"AGH!" I bellow, hitting the ground with my fists that grip the handles of a buckler and rapier, pushing myself back up onto my feet.
I advanced and faked a strike with the rapier, raising the buckler up high to block his attack, and swiftly kicked the legs out from under Veyr. Huffing, my chest rising and falling with each breath, stare intently at the Priest before me on the ground. His wide eyes stared at me in amused shock, the light of day glistening off his sweat glazed, bald head.
"You know, I see a vast amount of potential in you girl." Veyr stands, knocking the grass and dust off of his backside. "Where did you learn to fight?" He stands back in position, "Explain as we fight. I want to see if you just got lucky." He smirks at me, egging me on.
I advance going through with a few forward thrusts, "Growing up in the undercarriage, it's no easy place to live." I start off, feeling my arm start to ache from the vibrations of my rapier hitting his shield or sword.
"The Elements walk barefoot! (Bullshit) That could not have been how you were trained to use a sword! Tell me the truth, otherwise we will end this here with me." He huffed, pushing back with some quick attacks that I barely block in time.
"Let me finish! It's hard to think clearly when you are attempting to attack or defend. Now, as I was saying, I had a hard life there, so in order to get out of it, I had to make some decisions." My buckler comes up in time to block a blow from his sword, using that block for the momentum to push him back.
"YA! I joined the Bladed cogs, renamed the Bloody cogs in the works district. In order to repay my debt for them letting me inherit my place, I was trained to do jobs to help out the organization!" I grunt making way and gaining some ground with him.
He sweeps the ground with his foot, and I barely hop over it in time, but use this moment to whack him in the head with the buckler. He goes down, hard, and clutches his head.
"PAUSE!" He shouts, rubbing his head where I had hit moments prior. "Damn it girl! Did you have to hit me so hard!"
I stop and drop next to him to take a look, "I'm sorry it was just reflexes!" I take a look at the goose egg forming with tiny drops of blood from the scratch of the wood into his head. I take my handkerchief from my pocket and place it up on the blood.
"Carthure! Your assistance is required!" I yell over my shoulder, knowing he's with Marco in the garden.
Within seconds, I can hear the heavy footsteps of him running to us.
"Well! I'll be an Elementals lover! I never thought I'd see the day when a student put you on your rear with in the first week! All those years of boasting have finally caught up to you! HAHA!" Carthure laughs at Veyr's state, making Veyr scoff in annoyance at him.
"Shut up you ancient mule! Help me up and give me something for the headache already!"
Carthure lends a hand in helping him up, "Oh, withhold your complaints. I'm not going to make you suffer too long now. Thank you Rakara, I'll take him to the infirmary from here. Why don't you join Marco a little early today?" Carthure dismisses me.
Nodding, I let Carthure take a still grumbling Veyr to the infirmary, then make my way to Marco. I had noticed that everyone was becoming younger everyday, except for me and Bav, we still looked the same. The elderly white haired were gaining color back so now they were a salt and peppered lot or silver streaked. Wrinkles were diminishing, age spots were gone, backs became straighter and everyone's bodies seemed to be filling back out in the fullness seen in young adults. It was the strangest thing and no matter how much I inquired about it, they would just smile, sharing some knowledge between themselves and just shrug.
Hopefully, I would get some answers. Bav was spending most of his time here in the library reading up on all the literature that could be found from earth and translating it for the priests. It was tedious work but it kept him busy while I trained.
"Hey Marco, looks like you get some extra time with me today." I lay the rapier and buckler next to the fence and grab the gardening apron that has some small tools in the pockets.
"Lucky me!" Marco smiles brightly, his dark blue eyes sparkle with ideas and a hint of mischief. "Shall we go to the grove today?"
They referred a large wooded area to the west of us as the grove, and we had yet to venture to it.
"Please! What shall I bring?" I go to take my apron back off and Marco holds a hand up to stop me.
"Keep your apron on, you'll want to use your tools. Now, go grab the wheeled garden basket. We don't want to tire our arms out carrying a heavy basket back."
I'm practically skipping along with the basket rolling behind me as we make our way to the grove of trees. The short grassy meadow made it easy enough to pull the basket through without having to stick to the rockier pathway where the wheels would get stuck more often.
"What are we going to be learning about today?" I inquire, pausing every now and then to pluck up useful herbs or plants I spotted. I knew Marco had mentioned that he needed to restock his supplies, but every time I had asked about the grove, I was told 'soon enough'.
"Well, we need several different types of bark that can be found there, as well as some mushrooms." He walked steadily, keeping pace with me with ease, even though his last word confused me.
"Mushrooms? What are Mushrooms?" My question has Marco smack his forehead and sigh.
"I'm sorry, I have not told you about those yet. Mushrooms are essentially a fungus, but can be eaten and enjoyed. AS LONG AS, you know which ones are which. We will be gathering some called Turkeytails, Bleeding Tooth, Oysters, and maybe some Yellow Foot, if we find them. We can eat the oysters and yellow foot, the other two I use for medicinal purposes." He explained, though I still felt lost.
