Pentad of Un

Chapter 2 - Kestek

     Kestek Leiff was deemed the most indecisive student in her year. When she, along with all the other students, had to pick what they wanted to study, she lapped the field twice, unable to choose something she really wanted to dedicate herself to.

     Most of the other sprites in her year had chosen within minutes, picking things like teaching various subjects to the younger students or pursuing studies to become merchants.

     In the end, Kestek chose to study medicinal arts, meaning she would become an apothecary—and that was something the town sorely needed.

     The entire Yaruid Kingdom had twenty trained apothecaries in total as of the previous year, and three of them were there in Woei. The other seventeen were scattered among the other seven counties that Yaruid was comprised of.

     But after a painful year of boring lessons, all Kestek really found herself enjoying was the way ingredients went together to create something new.

     The rest of it—all the injuries and blood and disgusting ingredients necessary for salves and potions—was no fun at all.

     So Kestek switched to study something different, meaning she was only allowed to change her mind one more time before she turned fifteen. Then she would be stuck studying whatever she chose for the rest of her time at The Academy.

     Unfortunately, she discovered after a few months that she wasn't cut out for life as a seamstress. It was stressful trying to stitch fabric correctly, and the lessons were even more boring than the apothecary lessons were. At least in that class she had gotten to enjoy some aspects.

     But she hated everything about being a seamstress, and she knew whatever she ended up choosing would be better than that.

     There would be no more switching after her second time changing her mind, and she would be fifteen in a few days, anyhow. Whatever she chose would be what she would spend the rest of her life doing.

     "I don't know what to do," she told her friend Wrija after classes one day while they sat on the rocky shore of the Kabvs Sea. "What if I choose wrong? Then what?"

     Wrija shrugged, her wings brushing Kestek's shoulder. Both girls were sprites, having wings that stayed invisible unless they were around someone they were close with or trusted deeply. It was usually accidental when a sprite left their wings visible, but it was a sweet gesture nevertheless.

     Kestek had been mistaken for a human a few times before, since the only thing really setting sprites apart from humans was their wings that couldn't be seen anyway, and their ears—but even then their ears were very similar to human ears, just with pointed tips.

     The other thing was that sprites' eyes were the color of their magic, unique in color to each individual. They also blushed the color of their magic.

     "You're so lucky," Kestek grumbled. "You liked the first thing you chose."

     "I just like making things with my hands," Wrija replied. She was training in craftsmagicks, using her magic while making things like wands and flying broomsticks. "Isn't there anything you like doing?"

     Kestek thought for a long moment. She had never thought too much about it until she had to, and by then it was too late to explore her options.

     A flash of movement darted past the girls, making them both flinch.

     It was a boy that was probably around their age, and he had just thrown himself into the water.

     He disappeared for a few seconds, then a scaly, cobalt-blue tail flicked out of the water for an instant.