Magical Bonds

@ BearGirl

Esther began wandering around the greenhouse once she had finished, carrying her plant in her arms, wondering where Blaise had gone. When she finally spotted him she stopped where she was standing, not wanting to bother him while he was tending to his own plants, although she wanted to ask him so many questions about the various plants that filled the greenhouse, half of which she had never seen before.

She frowned a little when she heard him sigh, looking down at her plant, knowing that he probably wished that she wasn't here, and that he didn't have to teach her, but she hoped that she could eventually prove herself to him.

@ katahdin
Blaise turned around and saw Esther standing behind him. He glanced down at the pot that she was holding in her hands before giving her a small nod. It looked like she had tended to it properly, thankfully enough. He would be rather upset if she killed that plant somehow. Especially since he had put spells on it to protect it from some magical abuse. 

"Well, lets give the plant a break and I will go over a few historical details with you about this form of magic. Then you can head home for the day." Blaise said before sitting down on a chair and motioning for her to do the same in the one across from him. He then started to go into detail about who was believed to be the origin of all magic, the woman who yielded Earth magic. She eventually had children who yielded the same kind and were able to teach others with potential. It was not until her grandkids were born that other forms, like water and fire started to show. 

@ BearGirl

Esther nodded at his instructions, a bit relieved that he wasn't going to make her do any more magic today. Not that she didn't like practicing it, as she did, but the pressure to prove herself to him made her nervous, especially considering she barely knew anything about the magic. She followed him through the green house and took a seat across from him, setting the pot in her lap as she listened to him intently, making a mental note to stop by the library and try to find a book on the history of Earth Magic on her way home.

@ katahdin
(skipping time)

It had been two months teaching Esther the ways of Earth Magic. Even though Blaise had not particularly wanted to do it, he had to admit that Esther's powers were coming along quite nicely. It was clear that she was a gifted student and someone who had potential. In the least, by the end, Blaise was sure she would be proficient in Earth Magic. Enough so to get through life. Esther definitely had the drive to ensure that would happen.

He let out a small sigh as he glanced over the board for today's lesson. Even though she was moving along quite nicely, there was still a lot to go.

@ BearGirl

Esther's studies had been coming along well, and she was making quite a lot of progress. She had mastered a lot of the basics that he had taught her, and the plant that he had given her was thriving. However, about two months into her studies, she made a grave mistake. She had left one of her textbooks in her room without hiding it, and her mother had discovered it when she had gone into the room to look for her daughter. Of course, this had not gone over very well when Esther had returned to her room, and she was forced to confess that she had been going to Blaise for lessons.

So, her father, Marlon Pruitt, decided to go with his daughter to her lessons for the next day. When the door was opened to let them in, Esther's eyes were red from crying, her cheeks were stained with tears, and her hands were bandaged. Her father asked politely to meet with the man who had been teaching his daughter Earth Magic, a hand on one of her shoulders, as if to keep her from running away.

@ katahdin

Blaise looked up from his board as Esther and her father walked into the room. While he did not have a lot of dealings with Marlon himself, Blaise was very much aware of the man. After all, it was important to know who one had truce's with.... Though, Blaise found it very odd that the man was here and even stranger that Esther was with him. He could only assume that her father had found out the truth about what was happening. Now, he could only hope that Esther had been honest when she promised to keep him out of trouble for it.

"Good Afternoon Mr. Pruitt, Esther." Blaise said as he nodded to both of them. His eyes glanced over Esther's face, seeing how red they were, and how poor she looked. "Is there something you would like to discuss with me?" He thought it best not to out Esther in case the truth had not been discovered yet.

@ BearGirl

Esther risked a glance up at Blaise as he greeted her and her father, giving him an apologetic and also terrified look. When she had confessed to who was giving her lessons, she had made sure to make it clear that it wasn't Blaise's fault, and that she had been the one to insist on having the lessons, and that she had used the truce between their families as a way of convincing him to teach her. Marlon had Esther take a seat, while he remained standing, studying Blaise and the lesson plan that he had in front of him.

