The coven stands in a wide open circle beneath the shadow of the massive statues of dragons. They each stand more than ten feet apart with, LaTao closest to the fountain. After a quick incantation, LaTao emotes, saying, “Okay, the game is simple.” With a flick of the wrist, a one-foot-wide ball of water rises from the fountain. “I’m gonna arc this ball of water, like… thirty feet high at someone. If it comes your way, you’re gonna have to catch it in your ethesial grasp. Once you do, you can arc this sucker at whoever you want. The game keeps going until someone gets splashed!”
April and Kami’ka sigh, dreading the thought of getting their hair wet. Ninifer widens her stance and lowers her brow, taking this game seriously from the start and eyeing LaTao as if she were sneakily swiping something. Ether and Deska look to Meeka… then copy her smile, pretending to look forward to the game.
Meeka nods her head. “You’re on!”
“Okay! Here goes!” And with that, the game begins. LaTao lobs a high-arcing throw in Meeka’s direction. Meeka quickly raises her hands and manages to successfully attain control of the ball of water. LaTao smiles. She only threw it Meeka’s way because she expected her to be able to catch it. Even so, she’s relieved to see Meeka easily manipulating the ball and looking for her next target. Meeka arcs the ball just as high as LaTao. April’s eyes widen, realizing the ball is headed her way, a choice LaTao would never have made. Starting the game by embarrassing the pack leader would’ve been tragic.
April swallows hard, raising her vibrating hands and muttering away. In the knick of time, she manages to control the water ball and catch every drop. She tries her best to maintain an appearance of confidence, but LaTao knows she just barely caught it.
April flings her arms upward, sending the ball rather high. Not only does the ball fall short of Ethur, but it remains in the air for what feels like ages. Not that Ethur minds. She stumbles through the spell and, despite the extra time, barely catches it before it hits the ground.
“Whoa!” she says as she leans forward on one leg. “That was close.” When Ethur flings the ball back into the air, it arcs lower than before, giving Ninifer even less time to catch it… but she does so successfully.
Spitefully, Ninifer throws it back to Ethur with even less of an arc. Ethur screams, barely catching it once again before flinging it directly at LaTao with almost no arc whatsoever.
LaTao closes her eyes and throws her hands forward, but doesn’t cast any spells. The ball of water hits her hard, square in the face, throwing her hair back with a splash. She locks in her pose, letting the water drip from her chin for a few seconds before dropping her empty hands. Once she hears a few chuckles, she blows the water from her lips, then wipes her face with her hands. At this point, all the girls are laughing. LaTao casually moves her wet bangs from her face, then looks at Ethur with a blank expression. “You’re supposed to arc the ball of water… not beam it at people.”
Ethur laughs as she apologizes… not that LaTao actually cares. Perfect! Couldn’t have planned it any better! Now that I’ve been hit, if anyone else fails, it will be less of a hit to their ego… and yes, I DO see the irony in ME worrying about someone ELSE’S ego.
With a wet head, LaTao starts the next round, and the game continues with more smiles all around. One by one, she sees the girls improving. After only forty minutes, even Ethur is catching the ball at a decent height. She and LaTao were the only ones hit more than once. Meeka, April, and Kami’ka are the only ones that are dry.
With an hour behind them, Deska sees a nearby food cart and calls for a little break. She offers to get snacks, then jogs off before anyone replies.
She’s eager to please.
Within minutes, Deska returns with way too many crêpes. Shaped into a cone, each soft and sweet pocket is stuffed with a combination of candied apples, peaches, strawberries, bananas, or chocolate chunks with cream, crumbles, or jams and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Once Meeka and April claim theirs, Deska allows the others a choice of whichever they want.
The last to make a selection, LaTao sees that each of the four remaining are different. She eyes the one that is strawberry and banana, then places her hands on her hips. “Which one do you want?”
“Huh?”
“There’s only one of each of these, and you paid for them, so… which one do you want?”
Deska’s green eyes widen. “Well…,” she says, looking at her options. “Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
“I was hoping to get the strawberry-banana one.”
LaTao quickly grabs the chocolate one. “It’s all yours.”
“Oh!” Deska says. She stutters with no other response coming to mind. With a smile, she sets the remaining crêpes on the fountain’s outer ledge. “Thanks!” She happily takes a bite of the soft and sweet treat. The sight of the others happily munching away widen Deska’s grin. She wiggles in place as if she hears an upbeat tune, happily enjoying her scrumptious treat.
LaTao softly chuckles under her breath. I want them to like me, but I hope I don’t ever look as desperate and obvious as her. Poor kid… LaTao thinks, even though Deska is both a smidge taller and a few months older. After briefly looking annoyed, LaTao takes another bite of the soft and semi-sweet treat. “Mmmmm.” Some of the chocolate is melty, but other chunks are still hard enough to bite into. Wait… what kind of nut is that? Damn… this is too good. I hope this cart isn’t around TOO often, or I’m definitely going to need bigger clothes….
LaTao stuffs the last bit into her mouth, unintentionally humming. With chipmunk cheeks, she licks the chocolate from her fingertips and gets back into position. By the time she’s got the ball of water airborne, the coven has formed a circle and is ready for round two. “Okay, ladies….” LaTao reaches back and forms a second ball. “Y'all better keep your heads on a swivel!”
“Oh no!” Ethur says, shaking her hands at the wrist.
“Oh yes!” LaTao says with a grin. “In a battle, you have to be able to keep track of multiple attackers–”
April rolls her eyes. “Not everyone wants to be a BattleMage, LaTao.” Instantly, all eyes are on April. Her discourteous interruption is a surprise to most, but welcomed by Ninifer, who nods then tilts her head toward LaTao, with wide eyes and high brows. “We aren’t all planning on having duels,” April continues, “We’re not serving in some stupid war somewhere like some commoner. We aren’t the children of… of… barbarians and broomstick-riding War Witches. Some of us have pedigrees. SOME of us have futures planned that have nothing to do with magic and are only going to this school for the prestige… so stop trying to turn us into your cackling coven of bloodthirsty BattleMages!”
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Kami’ka slowly turns her head from April to LaTao while saying “Ooooooo!!”
Meeka covers her mouth and blinks, avoiding eye contact with everyone. LaTao can tell that she wants no part in this and won’t take sides. If she wants backup, she’s not going to get it from Meeka, that’s for sure.
“Now look here, you bougie ass bitch…” … is what LaTao WANTS to say. It’s taking every ounce of her willpower to swallow the phrase. Her face is straight. Her eyes locked onto April’s, but show not even a hint of animosity. She blinks, nods, and gives the moment time to breathe. As April adds a few more words to her rant, LaTao nods along with an inquisitive expression. To the coven, she’s giving every impression that she’s letting April say her piece. In reality, she’s simply waiting for the yammering to stop before replying.
“... as if anyone cares about that but you,” April continues. “So know your place and stop trying to pressure us into being what YOU want us to be!”
LaTao licks her lips and nods, returning her gaze to April. “The reality of our situation is that in order to attain the prestige you desire, we have to pass the Mage Exam. Over the past few months, I’ve spoken to several Mages who recently passed their test, as well as a few Apprentices who recently failed. None… and I mean not a single one of them took the exact same exam as another. Some were asked questions. Some were told to levitate multiple things or one heavy thing for an obscenely long time. The underwater breathing, in particular, would’ve been handy to a person who recently failed.”
Unconsciously, LaTao has begun guiding two floating balls of water into a figure eight pattern going opposite each other. “The only thing in common is the basic four categories: Defense, Attack, Control, and a unique fourth test. The attack they tell you to do is different every time. The control test ranges all over the place… but more than one person told me that their Defense Test was a surprise attack. You might be told to, I dunno… make the remedy for the Frog Mist spell… and while they’re telling you what the next test is, you’ll see the room filling with green smoke. Who knows?”
She takes a deep breath and looks around. The feeling of contempt she once felt by the crowd is gone. Now, judging by their expressions, they seem to be swaying her way.
“I know for a fact that you can’t buy a passing grade, nor will they give anyone a pass just because their parents are bigshots. The Testers will give you a test tailored to you based on notes from all of your previous teachers. They will know where you’ve been struggling and are guaranteed to target your weakest points. So… you can widen the spectrum of things you know now… or you can wait until after you fail the Mage Test. I, for one, intend to be ready for anything they throw at me… and I’m more than willing to work with any of my friends.” Seeing a few heads nod, LaTao takes a gamble and ends with, “We’re all in this together… right?”
Though her face is confident, deep down, she feels like she stepped onto the dance floor alone, waiting for someone else to join. She feels awkward and exposed. Most of all, she feels as though all the groundwork she’s been laying is now being tested. The bridge she built will either be strong enough for them to cross with her… or will fall apart with her standing right in the middle of it.
Nobody can convince LaTao that only five seconds have passed. Alone, that bridge feels shakier as the seconds pass. Finally, a voice is heard and the bridge is no longer lonely.
“LaTao is right,” Ethur says. “I don’t want to walk that gray path all the way to the testing site just to look like a fool.”
Kami’ka points at Ethur and says, “Same, girl. I ain’t tryin’ to tell my mom and dad that I failed that test two or three times.”
Meeka finally joins in, saying, “I get what you’re saying, April. I really do. That being said, nothing we’ve done with Tao is so tough that we can pretend it’s only something a BattleMage should know how to do.
“I want to be a Mage as soon as possible, but LaTao wants to be one even more than I do. If she says she asked Mages and failed Apprentices what their tests were, I have every reason to believe her. Like everyone else here, I think we need to be ready for whatever they might throw at us.”
April huffs, avoiding eye contact with everyone.
“Oh, this is an easy fix,” LaTao says. She leans her head to the side and says, “I’m gonna move to the other side of the fountain. Whoever wants to join me and use two, just join me over there and–”
“FINE,” April blurts. “Fine….”
LaTao fights back a smirk, watching the beautiful heiress roll her pretty eyes in frustration.
“Nobody has to move. I’m fine with using two stupid spells at once. I was merely suggesting what I did just in case anyone else felt overwhelmed. I often feel the need to speak up for those who can’t.”
LaTao nods, “That makes sense.” She smiles meekly, pretending the obvious lie was good enough to smooth things out between them. “If everybody’s ready, we can begin.” Seeing nods all around, LaTao tosses both balls simultaneously at both Meeka and Kami’ka.
The two successfully gain control of the incoming projectiles, and the game is once again in play. The two spells bounce around between each of them at random. A few of them smile, unintentionally admitting that they are enjoying themselves. As the game goes on, the arch gets lower and lower, giving them progressively less time to defend themselves.
Before long, the time LaTao expected arrives… meaning both April and Ninifer have the predictable bright idea to send water balls at their adversary at the same time. Blocking them both is easy for LaTao. She can successfully cast several of these low-level spells with little effort. Even so, she remembers her mother’s advice. Her goal is not to impress… so she sucks up her pride, jams it into the closet, puts on her clown nose, and plays her role.
“Oh crap!” she says with her big amber eyes open wide. She successfully fights her reflexes and catches only Ninifer’s ball, allowing April’s to hit her in the face. She smiles, accepting the incoming giggles with grace. “I knew it would be me that gets two at once.” With chuckles all around, LaTao turns to pull another ball of water from the fountain. Behind her back, April and Ninifer share a glance and a wink, proud of themselves for the unspoken plan falling into place. LaTao rejoins the circle and prepares to start the game once more. “Okay, okay. Get your giggles out, ladies.”
Before long, there isn’t a dry outfit in the group. The touchy situation is all but an afterthought. Any visible animosity is being subdued by smiles and laughter. Two, three, then four water spells are cast at once, leaving none safe from being soaked. The dimming sky goes unnoticed, but the illuminating fountain lets them know just how much time has passed.
During the day, each dragon, though detailed, is simply a stone statue. In the evening, the lights around them give each dragon color. Slowly, lights around each of the nine dragons begin as dim, then brighten until their individual colors beam with a vibrance worthy of awe. The Red dragon is directly behind LaTao. To the right of the red dragon is the only dragon that’s somehow shrouded in darkness. The darker the sky, the darker the dragon seems until it’s not but a silhouette against the other shining dragons. Further counter-clockwise is a bright white, then a dull silver dragon. To the left of the red dragon is a purple dragon, followed by a blue, bronze, and gold dragon. The green dragon resides directly opposite the red, completing the circle.
As the water sprays high in a beautiful display, the rising water seems to change colors in the air. The beautiful sight steals the coven’s attention. Their game has come to an end, as has the day. The ribbons of water and light fly and whirl in ever-changing patterns and varying colors. It’s quite entertaining… calming, to some. Mesmerizing its soggy viewers.
A sudden gust of twilight’s winds harshly reminds the girls of how sopping wet they are. They shiver simultaneously, quickly rubbing their arms. They share a glance, then chuckle at their own silly predicament. Meeka says, “I have a genius idea. How about we not freeze our wet butts off?”
Would you have 'taken the splash'?
