The right herbs put together is cheaper if not better than any magic that you damned magicians charge premium for!
I don't care, it looks cool
Exchange between Master of the Apothecary Guild and Manager of Summer Healing Branch
---
Blinking awake, Ren stared at the unfamiliar ceiling from within the darkness.
It reminded him of the day that he first awoke in the training camp but was a lot cleaner than the musty ceiling of their sleeping quarters.
He also didn't recall the pain from waking up albeit there was a plus side to this.
'It's very comfortable here' Ren thought, his hand pressing down on the soft cotton bed sheets placed onto him by someone who's weight alerted him to their presence.
'Who's here?' He mentally questioned.
Adjusting his eyes to the low light levels granted to him by the grace of the moonlight streaming in from the nearby window, Ren squinted and widened his eyes in surprise.
'Bell?'
Staring at the scrawny boy with black hair, Ren had a strange look on his face before he flinched from a sharp pain running up the side of his leg.
'Ow???' Tossing the blanket off of his body and making sure to not hit the sleeping Bell, Ren stared at his leg which currently found itself in a splint made of wood.
'What the...'
Then it all came back to him like a rushing tide.
Dip Lip beating him up over something that had occurred over a week ago as a par on course.
Then Dip Lip drunk from their canteen filled to the brim with something that smelled like high quality alcohol.
Then they began to slur their words together.
Then Magic filled his lower legs before they struck Ren breaking more than a few bones.
Then his leg.
Then Bell came back with someone.
Then nothing.
Rubbing the front of his head which ached just as much as his leg, Ren gingerly got off of the bed without disturbing Bell and their bird.
A bird who stared at Ren with beady black eyes.
It was cute but slightly unnerving with how quiet it was.
Mimicking a motion of quiet, Ren strangely enough felt as if the little yellow bird was able to understand his words as it nestled deeper into Bell's hair.
He wouldn't have fun cleaning that up to instructor satisfaction come morning.
Gingerly getting off of the bed and balancing himself so as to not put more pressure on his already painful leg, Ren glanced at the moonlit sky outside of the window and paused.
He recognized the place he was at sure, it was the medical hall set directly next to the training grounds, but he sure as hell didn't recognize the figures skulking outside of it.
Wearing beast skins over their bodies dyed black, Ren stared at them as they carried a large dead hog the size of two grown men deeper into the camp.
He vaguely recalled that that was where the mess hall was and subsequently the kitchens so maybe they were hunters?
But they just gave off this... aura that they didn't belong.
'Weird'
Watching as the beast skin wearing people continued to skulk deeper and deeper into the camp until he couldn't even see them anymore, Ren uneasily looked towards where they had disappeared before hobbling to the door.
He really needed the toilet.
Pushing open the door, a pair of eyes turned to look at Ren causing him to pause in shock.
"Captain?" Ren whispered in confusion as his eyes adjusted to the sudden change of light reminiscent of the time when his Dad had lit up all of the candles in their store to dry out their things swept up in the sudden flash flood.
It was incredibly hot that day, but it was a memory that he kept dear.
"At ease rookie" The captain waved his hand in dismissal, the dark skin contrasting sharply to the yellow gold and red cloak he wore. "I'm only here to talk with your doctor. Take a seat."
Ren shifted uneasily in place
The Captain stared at Ren with a twitchy eye. "You seem as slow as I would expect from a rookie who went through a long day nap, sit down for crying out loud."
"Yes sir." Instantly placing himself on the creaky seat, Ren belatedly asked."...Did you say a day?"
"Yes, Now I would usually punish rookies for skipping an entire day of training, but you had some special circumstances."
His hand ran across the edge of the table forming a smattering of sparks which leapt up as if infused with life.
Sparks bouncing up instead of catching the table on fire, Ren watched in awe as the Summer Magic manifested as numerous butterflies flitting about.
Moving around as if alive, Ren realized that half of the light already in place came from a smattering of glowing fiery butterflies clinging to the walls opposite of the lamps.
'Woah...'
Watching Ren with a small smirk on his face, the captain spoke "Impressive right?"
Reh nodded his head absentmindedly.
"Want to cast Natural magic yourself?"
Ren nodded his head absentmindedly again before snapping his head to the side as the words that the Captain had just said set in fully.
"I'm sorry sir, but can you repeat that?" Ren asked with wide eyes.
"He said if you want to go back to sleep kid" The man sitting besides the captain said with a roll of his eyes before turning to look at the captain.
"And I said to not say anything about magic to the kid until he fully recovers."
"Stop being a spoilsport Hillary."
"That's Doctor Hillary to you Captain Ramzan."
The Captain rolled his eyes. "Fine Doctor Hillary."
"And you" Doctor Hillary turned to look at Ren with a harsh look in his eyes, his voice deep.
Ren felt his skin tingle with apprehension
"Why are you suddenly out of bed? Are you that much of an idiot to wander around at this time of night while injured?"
Ren shook his head rapidly.
"No?" The man's voice bristled with anger, his body rising from his seat as his eyes burned with an unseen flame. "Then why the hell are you getting out of bed? Are you one of them-"
"Doctor Hillary." Captain Ramzan's voice suddenly interrupted, his voice harsh and deep. "I think you might want to take a rest."
The Doctor turned to stare at the Captain with a twitching eye only to be stared back at by the Captain.
"..."
"..."
"Fine."
*Bang!
Staring at the door that the man had just slammed. The captain turned to look at Ren with an apologetic look on his face.
"He means well you know? It's just that he worries to much."
Captain Ramzan glanced at the doorway before snapping his hands causing the numerous butterflies in the room to start flitting about in a spiral formation.
