"Morning blondie." Maddie nonchalantly replied as she tossed a piece of toast in her mouth and chewed slowly.
Ollie narrowed his eyes in surprise. For one, he could not believe that Maddie would actually greet him politely, especially not after she went to bed angry at him last night. So he was certainly surprised and a little bit suspicious.
"Is everything okay Maddie?" he asked as he took his seat.
"Everything is peachy." she replied as she continued chewing, but Ollie did not seem convinced at all by her reply.
"Are you sure?" asked Ollie in suspicion.
"Very." she replied.
"Are you really sure? Why did you say that everything is peachy? Do you want to eat some peaches? I could ask the chef to get you some." said Ollie.
"Blondie can you just chill? I don't want peaches, can't a girl just say something without it raising unnecessary alarm??!" asked Maddie in annoyance.
"Well you can...sorry, it's just that I never heard you use that expression before...I thought that something was wrong." said Ollie as Maddie looked at him, lost in thought, maybe he would know why every worker of the Castle was acting so weird with her.
Maddie looked intently at Ollie and concluded that there was no need to raise an alarm for something so unimportant.
"It doesn't matter, you should be used to the way I speak by now. If I want to say that everything is peachy then I can." she said her tone serious.
"Alright, I got it. It won't happen again." said Ollie as he smiled, although he was still very much suspicious of Maddie's behaviour this morning, she had not rained one single insult in the less than five minutes that he was here.
"Great." she said smiling, making it obvious that her smile was fake.
"Where is Annie?" asked Ollie as he looked around.
"I have no idea, I thought that she was right behind me, and where's Matt?" asked Maddie.
"He said that he was on his way." said Ollie as Maddie continued to stuff her mouth with bread. Ollie was no expert on Maddie, but he felt as if her behaviour this morning was a little odd and that definitely worried him.
"We might as well eat without them." said Maddie, although she was already eating.
"No, that would be rude, let's just wait for them." said Ollie.
"Suite yourself." said Maddie as she shrugged and decided to spread some pink jam on her toast.
"What kind of jam is this?" asked Maddie before she ate her toast. She didn't want to risk ingesting something as disgusting as Christina's poop tea.
"Oh raspberry jam." replied Ollie as Maddie ate her toast satisfied with the answer.
"Mhmm, it's really good actually." she said, her mouth partially full.
"I'm glad that you like it." said Ollie as he smiled, this was actually the first good thing that Maddie had said since she arrived.
"I don't usually care for jam, but this one is an exception, it's sweet, but not too sweet." she said, nodding while allowing the taste to really sink in.
"I also like jam, but this one is my absolute favourite." said Ollie as he smiled while Maddie continued eating.
On the other hand both Matt and Annie had just entered the dining room, and they were all smiled and laughs, as if they had been discussing something.
"Good morning Ollie." said Annie as she smiled.
"Good morning Annie." said Ollie as he smiled.
"Good morning Maddie." said Matt as he smiled.
"Mhmm, morning, where have you two been? We have been waiting for you before we eat." said Maddie.
"Yeah right, you're already stuffing yourself with bread as I can see." said Annie with a scoff as she sat down beside Maddie who just laughed in response.
"Anyway, you're finally here, so let's dig in." said Maddie, she was really hungry, she guessed that stupid game last night made her burn up all her energy and she needed to replenish it this morning.
While everyone else was chatting and talking about funny things, Maddie was mostly quiet as she made sure to eat as much of everything as she could, but then she remembered that they would be learning how to convey soon, so she decided not to make herself to full to the extent that she would be unable to move.
Before they knew it, they were done eating breakfast and as soon as Ollie dropped his cutlery on the table Maddie's eyes were fixed on him.
"Blondie!" she called, slightly startling Ollie as he had not expected her to suddenly call him like that.
"Yes?" he asked, a little bit scared with the way she was looking at him like that.
"You said that you would teach me how to convey today. I hope you didn't forget?" she asked as Annie laughed and Matt muttered the words 'Of course' under his breath.
"Of course I didn't forget, I just thought that maybe we should wait a little bit for the food to digest, we just finished eating." said Ollie as he smiled.
"No, no, my food has already digested, right guys?" asked Maddie as she quickly turned to look at Annie and Matt. Annie nodded while Matt frowned.
"That's impossible...doesn't it take like eight hours for food to fully digest?" asked Matt as Maddie glared at him,
"It doesn't matter, we are all okay and perfectly able to move right?" asked Maddie as it was clear that she was more than excited to start to learn the art of conveyance.
"It's alright Maddie, we can go right now." said Ollie as Maddie stood up as soon as she heard his words.
"That settles it, come on let's go." said Maddie as she marched to the door before turning back realizing that she did not know where they were going.
"Where are we going?" she asked as Ollie stood up.
"To the courtyard." he said.
"Right!" said Maddie as she turned around and walked out the dining room as Annie giggled and stood up.
