Chapter 3: Gratitude

"Must you really come here everyday? Seriously, I'm running out of ideas to keep you away." The girl asked.

"Well, must you be hostile to me whenever I'm here? And right when I decided to bring you a gift." the boy said as he held the pie tin and admired its crusty perfection.

As if on cue, the girl's stomach gave a low growl. Devoid of any sustenance for almost twelve hours, it demanded to be fed.

The boy gave a chuckle. "Sounds like someone's hungry."

"So what?! I haven't had a decent meal since last night and I skipped breakfast just to get my work done. I was working on the last tome when a certain annoying boy came knocking at my door." the girl snapped. Both annoyed and embarrassed at the boy she was dealing with.

"So do you want the pie or not?" the boy casually said, disregarding the hostile way the girl responded.

Overcome with hunger and embarrassment the girl admitted defeat. "Fine, I'll take the pie."

Triumphant, the boy smiled. "Cool. It's cool in here too. Does that mean you'll take down the ice dome now? The pie's getting cold."

Brielle rolled her eyes and made a swiping motion with her hand and the dome opened; revealing Austin, sitting on the ground with his legs crossed over each other, on his hand he held a plate sized pie. Austin looked at the mage and stared at her violet eyes.

"Awesome spell, it's gonna take me a while to learn how that works, but that wouldn't be a problem with you as my mentor. Of course, after you take me in as your apprentice." Austin said as he stood up. He walked towards Brielle only to be stopped on his tracks with vines that wrapped him from his legs to his waist. He examined the vines binding him and gave Brielle a quizzical look.

"The one I'll be taking in is the pie, not you." Brielle said as she walked towards the immobilized boy. "Why do you want to be a mage anyway?" she asked as she closed in to take the pie.

She was about to take the pie when she noticed a bulge in the chest part of Austin's cloak. Curious about the unusual lump in the boy's clothing, she poked her finger on the lump. As she did, a white fluffy head emerged out of the cloak. The head looked at her with its four eyes, blinked, and then mewed. It squirmed out of Austin's cloak, climbed to his shoulder and sat there, as it continued to stare at Brielle.

"Ah, where are my manners?" Austin chuckled. "Brielle, meet Sylph. She's a-"

"A felis!"Exclaimed Brielle in a surprised tone. The vines unwrapped themselves from Austin's waist and crept back under the ground from where they came from. Her straight flowing hair began to become restless. It waved around a bit and after a while, it seemed that her hair was made of fire. Then, she lowered her head and took a closer look at the creature. Its four shiny black eyes reflected her two emerald eyes.

"This is impossible! Felus are extremely rare creatures. How did you manage to find one?" she asked in a cheerful tone. Extending her arm, she reached for the seraph's head to pet it. The seraph allowed itself to be petted.

"Well, let's just say we both got lucky to have found each other." As Austin replied, he immediately noticed the change in her attitude. She returned to when he first met her: her hair was perked up and her eyed returned to being green. "She's the reason I wanted to be your apprentice."

Brielle stopped playing with Sylph's fur and gave Austin an apologetic look. "Look, I'm sorry to tell you, but I've already scanned you for any magical affinity the first time you've asked to be my apprentice." She said in a gentle tone. "But it turns out that you're just as magically active as that rock right there."

"You misunderstood." Austin replied. "I didn't come here to be a mage."

Shocked by his response, Brielle blinked a few times before she replied. "Wait, you didn't? Then why did you ask to be my apprentice?"

Austin gave a short chuckle before answering. "Well at first, I really just wanted to thank you for that time where you helped me, but then I saw your books and other magic related stuff and I thought I might be able to learn more under your mentoring."

Sylph jumped off Austin's shoulder and headed towards Brielle. Brielle caught Sylph and she couldn't contain her happiness as she cuddled the felis in her arms. Sylph purred as the mage began stroking her soft and fluffy fur.

Not to be disregarded, Brielle's stomach gave another grumble to remind that she needed to eat. A blush appeared on Brielle's cheeks.

"Why don't we continue this conversation inside? I'd really like to have some of that pie."

"Wait, inside? Are you considering my offer?" a smile lit up Austin's face as he stared hopefully at the mage.

Smiling, Brielle nodded. "Yes I am. If you really wanted to learn, then I'd gladly take you in as my student."

"Sweet!"

Inside the tower, books piled at every corner and every shelf. Jars and bottles hung from the ceiling and windows. The wooden stairs were covered in scattered parchments. In other words, the tower was very cluttered.

"Boy, this place could use a bit of dusting."

The mage gave him a sharp look and an exasperated sigh. "Yes, I know."

Brielle was still carrying Sylph as she led Austin to the kitchen. With a wave of her hand, she levitated some plates and utensils toward the table. Austin set the pie on the table and sat down. Brielle gently put Sylph on the floor. The felis then leaped to the boy's lap and assumed a comfortable position.

"Shame, the pie's gotten cold." Austin gloomed as he stared at the pie that he put on the table.

