The grass felt soft under her feet. The wind caressed her shoulders gently, blowing away her uncertainties. No longer was the sky attacking the world. It was no longer angry and sullen, like a rebellious teenager trying to fight away all who disagree. The world was just quiet. So, so blissfully quiet.

One step, new feelings. Grass and little beads of damp dirt. One step, lost it all again. It was wood, soft and damp and hard. It wasn't splintered but soon would be. Anyone could tell. Anyone would have to tell.

Groggily, Mirianette moved her feet again. Her eyes were thick and heavy, making it near impossible for her to see anything. Everything felt like she was moving through molasses, very thick and slightly sweet tasting. There was no tang of harsh, badly made magic, only the sweetness of a spell done right. Little sparkles of light that would explode in front of her vision, giving her only glimpses of the ground under her feet, of the things she was exploring. Her little toes, very cold and chilly, were bare and wiggling in the dirt. The dirt, the grass, everything was coming alive. It was moving and breathing and all so sudden--

A swift kick to the gut replaced all her thoughts, and suddenly she was coughing. It hurt to breathe in until the foot was pulled away, and then she was left clutching at where it used to be. "Stop," she muttered, though she knew it wouldn't change anything. It just felt good to say it.

"Get up, pathetic child," Arabelle said. Her voice was rough and cracked. "I will having you slack not off while the rest of my children working."

And I will never cease to be amazed by how awful your language is to translate, she thought. Mirianette stood up, legs shaking and uneven. She took a deep breath, then nodded. Her voice was quiet when she spoke, "Yes, Master Arabelle."

"Today you learn magic."

"Yes, Master Arabelle."

Arabelle frowned, then picked up her cane and began to walk. Mirianette followed her silently, keeping her eyes trained on the ground in front of her feet. To look up, she'd learned, was disrespectful and would earn her a kick to the gut. Arabelle wasn't anything like Destrim, though they were both old and cranky all the time. But Destrim never hit her. He would hit Luistia, she knew, but only because Luistia would hit him back, and harder. The old man was lazy, though, where Arabelle hated not doing anything. She woke up before dawn, making sure to wake up Mirianette as well, and she didn't go to bed until late after the stars had awoken.

"You are pathetic and weak and useless. I should not even bother with you," she said, not looking back as she walked outside of the house. Mirianette was already dressed, having fallen asleep in what she'd worn the day before, but she still felt off about walking outside. Still, she followed. "But you hath magic inside you of, which makes for a good magician. You art not all a failure," Arabelle told her, slamming the door shutbehind them both, "but you art still a failure in most. That magic hard to find and hard to understand."

"Yes, Master Arabelle."

"You will train hard to fix that."

"Yes, Master Arabelle."

"Doth thy find it funny, child? Doth thy mock me?" Arabelle asked, turning around and holding the cane high above her head. Mirianette took a few stepsback, eyes widened in fear. Then, the old lady softened again and smiled. "Good." The smile was lost again as she started to walk, beckoning for Mirianette to follow her.

The citizens of Partrall glared at her as they passed. Someone even ran up to them, a young boy that looked like a whiter version of Bostrim, Mirianette's best friend. "Master Arabelle," he started, near breathless, "did ye hear?Did ye hear?"

"Hear what?"

"War! The barrack's filled up now, since almost every guy's been recruited! They came by last night and took away Johnathan, Louis, and Arnold," he whined. "Richard and Philip aren't at their houses either, I think they've left too. So none of them will be here today to train-"

"Good," Arabelle cut him off. She grabbed him by his ear and pulled him over next to Mirianette, who scooted away an inch. "That means you can help me train this worm here, Rorro."

Rorro glanced at her for the first time, frowning as he looked her up and down. He turned back to Arabelle with a sigh, "I don't wanna train any Gardelle scum girls."

She gave him a look and he changed his mind quick.

"I mean-I mean, yes! Of course, Master Arabelle. I'll help ye...train this...scum," he said. Rorro glared at her the second Arabelle had turned away, making certain that she knew he wasn't happy about it. He whispered, "I hate girls."

Mirianette sighed, following the two of them as they walked through the city. It was huge, and was filled to the brim with more people she'd ever seen-and all of them Partrallar's. In Gardelle, the houses were mostly randomly placed, but there every single house was lined up in rows that numbered higher than she could count. Hundreds upon hundreds, she decided, of houses and every single one of them looked exactly the same. There wasn't any strange decorations, or difference in design. There wasn't any signs of children living there-though she saw them everywhere, dirty and loud-and there wasn't anything that made them look like homes. At least, not from the outside.

Even the roads were built weird, as some of them were made of mud and cobblestone, and others were made of stone and metals. It befuddled her, and she found herself wondering if they were lost the second she could no longer see Arabelle's house. We must be lost. There's no way these people could know where to go in a place this large. Oh gods, this woman plans on killing me after getting me lost in a strange place! Good God, save me...

