Chapter 46-48

The New Sorcerer

They arrived at Albert's manor about fifteen minutes before the meeting. A good portion of the Order was already there, chatting and sipping tea. At the announcement of apple tea, many fellows greedily crowded the teapots and poured themselves cups.

They found Albert already talking excitedly with Christia. He saw them and beamed. "Come this way, let's talk before the meeting starts." He led them off to the side and happily thanked them for the tea. "It is really quite appreciated. And Christia tells me you've discovered how to make it so others can cast spells?" he asked, lowering his voice to an excited whisper.

Rienna nodded.

"Marvelous! And you do remember that I am announcing your existence today, right? Good." He glanced at his watch. "Well, then, I must go take my seat. It's almost time to start." He rushed back into the growing crowd.

They rejoined the rest of the Order and waited for the meeting to start. A few moments before three, a tall man with short, cropped hair approached Dave and Evie. It was clear that he was a messenger. "Hello," he said pleasantly. "Are you Mr. and Mrs. Salvinen?"

"We are," Dave said cautiously.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tom Burchwile. You'll be seeing me a lot at the beginnings of these meetings," the man said. "I collect any news for the messenger representatives before their announcements. Have you made any progress yet?"

"Not noticeably. We've got a couple neighbors considering boycotting the magic crops, but nothing very important," Evie supplied.

"Alright, then. And thank you, any efforts are appreciated." He nodded to them and walked off towards the center table.

Moments later Albert was at the head of the table and loudly announcing the beginning of the meeting. "Welcome! Welcome! Let’s start the meeting. Messengers, you're up first."

Rienna found the announcements of the different factions to be as boring as before.The messenger ambassador spoke blandly and the so-called ‘spy’ didn't seem to know what to say. Apparently, less and less guards were being let into the Sovereign's fortress, so nothing new could be reported.

After the explorers' ambassador gave his report, Albert stood and clapped merrily. "Thank you, explorers. As we conclude our meeting, I have an announcement of my own regarding last time's troubling news of a new sorcerer on the loose."

Rienna tensed as the crowd began to murmur. Last time, they had already seemed so ready to consider any new magic doer an enemy. She hoped she wouldn't get any hostile responses.

After waiting a moment for people to quiet, Albert continued, "I'm pleased to inform you that the sorcerer is one of our very own! That's right, someone in this very same secret headquarters has magic!"

Rienna wished he hadn't said that. Now everyone was looking at each other suspiciously, trying to decide if the person next to them was magic. Even the other people at the table seemed surprised at what Albert had said.

"Already, we are planning a way to overcome the Sovereign's magic and reinstate the throne!" Albert announced. "Rienna Salvinen is working with university alchemist, Christia Erven to create objects we can use to defeat the evil sorceress. By our next meeting, I'm sure we'll be able to challenge the Sovereign!"

The crowed clapped like they were obviously expected to by Albert. But by the looks on their faces, they had no idea what was going on, or who she was.

When the applause died down, one of the other members sitting at the table cleared their throat and spoke up. "Sorry, who is this new sorcerer? What faction do they belong to?"

Albert's smile faltered for a moment. "Oh. Right. Got ahead of myself there. Some of you may have been wondering why there's a child among our ranks," he started. Everyone around Rienna turned to look at her in shock. Her mother grabbed her shoulders comfortingly. "She was accidentally chased into the Alyene by one of our own explorers, who I assure you, has faced his consequences. She came back just a few days before our last meeting with magic."

"How old is she?" one of the table members asked, to Rienna's annoyance.

Albert started to fidget. "Ah, well… she's… she's eleven."

"An eleven year old is going to stop the Sovereign?"

"She has magic," Albert reminded them.

"I've seen no evidence of that," a table member said.

Albert looked almost as offended as Rienna felt. "You think I would not tell you the truth?! Fine. Miss Salvinen, if you may, could you please show the rest of the Order your magic?"

Silence fell as everyone looked back at Rienna. She felt her mother's hand on her shoulder squeeze gently, and closed her eyes to avoid the crowd as she cast her spell. She sent a ball of light into the center of the table and made it harmlessly explode in all of the annoying table members faces.

People gasped. Rienna heard clapping and opened her eyes. She found herself smiling shyly at the people beaming around her while leaning into her mother’s presence behind her.

Albert was also grinning again. "There you have it! Remember! This information stays within the official members of the Order of the Jevitan. Are there any questions?" Many hands went up, both table members and otherwise. Albert started with everyone sitting at the table.

"Is she a messenger? or an explorer?"

"I would say neither. She has her own category within the order."

"How did she get magic?"

"Probably not a good idea to make that public knowledge, no?"

