Fortis' Magic Academy

It has been two years since Gwen's fateful encounter with the King of Aaedan, and about a year since Clem's departure from her side, off to find more magical artefacts or wands or something to that effect. His departure had been painful for Gwen, which only served to drive her more into the presence of the King, and since then the two have become close friends, and perhaps a hint of something more. Gwen, meanwhile, has become a full resident with Jorech's blessing and set up a healer's shop, complete with herbal remedies and magical potions concocted by the witch herself. It's been a huge success.

However, now she wishes to learn more about magical theory, though learning actual practice would be impossible from anything but another witch due to her unique relationship with her familiar and the weight that has on her casting ability. With this in mind, she enters the Fortis Magic Academy with wide eyes, the blue thrush on her shoulder preening itself idly.
"Wooow," she breathily intones, turning to Pippin and giving the bird a bright smile. "Isn't this cool, Pippin?"
The bird twitters unimpressedly in response.

The young woman had been walking for hours, and her feet were feeling weary. Her stomach was growling from hunger, but she did not have time to stop and rest. She had to find a place to stay for the night, a job and perhaps some food. The air felt chilly, and light rain fell from the sky. Her long hair felt moist by the rain, and she shuddered from the cold and draped her cloak around her, pulling up her cloak and hoping it could keep her dry for a little bit longer.

Her face and body was covered with bruises. Her former masters had not been pleased when she said she would never steal again, and she had been severely punished for it. They did not like to lose their best thief and burglar. But she just couldn't bring herself to steal anymore. The former master thief had grown a conscience.

Her eyes scanned the area where she had arrived. It looked like a nice place, not like the place she had left behind. She shuddered and shook her head, as to shake off the bad memories. She had promised herself not to think of that place anymore. She would never return, never again would she be forced to steal. This was a new life, a new start...

In the worn, brown leather bag she carried with her was an old book with a worn leather cover. She had never learned how to read or write, but perhaps someone here could teach her? This book, this worn and lightly scorched tome, was the one thing she managed to save from her family home before it was torched to the ground by the enemy. Before the attack she had seen her parents working over this book in moonlit nights when she was put to bed. She had looked inside the tome, but understood nothing of the ancient signs and half forgotten spells. For her they looked like a child's scribbles. She knew this tome was important to her parents, but why? Perhaps someone here could tell her?

Wild startled when she heard someone talking to her. She had been busy trying to brush off the dirt and mud from her hair and clothes, but the result in this rain was that the mud was dragged even more all over her. She looked up at the man in front of her, a sheepish grin on her face when she realized how dirty she was and that she had no way of hiding it.

"New? Like... a student? No, no, I just came to find someone who could tell me about this book I have with me..."

She noticed how his eyes light up with interest and got nervous that he might take the book away from her. "It belonged to my parents," she said. "I saved it from my childhood home when the enemy troops torched our house. What is a runescribe?"

She watched him anxiously as he gazed at the scribbles and runes. Even if she was afraid that the book might be stolen from her, she was also curious to learn how and why this book was so important to her parents.

"Nice to meet you, Roy," she said when he introduced himself. "My name is Wild, and I come from a village named Mir... At least it was a village once..."

There was something sad in her voice when she said this, her eyes pained by the memories of her past.

Wild looked over at Roy and listened when he explained to her what a runescribe was. "My mother was a shaman and healer in my tribe," she said. "And my father was a strong and powerful chieftain. I remember they used to sit and study this book together in the moonlight after my bedtime. I know my mother often used Light Elf runes at her work, the same way my father often used the forgotten Dark Elf magic to protect our village..."

She paused her words as the image of her parents brought tears to her eyes. She had not seen them in so many years, she did not even know if they had survived the attack. She only remembered the fear as she had seen her father being stabbed with Enemy swords, the screams from her mother. But Father could just be injured, couldn't he? Deep inside she knew it was a faint hope and that her parents probably were dead. Nobody could survive an attack like that...

Shaking off the painful memories she listened to Roy as he spoke of her book, calling it a book of spells. "I don't know what kind of book it is," she confessed embarrassed. I was torn away from my parents when I was 5. I was supposed to start school that year, but the enemy attacked us before I got that far... I don't know how to read or write. Even so, this book is the only thing I have left from my parents."

She smiled faintly when he asked if she was alright. It was a question she was rarely asked. Most people she had met only cared for themselves.

"I've felt better, but I'll survive," she assured him, trying to hide the sounds of her growling stomach. Her eyes widened when she saw him pulling out something large and dark he called chocolate. Wild had never seen a chocolate before, much less tasted it.

"What is chocolate?" she asked with big, round eyes. "Is it dangerous?"

Wild noticed Roy's chuckles and smiled sheepishly. On one side she knew it was not smart to accept things from strangers. They might be dangerous. But her growling stomach was craving for food, and this brownish looking thing, she had to admit, looked rather tempting.

"Well, perhaps one bite won't hurt," she said with a smile. "Thank you for sharing, but I don't have anything to offer in return..."

She took the very generous bite that was offered to her and sniffed it curiously. At sight and smell she couldn't discover anything suspicious with it. It smelled rather lovely, and she stuck out the tiny tip of her tongue to taste carefully.

"Your uncle must be a kind man if he makes such things and gives them away," she said, looking up at him as he grinned towards her with a mouth full of fangs. "I bet you could bite off a lot of chocolate with teeth like that..."

