In or out?

“Ah Mary Teeran, you have impressed us greatly. Not a simple thing to do. You are accepted,” Furnlow said before Mary could state her name.

“T-thank you,” Mary said and stepped aside. She automatically walked towards the door out of the hall. An aari handed her a letter and Mary thanked her. It wasn’t until she was almost at the docks, and she saw Kopa standing there, waiting for her, that it sank in. Mary flashed a huge smile at him.

“I was accepted,” she said.

“I didn’t doubt it for a second, little one,” Kopa smiled back at her, giving her a hug. “Come on, let’s get you home so you can tell your mom,” he said.

Firlea was waiting for Mary out on the docks.

“I was accepted as well,” Mary told her, and the two friends hugged.

“Congratulations Firlea, I’m happy Mary will have a friend as she starts this,” Kopa told Mary’s friend.

“Thank you, sir Teeran,” Firlea said with a smile.

“I was planning to take Mary over in a boat. Why don’t you join us?” he asked, leading both women to an empty boat.

“That’s very kind of you,” Firlea said as he helped both of them into the boat.

“Don’t mention it. I think you two should open your acceptance letters,” he smiled.

Mary looked at the letter in her hand, that she had totally forgotten that she had. She opened it and read it.

‘Dear trainee,

Congratulations on being accepted to train to become an aari. You are welcome to join us and to learn from us.
Your training will start on Monday in three weeks’ time. Please go to one of the river fields at eight o’clock on the day in question and we will arrange transport.

All trainees are required to live inside the sanctum. We will provide room and board for free during the entire length of your training. There will be periods of furlough where you can go back home if you so wish. The first of them will be three months from the start of training.

We ask you to ensure that you have three sets of clothes. They should be black, minor details may be white. You will also need ink and quills. We will provide paper for you. Make sure to bring any personal items that you may need to make your stay more pleasant.

Upon your arrival, we will place you in a room with one or two roommates as chosen by us.

The first day will be composed of settling you in and explaining the rules and what we expect of you as a trainee. The training will start on the second day.

If you have questions or know you will be delayed, please contact one of the below aari and they will help you.”

Then there was a list of names of aari that could be of assistance.

“I will have to go home and come back,” Firlea said as she had read her letter.

“We will meet up at the river field in three weeks,” Mary smiled.

Kopa helped them both out of the boat and the friends hugged once more before heading their separate ways. Kopa and Mary headed home. The spring was giving way to summer, and the evening was pleasantly warm.

As soon as Kopa opened the front door, Bettina came running into the living room.

“You are late, so how did it go?” she inquired excitedly.

“I was accepted,” Mary smiled. Bettina squealed and hugged her tightly.

“I’m so happy, sweetheart. Congratulations. I was sure you were going to make it, so I baked a cake,” Bettina said with a broad smile. “We’ll have it after dinner”

Later that evening, as the three of them were sitting in front of the fire, Bettina asked Mary how she felt about everything.

“I am happy and excited, for the most part,” Mary replied.

“Is there something you’re not happy about?” Bettina asked.

“Well, I don’t know how I feel about going to live at the sanctum. I have just gotten a home and a room that I love. Now I have to give it up. I will do it, it’s not that big of a deal, but it feels sad,” Mary said.

“This will always be your home and your room will be here, no matter what happens,” Kopa said, and Bettina nodded.

“You will get to come home once in a while, and you can come home for an evening when you feel like it,” Bettina said. “The sanctum is just around the corner.”

Mary nodded. She was lucky that her family would be so close by. She thought about Firlea, whose family lived several hours away. But Mary would still miss being here, having dinner as a family, going to bed knowing that her parents were just a couple of doors away.

But she was still happy. She had dreamed of becoming an aari, thinking it was an impossible dream. But in three weeks’ time, she would start on the journey to making that dream a reality. Life had never been this good.

The next day, Mary was preparing for another riding lesson with Tenac. She was looking forward to seeing both Tenac and Buttercup again. She walked down to the kitchen and took out the carrot and apple she had put aside for Buttercup.

When Tenac knocked on the door, she was ready and gave both her parents a quick hug before heading out of the house.

“Well, don’t keep me hanging. How did it go?” Tenac asked.

“Your mother hasn’t told you?” Mary asked, more as a way of teasing him than that she expected Tariana to have told him.

“No, I haven’t spoken to her in a couple of days”

“Tenac, you should really attempt to speak to her more often. She’s your mother,” Mary scolded him.

“Duly noted. Now tell me, did you get accepted or not?”

“Yes, I was accepted” Mary smiled at him. Tenac laughed out loud.

“I knew it,” he told her. “So, when is the big day?”

“In three weeks. It seems a long time away, but I have so much to do before that,” Mary told him.

“If you have time, we can double up on the riding lessons. I usually have at least one and a half day free per week if I’m not out on assignment,” Tenac suggested.

“That is really sweet of you, Tenac. But I can’t ask you to give up all of your spare time on me,” she objected.

“It’s not an issue Mary, we have fun together, and it keeps me from joining on one of Jontak’s crazy outings. Last Saturday, while we had our riding lesson, he dragged Sinhera and another rider from our company on one of his expeditions,” Tenac said.

“They came back at midnight, half dead and covered in mud. No one has told me what they did, which means it was inappropriate or embarrassing, or both. You saved me from that, Mary,” he laughed. Mary couldn’t help but to laugh. It seemed like something Jontak would do.

“You remember my friend Firlea?” Mary asked and Tenac nodded.

“What I’m about to tell you stays between us, okay?” she asked.