including Jard, got together later that first week he had appeared, he was deemed not a threat to our outskirts community. Though his disheveled appearance did give some customers from the city a spook if they happened to see him passing by.

Jard had made a rich beef stew while I was out; it was one of the more expensive and time consuming dishes for him to provide us and I suspected it was a special occasion for our first days in our apprenticeships, though he didn’t officially say. I could smell the stewing beef in the broth, courtesy of farmer Horray down the path, as I had gotten back. I was just a few minutes longer before Old Thomas brought his carriage around, returning Rose from the city walls.

I set the table in silence and my father didn’t press me on where I had been, leaving sleeping dogs to lie as we settled into the routine of preparing for dinner, and he set the steaming bowls on the table as Rose walked in, grinning from ear to ear upon smelling the food, upon smelling the food, her day seeming to be getting better and better with each new development. She wasted no time sliding into her seat but waited for us to join her before eagerly dipping her spoon.

“Tobian is doing well,” I mentioned unprompted as we began to eat dinner.

Jard nodded, not seemingly interested but still appearing to take note of what I said. He didn’t comment though as he instead turned to Rose, who looked ready to burst with news. “How was it?”

He barely finished before she began talking over his final word. “It was really interesting! There were so many people in the city. We’re connected to the launderer’s building, you see, and so had people walking past all day. I never realized how many people were in the city! They showed me how to use some of the equipment and take measurements. I even saw them working on the fabric for a beautiful blue cape—”

THUNK!

Jard’s wooden mug clattered against the table as he either slammed or simply dropped it the last couple inches. Rose fell silent, startled by the clammer. “With gold trim?” he asked as we both turned to him.

“Um, yes? They were quite pretty.”

“Stay away from those,” he chastised. “Those are mage robes. You saw who was wearing them?”

“A mage?” I saw her eyes lit up for an instant before she looked a bit away from him.

“We’ve talked about this,” he said with a heavy sigh. “They might as well be criminals.”

“Well, he was criminally flirtatious,” she said with a smirk that aed to supersede her age.

Jard’s expression darkened as he didn’t laugh, and gave me the stink eye when I failed to suppress a chuckle. “I don’t want you talking to him, or any other military mage that goes there. Is that understood, Rose?”

“Well, I have to speak to them if it’s part of my job. I can’t appear to be too difficult before I’m even thirteen. You think I’ll be accepted as a full apprentice in a year if that’s the case?” she asked back. It impressed me the way she could reason on the spot, and I had forgotten about the annual apprenticeship renewal; with my father my renewal was a foregone conclusion.

I could see the way his jaw clenched, locking away an admission that she was right. But he didn’t object either, letting the argument die quietly. He turned back down to his bowl as he stewed over the conflicting circumstances.

“Besides,” Rose pressed, “sure some people seem to avoid them but I don’t see the issue with the military mages. It seems a proud profession.”

Jard’s spoon smacked the side of his bowl, spilling the thick broth onto the table. “Rose,” his words grated through clenched teeth as he wouldn’t look her in the eye, “I am giving you a final warning. There is to be no more talk of mages or magic in this house. Am I understood!? Rose!? Ren!?” He turned to each of us, raising his head just a bit, and I could see his eyes, full and red.

“...Y-yes,” Rose conceded, cowering at her father’s raised voice, her response as quiet as his demand was loud.

“Yes, sir,” I echoed her, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. All my past life I had dreamed of this, a world of magic, I had seen it in books and shows. Who are you to deny me that!? I wanted to yell at the man that was only a little older than my true age.

But I didn’t.

I sat. And I waited. And I ate my dinner in silence.

It was Rose’s turn to clean up after dinner, and I took the chance to steal the last light of day for myself. “I’m going for a walk,” I told my father as I headed out the door, the first words since our argument at dinner, and the last as I left our humble house. He didn’t object, just sitting at the table even after it had already been cleared. I didn’t wait for his permission to leave. I had been something of a people pleaser in my old life, and I was well aware of where that got me in the end. So I didn’t wait but walked out the door, jogging toward the grove of trees a couple properties over.

“Tobian? Tobian!?” I called out, trying to find the drifter where he was before. I finally spotted him under a different tree than earlier in the day, snoozing softly with his hat pulled over his face. He appeared completely at ease, dead to the worries of life as his body seemed to fit perfectly into the natural form of the tree. “Tobian!” I shouted as I ran up to him, waking him from his early evening nap.

“…Hmmm?” He straightened his patchy hat, pulling up the low front brim previously draped to cover more of his eyes from the sun. “Ren? Don’t you know that sleep is good for the soul?” He let out a yawn, bringing himself back out of his grogginess as I stood there waiting. I caught myself tapping my foot, holding back from complaining as he readied himself to actually engage. For a second it looked like he was about to settle back down but with a hand under him he pushed himself and stood, dusting off the bottom of his worn pants.

“How can I help you, Ren?”

I felt ready to explode as he finally acknowledged me. “I want you to teach me magic,” I spit out, my mind made up about what my father said.

A grin spread across his face, his crooked teeth flashing against his scruffy jaw.

“Gladly.”