Chapter Text
Serie's Kind Erziehen
Chapter 1
Inside the large indoor garden, secluded by all besides the mages who live and learn within the confines of Äußerst, sits Serie as she bathes and washes herself with the water and stares at the lush field of flowers.
Until it was interrupted by the obnoxious voice of a child.
“Serie!” It was the excitement of a child's voice. One akin in hopes of receiving acknowledgment from a mother. “Look! My ice cream magic spell!” Albert blurted out to Serie, his face full of wonder and joy.
This only resulted in a stare of complete blankness and uncomprehension. “That…would be the most useless spell I have and might witness.”
“NO, Serie. I swear it will be amazing. Watch.” Albert lifted his tiny infant hands as he began to visualize.
“Please don’t―” Serie wasn’t in the mood, but it would not matter as Albert would begin.
“Iced creation magic: Eiscreme.” In the moment, flakes of snow tickled down Albert's hand, forming a small glob of icy cream on the other hand. It didn’t look particularly creamy at all. It was white as snow and was truly more crispy ice than actual cream. ”I know it doesn’t look ice creaming. More like shaved icing and might…not be sweet. But I worked rewlly hard. And please, taste.” Albert innocently handed the glob of Ice to the still deadpanned Serie.
“That is singlehandedly…now that’s the dumbest waste of time someone spent on a spell I have seen in my life. Why would yo…?” Series raised a hand, stopping herself from going further.” Never mind, asking you. You’ll probably come up with another useless one.”
“They're not uweless!” Albert pouted, his tiny hands failing in defiance.
“Albert…” Series rubbed her forehead in seer―tiredness.”I have remembered. Each and every spell. Since you first began to comprehend magic, and you’ve still neglected all the basics and mastery of magic in exchange for.” Series lifted her finger and pointed it towards the ice. “Spells like… this.”
“I only want to…I thought it would be nice to share.” Albery sniffled in his words, eyes down on the floor.
“You had shared far too many, the last one with enchanted spaghetti that flew in the air was the moment I realized you, your talents are.” Series again lost her wording. “You’re young, Albert. I am sure as you will grow older, this fantasy in unproductive magic creation will all but turn into a hard fascination for more spells that could be used for productive things.” Serie only hoped―but wouldn't need it, for she already had chosen to mentor the boy.
“I just wanted you to smile!” His efforts all for not, Albert ran off in tears, the door slamming as he ran to his room.
Serie yet stood still. Her face looked unamused, but certainly not excited. And as she kept her posture as she looked at the door that was now shut, bathing in the run and flowers that stood, Lernen spoke.
“Was that necessary?” Slow and tired, a voice of mild disappointment.
“Don’t be Lernen. The boy is certainly holding still in his way of a unique methodology.”
“But he hasn’t even mastered a single fundamental of magic. His mana suspension and basics are below the standard for a…pupil of yours.”
“Are you doubting me?” Serie smiled at the words, lips and eyes curious at the near accusation.
“Im sorry…” Words fumbled, and he backed down in a whimper.
“Now, Lernen. There is nothing to apologize for. It's quite understandable from an outside perspective that you can’t see a talent.”
“But you called his efforts all but a waste of time?”
“Certainly it is. Perhaps for the quality and use for it was all but a waste of time. But then you can look at it like this: how long did you think it took him to come up with that spell?”
“I wouldn’t know?” Lernen turned his head down as he gave it a thought. “Perhaps from the very basics of ice spellcraft, the boy might have spent more than perhaps a year trying to master that magic.”
Serie smiled, almost scuffed as she amused herself with what she would say. “What if I told the boy the boy perhaps only might of spent a mere day coming up with that spell?”
“I would say that is to be impossible? Something that no mage could accomplish.” Lernen tilted his head, fully sure yet not comprehending Serie’s point. Methods began to form, with no conclusion that made sense.
“It would.” Serie nodded in complete acknowledgment.”If you used basic theory in magic. But Albert, that's actually what he can do.” A statement that had no smile, just a stern look right towards Lernen.
A few blink. A shutter in the eyes of Lernen as he came to comprehend the statement. “That's…how?”
Serie smiled. “It all started at the beginning of my mentoring lessons when he was merely 5 years old. We started with the basics of mana suppression and analysis.”
Time backwards in Serie’s first lesson for Albert in the understanding of magic.
It was when only Serie and Albert were both in separate secluded parts woods. No one could bother then. Serie stood in front of him as Albert sat on a rock with focused excitement, his smile giddy.
“Albert…Excitement and being joyful are all good emotions in learning. But stay focused.”Serie kept her face straight, focused on the lesson to come. Her hunches were always right, but she always needed a moment to confirm, for it was a long time since her last hunch for a student.
“Yws.” Albert saluted.
“Hopefully. Either way, let's start with mana control or suppression. A practically worthless skill besides its use in tricking demons. I would rather just kill them outright, but Flamme showed it merits.” A muse and a ramble, Serie almost caught herself in the past.
“Wha?”
“Never mind. Just focus on this.” Serie began to demonstrate a mana swirl and focused as it all compressed into itself, all around one hand. “As you can witness, this is mana suppression. Its uses come from far and between in practicality. So I wouldn't focus…on…it. Huh?
“Wow…I onderstand. I getting it. Bwt, there is not… no other way to use this.” Albert spoke, his mana suppressed at a novice level, with flickers and all.
“That's interesting. You haven't ever done this before?”