"Blaise Reonas, I assume?" Marlon spoke, expression unreadable, although his eyes were fiery, and filled with an obvious rage that he had learned to contain his entire life. "Yes, there is something I would like to discuss with you. My daughter has informed me that you are the one filling her head with nonsense and helping her practice a lesser Magic?" He asked simply, wanting to hear what he had to say about the matter.

@ katahdin
"A lesser magic? No, I have not been teaching your daughter fire magic." Blaise said as he set his whiteboard marker down. He had no issue with insulating the man back. If he wanted to play these games, Blaise was happy to take Marlon on. Especially since they were in his own house, if the man decided to make a move against him using magic, it would backfire instantly. Besides, it would also cause the truce to break early and in his family's favor as the Pruitt's would face the magical consequences of that.

"What I have been doing is teaching your daughter the oldest magic there is. The parent of your abilities, if you need that reminder." Blaise told the man, his eyes narrowing as he looked at him closely. "Though, you should know that Maron as you and your family sent her here to learn Earth Magic. Truly a great gift indeed for your family. Now, why are you here? Do you have an issue with my lesson plans or did she accidentally lash out magically? I am sure you are aware that happens sometimes."

@ BearGirl

Marlon frowned as he listened to the young man speak, impressed that he was bold enough to speak that way to him, although he was still angry, scoffing when Blaise mentioned that he had been the one to request her lessons. "I had done no such thing. She forged a letter to your family, and you were all gullible enough to believe it. She's supposed to be going to her.. therapy sessions, to cure her of her ailments and set her on the right path, the path of her family." Marlon stated simply, confirming what Esther had mentioned to Blaise at one point about her parents wanting to change her magic.

Esther frowned as she looked up at her father, biting her lip nervously as she considered whether or not she should speak. "Father, it isn't his fault, I--" she was cut off when her father turned and slapped her across the face, leaving a very red mark on her cheek, and causing the girl to fall silent as she cradled her cheek, struggling to keep her tears at bay. "You are in no position to speak, Esther, especially in defense of him." Marlon spoke, glaring down at his daughter before turning back to Blaise. "The lessons will be put to an end. The materials that you have given her will be returned, and you and your family will have no contact with Esther until her heretic magic has been removed."

@ katahdin

"I have no problem with that sir. Make sure she drops off the materials tomorrow at 2 and everything will be done with." Blaise said, almost a growl in his voice. "Besides, one less Pruitt to deal with once October comes will make things easier It's not like your daughter is going to be able to survive her therapy anyways. Most don't and she doesn't have the willpower. Just cleans things up faster for me. Though it's unfortunate that her family kills her before I get my hands on her."

With that, Blaise turned and started to wipe that day's lesson off the board. "Now if that is all, I suggest you leave. I think you and your daughter has already wasted enough of my time." In truth, Blaise didn't want to continue to watch the dynamic between Esther and her father. It was rather heart breaking and he didn't know what to do. Though, Blaise knew that he had to keep up the act that he had a great disdain for Esther. While she was not his favorite person in the world, he didn't exactly want to see her dead and he thought her giving up Earth Magic would be a waste of talent.

@ BearGirl

Marlon nodded, glad that Blaise wasn't going to argue about the lessons continuing, although when he spoke of Esther dying, he narrowed his eyes at the younger man. "She may survive yet, and if she does, I'll make sure she's trained well enough to be the one to burn you from the inside out once the truce ends." Marlon growled, before turning to leave without even looking at his daughter. "Come, Esther. I don't want to waste anymore of my time in this house."

Esther glanced up at Blaise as he spoke, watching as he turned back to her, suddenly feeling all the more worse as she reflected on what he had said about wishing that he could kill her himself. She frowned as her father suddenly turned to leave, hurrying to stand and follow him, although she hesitated at the door. "Father..? I left something here the other day, may I go get it now, and meet you at home?" she asked softly, keeping her head down. She hadn't really left anything behind, but wanted to spend a few more minutes in the greenhouse while she could. "I promise I'll be quick."

Marlon glanced over at his daughter, thinking it over for a moment before nodded and waving his hand dismissively. "Just be quick about it." He ordered before walking out the front door, leaving Esther standing in the front hall, cradling her bandaged hands to her chest, on the verge of tears as she took a few shaky breaths to compose herself.

