A naive young princess gets banished to a tower and is inadvertently trapped with a wizard. Now, she must navigate through a world full of magic while the fury of the king looms over her.
...
Pranee sat on her heels, unsure of what exactly to do. The person forbade her from touching anything on the bookshelf but in turn, she was unbelievably bored and couldn't satisfy her curiosity.
The person, on the other hand, paced back and forth between the table and the bookshelf, grabbing what was needed with one foot. It was one book at first then a second, then it was a pot of ink, then lastly it was a bamboo paintbrush. Pranee watched them with some bewilderment as doing anything with only feet was not only strange to her but she was always told it was bad-mannered.
"Is watching me entertaining to you?" The question snapped Pranee out of her trance and she tucked a strand of hair behind her head in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I've just... never seen someone work like that before. Especially with using your feet like that." She looked away in embarrassment and the person proceeded to grab a chair from beside the bed. She never noticed it was there before.
"Well, I can't exactly use my hands." The comment would have made Pranee laugh if she wasn't so perplexed.
"Why don't you just use magic?" She asked.
"Why should I?" The conversation didn't slow down the writing being done.
"Because... uh... using your feet is disrespectful and it might be faster with magic?" Her suggestion made the person give her a judgemental stare.
"You were accused of witchcraft, weren't you? If you're such a big magic expert, tell me what spell I should use to write."
Pranee rubbed the back of her neck in uncertainty. "I don't know anything..."
"Hm. That's why you shouldn't tell me what to do."
"You never said your name. Do you mind telling me it?"
"Shashi." The name slipped out so quickly that Pranee almost didn't catch it.
"Ah, that's a nice name for..." Pranee paused for a moment, now realizing that she didn't know the wizard's gender. "Actually, are you a man or a woman?"
Shashi immediately stopped writing, clearly taken aback. "I'm neither."
"Are you a spirit then?" She knew there was something odd about the tower when she first laid eyes on it and dealing with a spirit usually meant bad luck. She was pretty sure that the person in front of her wasn't actually a spirit but she wasn't taking any chances. No regular person could summon fire at will.
"You really think a spirit could enter this tower?" They asked incredulously. They held the brush over the table's surface to prevent any stray ink from staining the paper. "What would make you believe such a thing?"
"The roof," she said. "It has no curved roof so that means spirits could stumble in and then I would probably be cursed or something... like that..."
Her voice faltered as she was left there blushing. Luckily the person went back to focusing on the task at hand and was no longer looking at her. After a few moments of silence, the person spoke.
"Well, I'm no spirit that's for sure." There was a faint hint of amusement in Shashi's voice. They continue to create more brush strokes on the paper.
"Then... what are you?"
"A wizard." They replied.
The words made her mouth go dry. She should've guessed it from the moment she saw them use a staff. Though, it never occurred to her that wizards with no arms existed. She slowly approached the table to see what exactly they were writing. The characters on the paper were unrecognizable to her, possibly belonging to another language. Every so often the words would emit gold sparks causing her eyes to light up in delight.
"What exactly are you doing anyway?" She couldn't look away from the paper, entranced by not only the beautiful light but also the soft curves and lines of their writing.
Their shoulders visibly tensed and the writing was paused a second time. "Writing a letter."
"To...?"
There was a sigh. "I would love to chat but I'm trying really hard to focus on my task right now. Could you find something else to do?"
"Like what?"
It was as if the world decided to answer at that moment and there was a plop near the door. Pranee turned her head towards the noise to see that squares wrapped in banana leaves drop next to a metal pot of water. The wizard glanced at the door as well and sighed.
"Well, that at least solves one issue of not accessing the second floor from here."
"There's a second floor?" Her eyebrows raised at the prospect of not needing to stay in the single room.
"Yes."
"What's on the second floor?
"A kitchen? I thought that much would be obvious."
She decided to say silent after that as the wizard seemed thoroughly irritated with her at that point and focused her attention on the new arrivals. Pranee carefully approached the items and carefully unwrapped the banana leaf to find a folded flatbread inside, instantly recognizing what it was; roti. She carefully took a bite and savoured the sweet flavour of eggs and milk. The wizard abruptly placed down their writing tools and quickly stood up, taking Pranee by surprise. Were they done already?
"It's too dark outside to work now. I'll have to continue working on it tomorrow. This doesn't mean you can ask more questions." They said as they stretched their back. Sitting in the same position for a few hours probably made their back stiff.
Pranee quickly swallowed her food and cleared her throat to speak. The wizard looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Can I request something then?" She tentatively wrapped the remainder of her bread back into the banana leaves.
"Depends on the request."
Her eyes met theirs and she refused to look away. The wizard raised their eyebrows waiting for her next words.
"Please teach me how to use magic."
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