(Day 9 Fivesday)
LaTao jogs down the slowly bending stairs of her campus tower home. Behind her floats a canvas bag filled with dirty clothes and another, smaller bag filled with books. In one hand, she pulls the drawstrings of the levitating bags; in the other, she holds an empty, wheat-colored canvas bag. The smiles on the faces she passes on the way are for the joy of three days without school. Her smile, however, is from the joy of three days without masking. Three days of studying, practicing spells, and enjoying fuzzy cuddles, she thinks, eager to see her furry friends. They weren’t home last weekend. I hope they swing by this time.
With happy thoughts in mind, the smiling apprentice hops out the front door and greets the morning sun with a grin. I’m gonna stop by the dining facility and pick up lunch for me and Keeg, she thinks, kindly keeping her carriage driver in mind.
***
LaTao steps out of the cafeteria with steam rising from her once-empty canvas bag. She squints. The bright sun is glaring down, but she doesn’t mind. One day soon, the brim of my Red Mage Hat will protect my eyes. Once her eyes have adjusted to the light, she sees Deska. With her coin purse in hand, LaTao deduces that she has a similar plan in mind. She nods to greet her fellow ‘shorty,’ but rather than return the nod, Deska cocks her head to the side.
“Where are you going? Why are you dressed like that?”
LaTao looks down at her pinkish overall skirt. The right shoulder strap dangles as the left does the job alone. Her gray leather boots look like they’ve been through their share of battles… because they have. The tunic she’s wearing is cotton, old, faded, and extremely comfortable… perfect for a long carriage ride. She looks back at Deska and replies, “I’m riding home for the weekend. I’m dressed to be comfy.” She successfully holds back from adding, ‘Why the Heck do you wanna know?’ “Why? What are you getting into?”
Deska looks around as if the answer were written on a passerby. “Um… aren’t you going to study with us? I mean… the scores were pretty bad. I think the professor is going to start getting serious.”
“I’m sure you all will be fine. You have all weekend! I’m going home to study, do laundry, and help Pops at the shop.”
“Help… Pops?” she replies.
LaTao’s face scrunches slightly. She can’t tell whether Deska doesn’t know what ‘Pops’ means or if the girl is confused by the concept of helping someone. “Yeah… Castle Gander… in Fellous… best smith in the kingdom? I mean… we’re not ‘rich’ or anything, but to anyone who swings a sword in Adeaus Kingdom, he’s kind of a big deal.”
Deska closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. “So, you’re saying you’re not studying with the rest of us… to work?”
I can’t tell if she’s confused or offended.
LaTao smiles and shrugs. “I’m sorry. I’ll study with the crew again soon! Have a good weekend!” LaTao walks around her and heads toward Main Street. She sighs, slightly annoyed that Deska didn’t say anything nice back. I helped them plenty the other day. They have three whole days to study. They don’t need me there. She’ll get over it…. They’ll be fine.
***
LaTao exits the station and finds her carriage waiting. A blonde gentleman stands beside the door. He bows and motions toward the carriage steps as LaTao approaches. “Oh, stop,” she says with a chuckle.
Keeg smiles awkwardly. “But that’s what all the other drivers are doing, M’lady.”
“HA! No! Stop! That’s so gross! Don’t be weird!” LaTao pleads. With her hands full, she kicks at him to shoo him away as he tries to take her bags and help her up the stairs. “Boy, if you don’t quit!”
Her giggling chauffeur shrugs with his palms up by his shoulders. “I’m supposed to help with your bags like all the other drivers and servants.”
Nearby are several drivers, maids, and butlers each dressed properly as such. Many of them glare judgmentally at Keeg’s unprofessionalism. Others curl their lips at the way LaTao is treating her ‘servant.’ They shake their heads and huff, talking amongst themselves.
Does she see this? Yes. Does she care? No… not even a little bit.
“You’re not my servant, Keeg. You’re Pops’ delivery driver. He pays you to deliver stuff and occasionally drive me places.” She tosses her duffel bag into the small trailer attached to the rear of the carriage. It lands beside several loose straps and some rope. He must have delivered supplies here earlier. Once ready to board, LaTao smiles ear to ear at her audience. With her fingers together, she slowly bends at the wrist, gracefully, like a princess greeting her subjects. She turns with the poise of a model to acknowledge those on the other side in a similar fashion. She gives an elegant curtsy, tugging at the sides of her overall’s skirt. After a feminine bow worthy of a painting, she reaches up and pretends an invisible hand is helping her up the stairs and into her carriage. “Oh, why, thank you!” she says to no one.
