Mind Games

Chapter 4 - Mae

Mae sat up, shaking hair out of her face. She sat up, getting out of bed and fishing a fresh uniform out of her trunk. She changed into the brown pants and the dark green and brown sleeveless top. The colors of her mage order.
She stood in front of the small mirror on her trunk, coiling her thick black hair into a tight braid. She grabbed her cane from its resting place by the door and made her way down the hall, emerging in the kitchen to find that kid sitting on the couch, staring out the window at some bird.
"Mornin' kid," she said, entering the room.
He jumped, turning around. "G-good morning," he stuttered, twisting a strand of hair around his finger.
She walked over to the cabinets, pulling out three small bars, throwing one over to the kid and setting another on the table. She peeled the leaf-like wrapper off of the third, taking a bite.
"Don't think that I forgot about last night," Mae said, eyeing the kid out of the corner of her eye. She pointed to a seat at the table. "Sit."
He nervously stood up and walked over, sitting down at the table in front of her.
"So, what's your deal?" she asked, gesturing to the clothes he wore. The ones that were somehow changed back to the drab trousers and tunic she'd first seen him in. She'd seen a lot of things, but she hadn't seen that.
"I dunno, I think it's magic?" he said, almost like a question.
"Not any magic I've ever seen," Mae said, sitting down in one of the remaining seats and looking him in the eyes.
He squirmed beneath her gaze, playing with the gloves that she hadn't seen him take off since she met him.
"Hiding any other tricks up your sleeves?" asked Mae, propping her cane up against the table.
"Well, it's technically the same trick," he muttered, his fingers twitching. Copies of himself appeared around the table, nearly identical to him.
Mae froze. "You're... you can make illusions." Keep those emotions hidden, young one. Hide it all with a smile. She shook off her surprise. "Of course." She schooled her features back to how they should be. "How long have you been able to do that?" she asked.
"I figured out the illusions when I was eight," he said, a shadow passing over his face.
"What exactly can you do?" Mae asked, leaning back as she set the wrapper of her bar to the side.
"I just make illusions," he said with a shrug, shoving a hand into his pocket.
Mae thought for a moment. 'How can he create illusions? I've never seen anything like that.'
She smiled at him, standing up. "Do you want to come to magic school with me for today? There's someone I have to talk to."
His eyes widened. "You have a magic school?" he exclaimed, leaping up. "That's so cool!"
Mae grinned. "That we do, kid," she said, picking up the bag that she had left the day before. She knocked on her brother's door, quickly letting him know that she was leaving for school.
She joined Zain at the door where he was playing with his hair. She smiled. "Enjoying the haircut?"
He nodded, smiling. "Thank you for cutting it," he said shyly.
"No problem," Mae said, nudging the door open and heading outside.
The kid followed after her, gawking at the dense forest surrounding them. Mae tried to get him to tell her more about his bizarre illusion power, but he claimed that he didn't know anything more. She wasn't sure that she believed that, but she let it go anyway.
"Well, here we are," she said, cutting between two other students to clear a path for the kid. "Éorand Magic Academy for Mages. What do you think?" she asked with a classic Mae grin.
The kid's jaw dropped as he stared at the huge clearing full of relatively plain buildings, each one adorned with the interlocking rings that represented the academy. A genuine smile crossed Mae's face as she watched Zain take it all in.
"This is amazing!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking.
"Come on kid," she said, walking towards the main building. "Let's go and have a chat before my classes start."
He hurried after her as she walked across the field and entered the building. She took a sharp right, knocking on a grand door.
"Come in," a voice responded.
She entered, Zain trailing shyly behind her.
"Ah, Maenora, lovely to have you in my office again," Headmaster Paj, head of the school and member of the Council, said with a smile. "What can I do for you and your... friend?"
"This is the kid we found on the border last night," Mae said, gesturing to Zain. "I thought I should introduce the two of you. Zain, this is Headmaster Paj. Paj, this is Zain. He supposedly has some interesting magic that I thought you should see. Kid, do you want to show him your thing?"
"What do you want me to do?" Zain asked with a nervous laugh.
"Anything you want," she said with a smile. Headmaster Paj leaned forward, interested.
With shaking hands, Zain flicked his fingers, a glass appearing on the table, filled about halfway with clear water.
His eyes widened. "Illusions? I don't believe I've ever seen that in my life," he said, stroking his chin.
He moved to pick it up, but his hand went straight through. The illusion flickered away.
"How... how do you do that?" he asked. Mae laughed to herself, happy to have shocked her headmaster so much that he could barely speak.
The kid shrugged. "I don't really know," he said, fidgeting with his gloves. "I can just... do it, I guess."
