The Magic Of Pride: A Pride Month Anthology

In The Whispering Wood

"Fuck off," Winter snapped. With a wave of their arm, the books in front of them hurled themselves at Tristan's head. Tristan ducked out of the archway, and the books nailed the wood instead of his head and fell to the floor with a thump. He toed at one with his boot.

"What in the name of magic is this? Reconstructing ancient practice: cults of necromancy and chaos magic. Do you want to be expelled?"

"It's Balthazar's. He gave it to me by accident and there's a useful bit on reconstructing practice in there. Now get out before I hit you with the whole shelf."

Tristan snorted and spun away, and moments later Winter heard his boots on the stairs. Winter waited until they were gone.

"Why did we let him move in?" they asked Tessa.

"Because you felt bad for him when his parents kicked him out," Tessa reminded them. "And this is student accommodation, so he technically has the right to be here."

"Yeah. That lasted for about two minutes. You'd think he'd be less of an unrelenting asshole in that case."

Tessa shrugged. "I don't know what you thought was going to happen. Tristan Saint Valentine isn't going to stop being Tristan Saint Valentine just because you were nice to him once."

That was, unfortunately, true.

The Trials were a tradition. They were a chance to prove you could apply what you were learning at the Institute in a practical, real-world situation. It was one thing to learn spells and practice them yourself or overload yourself with theory, but another thing entirely to use those skills. Every year, students were divided into teams, and set loose in the Whispering Wood, tasked with solving riddles and puzzles to locate 'relics' hidden in the woods and return them to the starting point. The task was made more difficult by the traps, puzzles and obstacles set by the teachers and other accomplished magicians, and by the fact of there being fewer relics than teams meaning that other students were likely to become obstacles as well. It was exhilarating, educational, and absolutely bonkers.

It was a big event in Autumn Springs, as much like a fair as a school event. The whole town packed into the field behind the Institute, setting up live music and spectacle magic, stalls selling food and carnival games for children, taking advantage of the gathering. The teachers kept an eye on the students, using familiars to watch them and showing their points-of-view for the crowd like a magical reality TV show. It was great. Winter loved magic, loved the strange little world Autumn Springs occupied, but this was one of the moments where they really felt a part of the magical community they called home.

The first day of the Trials was for the first and second year acolytes, so Winter and Tessa got to enjoy the fairground and watch them go through their Trials.

"It's too bad they usually change up the traps for us," Tessa commented as a first-year pair narrowly avoided being paralysed.

"Do you really want an unfair advantage?" Winter asked, taking a bite of a honey cake. The flavour exploded in their mouth, sweet and buzzing and filling their body with a gentle, golden warmth.

"Don't you?" Tessa returned, and Winter grinned.

There was a sensation of something brushing against their hand. A purple flower had sprouted next to them, it's heavy blossom bending on its stalk to brush against Winter's hand.

"I think Mistress Meriwether wants me. I'll be right back," Winter said, passing her the rest of the cake and standing. Tessa mhmmed and nodded, but didn't look away from the magical broadcast as a second year was knocked off their feet by a sudden bolt of magic.