Green Painted Glass

1.

The Kingdom of Wilvarea is one filled with a diverse population for how small it is. It was isolated from its neighbors by a dense forest that was once deemed inhospitable but its first King found a way to make peace with the werebeasts inside that were once believed to be inhuman.

Now, at the center of the forest, there is a huge capital city with many smaller settlements scattered throughout and at the forest's borders there is a magical barrier in place, created by the current King's Archmage.

King Raithion and the Archmage Ambrose were in an adventuring party when they were younger, much to their parents' dismay. Ambrose was not originally from the Kingdom of Wilvarea, as there are very few who are able to wield magic here and even fewer able to do more than levitate a bowl or cup. He was not the first of Raithion's party but had stayed by his side well past their adventuring days.

He had seen all manner of demon, magical beast, and fanciful sword on his adventures, but what stood before him was something he was weary of. Ambrose had received a peculiar piece of mail from the head mistress of the orphanage he was standing in the foyer of. It stated that one of its residents had shown promise in the magical arts, what the Archmage wasn't expecting, was a small Were child who still had her kitten ears and tail. It's not unheard of for a Were person to have some magic; however, magic in general did not often present until well after puberty to the late teens.

The child was sitting close to the entrance on a bench looking down at her feet as the head mistress praised her for her aptitude. Her hair had ringlets and it looked like she had worn her best hand me downs as she was in a light blue dress.

Nodding his head in agreement with what the head mistress had just said, Ambrose asked "May I talk with her?"
Flustered, the head mistress said "Oh, yes go ahead. Wren this is the man I told you about."

Looking up from her feet the girl questioned "The one who will take me away?" cocking her head.

"Ah, that is not-"

"First let's see what it is you can do, hm?" Ambrose cut off the head mistress with a gentle smile directed at the child.

Wren had never seen a man who looked like this. He was dressed in what could only be described as an exquisite maroon cloak and a dark tunic with matching pants made from a fine fabric. His tightly curled hair was starting to salt and pepper and there were smile lines around his mouth. Feeling safe under his kind gaze, she took her hand out of her pocket and light started to dance around her fingers. Wren thought of the pretty yellow green flower that she had seen this morning which resembled the man's eyes, and within seconds three of them appeared in her small hand.

Standing up, Wren walked up to the man and offered the small bouquet. "For you." she said with a grin.

Ambrose stood before the child, eyebrows raised. It had taken him two years and four months to learn materialization from a scholar back in his homeland and somehow this child who was not yet ten could do it with ease.

With a chuckle he reached out and accepted the flowers. "Thank you."

"It's just as you wrote about head mistress, she definitely has an inclination for magic."

Turning to the guard to his left, "Would you go with the head mistress and collect her things?"

"Of course." The guard saluted then paused for the head mistress to show him the way.

"Now then, no point in waiting, shall we go?" Ambrose asked, reaching a hand out to the girl.

Wren's ears twitched and hesitantly reached her hand out and placed it into the much bigger and warmer hand. "Where are we going?"