Sorceress

Chapter 3

There were several people in the dimly lit room that gave me a dirty look for coming in so suddenly. There were tapestries and paintings all over the walls, and purple curtains hanging from each window. The tables were short, and instead of chairs there were large, lush pillows on the floor. Lush carpets covered the floor. The shop smelled distinctly of jasmine.

"Sepiena?" I called.

"I'm right over here child, there's no need to yell," a cracked voice came from a nearby table, and the woman stood up from looking into someone's teacup and walked over. She only came up to my waist, and she was slightly hunched. Her stone grey hair was in a long braid down her back.

"I'm Alice, and I'm going to be your new apprentice!" I said excitedly, extending my hand to her.

But instead of shaking my hand, she shook her head and turned to walk away.

"Come, child." Puzzled, I followed her through a low doorway in the back of the shop. We went up a narrow, steep staircase and ended up in a room just above the tea house. It was similarly decorated, but there were no tables except for one in the very middle. There was a small bed in the far left corner, with an owl perch beside it (on which the barn owl from earlier was sleeping) and the air was hot and musty. To the right was a stove with a tea kettle perched on top.

"Sit down child," ordered Sepiena. I sat at the table in the middle of the room, Ignis climbing down into my lap and curiously peering at the owl.

She walked over to the stove and poured some water into the kettle.

"Come here, fire stoat," she called. Ignis nervously padded over to her. She gestured to the pile of logs under the stove, which he lit with a breath of fire before running back to my lap. She placed the kettle on top.

"What kind of powers do you suppose that owl has?" he whispered to me.

"Not sure. I'm also not sure why shes making us tea instead of starting my training."

The elderly woman poured the hot water from the kettle into a small glass teacup and handed it to me.

"Drink it slowly until there are only tea leaves and a bit of liquid left," she instructed.

"But why-"

"Drink up."

I did as she said, then she took the cup from my hands and swished and liquid around, muttering something under her breath. Then, she peered into the cup and set it down, shaking her head.

"I see you are very powerful, Alice. Tell me, do you know much magic?"

"Of course not, that's why I need a mentor! I set off from my home town just last night to practice magic."

"I'm very sorry child, but I am not meant to be your mentor. The path of divination is not for you."

I stared at her for a moment.

"What do you mean? Why not? You just said I was powerful!"

"You are a wild spirit. You are impatient and tend to act without thinking. It requires endless patience, discipline, and deep understanding to master the art of fortune telling. It is not suited to you. Besides," she added, "the amount of power you possess means nothing if you do not channel it in the right way."

"I can learn to be patient! If I'm not a fortune teller, what am I then?" I was on my feet now.

"It is not my place to tell you that. That's up to you to figure out," she replied, "Now it's time for you to leave."

"But-"

"Watch your head on the way out."

When I didn't leave, she snapped her ringed fingers and the world started spinning around me. Around and around I went, until the spinning stopped so abruptly I fell over. Groaning as I got up from the ground, I looked up to find myself standing in front of the tea shop.

"Wha... How..?"

"She must know more than divination," groaned Ignis, "Now what do we do?"

"I... I don't know," I replied. I had never considered the fact that someone might refuse to be my mentor. Now I not only had to choose a path, I had to choose the right path. 

My broom appeared a moment later (she must have seen it and realized she forgot to transport it along with me). 

"We go somewhere else," I announced, setting my jaw and picking up my broom as several people around me snickered, "someone somewhere is bound to be willing to mentor me." And with that, I hopped onto my broom and kicked off without looking back, my cheeks hot with humiliation.