@ katahdin
Blaise took a few moments in the room, composing himself before heading out. As he turned down the hall, his eyes landed on Esther who seemed to be a shaken mess. In the least, she was not crying. 

 

In honesty, Blaise was not sure what to do about the girl. He thought it unwise to insert herself in her family matters. Though, he also did not think himself so heartless to stand by when he knew her situation was unjust. The man cleared his throat before walking up to Esther. "Is there perhaps something I can do to help you, Esther?" Blaise said as he looked at her. "With your training or your family... I would not want to see your Earth abilities ripped from you unless that is your wish."

@ BearGirl

Esther slowly turned to her teacher as he walked up to her, shaking her head a little as she wiped a few stray tears from her eyes, although more only gathered in their place. "No. They'll kill you... I.. I shouldn't have asked you to help me in the first place. If I'd just said nothing and done what they wanted, none of this would have happened.." she murmured sadly, picking at the bandages on her hands with a shaky sigh.

"I read once that aloe plants help treat burns.. is that true?" She asked after a few moments, willing her voice to be steady and even. The burns on her hands hurt terribly, and while a kind housekeeper had managed to bandage them to help hide the blisters, it was terribly painful, and she couldn't take care of the injuries herself.

@ katahdin
Blaise let out a sigh as he glanced down at her hands. "Just wait here." He said before heading out. Not even a minute later, he came back and handed the woman a foundation sized bottle filled with some kind of gooey liquid. "You only need a little bit to rub on your burn wounds and it should heal them up in a minute or so. It's a magical mixture..." The man didn't really want to give it to Esther as it took quite a bit of time to make, however, he had the feeling she would continue to get injured. "It works on other minor wounds as well."

The man cleared his throat before continuing. "If this is what you really want, to have fire magic instead, there is nothing I can do. Though, if it is not, I am willing to help you. Think about it." Blaise patted her head gently before taking a step back. "You should go before you're gone for too long."

@ BearGirl

Esther blinked in surprise when he handed the bottle to her, cradling it carefully in her arms as she listened to his instructions, although when he mentioned it was a magical mixture she frowned a little as she looked at him. "I cant take all of it.. My parents will just throw it away. I can just use a little now, and then it wont all go to waste." She said, carefully setting the bottle down on a table before starting to unwrap the bandages from her hands, wincing when she moved too quickly.

Her frown only deepened when he offered to help her, looking up when he patted her head with watery eyes. "Of course I don't want fire magic, but what can I do? They dont care what I want, and aren't afraid to hurt me in order to get me to do what they want, even if it means I die. And even if you were able to help me, it would just give them an excuse to break this truce early and kill you and your family." She sighed as she looked back down at her hands, carefully rubbing in some of the goop into her hands, watching curiously as the burns disappeared. "Theoretically I could run away, and I've saved up enough money for a bus ticket... But where would I go? Theres no way I could take care of myself when I can barely control my magic. You said it yourself, I dont have the willpower.." she let out a shaky sigh, wrapping the bandages around her hands once more before holding the bottle out to him.

@ katahdin
A frown moved over his face as he took the bottle from her. Blaise felt like it was the least that he should do for her, but it seemed that he was not going to be given that option. After listening to her, Blaise spoke. "You always have an option. And I did say that I would help you if you want it. Though, as I said, you should think about it. You should also keep in mind how dangerous changing your powers can be. You could die by being complacent in this." 

Slowly, the man nodded and gave her head another pat. At this point, Blaise was not sure what to do. Though, in the least, he knew that Esther should leave before she got into more trouble. He walked the girl out of the house before closing the door behind her. That was when his mind really started to turn. Was there something that he could realistically do for her? Blaise looked at the time before heading back to his office to think about his next steps, if any. While he felt like Esther might make the wrong decision, he also felt as though he had no right to stop her from her decision if she didn't want to fight. 

@ BearGirl

Esther frowned as she listened to him speak, wanting to say something more, but the next thing she knew he gave her head another pat before ushering her out the front door. She paused for a minute on the steps, wondering whether or not she should knock on the door to say what she had wanted to, although she eventually decided to head home before her parents became more upset with her.

