[Observe, Surprise]

  “Surprise”

  “Hello Love, I’d have thought you’d portaled home from the book store by now.”

  “I was in the bakery and saw you through the window, here try one of these cookies that Paula baked. I think you’ll love them.”

  “Ummm, that is good, Paula is so talented.”

  “As are you my love, as are you. But I was worried about you today, I thought all of those men were going to attack you. Do things like that happen very often, Lu?”

  “No, don't worry Rose they really don’t. We are a bit overwhelmed by how fast the pub became popular, and we are understaffed, so we plan to post a job listing tomorrow before we open.”

  “If it’s safe Mossbeard has eight sisters who are applying at the clinic to become apprentices. I doubt Lottie will take more than two, so when I saw the Burgomaster today, he told me you were looking for help. So I told Mrs Ironhide to send the other girls to either the bookstore or the pub. We hired Mossbeard at the bookstore and he’s going to stay in the tower for at least the next twenty five weeks.”

  “What do you need a carpenter for at the bookstore?”

  “Turns out he always wanted to be an artist but his awful father wouldn’t let him. Instead he forced him to work as a carpenter then took three quarters of his salary as rent. He really is not a nice man, but his mother is lovely. Can we stop by the bookstore and get Opal and Mossbeard?”

  “Sure Rose.”

  “It turned out that Opal and Mossbeard had portaled home.”

  When we arrived home at the tower I could hear Opal shrieking so Lu and I sprinted up the stairs to the second floor balcony overlooking the interior forest. It sounded like Opal was being attacked, but in reality she was kneeling on the gurney that Mossbeard had been using as his bed. Mossbeard ran behind pushing the gurney the entire circumference of the balcony. Opal had been shrieking with laughter.

  I immediately felt the tension drain from my body, then I saw Groucho swing from the balcony railing and landing neatly on the moving bed, then he began yelling at Mossbeard to push faster ‘little man’. Then Draco emerged from his lair and started trotting after them. Just then Ruby and Ronja arrived home. Ruby started laughing.

  “Is that our new roommate Rose?”

  “Yes, how did you know?”

  “Opal came to the Teahouse for lunch today, she was so excited, said we were getting a new roommate and boy would I be surprised. She’s right I am surprised and also amazed, wasn’t he almost dead two days ago?”

  “Go on Lu, I know you to join the chase to, go on. Let’s all eat together tonight to welcome our new roommates. Yeah, Ruby, it didn’t look good for Mossbeard, but gnomes must be incredibly sturdy.”

  “I’ll attest to that, when he was still in human form, his wounds and signs of surgery looked a minimum of a week old. I was shocked to learn it’d been less than twelve hours.” Ronja said.

  Just then the gurney passed in front of us with Draco loping mere feet behind Mossbeard, Lu was just behind Draco, it looked like the whole group was going for another lap, they're just lucky it’s a round tower. It’d be hard to get that gurney around ninety degree corners.

  Draco doesn’t eat very often and never virgin princesses so after the gurney races, I walked him back to his lair and asked for his help with magical fields. The last time I’d made one I was in bed for a day, so I’d be careful.

  Later that night we all ate together in the dining room, thanks to the magical sideboard we ate together but each of us had our favorite meal, Mossbeard had his seventh bowl of gulasch. Groucho had four banana splits. Lu a very rare stake. I had a bowl of gulasch, the stuff was growing on me.

  Opal, Mossbeard and I portaled to the bookstore early the next morning. I wanted to set up direct portals between the bakery and the tower, and I wanted some portable portals. For that I’d need leather wallets for the pictures that would fit in your pocket. I also want to get down to the clinic to see if anyone would show up for an interview.

  Sparky is only early when I’m running late and never late except on days that I need to speak to him. He finally portaled in just before the first bell rang at nine o’clock. I don’t know how he knows exactly when the bell will toll. Maybe he has an Earth time piece at the tower.

  “Sparky I have a question for you: does a portal exit have to be a magical field?”

  “Yes it does.”

  “What about the starting point? I gave Eldara an activated drawing of the bakery. Will she be able to get there from the library?”

  “Yeah the starting point can be anywhere, just the ending needs a magical field.”

  “How big does the ending need to be?”

  “I’m not sure Rose, as a guess I’d say one and a half meters around, two and a half meters tall. Why?”

  “Because I asked Draco to create a magical field around the clinic and then when his magic recovers around the retirement home. But I want to put in a public transport network. Divide the town into four squares then as near to the center of each square a way to portal to any of the other three.”

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  “Well you can’t hang pieces of paper in a square, the rain and wind would make them useless.”

  “I know, I was thinking the same thing, but what if you used decoupage. Sink a post into the ground right inside the magical field, then you glue the pictures on three sides of the post, then you use clear varnish over the pictures. We can test it later to see if it’ll work or if the varnish prevents being portaled. But I want to get to the clinic to meet Draco and to see if any one applied to the nursing apprenticeship. One last question, if I practice making magical fields everyday how long before I could make one big enough to portal too?”

