Fuzzy and Mother Bear August 13th – Monday - Morning- Mother Bear's Mana Lodge

"I hope you had a big breakfast," said Mother Bear to her students.

Fuzzy was one of four students interested in learning the healing spell which was popular enough that it had its own dedicated mana lodge. Apparently none of the lodges had no more than six students per teacher and that a few outside tutors had been pre-cleared months ago of all of that "red tape" that Fuzzy had been dealing with.

She knew none of the other students. Some of them paid her a few seconds of attention but went back to chatting among themselves. It seemed that Mother Bear didn't really want their attention, not yet, so she allowed everyone else to keep talking.

They sat on wooden logs surrounding a small fire. It wasn't a sweat lodge. After all, steam would have ruined the delicate items on the walls that helped construct the magical barrier that surrounded the lodge. A huge bear's hide stood out prominently behind the diminutive woman and almost framed her. Claws and teeth decorated the lodge, also of bears, at least presumably. There were also hanging herbs, smaller pelts, jars of dirt on stone tables as well as one in particular that was simply labeled "Afghanistan dirt", though Fuzzy couldn't read it.

There were also clay jars of what looked to contain paint. Mother Bear handed the jars of paint to her students along with what looked like home made paint brushes tipped with some unidentifiable hair. She sat on her log and poked at the fire, which burned low and then pulled a few herbs from the wall and threw them in. A heavy perfume filled the lodge and Mother Bear began to speak as the herbs burned and crackled.

"Healing is important so you or others don't die," said Mother Bear, "If you know the healing spell, they won't die if you're around to heal them."

One of the guys in the lodge whispered to a nearby girl. Both giggled. Then from behind Mother Bear, a spirit materialized into the world. This one made up of a great pile of rocks that came from nowhere, which started on the ground and then leapt up to resemble the absolute roughest form of a person, sans the head. The sudden appearance of the earth spirit, who'd be aiding them along with Mother Bear in teaching spells, quieted their giggling and elicited a number of urgent shushing from the other students. Now satisfied, Mother Bear continued.

"Now I could crap out flowery prose and keep you hanging for hours like a turd desperately trying to hit the water," said Mother Bear.

There were more giggles from the assembled students, including Fuzzy. But she made a silencing gesture with her hand and the students were suddenly quiet. There was no magic about it, it was just a mix of her personal presence and decades of practice at classroom management.

"I'm too old to do that," she said, "I want you all to learn this safely and quickly. Here's tea. Drink it. Here's paint. Wear it. It doesn't matter how you wear it. Make designs on yourself or just slather it on so long as you use it all. I'll teach the formulas and you’ll learn them if you're smart enough. The earth spirit will help. If you've never communicated with an elemental spirit before then it'll feel weird. They don't speak a language. They communicate directly into your mind. So the earth spirit will help you visualize since some of you can't do that yet."

A few of the students looked at Fuzzy and smirked since she was not only the freshman, but the corporate students knew her as not one of them. It didn't seem like they'd do anything with Mother Bear so close and their attention was called back to an enormous pile of rocks that suddenly clattered to the ground in an unoccupied corner of the room, as if they came out of thin air. The earth spirit turned its body to look at each student with its torso, since it didn't have a head.

Mother Bear simply looked at the earth spirit, which nodded its torso at her. Then it simply fell down into a huge pile of rocks and stayed there, unmoving.

"It's just going to be a pile of rocks?" asked one of the students.

She was a light skinned, blond haired, blue eyed girl. Everyone on the island was so pretty, even beautiful. But almost all of the students were some form of good looking. Fuzzy had grown bored of this fact pretty quickly. After all, when everyone looked good, no one did and it gave many of them a sameness. Especially for the ones that Sasha pointed out as "having some work done" either under the knife or in a vat.

"Don't want it looming over us," said Mother Bear, "Should be fine as a rock pile. We need its mind, not its bulk."

Mother Bear cleared her throat.

"Anyway, you'll be paying attention to both of us," said Mother Bear, "That's how you'll learn the spell. If you're not smart enough to listen then you won't learn and you'll waste my time and yours. I want you all out of here as soon as possible with the knowledge in your heads of how to heal. I want to visit my grandchildren and watch my shows so make it snappy. If you wanted some woo or wanted me to talk about the great spirit well too bad. I'm here to teach you how to heal not fill your heads with woo. If you want woo then turn on the trideo because there are plenty of people to take your money. Me, I'm a teacher. Teachers and money don't mix. So let's begin."

Fuzzy drank her tea, which was bitter and then slathered on her paint unceremoniously and began to learn. What followed were some basic visualization exercises that Mother Bear talked about and the spirit itself seemed to communicate what looked like a fully three-dimensional imagine into their minds. Its shape didn't make sense but Fuzzy was urged to think it up just in case.

What followed afterwards were first minutes, then hours, then days of brutal, brute force repetition. Summon energy. Think of the "formula", as they referred to the bizarre, geometric object that was the shape of the spell. Push energy into the formula. Failure. Repeat. Summon energy. Think of the formula. Push energy into the formula. Failure. Repeat. Over and over again.

It was mentally and physically exhausting. It was easy to tell who could cast spells and who were adepts. The adepts looked fine while everyone who could cast spells was some sort of irritable, angry, exhausted or often, all three.