Arabelle yanked her from her thoughts with a slap, sending warm pain pounding through her head. "You keep up!"

Mirianette nodded, biting away her tears. Rorro just glared at her again when she tried to look at him, which only made it harder to keep herself from bawling. Toughen up, she thought, you're stronger than dem fools. They...they be idiots, and they hath no way of beating me. I'll learn magic...and then, when I've learned it, I'ma gonna kill her and go home. Luistia will be so proud of me, and Destrim will have to make me his apprentice then.

"Befulla Farsee es tok?" a passing man asked, giving her a smile. His accent made it harder for her to decipher what he was saying, Beautiful...beautiful sad lady? He patted Mirianette's head, oblivious to her confusion. "Farsee tok es no war?"

Arabelle gave him a sharp look, moving between the two of them. She spoke so rapidly that Mirianette couldn't even figure out what most of what she was saying was, let alone the individual words. The man listened to her, firing off words of his own, and the two spoke like that for a few minutes. Then, he smiled and waved to them and walked off, waving his hands at them as he left. Arabelle turned back to Mirianette with a frown, "You no do that again!"

"I didn't-"

"Hush! We almost there. You no make more confusion. You hush."

There just so happened to be a magic shop, said to be the best in Partrall. It was almost as large as the Blacksmiths, which apparently came by the dozens there, and twice as grand. The walls had drawings sketched into the sides, and even from the outside the scent of magic could be found. It was sweet and close to that of a candy.

She breathed in deeply as they entered, hoping it wasn't some glamor spell or something that would drive her crazy. Once inside, her mouth fell agape as she stared. Candles lined the walls, most lit but some not, some of them white candles but dripping red and blue wax. Clear wax pouches, paper pouches, and leather pouches all held dried sages and other herbs. Orbs lined shelves, small and large alike, lit up in their colorful auras. There were even a few spell books, though most of left empty for new wizards and magicians to write their own. Arabelle went directly to the back to talk to some man, leaving Rorro to watch over Mirianette as she fawned over everything.

It was like a dream come true to her. There were even a few wands-objects she'd read that elder magicians would use once they'd gained enough power and strength. The smaller the wand the more powerful the magician, she'd read, and the faster and easier the spells would be done. With wands, one didn't even have to talk to say a spell. Destrim had one once when he was younger, but had lost in when the law had taken into effect. He claimed it was as small as a toothpick, but she knew that could not be true. Not when she saw that Arabelle's wand, which she kept in the pocket folds of her dress, was as big as her head. If one that big belongs to her, and she's more powerful than Destrim, he had to be joking. Oh God, this place is amazing, she thought.

"Be careful," Rorro told her, "this place can deceive ye easily. Costs 'bout eight pinns if ye want to get anythin' more powerful than a toad."

"Why's that?" she asked, not certain what a pinn was. She knew that their money system was different, as they used gold pieces, but she'd never heard of a pinn before.

He shrugged. Rorro's cheeks look like he'd been swallowing toads, and he had little blemishes around his mouth and ears. "Guess prices get too high or somethin'," he told her, "but I wouldn't worry too much. You won't get to buy anythin' anyways."

"Don't have no money."

"Didn't think so. Ye look like a rat that crawled outta the gutter."

"You look like you haven't bathed in two centuries."

"Your hair is uglier than a nest of rotting kitears."

Mirianette gasped, "Oh yeah? Well, you're uglier than a newborn sewage rat that'd been eaten alive and thrown back up because you smelled worse than a dying skunk." She giggled a bit. Rorro giggled as well, and soon the two were throwing insults back and forth, quiet but laughing. "You're stupid," she finally told him.

"Well you're worse."

"I don't think you actually know any magic, do you?" she asked.

Rorro shrugged, then pulled his shirt up to keep it from falling off his shoulders. It was three sizes too big for him, but he didn't look like he cared. "Know more than you do, more 'an likely. Who taught you anyways? You gawked at those wands like ya've never even seen one before. An' those aren't even the 'owerful ones."

"I live in Gardelle. There's a law."

"Gardelle is stupid."

"Partrall is stupid!"

He laughed at that. "Be quiet, ye can't talk like that in here. Or anywhere. They'll get you. And Gardelle is stupid, everyone knows that magic is too good for laws. Who puts a law on magic anyways? That's why they're gonna lose."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you heard? We're at war now," he said, pronouncing things slower as if it would make her understand better. "Partrall plans to burn Gardelle down to the ground and take it over. Webby's already signed off their loyality to us, and Sikes is sure to follow."

"Webby would never..."

"Well they did."

Rorro took out some gold coins from his pocket and counted them out. Mirianette didn't know what to say, so they both said nothing as he looked around the shop for something to buy. She knew what she would buy if she could-a big wand, perhaps an orb, or even some of the pouches of Went's Berries. Rorro, though, had other ideas. He went and picked up a leather bound book with a symbol of a tree on it, gave her a grin, and went to the back where Arabelle was. He came back a few minutes later with it in his hands and a piece of stick candy in his mouth.

