Discussion About Bravery
Dorothea sighed at my question, “She’s actually going to be here the day after tomorrow. That reminds me, she wanted to stay at Blackwood manor. Apparently, she’s too good for my small cottage.” I giggled, “I can accommodate her, but I get from you that you aren’t exactly fond of your sister.” Blake grunted, “She only tells us that every chance she gets. I know you haven’t been privy to that but trust me, she’ll tell you how pretentious her sister is until she’s blue in the face.” I prodded Blake with my elbow lightly, “Don’t be rude. She’s older than us and we need to respect her.” He crossed his arms, scoffed and looked away, “I don’t get respect from her and I’m royalty.” Dorothea laughed, “My sister used to serve the royal family when the brat’s father was a young lad. As he knows, becoming the witch for the royal family is a very selective process and it is rare that one passes all of the tests. That is why a witch is not on retainer for the royal family at this moment. My sister passed all of those tests. My other sister and I were trying to get selected, so she likes to wave that in my face every chance she gets.” I looked at her, “She doesn’t wave that in your other sister’s face?” She shook her head, “My other sister passed away a great number of years ago, your family took good care of her for a time. That is why I will do anything House Batiste for the care that Darren, your father and now you have shown to my family. My only regret is that I never got to say goodbye to my other sister.” Tears welled in her eyes as she spoke these words.
A silence fell on the room as her words permeated in the air like a thick, heavy smoke that sucked the life out of the conversation. I waited until Dorothea was done crying and the others accepted that it wasn’t the time to make any noise or remarks. Finally, she wiped her face with the back of her hands and spoke again, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize until now that I had never truly mourned my sister. She was the best of the three of us. So, moving on…Alexandra, you will need to steel your resolve. I know you are putting on a brave front right now, but I know inside you are fearful. I see it in your eyes while you speak on this.” I nodded, “You can read me well, Dorothea. I know that Aphrodite said that I will be fine, and she likely got it from Brigit, but I cannot help what comes to me naturally. Do you suggest a way to get over this?” She let out a “hmmm” noise and then held her hand on her chin then closed her eyes. She nodded after a short time, “There is a way to take that away with a combination of potion and magical tool. I will need your help, Vanessa.” Vanessa looked confused, “I have never heard of a way to combine those two. I can help but I will need your guidance, of course.” To hear Vanessa, say that she doesn’t know how to make a magical tool was new to me, this must mean that doing so was never done or very rare. Dorothea chuckled, “My sister and I have done it with each other often while we grew up. I will guide you through it.” Vanessa nodded at her, “We can work on it tomorrow, but it will have to be after my classes.”
Dorothea snapped and then turned to me, “I will be conducting a water test with Panshad tomorrow. Would you kids be interested in taking the test? I know that, currently, the university is lacking both a water and an earth witch.” She turned to Vanessa, “Who are the wind and heart witches?” Vanessa shook her head, “We don’t have those either. We’ve been on the look for all four of those elements. We especially need the heart to test the cadets for the citadel.” Dorothea nodded then sighed, “We can’t have a gap in any of those elements. I will put out feelers for the others, but I wonder if I might speak to the Headmaster about the water element.” Vanessa gasped, “Are you sure? I know that you are trying to keep a low profile to keep The Order from finding you.” She shook her head, “I think I can confidently say that they won’t come after me pretty soon.” She winked at Blake which confused me as to why she would do that. I looked over at him and he smiled at me, “What? I am investigating them. Perhaps she is confident in my skills in doing so.” I didn’t buy what he was selling but I merely smiled at him and turned my head to look over at Dorothea. I nodded at her, “To answer your question, I would love to take the test. What is the practical application for water magic, by the way.” She smiled, “As you know, it makes you proficient in potion making. There is also practicality in healing though it isn’t as good as wind magic, it can do minor healing. There are many uses but those are the major ones. I could see more practical use for hunky and the little mouse here.” She pointed at Derek and Jess. Jess knitted her brows at the nickname that Dorothea imposed on her, “Why did you call me little mouse?” Dorothea giggled and reached to her, “Because you are cute and quiet. You need to speak up more or you are likely to be forgotten.” Jess sighed, “I speak when I feel like what I have to say will be valuable to the conversation. It is not for me to tell Alexandra what to do but I am here for her as support. I will also take your test. I can definitely see value for me as a cadet for the Citadel.” Derek nodded and slapped his knee, “What the hell, can’t be any worse than my fire results.”
Vanessa stifled a giggle at the announcement that Derek made, “Hun, you had the worst scores in class. If you are worse than that in water, you might want to retire. I will say you probably have high heart aptitude though; you have the bravery needed for your job. I have seen this trait in Talon, and you sort of remind me of him, though he was much like Jess as well.” Jess sat up, “What do you mean Ms. Tannen?” She smiled at Jess, “Oh he had the bravery of our friend Derek here and a strong sense of justice, but he wasn’t a shameless flirt like him. He also only spoke when he had value to add to a conversation.” Everything I had heard of my uncle, I truly felt like Vellum lost the best soldier that they had ever had. The loss was felt for a very long time until Derek came along a couple of years ago to become almost just as strong, with a strong sense of justice. He had earned the nickname of Talon Jr which Vanessa told me that she wasn’t fond of because in personality, they were quite different. She never elaborated until now and I can understand now why she wasn’t fond of his nickname plus it was kind of dumb.
I looked over at the window and noticed that the sun was starting to set, looked over at Blake. He sighed, likely knowing what I was thinking, “I suppose it is time for you to go home. I hesitate to send you off because I likely won’t see you until just before we use you as bait which I still hate.” I looked down, “I know, Blake, but we need to get somewhere on this, and I don’t want to live my life in fear.” He hugged me, “I will send word on when you should make your announcement about not feeling threatened by the blood message. It should be soon." We all rose and walked out to the carriage which Blake escorted me the entire way. When we reached the carriage, he leaned down and kissed my hand, “Can you stay back for a minute after everyone else gets up in the carriage?” I nodded and motioned for the others to go ahead. Once we were alone, Blake pulled out a box and opened it. Inside was a ring with an amethyst set in it, “I wanted to give you a gift to welcome you to back to your home. This ring is also connected to a Meshan stone. If you ever feel like you need me, just rub it and you will be able to talk to me.” I smiled at him, “That’s very thoughtful. Thank you, Blake.” He placed the ring on my right index finger, “Please promise me that you won’t take it off. I would feel better knowing that you can contact me when you need me.” I nodded at him, kissed him on the cheek and then hugged him, “I promise. Please take care of yourself while we are apart.” I smiled at him, he blushed and then helped me up into the carriage. As we started to ride away, Dorothea spoke, “He didn’t want me to tell you but he's going undercover into The Order tomorrow. I thought you should know.”
