Chapter Text
Merida Surana - Making Trouble
9:21 Dragon
‘Focus… Focus… The book said that I need to channel the mana evenly or the glyph will fail. I can do this. I can.’
A soft light began to glow in the abandoned corner of the library where Merida sat as a glyph began to form on the floor. She was settled on the floor, her book open to the side, eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. As the glyph continued to form Merida began to hold her breath. Not even blinking, she willed herself to be completely still.
“What exactly is going on here?”
Merida jumped with a little squeal, the glyph disappearing with a little flash and puff of smoke. Her heart was practically beating out of her chest. “I almost had it!” She said, almost in a whine. Merida fell to the side, leaning against the wall, and turned to look at who interrupted her with an annoyed look.
Seeing that it was a Templar in front of her didn’t help to calm her down.
She didn’t remember the Templar’s name, but she knew he was one of the older ones who had been here for years. Maybe more importantly in this moment was that she could see he wasn’t happy. “Almost had what? This isn’t a designated practice area girl.” He said, looking down from Merida to the open book on the floor. He reached down and picked up it, eyeing the cover. “And this isn’t an approved book for apprentices.”
“But I can do it! I almost made the glyph!” Merida said, scrambling up to her feet. When she tried to reach for the book he pulled it away.
From the way he narrowed his eyes at him Merida knew that she’d made a mistake. “It doesn’t matter if you can do it or not, what matters is that it hasn’t been approved.” He leaned forward, and for the first time Merida noticed just how tall he was. Still, she stayed planted where she was. “If you’re ignoring the rules about what books you can take out from the library, what other rules are you ignoring? Hmm?”
The silence hung heavy in the air as Merida tried to think of something to say. It was true, she’d known that the book wasn’t for the apprentices, but creation magic had always come a little easier to her. It wasn’t as if it was a book on blood magic, and she wasn't trying anything that would let her leave the tower. She was just curious to see if she could do it.
Footsteps broke the silence, and behind the Templar Merida could see Mason running up to them. Mason came up and put his hand on Merida’s shoulder, putting himself between her and the Templar. “Merida, there you are! Did you, uh…” His eyes flickered over to the book. “Did you put that book away like I asked?”
“So this was yours?” He asked, clearly not really buying it. “Any idea why I caught her trying a spell from it then?”
Mason gave her look that said, ‘What are you stupid?’, then turned to face the Templar. “I was practicing with it earlier and she wanted to watch. Since she was going down anyway I asked her to put it away. She must have got it in her head that she could do it too, kid thinks she can do anything.” Mason said, ruffling her hair. Meanwhile Merida glared daggers up at him.
The Templar looked at both of them, seemed to consider the book in his hand, then shook his head. “You need to keep a better eye on her Amell, and put your own blasted books away.” He said, shoving it into his chest.
“Of course Ser, won’t happen again.” When the Templar was out of sight he breathed out a sigh of relief. “What were you thinking? You know which shelves are for apprentices, you’re not seven years old.” He said, putting the book in the first empty space he could find.
Merida crossed her arms “I just wanted to see if I could do it, what does it matter? I’ve already done most glyphs from the apprentice books.”
“Then get Enchanter Rey to give you something, don’t just take it on your own!” He snapped, which surprised her. She moved back a bit, her eyes wide. Mason had never yelled at Merida before. He’d never showed much emotion toward her at all. It had been almost a year since the senior Enchanters assigned Mason to be Merida’s ‘big brother’ and he’d always acted like it was a bother more than anything else.
Mason sighed and moved to fix the bit of hair that he’d mussed. “Look kid, you’re smart. Real smart. That means you have to toe the line even more than the other apprentices, even when it’s stupid. At the very least you have to work harder to not get caught.” Mason smiled and clapped her on the shoulder. “Next time you wanna try something like that make sure you come get me first, ok?”