by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Chapter Sixteen

Decisions

Sara woke in a strange bed feeling better rested than she had in months. What surprised her was that she woke at all. “Wasn’t I a dragons lunch” she asked herself, unconsciously vocalizing her thoughts.

“Dragons are a figment of your imagination” a male voice answered.

Startled Sara sat up, looking towards the rooms door. There, on the floor, not quite a foot tall stood a real live dragon. A miniature one yes, but one she already well knew. Stunned, all she could say was “Weren’t you larger?”

“I took a hot bath” Marcus explained. “I shrunk. May I come in?”

“Uh... Sure.” Sitting up Sara realized that she was still fully clothed and had been laying on top of the bed covers. “Shrunk. That’s Amanda’s style of humor” she explained. Abruptly her body reacted to her memory and she began shaking uncontrollably.

Marcus did the only thing he knew how to do in such cases. Jumping up onto the bed he wrapped a wing around Sara’s body, lending her his warmth. “Its okay” he whispered. “Let it go. I had to know. To know if you were a thief that had stolen Lollipop’s necklace or not. By the time I was sure, that I remembered who you were you had reached the edge of madness. I had to finish the play, so you could step away from that fall.”

Sara did let it go, her hot tears staining her frilly blue blouse as she released her hysteria in healing tears. “I loved her. I buried her but she’s alive. I still love her” the black furred mouse sobbed. Slowly her words softened, her tears ebbed. Finally she fell asleep again, a natural sleep this time. Carefully Marcus let her body slip down onto the waiting bed, then as quietly left the room.

It was nearing sundown when Marcus again stepped out of the cabins front door. Amanda would be returning after four am, having been unexpectedly held up by her instructor for the nights viewing exercise. As with many college events, the hours she had promised Sara had been idle hope. Exactly as he expected he found Sara sitting in the same chair his student Amanda preferred. He noted that, like Amanda, the black mouse was staring down at the lake while she sorted her thoughts. Seeing this, one would almost think the two women sisters he thought, except there were only a handful of traits they shared. At the moment the lake was partially mist-shrouded, mid-October weather having allowed the lake to cover itself with a gentle slow moving cotton. He looked forward to Winter, it would be interesting to see the lake covered with ice again. Ice skating for a creature with claws was down right fun. He quietly settled into the cat-bed Amanda had bought for him. It had become a comfortable place for him on the porch. “Thinking?” he asked gently.

“Um-humm” Sara admitted, taking a sip of hot coca. She was unsurprised at the little dragons stealth. “Thinking things through.”

“About you and Amanda?”

Sara turned her dark eyes to Marcus. “Over a year ago I buried her at sea. Or at least that’s what I believed. Now I discover her alive and healthy. Is there anything else in my life worth more than thinking about Amanda” she asked. “Right now Marcus, no there isn’t. I know how I feel, you know how I feel. But does she feel the same?” Sara seemed to collapse inside herself a bit. “Am I right to lay such a load on her right now, when she’s just learning what real magic is?” Sara sat her mug on the porch rail. “That, and should I learn magic? If I do how will it affect our friendship. All those things. Yeah Marcus, who’s really a honking huge dragon that could swallow me in a single gulp. I’m thinking about Amanda. I’m thinking about our future, I’m wondering if we even have one. Together I mean.”

“I’m a vegetarian” Marcus responded to Sara’s comment about swallowing her. Hauling his tiny body up into a semblance of feigned disgust, a stance he gave up on when it failed to provided any reaction other than a soft laugh, he waved towards the open space between them. “Most of my kind are, or are omnivorous. On my world only red dragons eat nothing but meat.” He waddled forward, nibbling on his ever-present peanut. “If you decide to call a teacher you can only choose Order or Chaos. Magic I mean. There’s only one neutral slot available right now and currently the one in training is Amanda.”

“One?” Sara asked. “Like in city, state, nation?”

“Like...” Marcus echoed. “In nation. If you learned magic you’d have to give up Amanda. Forever. You might be friends, but you could never live together. You could never even touch her.”

Sara waved her hand in dismissal towards Marcus. “That’s an easy choice then. No magic for little ole Sara thank you.”

Marcus decided to probe deeper, to learn more about this odd mouse. A woman who’d managed to stand up unarmed against a true dragon. If only for a few seconds. “What if Amanda doesn’t love you Sara. I mean, love you like you love her. What will you do then?”

Sara closed her eyes as she formed her answer. “I’ve thought about that already Marcus. A lot, and long. If she can’t love me like that then I’ll just be her friend, forever. It sure won’t be the first time one persons loved another with no chance of a return love. I’m sure it won’t be the last time either. Right now I think it’d be a bad idea to clarify her suspicions. That kiss when I found her gave away too much. I should have been smarter than that. Call it heat of the moment. I mean, finding someone you were sure was dead alive and standing in front of you. I think she chalked it up to excitement. Amanda’s never really been that up on the feelings I’ve let slip. She’s darned smart, she is that. But even the simplest social clues slip by her like mist around a mountain. Anyway she needs a clear mind right now. What with college and you pounding your arcane data into that thick skull of hers.”

