[Truce, Repair]

  “But Lily you haven’t heard the weirdest part yet, on the day he takes off, a beautiful young Indian man comes into the store, says he’s been searching for Sparky for years, that the Locate spell wouldn’t work. But ten days ago the spell worked and he located him here in Wyldwood.”

  “Well did he leave?”

  “No, he said he was going to find an inn, and would return to the store this afternoon. Later I’ll ask Draco if there is a better spell than locate to find someone, who might be cloaked.”

  “Rose I’m not sure you should be helping this guy, maybe Sparky wouldn’t want to meet him. That should be Sparky’s decision. Take the man’s information and pass it on to Sparky, then Sparky can decide what he wants to do.”

  “Did Sparky ever mention Arjun Votrie to you? He’s the Indian man.”

  “No, that name isn’t familiar at all.”

  “I just find it all so odd and mysterious, I was thinking that it might be some kind of test that Sparky has devised for me.”

  “Or maybe this is someone from Sparky’s past that he prefers to remain in the past. Please don’t investigate this, go write or do the lessons that Sparky left for Opal. If you go poking around, you might uncover something that this Arjun can use. We all know that Sparky did something in the royal court that Titania took issue with. That’s why Sparky came here in the first place. Maybe Titania sent this Arjun, maybe he is her spy. The last person to come here from Quintessence and the royal court kidnapped Salome. I don’t trust any of them.”

  That sobered me up fast, Mistralyn stirred up a lot of trouble. I remember that day, if it hadn't been for Lu. I don’t know how we would have found Salome. Lily was right, I had plenty to do. But I’d talk it over with Draco and Lu tonight.

  “Instead of searching for Sparky, maybe I could investigate Arjun and find out about him.”

  “Yeah, I don’t see any harm in that, just leave Sparky’s past alone. When he comes back you talk this whole thing out with him. So did you want to get lunch?”

  “Oh yeah, I’d forgotten. Could I have a large pizza please, it seems everyone decided it was pizza day and that sounds fine to me.”

  I portaled back to the store with a twelve slice cheese pizza, I’d need to get two slices out of the box for me and Opal or Mossbeard and Mastat would have the whole thing devoured.

  After lunch I told Opal that Sparky had gone on a trip and wanted me to teach her about magical fields and that he also wanted her to start writing more, while still leaving time to draw.

  “So sweetie, let's start with magical fields, they have a kind of golden glow about them. If you go out in the lane and then come back in you might be able to notice them. At first to me, they felt like a very slight electric shock.”

  “I can already see them, Rose. When I activate a portal drawing or painting, I can see the golden glow. That’s how I know that I succeeded in activating it.”

  “I see, well that’s tremendous. Just noticing them for the first time was very difficult for me. I wonder if activating a painting is the same as creating a magical field. If it is, that will be great because you already have so much experience. But activating all those drawings and paintings, did it never tire you out at all?”

  “No Rose.”

  “Good, good. Maybe you have more inherent magic than I do. Would you want to try to create a magical field?”

  “Yes Rose.”

  “Great, I will teach you just like Draco taught me. Just close your eyes and imagine a spot on your forehead just above your eye brows. Then imagine magic coming out of the spot to form a ball.”

  She had already done it, she was doing it as I talked, it was already bigger than my first that had exhausted me.”

  “Open your eye’s”

  Her eyes snapped open and she smiled at the ball of magical field that hung in front of her face.

  “How do you feel honey, are you tired?”

  “No Rose, I can do more, should I expand this one or create a new one?”

  “Let’s see if you can suck the magic field back into yourself. I want to make sure you don’t tire yourself out. It took me a whole day to recover.”

  “My magic is at ninety percent, Rose.”

  “How do you know that honey?”

  “I don’t know Rose, I just seem to know it. How do I suck the magic back in?”

  “To be honest sweetie, I never seemed to be able to but you are so good at this I’m sure that you can. Just close your eyes and imagine the magical field, then a thin stream of magic starts to leave the field and comes right back into you. You are already doing it, Opal I see it returning. Go ahead and open your eyes. How do you feel, Opal?”

  “I feel good Rose, I’m not tired, my magic is at ninety seven percent.”

  “Sweetie, can you tell how much magic you have left while it’s flowing out of you?”

  “Yes Rose.”

  “Alright I can’t believe how good you are at this, I’m jealous. Now go ahead and create a magical field like before, then before you fill it stop and open your eyes, then close your eyes and fill it until your magic is at seventy five percent. Alright, begin.”

  She closed her eyes and almost instantly a magical field formed a meter from her face. She opened her eyes, looked at the field and then closed her eyes and the magic started to flow instantly. The ball expanded rapidly.

  “Don’t forget to stop at seventy five percent.”

  THe field was still rapidly expanding; it was probably five times as big as the largest field I’d ever generated. Six times, ten times. Then it just stopped. Opal opened her eyes.

  “Is that seventy five percent, honey?”

  “Yes Rose.”

  “Are you tired? Honey, or feel very excited, I did and it masked how tired I actually was.”

  “No Rose, I’m not tired or excited.”