With pink cheeks, Keeg quickly lifts the fold-out stairs up from the bottom. As he raises them, the top steps fold inward. He closes the hatch, locks it in place, then closes the door. He forces a smile for the mortified onlookers…. Well, he thinks he’s smiling. In reality, he’s showing his teeth with only the slightest rise on each side of his mouth. His eyes show more embarrassment than anything else. He quickly unties the horses, releases the brakes, and gets the carriage at a canter. Once he no longer sees judgmental glares of wealthy subordinates, he reaches over his shoulder and slides open the window to the carriage cabin. “Hey Tao,” he says. “I don’t think they like us.”
“Hey, Keeg,” she replies. “I don’t think I give a crap.”
Keeg chuckles. He briefly brings the horses to a full gallop. Seconds later, he slows down to a canter. He swallows hard, then grabs his canteen to get a few swigs of water to wet his throat. The bothered blond leans over in the driver’s seat and looks back. Despite long since being out of view, he still feels their disapproving eyes scrutinizing his every move.
LaTao leans out the small window with her elbows resting on the windowsill. Her shoes are off. Her hair clip is out, letting the hair on top of her head sway about in the wind. She smiles and sighs heavily. “Man… I am DONE being ANYONE but ME for THREE DAYS STRAIGHT!
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to feel like I just did all the time.”
LaTao nods. “It’s tough…” she begins, then pauses. The wind blows, and the carriage picks up speed. “I know who I am, I know who I want to be, and I know the MAGE I want grow up to be. I know what kind of example I want to set for all the little girls that grow up being told what they can and can’t do. I know what kind of legacy I want to leave behind…”
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“Legacy?” Keeg looks at his passenger with an eyebrow lowered. “You’re still in school, and you’re already talking about your ‘legacy’?”
LaTao shrugs. “I gotta do big things so they won’t have to embellish when they write books about me.”
“HA!”
She punches his shoulder. “Hey! I already know there're gonna be books about me. I don’t want them to be about a girl who ‘tried her best’ or ‘was one of the best.’ No… I want it to be about the girl who was the youngest to become a Mage. Then I want to–”
“–to be the youngest Wizard ever, then the most powerful Wizard ever.”
LaTao tussles his hair. “See! You already know!”
***
LaTao’s carriage comes to a stop in front of a black, metal fence. This spiked barrier is six feet tall and spans the area of Castle Gander, a semi-famous destination for those in need of weapons and armor. To the average citizen, the skull resting atop the tallest spike is just as inviting as Gander’s personality. Despite his lack of people skills, his military accomplishments have spread beyond the borders of the Adeaus Kingdom. Just as importantly, the quality of his blades outweighs the gruffness of any transaction. The reliability of his equipment makes the visit more than worth it… provided one isn’t frightened away by the grim, macabre entrance and style.
Beyond what appears to be a cemetery stands a castle built from dark gray stone. Between the six square pillars of the roof are battlement-topped walls. If the ambiance has you on edge, you’d would half-expect an archer or two to be poised to fire from between them. To LaTao, it’s just home sweet home.
“Thanks for the ride,” LaTao says as she hops off. She casts a spell and levitates her duffel bag of laundry. As she walks away, she smacks the far, open end of the carriage, which will soon be filled with cargo, then waves Keeg off to do his other job. “I hope you sleep at SOME point.”
“Sleep’s for the weak!”
LaTao passes throught the yard and reaches the large and wide front door. The phrase ‘Open Noon Till Dusk’ is prominently displayed, written with pyrography long ago by someone who evidently loves adding unnecessary curls and swirls to letters. She steps through the threshold to the tune of a bell’s gentle jingle. She takes a deep breath and is greeted by the aroma of leather, coal, and iron dust.
“Mmmmm… I miss this smell.”
The ceiling is high, and the walls are far away. Even so, the distant door to the forge is open, allowing the scents to waft in all day long. Above her, beautiful balls of white flame, burning magically and floating in place. Surrounding them, glass chandeliers reflect and redirect the white light throughout the store. LaTao passes through the sandy wood colored shelves of weapons, armor, bags, pouches, and equipment. She stops and turns down the row with jewelry and trinkets.
There’s got to be something here that my roomie would love.
She walks along slowly, her eyes roaming up and down with each step. Occasionally, she picks up a pair of earrings or a bejeweled cufflink. Every now and then, she reads the notes attached by string to see the item’s enchantments. “Nope… nope… nah…,” she says, her bag still floating behind her. When she reaches the far end, one item finally catches her eye. She lifts the necklace, moving it about, hoping at some point she’ll feel something tug her in the direction of buying it… then sighs.
I don’t love it, but it’s kind of cute. The enchantment isn’t that bad either… but it’s not really… I don’t know. “Ugh.” This isn’t as cool as that badass carpet. I bet that thing jumped out at her, but this is just… just ‘okay.’
