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Stone in the shoe

When you were a kid, you lived with your grandmother in the small town of Silvertree, on the edge of a magical forest. Grandma is a witch, and she taught you how to use your magic to affect the natural world, too. “Magic is a part of you,” she always told you. “Learning how to use it means figuring out who you are.” Now you’re 19 and on your own. After years of living in the forest while you perfected your witchcraft, you’ve returned to take care of your grandmother’s house and crow-familiar while she’s gone. Figuring out who you are feels more important than ever - not to mention, figuring out what Silvertree is. A lot is just as you remembered: the friendly generous next-door neighbors with a kid just your age, the proud town council, the quaint little shops with quirky punny names, the gentle shadowy forest full of magic.

PlayerOliver · Fantasy
Not enough ratings
443 Chs

60

Making sure not to crumple the form, you head inside to sit down with it and puzzle over each of the boxes you have to check and blank lines you have to fill out. It's not exactly fun, but you figure it's much better than getting another letter in a few days' time telling you that you've made a mistake.

Once you're certain it's all filled in properly, you put it neatly into an envelope and set off towards town. You're so used to the journey by now that you don't feel the need to rush—and anyway, you don't want to risk dropping the form somewhere. Unfortunately, however, when you arrive at the foyer of the Town Hall, you seem to be the only one there. There's no one at the information desk, no movement from the meeting hall, no sounds at all coming from any part of the building.

"Um—hello?"

There's no reply. With no idea where to go, you take a few steps towards the doors of the meeting hall and pull one open just in case—

Only to see the surprised face of Robin as he leaps back from the doors, startled by your sudden appearance.

"Oh my god, Huknock!" he gasps, though he laughs at the same time. "What are you doing here?"

You show him the form, growing a little frantic to get it off your hands.

"Oh—oh, that's no problem," Robin says, holding out a hand. "Don't worry; it sounds scary, but it's just a formality. I can give it to someone tomorrow if you'd like—the Town Hall's supposed to be closed for today. I only came in to drop something off at the archives, and I'm supposed to be heading over to Mr. Ambrose's birthday party now. You might have heard of him—he's an ex-Town Council Leader, and he's 80 today, so of course everyone from the Town Hall's going to be there. Maybe you could come along? Mr. Ambrose is really nice, and he knows so much about the town. I think he'd be really happy you stopped by. Oh, and he has two dogs."

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