"What else can she do? How will this let us win?"

"We are still discovering the extent of her magic."

The questions kept going for another twenty minutes. Rienna was tense the entire time. A lot of them sounded like questions that would make more sense to ask her about. Certainly not Albert, who knew just as much about magicka as the rest of the people in the room, in other words, not at all.

Finally, Albert declared that more would be said at the next meeting and politely told them all to leave. Unlike last time, people didn't rush to get out the door. They kept asking Albert questions if they could get to him, and people started crowding around Rienna, trying to get answers out of her or just get a look at her.

Some people even started to try and bribe her.

An elderly woman with sparkly white hair found her way through the crowd to Rienna and immediately put Rienna's hand in both of hers. "Hello, Rienna, it is quite the pleasure to meet you. I'm Josephine Mailwark. You know, I always think it's best to look your part, and you certainly don't look very magic as you are now," she said, speaking quickly and clearly. When Rienna tried to pull away, the woman's grip only got tighter. "Now, I have a wonderful personal tailor who I could set you up with. And while your dresses are being made, maybe we could talk about a party I'll be hosting, maybe you could help with the lighting?"

"I've got enough clothes, thanks," Rienna said with a forced smile, finally pulling away.

Other people were less subtle.

"Hello, Rehma. If you give me wares an extra spahrkle, I'd give you half of the profits. Whuat do you say?" one oily merchant said, weirdly adding extra ‘h’ sounds into his words.

They pushed past and squeezed past the people crowding the stairs, many of them trying to talk to Rienna.

“Hi, Rienna! I’m Mary. It’s so nice to meet you! What can you do with your magic? How does it work? Can you–”

"After we win against the Sovereign, if you'd like a well paying job I've–"

"I'm so glad you're not an evil witch. I was sort of worried there for a moment. My name–"

"Hello! I'm the owner of Creg's Tinkering shop. I'd love if you came to visit! And, oh– you're gone."

The moment they got out of the secret base, they rushed outside. After that, they were weirdly left alone. They kept away from anyone they saw and hurried back to their wagon, ready to leave and return home.

But someone was waiting for them.

He leaned back against the wagon and watched them approach with a look of annoyance on his face. He seemed unpleasant, and Rienna found his haircut rather ugly. Based on his clothes, he was not of noble status.

"Excuse me," Dave said, "What are you doing here? If you wish to try and rob us, I would advise against it."

"I'm not here to rob you," the man said dully. "I want to talk to her." He pointed at Rienna.

"Who are you?" Dave demanded.

"A former explorer, now messenger," he said, brandishing a silver ring. "And it's your daughter's fault that I am."

"What do you mean? How could it be her fault?" Evie said.

"She said that I forced her into the Alyene and tried to kill her. Now I'm here."

"You pulled a knife on me!" Rienna protested, suddenly recognizing the man.

"To scare you, you little brat! Not to hurt you! I just want what's mine."

"What? I don't have anything of yours."

"The crystal, stupid," the former explorer snarled.

"You can't have it," Evie said, somewhat to Rienna’s surprise. "And it's not yours."

"Leave. Before I have to force you," Dave warned.

He glared at all of them and stepped forward threateningly. He stopped, his hands in fists, and left.

Rienna wanted to blast a bolt of magic at him for good measure, but knew better. What a terrible person! I wish he could've been kicked out for good. "We should tell Albert so he doesn't try that again."

"I don't think we should do that," Evie said as Dave directed the horses to start moving.

"Why not?!"

"Because he's the kind of person who would tell the Sovereign about the Order out of spite."

Rienna had no response to that. Could someone really be so evil? She sat back with a resigned sigh.

After a moment of rolling down the road, the silence was broken. "Hey, guys? Someone is running towards us," Luke said, pointing behind the wagon. "He's waving some papers, too."

Rienna looked back into the fog. Someone was running towards them. The wagon slowed and he got closer. Soon they could hear him yelling. "Wait! Wait! It's Jerry! Wait!"

They stopped and he finally caught up and started to catch his breath. "Wait... Albert... wants you… to… go… to the palace." Jerry steadied himself on the wagon and waved his papers in Dave's face. "Take these. They… let you… get in. Wow. I haven't run like that in fifteen years."

"When are we supposed to go to the palace? And why?" Dave asked, taking the papers.

"Albert wants you to explain the situation with the… you know… magic," Jerry said in a whisper, glancing at Rienna. "He wants you to plan things."

"Yes, but when?"

"Now!" Jerry said. "He wants you to have dinner with them!"

"Do they know we're coming?" Luke asked.

Jerry nodded. "Yes. And they know some about the magic. They expect you in forty minutes."