"Leave that to me." Brielle said as she took the pie in her hands. Moments later, her hands started emanating heat and the pie was soon returned into its glorious steamy crustiness.

"Let's get down to business shall we?" Brielle said as she grabbed the knife and brought it down to the pie. "We need to schedule your lessons with me. When is your free time?" she asked as she proceeded slicing the reheated pie.

"Actually I got my time all to myself. No need to worry about scheduling lessons." Austin said as he took a slice of pie.

"Really? Then what about your family? Have you talked to them about this? I wouldn't want to take you away from your responsibilities to your family." She said as she prepared to take a bite off the slice she took.

"I... I don't have that kind of responsibilities. Not anymore." Austin said, putting down the fork with a piece of pie.

"Sylph is the only family I got now." He said, breaking the awkward silence that his statement caused.

"I'm sorry I brought that subject up." Brielle apologized. "I didn't want to get too personal, but do you mind if I ask what happened to them?"

Austin stared at the pie for some time then took a deep breath. "This has been bothering me since it happened." he sighed. "But I do need to get this off my chest."

"My family lived in a town not far to the west from here. We were common as common can be. My family owned a bakery. We sold the best bread and pastries in that town." At that thought, a smile appeared across his face. "You know, my mother taught me how to bake." He said as he marveled the piece of pie he had on his fork. "You can thank her for this delicious pie."

"Life was pretty good for us. Well until the accident happened of course..." Austin's thoughts trailed off as he remembered the inferno that burned their bakery to ashes. "I was on my way back after the delivery my father tasked me to do. I rushed back as fast as I could when I saw thick smoke coming from the direction of the bakery...." Austin tried to fight back the tears from his eyes but to no avail. Wet streaks ran down his cheeks as he continued his tale. "But at the time I got home, the fire was out of control. The roof was already on the ground."

Sylph sat on Austin's lap, trying to ease her friend's pain. All Austin could do was to give her a smile as he stroked her fur. "Some said they heard an explosion coming from inside the bakery. Perhaps the oven malfunctioned or something." He then held up his necklace. "It's only been three months since it happened. I buried my parents, retrieved the lot title and sold it to the bank, and set out to start anew in a different setting. This necklace was given to me by my father. He said that this necklace is our family heirloom. He told me that this should be my reminder of the ones I need to protect. That I need to continue for those who have ceased." Austin said as he clutched the necklace tighter.

"My father gave this to me as a reminder that I will never be alone as long as I carry the memory of my loved ones. I promised myself that I won't let that happen ever again and to protect all that I hold dear with my very life."

All the while that Austin told his story, Brielle just sat  quietly as she listened to every word he said.

"Well, that was the emotional part done." He  gave a dry chuckle as he wiped some tears off his face. "As for Sylph," Austin said as he petted the seraph. "I found her during the first month while I was traveling around. She was caught in a trap and was pretty wounded so I dismantled the trap and nursed her back to health."

"Then, when did you arrive in our village? Surely you weren't living that far if you came to gather moonshine flowers?" Brielle asked as Austin paused to take a bite of pie.

"Oh, right. Well, after two weeks or so, Sylph got her health back up." He replied after he swallowed. "Say, do you have anything to drink in here? It's kind of difficult to eat pie without any beverages."

"Ah! Of course. How could I have forgotten?" a flush of embarrassment appeared on Brielle's cheeks. "Is tea fine? I don't have much around here."

"Yes, tea would be great. Thank you very much."

Brielle then got up to fetch some tea leaves from the counter. She grabbed the teapot and some tea cups and set them on the table. She pulled a kettle from her countertop and filled it with water from the sink. After that, she returned to the table and held the kettle in such a way that she could boil the water. Once the tea was done, she poured it into the teacups and offered one to Austin.

"Thanks." Austin said with a smile. "Now, where was I? Oh, right!" he blew off steam rising from the drink and took a sip. "You see, Sylph here took a liking to me and refused to leave. That's why I've decided to bring her along my journey.

"We arrived here in Esfir not long ago. The people are very nice and friendly. After acquiring a place to stay, the next thing I thought of was to get a job and that's when I saw the bakery." Austin stopped for a moment to eat some pie and continued. "Mrs. Nihm was very kind to have hired me. That old lady is as chipper as a sugar rushed kid." He gave a chuckle.

"It's been three weeks since I've arrived here. And two weeks ago, Sylph had experienced a terrible fever so I had to go into the Whitetail forest to get some moonshine petals. And I think you know the rest." He said as he cast a knowing smile to Brielle.

Brielle blushed and stared at the pie on her plate.

"So, what about you? What's your story?" Austin asked as he brought the fork down the pie slice on his plate.

"Huh? Why would you want to know?" The mage said as she lifted her cup to take a sip.

"Since I told you the reason why I am here, I think it's only fair that you do too. You know, since we'll be spending time often." The boy replied.

"I see." Brielle stared blankly at the cup. Contemplating whether she should tell the boy or not. "Very well. If you must know, then I shall tell you."