[Playfully, Dry]

  I jumped to the clinic, Lottie, Ronja and sixteen prospective apprentices were there and waiting. I used a portal muffin to call a portal demon. I asked the demon to hold open the portal for four hours, the maximum amount of time. Then walked through the portal to an empty tower room. I asked the room for a sideboard, ten gurneys, two dressers, thirty chairs for the waiting room. Then I left the apprentices to move the furniture through the portal to the clinic. Lottie and Ronja were there to supervise and also could order more furniture if they wanted, anything that I might have forgotten.

  Then I jumped back to the clinic to meet Draco. He was already there and waiting.

  “Sorry Draco, I was helping them set up a portal demon to move the furniture through. Could I ask you a question in private please?”

  “Sure, Rose, go right ahead, I have a privacy field up. Did any of your new power fade?”

  “No Rose, I’m still twenty five percent stronger than yesterday.”

  “I have another question but it doesn’t involve privacy. I have a wand that lets me give Bibliomancer jumping ability to someone. I wanted to give it to Lu but she was worried that it wouldn’t work and I’d waste the magic. Would her being a werewolf interfere with the wand, do you think?”

  “No, I don’t think so. But I can try and cast invisibility on her, if her werewolf abilities block that then I wouldn’t waste the wand. But I’m pretty sure it’ll work, I’ll try it tonight if you two are going to be around.”

  “Thank you Draco, that would be a big help.”

  “Alright, are you ready to create another field Rose?”

  “Yes, all set, I’ve been thinking about this, it’s a two floor structure. I was thinking that we should create the field on the second floor, then expand to cover the first floor. That way if a third floor is ever added it’ll already be enclosed in the field.”

  “That’s smart because if we did the first floor and expanded up it would also expand down into the ground, a waste of potential magic.”

  We went into the building up to the second floor and I created a small fist sized magical field. I resisted the urge to expand it, I was saving my magic for the field I still needed to complete in front of the bookstore. Draco expanded the field to enclose the entire building. I thanked him and he flew off for home. I went back into the clinic to see how things were progressing, the waiting room was filled with furniture but they were making good progress.

  I jumped back to the bookstore. I said hello to Mossbeard and Opal then I asked Sparky if he could come with me to Juliet’s world. One eyebrow went up but he gripped my forearm and I jumped.

  “What’s this all about Rose?”

  “Last night I kept trying to increase Draco’s power, and it kept going up until we hit one hundred and twenty five percent. I tried five more times but that was the limit, I wanted to try increasing your power as well. Just because it works with a dragon doesn’t necessarily mean it will work with a mage.”

  “You can’t increase mine, I’ve been cursed by Titania.”

  “It can’t hurt to try, what if I removed the curse first?”

  “You can't, Titania is too powerful.”

  “But we’re in Juliet’s world, my happy place. Could we at least try, please?”

  “Fine, Rose, but don’t be disappointed, when it doesn’t work.”

  So I authored that Sparky is no longer cursed.

  “Do you feel any different?”

  “Yes, yes, Rose, I’m not hungry, even if this fades away, I don’t care. It’s just so nice not to be hungry, for a little while. Thank you.”

  “Can I try to boost your power now?”

  “Sure whatever you want.”

  I authored that Sparky’s magic is one hundred percent full, his magic went up five percent and each time I did it again it rose five percent. I never got a ten percent gain like I did with Draco but it kept going up till it hit twenty five percent.

  “I feel great, one hundred years younger and so powerful. Thank you Rose.”

  “Your welcome Sparky.”

  Then we jumped back to the store. There was the dwarf from yesterday at market day.

  “Patroness how may I be of assistance today, might I sing you a ditty, about your largesse."

  “No, I’m sorry but I really have many things to accomplish today. If you are looking for work, I think Jack, from Jack in the Green Inn, is looking for a bard.”

  “I worked there one day, the food was horrible, I refuse to work where the food isn’t up to a certain standard.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Yeah, I ate there a week or two ago and had a very watery bowl of soup. Try Hot & Cold Magical Soup & Ale, they already have the best bard in Wyldwood but maybe they’d hire you for the weekends. Plus if you like dwarven ale, it’s the only spot in Wyldwood that serves it.”

  “It’s the only spot within three hundred miles that sells it, if it is indeed be dwarven ale. Humans are easy to trick, when it comes to beer. But if it truly is dwarven ale, I’ll displace this bard and become the headliner. Where might this heavenly tavern be located?”

  I gave him directions and he left in search of the drink of the gods as he put it. Then I walked outside to start expanding my magical field. I had a new strategy, I’d expand for ten count then jump to Juliet's World, author my magic to one hundred percent then jump back and expand for another ten count. Did this three times and my first public magic field was completed.

  The Burgomaster wants to eat at Hot & Cold Magical Soup & Ale, but it’s too far for him on most days, so I’ll make my next public magical field in between the bakery and the pub. Just as I was about to grab Mossbeard and jump to the bakery, the leathersmith arrived with the twenty wallets. They were perfect.