Once the words were spoken, she looked up at him deeply embarrassed, realizing she had been terribly rude. She remembered how her mother had taught her many years ago never to comment on other people's appearances. "I-I am sorry," she apologized. "It just slipped out... I hope I didn't upset you..."

Wild smiled when Roy spoke of how his uncle gave away candy to friends, relatives and other people, wondering how his uncle could make a living of being so generous. It had certainly not been like this where she had spent her last years. "I bet he must have many friends, being so generous."

She chewed lightly on her lower lip when she saw him snapping his mouth shut and covering it with his hands. Now she had done it again - embarrassing the one person in this room that had been friendly to her. Would she ever learn?

"Nono, it is I who should apologize," she pleaded, looking up at him with an unhappy face expression. "I have a bad habit to speak without thinking, and this is often the result, hurting other people's feelings. You should have seen how often I got in trouble for it in my childhood. You have nothing to be embarrassed for, I promise you. So, this with the teeth.... it is new to you? How did it happen?"

She noticed how he tried to hide his teeth when he smiled again, and she felt a sting deep within her conscience - or what was left of it. "I think your teeth looks nice," she said. "They are strong and white. You should have seen my former Master. All he had was rotten stubs of what had once been teeth. At least your teeth are pretty."

She smiled and took a small bite of the chocolate, noticing the happy growl from her stomach when it got something to eat. She blushed and looked down at her bruises when he spoke of getting healed.

"My former Master didn't take it very well when I left my job," she explained, trying to joke away the bruises in blue, purple, green and black. "It's a good thing I am so fond of colors."

Wild listened when Roy explained he was a vampire now. In her tiny village they didn't have vampires, and she didn't quite know what that was. "What is a vampire?" she asked, hoping she didn't upset him again by her questions. At least her compliment about his teeth made him smile again. She was glad to see him smile.

However, her own smile disappeared when he asked what she had been in her former life. She didn't like thinking about it, just as little as he liked thinking of his teeth. But he had already revealed his secret to her. Now she had to share her secret too. She sighed heavily when he asked if she was an apprentice.

"Sort of," she said with a sigh, lowering her gaze to hide her shame. "Only I was kidnapped from the forest around my village when I was 5, being forced to do jobs I never wanted. They threatened to hurt or kill my friends if I did not do as they said. In the end the Apprentice became an Expert. My Masters became rich because of me and what I did."

She smiled faintly when he spoke of how she should get her wounds healed. "The only healer I have ever known was my mother," she said quietly. "And I haven't seen my mother since I was 5. I don't even know if she is still alive."

Wild listened to the explanation when Roy tried to tell her what a vampire was, but she didn't feel any wiser from the explanation. In the tiny village she came from they didn't have demons either. All the elves she had known were Dark Elves or Light Elves - and once in a blue moon a mixture between those two, just like she was. But the mixture between the two races was very rare.

"What is a demon?" she asked, hoping Roy wouldn't take her for some sort of village idiot, even if she felt like one. She looked at him with compassion when he said he couldn't be out in the sun and that he had to drink blood. With her past as a thief and burglar she had often been forced to work nights, and she thought that nights were often more peaceful than the days. But she still had a choice to see the sun when she wanted to. Poor Roy had to stay out of the sun.

"It must be horrible to never be out in the sun and being forced to drink blood," she said, looking up at him in compassion. "How do you cope with your situation?"

A sad smile lit up her face for a brief second when Roy expressed his concern about her former Masters. "Thank you," she said. "My former Masters cared for little other than themselves. As long as they got rich they didn't care who they hurt in the process. I learned from a very young age that the world is cruel and unfair. But thankfully I meet other people now and then who reminds me that there are still good people in the world. Like now for instance."

Her face lit up a bit when he offered to heal her wounds. "Yes please, if it is not too much trouble," she said, unsure of how anyone could heal wounds like hers. There was only one way to find out.

Wild perked her ears in curiosity when Roy described a vampire like a monster from the underworld. Finally a word she understood! The Underworld was where she and her former Masters had delivered their stolen goods to shady men who paid a hefty sum of money for it. Of course, Wild had never seen as much as a nickle of these money afterwards, even if she had been the one to do all the work. It all ended straight in the pockets of her Masters.

"A monster you say?" she mused. "Like my former Masters? One of my former colleagues called them suckers... You don't seem to be as bad as my former Masters though. You look kind and caring..."

Like she was requested, she sat still while he pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper. She did not understand what he scribbled on the rune. These drawings did not seem quite the same as the scribbles in the book belonging to her parents, and yet she could feel her skin warming up when he gently rubbed the paper against her face.

She grinned nervously when he came closer, not used to being touched like this. The last time anyone got to touch her was when her parents were still alive. That was many years ago. "It's okay," she smiled when he apologized for his cold hands. "I have walked in the rain for several hours today so I don't think I am much warmer."

The feel of hands touching her face felt unfamiliar at first. She felt a strange glow from the paper and noticed her face stopped hurting, but she was afraid to say anything that might break the spell. Instead she tried to relax, and closed her eyes to enjoy the warm glow better. Only when the healing was over did she open her eyes again.

She smiled when he asked how she felt, surprised that the pain was gone. The bruises had paled in color and her wounds didn't feel so swollen anymore. "It is incredible," she smiled. "I have no idea how you did that, but thank you so much! How can I ever repay you?"