If Stratagor Ziras doesn't kill me, my training program will!
Every day I wake up and go through the motions, but they've figured out that I'm not a Knight. I can't ride, I can't fight, I can't do magic, and worst of all, I can't see whatever it is...
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The Latuus birds sing and I quickly flip to my stomach just as a pegasus nose crashes down on the pillow I just vacated.
"I'm up," I groan into the pillow. Warm pegasus breath tickles my ear. I bury myself deeper into the blankets to avoid the slimy tongue sliding across my neck.
I push at the nose and lift my head. "I'm up," I repeat. I swing my legs over the side of the bed and scratch Lenox's itchy ears. "Seriously, your method is effective, but there's got to be a better way." He walks out the door without another word.
I go into the bathroom to start my morning and wash my neck. When I come out breakfast is on the table.
"Good morning," Albína sings.
I plop down in the chair next to her and pop a biscuit in my mouth. "One morning I'm going to sing back and freak you out."
She laughs into her teacup. "If you did, I'd just assume you were up all night studying again."
"Your point is not valid because when I do that I'm even less charming than I am most mornings," I say through a mouth full of food.
She smiles. "Remember, you're getting measured this morning."
I know I've been in Cromsmead for a long time when she has me measured for clothing again. Most of the clothes that were made for me originally are worn out. A lot were thrown away just because of the damage I'd done to them. She always restocks my closet with new clothes, but now those no longer fit. In the time I've been here, I've grown about two and a half inches. I think that makes me over five and a half feet tall. Trelix might think it's a silly human thing to be proud of my height, but I'm taller than all the elves by several inches.
"Can you use your wand and get the claphoutis ointment off the top shelf? I appreciate you putting it there, but I can't get it down."
I grab my wand off the dresser and head to my office. Kyrbast is still trying to give me some magic skills, but I think it's hopeless. I can do a mean shield, though, and I can move a few things around, like the claphoutis ointment. I had to put the skin cream on top of my bookshelf in my office because it's fruit-based and smells good, and Lenox insists on eating it—even though he never eats fruit, which is weird. I think it also might have raw eggs, but I'm not sure. I know he likes it, though, because, he destroyed the cabinet in my bathroom to get at it.
I wish Albína would have come in here to witness the retrieval because I flick my wand and the jar floats down from the high shelf into my waiting hand like a trained bird. Usually, when I use my wand to pick something up, I drop whatever it is and slide it across the floor to myself. Maybe Kyrbast is right. If I practice more I might actually get good at this. I doubt it, though.
I hand Albína the ointment just as three seamstresses enter my room. I stand with my arms out to the side and let them poke and measure to their hearts' content. They're gabbing away with each other in Naga-Nuru so I can't join in whatever hilarious story they keep laughing at. I do smile and nod every time they look up at me, even though I'm not feeling particularly jovial.