A small smile appeared on Captain Ramzan's face as Ren stared spellbound.
"And besides, the Sands of the South never did have Butterflies. To much sand and not enough flowers to hide in."
He waved his hand causing the butterflies to start flying around the room in circles, their delicate wings and limbs blurring together to form something akin to stars in the night sky.
Like shooting stars.
Staring spellbound at the sight, the Captain chuckled.
"Interested?"
"..." Ren silently nodded, to stunned to respond as he stared at the shooting stars.
It reminded Ren dearly of his father who had cut out a bowl made of paper before placing it over a candle and letting it's light form shooting stars in the dark room they once shared.
When he was still young that is.
Having moved into one of the free rooms in the house, Ren had no doubt that it returned to being one of the houses many free rooms.
Frowning slightly as the thought of his ailing father tickled him the wrong way, Ren stared at the shooting stars only to be snapped back to reality when the Captain caused the butterflies to suddenly stop moving.
"So what do you think? Are you interested?"
'Am I interested in what?' He blinked in confusion before belatedly realizing that he had vaguely heard something be spoken out of the Captain's lips while he sunk deep into his thoughts.
It was problematic since he really wanted to leave and go to the toilet but he also didn't want to come off as snubbing off the Captain who not only was the Captain, but a Summer Mage.
Struggling with a way to not come off as rude, Captain Ramzan snapped his fingers again, causing the butterflies to start fluttering about in a large spiral formation once more, his voice echoing like magic in Ren's ears.
"Are you going to answer my question or not? Do you want to be my apprentice in Magic?"
"..." Ren stayed silent again, this time not out of desperation for a suitable answer, but because this was... definitely not what he had expected. 'Am I dreaming?'
Or rather was he hallucinating? Ren wouldn't put it past himself to have hallucinated a better scenario right after Dip Lip chose to break his leg.
"...Can you repeat that?" Ren asked, still in half disbelief and half anticipation.
The Captain's smile strained across his face as he waved his hand at the circling butterflies above, the sight being ingrained in his eyes. "Do you want to be my apprentice Rookie, it is a simple yes or no question."
'It's real' Ren felt his heart thump giddily in his chest as the butterflies flew around faster and faster, their forms merging slowly together into a spiral covering the ceiling.
It was dizzying yet beautiful at the same time.
It was nearly as if he couldn't say anything else but yes.
He should say it.
He should.
Yes.
"If you still don't answer I'll take it as a no and take my-" "Yes!"
Suddenly clamping his hands over his mouth at the sudden outburst, Ren whispered out a quick second "Yes Captain" as the Captain's strained smile turned just a bit more natural.
"Great job Rookie, you've just been promoted from rookie to Natural Apprentice." He patted Ren's shoulder as the butterflies stopped spinning around in that swirling spiral, slowly dissipating one by one until the only light source available in the room was the light of a lamp.
"Now instead of calling me Captain like all the rest of those... guys, you can call me Master Ramzan." The man grinned widely as he walked towards the door.
Nodding his head at Ren, he opened his mouth "I'll expect to see you tomorrow at midday in my tent to begin our lessons, I have to prepare a few things."
The Captain glanced backwards. "And don't worry about Instructor Johnson, we've already dealt with him internally."
Closing the door behind him, Ren stared at the door that the Captain- No, Master Ramzan had just left from still in disbelief at what had just transpired.
He felt slightly dizzy at what had just happened, but he chalked it up to being light headed from excitement.
'I'm going to learn magic.'
Giggling to himself, the door behind him opened with a groan.
"Ren? When did you wake up?"
"Bell? Oh uh... just now." Ren rubbed the side of his aching head before grinning and dragging Bell right back into the room. "But guess what just happened?"
---
"So you're now learning magic?" Bell said with awe in his voice, not bothering to hide the admiration in his eyes.
And soaking it all up, Ren puffed out his chest. "Yeah, I'm going to be learning magic from the Captain- Cough -I mean my master now" Ren said smugly, the smile on his face seemingly impossible to remove.
"Wow..." Bell's look of admiration soon morphed into confusion as he asked Ren. "But why did he choose you to become his student now instead of a week ago when we first met him?"
Ren snorted and raised his hand.
Then he lowered it.
"I uh... don't know actually." He admitted
Rubbing his chin, Ren furrowed his brows and wondered why he was chosen in the first place.
"Maybe because he didn't see it? Like when you want to see what everyone's talking about only to not see whatever it is they are talking about?" Bell tried.
"That... makes a lot of sense." Ren stared at Bell funnily. "Should we go and check my Master-"
Ren laughed giddily internally "-to check you to? Maybe he missed something with you as well because that made more sense than you usually do."
Bell nodded his head before pausing halfway. "Did you just call me stupid?"
"...No?"
"...."
Staring at Ren with a bit of suspicion, Ren changed the subject by patting at the chair placed besides the bed.
"Anyways, why were you sleeping over here? Can't you just sleep in the Hall?"
Bell stared at Ren for a few moments more before he awkwardly splayed his hands. "They found the place where Tik tik was hiding."
"Tik tik?"
"I named her."
Bell took the yellow bird out of the comfortable crook it had carved itself in his hair.
"Say hi Tik Tik"
*Chirp chirp
Ren blinked as Bell continued to explain
"When they found Tik tik, they tried to capture her and put her in the soup." The Bird fluttered its wing and flew up to the top of a nearby bookshelf.
"But now because of that I had to keep on bringing Tik Tik with me in case they try to catch her again so I hid here, you don't mind right?"
"Not really no."
"Cool"
+++
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