Chapter 5
“And this is where you sleep,” Aaramerielle said. “I sleep over there. And we share this closet.” The dorm room was the size of a large bedroom with only two beds. Mia felt like she was in summer camp.
“So you’re my roommate. Great!” Mia said. Aaramerielle stopped and looked at her.
“We’re all here to learn Saa,” she said, looking at Mia from across the room. She seated herself on one of the blue covered easy chairs. “Wizards don’t talk that way to others, especially not to other wizards. Don’t do it again!” It came across to Mia more as valuable information rather than a reprimand. She couldn’t take it hard coming from Aaramerielle as it did, even though she badly wanted to. Aaramerielle had the rare talent to be able to speak to others in such a manner without appearing harsh or humiliating. She continued.
“We make our beds every morning before breakfast and we all have jobs. I work in the kitchen and teach the five and six year olds. But I don’t know what you’ll be doing. We have classes two times, sometimes three times a day.”
“Classes?!” Mia said, plopping down sideways on the other easy chair. “Oh, man!”
“Yes, classes.” Again Aaramerielle looked at her. That way. Mia then realized that this particular trait in Aaramerielle's personality was typical of her. Mia expected more reprimand, but Aaramerielle went on.
“Marigaff is the sweetest sorceress you’ll ever meet. She knows a lot, and it is not wise to question her authority. But you probably already know that.
“So, anyway, study time is afternoons, after lunch. It’s really not study time, though. You can do pretty much whatever you want. I like to run. I go down by the river to the end of the pasture.”
Someone who loves to run! Mia had been in cross-country as soon as she was old enough to join. She had loved athletics for as long as she could remember, focusing mostly on her passion for long distance running, especially with a partner. She felt chance that this might be the very beginning of an alliance with Aaramerielle, the feeling that one gets when one first realizes an acquaintance might cross the well-guarded boundary separating all other people from real friends. Mia resisted the rapid drawing bond to Aaramerielle. Maybe not friends yet. Or maybe friends. She would wait and see. “How far is that?” Mia said, now sitting on the edge of her chair.
“About three miles, one way.”
“I love to run! Can I go with you next time?”
“Sure! Can you run that far?”
“Much farther. I used to do ten miles every day.”
Aaramerielle was the only one at Marigaff’s farm that had a passion for distance running, and had longed for someone to share it with. “Let’s go ask Marigaff if we can go now!” she said.
“Maybe in a little bit. I just got here, and I don’t know. It's all so new and everything.”
“It’s just like any other school in Awlland. Just for wizards. You know that. Everyone knows about Marigaff’s Farm!”
“Well, I don’t, ” Mia said.
“You’ve never heard of Marigaff’s Farm?”
“Well, no! I’m not from here. This world, I mean. It’s hard to explain...”
Aaramerielle gasped. Her hand shot to her mouth, eyes wide as it came to her who Mia was.
“You’re the Carrier of the Book of Life!” she said. She slid to the edge of her chair as she lowered her hand.
“I know I have to carry something somewhere.”
“WOW! This is sooooo cool!”
“What is the big deal?” Mia asked.
“You, dear Mia, are one powerful wizard. And a very important one!”
“So I’ve heard. Finnegaff told me that much.”
“Finnegaff said that?! Woah!”
“So tell me more!”
"More what?"
"You know. Like, what's this Book of Life, and how do I make soup with Saa. Things like that!"
Aaramerielle regained her composure and placed the palms of her hands on her knees. “Miagaff, I would love to. But it’s part of your training. Everyone knows that.”
“Everyone knows what?”
“That your training must come through Marigaff.”
Bummer, she thought. I won’t get anything out of her.
“Oh, don’t be that way!”
Did she just read my mind? It wouldn't surprise me, Mia thought, if she could. Or maybe she read my actions.
“Let’s go. Marigaff expects us. This is so cool!” Aaramerielle bound for the door, Mia in tow.
Marigaff and Finnegaff observed as Aaramerielle and Mia entered the hall. Aaramerielle bounced as she talked with Mia, who held her own in the conversation. Aaramerielle gestured with her arms. Mia smiled, nodded her head and volleyed words with her new roommate.
