Following the path into the main city, they continued deeper and deeper until they reached the magic district of Orshon. Like her master, the people here were all dressed in long dark robes and had various types of hats resting on their heads, mainly ones similar to their own, but she did spot a few unique hats that stood out. There was one similar to a top hat but thrice as tall, a funny fella with a curly mustache had a wide brimmed hat that curved like an umbrella; Kira got a chuckle seeing a feathery hat that looked like a nest atop a lady.

  Besides robes and hats, Kira recognized a few races she had read about, but had only seen them a few times around the normal part of the city. But here, in the magic district, they could be found every which way you looked.

  All around her were shops and stalls that were oddly shaped and sparkling with magic. They would immediately stick out if they were placed anywhere besides this district. She looked up to see a stone building somehow arching over the street, and when she peered inside, the people looked sideways to her, but they appeared to be walking around like normal. A stall to her right had wooden legs growing on its four corners and was walking down the street while its owner was hawking their wares. A shop that looked like an upsized version of a treasure chest was brimming with guests, though Kira wasn’t sure what they sold inside.

  She wasn’t able to visit the magic district without her master due to the potential for… well lots of things to go wrong, but everytime she did come here, it was a wonder to behold! Unfortunately she didn't have much time to let her eyes wander the wondrous scene around her because she felt her master tug on her arm and then pulled her into a shop.

  Wands of all shapes, sizes, and colors were neatly placed on soft maroon cushions resting on numerous shelves that wrapped around the back and side walls of this place. The interior was spacious and from the shine and polish that came from every nook and cranny, it was clearly well taken care of.

  Kira’s eyes finally landed on a woman facing away from them, who was carefully dusting a wand on the back wall with a wispy feather duster. She inspected it to make sure it was pristine before moving on to the next. She was just as tall as Rynus and had long black hair tied up in a bun. Kira could spot the edges of some glasses peeking out from the side of her face.

  The women made sure the wand in front of her was properly cleaned before she turned to face them. Her face was pretty, as most wizards seemed to be from what Kira had seen, but appeared cold and emotionless. Her eyebrows were sharp, resting with a downward curve, and her cheeks were slightly hollow as her jawline was quite pronounced. Circular glasses with black rims gently sat on her smooth nose, while the eyes behind them stared at the two new customers.

  “Rynus.” The woman said plainly, recognizing Kira’s master. Her eyes trailed down to look at Kira and one of her eyebrows raised up in response.

  “It's been a while Merran, I was surprised to hear you were back so soon, how did your journey go?” Rynus replied with a smile.

  “Successful. I thought I would be gone for 20 years, but I seemed to have lucked out with my finds— now who’s this?” She stared, unblinking at Kira.

  Rynus wrapped his long arms around Kira’s back and pushed her slightly forward. “This, my dear friend, is my apprentice, Kira.”

  Both of Merran’s eyebrows raised this time, before promptly returning to her normal stoic face. “It appears my luck wasn't as good as I thought, I completely missed your apprentices growing years.”

  Rynus chuckled with a grin, “Others may call you cold, but I know the real you. As sweet as ever.” He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. “It's good to see again, I would’ve visited sooner, but I didn’t even know you were back till a few days ago.”

  Merran froze for a second before returning the hug with an awkward pat. “Yes well, I had a lot I needed to get sorted out after 15 years away. I was thinking of making a trip to your place tomorrow anyways.”

  After they released each other from the hug, Rynus said, “Good good, I'm glad you're back. And as it's my dear Kira’s time to start learning magic, I brought her over to the best wand maker I know.”

  “Hmph.” Merran huffed and Kira swore she saw the tiniest of smiles curl up on her lips for a split second before disappearing. “Come here child.” The woman beckoned her over.

  Kira looked up to her master who nodded at her with an almost childlike enthusiasm just like her own most of the time. She stepped forward in front of Merran with a little nervousness tingling through her stomach. Rynus and Merran seemed to be friends, so they must know each other quite well, but that didn't make Merran any less intimidating to her.

  “Has Rynus treated you fairly?” Merran asked, surprising Kira a little with the question.

  Kira nodded, remembering all the times Rynus had spoiled her with delicious foods or bought her cool presents for her birthday. He hadn’t really allowed her to interact much with the magical side of life just yet, which did annoy Kira at first, but as she grew older, she knew he was just trying to keep her healthy and safe.

  “Good. Now then, give me your hand.” Merran reached out and gently clasped Kira’s outstretched hand. Instantly, Kira felt a little jolt on her hand as they touched. “Ah a child of Thorn, what a coincidence.”