  “Miss, if you have your wallet I gave you yesterday, I can emboss it for you. It'll take less than five minutes and all the wallets will match.”

  Sparky was looking at the wallets I'd placed on the counter.

  “Don’t emboss hers with the Eye of Horus, emboss hers with a rose.”

  A few minutes later she handed me back my wallet with a perfect rose. I handed her seven gold and told her to expect more business in the near future. She thanked me and left. I grabbed Mossbeard and we jumped to the bakery, out the front door just beyond the pub. This lane had much more traffic than the lane that the bookstore is located on. So I had to make my field off the cobblestones. I created a magical field as Mossbeard drew. Because I had to keep jumping to Juliet's world, Mossbeard was done with his drawing before I was half done with the magical field, so he went to the pub for some soup.

  By continuing to jump to Juliet’s world to rest I actually completed the entire magical field. Mossbeard came back out after finishing his soup. Then we went to the bakery to get donuts for Sparky and sweetbuns for Mossbeard, Opal and I. Then we jumped back to the bookstore. I handed Sparky his three dozen donuts and he just smiled. Opal Mossbeard and I ate our lunch. After lunch I had Mossbeard make two miniature drawings of the pup portal. I took those copies and put one in my wallet and one in another wallet. Then I asked Opal to please complete and activate them.

  Then I took Mossbeard out front and showed him what to draw for the second public portal. Half an hour later, Mossbeard had made two wallet size drawings of the bookstore, so I put those in mine and the other wallet I was working on. Finally I had a wallet size drawing of my library in the tower and added that to the second wallet I was working on.

  Then I walked up to the town hall, keeping my fingers crossed that the Burgomaster was in. As luck would have it, he was in but in a meeting, his assistant said he should be done with it very shortly if I care to wait. When I said I would he brought me tea. Just as soon as the tea was placed in front of me the meeting ended and I was ushered in, tea in hand to the Burgomaster’s office.

  “Rose to what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “Arthur I have a present for you but it’s only half done. Do you have twenty or twenty five minutes to take a walk? I wouldn’t ask but it really is important, it’s partly about Hot & Cold Magical Soup & Ale and partly about the clinic.”

  “Absolutely Rose, let me tell my assistant."

  I heard him tell the assistant that he’d be out of the office for about an hour. Then he stepped back into his office, I showed him the wallet and held onto his arm and asked him to touch my library. We portaled, I said hello to Doug and Daisy.

  “Rose this is amazing, this is a good forty five minute walk at a very fast pace, because I always walk fast.”

  “We’re not done Arthur, just flip the leather like this and touch this drawing.” I gripped his arm and we portaled to the pub

  “Rose you’ve outdone yourself.”

  “No, this was Grandmaster Brightspark’s idea. We have a little private network, Tower to Bookstore to Bakery. The only thing I added were the miniature drawings and the wallets. If you just flip to the last one and touch it please.” I gripped his arm. We stood in front of the bookstore.

  “I have to go in and congratulate the Grandmaster.”

  We entered the bookstore and Arthur strode up to Sparky and started pumping his hand up and down.

  “Grandmaster, it’s a triumph, a triumph.”

  “Ah, what are you referring to Arthur?”

  “Rose just took me on a whirlwind tour from my office to your tower to my wife’s pub to your store in less than five minutes.”

  “I see well she didn’t bother to tell me she was doing that, I’m sorry if she annoyed you. She can be a lot to handle, Arthur, I’ll try and control her, in the future. Just know I didn’t give her permission to do any of these things.”

  “Sparky, you don’t understand this is a great thing.”

  “Ohh, yes Arthur I agree entirely, good job Rose. But she didn’t do it alone, none of it would have been accomplished if it hadn’t been for Opal making the original network and now Mossbeard is really helping out with his technical drawings and miniatures.”

  “When can we hook up the other end of town, Sparky?”

  “Rose is doing all the magical fields, so Rose could you start tomorrow do you think.”

  “Yes, Sparky but this is just the first stage Burgomaster, perhaps I could walk you back to town hall, we could talk about some future enhancements that will benefit the entire community, I could really use your advice on where to put the public portals. We also have to do some experiments on how to do this if you don’t have a wallet full of drawings. But before that, would you like to see the new medical clinic, the real inspiration for this public network?”

  “Yes, that sounds good.”

  “Just grab my arm Burgomaster.” We portaled to the clinic, the desk and all the chairs were neatly arranged.

  “Arthur, would you like to have a ribbon cutting here tomorrow, kind of give the place your stamp of approval. It wasn’t even open before it saved the first citizen's life.

  “Rose, that’s a tremendous idea. If you weren’t such a wonderful magician I’d insist you come work for the government. But honestly you are doing more good for the town then the town council, and you don’t even work for us.”

  “I think it’s every citizen’s duty to help improve their community. Look at you, you've devoted your life to it. There is Dr Li, let’s see what time she wants to have the ribbon cutting?”