The Breath -Sixth Whale Book 1

*4*

" Now you have to try and protect your sprouts, plant them quickly while I explain. You will be making barriers large enough to protect your sprouts." They noticed the girls face lose some of its colour as she sized up her sapling. It hadn't escaped his notice that it was still growing. " You barrier shall then be attacked by some ants. A successful barrier does not kill the attackers but makes them leave or go around it." Your time starts once you create a barrier. If you can't create one within two hours or the ants reach your plant you will have failed." He turned to the warlock who was still feeding energy into his sprout to make it bigger. He had noticed the boy stealing jealous glances at the sapling. " Lad. I would recommend you stop encouraging your plant to grow, the bigger it gets, the bigger the barrier you will need to create." Shae looked over to see if she could find the warlock. She was certain there were only witches left. What was worse though was she still hadn't explained that he was making a mistake, and was just getting swept up in the tests. One of the other Witches sniggered. " We're all witches here that lad is a girl." Shae looked over as she tried to dig a hole for her sapling. Then she noticed Vern and decided not to get involved. Ofrin had been very specific about how she shouldn't talk to Vern. He had labelled her as a disgusting freak. Shae didn't really see why the other Witch, Becca,  was laughing. If you didn't know then Vern did look like a boy. She had short hair that was such a dark blue it bordered on black and a broad set of shoulders from working at the Blacksmiths. Wearing skirts In a Smithy would just be impractical, so of course, Vern dressed like a boy too. She had heard that Vern's magic looked funny, but she couldn't really tell. Everyone always had the same pink haze around them to her. 

Vern felt suddenly quite uncomfortable at being the centre of attention, particularly the centre of the Witchfather's attention. Vern had been told the witchfather knew everything about someone at a glance. So he should have seen past the boy's clothes and the bound chest. Vern wanted to be a man, desperately wanted it and to have convinced the witchfather was a thrill but as everyone had kept reminding them that wasn't the case. The Witchfather smiled at him, but Vern just looked away hurriedly. Thandre clapped his hands to bring the groups attention back to himself. " Time starts now." 

Thandre realised that he had clearly put the young warlock in an uncomfortable position. He tended to see people for who they were and ignored some of the other more physical aspects. He'd forgotten that most people didn't see the world like that. Throughout the test decided to stop by each of the candidates for a bit of one-on-one tuition. His real target was to have a chat with the warlock boy. Thandre knew of some old magic that the lad might find... interesting. A fair few of the Whales religions had declared it taboo in the eyes of the creator but Thandre didn't hold any stock with that kind of doctrine. Those beliefs had somehow leaked into all society and the magic was lost to all but a few. 

Two of his pit stops had ended with the witches only being more frustrated with their attempts. The girl had already made her barrier but kept putting more into it. He had positioned her further away from the others because as he had expected her barrier had already engulfed her sapling, herself and half his home. She didn't realise she was already inside it and there were lines of ants giving her a wide girth. He found her lack of awareness amusing and dangerous. It wasn't any wonder her 'friend' wanted to keep a close eye on her. He would get her to reign it in soon before it interfered with the others attempts.

When he stopped by the young lad he was pleased to see a nice steady barrier. He says next to him. " You are a warlock, aren't you?" The barrier shook a little and Vern scowled at the Witchfather. " You heard them. I'm a witch." Vern couldn't have sounded more bitter about it if he tried. Thandre lay back in the soft grass.  " I'm a lot older than them, so I've seen a lot more. I don't feel you are a witch and If you don't feel you're a witch either I would recommend coming by my cabin tonight. Apprentice or not I have some magic that might interest you... what's your name?" Thandre's whispered speech would probably have landed better if he'd asked for names earlier. "Vern." Thandre smiled and stood up. Vern, yes defender, that would be a strong name for a witchfather. " It's nice to meet you, Vern."

The girl's barrier was getting slightly too big now so Thandre decided it was perhaps time to teach her the basics of self-control. He sat just next to where she was kneeling and observed the look of extreme concentration on her face. " So what's your name?" Thandre asked. He decided leading with names was the way to go. " Shae, Witchfather." She realised she had her opportunity. " You're making a mistake. It's not me who should be here. I can't even make a tiny barrier." She looked him dead in the eyes and Thandre could tell that someone had strongly made her believe she was powerless. " I think you should be and you need to pull some magic out of your barrier. It's starting to get in the way of the others. Follow me." Thandre took her to the middle of the yard. Shae couldn't understand why he wouldn't listen but followed regardless. He knelt on the grass and gestured for her to join him. " Look down and tell me what you see." She looked down. " Ants." She still didn't know where he was going with this. Thandre nodded. " Where are the ants going Shae?" He prompted. Explosive talent left unchecked and going out of control due to sheer denial. If she'd been wandering around the city like this it wasn't a surprise the sickness had spread. He should have picked up on her the second she entered the Halves. Shae's eye followed the marching ants as they began their wide arc. I was like they were moving around something. " Moving around my sapling." Her eyes lit up, for a second Thandre thought he had an opening, but denial slammed down again. Shae couldn't believe what he was trying to imply. Part of her the part that wouldn't always listen to Ofrin felt validated. She might just belong here after all.