  “Everyone is different Rose, you have to be patient with yourself, you don’t want to overdo it, or you’ll end up in bed for twenty four hours like last time. Ask Draco to let you make the clinic’s magical field. Just make a small field the size of your fist. Then let Draco expand it. Have him explain how he is expanding it. Then tomorrow you go to where you want a portal, create a fist sized field, then everyday you go back and expand it until it’s big enough to portal into.”

  “Alright thanks Sparky.”

  “Just remember, it’s better to do too little than too much. Too little you go back the next day to expand. Too much and you miss the next day or two. Magical fields are best tackled with patience, something you seem to have never developed.”

  “I got it, do not over do it. I remember last time, I did not feel great. I’ll be more careful. It’s just frustrating. I saw Draco do the whole theater, and I could do a tiny ball.”

  “First off he over did it, and also paid the price plus he has been doing magic for over seven hundred and fifty years, you've been doing it for a few months. Don’t compare yourself to a dragon, it won't turn out too well.”

  I portaled to the bakery, said hello to Paula who was covering the counter. Then walked down to the clinic.

  “How did you get here so fast Draco? You were still asleep before I portaled to the store.”

  “Big flying dragon, Rose. Where did you want the first magical field?”

  “I was talking to Sparky and he said to ask you if I could create the field, then ask you to teach me how to expand the field, little by little, day after day. But then if it’s possible, have you fill this field today.”

  “Sure, this building is going to be three floors so we want to create the magical field on the second floor dead center.”

  “I’m not sure how we can get up there.”

  “Big flying dragon, Rose. Remember, just climb on my back.”

  I got on and hung onto his neck for dear life. I am not really scared of heights from something secured to the ground but sitting on a slippery dragon's back is not rooted to the ground.

  As soon as we landed Orin came running over.

  “Rose what are you doing up here, it’s dangerous.”

  “Draco and I are going to make a magical field around the clinic, so I need to be near the center of the building. It won’t take long, but it’ll be a comfortable temperature and no rain will fall within the field. So it’ll make it a little better for the workers, in bad weather.”

  “Alright that sounds good actually and thank you for hiring Mossbeard, he was the worst gnome carpenter I’ve ever known. I hope he’s a better artist than a craftsman.”

  “Yes Orin he’s quite good, I’m glad you are not angry that we hired him.”

  “No, his father is a friend, a prickly one but a friend and I couldn’t refuse him when he begged me to hire his son. So, no, not mad at all, relieved, he’s a good kid so I’m glad he’s good at his new job. I’ll get out of your way and let you work.”

  Orin moved as far from the center as he could, maybe he didn’t like the idea of a newbie like me creating a magical field, so retreated as far as he could just in case it exploded. We found the exact center.

  “Alright Rose, close your eyes, remember your third eye in the center of your forehead, look at the space where you want to create it with just your third eye. Just imagine creating a small ball of magical energy an arms length in front of you, you can do it, you did it before, this time will be easier. Yes, I see it starting to form. It’s expanding now, stop, open your eyes. If you can’t stop it, just opening your eyes works right away to end the flow of magic coming out of you. Now how do you feel?”

  “I actually feel fine, I remember last time how weak I felt. I’m not even tired, can I just expand it a tiny bit, just to learn how to do that.”

  “Yes sure you can, I’ll walk you through it first look at the magical field, can you see it, Rose?”

  “Yes it’s a round ball about twice the size of my fist hovering about eye level a meter or so in front of my face.”

  “Perfect, now close your eyes and use the third eye to look at the field, now your magic flows out through your third eye into the field. Once you double the field, open your eyes. Just by concentrating on the field with your third eye your magic will naturally flow toward the field, okay, it’s starting, just remember when it’s double just open your eyes, almost, a little more, open. Now how do you feel?”

  “Just slightly tired.”

  “Alright that’s enough for you but watch the magic flow out of my forehead into the field and watch it expand. Watching is almost as good as practicing it, it grounds the knowledge that you yourself have already done exactly what I’m about to begin.”

  It’s true, before what I was only seeing with my mind’s eye, now I could see it actually happen in front of me and I felt that I at least understood the process behind what I’d actually done.

  “So Rose should I do the retirement home or do you want to wait until tomorrow and we can do the same thing, you can create then fill it a little.”

  “Yes please Draco, I want to learn to do this on my own, and you actually make learning easy. If you have enough magic and wouldn’t mind coming back I’d really appreciate it.”

  “Sure Rose, I’ll have plenty of magic, I only used about ten percent, I’ll be full by tomorrow. Hop on, where are you going, I’ll give you a lift. I just have to go downstairs to the clinic, I want to check on the apprentices.”