James waves at me.
'Mara, come on hurry!'
I laugh, he seems so excited.
I walk with him on the way over to Mrs. Peterson's classroom.
He is funny in a sweet way.
Everything about him is soft.
It makes it very pleasant to have a conversation with him.
'Mara', it is Mrs. Peterson.
She is walking towards me.
'Will you teach us what you know?' She asks politely.
I nod. 'It would be my pleasure.'
'Very well, I have a strict curriculum so we can have a chat about it after class.'
I am honestly a bit relieved she didn't set me up in front of the class.
Expecting me to just roll with it.
'All right children, take your places.'
I stand with James, Uyen and Victoria behind a massive table.
There are a few more students I haven't introduced myself to, standing me to Uyen.
'I expect everyone to have their homework done, I will check on it shortly.
Please prepare yourselves.
For those who weren't here, or dare I say weren't paying any attention.
This block we are focusing on the control of the very basic elements of nature.
Yesterday we talked about water.
The easiest form of nature to manipulate.
Today we will continue with it.'
She walks forwards me and all the students rumble in their bags.
In her hand she holds a pouch, she opens it and takes a seed from it.
Handing it to me.
'Can you make this grow for me Mara?' She asks in her creaking voice.
'Sure.'
I take the seed from her and walk to the edge of the field, where there are more trees.
She raises an eyebrow when I plant it in the ground.
I whisper a few kind words to it, to encourage it.
And to let it know what I want from it.
It starts growing slowly but surly.
Speeding up when it comes above the ground.
'Come on,' I whisper, 'I would very much like to tast your apples.'
It takes about three minutes before the apples are ripe enough to pick.
'Thank you,' I whisper as I pick two apples.
I give one to Mrs. Peterson who looks at me like I am a curious little creature she hasn't seen before.
'Where you hungry?' I ask her.
She laughs shaking her head. 'You know, I didn't expect you to bury the seed.
But it seems you have done this before, because a beginner would not be able to let it grow without touching the seed.
And would let it wither when they no longer put there energy in it.
You used the ground to feed it, to let it grow roots. So it won't need you.'
'Energy?' I ask.
'Well yes, don't you feel a little bit drained helping it grow?'
I don't. I didn't help it. I just asked.
I nod, 'yes I do.'
'All right, I think I have a pretty good idea of your level.
Just to be sure, I have a few questions.'
'Hit me.' I say.
I am excited to do this.
I never thought I would be able to talk about the things I learned in my forest.
Never mind practice it with my friends to get better at it.
'would you be able to change the tree into a pear tree?'
I shake my head, 'no.'
'Have you ever moved things without touching them?'
I shake my head again.
'Have you ever influenced an element?'
I shake my head again.
That surprises her. 'You haven't? But you have made plants grow before?'
I nod.'what do you mean with "elements" exactly?'
That seems to surprise her even more.
'You know, water, air, dirt or any kind of metal, or fire.'
'Oh,' I just say. 'Yeah I thought you ment that.'
'Alright', she says, 'we will see how you pick things up as we try them out.'
'Alright', the excitement obvious in my voice.
She turns to James, putting the apple in her pocket.
'Show me.'
James opens his water bottle and puts it opened on the table.
His voice is soft as he speaks.
It is less creacky and metal on metal then Mrs. Petersons voice.
However he pronounces almost every word wrong.
With a few funny grammer mistakes but I can still clearly understand what he is saying.
He asks the water to let him take over the burden of existing for a few moments.
The water silently agrees.
Then, as if the water is a part of his own body, he pulls it out of the bottle.
It forms a very large drop, hanging in the air.
'Wow,' I whispers under my breath.
'Very good, now please show me a circle, a pointy star and then a dog.'
All my focus is on James, is he really able to do that?
As if it is nothing a hole gets created in the middle of the bubble water.
It stretches out, until there is a circle.
James looks at Mrs. Peterson for approval, when he gets it he continues.
When the star is formed Mrs. Peterson feels the point of one of the points of the stars.
A little drop of blood mixes with the star as soon as she touches is.
'Very well', she says.
Later she would explain that it was against the very nature of water to be sharp.
And that that was the reason most of her pupils created soft edged stars.
My eyes widened at the puppy he created, it was as cute and as lively as a real one would have been.
It was in miniature, and it was weird seeing that is was made of ever so light pink water.
James smiled at me.
And let the pup run towards me.
It was a strange site, not just because it was made out of water.
But because I never had an animal run towards me.
Animals never liked me.
Though this was no animal.
This was James.
I hold out my hand and it jumps in the palm of my hand.
It is wet and dry at the same time.
Meaning when it touches me I feel it's water.
However as soon as his feet move, the spot it touched me is dry.
'Now, please freeze it.'
I
Just as it jumps on its hind legs, James freezes it.
It falls backward in my hand.
I hold it up.
Looking at the magnificent statue in my hand.
'Mara, please put it on the table.
And James, as soon as she does, please sublime it.'
When I set the statue on the table it turns into a very thin mist and disappears.
'Very well done James, all did I expect no less from you.
I will give you something a bit more challenging for tomorrow.'
She gives the same exercise to the rest of the class.
But most of them are not as wondrous at it as James.
Then it is my turn.
And to my and Mrs. Petersons surprise I actually absolutely suck at it.
I just, I mean yes the water gives me control.
But it is like moving a body part that is completely different then your arms or legs.
One you didn't have a moment before.
The water is super slippery. I just can't get it to form in a shape.
At the end of the day I am able to get it out of a bottle. And hold it up in the air.
It feels like lifting an arm that doesn't realise it is yours.
Every now and then it forgets and the water falls on the stone table with a splash.
It sends James, Uyen and Victoria laughing but Mrs. Peterson finds it less funny.
After the lesson Mrs. Peterson and I talk.
We come to the conclusion that I will help her privately with her pronunciation and grammer.
And she will use that to then better educate her students in the language of nature.
The same language used for most spells.
And thus it is very practical for a witch to speak it.
So you don't have to memorise spells but just little rimes or sentences that make sense.