  The black marks of Thorn had grown along with Kira as she aged, and it still fully circled around the base of her neck, but they were currently hidden by her clothing. Somehow Merran was able to tell she was a child of Thorn without evening seeing the marks.

  “Hmm, what do you think of magic Kira?” Merran asked as she was pressing and prodding Kira’s hand.

  What did she think of magic? That was a hard question she didn't know how to answer immediately and needed a second to think about it. She loved magic obviously, even though she hadn't even learned to use any yet, but seeing what her master was capable of, or what she had read about in her books, it was all so amazing to her. It had caused her some sadness when she was still living in the orphanage, but those days were so far behind her she barely remembered them. In fact, now that she and Rynus visited Mrs.Funkell— her mom— and the rest of her orphanage family every year, the more those memories were becoming good ones. With Rynus by her side, she could play with the kids without fearing that she’d hurt anyone, and had grown closer to the ones she was never able to hang around with beforehand.

  Memories and feelings swirled inside of her, but she knew she couldn't just stand there in silence forever so she said the first thing that came to mind, her true feeling on magic.

  “It's the coolest!” She said a little louder than she wanted with a large grin on her face.

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  “Simple… but that's not a bad thing. Mmm, your mana is faintly erratic, but there's a power to it.” Merran spoke to herself aloud, trying to get a good read on Kira’s magic.

  “Okay let's try some wands out.” Merran let go of her hand and walked around her store, searching for the right wand, before she carefully picked one up and held it out to Kira. “Now my dear, this is a real wand, treat it with respect, but don't shy away from it. Let your magic flow throw it naturally.”

  Kira nodded and took a reddish brown wand from Merran with two hands, being careful not to drop it. The second her fingers touched it, she felt a tingle course through her and almost dropped the wand on instinct, but she was luckily able to quickly clasp it so it didn't fall.

  Once she knew she had a firm hold over the wand, she held it with one hand and held it up to her face to inspect the wand. It was a simple wand with a classical wand shape; long, thin, and cylindrical. There were no curves, spirals, or any other odd designs. She felt her magic interact with the wand as it slowly seeped into its wooden base from where her hand was touching it, and she could feel her mana change and grow as it crept up the wand.

  “Has Rynus taught you any magic yet?”

  Kira shook her head. “Not yet, we just started yesterday.”

  “Hmm, I guess teaching a child of Thorn without a starter wand would be more difficult, but this makes my job a little more challenging.” Merran said, then surprisingly smiled. “I want you to point the wand at me and to try channeling your mana through it.”

  Rynus opened his mouth to say something but got a deadly stare in response from Merran, not wanting him to interrupt her work.

  “Are you sure? Rynus says I have an affinity for… well, blowing things up with my magic.” Kira asked, a little anxious about following Merran’s instructions.

  “Don't worry about that, just try and shoot some magic child.” Merran reassured her… in a way.

  ‘Well if she's okay with it.’

  Being able to feel her mana slowly course through her hand into the wand made it easier for her to push more mana into the wand. She pointed it at Merran and after a few pushes, she jumped back in surprise as a rush of magic burst out of the wand in a scattered form, sending little bits of raw magic flying out in front of her.

  Before the magic could hit anything and potentially damage it, Merran waved her hand a wall of yellow light rushed, and every bit of Kira’s magic that passed through it disappeared as if it was never there to begin with.

  Kira stood still, then her whole face lit up with joy! She had used magic again! It felt a little different than yesterday's whole lesson, because instead of just attempting to call forth all her magic at once, she made little pushes until a small amount of magic came out. And she could still stand afterwards!

  “So how did it feel?”

  “That was amazing! Did you see that master!?” She flashed him a wide smile and Rynus clapped in response, making her giggle.

  “Not the magic dear, the wand. Did it feel smooth? Is it too heavy or light? Does it just feel off in a way?” Merran interrogated her with a barrage of questions.

  Now that she was thinking about it—

  “It… It felt… weird?” Kira tried to grasp the feeling and explain it, “And it's a little heavy I think, I'm not too sure.”

  “Hmmm, did it feel like the wand didnt like your magic? Rejected it even?”

  “I didn't feel like it rejected my magic, but more like… it didn't like the taste of my magic?” Kira said, which made Rynus chuckle hearing her foody metaphor.

  Merran took the wand back from Kira and started mumbling to herself while searching for a new wand for Kira to test out. The dark haired wizard zipped around her store, zoning in on the wand she thought was best for Kira after hearing her remarks.