"Forty minutes!" Dave said, astonished. "How do we even get there!?"

Jerry took a few more deep breaths and pointed back. "You have to go that way and around to the south of the palace. That's the only entrance. Guards there will tell you how to get up, and Luke knows the way." Luke nodded. "You have to leave now, though. You can't get to the entrance from the west side of Vieryen."

Dave sighed frustratedly. "Okay. Thank you, Jerry." He handed Evie the papers and set the horses walking again to turn around. "Tell Albert to maybe let us know sooner next time, okay?"

Jerry nodded and leaned against a light post "Of course. I'll do that in just… a second."

They rolled off back towards the nobles' neighborhoods.

"I can't believe this!" Evie cried. "We aren't dressed for royalty! They'll think we're being disrespectful!"

"No, they won't," Luke said. "They treat me the same no matter what I wear."

"But this is for dinner! Dinners are formalities!" Evie fretted.

"We'll be fine." Luke insisted. "They want us to be there."

"It's too late now to worry about it," Rienna added.

Evie nodded. "I know. I know. But, they’re are future royalty, shouldn’t we be trying to impress them?"

"We'll be fine," Luke said again.

The horses clip-clopped onward on the gravely road. Rienna wished she brought a jacket. They couldn't even see the palace in the thick grey sky. They just knew it was somewhere up there.

Soon, a tall cliff face emerged from the fog ahead. Rienna strained to see the palace that she knew must be atop the mesa. Every once and a while, a silhouetted spire would appear high above, but it always quickly faded back into obscurity.

They travelled along the bottom of the cliff the palace sat upon working their way towards the south. They rolled onto a grey brick road that was well maintained and very official looking, weirdly clean with so many years of disuse. They crossed over a similarly pristine bridge that went over a dry stream and soon arrived at a set of bronze metal gates.

They stopped in front of two guards as one stepped forward, a shiny silver sword attached to his belt. "You are on the road to the palace. Do you have business here?" Both guards were not dressed like the regular soldiers around Vieryen, or even the fairyeld. They had green feathers in their helmets and their armor was ornate and oddly clean as the road.

Dave nodded at each of them. "Yes, we're here at the royal family's request." He took the papers from Evie and handed them to the guard.

The guard looked doubtful and took the papers and read through them suspiciously. "Ah. Friends of Albert." He signaled to the other guard to open the gate and handed the papers back. "Be careful along the road, it’s all too easy to fall off of.”

"Thank you. Have a good evening." Dave said.

As well made as the path up the mesa was, it was still tedious. Rienna could easily imagine someone falling off if their horses got spooked. It only got worse as they got higher and the bottom of the cliff disappeared in the thick, grey fog.

They slowly spiraled upwards towards a destination that they could rarely see. Every once and a while, Rienna caught sight of the spire again, pointing up through the haze, but never more than a second. Somehow, the air seemed somehow even thicker up here and more polluted.

It was almost five o'clock when they turned and reached another gate. They were almost late, but the guards quickly ushered them in, not even bothering to check for identification this time. Moments later, they were at the palace.

Vieryen’s Royalty

The palace was magnificent. It was almost entirely marble, it seemed, made of sandy whites with grey and tan browns swirling through it. Rienna couldn't imagine how it would look in sunlight instead of the equally colorless grey that surrounded them.

There were a multitude of balconies jutting out from different levels. Doors and windows alike were decorated with metal frames. Above, there were three spires that jutted into the sky. Small archways opened up the towers to the outside, undoubtedly making the interior quite chilly. The rounded tops of the roofs and the swirling grey marble reminded Rienna of icing.

And if she looked hard enough, she could make out the glow of The Suppression just above.

They walked nervously up the marble steps, the sound of their shoes echoing. The air was very still and very cold. Through the glass on the doors ahead, they saw the orange glow of fires and warmth.

A well dressed man greeted them at the top, doing well to conceal his disdain at their informal clothes. He recognized Luke and brought them all inside.

Rienna would have thought that the castle of Rufdand would be more impressive than the palace, given it had remained in use the past few-hundred years and didn’t exist in a smokey cloud. She especially thought that the interior of Rufdand’s castle would be more majestic than Vieryen’s palace. So few people knew about Vieryen’s royalty, there couldn’t be more than a dozen servants manning the whole place.

She was wrong, though, at least in her expectations of grandeur, and was struck by the thought that Vieryen must have been a very influential kingdom back in its day. They walked along worn, red rugs that splashed against the white marble. Around them, between the sconces that lit the halls, hung countless paintings of great glories long passed. Their bright colors were in stark contrast to the walls around them, and Rienna wondered how they had stayed so bright over hundreds of years.

