Her True Form

Yvette reached out and very lightly ruffled Bayla’s hair while they walked out from the town. “It’ll be fine. Trust me.”

“I don’t want to stay here,” Bayla said softly. “I want to come with you.”

“I know,” Yvette said. “But we’ll come back for you, I promise. I just don’t have the ability to teach you right now and it’s dangerous. You’ll see this is for the best.”

“And if you don’t come back?” Bayla asked.

“I will,” Yvette said before glancing into the sky. Unceasing Storm flew high above, her stormy body melding in with the sky. Small as she was it was proving to be very beneficial when she needed to be more subtle. “I promise.”

“Of course,” Bayla said gently, the doubt evident in her voice. “I don’t like it there. Ursula is scary and she has weird people come by all the time.”

“They’re mercenaries,” Yvette said. “They’re no stranger than mages. Or phoenixes.”

“Phoenixes aren’t strange,” Bayla said.

Yvette just gave a sigh and shook her head. She glanced up at tower ahead of them. It was in fairly good condition, all things considered. The top seemed to glow, a beacon to all ships coming near the town at night. The weather and winds had long since smoothed over any rough edges, the paint covering it seemed relatively fresh. Only the occasional chip had been knocked off. “We’re incredibly strange.”

“But majestic,” Bayla whispered.

Yvette just gave another soft sigh. Where ever the child came from it seemed they revered phoenixes quite heavily. She wondered if, maybe, she’d come from the empire. But if that were true… she didn’t want to imagine what would happen to a mage in such a situation. The pair of them walked to the door and she gently knocked on it.

She was greeted by silence.

“Well, nobody’s here, so we should go,” Bayla said.

Yvette just scowled down at her. “Bayla.”

“What?” Bayla asked.

Yvette rolled her eyes and knocked again. Then again. How hard could it be to--

The door swung open when she reached out to knock a fourth time. “I told you--” an old man in aged master’s robes started to yell, his eyes narrowed on her. However, after a moment he stopped, a baffled expression on his face. “Who… are you?”

“Uhhh… Petra,” Yvette said softly. “I’m--”

“One of the servants of the empire,” the man said before rolling his eyes. “I don’t know what makes you think you can come here and bother a real mage, but you’d best begone before I make you leave.”

“No!” Yvette said quickly before glancing down at her robes. She really had to see about getting some new clothes. Ones that were less worn, especially. She supposed she should just add that to the massive list of things she still needed to do. “I escaped the Reborn Empire, but I’m a mage. A journeyman, I swear.”

“I see,” the man said before glancing towards her arms. “And your bracer?”

“It was lost when I escaped,” Yvette said. Not entirely true, but not entirely wrong, either. “I, err, was actually hoping to come here and meet with Madlyn. She… she… is something funny?”

Yvette couldn’t guess why, but the man had begun to laugh so hard he had to support himself against the door.

“What’s so funny?” Yvette asked. “Is she not here?”

“Ahhh, right, my apologies,” the man said. “I’m Kael, her uncle. The master of this tower. Did you not know? She hasn’t been here in months.”

Yvette cringed. Ah. Right. Madlyn had only been a temporary mage here. That had been so long ago that it had entirely slipped her mind. “I see. Kael? I, err, suppose you would be the better option in that case. You see--”

“Whatever my niece has done, I’m afraid I can’t claim responsibility. She is a troubled child at times, but any damage she has done will have to be discussed with the Mage’s Association at large.”

“Damage?” Yvette asked. “No! It’s not about her, it’s about her!” She gestured to Bayla. “She needs a master to help train her.”

The smile fell off Kael’s face and he gave a soft sigh. “Ah. I see. You’re one of those.”

“One of those?” Yvette asked.

“I don’t have time for another student,” Kael said. “Nor am I looking for one. I already have two and they’re more than a handful as it is.”

“But—”

“I receive at least one caller a month begging for me to take on their child as a student,” Kael said. “Even if I did have the time and energy for another, the charge is, currently, quite large.” He looked her up and down. “Which, judging by your ‘escape’ from the empire, I doubt you could afford.”

“I’m not--”

“Now please, don’t waste anymore of my time,” Kael said before closing the door in her face.

