A Boy, a Dog Girl and the Way Things Are: Part Three

Honey stared across the roof of the Phoenix dorm at Chista, her arms crossed, as stern a look as possible on her face. The air was cold, with fall about to give way to winter and frost clinging to the bricks. Chista adjusted her coat, still a little lost.

“Honey, what…”

“Quiet! I’ll do the talking! For the next few weeks your butt belongs to me!”

Zack told her to say ass. She couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“Is this for the demonstration? I told you I could handle…”

“No sass back! I’m a lean, mean, behind kicking machine, and I’ll make you regret ever being born if you sass me back!”

“Honey…”

“Actually, I’d be sad if you were never born. Okay! I’ll make you regret…something else! But you’d best believe it!”

“Honey, do you want to help me train?”

“Yes please! I mean…grrr! I agree to your…um…surrender!”

“Well this plan is working out exactly as I expected,” Zack said from his room, listening at the window. He turned from it, going back to his desk to dive back into one of the countless books he had taken from Madam VanVeer. It all seemed like nonsense to him, but he was determined to find something to help Chista.

“Why don’t you simply ask Chistos for help?” Luca asked from under the desk as he read his own thick tome.

“Because I’m helping him too,” Zack said, sighing as he turned another page. “And since we’re quizzing each other, why are you under my desk?”

“I’m used to studying where I am protected from explosions, shrapnel and flying quills bursting forth from backs.”

“Your explanation was entirely too specific.”

“Noted.”

Up on the roof, Honey introduced Chista to her self proclaimed brilliant idea. A sad little tree sat in a pot before both of them, its branches dry and withered, three lonely leaves still holding on.

“What is this?” Chista asked.

“This is Twigbert!” Honey said happily.

“By all the stars in the heavens, you named the stupid plant.”

“Ahem,” Honey said, doing her best to get into serious mode. “The magic competition is all about showing how awesome you are at your favorite talent.”

“Yes. I am aware of this.”

“You want to be a healer.”

“This I am also aware of.”

“So…”

Honey gestured eagerly towards Twigbert.

“This is a plant,” Chista said.

“Yes!”

“Honey, I want to heal people.”

“But plants are easier! They don’t move and Twigbert is small and he has no internal organs! It should be much easier to heal him!”

“I don’t think your logic holds.”

“Sure it does! Look, Chista…” Honey picked up a book on plant biology beside Twigbert’s pot. “Your problem is you don’t believe in yourself. You let your stupid C rank tell you everything you can do. And I know I’m the stupid dog girl who lucked into an S rank…”

“Honey, never call yourself a stupid dog girl again,” Chista said, pointing a finger at her.

“Then YOU stop giving up before you try! Fix my plant!” Honey said, pointing right back at Chista.

“I…I can’t…I’m not a gardener.”

“You’re not a healer yet either. But you were able to put me back together in a way which shouldn’t have worked. Read the book. Fix my plant.”

Honey gave Chista the most stern look she could achieve. Finally Chista sighed and grabbed the book. “You’re not gonna leave me alone until I try, are you?”

“Nope. Ask Zack about all the times I followed him to school growing up. I’m persistent.”

“You’re something,” Chista said as she sat on the roof, beginning to read. “Alright. All I need is a way to visualize how plants work.”

“And belief. It’s how I make all my magic. Heck, I don’t even know how most of the stuff I conjure works! But you and Zack and everyone tells me I can do it, so I do it!”

“Belief, huh? Father always told me to start with the knowledge and the belief would follow. But maybe…”

Honey sat next to Chista, the cold of the roof blowing around both of them barely felt as their bodies shared warmth. Down below in the apartment, Zack stretched and shut the book he was scanning.

“There is nothing in any of these stupid crappy books for jerks about how to make a lesser ranked wizard not suck.”

“This is because such a thing is impossible,” Luca said from his hole.

“I do not believe in impossible,” Zack said, getting up to pace.

“I know. It is why I am here. I want to see what you can pull off when nature itself is telling you no.”

“Like, can’t we give Chista a potion or something? They already give normal people powers,” Zack said with a frustrated sigh.

“First, it is against competition rules to augment yourself with a potion. Second, it wouldn’t solve Chista’s problem. She fundamentally does not believe she is a talented wizard.”

“I don’t get it! When we first got here Chista and her dad swooped in on their carpet and saved our lives! She summoned up vines and tripped two guys!”

Luca closed his book, bowing his head while he thought. “My father comes from a prominent wizard family, you know. He was devastated when he found out he had no magical abilities.”

“He was?”

“For about a day.” Luca stood, stretched and adjusted his glasses. “Then he reprioritized his life. He wanted to work with magic. He still could. His exact dream of being a powerful wizard died, but he quickly embraced what he could do.”

“Prioritized…” Zack walked out of the room, Luca close behind, headed towards the kitchen. Chistos sat in his chair, eyes closed the orb playing classical music in a concentrated bubble around his head. He filled a bowl with chips, his mind racing.

“What?”

“Maybe Chista's problem isn’t how to be a good wizard. Maybe her problem is understanding why she should be…”