Luisa kicked off the duvet in her chamber and chewed distractedly on a rootcake while pulling on her red corduroy dress.  Her arms and wrist ached a little, Finn had worked on her throwing technique (she managed to hit the ratain twice) and then shown her how to hold a sword.  Now that was cool. They drilled stances for fencing and exercises to make her strong.  Both of which Finn strongly suggested that Luisa practice ‘in her own time’.

After a dry interlude of the real world, in which she practiced all her new moves and weeded the garden with her little brother; she was finally back in Cataindar.

 Today would be another special day; her first training with the readers.

 Clearwater buzzed around her, checking her human clothes for adjustments that didn’t exist. With nothing to do she ended up just giving Luisa a pat on the arm.

“Oh you must be excited Princess. The readers are so secretive, they can do magic! You’ll learn about dewin! They’ll probably teach you!”

“I really don’t think anyone can do magic, but especially not me, I can’t even play an instrument, I even broke Mr. Notes’ banjo-thingy!”

“Princess, they can! They spend all day locked up, reading things.” Clearwater took Luisa’s hand in her paw and spoke very rapidly,  “My little brothers best friend’s older cousins are all runners, and they said a reader runner said that they are all doing magic.”

Magic. As if this world wasn’t already strange enough. Luisa knew what she would do if she possessed real magic. The rootcake she was chewing on suddenly felt even tougher on her tongue. Each time she thought of her Mum propped up in the hospital bed, it was like a cascade of sadness washed over her, pulling her spirit down.

What if she doesn’t get better?

Luisa closed her eyes and physically shook the thought from her mind with a twist of her head.  The rhythmic beep of the hospital was replaced with the crackle of the fire, the sterile ward with the rich furnishings of her chamber in cataindar. Her mother’s ashen face replaced with Clearwater’s, whose bright eyes were regarding her with concern.

Luisa raised an eyebrow mischievously at her friend, patting Clearwater’s paw.

“So… tell me exactly what this runner had to say about the readers Clearwater.”

Clearwater’s face twisted with the glee of good gossip.

“Well…”

By the time abbot came to collect Luisa, Clearwater had shared enough stories, rumours (and a few tales that Luisa thought may be completely made up) to get Luisa very excited, with a healthy dose of nervousness thrown in too. By Clearwater’s account she should be throwing spells around and riding on a mop by the end of the day.

As they slowly stepped through the corridors the abbot seemed chipper but outside the greetings he gave Luisa, he stayed silent as he shuffled along instead humming a tune.  

Arriving at the reader’s area they were met with two tall glass doors sat on hinges of brass.

The abbot stood back and waved his paw at the glass gates, they slowly swung open and it sent a tingle of excitement through Luisa.

She tried to bite down a smile, and failed.

She followed the abbot through the halls of the readers. It possessed the faded elegance of Cataindar. Once, it would have looked breathtaking, the corridors were lined with a system of brass piping and, unlike anywhere else in Cataindar, the doors were made from frosted glass. 

As they ambled through Luisa saw many glass panels were missing, the hinges laying empty. Much of the brass was dented, with more than a few pieces broken or bent out of shape.

Robed catains bowed as they passed, the design of their reader tunics denoting their seniority. Luisa wanted to look around a little more but the abbot had led her through to a room, beckoning her to follow him through.

Entering the room she couldn’t help but gasp. It was a majestic space, the stone floor was etched with concentric designs; sweeping arcs spinning into small carved circles around the room. The far wall of the room possessed a wall carving of a circular spinning wheel, the same design of Finn’s chest plate. The wheel was divided into segments, with little images of animals engraved at the end. 

The abbot stood in a the centre of one of the carved circle designs on the ground and gestured for Luisa to do the same, after a slow process, the abbot managed to situate himself opposite her, and sat cross-legged on the ground.

“Princess, soon you shall be joined by your classmates. But first let us have a few moments. Take out your pendant, very good. Now, what can you tell me about this piece?”

The abbot’s grey eyes danced under his long, white eyebrows.

“It’s magic?” Luisa ventured, holding the pendant gently,

“Tah!” The abbot spat. “Magic? Magic! Don't be ridiculous! Tah! Spending too much time in the Runner’s Café will fill your head with such nonsense, no. There is no such thing as magic.  The pendant has dewin yes. It is ancient, yes. But it has been made, by who we know not; the makers lost in the mists of history.”

“What is dewin?”

The abbot took a small piece of flint out of his pocket, and held it out in the centre of his paw. He smiled,

“Princess, tell me where this will go once it hits the floor.”

 Luisa looked at the surface of the floor,

 “I don’t know.”

 “Precisely, we could say it would nearly impossible to know, what with the rather unusual contours of the ground, interacting with the angle and speed with which I turn my paw.  We could say that the factors of chance are so unique, that each time it may well bounce off in a new and wonderful direction.”

Luisa nodded.

“Princess, it is in these factors, in the realm of chance and probability; that dewin is the master. That your pendant is the master. To begin to control the dewin of that pendant you must go through what we call the finding.” 

