Of the Green--Chapter Three
Later that day, as Rhea went to the dining hall for dinner, several apprentices noticed her, a few of which she recognized slightly as older students she had met now and then.
A hush went over the hall as she entered it as discreetly as she could. Usually that would have meant people standing next to her would be surprised to find her already at an unoccupied table, and those talking to her would be speaking to nobody. Now, however, it was a different matter.
She beat down the urge to walk straight out of the hall as another apprentice in green--an older boy, surely close to becoming a Master--approached her.
“Congratulations, Rhea! You’re one of us now!” He gestured towards the other people in green, scattered throughout the dining hall. “And on your first try, too!” Everyone began snickering all of a sudden, and he turned to realize he was praising the empty air beside him while Rhea was already getting her dinner.
Scowling, also.
Rhea flopped down onto her bed after dinner, not bothering to change her clothes yet. A knock on her door made her roll her eyes in annoyance, but she said “Come in” as she normally did: distant and polite enough to not be judged rude.
“Rhea, your parents sent you a letter.” Bryce, the apprentice of air currently in charge of messages, opened the door and held out an envelope. Rhea took it, thanking him briefly, and waited until he left to open it.
She shook out the letter and began reading. After the “Happy early birthday” greeting her parents had written, Rhea read on to find that they had already heard she’d become an apprentice, which surprised her. It had only been a few hours since she had received her magic, and her schoolmates had found out just before dinner.
She skimmed the letter from there, knowing there was an answer in there somewhere. Her eyes went down to the middle, where she saw Kimaru’s title beginning a paragraph.
...The High Mistress of Fire sent us a message almost immediately after she had given you your power...
Now, how was I supposed to know Kimaru would send a letter to my parents immediately? Rhea asked herself. She put the letter down, knowing there was nothing more to read--despite the fact that there was one more paragraph left. If she read the rest, it would only be a waste of time.
Instead, Rhea put the letter back in its envelope and put it in a small box under her bed. There would be a time to read it through completely, but that time was not now.
She began going through her evening routine, unbraiding her hair and patiently running her comb through the knots, wincing once or twice when she pulled too hard on a particularly nasty snarl. In a few minutes, she was done, and she changed, blew the small lamp on her bedside table out, and lay down, not going to the trouble of trying to sleep.
The trick worked. In only half an hour of lying perfectly still, Rhea had drifted off into a light doze, which could only be expected in the first few hours of nighttime. At best, she slept heavily for a while, but that was only once in a while and she didn’t expect it.
When she woke up the next morning, Rhea was sure she was seriously ill. Every muscle in her body hurt; but she’d been perfectly fine last night and nothing had happened to make her feel like she’d been beaten by someone twice her size and strength. What was happening to her?
Half paralyzed with stabs of pain, it wasn’t long before a Mistress of Water hurried into her room. Rhea supposed the woman had seen her somehow--those who dealt with water were often both healers and seers, but right now she didn’t give a damn.
“Rhea, what’s wrong?” The woman asked--Rhea couldn’t remember her name.
“I d-don’t know,” Rhea managed to choke out, unable to keep her voice from faltering as a fresh wave of pain rippled through her. “I woke up and--”
“Hush now,” the Mistress informed her. “I’ll try to relieve your pain, just relax and don’t fight me.” She held her hands above Rhea’s body and poured magic--blue magic, if Rhea had been calm enough to notice, blue like water reflecting the sky on a clear day, and just as flowing--into the half-conscious girl. However, the half-stifled whimpers of pain did not cease.
“Oh, curse it,” she muttered. She tried again to relieve Rhea’s pain, but no matter how much magic she poured into the girl, it seemed to have no effect. After a fourth attempt with no success, Rhea suddenly relaxed and sat up.
“Did it work this time?” the Mistress asked, partly joking, though she knew it had been more than long enough for the magic to take effect.
Rhea shrugged, trying to conceal a small twitch of pain. She had no idea what had just happened. “I don’t know. I just... felt better, all of a sudden.”
“Hmm.” The Mistress sighed in relief, then glanced out the window at the grounds, where the Green Masters were still fixing the plants. “I wonder if they’re having any success fixing the grounds...” She remarked. Suddenly she gasped, an idea coming to mind. “Oh! You’re a green apprentice, aren’t you? Just got your power?”
Getting the point immediately, Rhea nearly smirked and said something impudent; but she quickly smoothed her features to indifference before the older woman could become offended. “Yes.”
“Well, I suppose that was the burst of power,” the Mistress commented. “You’ll probably feel better later once the grounds are fixed up--it must be a connection with the torn up plants that’s made you feel so bad. Goodbye, Rhea.” She left the room, leaving behind a still aching Rhea, who was trying furiously to hold back her occasional twitching.
These aren’t even my own injuries, she told herself irritably as she rubbed her shoulder, which pained her the most. Yet try as she might, Rhea still could not suppress the stinging pains, so she gave up and pulled on her apprentice’s robe to report to Master Trenton’s class--for the last time, she thought with a feeling of excitement at entering a new stage of life.
Trenton greeted Rhea with a kind, rather melancholy smile as she walked into the room. A few early students looked up and began whispering to each other about the newly made apprentice. “Rhea, I see you’ve graduated. You have to present yourself to Master Silvan, on the Second Teaching Floor.”
Rhea nodded and turned to leave. The last thing she heard just before she closed the door with a soft click was, “Farewell to the best student I have taught in 12 years...”
Master Silvan was not at all what Rhea had expected. Far from being stuffy and pompous like Trenton, the agreeable Master of the Green had a light but firm hand, like a good rider on a fidgety horse. When his class of newly made green apprentices was being disorderly, he would patiently wait until the students settled down, and he usually had a kind greeting for them at the beginning of the lesson.
In the case of students just arriving to his class, the greeting was accompanied by a sincere “Congratulations”. Rhea was surprised but took this well in stride, never faltering in what she thought was her ascent to power--for, if she overlooked the morning’s incident, that was exactly what she was embarking on.
As Rhea sat down in the front half of the class to begin her second stage in the academy, she had no idea that her patience and determination would serve her well in the years to come.
“Hello, class,” Master Silvan began. “As before, I shall teach you about controlling your powers...”
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