Paj took a moment to calm himself before continuing. "My boy," he started. Mae didn't think she imagined the smile that snuck onto Zain's face. "This power... I've never seen anything like this. Do your parents have this magic?"
Zain shook his head before the headmaster had even finished his sentence.
"Interesting," he muttered. He glanced out the window, gauging the time from the sun. "I believe that it could very well be some sort of Maker magic. Well, Maenora, your classes will be starting soon. You should probably find your friend here a uniform and get him ready for class."
The kid's jaw dropped. "Me? Uniform? Class?"
The headmaster chuckled. "Of course, young man. That is, if you would like to enroll?"
He nodded. "Thank you," he said, twisting his hair around his finger.
"Excellent." Headmaster Paj smiled. "Maenora, could you help him adjust to the school for the next few days? I will get his classes figured out. For today, he will go along with you."
"Of course, Headmaster," Mae said with a nod.
"There's a closet with some old uniforms down the hall. If there isn't one that fits, just ask one of the Maker instructors to fix it up for you."
"Thank you," Mae said, heading out. "Come on kid, let's get you a uniform."
Zain hurried out after her, thanking the headmaster one more time before slipping out of the office.
"Does he really mean it?" he asked Mae, his elation visible on his face.
"Of course he does," Mae said, walking confidently through the halls that were slowly being flooded with students setting their things in their lockers.
She turned down a side-hallway, opening a door on the right, revealing stacks of containers, each with a label denoting which uniform was inside.
It took some digging, but she eventually found a container full of old Maker mage uniforms.
Mae picked out a pair of dark purple trousers and a top similar to hers, but in purple and gold.
She handed it to Zain. She stepped aside so he could duck into the closet and change. He emerged a minute later, holding a neatly folded stack of his old clothes. The only things he kept were his brown boots and his pair of gloves.
"Looks good," Mae said with a nod. She took the stack of clothes, cramming them into her bag. "I can hold onto this for today," she said, packing the containers back into the closet and shutting the door. "Alright, I have a class in a few minutes. We'd better get going."
As they left the building and started heading towards the Life mage field, Mae adjusted her grip on her cane. "Now, this class is for developing Life mage's skills, so you will not be able to participate much. For now, just observe and pick up what tips you can," she said as they approached the field. "Also, just as a tip, not all mages are friendly. Be careful who you talk to."
Zain gulped, readjusting his gloves. Mae briefly told Amrose about Zain's situation before joining her classmates and leaving Zain on a bench close to where Amrose was.
"Hi Mae!" Kinyu approached her. "How're you doing?"
"If I were not well, I would not be here," she said, looking down to meet his eyes. She looked around. "I suppose that Naio is not well today," she smirked.
"Students, get over here!" Amrose shouted.
The group quickly migrated towards her.
"Alright everybody, please sit down," she said, almost like she was leading a Novice class.
Everybody sat down, leaving Mae standing in the back. "I'm sorry, I prefer to stand," she said with a charming smile. She wouldn't ever admit it, but the only reason she didn't sit was that her leg was much stiffer than usual. She must have slept poorly.
Amrose nodded, starting the class off.
"As you all know, the basis of your magic is that you can manipulate plant matter, and in some very small ways, animal matter," she started. "But, in reality, that's a bunch of shit. You can't manipulate the plants into growing. Each step of the process takes infinite care and skill to be sure that the plant does not die. You cannot just tell it to grow, you need to show it. You must connect with the plant and help it see what you need it to do." Zain sat to the side, listening intently. Amrose pulled a seed out of their pocket. "This is a knei flower. I've found that they are especially difficult to connect with. As a warm-up, I want you each to grow a six-foot flower, partially through its bloom." She quickly handed out seeds. "Go ahead."
Mae cast her seed to the ground, feeling an instant connection. She clenched her hand into a fist and raised it, letting it open part-way slightly above her head.
A giant knei rose from the ground, the bud opening halfway just an inch above Mae's head.
"Lovely job, Maenora," Amrose said with a smile. The others had just then started to get their flowers out of the ground. The rest of the class commenced in a similar manner, drilling them through different seeds, identifying them and then growing them to the exact standard Amrose set. Mae blasted through each one with ease.
Halfway to midday, she sent them off to their next classes. Mae left the field, leaving Zain to jog to catch up with her.
"That was awesome!" Zain exclaimed once he caught up. "I've never seen magic like this!"
"You're from Kotera, right?" Mae asked. He nodded. "That checks out," she said matter-of-factly.
"So, what do you have next?" asked Zain.
"Practice," she said, pointing to a large, sectioned off area. There were all sorts of things, from targets to small bodies of water and large, open structures.
Zain observed the whole session, watching the mages hone their skills. Afterwards, he ran up to Mae. "I didn't know that there were so many kinds of mages!" he exclaimed, excitement written all over his face.