“So,” Finnegaff said, “I see your fledgling found out who Miagaff is!”
“Evidently!” Marigaff said. "That didn’t take long!" It was a moment that Marigaff had always cherished: seeing her student's faces as they learned that the Carrier of the Book of Life had taken residence in their school. The two girls approached the wizards.
“Great day, honorable wizards!” Aaramerielle said. She curtsied once to Finnegaff, then to Marigaff, then skipped away to return to the game she'd been playing with her peers. In seconds the other three children involved in the game were looking in their direction. They knew better than to outwardly stare. Unless they wanted extra kitchen duties for being rude.
“I'm off!” Finnegaff said as he stood. “I shall honor the tradition of...uh, the coming of the Carrier to Marigaff's Farm...yes... with friends. Tomorrow I’ve got to tend to council issues!”
Marigaff called to him as he walked to the door. “Give my regards to our fellow council members, good wizard.”
He stopped in his tracks, then turned to face her. “Give them yourself.” He tipped his hat and walked away. Marigaff knew what he meant. The Wizard's Council was to meet soon.
Later that evening, Aaramerielle took Mia for a run along the fence line, through the meadow, and down to the river.
“So you’re a wizard, too?” Mia asked as they jogged along the bank of the river. Several horses followed tens of yards back.
“Yes, I know Saa,” she replied. “I am novice, and will be fully ready in about six months.”
“Why don’t you have a Gaff behind your name, then?”
“I will when I graduate. I’ll drop my present name and become Aaramerigaff.”
“Right. Like Finnegaff.”
“Right. But he’s not just any ordinary wizard. He’s the head of the Wizard's Council.”
“Kind of like the president?”
“I don’t know that word,” Aaramerielle said.
“Like a leader.”
“Well, yes and no,” Aaramerielle said. Do all wizards say that right before they try to confuse you? “Kings are leaders of the people. Finnegaff is the leader of the wizards, who keep order in Saa.”
“Kind of like police,” Mia said.
“I don’t know that word, either.”
Mia thought a moment. “Like, if people do wrong things, the police go after them to make them stop.”
“Only where Saa is concerned. If someone steals, for instance, soldiers of the court of the land they’re in deal with them and they go to the Isle of Thieves, in exile. Wizards battle evil forces of Essaa, if they’re good wizards.”
“So there’s bad wizards?”
“Of course, silly!” Aaramerielle wiped sweat from her brow. “You’ll learn about that in history class.”
The term history class turned Mia’s stomach. She retracted the subject. "So Finnegaff doesn't rule people."
"He doesn't rule anything!"
"So he couldn't send a thief to...that place."
"The Isle of Thieves? Oh, yes, he can! And he has!"
"But he doesn't rule people."
"Oh, no, no! He'd never do that!"
"Then how could he send someone to the Isle of Thieves?”
&nb
sp; "He's a wizard directed by Saa."
"Is everything he does directed by Saa?”
“No, oh, no!" She laughed. "Not Finnegaff!"
"Why is that funny?"
"Wizards have a, well, fun side. They, I mean we, have what we call 'honor to tradition', which usually involves ale and dancing and music and merrymaking."
"Finnegaff is a party animal?!"
"I'd never heard it called that!" Aaramerielle stopped running. She laughed. "But that's good! Yes! Party animal would be a good way to describe it!" Mia got caught up in the laughter. Soon the two were laughing to near tears. They laughed until they got their breaths back, then decided to walk the rest of the way to their room, laughing and joking.
“Fire is an element that can easily be changed,” Marigaff told Mia under the starry night of Morrah's eternally moonless sky. They were all alone, seated cross-legged on carpets in front of a fire burning in a pit in the yard, the darkness of night closing in fast. The torch lit hall was filled with noise; music and merry laughter came from its open doors.
Marigaff began Mia's first lesson in Saa. “Observe.” She spoke low as she pointed her Staff, Bielle Marre. “Thoris mocto du pon su ralafas! Anso su pesterel pon eme haska fa’an sulas ditidiss!” (Smoke before me of the fire! Be the image of one small bird in flight!) Immediately the smoke from the fire took the detailed form of a small bird. It flew about the area as a bird would, rapidly beating little wings as it gained altitude, trailing wispy curls of smoke in tight quick spirals from the tips of the noiseless wings until it dissipated into the atmosphere.
