Candle

"See you later, mommy, daddy!" Farah waves to her parents in front of their house since her parents are going in a different direction, to talk to the village chief while she is going to learn from Carter.

"H- hey! Farah!" The three hear the sound of a boy shouting from the other side of the street, it's Jon!

"Oh, hey! What are you doing out here so early? I'm not going to be free today, you don't have to wait for me!" Farah has a big smile on her face as she sees her best friend before she goes to learn magic, how can this day get any better?

"Ah, no, no! I'm just, just here to wish you good luck on your studies!" Jon stumbles on his words a bit, but he denied Farah's implication of him making a mistake. Farah is going to learn under someone for the first time today, how can he not come?

"Ah! Hehe, sorry, and thanks! I'll tell you allll about it tomorrow!" Farah's eyes sparkle with happiness from having someone come to greet her today. Her smile grew even wider, hurting her cheeks a little, but she just can't stop smiling with how happy she is!

"Haha, my little girl has such a good friend! Keep her in check, won't you? Ow." David is glad his daughter has friends who have come to bless her on her first day of studying. Especially since it's a boy! There's a good chance they'll date once they grow up. 

"What do you mean by that?!" Farah elbows her father in his side when he said the second sentence. She's still standing there, how embarrassing!

"He's right, please keep her in check." Barbara adds in with a slight smile and rubs Jon's head.

"Mom?! You too?!" Farah exclaims with wide eyes and a red face, her pose still stuck elbowing her father. Not mom too!

"Haha, I will, Farah's parents!" All of Jon's anxiety had blown away when he sees the family interact and Farah's expressions. He replied naturally, and truthfully. He will admit, though, that it was partly teasing Farah. How can he not when she has such amusing reactions?

"Ah! Jon, you cheater! We agreed to meet Farah together!" The sound of a kid came from afar, accompanied by hurried footsteps and more children gasping or cursing Jon.

"What? Oh, right, that. Sorry, guys! I forgot!" Jon apologized and bowed profusely to the entire gang who have their arms collectively crossed, and their faces looking at some random cloud in the sky. While this is happening, Farah gets overloaded with happiness and goes into shock.

While falling on her back, a prince catches her, or perhaps princess would fit better. "Are you alright?! How did she just fall like that with this kind of smile on her face? And I was going to sneak up and tickle her too..."

Jane mutters the last two sentences to herself while holding Farah and getting her to stand up straight. Her face betrays an expression of confusion. 'The Farah I know isn't this frail, she's able to run for an entire day! Right now, she seems so... fragile. This decides it, I'm going to Uriah. Well, later today. I've got to say goodby- no, good luck to Farah.'

"Ah, you're back. How do you feel?" Jane asked with concern. Later, after apologizing to everyone, Jon joined in and checks Farah all over.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Thank you, everyone, but! I'm going to be late! See you all in the evening!" Farah finally shakes the two off and turns to everyone to announce her departure.

"Have fun, Farah."

"Do your best! I won't accept anything less!"

"You have my blessings!"

"Become someone worthy of Jon!"

"Bye bye! Good luck!"

Though some of them were a little strange, Farah is happy. Farah thanks them all in her heart. She promises to herself that she will do her best, her absolute best. She starts running. Running from her friends and family to her master's shop, running towards her greatest dream. While the run to the store is short, the other run is much, much longer. This is the start of a great journey, full of fond memories. Will she make it or not? That does not matter right now, for she has arrived at the shop.

"Good morning, ol- master!" Farah enthusiastically greets Carter, who was waiting for her at the door. However, Carter has an annoyed expression on his face, and Farah sees this, so she starts wondering where she could've gone wrong. 'Am I late? No, not a chance. Is it me almost calling him 'old man'...? That must be it! He sure is sensitive to these things. I won't let it slip again!'

"Sigh, remember to mind your speech. Come inside first." Carter sighs at Farah's slip of tongue, and other etiquette related things like running towards him, or not even bowing when she greeted him! It seems he'd need to drill a lot of basic etiquette into her brain. Just thinking about it makes him tired already.

Carter leads Farah to the back of his store, where he has a lab set up. It's full of things she hasn't seen before like a glass tube, some shiny crystals, even what could be assumed to be organs in a jar. However, Carter is not stopping here. He leads her deeper and deeper until they reach a trapdoor. Seeing Farah's confusion, Carter explains what it is.

"This is the path to my house. It's a really long and roundabout way on the surface so I dug myself a tunnel. It's not that far, but it's dark. So, follow me closely once we're down there." He opens up the trapdoor. A musty and salty scent hits Farah's nose. The image of her father right after he's done with work flashes in her mind before she shakes it away and walks down the tunnel.

It's dark, darker than the night. Until suddenly, a light lit up in Carter's right palm. "This is "Light" You'll be able to use it soon. Follow me."

"Yes, master!" Ignoring Farah's excitement and fascination, Carter quietly walks for a small while, until they reach a staircase.

