"Do you need to be reminded of anything? Remember, this is your last opportunity to brush up on technique or application before you are subjected to a test of stamina. Obviously there is no 'failing' this test as it is a way for me to gauge your baseline, but..."
I trailed off and looked her up and down, taking in her stance, determination and somewhat faulty confidence as she nodded, not letting me finish as she said "I'm ready! Let's get this!", though when she noticed my continued silence she blushed again and coughed.
"Um, I uh... I am ready, Miss Corvina. Which way are we traveling?"
Her tone became far more formal and controlled, and noticeably far more 'fake' as she put on an act to soothe what she thought was me being displeased at being interrupted, so I took a breath and replied "We are heading down south, Wynn, and there is no need to be so... stiff. I am your mentor and guide, not a professor. Understood?"
Wynn let out a sigh of relief at that and gave me a small, genuine smile that made her expression glow, and for a moment I was a bit stunned at just how beautiful she was, only to shake it off since this was my student.
There was nothing wrong with acknowledging beauty, of course, but... there were boundaries I wanted to establish for myself to prevent something from happening in the future.
To prevent a repeat of something that happened once before, a long time ago...
I was no longer young and dumb, so while Wynn was certainly a gorgeous girl with the ability to flash a radiant smile, I curbed that and instead gestured towards the clear skies above the lush forest to our south, directing her attention to something else.
"Like I said it is a quarter day away via flight. How you achieve flight is up to you; the most common technique - Polymorph - for comfortable long distance travel is the more ideal for this trip, but if you wish to utilize some sort of Focus to cast a flying spell that would work too."
There were options available to her, but instead of answering me verbally Wynn raised her hands and took a deep, even breath, channeling her magic into her palms as she began to murmur the incantation, letting me know what kind of Witch she currently was.
Incantations were spoken magic, Runes or Ritual Circles were written magic, and then there was Channeled Magic, which was difficult to master and showed how adept you were at that specific spell; everyone used one of the first two while occasionally having something that allowed them to utilize the third, and for me - and others like me - that ability to use Channeled Magic separated us from the rest of our peers.
As Wynn continued to murmur a somewhat lengthy but stronger variation of the Polymorph spell, we were interrupted by a few of her peers as they waltzed over arrogantly, their own mentors trailing behind them with an equal amount of unjust swagger.
"I dunno how you did it, Benoix, but you somehow managed to get yourself a mentor~! Congrats~! Don't screw it up like you did before, or like your parents and grandparents did~!"
The singsong voice was grating on the ears, but I remained quiet as I welcomed this as a way to test Wynn, my eyes finding hers as she carefully canceled her spell and took back as much of her mana as she could lest the spell explore; what they had done just now was calculated, and that...
Turning towards the Witches behind them, I mentally sighed at the politics being dragged over here as I recognized them as the various lackeys of the Coven heads, each of these Witches holding an agenda to get more power of the others and clearly ushering in a new generation to do the same boring things.
To her credit, Wynn took another deep breath before smiling at the red haired, orange eyed girl who had said that, her voice steady and just as fake as before as she said "Thank you, Jovia! Good luck to you too! Hopefully you can smooth out that issue you have with your potions chewing through the cauldrons..."
This 'Jovia' turned red at that, her smile faltering as she grit her teeth and glared at Wynn, while her two 'friends' snickered quietly before falling silent as she whipped her head to glare at them too.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I was in the middle of casting a spell... Ah, and send my regards to Lady Renavei, hm? I will very much miss her... camaraderie."
Jovia grit her teeth even harder and almost broke one as she held back to the best of her abilities, making me wonder if the quality of the noble bullies had fallen in recent years if that was enough to get under her skin, only to get my answer when she growled "Don't act all tough and calm now that you have a mentor, Benoix... it doesn't change who you are or where you're from, remember that!"
She spun around and stalked away, making me raise a brow as I stared at her equally red haired mentor who was frowning at this 'show' that had clearly not gone the way they had wanted it to; when they finally turned and left as suddenly as they had appeared, Wynn lowered herself into a crouch and let out a long breath as she cradled her head.
"Holy hells I still can't deal with those basic bit-"
Suddenly she jolted back to her feet as she remembered that I was here, and I raised my other brow as I let her sputter over her words as she tried to apologize, tell me what happened before, what just happened and more all in the same sentence, only to blush like crazy when I asked "You were in the middle of performing the spell?"
Giving her the out to return to a normal thing was what she needed, and I continued to study how she reacted to the pressure as she nodded rapidly - almost fast enough to make me worry she would fall over - before she cast the spell completely this time, transforming into a bluejay and chirping at me.
I took in her sleek feathers and emerald eyes, nodded to myself and then immediately transformed into an owl, taking flight and guiding her over the forest and towards one of my homes.