Marcus swallowed the last of his current peanut, settling back into the pillows of his porch bed. “You did work it out, I’m surprised.” He saw the look in her eyes, a sudden defensive turn to her features. “I’m surprised” he continued, “Because not many mortals think that far ahead. Even if your nothing but her friend I can’t see my student doing better for a life companion. I’ve seen a lot worse choices work out. I’ll give you my opinion. Its free advice, worth what you payed for it right? Wait until she reaches her Journeymanship. At the rate she’s going it shouldn’t take more than four or five years. Yes, I agree that is awful fast but she’s already very well educated. Pounding things like ‘No, the Earth is not the center of the universe’ into a students head is the hard part. That and ‘There is more than one God, and none are infallible. Ask them.’ Your both already there. That among a lot of things, like her willingness to learn even the most basic, labor intensive tasks, really speeds things up. Though that mess with the mold was a surprise.”

Sara smiled, her defensive expression falling away easily. “Question for Teacher” she asked seriously.

“Question away Sara, but I’m not your teacher.”

“It’s a joke Marcus. Look, can I book learn. I mean, can I do the basic research. To help save her time later on?”

“No” Marcus answered sadly. “If I understand your meaning, and I could be wrong. Not the way I think you want to. Some things yes, the raw data mainly. Like a weather forecasters assistant, you can write down the readings, fix broken equipment even set up the basic apparatus. But you can’t go out in the field and do your own studies. Not unless she specifically ordered you too. In the first place, for someone without magic it could be deadly. Its certainly very dangerous. You could be entrapped, taken over even killed.” Her leaned forward, as if to impress upon the young woman his words.

“Sara, learning magic makes you magical. Even if its only one tiny spell. History yes, who did what, where, what happened, what was used, what worked and didn’t, what the old names meant. If its already written down, things like what you need, gathering some supplies, even copying the right spells for when she needs them. But learning how one swirl of energy affects another? I’m sorry no. Helping maintain her library, her correspondence, her research yes. She will have a great deal of correspondence you must understand. Keeping her history, being her trusted assistant. Those things you can do. Certainly you’ll learn some things, simply being around her while she experiments, casts. Its unavoidable. But Sara, if Amanda accepts you as her life companion, and for some unknown reason we can only have one, then when she builds the spell that stops your aging she will have no choice. She will have to build in a block against your using magic. Ever. That though would work only if you truly desired it. You won’t be able to use magic, not even the simplest device will work for you. Not until she releases you or gives up being Neutral. Only then would you be able to understand what has been shown you. Had Amanda chosen Order or Chaos then you could both learn. I’m afraid that her choice is the loneliest path that exists in our calling. There is none lonelier other than the Balance itself. For there is ever only one Balance per planet. At least you can be happy that isn’t her calling. You couldn’t even be her assistant then. Not even her fried. A balance is the ultimate hermit.”

“Bummer” Sara groaned. “Here I discover that magic is real and that I can learn it if I want. But if I do I lose the one person I love more than my own life.” She leaned on the rail again, looking outwards. “Next time I’m the neutral, she plays upstairs maid. Marcus... Do you think I’d look cute in a maids outfit?”

Marcus laughed. “I am the wrong person to ask that question” he managed eventually. “None of your race is attractive to me.”

Sara turned to face the dragon, throwing out her ample chest in mock display. “I’m a maiden sir dragon. Same as Amanda, though she’d never believe it of me.” Sara blushed under her faces fine fur. “I lied too much, cause I was scared of her finding out.” she husked. “Don’t dragons like maidens” she asked, striking an inviting pose.

“Dragons do like maidens” Marcus giggled again. “We like our maidens to be dragons though, not mice.” He started laughing again, finally falling on his side. “You two are impossible” he gasped, still laughing. “It’s going to end badly, it has too. A neutral called Lollypop, an assistant like you... It’s going to be impossible.”

Sara walked over to the giggling lizard, her hands on her hips as she stared down at him. “I’m going for a walk, if that’s okay with you” she announced. “I need to really sort this out. Or should I go sit in the study until Amanda get’s home.”

Marcus managed to look up, still giggling. “Safe in the boundaries, don’t go outside the blue lines I’ve set for you.” He struggled to his feet, still chuckling. “You are a fun woman” he continued. “Have fun, and stay out of the poison ivy will you? Amanda hasn’t gotten rid of it all yet.”

Sara stuck her tongue out, turned on her heel and walked down the porch stars. “Poison Ivy” she huffed, moving towards what looked to have once been the road in. Halfway to it she stopped, turning back to look at the cabin. “As if I knew what poison ivy looks like” she yelled. “I was raised in the city for Diana’s sake.”

“There are thirty acres to play in, don’t touch anything you don’t know and stay in the blue borders” Marcus called back, before staggering, still laughing, back into the cabin.

“Thirty acres” Sara huffed. “That’s what? A city block or two?” She shook her head, ignoring her billowing hair before she too turned away. This was Amanda’s home. Maybe there was a secret tunnel, castle ruins, a pirate cave or something. After meeting a real live dragon, an event that still gave Sara shivers, anything was possible. Even if there was nothing to find getting to wander around in nature without worrying about being mugged or worse was a delight. For one example, there were just so many different kinds of plants to examine.