"This is it. I'll take you to the library. Don't wander around the house, or I will punish you myself, understood?" Carter needs to make sure Farah won't run off to some place he doesn't want her to be. First, it's embarrassing. Second, and the most important reason, it's to solidify their standings. He's the master, not some friend she can mess with. As the disciple she should be able to listen to this kind of basic order at the very least.

"Understood!"

"Now that we're here. Let's have a proper etiquette lesson first."

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.

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"And that will be all for today." Carter closes the book in his hand and gestures Farah to wipe the blackboard for the fifth time. She's better at it than the first time, but she's still slow. Carter will have to be patient, though. As this is for training Farah, he will have to steel his heart and not dote on her for the foreseeable future.

"...huff, Master." Farah distances herself away from the mist of chalk covering the blackboard and calls out to her master after she released her held breath. She thought of what to say with her thoughts confused by Carter's actions. 'He hasn't taught any magic, and it is already noon! Noon, that's lunch time. He's also... mean! Where is the kind old shopkeep I knew?'

"Yes?" Carter answers, raising his eyebrow.

"What's for lunch? Ah- I meant, I meant when are we learning magic?!" Farah flushes with embarrassment. Somehow, her hunger came out when she meant to ask about magic. She must seem like a glutton! She covers her face and turns away. She doesn't dare run away however, as she does still want to know the answer to her question... s.

"Pft, ahem, you'll see once we get there. I've already gotten someone to prepare them. In the future, you'll need to make your own portion, though. I'll guide you around the kitchen after we're done eating. And after that, we'll learn the basics to magic." Carter stops himself from laughing and explains everything without leaving space for Farah to interrupt. In truth, he doesn't know what the meal will be either. He had to remain professional, so he brushed it off. He did ask for a well-rounded and protein-filled meal, though.

"...I heard you holding your laughter! Thanks for your answers, though, master." Farah struggles to keep her proper mannerisms up in face of this embarrassment. However, she recovers quickly after receiving Carter's glare when she shouted. It's scary, he's huge too.

The master and his disciple walked silently until they reached the dining room. In the room, they see two identical sets of meals, one twice the portion of the other. Each containing juicy steak, a bowl of mashed potatoes, grilled tomatoes, and of course, a bowl of salad. The ingredients look fresh, and the food is still giving off a delicious scent and warmth. Farah's stomach starts growling, her face reddens once again. 'Disobedient stomach!'

"Let's eat then. Remember to use what I've taught you." Carter stood beside a chair, waiting for his disciple to pull it out for him. Farah was half-way to the other seat when she remembered this and quickly walked over to correct her mistake.

"Thank you." Carter sat down and starts eating elegantly.

Farah walks back to her seat and starts eating her own meal. Although she is a bit stiff and needed to take time to recall which utensils to use when, she did not make any major mistakes and enjoyed her delicious, hearty meal.

After the two had their meals, they returned to the library to study. Finally, Farah will get to learn magic and be able to cast cool, fiery spells.

"Let's start with basic chemistry."

...or so she thought. "Teacher, if I may?" Farah raises her right hand with a peculiar expression on her face.

"Shoot." Carter knows what Farah is about to ask, and he has the answer ready, too. So he's very calm and a little excited to finally say what he has rehearsed earlier.

"...Why do I have to learn chemistry? I heard it's part of science." Farah is absolutely stumped by the fact that she is being taught science even though her master said that she'll be learning the basics of magic! Did he get it mixed up? 'I need an explanation!', Farah thought.

"Excellent question, my disciple. Why chemistry? Let's start with this, what is magic to you?" Satisfied with Farah's question, Carter shows her the first smile today and asks a question back.

"Well, it's something... magical! Definitely not scientific." Farah spent a good amount of time thinking of the answer as she's never really thought of this question before. 'What even is magic? Something cool? No, something that isn't magic can be cool... unnatural? Yeah, that must be it.'

"Something unnatural!" Farah answers with confidence, a smile on her face.

"Correct, something unnatural. Let me ask you another question, what is science?" Carter tries to lead Farah to reach the answer on her own. This is the least he expects from his disciple, as he can see that she would grow up into an excellent mage. He should be a little harsh, right?

'Science... the adults say the definition is the study of nature... Nature! Since magic is something unnatural, it's the opposite of science? But why would I learn science? Oh, maybe I need to... what do they say again? Learn the rules before you break it? That must be it! I need to learn science to break the rules of nature!' Farah's eyes sparkles when she realizes this, and Carter notices it too.

'Only a few breaths, not bad. I'll need to start preparing more material tonight, won't I?' Carter thinks to himself and sighs inwardly. He is half-happy, half-tired. He'll have to work even harder than he thought he would have to. That's bad for his sleeping schedule, but it means his disciple is talented! How can he not be happy?

"Ah, I get it now! I need to learn the rules of nature to break them, am I right, master?" Farah asks with her starry eyes, and expectation on her face.

"Correct! As reward, I'll cover a bonus topic today. Now, let's get into the lesson. Let's start with the creation of the world." Ignoring Farah's inflated cheeks, Carter hands her a notebook and begins teaching.