People fell asleep from the fatigue that comes from casting spells, called drain. This happened even while training, because sometimes a spell worked just enough to get cast, but was cast incorrectly. Even Fuzzy fell asleep from casting too much and ended up on a sleeping bag that had been supplied for everyone present. However, when she woke up she felt as if she hadn’t slept at all and had a splitting headache to boot. This became the norm and so, Fuzzy lost track of time.

On the second day one of the students succeeded. After two more attempts he could create the formula in the air and fill it with magic, thus creating a spell. She knew it was the second day only because she asked. Fuzzy wanted to sleep for a week and decided that Marco had been right. This was awful.

"Good job, Angel," said Mither Bear, "Now leave. I've got slow learners to teach. Shoo."

Angel let out a woop and left the tent as he went on towards glorious freedom. He had a week and a half of free time off the island coming because classes couldn't resume for those who cast spells until everyone was finished. Fuzzy envied him like the dead envy the living. She went back to her task. Summon energy. Think of the formula. Push energy into the formula. Failure. Repeat. Though occasionally, the earth spirit which was summoned each day and maintained its form as a pile of rocks thought the three dimensionsal formula at her and also, Mother Bear would grump out criticism both constructive and non.

"Yep, you sure can heal. Good for you, Lily, now git," said Mother Bear.

Lily fled into the glorious afternoon air like a prisoner suddenly released from death row. It was the third day. Fuzzy only knew because she asked.

Summon energy. Think of the formula. Push energy into the formula. Failure. Repeat. Get thought at by the spirit and grumped at by Mother Bear.

"Aria, you can heal. Be anywhere else but here," groused Mother Bear.

Fuzzy didn't even bother to ask what day it was. Asking no longer gave her hope. Summon energy. Think of the formula. Push energy into the formula. Failure. Repeat. Summon energy. Think of the formula. Push energy into the formula. Failure. Repeat. Fuzzy felt like she had no idea what she was doing.

"Like the taste of my tea, Fuzzy?" asked Mother Bear suddenly.

Fuzzy blinked, unaware of what was happening. Mother Bear repeated herself and so Fuzzy frowned.

"It tastes like ditch water," complained Fuzzy.

"It is ditch water," said Mother Bear, with a wan smile, "And if you can taste it then you're not drinking enough of it. The tongue goes numb eventually. Drink more so it doesn't distract you."

Fuzzy drank more of the vile tea. Her tongue went numb which was surprisingly an improvement. And now it was was just her, Mother Bear's small corrections, her snark and the pile of rocks that was the earth spirit and its incredible persistence. Summon energy. Think of the formula. Push energy into the formula. Failure. Repeat. Summon energy. Think of the formula. Push energy into the formula. Success.

Wait, success, she thought? She checked back. It worked. She executed a perfect heal spell. Her hand glowed with a white, soothing light and her heart soared and she made a happy little noise in her throat. Or at least she tried at a happy little noise. It mostly came out as a croak.

"I think I did it," whispered Fuzzy.

Her voice was rough from disuse.

"I'll alert the media," said Mother Bear, disinterested, "Do it twice more in a row."

And so Fuzzy concentrated, thought about the formula and succeeded two more times in a row. It seemed that once she'd perfected it once, it became far easier to get right over and over again. Eyes wide, mouth open, her tongue numb and with a soft, white, glowing light eminating off her hand, Fuzzy knew something deep in her bones.

Fuzzy could do magic.

"What day is it?" croaked Fuzzy.

'"Friday evening. First week, so you're lucky. Last to get it done, but you're done," grumped Mother Bear, "It’s time for me to visit my grandchildren. I'm done here. Stay if you want, but I'm leaving."

Mother Bear got up, stretched, groaned as her back popped in several places and slowly walked out in that way that old people do with small shuffling steps. Though she spoke before she left the lodge.

"Maybe your mentor spirit is Turtle, slow girl," she complained, “You’re done. Get out of here. Go play with your dog or something.”

Fuzzy and Puppy - August 17th - Friday Evening- Blaie Island, Outside Mother Bear's Mana Lodge

Fuzzy smelled like burnt leaves. Her tongue was rough and had lost that numb quality, so it tasted like ass. Her muscles hurt. One foot was asleep. That did not keep her from escaping from Mother Bear's magical lodge with as much speed as she could muster despite the fact that one foot ignored her commands.

Freedom. Freedom and the last twinklings of sunlight through the forest canopy. Then Fuzzy's gave was cast downward as she wiggled her foot. The pins and needles feeling came first before full feeling returned.

She went back to her cabin and pet Puppy who wiggled excitedly. She enjoyed some fuzz therapy as she ran her fingers through his fur and reveled in the joy of being near him and done. He'd gotten bigger. Not yet a juvenile, but she couldn't rest him on her chest as easily anymore. He licked her face. She was happy. She took Puppy out on a walk on the beach before night truly fell and enjoyed the movement she’d been denied from so many hours in the mana lodge. She delighted in life away from Mother Bear and her constant complaints. On a whim she cast the heal spell and it worked like a charm and wondered who she would use it on first.

She could heal with a touch of magic. Life was good.