By the next morning, Ildri was resigned to keep trying even if her attitude was not quite the positive one that Maxine would have preferred. She made breakfast for the three of them using Maxine's ingredients. She wondered if there was a town somewhere where they could buy more, although she knew nothing about doing that. Other people had always procured the food at Wildwood, she had simply cooked it as chef had said.

It was nice to decide what to make each day. Maxine ate whatever she made without complaint. Ildri decided that scrambled eggs would nicely complement the bread she had baked the day before. She mixed the eggs and added some dried spices, thinking about how each would taste and what it would add to the meal. Then she mixed it while it heated on the cook stove.

Ildri was just putting bread on the table when Maxine came down and Allan came inside. The three of them ate in companionable silence.

"You really are an uncommonly good cook," Maxine said as she pushed her plate away.

"Thank you," Ildri said. There was a least one thing that she was good at.

Maxine smiled. "We're going to try something different today."

"Oh," Ildri said cautiously.

"You're going to work with Allan on figuring out that power of yours."

"What?"

"Just do what he says and hopefully you'll make some progress."

Allan looked grimly resolute and Ildri felt a vague sort of dread. This was unlikely to be any more enjoyable than yesterday.

"Fine," she agreed, feeling very much as if there was nothing she wanted to do less. She glanced at Allan's face again and it did not make her feel better.

They cleaned up after themselves and Ildri reluctantly followed Allan outside. He led to an open space beyond the yard. There were a bunch of bottles set up in a line. "Knock those over. You're good at destroying things."

Ildri flushed. She did not need to be reminded. It was embarrassing.

"Go ahead," Allan prodded.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" she asked a bit defensively.

"Just do what you did to the table," he said.

"I wasn't trying to. It was an accident," she protested.

"Then figure out how you did it," he said coolly.

Ildri felt disproportionately angry. She knew that she had sort of volunteered for this and she knew that Allan was probably trying to help. But she was sick of people who thought they could be nasty to her.

Ildri narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips as she stared at the bottles in their smug little line. She concentrated on them exploding and on how frustrated she was and what the look of surprise on Allan's haughty face would be when she succeed.

It was not quite the explosion that she had envisioned, but three of the bottles toppled over. Ildri made a little jump and clapped her hands together.

"Good," Allan said, not sounding impressed. "Set them up again and keep trying." He walked away.

Ildri spent the rest of the morning trying to make the bottles explode but she did not quite manage. One did break when it fell, and one notable time she managed to knock every single one over. It was quite satisfying, rather in the way that punching a wall might be if she was really angry. She continued until lunch and did the same thing after lunch until she was exhausted.

Maxine had begun supper before Ildri came inside. "How did it go?" she inquired.

"I knocked over bottles and set them up again."

"Oh. Rather not the way that I usually would teach but you do seem less frustrated."

Ildri felt a bit abashed at her previous behavior. "Do you think it will work?"

"Let's give it a few days and see," Maxine said with a nonchalant shrug.

Hardly the most encouraging words, but Ildri could imagine much worse.

* * * * *

The next day Allan had Ildri continue to knock over the bottles. He sometimes sat and watched her while he sharpened his knife or other small tasks and he also went to check his perimeters from time to time. The morning dragged on into noon and by the late afternoon Ildri was growing quite bored with attempting to knock over bottles.

Ildri managed to knock over all of the bottles three times in a row.

"Very good," Allan said. "You seem to be getting the hang of knocking them over."

Ildri smiled in spite of herself. "I do think I'm getting it."

Allan walked towards the bottles, lying on the ground. "I think we'll try something else now that you've got this down."

Ildri smiled widely with relief at that thought. She really was sick of the stupid bottles.

Allan began to set the bottles up again. "This time, you're only going to knock over the half on the right."

"I thought it was supposed to be something different."

"It is, it's a different goal, of course."

Ildri gritted her teeth and began to try to knock over only half the bottles. It took her the rest of the day and half of the next before she began to be successful with any regularity.

* * * * *

Allan spent a while watching her. "You're becoming fairly consistent," he commented as she picked up half the bottles and set them in their row. A few had needed to be replaced but most were surviving their ordeal nicely.

"Do you feel ready to move onto something else?" he wondered.

Ildri did not know if she was ready, or if it would help, but she was really tired of the monotonous task he had set for her. "I'm ready to do anything else. If I never see another bottle again..."

"Not so fast," Allan said, holding up a hand. "You're not done with the bottles yet. This time, you're going to knock over bottles in leaving at least one on either end until you can knock over just one in the middle."

Ildri looked at him in horror. "I'll never be able to do that!" she exclaimed.

"You'll manage. And just think, less bottles to pick up when you do!"

* * * * *

Ildri continued with the bottles. It was really hard to only knock a smaller number over, but she managed to get down to knocking over only two by the end of the day. She went into supper feeling more exhausted than ever. She felt like kicking the bloody bottles with her feet.