Luisa’s hand curled around the pendant.  She felt like she had found it pretty well.

The abbot extended a claw and tapped it against his furry head.

“No, find it up here, Princess. Find it here.”

There was a tap at the door.

“Enter!”

Eleven younger catains entered in robes fashioned from mismatched recycled cloth. They arranged themselves around Luisa each finding an etched circle in the ground to sit in.

Each catain had a small stone or in some cases a chip of back stone identical to the far larger one that was so beautifully shaped and encased in silver that hung round Luisa’s neck.

She looked down a little guilty. The pendant gleamed back at her. She had the strangest feeling it liked being special.   

The abbot explained to the group that only when they had found presence, would they be able to find their stone, and that only presence would lead them to controlling its power.

This led to the breathing and mind visualisation programme. For hours the abbot lectured them in what they must learn and then and practice everyday.  Luisa did her best.  She lay down with the young catains and stretched her arms. She breathed in funny ways and did her best to join in on the ancient Catain slow humming chants that echoed through the room.  She listened carefully to the abbot’s words, as he talked them through what they should be thinking. She tried to think of water slowly forming into a stalagmite over many years, but she felt must be a million miles to ever finding her stone.  It just didn’t make enough sense. 

Great Luisa, you’ve managed to find another thing you are rubbish at.

She took a deep breath. She needed to try.

They had done all that was asked.  The abbot sat legs folded, nodded at the class encouragingly. 

“Once, a long time ago, I too held but a small shard of stone in my paw. I recall the thoughts that ran through my mind at the time… mostly of the fine hind-legs of my school teacher, Miss. Cordina.”

There was a muffled giggle, and Luisa caught a female classmate’s eye, they both rolled their eyes at the same time.

Typical.

“But I practiced. And eventually, found presence. And once you feel it. Once you feel such a gentle addition to your spirit, nothing more but the most delicate thread of power added to your soul. You’ll never forget that first moment my kitains. You’ll never forget the moment when dewin first blesses your veins.”

The abbot patted the stone ground. Tracing a claw along the carved indentation and up, pointing in turn to each member of the class.

“You’ll feel it through the stones of Cataindar, the stone that connect us all. That you will.”

The abbot, leaning heavily on his stick, and assisted by two of the older students stood and once up, lifted the stick in front of him. He held it in both paws, inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.

 “Now watch, what can be achieved harnessing dewin at the highest level.”

Here we go, Luisa thought. Magic.

Luisa waited as the seconds rolled to a full minute. As one minute rolled into two her attention began to roam the room, the young catains looked at one another, fidgeted, and one, she think it was Greener, smiled awkwardly at her and did the loopy sign against his head.

She was smirking back when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

The black stone at the end of the abbot’s stick had began to glow a light blue, slowly it brightened.

Oh my god…

The abbot then began to rise, almost imperceptibly at first then very slowly, centimetre to inch to foot in the air. He hovered, a few feet off the ground, his stick held out in front of him, the dark stone was now shining a bright blue light. Luisa’s skin pricked with goose bumps and she could see the hackle’s rise on her classmate’s fur. The abbot stayed floating in the air. One of Luisa’s classmates coughed, and the abbot half-opened an eye and then promptly collapsed, falling into a billowing stained white robe and eruption of dust. He coughed and cried in pain,

“Arghh!! Dragons and rat breath!”

A well-intentioned student that came to help received a hefty whack from the abbot’s stick, and he picked himself up slowly and painfully. Once standing again, he struck a triumphant posture in front of the class and raised his arms dramatically.

“Behold.”

The class gossiped loudly, it did look a lot like magic.

Luisa was amazed.

If the abbot could float around, what else could be done?  If she could ever get good at this, what would she be able to do?

The abbot looked at Luisa triumphantly,

“Something to say Princess?”

“Abbot, that was amazing… what else can you do?”

The abbot dropped his arms,

“What else? Princess, what I have just done, requires a lifetime of practice to achieve, it is no mere party trick!”

Her classmates moved around anxiously.

The abbot scowled about for a moment uttered a “Tah!” and waved the question away with finality.

“Training is over! All of you go back to your duties, Ahna, clean the floor, Scrambles, scrub the ceiling, Greener go to the scribes. There is work to be done, action! Action!”

The abbot shook his stick at each one, “And all of you, practice, everyday, with every spare moment! Empty your minds, find presence! Don’t forget! Practice! Presence!”

The Abbott took a deep sigh, calming a little, “Now Princess, I beg you, please follow me, for I have something rather special to show you.”

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All I can say is thank you all so much!

I've been getting a ton of wattpad love recently and I just feel so motivated to edit my socks off this holiday.

I'm just about to board this flight to England, but wanted to leave one little update before I leave Canadian soil. 

Luisa's last training... with the mysterious Readers. :-) 

As always comments, improvements, guesses and suggestions are fuel for my fire!  If you are enjoying, please don't forget to vote. If you haven't already checked it out there is a ton of cool stuff on Cataindar.com!

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