“Something feels strange,” I suppress a yawn and I sit up.

“Is the bed colder than normal?” Shiva teases me and I look around. The room is empty and after a moment I shake my head to wake up, “Iris told you she had to go talk with Elsie this morning.”

“That's right,” I slip out of bed and pull a shirt on. I have a hazy memory of her leaving earlier and telling me to go ahead and sleep longer, and Maya doesn't come over every night. I pause as I make excuses for why I am awake and I sigh at myself.

The door creaks open while I am lost in my contemplation and Fiona peeks around the edge of it. She looks surprised that I am awake and for a moment we just stare at one another. “-essons,” she murmurs something quietly and looks at me with shy expectations.

I wait for her to say it louder, but she starts to squirm under my gaze and after a moment she hides her face behind the door. “What did you say?” I try and coax it out of her, “I didn't hear you.”

“Magik lessons,” she repeats quietly but she is loud enough this time so I can understand her.

“You did promise,” Shiva laughs and I hold in another sigh.

“I was forced into it,” I complain, “Is Talia here yet?”

“No,” Fiona mumbles into the wood.

“Have you had breakfast yet?” I wouldn't be surprised if Leyla already made her something to eat, and my own stomach protests as I walk towards the door.

“N-no,” she stammers again and I shake my head.

“Then we should go eat and wait for Talia,” I pull the door open and after a second she nods and runs off into the house, “At least I was already awake.”

“It's fine for children to be excitable,” Shiva snickers, “Do you suppose she would have climbed on top of you, or have stolen the blankets to wake you up.”

“I worry that I would have woken up with her just quietly standing at the side of my bed staring at me.” She is normally fairly energetic, right until she is talking with me, “At least she is talking with me now instead of running away.”

I walk out and towards the kitchen only to find Leyla sitting at the table while sleepily sipping at a cup of coffee. She looks just as surprised to see me as Fiona did but after a moment she recovers and shakes her head, “Sorry, I couldn't calm her down.”

“It's fine,” I shrug, “I was already awake anyway.” She hums slightly but doesn't say anything else as I walk into the kitchen and start to get things together to cook.

I watch as Fiona wolfs down the sausages in front of her. Her appetite has finally normalized but she still eats like she is afraid someone will take her food. There is a knock at the door and I take a sip of my tea before I stand and go to answer it.

A cold gust rushes into the room as I open the door and I shudder as it brushes against my bare legs. I refrain from closing the door and I look at the wrapped bundles in front of me. Maya and Talia have both wrapped scarfs around their faces so the only thing I can see are their eyes.

“Why aren't you dressed?” Maya sounds exasperated as I step to the side and let them in.

“I was fine until I opened the door,” I defend my own state as I rub my arms and run away from the doorway.

“Meldy keeps lots of fires so it is warm,” Fiona excitedly hops up from her empty plate and rushes over while they start taking off their scarfs.

“Tali's come to play,” Fiona latches onto Talia and pulls her into a hug.

“I've come for lessons,” Talia looks resigned to her fate and I can only offer her my quiet sympathy at having a clingy friend.

Fiona starts to happily chatter away with Talia about Magik lessons and Talia occasionally nods along and answers her with hums and 'yes' as she is dragged into the house. Fiona makes big gestures with her arms and her tail whips through the air as she switches to introducing Talia to the rooms, and I turn my attention back to Maya.

“Have the two of you already eaten?” I take her cloak and hang it on the rack.

“Mmhmm,” she nods with a small smile while she adjusts the pack she is carrying under one arm, “We had a warm meal before leaving. Are you feeling well today?”

“Yes,” I nod and she follows me back over to the table so I can finish my own breakfast, “I've already used the medicine as well.” She sits down next to me and starts to place several books on the table in a small stack and I take a look at them. None of them have a proper title but there are several sigils and runs carved into their surfaces.

None of them emit any energy on their own so they aren't proper grimoires. “You can't just give a normal child a grimoire,” Shiva scolds me, “Just think of how dangerous that would be.”

“Not all grimoires are dangerous,” I refute her.

“So says the girl that destroyed a vault by using a grimoire,” Shiva sighs, “Come to think of it you have quite the history of damaging or outright destroying buildings.”