"She doesn't know where she's going." said Annie as Matt stood up.
"I've never seen Maddie this happy before. I like seeing her genuinely excited for something." said Ollie as he, Annie and Matt left the dining room.
"Yes, it's all nice and all until she takes it overboard and turns everything into a competition." said Matt as he sighed, he of all people knew just how competitive Maddie could get.
"Oh relax Matt, let Maddie have this, she's been waiting for this for such a long time." said Annie as she burst into laughter as she saw Maddie returning to them.
"Where's the courtyard?" she asked her face a little bit flushed from not knowing where she was going.
"It's this way actually." said Ollie as he pointed in the opposite direction.
"Right...I knew that!" said Maddie as Annie laughed.
"Sure you did." replied Matt with a snicker as Maddie glared at him and instantly left in the right direction.
"Come on let's catch up with her before she gets lost." said Ollie as he laughed and Annie agreed as she laughed.
"Hurry up you guys! We don't have all day." said Maddie as she was annoyed that they were all walking so slow. Oh if only she knew the way to the courtyard she would have been there already.
"Actually we do have all day. Actually we have a week." said Matt as Maddie scoffed.
"Not to me we don't!" she replied hastily. Ollie decided that he did not want Maddie to be in a bad mood so he quickened his pace and caught up with her.
"Here we are." said Ollie as he turned to the left and walked through the doorless opening that led into the courtyard that seemed to serve as some sort of a mini garden.
The grass was very green, they could see the clear blue sky above, and best of all it was a huge courtyard.
Actually now that Maddie thought about it, they had certainly been here before. She remembered this place clearly.
"This is where I will teach you how to convey. It's spacious, it's calming and best of all it's outside so we can get some sun while we learn." said Ollie as he smiled.
"You're right about the sun Ollie, it feels so warm." said Annie as she just felt like basking in the sunlight, and the sky was just to blue to ignore.
"I know right." replied Ollie.
"Yeah, yeah, the sun is nice and all, but we're not here to admire the sun. We are here to learn a very, very essential life skill." said Maddie as Matt resisted the urge to shake his head.
"Very essential huh?" he asked as Maddie nodded.
"Then how have you been living your life before you learnt about conveying a few weeks ago?" asked Matt.
"We don't talk about when we were in ignorance, now we look towards the future." Maddie said passionately as Matt scoffed and Annie laughed.
"Anyway blondie... when do we begin?" asked Maddie energetically.
"Right now." Ollie replied as Maddie smiled happily, that was like music to her ears.
"Great, so what do we do?" she asked, clearly overexcited about this.
"First of all, we need to move all the way there." he said as he pointed to the far edge of the courtyard. He figured that this was the best confined space for them to learn how to convey without any mishaps.
"Got it." said Maddie as she immediately ran to were Ollie had pointed while Matt and Annie walked slowly as Ollie cleared their path.
He gently tapped on the wooden weapons rack that had an assortment of weapons placed on it such as: swords, maces, axes, bows and arrows and daggers as it disappeared.
"What's with all the weapons?" asked Annie in curiosity as Maddie waved to them to move quicker.
"Oh this is where I train...mostly." he said as he smiled.
"Actually we all trained here together remember?" he asked as he smiled.
"I do remember, yes." said Annie as she smiled and Ollie got rid of some more wooden chairs and tables as he cleared the entire courtyard by the time they reached where Maddie was standing.
"Took you long enough." said Maddie in annoyance as Annie laughed, they had not taken that long at all.
Ollie touched the wall beside him as a green barrier was erected around the entire courtyard as it disappeared.
"Why are you making a barrier?" asked Maddie.
"Well because I don't want to risk any mishaps, and so just in case something goes wrong, you won't be able to end up somewhere you don't want to be." replied Ollie with a smile.
"Alright I get it, so how do we convey?" Maddie asked, clearly not exerting patience at all.
"Relax Maddie, before we start I need to explain some things to you." said Ollie as he moved his hand and a white wooden bench appeared at the other end of the courtyard.
"Then start explaining." she said while Matt sat down on the grass. He definitely was not in the mood for Maddie's strong emotions.
Annie saw Matt sitting down and decided to do the same, after all Maddie was more or less the only one genuinely interested in this conveyance of a thing.
"Alright, firstly when you convey you need to keep your thoughts calm and clear." said Ollie as he turned to look at Maddie and saw Matt and Annie sitting down on the grass.
"Alright got it, thoughts calm and clear." said Maddie as Ollie decided to sit down with Annie and Matt. It was a nice warm day outside after all, and it would be nice to enjoy it while they were out here.
"Why are you sitting down blondie?" asked Maddie in confusion.
"Because we need to lay some ground rules first. So please sit down Maddie, please." said Ollie as he pleaded with Maddie softly as she scoffed and sat down next to Annie.