"Take it."

Mirianette tilted her head the slightest bit. She questioned, "Take what?" but he'd already thrown the book at her before she could finish her words. "Why?"

He shrugged. "You're Arabelle's new apprentice. Gotta have a place to write it down in, otherwise she'll beat ye bloody." They gave each other a look, thenhe smiled at her. "'Sides, it'll be fun to watch you fail at magic even with a spell book."

"Oh yeah? I'ma gonna learn way faster than you."

"Prove it."

"I will."

They ended up leaving the shop, going south, and leaving the city all together. Arabelle led them, marching, to a large hill. There they climbed upwards, Mirianette feeling as if she was going to pass out when they finally reached the top. Not waiting to see if she was okay, Arabelle shoved a piece of paper into the girls hands and told her to memorize it.

Rorro was instructed to gather wood and leaves, which he did without question. As Mirianette read the paper over and over until she couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been doing so, he was running around and picking up random things, throwing them all into a pile. Why can't I get the funtasks? With a sigh, she knew not to say anything. The quicker she learned the better, for she knew that her sister would be there to save her soon, and she had to have gotten stronger before that happened.

After what felt like ages, Arabelle told her to stand and cast the spell.

"Keep your head up when you cast."

Mirianette nodded, repeating the spell and only glancing down once at the book to remember the words. "Dontium est luchi," she whispered, then again but louder, "Dontium est luchi no luchi abagu."

"Faster, you'll never get anywhere muttering like that!" Arabelle hit her upside her head with the cane, but by then Mirianette knew to keep still and just do it again.

She whispered the words, then spoke them aloud, said them in her head. Anything to make them come out faster. Finally, she could say the entire spell within thirty seconds, but it still wasn't fast enough for Arabelle's likings. "I can't say it any faster," she whined.

The cane once again hit her, this time in her legs. With a cry Mirianette fell to the ground, biting her lip hard as she gripped at the underside of her knee. Arabelle just gave her a pointed look until she stood up again. "Quit complaining! I am teaching you. You respect me. You no fight me. You do as I say or I kill you now."

Mirianette nodded, biting her lip even harder. She could taste copper in her mouth, and she could smell something burning. The spell had been to burn wet branches and leaves while the rain had stopped, but it hadn't been working before. As she saw the slightest spark of fire hit it, Mirianette grinned and said the spell again. Even though she was hurting, the thrill of getting a spell right was better than magic, spreading through her and making even the pain seem better.

Rorro was still sucking on his stick candy, "Not bad. But your fire is dying. Ye gotta say it stronger, Gardelle girl."

She repeated it again, this time breathing in deep and gathering all the magic she could. Tingles spread through each limb, each joint, filling her up until finally it found release through the palms of her hands as she held them high over the pile. It caught fire again, this time crackling and burning with passion. Mirianette didn't back away as the fire rose higher, and she didn't move when she could feel parts of her dress catch on fire. She had found herself consumed by the magic, her eyes closed in a deadly trance as the edges of her dress began to move and sway along with each orange, red, and yellow strand. Blue and green joined the dance, burning bright from her fingers and licking the sides of her arms. Her entire body was hot, as if she'd jumped into a volcano, but it also felt cold at the same time.

It was exhilarating.

"Faster, say it again," Arabelle commanded. Her voice sounded far away, and with her eyes closed, Mirianette could imagine that she didn't even exist at all. The words were leaving her mouth, but it wasn't of her desire. She couldn't control herself anymore, the power was too strong for her to control.

Wind started to blow, pushing and pulling at her, tugging at her being. It threatened to set her out, to reduce her to just ash, but she knew that it wouldn't if she just could say the spell faster. In her mind, the world had long since disappeared, and nothing was there outside of the wind and the fire. Her body began to climb hotter and colder, everything shaking and moving, and soon nothing could stop her at all. She was consuming the air around her, breathing it in to grow bigger and bigger, not stopping, not wanting to stop.

"Again!" It wasn't even a voice, it was a feeling. Life and death hung about her, and all she could think and fell was "again, again, again". Everything was going so fast, moving so quickly, it was hard for her to even understand what again could possibly be. Was it a word? No, it couldn't possibly be a word. Because it was so much more than a word, more than a feeling, more than anything she had even known before. It was powerful, strong, amazing, everything she had ever desired. And she had to have more of it.

Mirianette screamed, "Again!"

Then, she fell to the ground.

The flame was out. The wind was gone. The world was there again, covered in black dots and messy blurs of colors. Faces were in her face, shaking her, asking if she was okay, if she was okay. Eyes heavy, and unable to move aside from her mouth, Mirianette only muttered, "Again...again...again."