Nestor's New Shoes

Airi found Nestor sitting against the sheep pasture fence, sniffling pathetically.

“Hey.”

Nestor’s lip trembled. “Leave me alone,” he said gruffly.

Airi dropped a book into the grass next to him. Then another. There were pictures on the covers, a river and a kettle.

Nestor blinked away tears. “My spellbooks? But—”

“Who cares if Mildred doesn’t think your magic is good?” Airi saw tears pooling in his eyes and quickly said, “It doesn’t matter what she thinks."

"But it does matter!" Nestor wailed. "Mildred's the first real mage I ever met, and she... she..."

Burying his face in his knees, he broke into uncontrollable sobbing, shoulders shaking. Airi sat down beside him, thinking quietly.

"Nestor. Why do you want to study magic, anyways?"

Nestor peeked at her with tearful golden eyes. "Because I wanna help people!"

"Right." Airi smirked. If an adult had asked her why she wanted to learn magic, she would've responded with that too. Anything to get her out of this dumpy little village.

"No, I really do!" Nestor said, glaring earnestly at her.

"Okay, okay. And you're just going to let one nasty mage take that away?"

"Huh?"

"I'm asking if you really want to help people with your magic. I mean, it doesn't seem like it, since you're ready to give up already," Airi said.

"No, I do! That's the whole reason I wanna study magic!"

Airi stood up and held out her hand to Nestor. "Then come with me."

Nestor tilted his head like a confused puppy. "To where?"

Nestor's hand wavered towards Airi's. "I don't know... I might have to ask my mom..."

"But your mom said to 'get out.' That means you're not allowed back in the house, right?" Airi cajoled. "Technically, she's already given you her permission." She lowered her voice. "Besides, it's not like you're becoming the mage. You'll save the world, and I'll take all the... blame!"

"...Okay." Nestor slipped his small hand into hers, and Airi squeezed it giddily. It was all she could do not to break into a grin while Nestor wiped tears off his face.

"Great. Let’s go find the mages. I’ll talk to Mildred. Surely—"

"...They left already," Nestor said, face falling.

"Well, they can’t have gone far—!” Airi said.

“Mildred’s a wind mage."

Hearing this, Airi wanted to sink against the fence herself. Nestor’s face looked like it was about to crumple into a sob, so she hurriedly shook him. “Hey, you know how I feel right now?”

“Sad,” Nestor sniffled.

“Angry,” Airi corrected. “Because those mages are dumb, and so’s your mom. Come on. Let’s go.” She tugged at his hand, but he pulled free.

“Mom won’t let me go back home today.”

“Who said we’re going back home?” Airi said. “We’re going to chase after the mages and show them how great your magic is.”

“But... we’ll have to cross the Wrath Mountains.” Nestor pointed at the mountains that loomed over the plains in the distance. "And we don't have supplies or a map..."

“Not yet.” Airi led him away from the pasture. “But I’ll bet you have a map at home, don’t you?”

Nestor shook his head. “I’m not allowed back in the house. Mom said so.” Ah, so he really was one of those stubbornly obedient kids.

“Fine,” said Airi. “I’ll go in and get the stuff for you. Just tell me where it is.”

Airi took everything she thought might be useful: loaves of bread, cheese, a leather satchel, and woolen cloaks for the both of them. One of them looked small enough to fit Nestor, and the other was only slightly too long for Airi.

She was halfway out the door when she remembered the map she was supposed to retrieve. She looked on the bookshelf, but the top shelf was all medical books (Natural Remedies for Cough, The Physician's Guide to Mana Fever), and the bottom shelf was all fairytales (The Sleeping Princess, Wolf At the Door). She finally found The Geography of the Star’s End Plains and stuffed it into the satchel.

When she found Nestor, he was saying goodbye to the sheep in the pasture.

“I thought you thought they were stinky,” she said, grinning.

“They are.” Nestor petted the last sheep on the head. “My mom’s gonna be really mad. Are you sure we should go? Maybe we can wait for the mages to come back.”

Airi paused. “How often do stars fall?”

“Once every hundred years.”

“Yeah, no way.” She dragged Nestor down the street. "Come on, aren't you excited to go save the world?" She thought of the splendor that surely awaited them in Magisbury. She could hardly wait.

The weather got colder as they walked closer to the Wrath Mountains. When Airi thought carefully about her idea—two kids walking across a snowy mountain—she began to realize how terrible of an idea it was. It was the kind of idea that people usually shot down right away, but Nestor was only six years old, so he’d actually agreed. She tried not to think about monsters and snowstorms.

“Airi?” said Nestor in a small voice.

“What?" she snapped.

“My feet are cold. There’s water in my shoes. Can we go back and get new ones?”

“No.” Airi sighed. Did the kid have to be so demanding? She already had enough doubts of her own to worry about. “Look, you don’t need new—”

She stopped dead, remembering a couch, a television, and a father who wouldn't even look at her.

You don’t need new shoes.

Nestor yelped in surprise as Airi squatted down and hoisted him onto her shoulders, grunting from the effort.

“We’re not going back, Nestor.”