Master and Pupil Part 2

Mahannana cradled her staff appreciatively, still in awe that it was really hers. ‘I can’t believe this is actually happening! A staff of my own to do magic with...!’ It wasn’t anything elaborate; just a staff made of smooth green wood with a pale blue orb encaged in what was essentially a little pavilion on top. But it was still beautiful, and it was hers. “He-he! That look on your face is priceless!” Elfrida rested her face in her hands and grinned ear-to-ear. "I definitely chose right! Now, let’s get started. I know just the book that should help! Now...the question is what did I do with it?”

Mahannana sat perched on the edge of a fancy chair as the librarian proceeded to shove over entire piles of books in her frantic search. As the mage clutched her new magical instrument, she forced herself to hold back her comments on Elfrida’s mess of an office.

“ I guess I can get started with explaining stuff. I’m gonna loan you the book...if I can find it...and have you read it. It explains some of the basic types and categorizations of magic and how to cast specific basic spells. Having some formulas or basic ideas to start off of can be helpful."

“The visualization thing. And having confidence in what you’re doing” Mahannana recalled. “Exactly! Magic is one of those things than is hard to explain in words, especially if someone has no knowledge of it whatsoever. It’s so broad and flexible that, at least when you get started, you just need to jump in.” Seemingly giving up on the book, Elfrida sat down atop a stack and crossed her legs like a proper lady. “All right then. I want you to make that chair levitate!” She gestured with her head to the empty chair next to Mahannana.

“What?” “You heard me. Do it!” Mahannana felt her anxiety bubbling up from being put on the spot, but she didn't want to annoy Elfrida. “O-okay!” She stood up and clutched her staff tightly to control her emotions. She took a few breaths and stared at the chair. ‘Okay, okay, I can do this!’

Mahannana held her staff out, closed her eyes, and focused. ‘Chair in air, that’s all I gotta do.’ She opened her eyes. ‘Up!’ Immediately, the legs under the armchair started glowing and it flew up into the air; hovering like a balloon that a child had lost their grip on. Mahannana’s face lit up. “I did it!”

Elfrida clapped. “Very good, Ma-Chan! See what I mean? It’s easy enough to do and thinking too much can sabotage your effectiveness. Alright, now trying to put it down. Gently.”

‘Balloon...that’s it! Think of it as a balloon slowly having the air let out of it!’ Mahannana pointed her staff at where the chair had originally been and, slowly, the object drifted down and landing without as much as a sound.“That was perfect!” Elfrida’s eyes popped. “Not even I was able to get it  on my first try!” Mahannana turned to her. “You didn’t?”

“I was so nervous that I ended up launching the boulder into the ceiling...My teacher was very much a proponent of making things more difficult than they needed to be." She added, seeing the confused look on the girl's face "He thought that heavier objects and more complex demands was what would help you learn but, really, the opposite is true. If you start small, then you can easily apply the principle to bigger things. If you start off big, you’ll overestimate what you need to do. That’s how he ended up with a hole in his roof.. It’s about the complexity of the task at hand, not the items involved.” Elfrida snapped her fingers.“Okay, next task! Organize that pile of books so we can read all the spines!” 

Mahannana eyed her suspiciously. “Are you just using me to clean your office?” “...perhaps?” Elfrida shrugged sheepishly. “In my defense, I want that book to loan you, but it’ll take forever at this rate! You need practice and I need help cleaning so it’s a win for both of us. Less yakking, more stacking!”

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With the precision of a neurosurgeon, Selena used one of her large claws to turn the page. ‘I suppose it’s like using my fingers, but I just have to make sure I’m not cutting anything. These suckers are sharp!’ She scanned the page of Aetheron: A History. Before Elfrida had taken Madoka, she’d shown Selena how to use the automated research system. Basically, all you had to do was speak what information you wanted into a magic crystal, and it would automatically pull and deliver the most relevant resources. It was a godsend, as they could have spent a year in the library without reaching the top levels.

She’d been able to find Umbria town records that had identified it as a large town in the kingdom of Aetheron. Nyxphiria was apparently the name of this world. From what Selena could gather, it was basically a typical fantasy hodgepodge of different creatures and peoples, though the kingdom was majority human. Selena squinted at the book's map in frustration. She could see that the kingdom that bordered Aetheron down south was called Gilelel and labeled as human nation, but someone had scribbled out the name of the kingdom that bordered Aetheron in the north.

‘There’s always that one idiot.’ Selena grumbled, cursing the fool who’d defaced the book. With an effort that made her eyes feel like they were on fire, she finally made out that the kingdom was named Filavel, but it was pointless trying to make out its classification. Sighing, she gingerly picked up the book in her mouth and padded over to the table where Aqua was poring over plant charts.

“Aqua, I need your help.” She set the book in front of him and gestured with her nose. “Someone messed with this book. I can tell that this kingdom is called Filavel, but they scribbled out what the population make up is.” Aqua gasped and the bundle of papers in his hand fell to the floor.

“What?” Selena snapped, her reading headache finally catching up with her. “Oh, you don’t know. There’s no way you could possibly know.” Aqua looked unsettled, as if he expected someone to pounce on him at any second. “That’s the elf kingdom.” He whispered so faintly that only Selena’s canine hearing could have picked it up. “We...we don’t say their name. And we don’t talk about them unless necessary. It’s a taboo topic and a taboo name."