Yvette stared, her mouth falling open. She tried knocking again, but she received no response. “But you didn’t even let me explain!” she yelled. She tried pounding on the door, but it didn’t budge. “Stupid, arrogant, egotistical jerk,” Yvette muttered bitterly before turning around. “Come on, lets go.”

Bayla didn’t object, instead following after her. “Are all mages like that?”

“NO!” Yvette yelled, turning to glare back at the tower. “But I think I’m beginning to see where Madlyn got her nasty personality from. Couldn’t even hear me out. I just… ugh. I’m sorry.”

“Can’t you teach me?” Bayla asked. “While you’re still here?”

Yvette gave a soft sigh, before nodding. “I… I’ll at least try. Just enough to try to get what you need sorted.” She didn’t like it, though. She didn’t have enough time to properly train the girl. That could take weeks. Months, even. Especially at her age.

At least it would be a distraction, she supposed. One week. She’d give Gervas one week to contact them. If he hadn’t by then, she’d track him down herself.

It’d keep her out of the town, too. So she wouldn’t interfere if he sent a message magically. “We’ll start with some basics, tell me everything you know about how to use magic and we’ll start from there.”

------

Yvette couldn’t help but appreciate her master more than ever. Even if he hadn’t ever been able to accept her, he’d at least ensured she understood what she was doing. If Bayla had ever received any instructions they’d been terrible. While she seemed to have a bit of innate magic of her own that allowed her to get away with knowing very little, it had the unfortunate consequence that her awareness of how to do other magic was… wrong. Just wrong. Absolutely nothing she thought about how magic worked was correct.

“Okay,” Yvette said softly. “Reagents are important because they amplify our abilities. Different types of reagents have different effects and, in some cases, are a little obtuse about what does and doesn’t work. For example, certain dragon scales are incredibly powerful and useful reagents, depending on the type and spell. However, they are also very hard to get and in many cases there are a wide range of simpler reagents to use. Mage bracers are special in that they are made with special enchantments that allow the reagents stored inside them to be used, while not burning away very quickly, effectively allowing them to be used and replaced very rarely.”

“So better reagents let you do better spells?” Bayla asked.

“Yes and no,” Yvette said. “Some spells can only be done with specific reagents. Some reagents work better with different spells. For example, sand is incredibly efficient for lightning spells and passable with light spells, while some crystals operate in exactly the opposite.”

“Do you always need reagents?” Bayla asked.

“No,” Yvette said. “As a mage gets more powerful, they can do some magic without reagents. Those who have an innate ability with certain magic, like yourself, can do some fairly decent magic even without proper reagents. But even the strongest mages need proper reagents in order to access the full breadth of their abilities.”

“Is this why you can only do magic when you’re touching Unceasing Storm?” Bayla asked.

“I can do magic regardless,” Yvette said. “But no. The reagents are still inside me. Which, honestly, I can’t tell you how that works. It’s not supposed to work that way, if there was a way to duplicate it there would be thousands of mages who would. If you take away a mage’s reagents, they’re often left helpless.”

“So you’re better than other mages?” Bayla asked.

“I’m a phoenix,” Yvette said. “And a mage. It’s… it doesn’t make me better. It makes me different.”

“Different can be better,” Bayla said softly.

“Sometimes,” Yvette said. “But different can also just be different. I… used to be a different girl. For a long time, I thought it made me a worse girl. But it didn’t. Doesn’t. It just made me different.”

“Huh?” Bayla asked.

“Nothing,” Yvette said. “It’s not easy to explain. But different doesn’t mean better or worse. It just means different. That’s all you need to worry about.”

Bayla nodded, though she doubted the child understood. “Could I be a different girl? Like a phoenix?”

“Let’s try to not,” Yvette said with a light chuckle. “I had to die for this to happen. I’m not sure I could recreate it. The phoenix that turned me into this was… a lot older than I. It might have been the magic of what I’d broken, it might have been the phoenix itself, it might have been a combination of so many factors that I couldn’t begin to explain. You could be a different girl, though. That’s a lot easier.”

“Will I ever be as strong as you?” Bayla asked.

“That depends,” Yvette said. “It’ll take time to develop your skills. I’m not actually that… I wasn’t actually that strong until recently. My transformations were more powerful than most, but other than that I was fairly mundane. Almost simple, in comparison to many mages.”

