Chapter 6: Problems Arise

Alther tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently. After seeing the parade take off that morning, the queen had instantly instructed him to go to his room and "stay out of the way." But there was only so much a 13 year old could do before getting bored, and sure enough Alther quickly lost interest in his books and instruments.

Sighing, he rested his chin in his hand. His gaze landed on his fountain pen, still laying on his desk, and an idea formed in his head. At the least, it would cure his boredom. At the most, he'd get some much needed practice.

Standing in the center of his room, Alther focused on the pen, his hand reaching out towards it. He willed the pen to rise, his brows furrowing in concentration.

Nothing.

Alther tried to remember the day in the garden, when he'd made the flower grow. He'd been holding the flower bud then, so maybe touching the object was the key.

He placed the pen in the center of his palm and closed his eyes, trying to focus again.

Still nothing.

He wiggled his fingers. He muttered random words that sounded magical. He held his breath. He started waving his arms around until he felt silly.

The pen hadn't risen so much as an inch.

Frustrated, Alther sat on the floor and tried remember how it had felt to use magic the first time. The pulsing energy that had flowed through his entire body, the buzzing in his fingertips as the flower grew, and the way his heart beat faster with excitement as he realized what he'd done. If he concentrated enough he could almost feel it...

Something bumped lightly against Alther's nose and he opened his eyes. An excited laugh bubbled out of him as the pen wobbled higher. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his reflection in the long mirror on his closet door and was amazed when he noticed the glowing violet of his usually green eyes. He'd never seen any wizard's eyes glow purple before.

There was a sharp knock on the door and Alther lost his concentration, causing the fountain pen to fall on the floor with a clack. And just like that, Alther's eyes returned to green and it was like he'd never used magic in the first place.

He tried to contain his disappointment as he opened the door. One of the younger maids greeted him excitedly.

"The parade is heading back to the castle! Hurry, your highness!" She waited for him to grab his coat and together they ran to the ramparts to watch the ending of the parade.

Alther heard the beating of drums long before the procession appeared. Vibrant flashes and swirls of color surrounded the carriages as the wizards danced, their every move mesmerizing. A phoenix made entirely of fire emerged from one of the dancer's hands, rising above the crowd and letting out a victories shriek before exploding into multicolored bursts of light. A small group of wizards controlled an entire school of fish made of water, leading it through a metamorphosis that began with seahorses, then dolphins, sharks, mermaids, and finally an enormous leviathan that caused the audience to shriek, then cheer as it swam close enough for them to reach out and touch. Fairies made of flowers fluttered around, alighting in the palms of little girls, much to their delight. Alther chuckled as the fairies danced around Charlotte's carriage, spinning gracefully before settling in her hair and returning to flowers once more.

As the parade drew closer to the ramparts, Queen Haven emerged from within the castle and Alther ran down to meet her, eager to see the dancers up close. The gate was pulled up slowly and the main carriage halted before it, King Selwyn stepping down gracefully before his wife and youngest son. Ashton helped Charlotte down and Alther watched longingly as they raced to the wizards, who continued to dance and celebrate. Charlotte took Ashton's hand and he twirled her around, both of them laughing when she lifted her arm for him to spin too.

Selwyn wrapped an arm around Haven's waist. "Come on, let's go dance."

The queen smiled and pulled away. "No, Selwyn. We have to keep up appearances." Though she rolled her eyes, Alther could tell she wanted to dance as well.

"What better way to keep up appearances than to celebrate with our children?" Selwyn countered, guiding his wife along with the music.

As Alther watched his parents dance he saw the years fall away. It was rare for him to see his mothe this happy, and he felt a twinge of guilt. It was his fault she hardly smiled, after all.

He was debating leaving quietly when Charlotte walked up to him and held out her hand. "Dance with me."

Alther shook his head. "I don't know how to dance."

"That's okay, I'll lead you," Charlotte insisted.

Alther pretended to think about it for a moment before taking her hand. "Alright. But when I step on you I'll remind you that you made me dance," he teased.

The celebration continued on for several hours. Once the sun set, the wizards stopped dancing and illuminated the sky with their magic, creating a light show like no other.

As they watched, Charlotte took Alther and Ashton's hands. "Today has been great," she smiled. The king and queen came up behind them, Selwyn placing his hand on Alther's shoulder.

Alther looked around at everything, trying to remember every last detail of the day. After all, who knew just how long this happiness would last?

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A week after the parade, King Selwyn finally implemented the laws pertaining to wizards and their freedom.

Firstly, anyone who had previously owned a wizard was required to pay them a biweekly salary if they wished to continue employing them. If not, they were required to pay a small gratuity for their years of service.

Secondly, all wizards were allowed to return to their families and homes. If any wizard didn't have a place to call home, their former employer was required to house amd feed them for at least a month. Former employers were allowed to charge rent after the month was up if the wizard desired to remain there.

Lastly, wizards were now allowed to use their magic in any way they wished as long as it followed the typical code of conduct for every citizen, meaning they were not allowed to steal, injure, or kill.

Immediately, the complaints started coming in. Shop owners claimed they would not have enough money if they were required to feed and pay so many people. Wizards grumbled that no one would willingly hire them.

At first, Selwyn did his best to assure everyone that after the first month was up things would settle down. However, the moment the grace period had passed things went from bad to worse. While some shop owners were kind enough to provide living wages, others charged their employees the same amount they paid them leaving them exactly where they started. Others went so far as charging even more for rent than what they'd paid, and soon a large group of angry homeless wizards came to the castle to order the king to fix this.

And so, for the second time that year, King Selwyn had to call an emergency meeting to prevent a riot, and Alther found himself seated in the queen's usual place at the table, as Haven had very bluntly told her husband "You put yourself in this mess. Now get yourself out of it."

King Selwyn stood up, cleared his throat, and began. "I admit that this change has definitely caused more trouble than I anticipated. However, the laws have been passed and there is no turning back now. Whatever we decide today, the wizards must remain free."

Several advisors muttered darkly at that and Alther found his nervousness growing. How could they convince an entire kingdom that the wizards deserved freedom if the advisors didn't believe it themselves?

"We could offer to pay their wages?" Ashton brought up hesitantly, and the room instantly turned on him.

"We don't have enough money to haphazardly throw at people we do not employ!" The eldest advisor protested. "And if we start paying the wizards the whole kingdom will demand that we pay them too."

"Then we could hire them and paying them won't be a problem!" Ashton countered.

"Yes, but for how long? We cannot employ such a large amount of people forever. We already have wizards in the castle, we do not need more," the balding advisor stated.

"Then we could set up a one year program," Alther offered. He tried to keep his voice steady and look the part of someone who'd spoken at such an event before, but he could feel every inch of his body trembling. "We can hire any wizard that wants to to work for us for one year. In that year they get free food and a place to stay, and once the year is up they should have enough to start up their own lives back in the town."

The advisors nodded, weighing the pros and cons of the idea.

"We would still have the problem of having too many workers. It would not be fair to pay them for just sitting around while our staff does all the work."

"We could make a schedule," Ashton proposed. "The wizards and our staff switch out days and hours they work. That way we can maintain a large amount of workers without having too many at any point in time."

"And it would help us find new workers too," Charlotte added. "If any of the temporary workers catch our attention we can ask them if they'd like to work here after their year is up."

The whole room seemed to agree with the idea now, or at least they couldn't come up with any good reasons to counter it.

"Very well," King Selwyn smiled. "I will announce the program tomorrow, and the three of you," he looked down at his sons and the princess. "Will be in charge of coordinating it. Write up applications and figure out the schedules. The kingdom is counting on you."