Maybe the reason it had stayed so pristine was because of its disuse, she thought. The rest of Vieryen had to change because of new laws and needs, but the palace was perhaps like an artifact, frozen in time.

A strange painting of a singular tree caught her eye. It grew off a cliff face and over a kingdom far below. Instead of fruits or flowers, orbs of wispy, yellow-green lights hung from its branches.

"What's that painting of?" Rienna asked.

The stranger looked back to see what she was looking at. He nodded appreciatively. "That's the sacred tree of life. It grew high above Vieryen, a long time ago. It was once our symbol," he explained. "Legends say that it gave citizens of our kingdom longer lives if they were worthy and its lights could save a dying soul. That painting is over four hundred years old, we suspect."

"Wow…" Rienna said. She hung back a moment to look at the tree before moving on with the rest of the group.

They began up a curving staircase to the second floor and smells of food wafted down. Rienna's mouth watered and she hurried quickly up the stairs, doing her best to stay behind their guide while still satisfying her need to get closer to the source of the exquisite smell. When did she get so hungry?

The smells were distinctly coming from a closed door to the right. Rienna started to go towards it but saw that the man was walking towards the left. Hesitantly, she followed, glancing back at the door that hid the food.

The man pushed open a set of double doors and brought them into a large, and empty, dining hall. More art hung from the walls, and chandeliers from above lit the three long tables in the center. The first two tables only had a table cloth and no chairs, but at the farthest table, candles burned and seven chairs sat behind sets of silverware.

But, alas, there was no food.

As they were led to the far table, three people entered from the double doors on the other side of the room. The crowns upon their heads and the quality of their clothes made it clear that they were the royal family that the Order of the Jevitan had dedicated itself to.

The king was of an older sort, with a short grey bead and strange, green-blue eyes. Despite his age, he was still very well put together and fit. His crown was the largest and most complex and resembled King Hoyand's. He wore well made clothes, including a cape, that, unlike the rest of the castle, were new but also clearly less expensive than anything Rienna had seen Hoyand wear.

His son wore similar clothing and a simpler crown. He was easily the tallest person in the room. Unlike his father, he did not wear a cape, and his hair and eyes were a regular brown, which only added to his apparent mediocrity.

The princess on the other hand, would have stood out even if she wasn't wearing a beautiful dress and a sparkling tiara. She was unlike anyone Rienna had ever seen. She was blond, with pale blue eyes. Her hair was not quite the gold Rienna had heard about princesses having, and was paler than any of the brownish blonds she had seen before. Even though it was in a high ponytail, it hung all the way down to her waist.

Rienna did her best not to stare. She tried to make her gaze shift between all three royal members, but she couldn't help it; she just kept looking at the princess. She was just so peculiar.

The king smiled lightly as he saw his guests. "Hello. Welcome. You must be the Salvinens. Thank you for hosting Luke while he stays in our kingdom. I am King Ivan." His voice was soft and tired. He came up to each of them and shook their hands. When he reached Rienna, he said, "And you must be the young mage. Thank you for coming."

"It's my honor," Rienna stammered. "Rufdand’s castle is nothing like this."

"That's right, you have traveled to the kingdom called Rufdand. That must have been very taxing for you," he said. He turned to everyone else. "Please have a seat, some starters will be out shortly." He went and sat at the head of the table.

The rest of them followed, Rienna and her parents sitting to one side of the king and Luke and the prince and princess on the other. Rienna sat across at the princess who, to her delight, smiled at her.

A server came out a side door bearing two baskets of bread and a tray of small butters. Each person was granted a miniature bowl of butter and was left to grab the bread for themselves.

Rienna wasn't very familiar with silverware settings, but the one placed in front of her wasn't too hard to understand. She recognized which fork was the salad fork and she knew from watching the others that she was supposed to use the small knife for the butter.

She reached to grab a piece of bread like the rest and caught the princess's eye by accident. The princess smiled again. "Hello, Rienna. I am Princess Nadia. I've heard a lot about you."

Rienna carefully put her bread on her plate, trying not to make a clatter. "Hello, your, er… highness. You have? Heard a lot about me?"

"Of course! First when you had survived the Alyene, and then again about your magic." Rienna was somewhat disappointed to hear the way Nadia pronounced 'Alyene,' but she couldn’t be overly surprised either. "It's so exciting. With your help, we can restore our family to power."

It's what everyone was saying, but somehow, the way the princess said it made it feel more like a grand purpose. Like, together, they were righting an ancient wrong. Rienna knew that the same words coming from anyone else's mouth may have sounded self-centered or entitled, but the princess was only sincere.