  Eventually after a few minutes, Merran presented her with a new wand, one that immediately caught her attention just seeing the sleek design. It was slightly longer than the previous wand, about twice as long as her forearm, and was made of a dark brown wood polished to a shine. The section near the base was a lighter brown and extruded outwards creating a thicker section to hold onto it more easily, with floral etchings around the rim to give it a little more of a unique shape. At the very bottom of the wand was a little rose protrusion made of the same lighter wood.

  “Woah.” Kira unintentionally said, seeing the wand in front of her eyes. It was totally different than the first wand she tried and it almost immediately felt just right when she took it into her hand.

  “Once again, try channeling your magic through it.” Merran chimed in.

  This time, it took one push for her magic to simply breeze through her body, through her wand, creating a small streak of mana that shot right out of her wand. Shocked that it worked so easily, Kira’s eyes widened watching her mana get dispersed once again by Merran.

  “That was awesome!” Kira shouted in joy and channeled more mana into her wand, this time pushing a little harder. Her folly got the better of herself and she felt her wand blast out more mana than she could control, and more than her body could handle, as the force of the magic sent her falling onto her backside.

  “Ouch.” She winced, but looked up in embarrassment at what she had just done. Of course, the experienced wizard had easily blocked her blast. Merran then walked over to her and leaned down, offering Kira her arm.

  “She’s a little feisty isn't she?” Merran said, eyeing Kira’s wand. “I think she likes you.”

  “It… she… she's awesome!” Kira cheered. "Wow, that was so much different then the last one. It was like she wanted to use my magic!”

  “Mm, that's a good sign.” Merran nodded. “So how do you feel?”

  “This is the one!” Kira raised the wand high above her head and stared at it with love. “For sure!”

  “Hm, that's a good sign. A wizard should follow their instincts when it comes to things like this. As long as you're sure, then that's good. Though second try, I guess I'm getting pretty good at this.” She mumbled that last part.

  “So this is the one then Kira?” Rynus came over to her and double-checked with her decision.

  “Mm!” Kira's eyes were glued to the wand.

  “Perfect!” Rynus clapped. “How much for the wand Merran?”

  “For a friend's apprentice? None. She can have it for free.”

  “What? Free?” Rynus was taken aback. “I can't do that, your wands must cost you money, time, and love. I insist, we can't take it for free.”

  “Then I'll accept a few free meals from your restaurant if you want to pay, but I won't accept money from you.”

  Rynus rubbed his long willowy silver beard in deliberation, before he nodded. “Fine, you have yourself a deal. Free meals for a year, whenever you want, however much you want.”

  “A year? That's a long time for you to give me free food. That’s worth way more than a starter wand.”

  “That's my only offer, and I'm not taking no for an answer.”

  “Hmph.” Merran’s cold expression lifted just a little. “Then I'll make sure to take advantage of this deal.”

  The two spoke for a couple more minutes after their deal was made, something about her decade long travels, but Kira was too busy staring at her wand to really pay attention to what they talked about. What a dream come true! Her first wand, in her hands!

  Wah! She cheered internally and could feel the magic in her body grow closer to the wand as a bond was forming between them. How much she wanted to try pushing her magic into the wand was almost beyond her self control, but she held firm. If she ended up blowing up this shop, or damaging one of Merran’s wands… oh she didnt want to imagine what punishment Rynus would give her. She bet he would take her new wand away from her for a week, or even put their magic lessons on hold— she could not let that happen!

  “How fascinating!” Rynus remarked to something Merran had told him. “Oh, would you look at the time, it was great seeing you again, Merran, but I have another appointment I must take Kira to shortly. Are you still thinking of visiting the restaurant tomorrow?”

  “Mm, I’ll come sometime in the evening.”

  “That works, though I’m closing early until the school year starts, so if you can’t find me inside, I’ll be somewhere in the back training with Kira.” Rynus explained.

  With that, Rynus gave Merran a farewell hug, one that Merran returned a little more comfortably then the first one, and left the store with Kira. She was still too busy studying her wand and almost forgot to thank Merran, but as the door was closing, Kira shouted from outside, “Thanks Merran!!”

  Merran watched the door of her store shut and a light giggle escaped from her lips. A smile rested on her face, one that didn’t seem to go away. Rynus really found such a perfect apprentice. Oh, I should bring her a gift tomorrow, but what would she like hmm?

  While Merran was deliberating gift ideas, Rynus and Kira trekked through the streets of the magic district, going deeper into the center. Eventually Kira snapped out of her current wand obsessive state and asked Rynus where they were going now. She already had her wand, was there something else they had to get right now?

  “It's a surprise, you'll see very soon.” Rynus chuckled as Kira pestered him to tell her already, but he resisted her adorable plight.