A Tale of Bubbles & Blooms

Chapter Two

I rush through the orchard, watering can in hand. Once at the edge, where I know Myrtle can barely see me from her lurking place at the top window, I pour imaginary freshwater onto the trees and plants. After a counted 15 seconds, which is how long it takes for Myrtle to decide I'm doing my job and to leave, I fling the watering can into a newly-blooming smoketree shrub and run.

I hop over roots and rocks, the soles of my new boots squeaking. Myrtle had given the beautifully-woven boots to me as her own present to me for my birthday, last week. Wow, only last week? feels like a lot longer. At the memory, I wince guiltily. She's so trusting, so kind, so loving, despite her sometimes harsh remarks. And there I went, behind her back, secretly signing up to the Aurora Academy (I convinced Dawn to let me in without parental confirmation) and becoming an apprentice Bubble Mage.

What does that say about me? That I'd rather follow a stranger than the only person in this town who cares enough to look after me?

Maybe I'll never tell her. Maybe I'll continue to train with Dawn, spending more time there than I ever do at home these days. Laughing at Sunny's jokes, swimming with Lilly, practising my bubble holding while Apple flies his bubbles around freely.

Even though I have made friends among the 30 (ish) teens training alongside me, I still feel a little separate from the group. The others all live there, in the old lodge. Their parents happily sent them off for the year of training and fun, and now they are a part of life at the academy. And then some outcast girl, with her parents on a three-year voyage and a anti-mage grandmother who has no idea that she's escaping comes along.

Yes, that girl is me.

But I have to admit, I wouldn't trade it all for anything.

I just hoped that everyone at the Academy could accept me, someone without a magical background. After all, I'm just a farm girl who spent her childhood catering to plants. Some of those plants might have been a bit special, sure, but lots of kids at the academy have magical families. Apparently one of the old students was an ancestor of the Royal Floran Family, the ones who ruled the Utopian era.

So naturally joining this place with a grandma who sells plants in a weeny custom shop was quite unsettling.

Distracted by my thoughts, I hop over another root that I didn't notice I had come to, landing lightly on the other side.

I am now facing the Academy. It's a complex area, not just a school building. There's the Bubble Centre (which is the day area, with a kitchen, bathrooms, and a common room with soft pillows and blankets on the floor, with well equipped shelves with all sorts of entertainment.) and the Lodge, which contains the sleeping quarters. I'm not really allowed in there, mainly because, well, I don't sleep there.

And hidden from view by a cluster of trees, in between the two diagonal buildings, was the Dawn Circle. (The place where the students practise their magic!)

My next step crunches onto the wide, gravel driveway that branches off from the trees. I try to walk quietly as I get closer to the Lodge windows, as it's only 8am and the others are most likely still asleep. I eventually creep all the way around to the Centre, delighted to see the massive wooden double doors gaping open, a delicious smell coming from inside.

I pull off my boots, leave them at the door, and enter.

Inside is quiet, the kitchen occupied only by Ester, Aubrey, and Freja, the chefs, busy making breakfast. (Freja is my personal favourite. Esters a stuck-up old granny and Aubrey's fine, just a little quiet.) I greet them as I grab an apple from the fruit bowl, as per my usual routine. I sit at the main table, waiting for the group to arrive.