“I-I do not,” I deny her accusation, “And even if I, coincidentally, happened to be at the site of a collapsing building... It only fell down because it was poorly built.”

“The aqueducts, three training buildings, the way-station, a guard tow-”

“CO-IN-CI-DENCE!” I interrupt her.

“They do say everyone is cursed in someway or another,” her words sound like she is trying to comfort me, but her tone is clearly mocking me, “Perhaps that is just your curse.”

I ignore her as she starts to laugh and shove the rest of my food into my mouth. “I'm going to point out,” I swallow my food and point at the books , “I've never taught anything related to Magik, or any other subject for that matter.”

“Yes yes dear,” Maya giggles and nods her head, “You have informed us.”

“I don't know what-” she puts her fingers on my lips.

“It's fine. You just have to read the books to them and walk them through the steps.”

“If that's all; why does it have to be me?”

“They've both heard about how amazing of a Magus you are, and want to learn from you,” she laughs. Once she calms down she sighs and starts to whisper, “I doubt Talia will be capable of much anyway. During her last test she wasn't able to store too much Mana. Enough to us the daily glyphs around a house but not enough to use properly.”

“It's still good for her ta learn,” Leyla interjects, “and her Mana pool can still enlarge as she grows.”

The front door opens again and I turn as Melodiana walks into the room with several things wrapped in a bundle under one arm, and a target dummy under the other.

“You can leave all of that by the door,” I instruct her, “And there is a plate of food under the lid for you.”

“All right,” she nods and knocks the door closed as she puts everything onto the ground. She doesn't bother taking off her cloak or anything and just walks into the kitchen in search of breakfast. Maya looks curious and approaches the bundle of things.

“What's all this?” she reaches down and pulls the cover back revealing two tiny bows and quivers.

“Accuracy training,” I pull the top book off of the pile and flip it open.

The first step for a practicing Magus is to sense the flow of Mana from your pool throughout your body. Your mana has a natural circulation that travels from your point of origin to the extremities and back. Begin by sitting in a lotus position and controlling your breathing. Imagine that you are on a shore over looking the sea and breathe in and out with the soothing waves. In and out. In and out. You are but a small rock on the shore as the water passes back and forth above you-

“What is any of this?” I close the book and drop it down on the table, “What lotus position? What if I had never seen the sea? Or if the only sea I had ever seen was l'Abysse which is the farthest thing from soothing that it can be? How does any of that help you sense Mana? What does it even feel like?”

Maya blinks at me for a moment, like I am the strange one. “How did you learn Magik?” she coughs.

“By copying old grimoires until I figured out how they worked.”

A silence falls on the room and I can feel everyone staring at me just like at the training field. I walk over and kneel in front of the things that Melodiana brought in.

“H-how are you not dead?” Maya manages to stammer out, and then instantly shakes her head “No that sounds wrong. I'm thrilled that you are alive. But you don't just mess with grimoires until you figure out how they work.”

“Well that's what I did,” I shrug and start to inspect the bows, “Master wouldn't teach me, and there wasn't anyone else to ask so I just... borrowed... some tomes and looked and the sigils and runes.”

“Who just leaves grimoires out where a child can pick them up!?” Maya raises her voice and grabs my elbow.

“Do you think she would feel better if you said they weren't just left out?” Shiva muses with a light laugh while I string one of the bows. I give it a test pull and the strain is so light that they shouldn't have a problem using them, so I let off the pressure and unhook the string. The grips are padded and there are a couple of small arm guards for the girls to use as well, so they shouldn't get hurt.

“Somehow I don't think she would,” I turn and look at Maya's face. It's a mix of shock, disbelief, and anger all rolled into one and I pat at her hand. “It was fine,” I try and sooth her, “They weren't that dangerous. I wasn't able to get my hands on the good ones until I was older.”

“That doesn't make it better!” She squeezes my arm tightly.

“So I just read the book to them and they will understand it?” I divert my attention over to Leyla. She gives a long hissing sigh and shakes her head.

“This might not be a good idea,” she looks back up at me like I'm pitiful.

“That's what I've been saying,” I sigh as well.

“It's... You read the book and I'll help explain and show the children what they should do,” Maya finally settles down.

“All right then,” I nod my head, “Lets gather the girls up and get started with the first lesson.”