All Shades of Magic

Friends?

After the coronation I went upstairs and went straight out to the balcony to look at the stars. I was met with Kimi, just standing there waiting for me. I screamed in surprise and she jumped.

"Sorry," She laughed. I laughed too.

"No, it's fine," I replied. Kimi smiled.

"I didn't really get to see you at your coronation. So I wanted to talk to you for a bit," she said casually. "I can leave if you want but-"

"No! Please stay," I said back quickly. "I feel like i didn't get to see you at all,"

"Your dress is beautiful,"

"Why thank you... whodunnit,"

"Ok that one is super dumb!"

"Now i'm gonna call you it forever,"

"NOO!"

"Whodunnit whodunnit whodunnit," I teased. We talked for a long time. Finally Kimi brought up the dreaded topic. Well not dreaded, but i was trying to avoid it.

"Who was that girl you were with during your coronation?"

"That's Zinta. She's super nice and awesome. I'm kinda her apprentice. She's been my best friend since I was like, 8. I think you'd get along. I really like her, she's super nice," I rambled. I don't know why I'm so nervous. It wasn't like they wouldn't get along. Kimi might be a little scared of Zinta and her magic but... I think they could be friends? Kimi side-eyed me, she looked annoyed.

"Uh-huh. You mentioned that," she mumbled. She sounded sarcastic and bored. I felt myself frowning at her. I made myself stop and look neutral. Kimi looked up at me. "What do you learn from her?"

"Magic. She's a witch. She's super awesome. And nice. And smart. And just good at everything. She's been helping me plan the parties. She's super supportive. It's been really great actually," I started to calm down. Kimi now looked nervous.

"A witch?" Oops. I forgot she didn't know the different magical terms.

The different magical terms weren't all that relevant. But they are heavily stereotyped.

Witches are known to be evil with green skin. In reality, witches are mages who meddle in both spells and potions. Zinta was a witch because she knew a few potions and meddled in them whenever she wasn't learning spells. They're easily mixed up with sorcerers which are slightly different.

A mage is an umbrella term which simply means someone who practices magic. Usually mages are magic practitioners who use incantation and emotion-powered spells. Mages are the most common of the magical breed but are still quite rare since unless you're licensed in Fortis and Darius it's illegal to be one.

Wizards practice magic stored inside of objects. Most commonly gems or animal familiars. These are kept with them and with these items help they can perform magic. Another form of wizardry is spell runes. Less common, but you learn runes which can help you perform spells. I didn't know any, but Zinta did. She said someday she'll introduce me to other magical people in the forest where she lives.

And lastly, Sorcerers, who were wizards which practiced potions as well as spells. If wizards are rare, sorcerers are legendary. Being a sorcerer is hard, because you need loads of magical objects. Not just potion ingredients and not just magical objects for wizards. Not even Zinta had ever met one.

I explained this all to Kimi but she still seemed scared. And annoyed. But now she was also impressed.

"Ok then," she said. "I have to go home now. Bye,"

And she just got down and left. It was the weirdest thing. I called goodbye after her. I watched ehr run home. I felt like she ran faster today, maybe she had more energy or something. I was glad we got to talk, but I felt like something was off between us.

I laid down and found myself lying awake again. I wasn't tired, and I didn't have enough peer pressure to sleep. I stayed up and read through some spellbooks Zinta gave to me. They were very interesting. They were about spells, potions, magical objects, how magic works, magic history, safe magic places, and just all things magic. I loved it. Zinta had always said it wasn't a good idea for me to have these books in case I got caught, but she gave them to me now because I showed her a secret bookshelf I hid behind another bookshelf.

When I couldn't read anymore, I counted the stars. I counted thousands.

Every time I counted one I could feel myself becoming more and more at peace.

More calm. Almost like I was up there with the bright balls of flaming light.

"You're a star," I told myself, laughing at my own little pun. "Shine bright,"