Work Text:
33 years old
Olivia knew she might be too young to have those thoughts, but for some reason, as she watched her new student at work, looking at her task with the same kind of focused frown Olivia herself must have displayed at that age, she couldn't help but feel old.
It seemed like yesterday she had been in this workshop for the first time, eager to learn magic, and standing at that table as Mateo patiently yet eagerly showed her the wonderful world of magic. Now, she was standing by the same table Mateo used for his wizard work, ready to show the very same world to the youngest princess of Avalor.
The main difference was Olivia herself had mostly started out with basic alchemy, learning to turn liquids into solids and solids into gases and variations in-between. Princess Núria, however, had already learned those things from her father, and could already perform some fairly complex spells, one of which she was currently doing to show Olivia her current amount of skill.
Olivia snapped out of her musings as the princess' arms shook harder, the bowl she was keeping afloat falling for about a foot before she managed to halt its fall.
"I think that's enough," Olivia said. "Bring it down."
Núria gave her a sideways look, her dark-brown eyes narrowed and her arms shaking from the strain.
"I can keep it a little while longer…" she ground out.
Without changing her calm tone or expression, Olivia insisted, "Núria, please bring it down."
The princess' eyes widened an edge, as if she was about to try to give her the same kind of puppy looks her older siblings - her whole family, in fact - could muster. Then her eyes widened much farther as her tamborita stopped bowling and the bowl dropped like a rock and turned upside down.
"Llevaluq!" Olivia shouted as she raised and smacked her own tamborita as water splashed onto the table..
The bowl stopped falling a hairsbreadth from the table, but the water inside it had already flown in every direction and soaked the table, a few stray drops falling on Núria's face.
Water trickling down her tanned cheeks, the youngest princess turned to look at her.
"Sorry, Aunt Olivia," she mumbled.
Olivia gave her a comforting smile.
"It's alright."
To prove her point, she directed the still floating bowl onto the table, where it landed right side up. Then she smacked her tamborita again, this time without saying a word, and all the water that had fallen swirled up like transparent earthworms, which gathered themselves into a sphere that then trickled neatly into the bowl resting below it.
"See?" Olivia added with a reassuring smile.
Núria's shoulders dropped.
"No. It's not alright. I messed up."
Olivia slid her tamborita into its holster and walked over to her student.
"It happens," she soothed. "I would know - I once managed to bust the workshop's door, and another time I summoned a water spirit by accident."
All too late, she realized those might not have been the best examples. A magic teacher probably shouldn't share her mishaps like that. It was hard to know - she had never had a student - but it just didn't seem like the best idea. However, Núria didn't even blink at either comment.
"And you're already great at this for someone your age," Olivia went on with an encouraging grin.
"Papa and Fiero told me the same thing," Núria replied.
Before Olivia could say anything, the princess looked down and added, her voice lower and sadder, "But Leonor and Lucero are still better than me."
Olivia rested a hand on Núria's shoulder. "They're seven years older. They've had more time to learn. And they started learning more or less at your age." She crouched to look the princess in the eyes. "And you don't have to be as good as them. You just have to be the best you can be."
"But my siblings are all great at something!" Núria protested, looking back up. "Candida is great at singing, Alex is great at sports, Leonor and Lucero are great at magic, and I…" her voice faltered. "...I'm just the family baby."
Olivia put her other hand under the princess' chin. "You're a great girl. That's already something to be really proud of."
Núria turned her eyes downwards once more. "I'm still the family baby."
Olivia's heart went out to the princess. As much as her parents and siblings had never tried to push her into that spot, the large age difference between Núria and her siblings had somehow led her to develop the feeling that she would never be more than the family baby. Olivia had seen many, from her parents to the jaquin clan, trying to reassure her that it wasn't true, but this seemed to be one of those fears that would not go away so easily. Olivia herself had already tried to soothe it before, but without any more success.
But she wouldn't stop trying.
"I know it doesn't look like that now, but you're still you really want to, you have time to find something to be great at."
Ever so slowly, Núria's eyes started turning upwards.
"And even if you don't find it, just remember you're already great as you are. You're clever, you're brave, and you're hardworking, and you can be proud of all that." Olívia nudged Núria's chin. "And no matter what, your family and friends love you for you. All of them."
A long silence followed, broken only by the faint rustling of the flames along the workshop as they burned up their fuel sources. Then, Núria's lips curled into a smile.
"Thanks, Aunt Olivia."
Then, before Olivia could say or do anything else, the princess leapt forward and wrapped her arms around her. Despite the ache from crouching for so long, Olivia sighed in relief as she returned the hug.
Once they pulled apart, and Olivia rose from her crouching position, Núria asked, "What's next?"
"Next you need to rest for a bit."
Núria started to pout, but Olivia went on.
"If you want to practice magic, it's not a good idea to do it when you're tired. Once you've rested, we can go on."
Núria's pout slowly faded, as if she wanted to think of some answer to give, but couldn't remember any that didn't felt like she was just throwing a tantrum.
Then her eyes lit up as if she'd had an idea.
"Can you tell me a story while we wait?"
Olivia smiled. "Of course I can. Do you have any you'd like to hear?"
"The story of how you summoned that water spirit you told me about!" Núria replied. "It sounds fun!"
Olivia held back a burst of nervous chuckles. Of all the stories Núria could have asked for, that had to be one of the last she wanted to tell. She guessed it was on her for having brought up the episode, but she still wanted to tell it as much as she wanted to be stepped on by a horse. It hadn't been a fun story, to say the least, though it had a good ending. Even today, the whole incident was something she was still somewhat ashamed of. But seeing the genuine interest flying out of Núria's eyes, Olivia could only say one thing.
"Of course."
Though it was a short sentence, she barely had time to finish it before Núria sat down in a cross-legged position.
Taking a deep breath, Olivia sank down into a similar stance of her own, hoping it would help her summon the effort required for the task. That really hadn't been a fun story. It had been a horrible way for her apprenticeship under Mateo to begin.
But like her mother had said when she was a child, just because things got off to a bad start, it didn't mean they had to keep going badly. And she would always be happy that her magic lessons with Mateo had gone well in the end.
Brought back to reality by the eager gleam in Núria's eyes, Olivia took another deep breath, and began the tale her student wanted to hear.