The next day she returned, as she had said she would, carrying the textbooks that he had given her at the beginning of their lessons, as well as a crudely drawn map marking where her greenhouse was located in the forest. She wanted to ask him to help her, and hoped that he'd be able to do something, but if he refused, or if he couldn't do anything for her, the least she'd ask would be that he bring her plants to his greenhouse to keep them safe from the wrath of her family.

Once inside she hurried to the greenhouse where she expected Blaise to be. Over the course of her lessons she has gotten better at recognizing and controlling her own magic, but had also learned to recognize Blaise's, and could use her powers to sort of track not only where he was at a given time, but also where he had been, picking up on the little traces of his magic that he left behind around the house, whether in the sitting room where he planned his lessons or at the table in the greenhouse where he'd first helped her practice her magic.

When she found him she carefully set the spellbooks down on the table, her fingers smoothing over the old leather and paper as she looked at her teacher worriedly. One of the lenses in her glasses was cracked, and a piece of tape was holding them together rather precariously. It also looked like she had a bit of a black eye and a little cut on her lip, although there were no obvious burns, and it didn't seem like her injuries were bothering her too much.

"I.. I want your help." She murmured softly after what felt like forever, glancing down at the table between them before meeting his eyes again, anxiously waiting for his reply.

@ katahdin

Blaise looked up from his work as Esther walked into his office. The man set down his pen, watching her as she came up and set the books down. He noticed the new injuries that she had collected. The blackness around one of her eyes, the cut on her lip. The man was almost surprised that she did not have any new burns on her. Though, at this point, he was not sure what he could do about her injuries. It seemed that only more and more would come the more her family were disappointed with her powers.

Once Esther agreed to take his help, Blaise gave her a small nod. Admittedly, he was pleased that she wanted his help. He had grown to care about his pupil, and he would be disappointed if she threw all of her work away because of her father. Though, Blaise still needed to be careful. He didn't want to end the truce early because of her. Nor did he want to end up getting himself and his family into deep trouble.

"Tell me, Esther, what would you like to do?" Blaise asked thoughtfully. "I want to help you but you have to tell me what you want to do. Are you looking to run away? Or just trick your parents? Or is there something else that you desire?" Just because she wanted his help, that did not mean he was going to force his own plans on her. After all, if Blaise had to dump Esther for his own sake, he would.

@ BearGirl

Esther was relieved when he nodded and agreed to help her, taking a seat in the chair across from him before releasing the breath she didn't realized she'd been holding. When he began to ask her questions her eyes met his again, frowning a little in thought.

"Well, first of all, I'm not asking for your help as a Pruitt, I think that needs to be made clear.. I doubt my family really considers me one anyway, and I dont really want to be one after everything that they've done." She admitted, fiddling with her fingers. "So, I'm not a Pruitt asking for the help of Reonas within the terms of the truce. I'm not a Pruitt anymore, so you and your family aren't obligated to help me, and if you decide to help, you wont be breaking the truce and my family can't be mad at you for doing so." She explained, biting her lip nervously as she waited for a response, although she bit where the cut was and only caused herself to wince in pain, her fists clenching in frustration.

"I.. I don't know what I want to do." She admitted, frowning up at him. "I want to keep learning, but if I continue my lessons here, or anywhere where my family thinks they have power, they'll come take me back, even if it means ending the truce early.. But I dont want to just run away either. It's not fair to ask you to come with me, and I wouldnt be able to continue my lessons or take care of myself if I went alone, so there's no point in doing that... What do you think that I should do?"

@ katahdin

Blaise was quiet for a long moment as he thought over Esther's options. Knowing that she was coming as someone who was not a Pruitt anymore did make things easier. Though, there were still other issues that he was going to have to work around... But at this point that was his problem and not hers. "Well, that does make things easier." Blaise said in regards of Esther removing herself from her family.

"I will certainly not run away with you. I have no reason to do so and I have my own responsibilities here that I must take care of. Leaving all of that behind to train you would be, quite frankly, not worth the time. Though, it is not impossible for you to stay in town. There are a few places that I could hide you and we could change your appearance.. maybe put some projection and hidden charms on you."

Blaise looked at her thoughtfully, his head turning as he did so. "We could continue your lessons if you stayed close by and I know some places and people that would be willing to help you, if you are interested."