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Next little chunk of my nanowrimo. This brings it up to 11337 words. Sigh. I'm like ten thousand words behind where I need to be by the end of tonight. And I still haven't actually come up with, you know, a plot.
That afternoon Cassie carefully walked Nessie through making another potion in her warm bright kitchen. Nessie decided that she really liked her mentor’s kitchen. The large windows let in a lot of the afternoon sunlight; the curtains were a delicate shade of green that nicely accented the pale cream walls; the counters were all a mocha color that went well with the walls and the window trim carried the same color up onto the walls as well. In a way, the large fireplace with a cauldron suspended above it happily boiling some indeterminate substance surprised Nessie less than the modern-looking fridge across the kitchen.
As they worked together to assemble the potion, Cassie imparted bits of advice and knowledge about magic as she thought of them. It was much more like hanging out with a friend than being taught anything. Nessie suspected that Cassie wouldn’t know what to do with herself if she was expected to teach something the way the teachers at school did, lecturing all the time, with boring, structured lessons every day. While Nessie was not entirely opposed to school, she found this way of learning to be a lot more fun. She liked being able to ask questions freely as she thought of them and direct the flow of information. After telling Cassie about her mishap the day before, they ended up discussing the possibilities of reverse stirring for half an hour. Cassie was very proud of her for figuring out her mistake by herself and even more so for having been able to correct it. She just smiled knowingly at Nessie’s excitement when she described how it had felt to take the potion she had made.
When the potion they were working on, one designed to clear the mind and encourage concentration, was finished, they moved into the sitting room for tea and more discussion. Helped along by a dose of the just-completed potion, the conversation was fruitful, flowing gracefully from topic to topic. Cassie spent quite some time relating the theory of the five natural elements and how they related to magic. Then she told her which parts of the textbooks she should look at for more information about the elements. By the time they finished that part of their talk, it was getting rather late in the afternoon and they had to call it a day. This time, when Nessie walked out the front door, she was not surprised to see forest she recognized, but was somewhat surprised that it was a different part of the woods, closer to her house this time. It was hard to wrap her mind around the way Cassie’s house moved even though today when she had gone looking for it, she had found it only just inside the back forest instead of deep in it. Regardless, she was glad of its location because the afternoon had been rather tiring and she was ready to get back to her bedroom and curl up with a book for a while.
The summer stretched on idyllically. Nessie spent a large part of each day gathering ingredients, reading about magic, or making potions, often accompanied by Cassie. With Cassie’s help, Nessie went into some of the wild forests of the magical realm searching for elusive ingredients. She couldn’t yet reach those places on her own but this didn’t bother her as she was still a bit daunted by them and didn’t particularly want to go alone. By the time August rolled around, Nessie had mastered quite a few different potions and had no difficulty understanding even complicated potion recipes she’d never seen before. Memorizing plants and exploring the magical realm was coming a little more slowly, but that knowledge was still coming along at a fairly good pace as well. She was more depressed than she’d ever been before at the thought of going back to school. Usually by this point in the summer, she was so bored that she was ready to go back to school, but this year she would have been quite glad to have summer continue forever.
The first day of school dawned meltingly hot. When her mom woke her up, Nessie tried desperately to go back to sleep. Her mother yelled at her again until she called back that she was awake and getting ready. With a sigh, she got out of bed and pulled on the outfit she had picked out before going to sleep the night before. In the kitchen, her mother was getting her own things ready for the day.
“Have a good day at school, sweetheart,” her mother said, “Make sure you don’t miss the bus.”
With those parting words of advice, Mom was gathering her things and youngest child and headed off to take Daisy to the baby-sitter’s and herself to work.
Glancing at the clock on the microwave, Nessie saw that she still had about ten minutes before she needed to go outside to watch for the bus. Getting the milk from the fridge for a bowl of cereal, Nessie rushed through it. She wanted to go through her new backpack one last time before she left. Mom had picked up new school supplies the week before and had also gotten a new green and black backpack for Eddie and a red and white one for Nessie. Hers was currently filled with some folders, a pack of loose-leaf paper, a pencil case containing several wooden pencils which she had already sharpened and a bright pink rubber eraser, and, out of sight at the bottom, her copy of “Introduction to the Magical Realm.” Nessie had yet to work her way straight through the book. She frequently used it to look something up when she had a question, but she spent so much time doing the things that led to having questions that she hadn’t found the time to read it cover to cover. At least school would give her plenty of time when she would have nothing else to do but read, especially on the long bus ride every morning and afternoon.
Eddie was right where she had expected him to be, in front of the TV.
“Come on; we’ve gotta go. It’s almost time for the bus to get here!” she called to him from the hallway.
He glanced up at her and then turned back to the TV.
“Come on, Eddie!”
He didn’t even look up this time.
Nessie sighed and walked to the front door. She picked up her backpack, opened the door and went outside to wait on the short sidewalk that led straight to the road. She’d been there less than a minute before Eddie slouched his way outside, shut the door behind him and then leaned against it, looking painfully bored. She could sympathize with that; she wished she were doing anything else but going to school. School wasn’t that horrible, really; it was just that it took up a ridiculous amount of time each day. It hardly left time for anything else, especially the education she would rather be getting. She was going to be running ragged trying to keep up with her magical studies with mundane school taking up so much of her life. But she was determined that she would not let her magical education suffer.