“Wow!” Mia said.
“Now you do it,” Marigaff said.
Mia sighed. “I have no idea what you just said.”
“Neither do I,” said Marigaff. “Imagine a bird in your mind, being created from the smoke of the fire, then open your mouth and speak. Saa will form the words of the Old Elven tongue, though we do not understand them.”
Mia thought about it as Marigaff waited patiently. She was anxious to try. She closed her eyes and envisioned the image of a bird, yet all she could think of was the bald eagle. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Aaaaaaahhhhgg!” she said. Nothing happened. “What did I just say?" she asked Marigaff. “What went wrong?”
Marigaff laughed. “You said ‘aaaaaaahhhhgg! You must use your lips, child! Clear all thoughts from your mind and yield to the power of Saa that you feel in you.”
The image of the United States of America’s national emblem was yet stuck in her thoughts. She vacated her mind of everything except the bird and spoke again, this time yielding to Saa. “Thoris mocto du pon su ralafas! Anso su pesterel pon eme logostis tarftan sulas ditidiss!” (Smoke before me of the fire! Be the image of one great eagle in flight!)
The fire blazed, producing billows of smoke. An image formed, that of a huge eagle with a wing span wider than the length of a horse. It flapped its massive wings to take flight. The airflow created by the half substantial wings of the eagle blew glowing embers from the fire in all directions. Mia fell over backward as the eagle flew in low circles as it gained altitude. Hot ashes flew everywhere.
Marigaff brushed glowing ashes from her long, gray hair. She had not moved from her sitting position. Mia, however, was on her feet, slapping embers from herself. They watched the image of the eagle soar higher and higher until it finally dissolved just as Marigaff’s bird had.
“Woah!” Mia said.
“Specific, child! Be specific in thought when you invoke Saa!” Marigaff wasn’t mad; she was simply making a learning statement. “That will be all for today. You have touched Saa. Congratulations!” She held out her hand for Mia to take. Mia looked at the waiting hand.
“We don’t do that here, but thanks anyway,” she said.
Marigaff gave her a sly look. “Hmmm! Mia, child, your Saa is very powerful. Few have controlled that much power so soon in their training.”
“It was only a bird,” Mia said.
“Yes; a very big bird!” Marigaff dusted embers from her shawl, then stopped to look Mia in the eye. Mia knew she would never forget the face she now beheld nor ever let pass the words she was about to hear, no matter their content. Wizards have that kind of effect on a person. With hands clasped before her, Marigaff’s compassionate eyes were filled with wisdom. She held her mouth firm, and her voice was of unquestionable authority. “I warn you: be careful, child. Do not invoke Saa without guidance. Saa is not to be trifled with and can produce results you may neither anticipate nor desire. Sometimes the impact of Saa is not what the sorcerer intends. That is one of the Proverbs of the Wizards.”
“Does that mean that Saa kind of decides the outcome of things?” Mia asked.
“That's a well thought question, child. And one well thought of. You are a good student.” She started walking toward the dining hall. Mia followed.
"So?" Mia said.
"So what?"
"So does Saa determine the outcome of things?"
"'...For destiny is yea of Saa, yet is of its own.' That's one of the wizard's proverbs, too."
Mia thought about it for a moment. "So what's that supposed to mean?"
“That means, child, that tomorrow morning I have some things for you to do. We'll meet in my chambers shortly after breakfast.” She said not a word more as she led Mia from the darkening night into the brilliantly lit hall, alive with merrymaking's and jolly tales.
Now back in their shared room, Aaramerielle had seated herself on the edge of her chair, anxious for report.
“Then she said that my Saa was very powerful and I need to be careful, and that I could sometimes do things that I don’t want to with Saa.” Mia recounted the events to the spellbound Aaramerielle. They had all witnessed Mia’s eagle from the dining hall. Not that any of them were spying.
“That’s one of the Wizards Proverbs! ‘The fruits of Saa are not always the wizard’s harvest’.”
Mia thought. Aaramerielle let her have the time, she having talent in instruction. “That fits. Anyway, I asked her if Saa has control over the outcome of things when it’s used. I didn’t get a straight answer. She just said ‘that’s a good question’, quoted another proverb and walked off.”
