Bevel was glad that she'd gotten a chance to hang out with her auntie Nexxa. Was too bad she’d been so tired she’d needed a nap after making the giant skull disappear.
That’d been cool to see. Just like seeing auntie Nexxa lift it into the air with nothing but her aura.
It’d been a good learning experience.
Plus her friends had all enjoyed it. None of them got to hang out with mages who knew what they were doing. She’d gone to find them again after Mama Ari had sent her away, saying it would be best to let auntie Nexxa rest.
“De-did you see the way she moved?” Dethin asked, his face flushed. For some reason, he’d remained focused on her auntie Nexxa more than the magic.
“She’s a real mage,” Sezzie said, clasping hands together. “But I didn’t understand almost anything she did. Hey Be-”
“Of course you didn’t. We’re not actual apprentices,” Bolly said, patting his cousin’s shoulder. “We haven’t earned that yet. But we just have to do our part, and they’ll teach us.”
“Or we could-” This time Sezzie was interrupted by one of Bevel’s friends from the Pale elf camp.
“You’re lucky your family’s going to teach you,” Ahma, the eldest of the three pale elf siblings said, twirling her finger in her hair while stepping closer to Bolly. “Our grandmother says an elf is only supposed to learn the magic they’re told to. She’d have a fit if she thought we’d learned anything today.”
For some reason, she winked at Bevel as she said that. She winked a lot whenever Bevel talked about magic. It was something she’d thought about bringing up with Mama Ari, but was worried it’d be rude. Keria had told her it wasn’t polite to ask about weird behaviour like that.
“Grandmother just has standards,” her brother, Bahm said, tilting his chin in the air. “She taught me my second spell just last week.”
“Oh crawlers below, I thought we had it bad,” Bolly said, taking a half-step back. “Your second spell? Was it at least a third Order?”
“Grandmother doesn’t use the classic labels,” Cahmie, the youngest of the three pale elf siblings said. “Says it gives mages the wrong idea about the fluidity of magic.”
“That’s stupid,” Bevel grumbled under her breath.
“What was that Bevel?” Sezzie asked, stepping closer.
“Nothing,” Bevel replied. Apparently people didn’t like being told they were being stupid. Especially her new friends. Which was even stupider. How did you get less stupid if you didn’t know? Actually… Bevel slowed her pace slightly, getting Sezzie to hang back beside her.
Auntie Nexxa had said she should try working with Sezzie, if she wanted a friend who was into magic. But first… Bevel had something more important to say. “If… if I’m being stupid, you’d tell me, right? ‘Cause we’re friends?”
“I… is that something you’d want?” Sezzie asked, coming to a complete stop.
Bevel nodded her head enthusiastically.
“Oh. I don’t think… I don’t like the word stupid,” Sezzie admitted, swallowing. “But if you’re doing something that might make you feel that way later, I can try to-”
“Hey Sezzie, what’s the hold-up?” Bolly called from ahead, his arm slung over Ahma’s shoulder. “We’re going to head out to the ridge some more, maybe show off our magic a little.”
Bevel’s eyes lit up. It was the first time Bolly’d suggested magic practice. Usually he was trying to avoid it.
For some reason, Sezzie looked between Bevel and her cousin before she replied, “Sure. That sounds fun, don’t you think, Bevel?”
Not wanting to jinx it, Bevel nodded slowly this time.
On their way out, the group got split up, being forced to sit in separate cars on the train. All because of the Fores’thall’s ‘curse’. It wasn’t the first time, so none of them complained.
As they went their separate ways, Bevel accidentally overheard Dethin asking Bolly, “W-why’d you want to practice? You never want to practice.”
“‘Cause girls are impressed by guys who can do magic,” Bolly replied.
She couldn't understand why someone would want magic to impress girls. Was that something some girls found impressive? Some might. She didn't know why. Personally, Bevel preferred someone she could talk about magic with over someone who was good at it. Anyone could get better at it with practice, and it was more fun to practice if it was interesting.
Papa had taught her that.
Maybe that was what she was doing wrong? Maybe she just needed to make it more interesting?
“What about Bevel? I thought you liked her?” Sezzie asked.
Her name almost made Bevel stop listening. But curiosity made her linger.
“She’s just a silly little kid. Ahma’s a real woman.”
“Bevel’s smarter than you give her credit for,” Sezzie said, then mumbled something under her breath. Something likely only Bevel could hear, despite waiting in line to board a different car. “Stupid idiot.”
Bevel squinted. She thought Sezzie didn’t like the word stupid. And she hadn’t actually told Bolly he was being stupid.
Shaking her head, she followed the pale elf siblings aboard the train. Unlike the cousins, they’d been mostly silent as they waited. They usually were, when around adults they didn’t know.
It was only once they were alone in the cabin reserved for the pale elves that Ahma let her perfect demeanor drop. “He is so into me.”
“Grandmother said he would be,” Bahm noted.
Bevel nodded. They’d told her that part. Ahma had even asked Bevel if it was alright, for some reason.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think he’d offer to show me his magic.”
“He thinks it’ll impress you,” Bevel decided to share. After all, Sezzie thought he was being stupid.
