Descendants of Magic

CHAPTER IX. - AURORA: IN THE DARKNESS THERE IS A BLUE LIGHT

Since the meeting with Professor Nannieya and her friends, they kept asking me to join their little botany club. I tried to politely refuse at first but they kept insisting on me joining them since I was able to summon both Lily spells at the same time and they wanted me to help them somehow, or do the spell again so they can store the flowers. I never really cared for plants in any special way. Wanted to, because it was easier to take care of them and the orphanage didn't really allow us to have any pets. There was one beautiful big stray black dog that lived somewhere near the orphanage. The workers always tried to scare him away and told us not to feed him, but he kept coming back. Esentially, they let us be and sorta keep him around but that was the only exception. To fill the boredom at that place I bought some plants which didn't last long. I don't blame them. It was too depressing in the orphanage common room for people and everyone wanted to get out for as long as possible. Maybe I could do the same here since I don't have much stuff to do between classes anyway. I mostly hang out with girls, read books or just study. I was thinking about it at first and still wasn't sure about joining them though. In the end, I told the professor that I will let it run through my head and give them an answer later. My excuse? Saying that I am still not used to magic and I need time for my studies, to catch up with those, who could practice from childhood, had help from their families.

That Lily spells happened two months ago. I kept avoiding Professor Nannieya, stayed in the back during each class to be able to quickly run away after we get dismissed. She tried to ask me a few more times but after a few weeks, she realized that I needed more time so she stopped pressuring me. She gave me a few soft looks followed by a warm smile from time to time during class, or hinted in her lesson speech how we should cherish our gifts and work on not losing them which made me feel a little bit guilty but I still wasn't sure if I should join them. Would I be even of use to them besides casting one spell and being a flower supplier? The guilt got to me and eventually I had to accept the offer from Professor Nannieya and her club since I been getting letters from the members more and more frequently. They wanted me to attend their meetings in that little coffee shop, which was no problem since Professor Nannieya got a permission slip for me, accompanied me every time to the outside world. Even though it was boring, just sitting there and listening to their stories, watching them show off new plants they managed to grow. Except for the Lily, I had no other achievements. They wanted me to summon the Lily while we were together but Professor Nannieya told me not to, that the spell is energy consuming and that I should wait a few more months until I fully summon another one. So I usually only ate whatever cake they ordered for me and then went back with Professor Nannieya and her sister. They were always nice to me but they probably realized I was just bored and they weren't exactly the age category I would usually hang out with so when I asked if I could stop coming to the meetings and instead just work with the professor, they didn't protest. After school, I usually help Professor Nannieya in the greenhouse. We mostly water plants, trim old stems, pluck dead leaves, and sometimes we plant new ones. The professor also gave me permission to borrow some botany books about medicinal herbs or poisonous and deadly plants, and just take them from her office if I wanted to. I even started cleaning around to make it neat and professor told me not to bother with it but I wanted to be more useful around and help her out. She must have felt a bit guilty even though I tried to reassure her it's not a big deal to sweep the floors because as a reward, she tried to help me to catch up on some spells and practice my powers. She told me to prepare a binder and old newspapers when we were supposed to make our own herbarium. Also gave me hints to study spells beforehand in a book she recommended for being ahead in her class.

The rumors were still circulating around the school. I keep getting weird looks from students but those come mostly from people from my class. Others sorta got bored, forgot about it eventually or found something new to have fun with. In our first-year classes, I sit alone in the back taking notes. I wrote down most notes for Botany class already based on the recommendations from the professor so I kept just doodling into a clean notebook I started bringing with me and listened to the lessons when they were theoretical.