"Fungus? Like the ones that grow in sea caves?" I could only think of the salt fungus that was little balls that grew in caves that were extremely lethal. Even being in a cave when they would shoot out the salty dust could kill a person.
He exclaims, "YES! However, these were imported from another planet a long time ago. So don't pick too much, you must leave at least three handfuls still alive, for every handful you take. Depending on how much is there, we may not take any. I will also be teaching you about a lovely little flowering plant, called Eternity's Flame."
We are nearing the grove of trees, and I notice the birch, elm, apple, and cherry trees that dot the perimeter. I see some different nut producing trees and a pear tree too.
"Why are there fruit and nut trees in the grove, when you have the orchards in the east fields?"
Marco gives me a knowing smile, explaining, "They help with giving the soil different types of nutrients as they decompose into the soil eventually. A nutrient diverse area makes a healthy soil for the items that are grown within. It's necessary for the fungal growth and for the plant you'll be learning about today."
We walk under the canopy of branches, the brightness of the meadow dimming as we walk farther in. He stops me here and there when he spots the mushrooms we're looking for. We pluck a couple of the oyster mushrooms that we found on a tree and then shows me the Turkeytails, but leaves them be, saying there are not enough in this location. I learn about Yellow Foot when I accidently stumble over a branch and land right in front of a large patch.
"Oh good! There's tons of these right now! Go ahead and pick up that group in front of you while your down there." Marco gives me suppressed chuckle, as I raise my cold eyes making him look away.
"You could have offered to help me up first." I grumble, propping myself up on my knees, taking the garden knife from my apron and slicing them up at the base of the stalks. I place them in the basket and rise, knocking the moist earth that tries to stick to my clothing.
The trickle of water over stones flutters through the area and Marco is waving me over to an odd looking specimen. It's white and seems to be bleeding, or oozing a thick red substance. We don't harvest it, leaving it be, but he tells me all about the inedible but still useful thing.
We continue on, stopping only to pick wild plants or to test me on my new knowledge as we wonder farther into the grove. The light grew dimmer, the branches of the trees, interweaving thickly ahead letting only the faintest rays of light through. Marco says it's the perfect habitat for mushrooms to grow and I have to agree the farther in we go, the more I start to see.
He stops to point out hen-of-the-woods and Morels that we spend some time gathering. Our basket is filling with mushrooms and herbs, bark from certain trees, and even a few interesting stones we found. We continue on, growing darker as we go.
"Marco, should we head back soon? I think the sun maybe going down?" I ask him as we continue on.
"No, we are almost there to the Eternity's Flame flowers. We will be fine, girl. Don't tell me this area is making you uneasy?" Marco chuckled, taking notice of the way I kept looking around.
I could not help it though, it felt quiet here, too quiet.
"Why is it so quiet here?" I ask looking around us, noticing there are no birds singing or flying around like before, not even bugs chirping.
"You could not tell but about fifty feet back there is an enchantment up to keep the flowers safe. You could pass because you are with me, but you still will feel the uneasiness of the enchantment." Marco pats my shoulder, offering some form of comfort to me.
"That explains it, but how is that possible?" I thought that only the Fey like Bavarthos could work that type of magic.
"Calire, she is a Air Catalyst, but a weak one as far as we Catalysts go."
'We catalysts?'
"I'm sorry, Marco, but WE Catalysts?" I grab his sleeve to get him to stop and look at me for this answer.
He shuffles his feet and sighs, "All of us Elders that came with you are Catalysts. How would we be able to train you otherwise? Your aura and the orb can reveal you are a Catalyst, the orb however revealed how potent of a Catalyst you are. You are rare, we weaklings are not."
"I never spared that fact a thought." I smack my forehead, "I could make dog look smarter than I. Well, if it's any consolation, I have yet to see why any of you would be considered 'weaklings' as you put it. Will you educate me on who is what type of Catalyst?" I ask meekly, knowing I still have much to learn, I need to show more respect to my teachers.
Marco begins walking again and sighs, "Calire and Amara are Air. Griven and Synthea are Water. Veyr, Carthure and myself are Earth, while Flair and Soot's are Fire catalysts. Synthea taught Calire how to channel the energy around her to make the enchantment, it has to do with air pressure and such. That is why you feel so uncomfortable and can not hear the animals anymore. They avoid it just like we would if we didn't know any better. Ah! Come now, I can see the flowers up ahead!" Marco grabs my arm and drags me forward to a source of light I can see in the distance.
"Where's that light coming from?" I ask him picking up the hem of my skirt and dragging the basket behind me still.
"It is the flower, Rakara."
"What?!" I hurry to keep up with him, but the basket's wheels keep getting caught on the stones and wood that have become harder to see from the dim twilight we were now in. Frustrated over it, I pluck the basket up, carrying it till I am caught back up with Marco.
"You could not give me a little help? This flower must be something ...." I follow Marco's finger that points towards the source of the light that resembles fire light and pause.
There's blue green stems and leaves that support a yellow and red bloom that is lighting up the area in soft flickering firelight. They were actually on fire, but unharmed!
"They're beautiful!" I exclaim holding my hand up to cover my mouth.