Rienna smiled and took a bite of her bread to give her an excuse not to talk. Her mood was suddenly dampened, though, as she thought of where the bread likely came from.

Two servers came out with chalices of drinks. Rienna had water in hers, but could see that the rest had received wine. She looked into the cup and wondered whether the metal would make it taste odd.

She realized one of the servers had been talking and quickly sat up and acted like she'd been listening. "-ith tomatoes will be out shortly. Then dinner will begin. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

What? She leaned over to her mother and whispered, "What happened?"

"There was an accident. Dinner is delayed so we're having the bread and salad separate from the rest," Evie explained quietly.

"Ah." She took a sip of her water and was glad to find it didn't have a metallic flavor.

Moments later, they were all given salads with tiny tomatoes and cheese. Then the conversations began in earnest. Luke and the royal children talked to each other for the most part and Rienna and her parents awkwardly answered questions from the king.

"How old are you, Rienna?" King Ivan asked.

"I turned eleven about a month ago," Rienna answered.

The old man smiled. "Ah, eleven. I learned how to use a real sword at eleven. Wasn't very good at it, though. Not that it matters, I've never used it for anything but practice."

"Why did you learn how to use a sword if you knew you wouldn't be fighting?"

"Because it's tradition, and someday we might. Look at us now!" King Ivan chuckled. “But maybe we won't be needing swords in this battle. Anyway, there are many battles that weapons cannot solve." He looked saddened for a moment.

Prince Malcolm suddenly burst out laughing at something Luke had said. The other boy and the princess both looked like they were trying hard not to laugh as well. The prince quickly quieted as he realized no one else was talking anymore. "Ah, sorry. Luke has quite the sense of humor."

King Ivan laughed lightly, but Rienna caught the quick look he gave his son. It must be hard, she realized, keeping up a royal manner throughout generations when there was no reason to do so besides the hope that your family would someday come back into power.

Before anyone could say anything else, servers came out with dinner. There were mashed potatoes and roasted carrots on every plate. Fillets of lamb were carefully placed in the center and a sauce was drizzled over everything.

More food was placed around the table such as a bowl of grapes, more bread, and baked potatoes. It all looked delicious. There was even some sort of dish with flower petals decorating it.

Rienna wanted to immediately dig into the meal, but the king stood and raised his chalice. "Thank you for coming here tonight on such short notice, your company has been truly enjoyable thus far. I hope you enjoy the meal prepared by our talented chef and servants.

"As you know, later we will discuss business, but for now, let us be grateful for our food and comfort and for the chance to make history. To a new age!"

"To a new age!" Everyone raised their glasses in a toast and the meal finally began.

No one really talked for the first part, too engrossed in their food to care much about conversation. The silence was filled with the happy sounds of forks against plates and the chewing of food, and occasionally some light conversation from King Ivan, who, unlike the rest, seemed intent to talk to everyone.

Evie seemed to have forgotten her worries of impressing the royalty and was lively chatting by the end of the meal. Peoples' drinks were refilled and empty plates were taken away, Rienna usually not realizing a plate of hers had been taken until she noticed its absence.

She was already full and satisfied when dessert came out. They had been given a period to recover from the meal, but it hardly mattered. She knew she shouldn't eat more, but was taunted by the custards, teased the bread pudding, and unable to resist the fudge.

She didn't understand how she managed to fit it all. Especially since she was compelled to drink half of her water after every other bite just to wash out the richness. She wished she had been given milk instead.

At last, the dishes had all been taken away and the king stood again. "Let us retire to the courtyard to discuss our plans."

The double doors were opened by the pair of guards on the outside and everyone followed the king out. It was taking Rienna all her effort to keep up. She could only focus on the feet ahead of her, not on the paintings or tapestries, or even the group as a whole. She felt like a balloon, just the mere thought of food repulsed her. She hadn't even eaten this much when her mother had complained that she was too thin.

She noticed that they had stopped and found herself in a large outdoor space. In the center was a marble gazebo surrounded by finely manicured lawn, and exotic plants and flowers that admittedly looked like they were struggling to live.

They sat on the couches beneath the gazebo and servants came with glasses of water for everyone. Rienna was eternally relieved to be able to lean back and relax. More than ever, she wanted to just fall asleep.

"So, Rienna," King Ivan said, "Could you explain to us your magic and the plans you have made thus far with the Order of the Jevitan?"

Rienna stifled a yawn and forced herself upright. "Of course. I can only use so much magic before I run out for a bit. But I slowly 'regrow' my magic. I can store it in magically empty substances. We've discovered a way to store spells, so now I am to prepare some to be cast by others," she explained.

"How many spells can you store in a day?"