That afternoon Cassie carefully walked Nessie through making another potion in her warm bright kitchen. Nessie decided that she really liked her mentor’s kitchen. The large windows let in a lot of the afternoon sunlight; the curtains were a delicate shade of green that nicely accented the pale cream walls; the counters were all a mocha color that went well with the walls and the window trim carried the same color up onto the walls as well. In a way, the large fireplace with a cauldron suspended above it happily boiling some indeterminate substance surprised Nessie less than the modern-looking fridge across the kitchen.
As they worked together to assemble the potion, Cassie imparted bits of advice and knowledge about magic as she thought of them. It was much more like hanging out with a friend than being taught anything. Nessie suspected that Cassie wouldn’t know what to do with herself if she was expected to teach something the way the teachers at school did, lecturing all the time, with boring, structured lessons every day. While Nessie was not entirely opposed to school, she found this way of learning to be a lot more fun. She liked being able to ask questions freely as she thought of them and direct the flow of information. After telling Cassie about her mishap the day before, they ended up discussing the possibilities of reverse stirring for half an hour. Cassie was very proud of her for figuring out her mistake by herself and even more so for having been able to correct it. She just smiled knowingly at Nessie’s excitement when she described how it had felt to take the potion she had made.
When the potion they were working on, one designed to clear the mind and encourage concentration, was finished, they moved into the sitting room for tea and more discussion. Helped along by a dose of the just-completed potion, the conversation was fruitful, flowing gracefully from topic to topic. Cassie spent quite some time relating the theory of the five natural elements and how they related to magic. Then she told her which parts of the textbooks she should look at for more information about the elements. By the time they finished that part of their talk, it was getting rather late in the afternoon and they had to call it a day. This time, when Nessie walked out the front door, she was not surprised to see forest she recognized, but was somewhat surprised that it was a different part of the woods, closer to her house this time. It was hard to wrap her mind around the way Cassie’s house moved even though today when she had gone looking for it, she had found it only just inside the back forest instead of deep in it. Regardless, she was glad of its location because the afternoon had been rather tiring and she was ready to get back to her bedroom and curl up with a book for a while.
The summer stretched on idyllically. Nessie spent a large part of each day gathering ingredients, reading about magic, or making potions, often accompanied by Cassie. With Cassie’s help, Nessie went into some of the wild forests of the magical realm searching for elusive ingredients. She couldn’t yet reach those places on her own but this didn’t bother her as she was still a bit daunted by them and didn’t particularly want to go alone. By the time August rolled around, Nessie had mastered quite a few different potions and had no difficulty understanding even complicated potion recipes she’d never seen before. Memorizing plants and exploring the magical realm was coming a little more slowly, but that knowledge was still coming along at a fairly good pace as well. She was more depressed than she’d ever been before at the thought of going back to school. Usually by this point in the summer, she was so bored that she was ready to go back to school, but this year she would have been quite glad to have summer continue forever.
The first day of school dawned meltingly hot. When her mom woke her up, Nessie tried desperately to go back to sleep. Her mother yelled at her again until she called back that she was awake and getting ready. With a sigh, she got out of bed and pulled on the outfit she had picked out before going to sleep the night before. In the kitchen, her mother was getting her own things ready for the day.
“Have a good day at school, sweetheart,” her mother said, “Make sure you don’t miss the bus.”
With those parting words of advice, Mom was gathering her things and youngest child and headed off to take Daisy to the baby-sitter’s and herself to work.
Glancing at the clock on the microwave, Nessie saw that she still had about ten minutes before she needed to go outside to watch for the bus. Getting the milk from the fridge for a bowl of cereal, Nessie rushed through it. She wanted to go through her new backpack one last time before she left. Mom had picked up new school supplies the week before and had also gotten a new green and black backpack for Eddie and a red and white one for Nessie. Hers was currently filled with some folders, a pack of loose-leaf paper, a pencil case containing several wooden pencils which she had already sharpened and a bright pink rubber eraser, and, out of sight at the bottom, her copy of “Introduction to the Magical Realm.” Nessie had yet to work her way straight through the book. She frequently used it to look something up when she had a question, but she spent so much time doing the things that led to having questions that she hadn’t found the time to read it cover to cover. At least school would give her plenty of time when she would have nothing else to do but read, especially on the long bus ride every morning and afternoon.
Eddie was right where she had expected him to be, in front of the TV.
“Come on; we’ve gotta go. It’s almost time for the bus to get here!” she called to him from the hallway.
He glanced up at her and then turned back to the TV.
“Come on, Eddie!”
He didn’t even look up this time.
Nessie sighed and walked to the front door. She picked up her backpack, opened the door and went outside to wait on the short sidewalk that led straight to the road. She’d been there less than a minute before Eddie slouched his way outside, shut the door behind him and then leaned against it, looking painfully bored. She could sympathize with that; she wished she were doing anything else but going to school. School wasn’t that horrible, really; it was just that it took up a ridiculous amount of time each day. It hardly left time for anything else, especially the education she would rather be getting. She was going to be running ragged trying to keep up with her magical studies with mundane school taking up so much of her life. But she was determined that she would not let her magical education suffer.
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