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There was something majestic about the building in front of her. With astonished eyes Ember looked at her parents a few steps ahead. Her mother told her they will do something important today and she needs to be a good girl for this but nothing more. Since breakfast she wondered what was so special about today, especially because no sibling came with her beside her youngest brother who still got nursed.
It was beyond noon, and they only stopped a while ago for a quick meal made of apples and some cheese with bread. Ember’s feet hurt from all the walking but the building in front of her made her forgot about it.
Something vibrated around it. It was palpable to her, but her parents didn’t seem to notice it. Only a few feet away from the main gate the sensation of ants on her skin added to the vibration. It reminded Ember of the prank Josh pulled on her a few weeks ago where he hid ants in her bed.
“Come one, Ember. We are almost there”, her mother called.
It wasn’t unfriendly, but it wasn’t warm either. The warmth went missing three days ago when the stable suddenly burned. Ember hurried as fast as her little feet could manage and bumped into her father when her parents stopped abruptly.
“We were waiting for you.”
A group of three people stood in the gate. The man in the middle spoke up.
“How could you know?”, her father inquired.
“That’s our job.”
It was the young woman to his left who spoke this time. Ember liked her immediately because she looked nice and friendly.
“I see...”, her father said and scratched the back of his head, “We should discuss some things.”
“Of course, come in and be our guest.”
The old man invited them with a gesture and stepped aside without making any noise. While her parents and the older woman followed him, the younger woman knelt down in front of Ember.
“I am Maribell. What is your name, little lady?”
“Ember...”, she giggled because she thought it was funny to be called little lady.
“Why don’t we let the adults talk and I show you the garden? One of the cats had kitten a while back.”
“Kitties!”, Ember jumped up and down excited.
“But you need to be calm. They will get scared if you are loud.”
Her lips pressed together Ember followed Maribell through the many corridors. Her skin itched even more. Secretly she started to scratch her arms. Maribell looked over her shoulder.
“Oh, I am sorry, sweetie. The magic makes your skin itch.”
“Magic?”
Ember stretched the word with awe.
“Yes. You don’t know where you are?”
“No, where am I?”
“This is a mage circle. Your skin itches because you have magic and the magic in you reacts with the magic in the building.”
They stepped through a smaller version of the gate and out into a huge garden.
In the distance Ember could see the river that also went through her village. A few other children a little older than her played catch. It took a few moments until the information about magic made its way through Ember’s mind.
“I have magic?”
“Yes, you have magic. Your parents brought you here to learn more about it. Every single one of us got brought here when we were young.”
Maribell made a few steps into the garden, but Ember didn’t follow.
“How do they know?”
“You mean how do your parents know you have magic?”
Ember nodded and took a small step into the garden. Her eyes set on the other children she realized they used magic while they played.
“You must have done something that can be only explained with magic.”
The moment Maribell finished her sentence Ember felt sick. She struggled to walk to the small stone bench and sat down. Maribell hurried after her.
“You know what it was, don’t you?”
“Yeah...”
“Whatever it is, it is ok, sweetie. You didn’t do it on purpose. Do you want to tell me?”
“Josh was mean, and he is always mean, and I wanted to … make him feel like I feel, and suddenly I was hot and…”
“You summoned fire?”, Maribell asked gently.
Ember just nodded with little sobs.
“I didn’t want it! The stable burnt because of me.”
She didn’t pay attention to her surrounding until Maribell hugged her tight.
“Everything is ok, sweetie. It was an accident. Many of us did something like this when our magic got used the first time.”
They sat like this for a while.
“Are you new?”, a boy’s voice asked from behind her.
Ember startled and turned around to look into the grinning face of a boy two or three years older than her.
“Larkin, you shouldn’t sneak up on other people!”, Maribell scolded him with a frown.
“I am sorry. I was curious. Are you new?”
Larkin looked up and down to see who Ember was.
“I think...”
“Do you like cats?”
“Yeah...”
Before Ember knew what happened Larkin pulled her with him to the barn on the other side of the garden. She stumbled after him as good as she could with her teary eyes and small legs.
In front of the barn, he stopped and put his index finger on his lips.
“We need to be silent. Mommy cat doesn’t like noise.”
With a big nod Ember followed him carefully.
The cat with her three kittens laid hidden under some straw. She put her hands on her mouth to stop her from squealing because the kittens were already old enough to discover their surroundings and made their way straight to her. The mother cat’s ears twitched as some more children joined them.
“That is not fair. We wanted to go together”, a girl lamented but stopped when she saw Ember, “Oh, a new face.”
“I am Ember”, she snickered as one of the kittens climbed on her shoulder.
A moment later she looked up and tilted her head confused.
“What is with your ears?”
The other girl blinked confused.
“You haven’t seen an elf before?”
“And elf?”
Curious Ember looked around and noticed some of the other children also looked strange to her. One had green skin and long teeth like a dog. Another one had the weird ears like the girl but was blue-ish or purple-ish regarding the skin tone. One even had legs like a horse.
“You never saw someone else than humans?”, Larkin questioned amazed.
“No, we have a farm. Not far away. Half a day?”
She did her best to understand what all this meant.
“That explains a lot”, the green skinned boy nodded, “I am T’mat. I am an Orc. We rarely have magic. My tribe visits me a lot.”
The elf girl hit his head with a dirty look.
“Idiot. You know most of us don’t have families anymore. I am Shirani. Can you control you magic?”
“I didn’t know magic before Maribell told me.”
The soft fur of the kitten against her skin calmed Ember down enough to be able to have this conversation.
“Wow, that is bad.”
“Do you wanna see something awesome?”
Larkin moved around on his place where he sat with the big grin back in its place.
“Yeah!”
The sound of the meal bell called everyone together for the evening meal. Ember ran to Maribell with laughter and feeling happy for the first time in weeks.
“Hey, there you are. Did you already make friends?”
“Yeah and see!”
With her eyes glued on her outstretched hand Ember concentrated hard. Larkin and Shirani showed her some simple magic, and she wanted to show it Maribell. She practiced so hard with the others.
Long seconds nothing happened, and she was close to give up, but suddenly a small orb appeared in her hand. It glowed softly and almost weak, but it was a small fire orb.
“Ember, that is awesome! I didn’t expect you to learn this within a few hours.”
Maribell laughed and hugged Ember excited.
“Really?”
“Yes, a lot of us need a week to learn this. You are a talented mage, my little lady. But for now, you must be hungry.”
Like this was a hidden message Ember’s stomach growled. She accepted Maribell’s hand happily after she let the orb vanish again.
“Where are mommy and daddy?”
She looked around hopeful to see them in the crowd.
“They left.”
It sounded weird how Maribell said it. For a moment Ember thought Maribell was angry at her parents.
“They didn’t say goodbye”, she stated sadly.
Maribell stopped and knelt down.
“Ember, we are your family now. You are the daughter of every adult here now. You have a lot of mommys and daddys and uncles and aunts now. We mages are huge family, and we fight for our family. But it is ok to feel sad. Do you hear me?”, Maribell explained seriously and with a weak smile.
“Yes, I hear you.”
“Good”, Maribell smiled and tipped Ember’s nose, “Now let’s get some bread and fruits. I bet we can find some leftover pie in the kitchen for you. And for tonight, you stay with me. Tomorrow we will see where you will live.”
“Can I live with Shirani? I like her.”
“I will see what we can do.”
The laughter of both echoed through the halls as they walked towards the great hall. The smell of stew greeted them as they entered it. For the next hour Ember forgot that her parents left without saying goodbye. Her new friends were more important.