"Seven," Mae said. "Really only six here. There are only a few Light mages."
After a moment, Zain pointed to the bracelets on Mae's wrists. "What are those gems for? All of the mages I've seen have them."
"They're for channeling magic," Mae said, "most mages can't do much without them. Speaking of which, we should probably get you a set before you start classes."
They walked back to the main building, where Mae led Zain to the dining room. "I figured that it would be easier to just eat here today instead of heading home," she said, making straight towards an empty table. "Besides, Dorian's at school right now. I'll go get food." She left her bag on a seat and walked to the short line, leaning heavily on her cane. She was looking forward to resting it for the next hour.
The rest of the day passed quickly, filled with students staring at Zain in shock and getting shooed off by Mae before they approached him. Right when her last class ended, the instructor called her to the front of the room.
"Maenora, the Headmaster told me that the Council wanted to have a word with you," he said ambiguously.
"Alright. Here at the school?" she asked, resting both hands on her cane.
"Yes, just down in his office."
"Thank you, sir," Mae said, leaving the classroom with Zain in tow. Her mind was buzzing. 'This is it,' she thought, barely able to keep her characteristic mysterious smile on her face. 'They're going to offer me a position on the Elites. This is it.' She hesitated in front of the headmaster's door.
"Zain, can you wait out here?" she asked the kid standing beside her.
"Of course," he said, stepping to the side and putting his hands in his pockets.
"This is it," she muttered before knocking. She was admitted into the room, where she was met with Headmaster Paj and Councilan Ori.
"Good afternoon, sirs," she said with a small bow. "What did you want to speak with me about?"
"Ms. Li, lovely to see you again so soon," Councilan Ori said with a smile. "We needed to speak with you about your application to the Elites," he said, clasping his hands behind his back.
"What about it?" Mae asked, resting her hands on her cane and keeping her expression neutral.
"We did receive your application, but many of your other classmates as well as mages who have already graduated sent in applications as well." Mae's heart hammered in her chest. "We have not been able to come to a decision just yet, but we are going to be coming to observe your class on second-day next week to gather more information. We have already informed your classmates."
'Of course they haven't made a decision yet,' Mae thought. 'They're not great with timing.'
"Thank you for informing me," Mae said, leaning on her cane. "I'll be sure to bring my A-game for you all."
"Wonderful. Have a wonderful first-day," Ori said, "we'll see you next week."
"Thank you," said Mae as she exited the office, meeting Zain outside. "Alright, let's head home. Dorian's going to be back from his classes by now."
"Okay," Zain said, following Mae out of the school. "What did they want to talk to you about?" he asked as they walked through town.
"Nothing important," Mae said, brushing it off.
After a few minutes of silence, Zain asked, "What do Maker mages do?"
"They can make things very quickly, and they can manipulate materials. Wood, metal, things like that."
"I... I don't think I can do those things," Zain said nervously.
"You'll be fine," said Mae, "that's why you're going to have classes. They'll teach you how to do all of it."
"Okay," said Zain nervously. "What was it like when you first started going to that school?"
"I don't think that I'm the best person to ask that question to," Mae said. "I've had an abnormal experience."
Zain didn't inquire further.
A few minutes later, they walked into her small house buried in the trees. Mae nudged the door open, seeing Dorian sitting at the table and eating an apple. "Hey, kiddo!"
"Mae!" Dorian leapt up from his chair, springing towards his sister and wrapping his arms around her. "How was school?"
"It was great," Mae said, "how were your classes?"
"They were fun!" Dorian exclaimed. "We got to sign up for next semester's classes! I'm going to learn how to speak Seian!"
"Ooh, that's very exciting," she said, ruffling her little brother's hair. "It's a very lovely language," she said as she set her bag down next to the door and pulled her boots off before sitting down at the table. "Oh, Zain, your new clothes came." Mae pointed towards a box in the family room. "They must've sent it over earlier."
"Thank you," Zain said with a smile, sitting down on the couch to look through it.
"You can keep your clothes in my room if you want," Mae said, pointing vaguely towards her bedroom door. "There's an empty drawer in the dresser."
Mae yawned as Zain walked down the hall. She massaged her leg, wincing as it twinged in pain.
"Is your leg bad today?" Dorian said, tilting his head.
"Yeah, it is," Mae said with a nod. She selected an apple from the pile on the counter. She shrugged as she took a bite of it. "I think I just slept weird last night."
Dorian nodded. After a second, he pulled something out of his bag and set it on the table. He pointed to the paper. "I don't know how to do that one," he said, picking up his pencil. "Can you show me?"
Mae smiled warmly. "Of course I can. I'm happy to help."