Dreamwalker

17- Spark Reignited

 Laurier was really starting to get on Soutine's nerves. More than usual, that is. He brought the dead king's books and scrolls into Soutine's prison cell to translate every day. Now there were double the deadlines and threats, and Soutine didn't much care for either of those things.

On the bright side, this meant that most of the time he was unsupervised and unchained, so he could do whatever he wanted while he worked. Namely, practice magic.

This particular day was devoted to a spell called forla, which, when used properly, made objects float off the ground. Soutine was very excited for this one. It was a typical wizard-esque spell so adding this to his repertoire almost made him a real magician. He studied it when he still lived in Terre Pur and he was sure he had it this time.

To start, he wrote out a copy of his notes to keep in his cell so he could reference them later. Using one of the thicker slices of paper, he carefully angled its corner so he could cut into the palm of his unscarred hand three parallel lines. It was worse than using a knife. The wound stung like salt buried into each line of blood.

Trying to ignore the pain, Soutine held his hand out in front of him, palm toward the ceiling, and closed his eyes before whispering, "forla."

When he opened his eyes, the books in front of him were floating in midair, bobbing as if caught in a gentle current of water. A dim blue light shimmered above the blood on his hand. Soutine smiled, pain all gone. Now he realized what he had been missing every other time he tried to cast the spell; he was holding his hands all wrong. It felt amazing to accomplish a second spell.

To make it even better, there was someone who had just opened the door, watching him with an aghast frown.

Soutine let the books fall. The paper fluttered in the air for a moment so he waited for it to spiral to the stone before letting out a sigh and exclaiming, "Piano, how can you find the most inopportune times to check in? Do you want me to go insane?"

Piano sighed and picked up one of the books from the ground. "You have been busy. And I thought you said you weren't a wizard."

"Well-- not quite. I thought perhaps-- oh, forget it, you wouldn't believe me," he finished. It was useless to lie to Piano. He simply stooped down so he could rearrange his notes on the floor.

"Laurier would want to know," Piano added.

"I'm sure he would, my dear, I'm sure he would."

Piano put a hand on one of the books in Soutine's hand to catch his gaze. "I need to tell him that you're practicing magic and he won't be pleased. What makes you trust me so implicitly?" he asked quietly. "I've told you over and over that I work for Laurier and no one else."

"And over and over, I'm unconvinced." Soutine brushed Piano's hand away so he could stack the book with the others.

Piano wasn't finished. "Laurier sent me here to make sure you were still working hard. What am I supposed to tell him now?"

"Tell him that I'm working. That isn't a lie. Go on, shoo. I have books to decode, as you know full well." Soutine waved his hand as if to sweep Piano out the door. He opened the book on the top of the pile and pulled a blank sheet of paper forward, then continued his writing. The quill scratched the parchment with such speed and force, his script was almost illegible, and the ink splattered onto Soutine's fingers.

Piano could only take about a minute of this before he jerked the quill out of Soutine's hand and threw it across the room. "That isn't good enough!" he bellowed. "You stop this right now! You don't seem to understand that I have a duty to perform, and you undermine me with your-- your-- attitude! Keep your head down and do your work!"