“I see everybody do it…I think? It’s just how tiny teeny-tiny their mana is. So maybe?” Albert himself wasnt sure; it was all just visible analysis with no hard conclusion before, but now that Serie actually told him the concept, it all clicked like a cog in a nearly fixed machine that was missing its last part.
“I see. So he had the concept down somewhere in his consciousness; he just needed one last visible thing to put it together. Those fluctuations indicate that he is just entering the conceptual level. But even so, he got it too quickly, for someone that never done it before. ” Serie thought to herself.
“Then if you are already at this level, there's nothing you can do besides now practice it and master the skill at your own time.”
“THAT'S BWRING!” Albert wailed his playfully outstretched.
“Well, there's nothing else to it besides practice.”
“MM!” A face full of grimace. He currently wouldn't ever do that when he could simply learn new spells rather than focus on a skill.
“Let's move on. One that was more used. Telekinesis magic.
“AAaaa…” A near squeal came from Albert's mouth that Serie ignored.
“Let's start with that rock. The simple basics is to control your mana and expand it to interact with objects outside your own range, and then lifting it.” And in demonstration, Serie pointed one finger at a singular rock that was a few feet away, and with one simple flick, the rock levitated. “It's all just elementary.”
“Hmmm…” Albert hummed. “Okae. I got twis.”
“Don’t expect anything to happen, Albert. This one actually requires a good thought and process for a mage.” Serie leaned on her fist as she looked over the boy.
Albert himself was standing in front of him, a single tiny rock, his hands were forward, shaking in concentration as nearly his veins began to pop. “AHHHHHHH!”
“Albert, this isn't meant for you to do, I only gave you an example to follow; you can’t just use it―unless―” Serie stopped, as she stared down Albert in genuine amusement.
“I did! I did it! LOOK!” Albert yelled in excitement. Levitation magic brought him more excitement than mana suppression; just making a tiny rock made him nearly jump up and down.
“Okay. Now this is certainly getting more interesting.” Serie only smiled, for perhaps in hundreds of years or maybe a decade, she truly smiled at the potential of one of her students. “Let's try something else now.”
And for the next hour, Serie showed him spell after spell, the spells themselves entering his mind in waves as it all came together, and before Serie knew it, he never stopped learning spells. Too bad most of them were useless when he started using them in practice.
“But then he kept coming back and coming back day after day with these new and different spells over and over each day, showing them off to me like a puppy craving a bone. Honestly, it was amusing, now it's getting…mind numbing.” Serie reminisced, leaning on her hand as she spoke to Lernen.
“He’s a genius,” Lernen muttered to himself, eyes agape with shock that went beyond his years.
“Not a genius. He skips to the steps of fundamentals in magic and spellcraft.”
“He skips to the fundamentals?” the word repeated with brows raised. “What…”
“Your confusion is still justified, Lernen. But to explain, what Albert does is as simple as saying he can reach the conceptual understanding of a spell quicker than anyone else in history.”
“For anything? Is that considered a talent of a genius? Or a nature?”
“Good question, Lernen. I wouldn't be fully sure myself. I haven't tested his abilities personally to the fullest yet, so I can’t be for sure. But I know for sure that it's a curse for him too.”
“If it's true…then this ‘curse’ would be the greatest talent ever. How is it even a curse then?” Lernen’s curiosity spiked, fully leaning as the shyness once there all but disappeared in the pursuit of the answers.
“It's a curse that he won't, for the sake of it, sit down and master any of the spells he had grown a conceptual understanding of. Every time he learns and applies a new spell he learns, he moves on to the next and next and next, never taking any time to actually go about mastering it.” Serie grumbled,” He’s nearly destroying his potential.”
“So he has an attention problem?” Lernen summarised.
“Is that what you humans call it?” Serie lifted a brow; perhaps this was the answer.
“Yes, most children of his age do tend to jump around to new and more exciting things when they are young.”
“Does that apply to all humans, Lernen? Like yourself.”
“Not practically, but it's definitely common. Albert just needs to grow older, and im sure he would be able to focus on mastering his spells.”
“Im not sure how to do that. But if it's time he needs, then I can wait.” Serie paused as she recalled some memory. “Flamme did herself spent a lot of time learning useless spells when she was young. Eitherway, Lernen!” Serie commanded in a stern voice.
“Yes.”
“Please take care of Albert for the meantime and try to rangle in his "childish tendencies.”
“Huh?” It was a shock and unexpected, a request he didnt see coming. “Im, master Serie. Im unsure I can do that…my expertise dont involve childcare…” Lernen whispers, afraid to match Serie’s gaze at rejecting his master's command.
“Why not? You're a human, im sure it's simple for you to figure it out.”
“I am. Im just not sure if I can fill the role he already has.”
“What does he have?”
“It's the fact that Albert sees you as a…im sorry if im breaching anything. But he sees you as a. Mother figure.”
“Huh?”
“The best I can do is be a guardian. Forgoing the attachment he has to you would be difficult.”
And Serie stood still, not frozen, only confused and questioning. For in a life of elf. Never did it come to her that someone would ever gain an attachment as seeing her as a mother.
And that only left her completely stuck on what the answer was to her plight.
“Can’t you just switch mother figures?”
“Just not…im not sure how that would work.” Lernen swayed his head, unsure if that was a choice or not, but still would try to find a solution to this problem.
“Then…” Serie sighed. “I guess I would need to learn parenthood from a book.”
“Huh?’
“I won’t squander the potential for a mage, Lernen. If learning parenthood is what is required to develop his talent, then what of it? I have time to do so.” Serie shrugged. It was a simple task in her mind. Just read a book and gain the knowledge of parenthood.
Just what could go wrong?