“I know that proverb, too! ‘Let no wizard drink of the wine of Saa, lest Saa be his mentor and guide’. It’s supposed to mean that Saa has the say so in the final outcome of things. Some wizards believe that Saa changes our uses of the power to fit just needs, ones that we are not aware of. Others believe that when Saa doesn't do what we want it's just by accident, not any kind of control. I believe it's Saa controlling destinies.”
"No. That wasn't the one."
“The one what?”
“The proverb you just said.”
"Oh! Then it would be 'for destiny is yea of Saa, yet is of it's own.' "
“You act like you know all about this,” Mia said.
"Was I right?" Aaramerielle clasped her hands together.
"Yea. I think that was it."
“I spent the last year in a class on the proverbs.” She said. She leaned forward and rested her chin on the palm of her hand, her elbow on the table. Doing so pulled her strawberry blond hair back from the side of her head and exposed one of her ears, which Mia had not yet seen, or maybe had not noticed until now.
“Aaramerielle!” she said. “What’s wrong with your ear?” She sat up straight and leaned close to look.
“What?” Aaramerielle sat up, taking her hair back. “What do you see?”
“It’s pointed!” She jabbed a finger at it. “On the top!”
Aaramerielle laughed. “Oh! That! They’re supposed to be like that. I’m an elf, and elf ears are like that.” Mia lowered her finger slowly.
“Really?” she said. “Really?! You’re an elf?”
“Sorry! I thought you knew! Yes. My home is Elfwood.” She sat up. “There’s something else about me you might not know. Guess how old I am!”
Mia looked her up and down, as if it
might reveal something she’d missed. She knew what Aaramerielle looked like. And acted like. “I dunno. Fourteen, maybe fifteen,” she said.
“No!” She was smiling widely, enjoying her guessing game. “I turned one hundred seventy-four last winter.”
Mia’s eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. “One-hundred-seventy-four?” In nearly every way Aaramerielle seemed to be younger than she. “That’s amazing! I never would have guessed.”
“You didn’t. You missed by quite a bit.”
They talked of many things before turning in for the night. Mia’s bed was the most comfortable bed she’d slept in since her own. She lay in her bed thinking of home, perhaps a little more than she desired to. Tears welled up in her eyes. Not wanting to alarm Aaramerielle, she quietly shed tears until she fell asleep.
The next day Marigaff gave Mia a few assignments. First, she had her read to a small group of children, well behaved three or four year olds. Next, she helped Marigaff fold some linens, but did it with Saa. Mia thought it went well. She only tore two towels in half, well, one in four places, before she got the hang of it. Marigaff said she did well, too. That afternoon she helped with the lunch dishes, but not with Saa. Marigaff said there were too many people about for one as young in Saa as Mia to be practicing invocations. Someone would get hurt. After dishes, she was given a book to start reading, ‘Basic Geography of Morrah’, and returned to her quarters to look it over. At first it was boring, but it was all so new that putting the book down soon became difficult.
Aaramerielle was in their room for a while, and there they visited about many things. Aaramerielle proved to be a bottomless pit of knowledge when it came to certain subjects. Mia learned that the proverbs, history keeping, children and archery warfare were her areas of study. Despite Aaramerielle’s childlike appearance and youthful hyper attitude, she displayed a lot of wisdom. She was, after all, one hundred seventy four years of age. Yet even with that knowledge Mia could not seem to regard her as an adult. As they visited, Mia’s trust and respect for the fair elf grew, a kind of comfort, a serenity that relaxed her. She noticed that she was quickly beginning to feel very close to Aaramerielle.
That evening after dinner Mia was met with Marigaff for lessons on how to invoke Saa for food. She was talking with Marigaff as they strolled about the stables to the edge of the forest when the peal of a deep bell broke the evening stillness. The farm came alive with people running in response to the alarm. Marigaff turned in her tracks and looked to the sky above the farm behind them. Mia followed her gaze to see what looked like a very large plane circling the farm. Except that this plane flapped its wings.
Marigaff folded her arms. “‘The Dragon Cwyth with an empty belly!”