Rienna thought for a moment. She could cast a fair amount in one day thanks to saving up, but consistently? Day after day? "I think I would be able to store two spells each day," she said.

"Hmmm. That's not very much is it?" the king said thoughtfully. "It will probably be a month before we can stage an attack, then. That's still good; before, we were looking at years."

Rienna's hopes fell a little bit. A whole month? She should have realized, but with all the excitement, she thought that it would be over in just a couple weeks.

"Could you perhaps cast more if you were not under The Suppression?" the princess asked gently.

"Oh, yes. Definitely. Four or five spells even, if I wasn't under the effects of The Suppression." Too late, she remembered she was now forbidden to leave the borders of Vieryen. She glanced anxiously at her mother. "But, er, that would be too dangerous, I think. There are woods out there with a terrible witch."

"Why, that's no matter," Prince Malcom said. "The witch never leaves her forest. We could build a small cabin out there for you so we could speed up the process. You'd be under no obligation to stay there all day, but if you slept there each night, we could be ready to overthrow Jenni in just under a few weeks."

"Surely that would still be dangerous," Evie protested.

"I don't see how," Malcom said. "The only people who would know she would be out there would be allies. And thanks to her and the Order of the Jevitan, we know it’s not as dangerous out there as we once thought. What possible danger could she be in?"

"Wild animals," Nadia suggested. "Becoming trapped out there, woodland Fae that aren't as reluctant to leave the forest as the witch… There could still be dangers, but with proper protection, they will be no problem. And she wouldn't be there alone."

"We could have Albert assign a couple of his explorers to make sure she’s safe and could easily return back to Vieryen," King Ivan agreed. "We could have a cabin built in just a few days. Your property is on the edge of the Kingdom, yes? She wouldn’t be terribly far.”

"I could go with," Luke offered. "I know more about the animals out there than most of the Order."

"Yes. I like that idea," the king said. "What do you think, Rienna?"

She really wanted to say yes, but she didn't want it to seem like her parents had no say in the matter. "Only if my parents think I should," she responded, knowing that her parents wouldn't say no to royalty.

Evie and Dave looked at each other, stricken. It was clear that they didn't like the idea very much. Still, Dave turned to the king and nodded. "I think that this plan will work," he said somewhat regretfully.

"I am pleased to hear that," the King said. "I will send a crew down to get started tomorrow."

Dave smiled warily. "We will be waiting for them."

The Cabin

Rienna 'moved in' just three days later. The cabin was not at all a house. In fact, it was hardly a cabin. The whole place was about the size of a bedroom. And in this bedroom sized space, there were three mattresses and a single cabinet for storing supplies. The cabinet held a lot of things, food and water for example, but it primarily held anything Rienna needed for storing spells. So, wax. Lots of candle wax and beeswax.

Xio and Xia came out with Reinna whenever she left, and Luke did too. He also privately admitted that he didn't actually know much about the wildlife and had mainly volunteered because Vieryen's dreary landscape was wearing on him. Rienna didn’t blame him, the dreary landscape had been wearing on her too, especially because of how The Suppression treated her magic.

Which was part of why she didn’t store any spells the first day; she was still recovering from a session with Christia. However, she woke up the next morning stiff and uncertain. How was she supposed to store a spell? The only spell she had ever stored was of a distinctly different magicka than her own and designed to constantly fly at her. How was she supposed to capture a spell with her own magicka and limited expertise?

She only had two hours that morning to experiment before she was expected back home. Her parents had made it clear that she was to spend as much time as possible inside The Suppression while still storing a few spells daily. Also, that she had to be with Luke or one of the explorers sent to watch over her at all times. They were also annoyingly insistent that the cats didn’t count.

Rienna sat on a tree branch, swinging her legs as she pondered what she should do. Maybe I should try a bolt of force first, she decided. The spell had certainly come in handy multiple times for her.

She hopped down from the tree and took a deep breath. “Alright,” she murmured. She lifted her hands and shot out a small sliver of force, parallel to The Suppression. The moment the magic had left her, she shot out her hand and attempted to reabsorb the magicka. When she missed, she darted forward and flailed her hand pathetically at the magic, trying to catch it. Within moments, it was far out of reach and sight.

She tried again, trying to make the missile slower so she could catch it. She was so close this time, but still missed, she just needed to be a little faster. So she tried again. And again. She finally did catch it one time, but only partially and it all melded with her normal inner magicka once she absorbed it.

So she tried another tactic. She stood beside the cabin and shot a bolt directly upwards. Maybe it would run out of momentum and just fall right into her hands and the wax. Rienna stared up at the sky expectantly, watching the sliver of light blue magic.

