The Ace Student

I've been at this for an hour and I feel that I may not get it. I can get the lens to form and all three bonds to connect but they are just not working the way they need to. At any distance other than less than six feet to the ground. Any distance beyond that magnifies too much and flips. I may need to get up early and do more searching but until then I can't get into the house. After a certain time of night, I noticed that no one goes back inside. The doors lock and the night shift comes and takes over. I wonder if the only person left in the house is Madam Odette. If so, wouldn't it be lonely?

I stop and stare at her bedroom window. The curtains are closed but her light is still on. I see a few dancing shadows from a distance but not her. They occasionally flutter showing a slight glimpse of the inside walls but nothing more. I just kind of stare in the direction of her room. I wonder if she's looking out tonight from a different spot keeping an eye on me as usual. The quiet of the night begins to take over. The crickets chirp and the bats begin flying. And in the quiet, I'm left alone with my thoughts and ideas.

I bring the lens focus into my right paw and begin playing with it when something begins to click. I've kept my thumb and index together the entire time straining my eye to look through. Can I make the lens larger? I open up the grip and try and sure enough with not much more effort, I can bring the lens to different sizes. I then begin to think about the design of a telescope. That farther lens is always bigger to capture more light. I begin to focus again with my other paw, get the connections together and try to focus on the water fountain 30 feet away.

It's better. It doesn't flip but it's still blurry. I try and focus it but my wrist cannot twist enough to bring it into focus. I hear the joint pop from trying to twist so far. This is getting ridiculous at this point. I'm getting closer but it is just out of my reach. Is there a ratio wrong? Is there an additional connection? Wait, more? Would that work? I try with three evenly spaced apart and it seems to have helped a bit but it's too magnified again. I drop one and it goes back to blurry but right side up.

I can't twist my wrist enough to get it to focus. But… Can I turn the lens? Binoculars have the function to adjust but you have to turn a ring where the glass sits. I jump off the shed and look inside. I could have sworn that I saw something in there that would help me with this. There they are! There are some lids to some mason jars where the center can be removed. Until I can figure out how to do it on my own I'll have to use training wheels but maybe I can use these to help focus the sight.

I bring the lenses, connect them, and bring them to my eye. With my thumb on the far lens, I turn the jar lid keeping it steady as I do so. Slowly it begins to come into focus. After three turns and some fine-tuning, I can see, as clear as can be, the water fountain 30 feet away. I think I figured it out! I begin playing around and messing with the formulas. In just an hour I can figure out how to fine-tune it. The more connections the better the magnification is so fewer turns are needed to focus. The stronger the bonds the less correction needs to be done but the harder it is to get finite details to come clear. It's good for long-distance sight in a hurry but hard to control after that. I've done it! I made a spell of telescopic sight!

I begin playing with it more and more looking around and getting it to focus on different objects at different distances. I run about 100 feet away from the house and use it to look at the guard at the door. With fine-tuning, I can clearly see the color of his eyes. I'm not sure how far this can zoom or how clear I can get it but this is amazing. I can't wait to show Madam Delula in the morning.

I keep looking around when my eye crosses Madam Odette's room. Her curtains are now open and she is standing in front of the window looking in my direction. I'm not sure she can see me but I drop the telescope keeping the focus on it. From my distance, I can still see her shadow and she appears to be moving again but not from the window. Against my better judgment I bring the telescope to my eye again and there she is standing in front of the window letting her robe drop to the floor.

I think she knows I can see her. She's moving to tease me, I can see it. I don't get much more of a show as she closes the curtains and I watch her shadow disappear. The lights go out and I know it's time for her to go to bed. I release the telescope and just wonder what is up with that woman sometimes. That may have been my reward for completing my assignment.

Morning comes again and I am off to the cabin with the two rings in my hand. They clang against each other as I walk making a quiet but pleasant ding when they connect. I knock on the door just enough that if she is awake she will hear me but there is no answer. I slowly peek in and she's nowhere to be seen. The cabin is empty and I don't know where she went. I walk back to the shed and I find Madam Delula leaving the main house with a towel on her head. She looks as though she just got out of the shower. Come to think of it, there wasn't enough room for a shower in the cabin. This raises a lot of questions that I am not sure if they would be answered. I have other worries right now, "Madam Delula, good morning."

"Good morning Red!"

