(7) A Break

A couple of weeks had passed since Meadow had asked her brother Oswald to attend Gladys's classes with her. Since then, Gladys had been getting stricter and more violent with her teaching.

Meadow kept looking at Gladys to see if Gladys would see fault in her actions or show any remorse, but there was not even a trace of doubt. Gladys seemed confident in this type of discipline, so Meadow did not question it when her teacher told her to roll up her sleeves or lift the back of her dress for a couple of slaps with with the wooden baton.

If Meadow got a question wrong or seemed to lose focus, her teacher would slap her a few times. Meadow even thought that her teacher almost seemed to purposely be looking for the slightest mistake just so Gladys could slap her.

After two months of this Meadow was certain that her teacher was enjoying it. However even after two months of constantly being wounded, Meadow still told nobody. First reason was that she was still doubting whether or not this was considered normal for this world.

The second reason was the main reason. 'If I want to be strong, something like this should be nothing. I will be weak if I can't handle this amount of abuse.' Meadow constantly mentally reassured herself.

Though Meadow refused to tell anybody, it was becoming harder for her to hide it. One day when Harriet was gathering her clothes to be washed noticed multiple blood stains on a majority of stockings and dress sleeves. Worried that at the sight of blood Harriet confronted Meadow about it.

"Meadow, how did this happen? Where are you hurt? Let me see!"

"I am fine. I just fell down during training. My wound must have reopened during the day."

"Still let me see it. I can apply medicine for you."

Meadow dodge Harriets hands that were trying to grab her dress and look at the wound. She quickly ran over to her dresser and pulled out an ointment that she got from her grandfather.

"I am fine really. Look, I have been applying this ointment given by Grandfather. Also it's a bit embarrassing to show you my wounds. I want to be like the warriors in your book who hid their battle scars."

Harriet gave her a worried look, but gave in when seeing Meadow's confident smile.

"Fine, but if I keep seeing blood on your clothes like this. I will make you let me take a look at your wounds. I will even tell your father that you are training too hard and need to rest."

"Yes Ma'am! I will be healed up in no time. Ma'am."

Meadow saluted to Harriet like she was a drill sergeant.

"Oh stop that! And don't call me Ma'am!" Harriet giggle at Meadow.

*************************************

Meadow wakes up excited for the first time in a long time. Gladys had called in sick, so all of her classes were canceled for a week. This made Meadow excited because it would make it easier for her to keep her promise to Harriet.

A week with using what little she had left of her grandfather's ointment on her legs and arms would be enough to mostly have them healed up by the time Gladys gets back. Plus with Gladys gone she would now have a bit a free time to play around.

Meadow happily got ready for her one class of the day, which was Magic with Samuel Grayweather. She remembered that during the last class he mentioned that he would have a project for them to complete.

She skipped her way to the lecture room and met Oswald on the way there.

"What are you so happy about?"

Oswald stopped her in her tracks questioning her overly happy mood. In fact he had been treating her suspiciously since she went to his room. He had constantly been watching her waiting for her to do something. He was convinced that she was plotting something.

"Nothing that you need to care about."

Meadow sang and danced around him who was blocking her path.

"Or who knows maybe you should care."

Meadow added in a mischievous voice after she had passed him letting out a small laugh. Still a bit sour that he refused her request, she decided to further his suspicions that she was up to no good whenever she had a chance.

'Let's make him go crazy wondering what I am up to.' She giggled to herself as she sat at her desk waiting for Samuel to show.

Samuel walked in shortly after Oswald entered and sat next to Meadow. Samuel as well noticed right away that Meadow seemed to be in a particularly good mood.

"Meadow, you seem to be overly zealous today."

"Yes, Professor Grayweather. I am just excited for today's lessons."

"Is that so? Then shall we begin?"

Oswald looked over at Meadow in disgust hearing her suck up to the teacher. Samuel ignored Oswalds reaction and continued speaking.

"For today's lesson we are going to continue our discussion on magic control and focus. It is important that when using magic that we are capable of controlling the output."

"Take for instance this tiny glass and this pitcher of water. The water in the pitcher is the current magic inside of you and the glass is the output of your element."