But, within a moment, it had disappeared into the blue that was the sky. She waited. And waited. Where had it gone? Surely it would be coming down soon if it was ever going to. Had there been too much of an angle and it wasn’t going to come straight back down. She took a couple of steps forward just in case. Why weren’t there any clouds right now? Her magic was so hard to see against the blue backdrop. Maybe this had been a bad idea. It wasn’t coming down, she should just–

PAP!

Suddenly, Rienna was on the ground and her head was spinning. She felt all… fizzy. Sparkly? Bubbly? She didn’t know, her forehead really hurt. She slowly stood and carefully tapped her head. It was a little wet. She didn’t like that. She was afraid of what she would see if she looked at her hand.

“Rienna?” Xio squeaked. “You are bleeding. From your hair. Why’s that?”

Rienna groaned and finally took her hand down. Coating her fingers was a thin layer of blood. “I don’t know,” she said. “I think… I think my bolt of force hit me?”

“Why would it hit you? Don’t you cast it away from yous?” Xio asked.

“I shot it upwards!” Rienna said, desperately wiping the blood on her fingers onto the grass. “Then I think it came back down and hit me. Ugh! Xio, how bad am I bleeding?”

“Mmm. You fine. There’s not a lot. How big of a magic was it?”

“Small. Very small. I want to conserve as much magic as I can until I figure this out.”

“Then I think it’s just a cut. But why did you send magic up into air then?”

“I don’t know!” Rienna whined, rubbing her throbbing forehead. “I was trying to catch the magic so that I could store the spell!”

“Hrmmg,” Xio said, in his own form of a frown. “Why don’t you just cast the spell into the wax?”

Rienna paused. “Would that work?”

“How would I knew?” Xio said with a flick of his tail. “I’s not the one who cast spells.”

Rienna glared at the cat through her headache. “Fine. Let me try it.” She stomped over to the front of the cabin where Luke was sitting.

He looked up at her and his eyes widened in surprise. “Rienna, what happened?! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Rienna grumbled. “My force bolt hit my head.”

“Why did it hit your head?”

“Because I shot it directly upwards but it was the same color of the sky so I lost it but then it hit me!” Rienna said with great anguish.

“Ah… So what are you doing now?” Luke said carefully.

“I’m grabbing some wax so I can try something else,” Rienna said tiredly.

“But I thought you brought wax with you?”

Rienna paused, blinking blankly for a moment. “I did,” she said finally.

“Then where is it?”

“...I don’t know.” She frowned then put her hand to her head, more in exasperation this time than pain. “I must have dropped it when I fell. Ugh.” Wiping her forehead of blood again, she spun around and returned to Xio.

“Do you know where I dropped the wax?” Rienna said, peering down at the ground. Where had she even actually fallen?

“Right here,” Xio said, tapping the ground next to a dull hunk of wax. “I wondering why you left when it right here.”

“Thanks, Xio,” Rienna said dully, picking up the candle wax and sitting so she was leaning her back against the cabin. She took a deep breath as the throbbing in her head slowed and she contemplated how she should go about this.

Well, let’s just see what happens. She prepared a bolt of force and ordered it directly into the misshapen clump. She held it far away from her as she waited for it to explode in her face.

To her relief, it didn’t.

Rienna brought it closer and examined it in the realm of magic. It didn’t particularly look like a bolt of magic, but she wasn’t that certain of what that would look like while it was still. It did seem to be about the right amount of magic at least.

“It worked,” Rienna said disbelievingly. It had really been that simple. She had spent all that time chasing magic and all she had needed to do was sit down and cast into the candle wax. She started to smile, despite herself. “It worked!” she said again. It was so easy!

She quickly got to work storing more spells. Force bolts, magical shields, fire. She had enough fun designing and storing each one that she didn’t notice that her time was up and her magic was fairly depleted until Luke and one of the explorers sent to watch over her decided to interrupt.

“Hey, your parents will be wanting you home soon,” Luke said. He glanced down at the pile of wax next to Rienna. “Is that all spells?”

Rienna nodded. “Yup. I finally figured it out. I’ve already made five! Two bolts of force, a bolt of fire, and two shields.”

“Well, that certainly satisfies your quota for the day,” Luke said with a smile. “Come on, let's go back to The Suppression.”

The days after that were similar, though with not nearly as much wasted time. And, her parents were slowly getting used to it and being more lenient with her being outside Vieryen. At first she had been given an excess of chores to make up for her new privilege, but that number started to become less overwhelming as she brought more and more spells back each day. They even decided that it was okay if only one explorer (and Luke) were with her in the Alyene each day.