She's in a good mood. She must have gotten a good night's sleep finally. I follow her back to the cabin where she has me wait outside while she changes. She returns in a different set of robes that are just slightly different than the others. "What can I do for you Red?"

"I have my spell ready."

"You do?"

"I do."

"Ok, first explain it to me. What does it do and how does it work?"

We sit down and I begin going over the idea that it's a simple telescope. I begin going into the lens and different connections, how to more or less affect it, the strength of the bonds, the different types of bonds, and how to focus and use it with the Mason jar rings. They're training wheels for now but they get the job done nonetheless. I watch her face as I go into it and the idea behind it expecting her to be amazed but she keeps a straight face the entire time. I finish up and here comes the test. "Ok, sounds like you got it pretty well down. Now the test becomes can it be replicated? You're going to teach me how to do it." Now, this got interesting.

I start from step one on how I do it. I go through the focal points, and the different ratios of power to give her the lens in the lid in both paws. I guide her through the connections and give her the simple 2 hard connections to make it simple. She follows up to that point looking through to the main house. "It's blurry."

"It needs to be focused. It's about one full 360-degree turn to 10 feet with this type of connection. So turn it about… 12 times."

"Seems excessive."

"If you add two more hard connections it'll only take four but I'm keeping it simple for now."

She nods, "Ok."

She begins turning the lid and watching as it comes closer and closer to her. I see her eyes widen the more she turns. It gets to the last turn and she begins fine-tuning it. She looks around just a bit from place to place adjusting it further. "Well Red, I don't know what to say. I am just… I don't know." She dropped the focus handing me the lids, "You can teach yourself whatever you want at this point. I was to get you to where you can understand and teach yourself and you're there. I've never had a student just grasp everything in such a short amount of time. I'm amazed and can't fathom the potential that you carry with you."

Her voice sounds defeated but her words say she's proud. "Madam Delula, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just sound down."

Her shoulders drop in exhaustion, "I tried to challenge you. I gave you the hardest task I could think of which is to create something of your own using the resources you have available. Some people spend years trying to come up with something new that the world hasn't seen and here you are. The idea of the spell that you did already exists but it is not this simple. It is so much more complex and finite that I am amazed that with such a simple concept that you cut down almost 80% of the work needed to do it."

"Oh, someone already did it…"

"Not like this. The spell that is known is considered level four of five difficulty. That is above University level and you just made it so simple that a high school student could do it. I'm just so proud. I am a little disappointed that I could not challenge you but it's at myself. I have to go talk to Lady Odette so I shall return."

I nod as she leaves. She walks with her head up for most of the way but going up the stairs I see it drop. I can only imagine how well this is going to go for me. While learning has been nice I have a feeling that this is going to get a lot harder for me. I walk back to my table, taking a seat and playing with the rings trying to figure out how I can go about leaving them out when making the telescope. I think about building them again from the elements around me but building up and breaking them down is a lot of work. I continue to fiddle and ponder until I see a familiar face approach me. Madam Odette sits across from me while Madam Delula stands behind her. A quick image of last night flashes through my mind before she speaks, "Delula tells me that you have met every challenge that she has put before you and completed it swiftly."

"Yes, Madam Odette."

"I must say Red, even I didn't guess that you would advance this much, this quickly. It's to the point that I'm not sure what I can do with you right now. I planned on having Madam Delula here for another couple of weeks but in under one you managed to clear everything."

I can't tell if I'm being scolded for being smart, "I'm glad to have surpassed your expectations."

"Here is what I am thinking. Delula, I will fulfill the contract I have with you. You just get to go home and have a nice vacation. Red, starting tomorrow when Delula leaves, the cabin is yours. We'll be moving into your bed tomorrow so you can stay there."

I pause from the shock, "Wait, the cabin is mine?"

"Yes, you worked to cut down the trees and prep the logs to be cut down for the lumber. It's yours from the ground up."

That's where all the wood went, "I understand Madam Odette."

"Because you have finished, the day is yours. Delula, do you need him for anything more?"

Madam Delula looks up, "I would like to talk to him tonight when he is done with whatever he does."

"You heard her. You are to report to her when your day is finished."

I nod to agree with the order I am given, "I will Madam Delula. I will be helping around the house and should arrive after sunset."

My day is set. Work then more work followed by a bit more work I own a home. I can't fathom how I got here anymore.