All bark, no bite
Several hours later and well into the night, I'm still gluing this vase together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle that came straight from hell and I don't think I could ever look at them the same. It's impossible to fix! I start to use more glue than I actually have of porcelain in my hands and see if I can get it somewhat back to its original shape.
I'm just about finished doing all I can for the vase when I hear a pair of heels clicking on the ground behind me. I let out a huff of breath that blew my hair out of my face and looked up to see Headmistress Nacht glancing down at me.
"Not bad," she tells me. "But not quite repaired" she adds with a snap of her fingers. Behind her, I hear murmurs that are too low for me to catch, and I quirk an eyebrow as I lean back to see who else is here to bask in my misery.
It's a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, with straight black hair with bangs. Her eyebrows are drawn in concentration and her hand is waving in front of her slowly in rhythm with the syllables that are too quiet for me to catch. It almost sounds like a different language.
I feel the vase in my hands moving, so I tear my gaze away from the near person just as the vibrations get so strong that I can't hold onto it anymore. It leaves my hands in the next second and my eyes are wide in fear that it's going to smash again.
The other objects in the room are shifting and moving as well, back into the positions they were in previously. I thought I had gotten the placements right for the most part, but some of the items were off a bit. Finally, the crack in the bricks and the paint disappear, leaving it in the state it had been in when I entered the room.
My mouth parts in shock for a few moments, before I clamp my mouth closed and a growl creeps up from my throat. If she could have had a Sage do this from the beginning, then I didn't need to spend the last few hours trying to put this place back together. I didn't know the Headmistress liked toying with people this much, but I sincerely don't appreciate her games.
I'm sure my anger would be making an appearance right now if I wasn't so damn tired.
"No need to get so riled up, you did a good job. Katrina here is just setting it back to exactly how it was. Now, how do you feel?" the infuriating Headmistress asks me, painfully disregarding how much of my time has been wasted here.
"Exhausted. Pissed. And a little stabby, if I'm being quite honest," I tell her, still growling under my breath.
Her lip kicks up in the corner, like she is battling a smile and realizing that I probably wouldn't appreciate that right now.
"Still angry...but perhaps, too tired to act on it?" she asks in a way that makes the end of her sentence sound hopeful.
My growling finally ends when I grunt in response. I run my hand down my face and cut my eyes in her direction.
"I suppose," I tell her reluctantly, not really wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing this actually helped me.
Her face brightens and she clasps her hands in front of her.
"Oh, good. If physical exhaustion is what it takes to prevent another situation, like earlier, from happening again - then we'll do what we need to do to make sure you are all bark, but no bite." My eyes flicker around the room for a moment before looking back at the Headmistress. "Katrina headed back to her school when she finished her spell." she tells me, obviously reading into my nervous glances. I didn't really feel comfortable talking about my earlier brawl with someone else here - my emotions are still a little raw.
The Headmistress comes to sit down in front of me with her feet elegantly tucked under her.
"Starting tomorrow, you will begin training everyday after classes to ensure that this doesn't happen again. From what I hear, you overpowered both Javier and Sadie." Ah, yes. That's her name. I know she had mentioned it before, but I had not remembered it at the time. "However, using your rage to protect yourself will cause mistakes to be made and is not sustainable in the long run. Had you been allowed to continue fighting, I have no doubt you would have burned out and become vulnerable. You will learn to hone your anger, and use it with intent and as a tool to be stronger."
She reaches over and places her hand over my knee in a soothing manner before continuing.
"You have loved fully, and you have lost terribly. But I promise to help you become what you need to be to make sure that you are the one in charge of your own happiness from now on."
I give her a nod to show her I am listening.
"To be honest, I thought I had already taken the necessary precautions to ensure that Javier was unable to provoke you while attending classes," she tells me with sincerity. "His classes start earlier and end later than yours, and your classrooms aren't near each other to limit any interactions. Clearly it was naive of me to think that he wouldn't find a way, so this is my fault as well."
"Headmis-"
"Morwenna," she interrupts with a soft smile. "You can call me Morwenna when it's just us."
"Morwenna, my choices are my own - although I suppose I wasn't making any conscious decision at that moment, I was more out of control than anything. Nevertheless, my emotions are my own responsibility. I appreciate everything you have done so far."
She stands up and brushes her hands down her clothes to get rid of the dirt that's not actually there. The Sage had already taken care of each spec, I think bitterly. I stand up with her.
She throws an item to the ground and the black smoke returns, taking me by surprise again.
"What is that?" I ask her.
"With the right ingredients and power behind it, Sage's can create potions that can be used by other supernatural species, even those that do not have magical inclinations. With just a well-timed thought by the potion yielder, this particular mixture creates a portal that can transport beings across short distances, but is only viable for a small window of time."
She beckons me forward, and I step through the portal with less fear than the first time I used it. This time, I looked around me while inside of it, and perhaps my eyes were playing tricks on me, because I swear I could see the stars.
We get back to Morwenna's office, and she walks over to her desk before turning to me. "I have something that might help you monitor your emotions a little easier", she says as she hands me a ring. It's simple in design, a plain band with a black stone in the shape of a water drop. I slip it over my thumb and watch as it changes color from black to yellow.
"Sometimes our minds can mislead us into thinking we are okay when we are not. It's tied to your emotions, so you can keep an eye on how you are feeling."
A laugh bursts out at me and I look to Morwenna. "Humans have this too, you know? It's called a mood ring".
She laughs with me for a moment. "Alright, you caught me. It's just a mood ring. I did, however, have Katrina place a spell on it. Two taps means you are looking for me, and three taps means it's an emergency."
I look back to the ring with a new appreciation.
"Thank you, Morwenna."
"Don't thank me yet," she tells me.
"Why's that?"
"Your first training session tomorrow will be with Professor Florentino".
…
I drag my body out of Morwenna's office and stumble all the way to my room. If there's a spell to shorten this hallway, I need to know it. Better yet, perhaps I can convince Morwenna to give me a few of those portal bombs.
I flick on the light of my bedroom and throw my bag down by my bed. I groan as I finally hit the mattress, but when I turn over and open my eyes, I see a flower. It's a white and yellow daffodil - the flower that symbolizes rebirth. It's fitting after today's events.
My eyes start to close as I stare at the flower, but when I see movement, my eyes crack back open and look upwards. There's another blur towards the ceiling, like what I saw at my parent's funeral. My breath catches from this unexpected sight. Again, it feels as though the blur is a presence. There's a soul in there, that's watching over me.
If it really is the ghost of my parents, I welcome it and fall asleep with my heart that much lighter.