Outside the Mirage

#26: The Last Good Merlyn

Vanessa looked at the board, bunching her eyebrows together as she tried to decide what the best path forward would be. Looking down, she sighed. She had no choice. Slowly placing each letter down, she spelled out the word 'HANDSY' on the Scrabble board, utilizing the N from Bennett's 'KING'.

"Handsy?" Bennett asked, chuckling. "That's all you've got?"

"I'm hurtin' for letters, buddy," Vanessa grumbled. "Go on, show me up. Do one better."

Bennett rubbed his bearded chin for a moment before playing 'YOUTHFUL', connecting the Y from 'HANDSY' to the L in 'MINIMAL' from the other side of the board. Vanessa rolled her eyes.

"I don't like Scrabble," Vanessa said.

"You didn't like Uno, Monopoly, Battleship, or Life or either," Bennett noted.

"Risk," Vanessa said. "I like Risk."

"Well, I don't have Risk. I have Uno, Monopoly, Battleship, Life and Scrabble."

"The next time you waddle your homeless-looking butt to a Meijer, buy Risk."

Bennett frowned. "Meijer?"

"It's a grocery store," Vanessa said. "Do you not have Meijer here?"

"No, I don't think so."

"That's unfortunate."

"Do you really think I look homeless?"

"You don't look like a wise old mentor," Vanessa said.

"What's a wise old mentor supposed to look like?" Bennett asked. "Like Gandalf?"

A small smile crept on Vanessa's face. "Not exactly. I just assumed people who mentored were better looking."

"How rude of you to assume," Bennett retorted.

"My apologies," Vanessa said. She looked over and saw Merlyn, chopping wood. "So why has he been chopping wood?"

The question had been weighing heavily on her mind for some time. It had been almost two weeks since they'd arrived at 442 Wishmore Road, the home of Tobias Bennett. Since Bennett promised to teach Merlyn new magic, he'd spent his days doing a variety of strange tasks. Merlyn spent three days roaming through snow and trees to find strange, pulsing orange bulbs. After that, Bennett had Merlyn meditate for two full days, sitting in one position inside, unmoving and unblinking. Since then, Merlyn had been doing a number of physical activities, everything from running around in knee-high snow to climbing trees to, yes, chopping wood. The results seemed lost on Vanessa, who failed to see the benefit of any of it.

"He's getting in shape."

"He's just trying to learn a spell," Vanessa said.

"Forgive me," Bennett said, "I don't interact with many non-mages in a magical context. There are a lot of things about magic that seem like a given but you know nothing about. Let me be more clear: learning a spell and casting a spell for the first time is always going to be the most difficult time. For instance, the very first spell almost every mage learns is a simple Fireball." Bennett held his one good hand out and a small ball of flame appeared.

"That's actually one of the first spells I ever saw," Vanessa said.

"Unsurprising," Bennett continued. "It requires very little aura, can be performed quickly, and is a very easy offensive spell. It is considered by many to be the easiest spell to learn. Given all that, it's also important to know that in order to cast it for the first time requires a lot more from a mage than what I mentioned. You need to be well-rested, you need to know all the specific hand motions, you need to be properly trained and in a good physical condition before you should attempt it, especially if it's your first spell. If not, the strain could kill you."