"Fine, here I am, I'm sitting, go on." she said as she felt like hitting him, but she remembered that assaulting the person teaching her how to convey would not be the nicest thing to do when you need something from someone.
"Thank you Maddie. Now, like I said, your mind needs to be calm and clear because your emotions directly affect your ability to convey. If you feel sad, it might not work, if you feel extremely angry, you might end up somewhere you don't want to be, so calmness and clearness is key." said Ollie as Matt and Annie nodded.
"Secondly, the most important thing about being able to convey correctly is you must visualize your destination clearly." he said.
"You see, conveying isn't teleporting. No, not at all, instead it's your body reacting involuntarily to somewhere you desire to be and it takes you there." he said as he smiled.
"That's why conveyance works best when you picture a place you know very well, your body will instantly take you there." said Ollie as he smiled.
"That sounds so nice, and definitely easier than it is." said Annie as she smiled.
"Well yes and no, it is definitely easy, not hard at all, just keep a clear mind and picture the place you want to be and you'll end up there." said Ollie as he smiled and stood up.
"Okay then." said Annie as she smiled.
"Great, now let's begin blondie, what do we do?" asked Maddie as she stood up and Annie and Matt did the same.
"Just stand right there, look straight at that bench, picture yourself sitting there, close your eyes and let your body do the rest." said Ollie as he smiled.
"Like this." he said as he instantly disappeared and appeared on the other side of the courtyard without even looking at the bench.
"Show off!!!" called Maddie as Ollie, Matt and Annie chuckled.
"Alright, who's next?" asked Ollie as the three of them looked among themselves.
"Alright, I'll go first." said Annie as she stood up straight and focused on the bench.
"You can do it Annie." said Matt as Annie looked at him and smiled, meanwhile Maddie was busy observing.
Annie looked at the bench one more time, she focused on it and took a deep breath closed her eyes and by the time she opened them she was sitting on the bench.
Annie looked at herself on the bench and gasped, her mouth open wide as she looked at herself and then at Ollie who was smiling proudly and then at Matt and Maddie who a second ago had been standing right beside her and now they were all the way over there while she was all the way over here.
"Congratulations Annie, you did it. that was quick." said Ollie as he smiled and clapped proudly. He definitely had good students.
Maddie was busy gawking in disbelief, that happened way too quickly. It was like she blinked and Annie teleported. She could not believe that Annie managed to do it on her first try.
"I knew you could do it Annie." said Matt with a smile as he also clapped.
"Hey, hey but how??!!" asked Maddie in disbelief, if anything she thought that she would be the one to learn how to convey first, but boy was she wrong.
"She was paying attention that's how." replied Matt as he smiled at Maddie with scoffed.
"I have to admit you did surprise all of us Annie, good job." said Maddie as she smiled and Annie smiled.
"Thanks you guys. I am just as surprised as you are." said Annie as she stood up.
"I did not expect that at all." she said as she laughed.
"Like I said, it's easy, as long as you focus, anyway, who's next?" asked Ollie.
"That would be me." said Matt as Maddie was just about to say that. She preferred to watch some more and observe.
"Alright then, good luck." said Ollie as he smiled.
Matt walked forward as Annie gave him a thumbs up and he smiled. He moved his gaze to the bench as he focused on it, and in an instant he had moved from his spot and was sitting on the bench.
"Yayyyy, you did it!!" said Annie happily as Matt stood up and laughed.
"That was a nice first try dude." said Ollie as he smiled.
"Alright, alright." said Maddie as she was the only one left on this side. She kind of felt a little bit left out being the only one here.
From the looks of it, this conveying thing was easy, now Maddie felt very prepared to also learn how do convey.
"Your turn Maddie, just relax, take a deep breath and visualize your destination." said Ollie.
"Yeah, yeah blondie, I know!" she replied hastily as Matt shook his head.
"She's not going to make it is she?" he whispered to Annie.
"Not a chance." Annie replied, for one she could see how focused Maddie was, but it wasn't a good kind of focus, it was rather the stressed kind, and secondly, Maddie was refusing to listen to some very helpful tips that Ollie was giving her.
Maddie walked ahead, narrowed her eyes at the bench, she closed her eyes shut and opened them only to be surprised and disappointed that she had not moved an inch.
"I didn't move!" she said as Matt resisted the urge to laugh as Ollie frowned.
"Hmm, try again, but this time focus some more and take a close your eyes longer." he said as Maddie tried again, she focused on the bench and closed her eyes longer expecting to see a change when she opened them but she was sorely mistaken.
"I'm still here blondie!" she exclaimed as Matt snickered and Annie frowned at him as he held in his laugh.
"Calm down Maddie, try again, close your eyes, and take a deep breath and try not to think about the act. Just visualize where you want to be." he said again, this time more seriously. How come his two first students had succeeded on their first try and yet Maddie was finding it difficult? So much for him being such a good teacher. Luckily he had not rejoiced before all the eggs had hatched.