Maxine had cooked again, relieving Ildri of cooking duties until she was done with Allan. They all sat down at the table and Ildri noted that Maxine and Allan seemed to be getting along much better. Maxine did not seem to be intentionally baiting Allan. For his part, Allan did not look as sourly disapproving of Maxine as he had since they had arrived. The two appeared to have been united by their common goal, torturing Ildri.

Ildri ate her food quickly and went to her room, leaving Maxine and Allan to plot against her, she thought sourly.

* * * * *

The next morning was raining, but Allan made Ildri continue, apparently completely unfazed by the weather. Ildri could not manage to knock over just two and she was unsure whether it was the rain interfering or her own bad temper. The least he could do would be give her a break when the weather was so miserable!

It was hard to remember that she had asked to learn this herself. It was not at all like she had imagined it would be. Who would have thought she would be forced into this mind numbing task of knocking over bloody bottles to learn to be a witch?

If it even worked.

The day dragged on and she made no progress at all. She thought about quitting, but she did not want to face Maxine's disappointment or Allan's smugness, not to mention chef and Lord Wildwood and everyone else at Wildwood.

The rain had disappeared sometime during the night and Ildri's dark mood seemed to have gone with it. She decided that it was an omen that things were going to get better.

Armed with her cautiously optimistic outlook, Ildri went out to the tedious practice spot. She found to her surprise that it was not nearly as difficult to knock over only two, and she could even manage one, occasionally.

It was improvement, even if only a little.

Allan watched Ildri periodically.

The last time he brought a crate along with him, and set it on the ground. "Are you getting tired of knocking over bottles?" he asked, his face the typical dour mask he generally wore.

"Yes," Ildri said, wondering if he got secret amusement out of getting her hopes up for being free of the bottles and then dashing them.

"I think it's time for you to do something a bit different."

"Is it something like lifting bottles? Changing the colors of bottles? Moving bottles sideways?" Ildri asked with just the slightest bit of sarcasm tingeing her words.

"No, no more bottles," Allan said lightly.

"I never want to see another bottle," Ildri said fervently. "What are we going to do next?"

"You've gotten rather good at knocking over bottles. So we're going to try something more stable, smaller, harder to hit."

"What?" Ildri asked hesitantly.

Allan pulled something out of the crate with an expression as close to a smile as Ildri had seen on his face.

"Jars." He held one up in his hand and it gleamed in the sun.

Ildri wondered why he enjoyed torturing her so much.

* * * * *

So Ildri started on the jars and quickly grew to hate them with as much fervour as she had the bottles. Fortunately she mastered them quickly but Allan seemed to have an endless ability for thinking up any number of tedious small practices for her to master before he allowed her to move on to the next tedious small task. Maxine would come out and check on Ildri's progress from time to time, and Ildri thought, a bit bitterly that the two were becoming thick as thieves.

Ildri was still unsure what Allan thought that she might gain from all the exercises he was having her perform, but she could not help but notice that they were getting easier. When she tried to use her magic, it usually came, and not with the explosive force that set things on fire. Once she realized that, doing the frustrating and pointless tasks became easier.

Ildri spent one entire bright and sunny morning using her magic to flick a single brown feather from a pile of duck down without making any of the other feathers move. When she finally managed to succeed, Allan spoke in a more gentle tone than he generally did. "That's very good. Maxine has lunch ready. Let's go."

Ildri noted idly that Allan and Maxine were calling each other by their first names instead of maintaining their previous grim formality. She wondered if it was just an uneasy peace because of their common aim or if there was more to it than that.

It was an unlikely pairing, but it might work, Ildri mused.

Ildri washed up quickly outside and entered the house. The table was already set so she took her place.

"How did it go?" Maxine asked.

"Quite well," Allan said, startling Ildri. She had not known he was right behind her. The man sometimes moved as silent as a cat.

Maxine smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."

"I'm done with her," Allan announced.

"What?" Ildri asked.

"I can't think of a single thing more I could do to teach you. You've gained control, so my part is done," he said nonchalantly.

"Really?" Ildri could not help but feel that it was too good to be true. She had felt as if she would never get it.

Allan smiled, although even his smile appeared brisk and efficient. "I've trained a few soldiers how to use and control their power. But I've never had to train anyone how to use less of their magic. Normally they need to strain and toil to get adequate amounts to save their lives on a battlefield."

Maxine nodded. "It is odd, isn't it? I have a fair amount of magic myself, but I never had the control issues that she has."

"Her magic seems very affected by her moods," Allan inserted.

"I'm here, you know," Ildri pointed out, feeling a bit annoyed that they were talking as if she were not there or as if she was a bit of cloth they were debating purchasing.

"Yes, I noticed the mood effect, too. I never had that problem with either of my former students. I'm quite glad you were here, I did not know what to do with her," Maxine said, as if Ildri had not spoken.

"Glad to help," Allan said. Ildri stared at him as if he had suddenly sprouted a second head. He was acting like an entirely different person.

Maxine finally turned to Ildri. "Now the real work begins, again!"