LaTao looks back. At the far end of the aisle, where she began, a lady now stands. She places something on one of the hanging hooks against the wall of the shelf. Curiosity pulls LaTao heads that way once the woman is gone. What did she return?
The two bracelets rock on a wooden peg sticking out of the shelving wall. The golden hue, the smooth shine, the shimmer of the intricate carvings… it all puts a smile on LaTao’s face. She flips the price tag and thinks, Oh, I get it. Piecing together what happened, she shakes her head and chuckles.
She probably thought this was gold. When she saw the price tag, I bet she thought this was a steal! LaTao flips the thin, wooden tag back over and reads the enchantments. I bet she put it back cause’ Pops told her it was pyrite!
At the center of each of the ‘C’ shaped bracelets are three stones. One has an obsidian ball that is the purest of black. It rests between two red ‘goldstones.’ The irony is not lost on LaTao. Though called ‘gold stone,’ they look like balls of blood-red glass, flickering from tiny crystals of metallic copper that give the appearance of flakes of gold.
The other bracelet has an onyx ball at the center. To each side are glittery blue goldstones. The shimmer is the same as the red stones on its sister bracelet, but the blue is much darker. One’s black and red, the other is black and blue. I like it. I’m not usually the biggest fan of gold, but it looks so good with these stones wedged in place. I honestly have no idea how my dad got them in there.
“Yeah… these are perfect!”
Moments later, Gander hears the sound of his money drawer being opened. He leaves his tongs on the anvil, but keeps his rounding hammer in hand. He wipes the dust from his brow with one of his hairy forearms, then makes his way to the open door to the store, prepared to open the skull of whoever dares open his till. The moment he sees his daughter’s shadow, he smiles ever so slightly. “Thought I was losing a step, there.”
LaTao turns and winks at her father.
“Usually, I’d sense anyone before they get this close.”
“First of all, you taught me well. Secondly, I obviously have no malicious intent.”
“Is that so?” Gander asks, hoisting his hammer and resting it over his shoulder. “Then why are you insulting me?”
LaTao’s head tilts to the side.
“You’re paying full price? You know better.” The scraggly, salt and pepper hair atop his head brushes the top of the seven-foot-tall doorway, despite him slouching to breach the frame due to the height that he clearly didn’t pass on to his daughter.
“Ah,” she replies with a nod. She smiles deviously at her towering father. “Yeah, you know better, Pops. If I wanted it for me, I’d have already given you ‘the look.’”
Gander grunts in disapproval. He steps to the counter and grabs his huge coffee stein. He flips the lid open with his thumb to find but a drop at the bottom. He grunts once more.
“It’s just that this is a gift for someone else.” She lifts the bracelets to eye level and admires their glossy shine. “I wouldn’t feel right responding to a gift my roomie spent money on with something I got for free.”
Gander’s responding grunt is a slightly higher pitch, letting his daughter know that he approves. “So… how’s the thing with those girls… the thing you talked about last time? Naiah’s advice workin’?”
LaTao nods. “They’re totally starting to like me… and it’s killing me. There were so many things I totally could’ve explained to the fullest after a teacher glossed over them. Heck, I may know more than some teachers… but I have to keep up this act. Now that I know it’s working, I have all the more reason to keep it up… but oof. It’s not getting any easier.”
Gander gently fixes a bunched-up tuft of LaTao’s hair with his massive hand. Despite his fist being nearly the size of her head, he delicately unravels her little imperfection, then rubs her back. “Well, yer home now, Princess. Leave all’at stressful shit o’er there in K’Laie.”
LaTao smiles up at her doting father. “I plan on it.”
“Good. Back to work I go.” As Gander re-enters his forge, he asks, “Ya mind makin’ supper?”
“Want coffee too?”
“Aye. Got a long night with the latest request, so I’m gonna need it.”
“No prob, Pops. I’ll start on that first.”
“That’s ma’girl,” he says with pride.
***
(Day 9 Fivesday)
Study
(Day 10 Sixday)
Study
(Day 11 Sevensday)
Study
(Day 12 Onesday & Day 13 Twosday)
LaTao returns to the Magical City of K’Laie well rested and at ease. She loves the thrill of adventure and seeks action and danger whenever she can, but reading and relaxing with a hot tea by her side comes at a very close second place. The first thing she does in her dorm room, before putting her laundry away, is place the two bracelets on her roommate’s bedroom doorknob. Where the price was once written in chalk is now a single word… ‘Enjoy!’
The rest of that day flies by without incident. Twosday is just as mundane. She avoids conflicts, answers as few questions as possible, and does her best to help her coven friends only upon request. Everything is going according to plan… and it’s almost not even painfully dull… almost…
When thinking back on this chapter, what scene comes to mind? (pick one or two)