"If I just pour the pitcher without trying to control my precision and flow. I will waste a lot of magic."

Samuel demonstrated by pouring the water from the side of the pitcher and not directly over the glass. The water spilled everywhere and it took the full pitcher to just fill the glass half-way.

"See, by carelessly sending out mana without focus and control you will waste all your magic and won't get the results you are looking for."

Samuel waved his hand which gathered all the water he had just spilled and returned it back to the pitcher. He then poured the water again, but from the front and directly over the glass. He quickly filled the glass without spilling a single drop. The glass was full and the pitcher still had a majority of its water left.

"However with focus and control you can complete your goal and have magic to spare."

"This part is the easy part, the hard part is trying to stop your magic from leaking when you are using it."

Samuel dumped the glass of water back into the pitch for a third demonstration.

"Most mages have a hard time stopping their magic from leaking from other areas when they start using it. It tends to leak in small amounts from multiple areas as we cast magic. The best mages are able to prevent these leaks and preserve their magic."

The moment Samuel started to pour the water into the glass, he punctured the pitcher with tiny holes using his wind magic. As the glass was filling with water it was also leaking through multiple tiny holes.

After the glass was full Samuel set the pitcher down and blocked the holes he made using some kind of putty. The pitcher still had some water in it, but only a very little left compared to when there were no leaks.

"As you can see how important it is for mages to have full control over their magic. I myself had a difficult time learning to control my magic while being a dual elementalist, which is why I want you guys to focus on magic control for this upcoming project."

Samuel brought out two pots with soil and set them in front of Meadow and Oswald. He gave them each a group of plant seeds.

"Over the week I want you both to practice your magic control and make these plants grow."

"Too easy."

Oswald replied to the assignment of this project. 'I was hoping for something more challenging.' he thought to himself.

"Not that I agree with Oswald's statement, but Professor Grayweather I don't see how growing plants will help us with our control."

Samuel smiled as if he was waiting for this question. "After the week you spend growing your plants, you will bring it to our next class. For the next class we will be meeting in the yard and I will be dueling against these plants."

"Now this is more exciting." Oswald nodded in excitement the moment he heard the word dueling.

"That is all for today's lesson. I will see you at our next lesson and look forward to hearing your report on your plant's development."

"Thank you, Professor Grayweather."

"Thanks."

Meadow stood up and bowed to Samuel, while Oswald gathered his pot and seeds and ran right out the door while shouting his thanks.

Having some free time Meadow decided to head outside to train with her sword. After training for a bit, she does a bit of agility training by running around the grounds.

Finally feeling that she has trained enough for now, she finds Harriet to play a game with her. It is not just any game, it was the game Meadow made herself with memories from her past life, checkers.

She decided to make the game a short time after Gladys started hitting her. In order not to constantly reopen her wounds she had to take training lightly, which in turn gave her more free time. So she wanted to do something to pass the time and she recalled games.

Asking the gardener Rosco for a slab of wood and a sharp knife, Meadow tried to carved some squares into the slab. Seeing Meadow struggle trying to carve these squares, Rosco took over and carved the board for her.

Next, she found some branches and cut some circles. Finally, Meadow snuck some ink from her mother's office and painted the squares and half the circular pieces she had made.

Since creating the game she has mostly just played it with Harriet and Leopold. Leopold improved, but not like Harriet. Harriet was really bad at the start, but she was getting more difficult to beat while playing.

Currently outside, Harriet set up a blanket and they set the board game down and started to play. Meadow beat Harriet like normal, but Meadow had to really think about her moves before making them.

Getting ready to start a second round, Meadow notices someone watching them in the window closest to where they set their blanket.

"Harriet, whose room is that? I think I saw someone watching us."

"I believe that would be your grandfather's office."

Realizing her mistake Harriet covered her mouth and looked at Meadow with a shocked expression. Meadow looked back at her with a devious smile.

'So that is where my no show grandfather is. Since he doesn't come visit me, shouldn't I pay him a visit instead. I should thank him for all of his presents over the past years.'

Meadow thought to herself as she stood up and brushed her dress off.

"Meadow, where are you going?"

"To go pay grandfather a visit."

Meadow grinned up at the window excited to go meet this elusive grandfather.