“Why?” Selena asked, confused. ‘Isn’t this a fantasy world? Aren’t elves normal in this sort of environment?’ Aqua cringed. “Well...they hate humans, to put it very mildly. They think humans are a stain on the earth. And well...they’ll fight any humans because they think we’re so repulsive. Basically, they’re at war with all human kingdoms by nature of humans being human. But Aetheron and...Filavel...” Aqua could barely force out the name. “We've been at war ever since the Kingdom was founded hundreds of years ago. They didn’t like humans moving in close to them or something like that.” Aqua scanned the library. “I know a book that should explain it. Sorry, I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it, especially in a public place.”

Selena felt a sinking feeling in her gut. “That’s right on the other side of the Kingdom! Are we safe?” Aqua waved his hands frantically. “Yes, of course! They don’t like humans, so the fighting remains localized to the boarder region. Umbria is in the South so there’s no chance that any of...them...will come this far.” Selena sighed. “Good. You had me scared that we were in an active war zone! That would be tremendously helpful. I can learn about the elves without having to talk to anyone else.” She noticed Aqua flinch at the word 'elves'. “Don’t worry, I won’t bring them up again.” Aqua nodded and headed over to the automated crystal to request the book.

‘What sort of world is this, where elves are such a taboo topic?’ she wondered ‘I thought elves were always the fairest and purest beings? Are they evil or something here?’ Unlike her daughter, she wasn’t hyper aware of fantasy tropes. She liked playing video games with Madoka, but she had only a surface level recognition of the different creatures that would regularly appear. Most of she knew came from books like Lord of the Rings that she’d read as a teenager, too, so she was operating off a different concept than her daughter. ‘Still, though, elves are highly common in fantasy games and manga. They’re a basic staple of magical worlds! So why is it different here?’

“Mama! Mama!” Madoka’s voice echoed throughout the library. Selena swiveled her head around, trying to pinpoint where her daughter’s voice was coming from. “Mama, over here!” Selena looked towards the railing at the edge of the floor and had to do a double take. Drifting lazily down like a butterfly on a draft, Madoka was floating in the open air.

“What the-?” Selena ran to the railing and looked down. They had to be at least twenty floors up! Her daughter seemed completely unbothered by the height. “Look, Mama! Elfrida-Chan taught me how to move and levitate stuff! I can move furniture!”

“And fly!” Selena gasped. “How are you doing that? Ooh, please put your feet on the ground! Just watching you is making me nauseous! How are you fine with being so high up?” Madoka shrugged as she floated over the barrier. “I just am, I guess? Feels kinda like riding a Ferris wheel at the amusement park.” The girl said as she gently touched down. “How did it go?” Selena asked anxiously.“It was fun! I mean, Elfrida-Chan did basically use me to help clean up her office, but she said I’m a natural!” Selena noticed the green staff clenched tightly in her daughter’s hands. "Did she give you that?” 

“Yes and no. I summoned it. It’s mine. First, we did a test to see how strong my manna is and found out I’m gifted in healing and offensive combat magic! Then I got to summon my staff. And the cleaning part was so I could get a feel for how magic works and learn basic things like moving objects. She taught me a few other spells, too, and is going to loan me a few books to study.” Madoka swayed giddily, unable to hold in her excitement. “She wants me to study and practice on my own for a week and then come back again! She’s thinking maybe we’ll have lessons every two or three days, but she wants to see how far I can get with the basics on my own.” Madoka grinned. “I’m really excited for one of the books! She wants me to focus on the basics, but she also wants me to read a book as an introduction to the idea of healing magic! That’s the part I’m looking forward to! Doing magic is fun on its own, but the idea of healing is interesting, and I think that’s going to be more helpful, you know? Even if I can’t do anything that we can profit off for a while, if I can heal minor injuries, then we’ll at least not have to spend money on that, right?”

Selena took in the avalanch of information her daughter had shared. While she still wasn’t keen on  Madoka learning magic and the idea of her learning anything combat related seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, her daughter’s demeanor was reassuring. Madoka was homed in and clearly paying attention to the instructions she was being given. Not only that, but she was actively wanting to do research and read on her own. Selena couldn’t remember the last time that getting Madoka to do her homework hadn’t been a war of avoidance!

“Don’t worry about being able to help me. Me and Aqua will figure something out money-wise. You just focus on your studies, alright? Enjoy yourself.” Madoka lunged forward and gave her mother a tight hug. “I promise I'll work hard! I like this and Elfrida-Chan is nice. I was worried you weren’t going to let me keep coming, so thank you!” Selena felt a twinge of guilt.

Her daughter wasn’t wrong. She’d been waiting to see how today had turned out, but she had been heavily leaning towards discouraging Madoka from perusing magic studies. She could hurt herself; she’d lose interest fast; they were going to go home eventually and wouldn’t have access to magic anymore; a dozen excuses had piled up in her mind. But it seemed cruel to deny her daughter the opportunity to do something enjoyable just because she was worried about all the ‘what-ifs’. ‘This world isn’t the same as ours’ She conceded. ‘The same logic doesn't apply. Besides, Ma-Chan is fifteen. She’s getting to the point where I should ease up and let her have some freedom, at least. If the freedom she wants is to study something, then I’d be an idiot to prevent her from learning.’

“I don’t see why you can’t keep studying with Elfrida, as long as you keep up with the work she gives you. Speaking of which, Aqua went to get a book for me. What do you say we pick up our reading materials and ask Aqua if we can get lunch?” Madoka nodded vigorously.

 “But...please take the platform down. This library is reawakening my fear of heights.”