Method to the Madness

“Here!” Cat said as she dropped a large book of incantations and runes down in front of me as I sat at the table, holding my head in an utter thirst to try to remember what was being said; still that thirst couldn’t be quenched when the cup I was using had a huge, gaping hole in it.

Cat was my magic mentor; and with that, I was beginning to understand how mature Selvas were given their names. Cat had almond-shaped eyes that were coal-colored – but still with a tint of hazel yellow. She spoke with a purr and walked gracefully. The first time I had met her, I had wanted to ask her about her life, almost forgetting that I wasn’t supposed to show any interest in Selvic history – or even that she probably wouldn’t know what I had meant anyways.

“This is basically everything that you will need to help you in your Selvic missions.” She explained as I tried to pick it up, failing terribly. God, the spell book had to be at least a thousand pages. Cat must have noticed the terrified, questioning look masking my face because she laughed. “Don’t worry! You don’t have to memorize all of them, but this is everything that you could possibly need. You’ll find that you’ll only use a few of these mostly, but it’s good to have knowledge of all of the capabilities. Both runes and incantations are important, though; you should focus on learning at least a few of each.”

She started talking about the importance of runes versus incantations, but I started to zone out. It was Mouse that I saw poking her head into the private session that I was having with Cat. I couldn’t help but feel partially envious. I had only seen her around when Elias was there, and I almost resented her for that. It sounded so stupid – he couldn’t have any feelings for her, right? – but I grew immediately bitter on first sight of her. Right now all she did was remind me of Elias.
I wondered what he was doing right then: if I was going to catch him wandering through the halls with Mouse or if he would be resting in his dorm like usual. Usually I would catch him in his dorm with his eyes closed breathing heavy and trying to relax his body in-between trainings. His trainings were more frequent – and more intense – than mine because he was my Guardian. He was responsible for my protection, so he trained often for stamina and fast experience.

“0074, I know this is a lot to take in, but it is important to your duties.” Cat said, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me awake from my daze. She didn’t know exactly what it was that had made me doze off, but she was too smart to not realize that I had indeed dozed. “Did you hear anything that I had said?" She asked, sighing angrily in a hiss when I shook my head. "Do you understand how important this is? Before you can start any of your training with incantations, you must first understand what you do with them. If you don't know that, there is no way for you to move forward."

"Listen, I'm sorry, Cat." I apologized, wishing I hadn't let my mind stray off so easily. When I had started training with Cat, I had been so focused... And now? Now I was letting the brunette hair of a curious "frenemy" distract me.

"Miss Cat, I think you've done enough for the day!" Crimson broke into the room amidst my scatterbrained apology. "Can't you see that she's just tired. Really, as a new mentor, you must understand that we can't overwork our young Selvas. You can't overwork them." Her lips twisted into a sinister smirk as if she loved putting people in their 'place' by mocking her authority over them.

By the look on Cat's face, that was exactly what she was doing. "You are dismissed for the rest of the day, 0074." Her face showed nothing but displeasure to concede to Crimson's wishes, and her coal eyes were set on fire with an envious dislike.

~~~

I almost didn't know what to do with myself: was I supposed to go find Elias or should I leave him alone? I wanted to go to him and ask him more about what I was like in the past - if I was still the same girl now that I was then - but what if I didn't like the answer.

Still, I found my feet dragging myself in the direction of his room; I had gotten much better at navigating around this huge powerplant of corridors now. He was, indeed, in his room, satisfying my greatest hopes that would've been crushed had he been off.

"Hello, 0074." He greeted me as I entered, as if he had assumed I would be coming. He seemed quite tired, beat up almost. I couldn't help but feel that it was my fault that he was putting himself through all of this pain.

"It's Alyson." I corrected him, and he shot me a fair warning glance.

"You can't be doing that! You never know who might be around to hear that! Like Mouse: Mouse makes herself "mousey" and you never know if she's there spying on you. I don't know what they'd do if they found out that you know, but I don't want to find out either!" He scolded.

"I guess that means I'm not going to be getting any more about my past out of you anytime soon, am I?" I pouted, sitting down beside him on the bed as he rolled his eyes at my child-like behavior. I felt close to him right then, as if this is how we had been in another time. I could almost feel the familiarity of sitting so close to him, his eye rolls, and secrets that were kept only between us, but if that was familiarity, it was a shady one far off in the distance.

"Not right now, Al." He replied, almost as if it was hurting him as much by keeping it from me as it was me for having it kept from me. "I have to get back to trainings anyways. Forest wants to keep working. We'll talk later." He gave me a peck on the cheek and walked out...

Gah, I was doing terrible at this Selvic stuff. I sucked at being a Selva and I was falling for my Guardian...