“Now?” Bayla asked.

“Now, when we’re together we can do some pretty impressive magic, especially when there’s a storm for me to gather power from,” Yvette said. “When it’s raining, or the winds are strong. Fire and lightning might make me stronger as well, but I’m trying to avoid testing those. Because if it works, stronger magic. If it doesn’t, ow.”

“What’s it like being a phoenix?” Bayla asked.

Yvette glanced up to the sky. She couldn’t even see Unceasing Storm, but she knew exactly where she was. Enveloped in one of the clouds. “Quiet. I feel… calmer than I ever did before. More confident. More powerful. Determined. Connected. Yet more alive. As if I’m living lightning, yet somehow controlled and measured. It’s an interesting sensation. For a while, though, I felt… like I wasn’t me. At first as if I was just fading away. Then, even once I figured out who I was, it was like there were two of me. Like there were two people in one body, struggling to keep it together. We weren’t fighting. But we weren’t entirely in agreement, either. Now? It’s like… we’re still one. But we have more space. Some things we share, some we don’t. But we’re still a part of each other.”

“Do you like each other?” Bayla asked.

“I think so,” Yvette said. “But I guess it depends on how much I like myself on any given day. I think we’re getting distracted, though. There’s still a lot more you need to learn about magic, not just phoenixes.”

Bayla made a small pouting face, but gave in.

------

It had been five days since Yvette had first arrived in this town and, when she walked in, a shake of Ursula’s head told her all she needed to know. Gervas still hadn’t contacted her.

Bayla’s lessons were going well enough. She wasn’t anything approaching good, but she wasn’t entirely useless. At least she was unlikely to hurt herself when she practiced. They’d been able to scavenge up a few reagents for her as well. If she kept practicing, she might be something almost approaching a beginning apprentice by the time Yvette returned. If she returned.

Yvette took a seat at the counter, Bayla sitting besides her. The table was filled with a small group. Mercenaries, she supposed, judging by the fact they were were. She ignored them, though Bayla kept glancing back towards them.

“Leave them alone,” Yvette said. “Let them do their own business.”

Bayla gave a soft sigh, but nodded, turning to face Ursula.

Two small bowls of stew were put in front of them. Yvette lightly poked at it with a spoon. She’d have to tell Ursula she was planning to leave soon. That wasn’t going to be fun. She had to give the zmaj credit. She didn’t know how Gervas had managed to pay her to keep taking care of them, but she’d been feeding them each day and not complaining about the room they took up.

“It’s going to get cold if you keep poking at it,” Ursula said.

“Right, sorry,” Yvette said. She took a small bite of it and cringed. Then again, some days it wasn’t exactly the nicest thing in the world. The fish tasted a bit… raw. Ick.

The sound of music began to fill the room and she glanced back to see one of the mercenaries had pulled out a flute. A small smile formed on her lips. She wished Gervas was here. Maybe he’d offer to dance with her. It--

That thought made her cheeks go bright red and she shook her head. It was a silly thought. Even if it was fun. He had so many more important things to worry about, why would he want to dance with her in some old outpost?

“Long day?” Ursula asked, motioning to Bayla.

Yvette gave a light snort when she saw the little mage, her arms crossed on the table and lightly snoring into them. She didn’t think she’d pushed her that hard. “Seems so. I’ll get her to bed.” She reached out and lightly shook Bayla, but she didn’t stir.

Though, honestly? Yvette was starting to think she had the right idea. A nap sounded absolutely perfect right about now. A nice, long--

Alarms went off in her head and she shook her head. What? She was NOT that tired. In fact, she hadn’t been until a moment ago. Not since the--

Pain shot through the back of her head and she toppled out of her chair with a pained grunt, landing on the ground in a pile. She struggled to keep her eyes focused on the figure standing over her, but her vision was getting darker and darker by the moment.

Magic. Poison. Both?

“Sure took your time,” Ursula said. “Leave the kid, I’ll tell her the fallen mage left.”

Yvette tried to move, but her body felt numb and oddly tingly. Then her vision was blocked by a hand going over her eyes, followed by the world fading away to the sound of gentle flute music.