front of the stage. Kilen had realized that he was standing in front of her horse frozen again, just as he had been in front of the stag. She wore a crisp white riding cloak with waves crashing on the shore embroidered across the front. The hood was pulled deep over her face; she leaned forward on her horse to hand Kilen the reigns and whispered into the horse’s ear. “Mind my horse while I’m here, will you kind sir?” Her voice seemed to melt what fear he had and allowed his feet to move again. He took the reins and lead the horse off to the side of the stage while the tiny girl talked to the mayor. She took her seat and began eating the variety of cheeses, meats, and bread that were covering the table.
“Township of Humbridge it is my pleasure to introduce Water Wizard Twilix,” Mayor Bingham shouted so that all could hear. Kilen noticed that the fog had lifted so that he could now see the entire town square. The buildings at the edge of the square were still barely visible. It was if the fog was a dome covering the square protecting them from the outside world. He questioned himself; Is it protecting us or looming over us? He noticed he wasn’t the only one looking at the strange dome. Chit now stood in front of the wizard with fists on his hips trying to do his best to impress her. She continued to eat her meal until he was finished talking. She stood up and pulled back her hood revealing shoulder length golden hair, and raised her bright green eyes to meet Chit’s.
“Sit down boy,” she told him. Kilen knew that this was to be Chit’s big day. Oh, how that would anger him. Soon Chit backed away and she remained standing but spoke to the Mayor, “I will start with the blessings now Mr. Bingham.”
“Kilen Everheart, present your request to the wizard,” the Mayor flourished at the sound of his own voice.
“Please Mr. Bingham just have them line up to receive their blessings. I don’t have time for all the theatrics.”
“As you wish,” he directed his attention back to the town. “If you have a request for blessing, lineup here on the stage to receive yours.”
Kilen made his way up to the stage and stood just to the side of the table. He reached into his vest and pulled out the purple velvet pouch and poured the rings into his hand. He placed them on the table and asked quietly,” I wish to have my father’s earth rings restored to power.”
The wizard took them in her small hands and turned them over checking for the earth symbol on the inside of them. She stood and walked around the table to stand in front of Kilen. She was short and had a small frame to match. The more he looked the more he thought of her as a child. In fact he was sure that she was a child, only a couple years younger than he was now but still not an adult. She reminded him of his little sister still wearing a blue ribbon in her hair. “I can restore them for you, but I will charge you nothing for the service. They belong to you and I cannot ask you to pay for something that you already own.” She spoke only to him, but the people nearest the stage soon began to whisper she wasn’t charging for blessings. If they didn’t stop soon there would be the entire village lined up for blessings and maybe a riot. He had a quick thought to pay her anyways. He instead took three gold coins out of his coin purse, and handed them to her. The whispers seemed to stop, she noticed the entire village watching, waiting for her to reject the coins. She turned her focus back on the rings in her hand and for a moment he thought he saw her eyes turn blue and back to green. “Where did you get this gold sir?”
“I saved it, from hunting, and working in the town. My father gifted some of it to me so that I could start my journey in life, which I start today. I will be headed to Deuterium to study in the great libraries. I want to become a scholar.” He felt comfortable to speak to her, and wondered if it was that way with all wizards or
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley