Makiya

22. Why is she in my room??

A sudden strong gust of multiple blue colored horizontal lines in front of the tree charged through the trees.

Andrey standing there with his arm still in the air and not moving an inch, waiting in anticipation of the results from his attempt at advanced mana control.

“Oh, come on…” Dea’n’ha sighed.

The boy didn’t reply as his cloak recovered its position from the blowing of the wind. Still not moving nor reacting to Dea’n’ha’s disappointed, yet friendly and cute expression. 

The girl moved her hands around controlling the wind that was holding on to the tree.

As she moved the trees around Andrey burst in joyful laughter from the results he saw. The tree-logs had been perfectly cut down and Dea’n’ha was arranging them one over the other and placed them on the ground.

“Why the disappointment, though? I think I did great!” Andrey questioned his success.

“You actually did amazing! But…”

“But what?”

“Well…”

“Yeeees???” Andrey asked with a little bit of impatience as he walked closer to her.

“Well… with that amount and quality of mana you could have cut down the whole warehouse. So basically you did good, but good thing that there was nothing behind the trees.” The sorceress explained.

“Ah, come on! You gotta give me some credit for this!” the boy demanded some applause.

“Well, yeah. I believe you are doing great at your creativity and at your control. But it needs more balance. Do you feel tired out?” Dea’n’ha suddenly asked worriedly.

“No, besides my physical exhaustion and deprivation of sleep, I believe I am okay. Ah, also my mental delusions that I fear are beginning to exist.” he spoke seriously, though just a few seconds later he realized what he just said and how absurd it all was and just started laughing.

“Hahaha! You are the first person I see who laughs at themself like this.” she chuckled.

“Well, it’s what saves me from the bad side.”

“Bad side?”

“I mean, the world is too cruel and dark, but if I focus on just that then I will make it twice as bad. So I just laugh at the bad things and that in a twisted way makes them good. Because I laugh, laughter is positive… well, at least mine is!” Andrey said with a bit of hope in his voice.

“You’re a great boy, you know.” she looked at his eyes. His hair sometimes got in the way, but she could easily see those dark eyes. So deep. She felt like staring at them for a while.

“We have a stash to build, you know? We’re not even halfway done.” He said as he noticed her staring at his eyes for longer than what felt comfortable.

“You seem to be correct.” she said slowly, still not taking eyes of his.

“So now I’ll try to use wind magic again to position the boards, but how will we tie them together? I don’t see any screws around. You’re gonna make metal out of Philius now?” He asked and laughed at his last question again. “I guess I’m too tired, I started self-entertaining myself too much…”

“That’s how normal people do it. But we’re mages, so we are going to do this in a different way. A more… exciting way.” she added, ignoring his self-sarcasm.

She didn’t ignore it because she didn’t like it, it was because he was right and they really were taking a lot longer. Dea’n’ha was worried that Andrey really might be having it too hard and all the training, practice, learning and studying might be too much.

“Now I’ll show you a neat spell I learned from one of our conjurers. It’s quite similar to what you did when you used a spell I channeled through you to draw your clothes for the king.”

“Oh, this is getting exciting, indeed!”

“This one isn’t cast with words, but with a mindset. For this one to work you just need to have a very clear vision of what you want to do, and also have the materials necessary within your reach and prepared by you, so you can manipulate them.”

“So in order to use the materials I must share an experience with them, is that it?”

“Yes. In fact, even if you just have your mana touch the material it becomes usable for this spell.”

“Okay, then. What exactly do I do now?”

“This one I think you don’t have a chance to mess up, by the way!” Dea’n’ha encouraged him with her beautiful melodic voice.

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” Andrey nodded in self-discouragement.

“Now, I want you to imagine the stash in your head, but instead of screws or something like that, imagine the trees growing into each other. Have a clear image of the stash in your head. Before you do all of this, make sure you have your mana cover all of the materials you will use - in our case just those boards.”

“But how will this happen when we already cut them down? Huh?”

“Yes, about that. Imagine the boards growing into each other as if they naturally grew into this stash-form.”

“Woah, this sounds impossible.”

“Well, that’s why it’s magic.”

“In my world magic really is impossible. Now let me try.”

Andrey put out both his hands forward, pointing at the trees. He imagined the blue colored spiritual energy flow to the ground from his hands and engulf all of the material. Dea’n’ha sat down on the grassy ground and closed her eyes. She tried to feel his energy and see exactly what he was doing.

“Your mana pool really is something. I can see you like a torch in the dark.” Dea’n’ha noted quietly.

“Don’t distract me.” Andrey chuckled and remained with a smile.

Being praised for having or being something extraordinary sure feels nice, Dea’n’ha, thanks for this. It really cheers me up. Who doesn’t like to be applauded or acknowledged for something good?

“Now concentrate on the image of the stash.”

A few seconds later she added “Good. Now get your hands closer and try to best fit the shape in your mind with them.”... the boards began to move in what seemed to be random movement, but actually they steadily began to shape the stash-form. After the boards shaped it, it was time for them to get glued.“Think about how these trees are one and only. Keep channeling your mana to them and repeat the words ‘you belong, you are one, grow into each-other’.  You can use different words, but the meaning must be the same.”

The boards slowly started to grow out small branches and steadily the branches twisted into each other and grew bigger, making a strong bond and making the stash completely perfect.

“Wow! It’s beautiful!” Andrey came closer to the stash and started walking around it very fast, completely excited about this beautiful item he just created.

The stash was made of perfectly shaped boards, but that shape steadily changed as the tree grew out and received some green leaves on its corners. The branches covered the whole body of the stash from both inside and outside, making it look extremely beautifully decorated. The shutter of the stash worked in a particularly interesting manner. Even though it was covered with branches it could still be opened by the branch handle formed on its front. It was kind of hard to open it as, after all, you had to fight the branches holding it together. The top branches were elastic and thin enough to keep it closed, but also to be opened without breaking anything.

“Amazing! I have never seen such a work of art!” Andrey exclaimed.

“That’s your work of art!” Dea’n’ha cheered him up with an angelic voice.

“Now let's fill it up.”

“But how will we move it if it’s full? Let's move it first.” Andrey suggested wisely.

“Are you serious?!” Dea’n’ha gave him a spooky surprised look.

“Oh! Right, magic…!” he clumsily facepalmed.

After this Andrey got on top of the cart and started to throw the gold coins into the stash. Dea’n’ha facepalmed and waited for a few minutes just watching the peep-show.

“Doesn’t this guy have a shovel or something?” Andrey asked and suddenly jumped out of the cart and walked to Dea’n’ha. “Okay, I’ll be honest, I was joking.”

“About the shovel?”

“Not only.” he calmed her down as he suddenly rose his hand and a gust of wind lifted the gold in random directions causing a very unpleasant loud noise of ringing coins. Well, it was unpleasant for those two, but the merchant who owned it probably would rejoice at this grand sound of wealth.

The sorceress looked at the boy with a decent dose of suspicion wondering if he was really joking. It was the first time she was really confused about what his condition was and whether he was trying to hide it or not.

After the gold dispersed into the air, Dea’n’ha waved her hands in front of her and shaped the wealth into a ball of glittering gold shining in a slight blue nuance in the air. Then Andrey steadily lowered his hand navigating all the wealth inside the stash. 

It was a huge stash, actually. It was made out of a twenty-meter tree. So it gathered all of the wealth in an instant.

After putting it in its place, Dea’n’ha asked Andrey to try to move the beautiful stash steadily and not just throw it inside the warehouse. “Careful, you might break more than just the stash, but the whole building itself!” she warned referring to the weight of the gold.

Andrey managed to pull this off without any damage.

“Now what’s left is to fix that hole you made the first time. Do it the same way you sewed these boards together. Remember the requirement?”

“I have to have my mana flow through the materials which will be used, right?”

“Yup. Go for it!”

The boy, although, visibly tired did as ordered. He focused on his mana flow and sewed the concrete together. It didn’t grow out as the stash did. Instead, the concrete simply got slightly tinner as the material filled the hole.

Andrey finished the job and faced Dea’n’ha.

“Well, how did I do?”

“You’re a great student!” she remarked with a cheerful smile.

“What do we do with the cart?”

“Let’s leave it here. The merchant will manage on his own… unless he asks us to move it.”

The sorceress started walking and gestured Andrey to come along. They went inside the house from the front doors where Galera and Rang joked around lastly.

Surprisingly the two weren’t all that long and just an hour had passed.

Inside this huge house, the first thing you see when you walk in the door was a very huge hall. There was some expensive red carpet which led to the staircase in front.

Stairs lead to the second floor which had a beautiful rail that allowed you to grab along or just use it for support and look at what’s going on on the first floor. The rail went on both the left and right sides of the hall, suggesting big gatherings.

The house had big square-shaped columns with different abstract decorations on them, beautifying the simplicity of their appearance.

The bright color made Andrey feel like eating an orange colorized the whole inside of the house. There were different abstract or flowerlike decorations all around the walls and created an exceptional look.

The hall, at first sight, appeared rather empty, but after a few seconds walking in it, Andrey noticed tables behind the columns and chair, all prepared as if for a grand event. Is there going to be a wedding here soon? he thought.

Anita was standing on the small podium on the stairs between the first and second floors. Her beautiful black dress revealing parts of her magnificent body as she stood there slightly tired and bored from waiting, but polite and thankful enough to not even mention it.

“Come in! I’m glad you finally managed! It took a lot longer than usual, maybe it’s that much more?” Anita politely tried to express how unexpected it was for them to be so late.

“A mage in training should always take every chance to learn, madame! Please excuse us for being late!” Dea’n’ha said as she slightly bowed in a polite manner.

“You really shouldn’t have waited for us for so long!” Andrey worriedly exclaimed as the lady in black visually seemed exhausted to him. She definitely isn’t as cheerful as she used to be just a while ago. She’s definitely worn out. Such polite manners! I can hardly believe it. She’s rich, probably owns enough to buy my whole life expenses twice, yet she stood here for nothing else than being a good host. Incredible! 

Anita invited them in on the second floor where the others were. For what Andrey managed to see the second floor consisted of multiple rooms. They were on the left of the front door, so he suggested that the opposite side was at least similar if not the same in structure and room placement. After climbing the stairs there was the terrace that looked at the entrance of the house, on its right were walls and a corridor in the middle. They went inside the corridor which was surprisingly long. On its left and right were doors. Obviously these were guest rooms. Each one of the escorts had their own room, though Galera and Rang were in one room laughing off and obviously drinking alcohol. The walls were so thick that their ridiculous laughter and retardedness weren’t heard.

Andrey and Dea’n’ha’s rooms faced each other at the bottom of the corridor. While walking down there the boy noticed Anita stealthily slightly turning around throwing a few stares at him. He wondered why, thinking he probably looks ridiculous to her. As most people, obviously believe he looks. Truth is, they just simply weren’t used to difference. Andrey looked really great and manly in this outfit.

They reached the bottom left room and Anita asked for Andrey to wait a few moments to introduce Dea’n’ha to her room, furthermore, she was a lady and the boy really felt like it should be right for ladies to come first.

It took just about a minute and Anita came out of Dea’n’ha’s room.

“Okay, Andrey, right?” she asked politely and he nodded to confirm. “This will be your room for the night.”

and she opened the opposite of Dea’n’ha’s room.

They walked in. The room was big. It had a big bed, a table next to it, and a few small chairs to sit on. There was also a wardrobe and what appeared to be a private bath. The bed had beautiful red sheets of some super soft material.

Andrey sat down on the bed and Anita pulled a chair and sat down in front of him. He awkwardly looked at her questioning what she’s doing. Why is she taking a seat? I thought she’ll just show me the room and leave? She didn’t take long with Dea’n’ha. What’s wrong…

“Would you mind if I stayed with you for a while?” she asked and her beautiful face slightly blushed.

“Um… okay?” he answered hesitantly.

Not even in the vacuum of space, where vibrations don’t happen, could you hear silence as awkward as this.

“What’s wrong?” Andrey packed the courage to ask and hid his shame behind his serious face.

“Well… the truth is, I’m here for two things…”