Identity Chapter 2

S H A L I N I

Shalini woke up to another amazing morning. The birds were singing, and the morning dew was enveloping her as she opened her window. Life was good for the moment. She went to the baths and filled her bathtub with the usual scents, with a twist of lavender and honey. Those were the constants out of whatever combination she had for the day. Afterwards, she looked at herself in the mirror. She was pleased. She was almost as slim as the Mironians but had some of the voluptuousness of the Dani people. So she was perfect in the fact that she didn’t really fit a category. Some mixed races didn’t turn out so well. But she thanked the gods her dear mother married a Dani and created her— may Salinor watch over her soul. Her mother had died some years ago of an illness magic, and natural cures could not fix. She was with child at the time and losing both her mother and the child sent her father into madness, so he killed himself. But life went on. She’d lived many, many years, as magicians do, and was now settled in a job she thought best to help the realm of Salinor.

She left her tower and headed down to the room where she did her work. This was the place in which she thought the most good could be done. It was where she did, by far, the thing she enjoyed doing the most. She had no intention of fighting anymore unless she had to. If she was going to help the realm, she must influence the minds of her own people: the magicians. And as she made her way through the court’s gardens and halls, she stood outside the building her room was in. This was where her heart was. The Mironi School of Magic. Now, if only she could get rid of the desert heat Mironi was in all year ’round, then the school would be that much better.

She walked into her classroom on the second floor and smiled; so many young, eager faces. This was one of the better schools, and she knew that parents would give their lives to have their children start their training under her, the greatest sorcerer of the age—even of the past century. Fighting for the good of the realm; she had done much to build a respectable name for herself and proven herself a worthy adversary to her enemies. She also was upset by the Alliance’s lack of involvement in keeping the peace. But training the minds of the children, she hoped, would produce better adults. She hoped these minds were worthy of renewing the Alliance and restoring it to what it should be.

“Good day, class.”

“Good day, teacher Vardon,” they all chimed in unison.

“No doubt you all know who I am. And I know you all want to know why I’d rather be a teacher than a warrior like I once was. It is my belief that a better realm starts with you. You are the future, and as such the standards of what makes a good human, not just a magician, must be taught to you at the beginning. Hopefully, you will get more than training out of my class. So does anyone know what this class is?”

“Why do we have to study with you for a whole year with no time off? Other teachers of this class do not do such.” Vardon looked at the boy who was so boldly quizzical.

“This is true,” she said. “But my class is different. I will be your only teacher. You will not be taught the other things by other teachers or in joint classes with other students. This school is the only one that operates as such. The other first-year teachers will do the same here. This school is much harder the first year than others. This doesn’t make it better, but it is why it is also tough to enter these walls— especially to enter my class.”

“I bet if we were the queen’s children, we’d get in,” one of the girls said mockingly. A lot of the students seemed to concur, but one girl in the front and a boy in the back did not seem moved by the statement.

“None of her royal highness’s children have been in my class or any of the other teachers’ classes. There is no favouritism at this school. We are all human, regardless of status, and in this room, this school, we expect everyone to be treated with respect. Even peasants in all provinces. Anything unbecoming of a magician is grounds for immediate expulsion. Is that understood?”

“Yes, teacher Vardon.”

“So what is the main purpose of this class?” A few hands rose. She picked the largest boy in the class, a Keldonian, in the back of the room to answer. This was the boy who was unimpressed earlier.

“To teach us control.” 

“And your name?”

“Janon.”

“Correct, Janon.”

“Why is control so important?” one student asked.

“I’ll show you. You, the boy hiding in the back. Come to the front, please.” This boy seemed very reluctant to come to the front. Janon encouraged him while others just laughed. Shalini just smiled. She had her reasons for choosing the child. This boy was Dani. He was a little pudgy, as the Dani were solid people, but as of yet, his bulk hadn’t solidified. The purple hue to his skin also made him look a little odd, especially with his round face, but his orange locks were magnificent. They were just long enough to pass his cheeks but beautiful despite his apparent awkwardness. And his black eyes—Dani people had a range of grey shades, but Shalini noticed this boy’s eyes were pools of black that seemed to shimmer like the moon on water at night. Beautiful, she thought.

“I want you to put a visible field around this apple without harming it.” Shalini floated the apple toward him and waited for him to respond.

“Can I speak it?” the boy asked.

“Yes. I wouldn’t expect you to be able to use the whisper or do this in your mind just yet. You can even direct your hand toward the apple if that’s easier for you.”

There were more snickers, but Janon and the girl in front were not amused by the rest of the class. The boy did as told and in seconds he exploded the apple. The class, besides the same two, laughed a hearty laugh and the boy almost cried, but Janon and the girl up front seemed to assert an amount of authority that ceased the torment. The boy hurried back to his seat and sat down, quiet and embarrassed. Shalini was glad to see that at least two of her students showed some level of maturity. Maybe this year’s batch wouldn’t be so bad for terrible elevens.

“It is important to have control simply because it is dangerous to use out-of-control magic, especially at a young age. Does anyone know why?”

“You can explode from the inside out. The magic will overwhelm you,” said the girl in the front.

“Continue.”

“You can also perform spells wrong and beyond the strength needed if you had performed them right. This can result in destroying the target of the magic, or everything surrounding it, or worse. You could actually perform some sort of deformed spell that creates something seen or unseen that is usually quite hard to destroy and messes with the balance of nature.”

“Very well put. I see your father has taught you well.”

“You know my father?” The child seemed shocked.

“Yes. It was I who trained him with a sword. And your name?”

“Tilal.”

“I want you to try.”

“Does it have to be a certain colour or just visible?” Tilal asked as she stood before the class.

“Only visible.” Without thinking, Shalini saw the child perform the task in an instant with purely the will of her mind. The spell wasn’t severe enough for the whisper, but still, Shalini was expecting the simplest spoken form of the magic. She was impressed.

“Thank you. That was very good. Especially for someone untrained. The control you learn in this class,” Shalini paused for effect, and to wait for the girl to return to her seat, “is the type of control you will need throughout your years here. I don’t expect you to be experts when the year is done, but you must be good enough to sustain the heavy teachings that will go on during the rest of your schooling.”

“Will we get to interact with the other students here?” a girl asked.

“Yes. For the most part, they will live here. You do have freedom to roam when not in class and make friends with other students. This is not a slave house. That being said, we are going for a walk. Everyone up and out.”

Chapter 1