Everything was still around Amara. The air had stopped blowing, the leafs weren't following the dance instructed by the breeze. There was something sick in the way of all the stillness, something swamp-like in the way everything was moving and in the way everything was not. Her blood felt warmer than ever before, it was now pumping through her veins, like nothing had happened. It was truly extraordinary, a few moments ago, the world seemed to end, now, it was going back to normal. The breeze tingled her dark skin but it was not the first to do so. The sun had appeared, though it was night when she and Thuban- "Thuban!" Amara screamed at the top of her lungs feeling as if she had never talked before, an odd sensation being the least of her worries right now. Where was Thuban? She turned around, almost falling, not by the sudden, yet not so sudden appearance of her partner next to her, but by the weakness of her legs, again, it felt like they had never been used before, like she was some infant who was just now learning how to function properly.
"Thuban!" a weak, yet strong enough voice was heard through her ears, yet she didn't recognise the voice as hers.
"Amara! How do you feel?" he seemed fine, as though nothing had ever happened. The same old grin on his face, the same goofy, yet smart smile, the same figure standing in front of her.
"What happened?"
"Nothing happened. I just deprived you from all of your powers."
"WHAT?! I thought you'd push them to the limits, not vanish them!" she sounded angry, but a part of her understood Thuban's brilliant idea.
"I did. I am! The only way for you to realise that you have powers is if you're striped completely off of them."
"That's stupid!" she said, unconvincingly.
"It's brilliant! Admit it!"
"Fine! Fine, I admit it, you win, it is a smart idea." Amara replied, a strong smile on her face. "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything"
"Why me? Why is the High Court so invested in making my powers show themselves?"
"I can't answer that. I'm not one of the seven wizards."
"The seven wizards decided upon that?"
"Yes. They had a meeting about it, decided to send me and here I am."
"And you don't think that's weird?"
"Of course I do! But you didn't seem to want to open up. The seven wizards only come together for matters of our community that will affect them long term. They build spells and organise meetings with younger magical people to teach them how to tame their powers. Was I supposed to tell you, the most sceptical witch I know, that those are who decided upon this?"
"Yes!" Amara replied, her fists clenching tightly, her skin on the virge of bleeding from the tightness of her grip, even though she knew what Thuban had just said.
"I'm sorry, it's not in my authority to do so. But I told you now. I hope you can trust me a bit more?" he asked, his hand stretched out towards Amara.
"Apology accepted." she replied, taking his hand and shaking it, an awkward silence building a wall between the two. "What's the first thing we need to do?" Amara asked, finally breaking the silence and with it, their handshake.
"I'll be giving you your basic magic powers and then we'll build from there. You'll realise it, it'll be tough for a while but I hope you'll get used to it. The pressure-"
"-of a witch is stabled by their magic. The stronger the magic, the stronger the pressure. I read books, Thuban!" she smiled at him.
"Good for you then. Are you ready for the adventure to begin?"
"Born ready!"