Apprenticeship (Ancient History!)

Well, this one requires some explanation.

This is a very old story of mine, I think the very second or third one I wrote? It predates Midas Journal for sure; based on the timestamp of the document I copied it from, it is eight years old. It follows on from the events of Explanations, and I could've sworn I had posted it way back when. But it turns out I didn't. I'm presenting it here for completeness' sake, even though it's nowhere near up to the standard of writing I have these days.

I'm also using posting this as an excuse to announce in a non-comment location the fact that ongoing stories now have navigational links up at the top for convenience of reading, and also that I've added a Tables of Contents page with links to and brief descriptions of every piece of each ongoing story as well as all of the one-off stories, and also for navigational convenience. There is also a link to said page on the lower right area of the sidebar.

Hope to write something new soon!

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Another day, another…what? Someone had messed around with what she’d tried to do for those two boys earlier, not that it was that bad; after all, they seemed a lot happier now after seeing them at school today. Apparently she was no matchmaker. Just a strange orphan girl with pink hair.

Speaking of which…

Lyra let go of the spell she’d been maintaining all day that made her hair look brown. It wasn’t like she could afford any actual dye, so instead she had to split concentration between her studies and keeping her hair brown. Naturally, both suffered occasionally, but thus far the slips hadn’t been too noticeable and she was able to keep it high enough for nobody to ask for her parents.

…Wait a minute. If there was someone else able to mess with her magic, didn’t that mean she wasn’t the only witch around? Well sure, it seemed impossible that in the whole world she would be the only one with strange powers, but this meant there was or had been someone actually nearby with at least as much power as she had, something necessary to reverse changes.

It was on this train of thought, walking down the sidewalk and staring at empty space, that she nearly ran into someone. She immediately jumped back, trying to apologize and hide from the man at the same time. He was at least three feet taller than she was, and wearing a top hat that probably increased that estimate.

“Sorry, sorry, wasn’t looking where I was going, really, I—”

“Hold up a minute, will you?”

“Hmm?” She looked up at him, taking another step backwards in an attempt to make that easier. He seemed to be examining her similarly, his hat twitching like it was a part of his body.

“…You seem to have been trying to help,” he said, apparently concluding something. “But you should really learn to control your magic properly. Changing magicless people improperly can cause them to develop resistances, which aren’t always good.”

“Eep…” She stepped back, and attempted to stutter a question. Did he say magic?

He nodded. “Perhaps we should speak in a more private location.”

“Er, well I…I mean I don’t…” He interrupted her, pushing her chin up toward him, a gesture which at the same time effectively closed her mouth.

“Just follow me, alright?” She nodded, still trying to work out what was going on.

He led her down the sidewalk, through a few turns, never across the street, and into an alley, and then continued walking toward a wall that was a dead end. She followed him, and then he walked through the wall. She jumped a bit at this, and then timidly pushed a hand at the wall, and finding it wasn’t solid, followed into a small living-room type area. The tall man was sitting on a chair, and indicated an opposite one.

“Er…” She sat down.

“Hmm, well, you obviously are aware of your magic, and magic in general doesn’t escape you as a concept,” he said, taking off his hat to show a pair of wolf ears and laying it on a table, and, without pausing, continuing, “What you obviously need is some kind of training. Do your guardians know you have this kind of power?”

“Er, well, no, I kind of, don’t have any…” She said, looking down and then instantly back up again at him. “…Sir.”

He chuckled slightly. “You may call me Wolf,” he said. “Have you been able to find any books of any kind on the subject?”

“Well, no…I’ve just had to experiment with what I can and can’t do…I mean…”

“Is that why you have pink hair?”

“Um, well…that’s different, y’see…I was, kind of born male, but, in elementary school one day I think I was mad at someone or something, and well, that was how I discovered my magic. I was kind of…my hair was pink, and I don’t know how to make it stay normal or how to change back…”

“Hm. Do you [i]want[/i] to be male again?” he asked.

“Er, well, no. I’m kind of very used to being a girl now,” she said, “a-and besides…um…”

“What?”

“Boys scare me to death.”

“Ah,” he said, “that would be the reason why you didn’t ask permission before changing Tran, even indirectly.”

“Uh, yeah…sorry about that, I think…I really messed up, didn’t I?” She put her head down again.

