Bee And Foxglove

Vincent Comes For A Visit

A few days later, when Bee and Foxglove managed to visit the pub again, they were greeted by a buzzing atmosphere similar to when Sarah, Daughter of Edelweiss had made her public debut.

"Hey, Ol' Johnny," said Bee, taking a chair. "What've we missed?"

"Hey Bee, hey Foxglove," said Johnny. "Turns out you were right about the new Age of Heroes."

Bee perked up. "Really?"

"Yup! We done got invaded by Frankia."

"You can't mean..." said Foxglove, a little scared.

"Naw, don' worry. S'a figure of speech, ya know? Some Frankian guy with more guts than sense; they say he has magic that can control the winds. Made himself a glider and flew to the top of the highest tower of the University of Illumia, put a bottle of his country's vodka there, and flew off back to Frankia again."

"A friendly challenge, you see?" said Wild Eye Tom. "Almost as if to say, 'Here's a gift for you, just fly up and take it.'"

"Sounds rather silly to me," said Foxglove. She guessed from Bee's facial expression, however, that she was already trying to work out if she could fly.

"And that's not all of it," continued Ol' Johnny with a glint in his eye. "There's someone else: Steven, son of Bear, he's called. He made a name for himself showing off some kind of Earth magic. Made a giant statue of an acorn pop up right in the town square of Jura. Changed the natural stone in the ground there or something."

"Why an acorn?" asked Foxglove.

"I dunno," shrugged Ol' Johnny. "Why not an acorn?"

"The acorn is on the Jura coat of arms," said Wild Eye Tom. "It's pretty much the symbol of the city."

"Ah. That'll do it," said Ol' Johnny.

"Bit of a show off, don't you think?" said Bee.

"Absolutely," said Wild Eye Tom. "I suppose that's the point. Maybe there are more new wizards out there, right? Ones with a bit more sense, lying low for now, or at least not making headlines. But these two, they heard of Sarah daughter of Edelweiss, and said to themselves, 'If I can't be first, at least I'll be second or third.'"

Bee sighed. "I've no idea why they'd care so much what people think of them."

Foxglove wasn't sure if Bee was being ironic on purpose or not. She smiled compassionately and squeezed Bee's hand under the table.

"Right?" replied Wild Eye Tom. "I bet the wizards who are taking their time now, they'll be the ones who really have something worth hearing about later."

Bee smiled a little.

*

Bee and Foxglove walked home, a little magical light floating out ahead of them to guide the way. Sweetpea ran circles around them and occasionally tried to eat the light.

"How do you feel about the latest news?" Foxglove asked Bee.

"I'm happy about it," said Bee, and seemed to mean it. "This means we'll see that none of these new wizards are dropping dead, and you'll get to relax."

Foxglove nodded. "I hope so, Bee. So... you're not disappointed?"

Bee shook her head. "Not really. I can only miss being the first great wizard once. I don't care if I'm second or third or tenth."

"Right."

"It's kinda fun actually," continued Bee. "One day we're going to tell Ol' Johnny and the rest, 'You had a wizard hanging out with you the whole time and you never knew!'"