A Sip of Magic

Chapter 1, part i: Oleander

On its seventh skip, the pebble plunked into the river and left a halo of white light in its wake. Artemis near swallowed his butterscotch whole gawking up at me. "Are you thick? Da said not to do that where people can see."

I took a long gander at the old grey docks and the empty waters. It was rocky and fair shallow, ill-suited for anything larger than a pinnace. Most ships, like our father's galleon, used the larger marina on the other side of Seaglas. "Don't think the fishes are gonna tell on me, do you?"

He glowered and pushed his glasses back in place with a thumb. "There was a boat of fishermen down the ways a bit when we first came, I saw. They could come back any time. If they catch you pulling tricks like that, they'll think you been pilfering nips of magic."

My pocket rattled with river stones I'd collected on the way from our home. I palmed another one, rubbing circles across its smooth surface with my thumb as I considered my brother's warning. Slowly, he turned back to face the water. The bag of butterscotch crinkled.

Then I threw the stone. It wove in and out of the river a dozen times like a flying fish. The muddy waters lit up, clear as a full moon night, and I grinned to see the dart of fishes and lollop of sleepy turtles just beneath the surface.

"OLLY." Artemis bellowed with a smack to my shins. "I'll not be telling you again!"

Back then, I was a young weed, barely out of my fifteenth autumn, so my gift was weak and I hadn't given the stone much of it besides. The glow didn't last long; shorter-lived than my laughter as I flopped down on the dock beside Artemis. Soon we were both staring down into a dark river again. My brother didn't say a word, just angrily stuffed another butterscotch in his mouth.

"Green goddess almighty look at the sour puss on you." I batted his shoulder. "It was just a bit of funning, yeah?"

"Just wait 'til I finish my schooling." The sweet clacked against his teeth. "I'll show you."

"Better you than me in that gilded cage, s'all I can say." I took off my boots and sat them aside.

"Best not," Artemis said. "You've already lost three pairs this month."

"Aw c'mon, now. They're right here." Shoes were the devil's work as far as I was concerned. No matter the skill of the cordwainer, the boots never felt right. Though it regularly left Da flummoxed, I was secretly a small bit happy I had a habit of losing shoes, if only so it meant I didn't have to wear them for a while. I rolled my ankles and curled my toes. "And you're right here, too. Surely you can keep track of them, yea?"

Artemis grunted in acknowledgment.

Satisfied, I laid back and folded my arms beneath my head. "What d'you think sunshine tastes like?"

"Huh?"

I waved towards the sun. "Read in a book once that plants and such get their food from the sun and the water and the soil."