“Cheer up, it’s just a lack of experience. But from now on you should really avoid that kind of mental changes. It’s a terrible infringement of ethics.”

“Um, I-I understand,” she said. “But uh…How do you…I mean…?”

“I’m just old, and know a lot of things,” he said. “Now, for improving your abilities, perhaps you could find someone to take you as an apprentice?”

“Um…well, I guess I could, but I mean…I don’t know anyone with, er…”

“…Not counting me,” he said. He paused, getting a pensive look for a moment. “Come to think of it, I don’t have an apprentice. Then again, I’m not sure if you’d want someone inexperienced with being a master. Considering I haven’t had an apprentice since…hm…ever.”

“I-I don’t mind too much, sir, I mean..um…but…don’t’ you…aren’t you kind of busy?”

“Nothing you couldn’t help with, I think. You already know how to change people’s forms, I could just teach you how to do it correctly. Among other things you have potential for.”

“Uh…why do you…I mean, not to sound disrespectful but why do you…change people?”

He shrugged, and then began an explanation. “I generally tend to come upon people who want to be the other gender, and will usually help them out as a kind of hobby or charity, whatever you want to call it. I can't change my own, and neither can anyone else, and would very much like to try it, honestly. I also will try to reverse disastrous effects of the misuse of that kind of magic, and chastise the persons responsible for such misuse.”

“Huh? Why can’t you change your own gender?” she asked, curious.

“My body absorbs such attempts of any sort externally, taking the energy and adding it to my own. It’s a magical trait of my race, you see.”

“But, if that’s a part of your magic..isn’t it possible to lend other people your magic? What if you lent the immunity to someone else and then tried to change?”

“Hmm, you’re very bright,” he said, standing, “I’ve never thought of that in over four thousand years. Only, because that immunity is buried under all of my other magic someone would have to bear that too, and it would have to be that person who changed me and not myself for the same reason.”

He paused, looking at her. She stood up also. “You don’t mean…I’d..?” she said. “How would I handle all of that?”

“Well, being already a magic-user, your body should be able to handle the weight for at least a couple of minutes. And if it is unable to handle it, it’ll just throw the magic back at me and I’ll have to find someone else or wait until you are strong enough to try it,” he said. “And besides, it’d be a good first lesson as my apprentice to see what you can handle and show you what kind of fatigue real power can take if you’re not practiced enough.”

“As your…really?” She said, smiling slightly as he nodded.

“Now then. Are you ready?”

“Um, I guess so.”

He moved his hands in a slight gesture, and spoke, “Nonkalos lebram!” before grabbing her right hand with his and pushing the energy through it. The sheer amount of it was enough to make her dizzy, and it was enough that a relatively small amount of it siphoned off as light while it transferred. She stood there for a moment after he had let go, dazed, and finally shook it off. “Er…ready?” she said weakly, bending slightly under the magic’s weight. He nodded.

Lyra concentrated the part of the magic that reversed gender on Wolf, understanding somehow that he only wanted that to occur and traits could be specified later. He changed at about a medium speed. His hair grew longer, but only slightly, and his face shifted a bit. His body shrank about a foot in height, which was still very tall for a woman, and his clothing only shrank to fit. Anatomically only small changes occurred, until his chest rose just enough to be seen through the shirt, and the magic quit, indicating it was done. Lyra immediately let go of her hold on the borrowed magic, causing it to fall out of her and immediately go back into Wolf.

After a moment of looking down at herself the woman looked back at Lyra. “Well, looks like it worked,” she said, smiling, in an alto tone.

“Ugh…um…yeah…” said Lyra, exhausted. “Is that going to be necessary every time you..?”

“Nah, don’t be silly,” she said, “Now that my body has been made to a feminine form, it should be capable of switching between the two just like any other change I can make to myself. The form simply had to be broken.”

“Say, shouldn’t you have some different name as a girl?” said Lyra, straightening a bit though she was still very tired. “Like adding an e to the end of your usual name?”

“Hmm, you’re right. Although that seems unnecessary and undistinguished from male…eh, it’ll work,” she said. “Wolfe it is. Hmm, I’ll show you to the guest bedroom, you need some sleep. The real training starts tomorrow, Lyra!”