  “You seem to have much better control than I do. The only way I could stop the expansion was by opening my eyes. So if you ever have to stop but can’t just open your eyes alright. Now try and take the magic back.”

  Instantly the magical field collapsed.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Did you manage to get any of the magical energy back?”

  “Yes Rose, I’m at ninety five percent.”

  “Wow, Opal you are so good at this, you should be giving me lessons. In fact I’m afraid I can’t teach you anything else about magical fields, so let’s go back to the tower and ask Draco to give you daily lessons in magical fields. Then you can show me what you learned and maybe I’ll get a little bit better at this.”

  So we portaled to the library and went down to Draco’s lair. I knocked on the door.

  “Come in young ladies,” boomed through the door. Opal and I went in.

  “Draco, Sparky went on a trip, and before he left he asked me to start training Opal how to manipulate magical fields. But this little smarty pants is already better at it than I am.”

  I gave her a playful swat on her bottom and she giggled. “So I’m afraid I’d be teaching her the wrong things. Would you please give Opal a daily lesson, then she can teach me. Today she already made a magical field ten times bigger than I ever have and she’s like you. She knows exactly how much magical energy she has left and she can recover almost all of that energy.”

  “Yes, we can begin right now, Opal. How much magical energy do you have left? Rose are you staying?”

  “Ninety five percent Draco.”

  “No, I’m going back to the store, I am humiliated enough. You can stay home when you're done with your lesson sweetie and thanks Draco.”

  I portaled back to the store.

  Mastat was still drawing away at the counter.

  “So Mastat, Sparky said that today was your last day. Thank you so much for all your hard work. You’ve really made the portal job so much easier.”

  “Thanks Lassie, it’s been fun, but you really don’t need me anymore and McCracken wants someone there full time to take care of the music. I’m hoping your girl will still perform when it comes to the actual performances, not just the rehearsals.”

  “I can’t speak for her Mastat but I think she enjoyed herself, but you’re staying in the tower right, so you can talk to her yourself about it. You might even head up to the pub for a pint during lunch right?”

  “Aye, I will do that when I can, but one of the actors says it’s inappropriate if the child apprentices are there.”

  “Oh, I never even considered that. I can’t drink and write although I know a lot of writers are famous for it, I’m afraid it’d just put me to sleep.”

  “Not me lass, it fires me up, makes me want to dance a jig, especially Nim’s brew, it is one of the finest dwarven ales I’ve ever had the pleasure to drink.”

  The door opened and Arjun Votrie came striding back in.

  “Hello Rose, has Sparky returned?”

  “No I’m sorry to disappoint you, Arjun, but I don’t think he is going to be back for some time. I’m his apprentice and he gave me extensive lessons for his other younger apprentice. He never would have done that if he’d planned on returning in a day or two. Like I said this morning if it’s something to do with the store I’ll help you in any way I can. If it’s personal and you write a letter, I’ll guard it and Sparky will get the minute he gets back.”

  “No I’m not leaving until I see him in person, I already told the inn keeper that I might be here for quite some time.”

  “What is it you do for a living Arjun?”

  “I’m a healer.”

  “Magical or scientific?”

  “Magical, what’s a scientific healer?”

  “A doctor in earth terminology.”

  “I’ve never even met one of those before.”

  “Well Arjun I may not be able to take you to Sparky but I can take you to meet a doctor. Come on.”

  I led Arjun over to the portal drawings and I touched his arm and the painting of the clinic. We portaled to the clinic.

  “Very convenient this portal system, did Sparky come up with it?”

  “Yes, most of it. I helped with a couple of enhancements.”

  “Sparky always was a man of ideas, if he saw what others considered a problem he always framed it as an opportunity. It seems he hasn’t changed over the years.”

  I walked over to the desk where one of Mossbeard's sisters sat.

  “Hi I’m..”

  “I know who you are, you are the hero of the gnome colony, you saved my brother's life, you got our money for us, you installed all the portals, you got my sisters and me jobs, your Rose the magician. What can I do for you Rose?”

  “We were hoping to have a quick word with Lottie, er, Doctor Li, if she isn’t with a patient.”

  “I’ll go check, Rose, please have a seat.”

  We sat down in the waiting room.

  “Hero of the gnomes, and you installed all the portals, why did you lie?”

  “I didn’t lie. The original idea was Sparky’s to create a private network. I came up with the public network only after seeing how the private network worked. Like I said I helped with a couple of enhancements.”

  “So Sparky gave you all the glory.”

  “Exactly.”

  “How did you get the gnomes their money?”

  “We auctioned off a private portal network.”

  “Was that Sparky's idea?”

  “No it was mine.”

  “Did Sparky get the gnomes hired?”

  “No I did.”

  “How did you save the gnome's life?”

  “I didn't, I just jumped them to somewhere the doctor had what she needed to save him.”

  “So you are Rose the designer and installer of the public network and assistant healer.”

  “But I couldn’t have done it without the staff at the book store. I can neither draw nor paint. Plus the most important step is to activate the artwork with magic. Which I also couldn’t do.”

  “Still very impressive, Rose.”