“Of course he does,” Ahma laughed. “We’re just some poor country yokels, afterall, while he’s a fancy boy from the big city.” She leaned forward fluttering her lashes in exagerated slow motion. “Surely his big city learning will impress us.”
“I’m surprised they believed Bahm about only just learning his first second Order spell,” Cahmie said, staring out the window. “As if our grandmother would go so easy on us. Honestly, I wish I were like you, Bevel. You get to do it the easy way.”
“But you get to learn all the magic,” Bevel countered.
“Only the magic grandma approves of. That part wasn’t a lie,” Ahma said, sighing as the train shifted into gear. “She insists that learning anything but the right magic at the right time will ‘shape our souls wrong’. As if that’s even a thing.”
“Uh,” Bevel knew she couldn’t reveal much about what she knew, but since their grandma already knew that much. “She’s not wrong. Not entirely. But if it happens, you can fix it.”
“Really?” Ahma asked, leaning forward, the smile on her face seeming warmer than it had all day. “Do you think I could learn some fire spells? I’ve always wanted to be able to cast a fireball.”
“Anything that’s not another illusion spell would be nice,” Bahm grumbled.
“I could talk to Papa, once he’s back,” Bevel tried, looking between her friends. This was the most excited she’d seen them when talking about magic. She’d been right. It did just need to be something they were interested in. “I’m not very good with fire. I can barely do this.”
With a lot of concentration, Bevel focused on the tip of her finger, causing the wind within to get very, very excited. A small flame flickered into existence. Though flame wasn’t quite the right word. It didn’t dance like a candle would.
It was warm and bright though.
“Whoa,” Ahma said, pushing past her brother to claim the seat next to Bevel. “That’s not even a spell, is it? And you’re not using a fire affinity?”
“Nope,” Bevel said, grinning.
“Do you think… if it’s not a spell,” she looked towards her siblings.
“If it’s not a spell, grandmother can’t get mad,” Cahmie said, leaning forward. “And she is always saying we need to work on our basic shaping more.”
“Uh, not to be the downer here… but are you sure we should?” Bahm gestured towards the flickering ball of warmth over Bevel’s finger.
While her practice was making it easier to maintain, Bevel let it go out as the train picked up speed. If they hit a bump it could spin out of control. And if it hit anything when it did that, it tended to either explode or incinerate whatever it touched.
“Ah, why’d it go out? Did you run out of mana?”
Bevel couldn’t help but laugh at that. “No. I… uhm…” Bevel couldn’t remember the last time she’d run out of mana. “I don’t know if I can run out of mana. I just get super tired if I use too much.”
“That’s so cool,” Ahma said, taking Bevel’s hand.
“Careful there, Ahma, you might make Bolly jealous,” Cahmie said, a wide grin on her face.
“It’ll be his own fault,” Ahma said, throwing her pale blonde hair over her shoulder in a way so exaggerated even Bevel could tell she was being dramatic.
“We might be able to get away with the shaping,” Bahm said. “But you know grandmother won’t forgive us for intentionally messing up our relationships with the Fores’thalls.”
“I know. But we’re not with them right now, are we?” Ahma asked, turning back to Bevel. “So… what more can you tell us about shaping?”
Bevel leaned forward, glad to have friends genuinely interested in magic. Even if they had to do all that other boring stuff for their grandmother. Why she kept them from learning new spells, Bevel didn’t know. Not when it was so easy to fix things if they weren’t perfect.
It didn’t matter. For the rest of the train ride, Bevel helped them figure out shaping exercises. They couldn’t use her exact techniques, since they were more like her Papa, but some of the principles applied.
The first thing she taught them was her Papa’s trick for making his fingers glow. It was a lot easier than the flame she made.
Their fingers all glowed with the silver light of Moon affinity.
She’d never seen a moon before. Ro’an didn’t have one. But uncle Calbern had taught her that several of the other planets in the system did. It was like a cloud that always hung in the sky, like the Everstorm. Except not at all like the Everstorm, since Papa had explained it was a solid world, like Ro’an.
“Whoa,” Bevel said when she say the light before explaining how rare it was.
“Yes, but how do we use this to shape it?” Ahma asked.
“You… are,” Bevel said, blinking. Before Ahma could ask for clarification, Bevel continued. It was a bit of a rambling mess, but Ahma and Cahmie both nodded the entire time.
Bahm simply stared at his finger, but given how the light had started to fade then glow brighter, he was listening.
Then they pulled into their stop, one the engineers had approved specifically for them.
“Back in three hours,” the man said before pulling away. That was for the siblings benefit. Despite apparently having learned more magic from their grandmother than the cousins, they were only Astral-souled, so they couldn’t fly.
They’d put away their curiosity and smiles, reverting to their more reserved personalities until the train was far in the distance. After their enthusiasm aboard the train, Bevel noted that even among her other friends, they were still restraining themselves.
The next hour was… boring. She tried talking to Sezzie several times, but each time she did so, Bolly would call one of them over.
It was almost like he didn’t want her talking to his cousin. Was he jealous of Bevel getting close to his cousin?
Friends were soooo hard to understand.