Breakfast and the first step...

* * *

I wake up, still on the floor. It's maybe 5:40 in the morning, as early as Dad made me wake up during training. My back is pretty sore and my head kinda hurts for some reason. I sit up and take a much needed stretch before standing fully up.

Gram isn't on the bed anymore, likely haven woken up before me. I take my clothes off, switching them out for some different ones from my bag. Looking at my body in the mirror, I smile slightly. I'm not malnourished or skinny anymore and, not to be arrogant or anything, I think I look pretty good. Not super muscular though, so I still have work.

I finish getting dressed, now wearing a tan shirt with dark blue pants. I don't really care about the aesthetic appeal, so I usually just choose whatever for a normal day.

Opening the door to the guest room, I walk out into the extravagant hall and yawn. I need a nap right now. I walk down the hall for a few seconds before finally reaching the staircase, finally descending into the main hall after which I turn to my left and go through the kitchen door. 

Thank god Clara gave us a tour yesterday... I would've been lost so fast. She's still a weirdo, don't get me wrong.

I'm greeted by the site of Gram sat at the counter and the absence of Clara. I take a seat on the stool next to Gram, leaning against the counter as well.

"Good morning, Gram," I say, looking around the kitchen. It's pretty nice, marble countertops and all... "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah..." He says with a nod, although the bags under his eyes seem to disagree with me. I nod in agreement.

I hate Gram a lot less now. I mean, being crammed in the train gave me less time to focus on keeping a meaningless grudge, so of course I don't hate him as much.

"When do you think Ms. Holliday will wake up?" I ask, wanting to take bets on it to pass time. I look over at him, awaiting his estimate.

"When we least expect it-"

"Good morning, boys!" Clara says, seemingly haven appeared out of nowhere. Me and Gram turn around, surprised but also not at all surprised. "Hope both of you slept well... but if you didn't, Arthur, there's always room in-"

"Stop trying."

"... Ok."

* * *

Clara is making all of us breakfast, thankfully. Me and Gram just kinda silently sit there, unable to think of any more topics for talk. Scrambled eggs with ham, fried potatoes and waffles... is this heaven? It smells really nice.

Is Clara trying to be my mentor or my mom right now?! Actually, she probably wants that... weirdo. I see why my dad warned me against her.

"So Gram, where do you come from?" Clara asks, making small talk for us instead of letting silence overhang. "I know you got on the same station as us, but you came from a different direction."

"Oh, I'm from..." He seems to hesitate, as if trying to think of something. That's weird... why doesn't he know his hometown? Does he have dementia or something? "... I was raised by wolves in the forest..."

Clara drops the piece of ham she was flipping on the ground. Me and Clara just stare at him for a moment. It's very blatantly a lie to sound cool. I consider laughing, but can't make such a sound exit my mouth.

"Dude... just say that you don't wanna share," I say, attempting to keep from laughing to maintain my dignity. Clara does chuckle a bit before picking up the piece of ham and tossing it in the trash.

"Ok..." Gram says meekly, seeming embarrassed once again. We've gotta work on this boys self confidence...

"Any reason in particular you decided to tag along with us, Gram?" Clara asks, not letting him just curl up into a ball. She smirks as she keeps pressuring him. "Not just anyone would've been as accepting as I have, boy."

"I... uhh..." Gram once again hesitates, looking down. His voice transcends a decrescendo, slowly becoming quieter and quieter . "I didn't have a ticket and I panicked, and it just kinda snowballed from there..."

Clara giggles a little. It appears that he amuses her a bit more than I do. Regardless, she stops focusing on the little things and moves on to an actual important matter.

"Today, boys, I will act as a seer and identify your mana type," Clara says, depositing the plates of breakfast before us. "This will be vital when it comes to your future path as it determines what kind of magic and techniques you can use."

"Ms. Holliday, may I know what the types are?" I ask before subtly taking a bite of my pancake while she talks. I'm paying attention, but also hungry.

"Of course, Arthur. There are six types of mana: Fire, water, air, earth, holy and darkness," Clara explains, crossing her arms. Maybe she's trying to get back some of that respect and admiration she squandered. "Holy and darkness are the rarest types, only discovered in around 10% of the population."

I nod, taking a piece of ham and eating it this time. Maybe if I move slowly enough, she won't notice that I'm eating while she's teaching us. Gram hasn't touched his food yet, intently listening even though the information is fairly simple.

"Furthermore, these types can have sub-types based on the original type. For example, my ice magic is a sub-type of water magic," She says, conjuring a small piece of ice in her hand as she speaks. She smiles and then throws it at me. "Arthur, please stop eating while I'm talking. it's rude."

The small piece of ice hits between the brows, making me regretfully set my fork down. Why make breakfast and then say we can't eat it yet?!? The depths of malice in your heart are out for all to see!!!

"Fine..." I grumble, knowing that it's a valid thing to do.

"Anyways, sub-types are pretty cool, but not necessary," She says, nodding lightly. "I can identify the type of mana, and you can choose if you want to focus on a sub-type from there."

Me and Gram nod, waiting for the next point. Clara then pulls out a book from nowhere, one with blue leather and silver trim, presumably a spell book. She flips around in the pages a little, giving me time to ask a question.

"Ms. Holliday, why do you have a spell book and a staff?" I ask, wanting to know the significance for spell casting.

"Well, both of them can cast individually, but I get a power boost by using one to help the other cast..." She says, not looking up from the pages of the book. She arrives at a page in the middle, putting on her glasses. "Here we are!"

Pointing her finger at us, Clara starts reciting what I can only presume to be the mana type identification spell. I expected a little more ceremony, but whatever.

"-Gabagool!' Clara says, ending the spell. Wait, did that just end with 'gabagool'?!? What in the fuck kind of magic is this?!?

* * *

Gram POV...

I hear her finish the chant, waiting for the results, when suddenly...

[System alert.]

[foreign spell attempting to access information detected.}

[Permit access? Y/N?]

Why must everything go wrong all the time? This isn't terrible though, since I don't even have anything to hide yet. I internally mutter yes, allowing her spell to pierce through my mental defenses. I doubt she can see anything out of the ordinary, but I'm still nervous.

"Alrighty! The results are in, boys!" Clara says, looking at me and Arthur. She points at me first, a big smile on her face. "You, Gram, have the mana type of water! I can pass on a lot of my knowledge to you... but I don't wanna!"

I'm baffled by the refusal of teaching, but nod anyways. It's not like I deserved it, I got here by leaching onto them. She turns her attention over to Arthur, pointing at him. "Arthur, my dear boy! You have fire mana, you rascal!"

Arthur looks surprised, but nods shortly after. I feel kinda lame, since fire magic was always more cooler in popular media than water magic.

"I will be teaching both of you for the next 2 weeks until I can sign you up from the academy!" She says, putting her hands on her hips. "So you boys better work hard and catch up with your classmates!"

"Oh, and you can eat now."

* * *