Rienna didn't enjoy it as much as she'd expected, though. It reminded her too much of being lost outside The Suppression, and her parents insisted that she stay within the orchard during the day. She had to pretend to go to bed early or sleep in if she ever wanted to really enjoy the sun. On the bright side, it was still warmer than Vieryen during the night.

Even only spending the nighttime outside The Suppression, the strategy was highly effective. She managed to store almost seven small spells a day. It was almost like her magicka was over-replenishing because it had been suppressed throughout the day. They quickly took advantage of this and had her create three shielding spells, two small attack spells, and one more powerful attack spell each day.

She also met with Christia more frequently, every few days, in fact. They experimented with different wax formulas, combining different magical extracts with the wax to see what would give the most desired results. Christia was also working on some sort of machine for the stored spells with a couple of students who knew about the Order. For whatever reason though, she refused to show Rienna until it was done.

Everything was going well. They even shortened their expected timeline to two weeks before they could stage a takeover. Excited energy filled the air and a rush of new recruits for the Order came in from the lower class. It felt like everything was finally starting to come together.

Then, not even a full week later, they saw a fairyeld outside The Suppression.

Or rather, Rienna and the cats did. Rienna was up early to see the sunrise when she and her cats saw a fairyeld materialize from The Suppression not a hundred meters from the cabin. There were only a few trees outside the witch's forest, so one look in the wrong direction and the fairyeld would spot the camp.

Rienna and the cats, in the meantime, were clinging to one of those very trees between the guard and the cabin and were distressingly close. Rienna held her breath and watched the fairyeld.

It was odd watching someone just step through The Suppression like it was nothing. She’d rarely seen a fairyeld go through the magical barrier, and not at all since she’d found the crystal. To her, it now seemed more reasonable for someone to cut through the magic than to walk through it.

The guard stepped through and yawned. From above, Rienna could hear him mumble, "I never signed up for this. Getting out of bed at five in the morning. Bah." He looked around and towards the cabin. He squinted in the early morning light. "What's that?" He took a slow step towards the shack, seemingly unsure whether what he was seeing wasn’t just a trick of the early light.

He took another step and Rienna panicked, throwing the fruit she had been planning to eat as far as she could in the opposite direction of the cabin. It landed loudly in a bush that Rienna couldn't see and she hoped that the fairyeld couldn’t see either.

The fairyeld turned sharply and called, "Who's there?" When there was no response, he began stalking closer to where the fruit had landed. His hand hovered over the handle of his sword, which was sheathed by his side. He searched around for a moment then grumbled something angrily. He left towards the woods, still looking for someone who wasn’t there.

Rienna quickly climbed down the tree and ran to the cabin with Xia's magic aiding her. She woke up Luke and the explorer named Hana, who was staying with them, as quietly and frantically as she could. "I saw a fairyeld! Wake up!" she whispered loudly.

Luke's eyes shot open. "What?! When? Where!" he whispered back.

"Just now! I was at that tree a little bit off. I don't know if he saw us or no," Rienna hurried to explain. She rushed over to Hana who was just waking up. "Hana! There was a fairyeld!"

The explorer jumped up. "Where?!" She was tall, her head nearly reaching the ceiling of the cabin. Already in her hand was the hand axe that she always kept beside her as she slept.

"Back that way!" Rienna said, pointing through the wall. "What if he sees us!?"

Hana nodded thoughtfully. "Okay. So he hasn't seen us yet. And there's just one?" Rienna nodded. "Then we can take him out if it comes to that."

"But what do we do?" Rien

"We just have to wait until we know it's safe to leave. Don't worry, we'll be fine. I’ll watch through the peephole"

That didn't sound like a very secure plan to Rienna. Hana would hardly be able to see anything through the peephole in the north facing wall. Each wall had a peephole for such a scenario, but they had to be small so that the cabin didn’t get too cold at night. In the early light it would be incredibly easy to miss something, or someone, if it was at a great enough distance.

Even so, Rienna nodded and went to her own bed. She huddled under the covers and waited tensely for their doom. What if he brings other fairyeld back to search? There's no river to cross this time and things will only get worse if they find out where we're from. There's no way he won't see the cabin.

But no one came knocking on the door. They waited over an hour for something to happen, but it never did. Eventually, Rienna calmed down and let herself believe that they were safe.

They left the cabin and went to The Suppression. Hana brought out her crystal and drew a door for them to pass through. Rienna realized that the barrier wasn't shining as brightly anymore and seemed thinner. She wondered how much magicka Jenni had to regularly consume to keep the shield up. How many crystals did she empty each week? How many did she have left now that the mines were collapsed?

It didn’t really matter, Rienna realized. Either way, if they defeated Sovereign Jenni themselves or not, she would run out of magic soon, and then the Suppression would be gone for good.