By the following morning, I could recognize twenty-three letters.
Recognizing them and reading them were still very different achievements.
I sat beside Coco in the study, sounding out the title written across the top of our lesson page while she waited with more patience than I expected from someone who had finished breakfast early so she could reach the ink before anyone else.
“Directional signs,” I read slowly.
“Almost,” she said. “You joined the last two sounds.”
I tried again.
This time, Coco nodded with such satisfaction that I felt as though I had performed a difficult sword form.
Qifrey-sensei passed behind us carrying a stack of practice paper.
“You are progressing quickly.”
“I can identify the letters,” I said. “The words remain less cooperative.”
“They usually become more agreeable once you stop glaring at them.”
“I was concentrating.”
Coco leaned closer to the page. “You were glaring a little.”
I looked between them.
“I see the two of you have reached an agreement.”
Qifrey-sensei smiled a teasing smile and placed the paper between us.
The morning lesson concerned the signs surrounding a glyph.
The previous day, we had learned that the glyph determined the nature of a spell. Today, Qifrey-sensei showed us how the same glyph could behave differently depending on the instructions built around it.
He drew three incomplete circles on the board. Each held the same wind glyph at its center.
“The glyph gives us wind,” he explained. “That alone tells us very little about what the spell will do once activated. Wind may move outward, gather inward, rise, turn, scatter, or remain confined to a narrow path.”
He drew a small sign along the first circle.
“This controls direction.”
A second sign joined it.
“This affects force.”
He changed the position of the directional sign in each design, then completed the circles one at a time.
The first sent a soft current across the room, stirring our hair.
The second pushed a stack of loose paper from one side of the desk to the other.
The third produced a narrow spiral that lifted a piece of chalk and turned it slowly above his palm.
Coco followed the chalk with her eyes.
“They all use the same wind glyph.”
“Yes.”
“So the glyph is like choosing the material, and the signs decide what shape you make from it?”
Qifrey-sensei considered the comparison.
“That is close. A dressmaker may begin with the same cloth and create very different garments depending on the cut, stitching, and purpose.”
Coco’s expression brightened. “I understand that.”
“I thought you might.”
He often taught that way. He listened for what a student already understood and built the next lesson from there.
With Agott, he spoke precisely about balance and structure. Tetia responded better when he explained what a spell might do for someone. Richeh wanted to know which parts she was free to change.
For Coco, he reached for cloth, tools, and the work of her hands.
When he came to me, he placed a practice circle on the desk and tapped the directional sign.
“Think of this as the angle of a cut.”
I followed the line with my eyes.
“The same force can reach a different place depending on where it is directed.”
“Exactly. Now tell me what happens if this sign is turned.”
“The wind should travel toward the lower right.”
“And if the force sign is enlarged?”
“It becomes stronger.”
“Usually,” he said. “Its relationship to the circle matters as well. A larger sign placed badly can weaken the design instead of strengthening it.”
That sounded familiar.
Strength applied without control rarely produced the desired result.
We spent the next hour changing one sign at a time and predicting the effect. Qifrey-sensei had us explain each design before allowing magical ink anywhere near it.
Coco made errors quickly and recovered from them with equal speed. She asked questions the moment they occurred to her, sometimes beginning the next before Qifrey-sensei had finished answering the first.
I worked more slowly.
The symbols were unfamiliar, and I still needed Coco to read several terms aloud. Once I understood what each sign represented, the patterns became easier to hold in my mind.
My second wind spell sent the current in the correct direction, though with less force than intended.
My third remained stable.
Glyph Magic Lv. 1 → Lv. 3
Coco completed her first controlled breeze shortly afterward.
It lifted the edge of her practice sheet and blew directly into her face.
She caught the paper before it escaped.
“I meant for it to go forward.”
Qifrey-sensei examined the seal. “It did. You drew the circle facing yourself.”
Coco looked down at the page, then turned it around.
“Oh.”
Tetia laughed gently from the next table.
Coco covered her face with one hand. “I checked every sign.”
“You checked the parts,” Qifrey-sensei said. “Next time, remember to also check the whole.”
He placed the escaped paper back in front of her.
“The spell worked exactly as you instructed it to. That is useful information.”
Coco lowered her hand and studied the seal again.
“So the mistake was mine.”
“Yes.”
She looked discouraged for only a moment.
“Then I can fix it.”
“That is the appropriate conclusion.”
Qifrey-sensei left us practicing while he gathered several documents from the shelf.
He wore his formal cloak that morning, and his pen case had already been secured at his side. I had noticed the difference at breakfast, though I had waited for him to explain it.
He returned to the front of the study.
“I need to visit the Great Hall today.”
Agott’s pen stopped.
Qifrey-sensei continued. “Coco and Haruya must be registered under my atelier. I also need to report that I have accepted two apprentices and arrange the appropriate records.”
“Will they be examined?” Agott asked.
“Eventually, as all apprentices are.”
Her gaze moved toward Coco and me.
“Eventually.”
Qifrey-sensei heard the weight she placed on the word.
“The registration is my responsibility,” he said calmly. “Their education is mine as well.”
Agott lowered her eyes. “I understand.”
He watched her for a moment before addressing the rest of us.
“Continue practicing open designs. Agott, please review directional signs with them. No one is to activate an unfamiliar spell while I am away.”
His attention settled on Coco.
She placed both hands on the desk. “I won’t.”
Then he looked at me.
“I have no intention of experimenting unsupervised.”
“That answer would comfort me more if I had not heard several versions of it before.”
“I have only known you for two days.”
“I was referring to apprentices in general.”
Tetia smiled.
Qifrey-sensei gathered his documents and left through the main hall. We watched him cross the garden until the door closed.
The study remained quiet afterward.
Agott completed the line she had been drawing before setting down her pen.
“You heard what he said.”
Coco nodded. “Directional signs.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Agott turned in her seat.
Her expression held the same controlled displeasure she had shown when we arrived, though it had sharpened since Qifrey-sensei mentioned our registration.
“He is adding your names to his atelier after two lessons. You have drawn one light spell, one breeze, and several circles.”
Coco’s excitement faded.
“We only arrived two days ago.”
“I know.”
Agott rose and walked toward one of the cabinets.
“Tetia, Richeh, and I all proved we were capable of becoming apprentices. Every witch does.”
Tetia looked uncomfortable. “Agott, Qifrey-sensei already accepted them.”
“He can choose whom he teaches. That does not make the standard meaningless.”
She opened the cabinet and removed a small glass sphere, two shallow trays, and a carefully wrapped pair of shoes.
Coco stood.
“What standard?”
Agott placed the objects on the central table.
“The Consent of the Crown.”
Even before she explained, a window opened before me.
Quest Discovered: Consent of the Crown
Description:Complete the first trial of the Pentacle of Proving by reaching the summit of the Dadah Mountain Range and harvesting the rare Diadem Herb. The trial tests magical ingenuity, resourcefulness, judgment, and the ability to use limited tools under unfamiliar conditions.
Objectives:
Enter the Dadah Mountain Range. (0/1)
Reach the highest floating sphere. (0/1)
Harvest one Diadem Herb. (0/1)
Return safely with the herb. (0/1)
Rewards:
Experience: 1,000
Glyph Magic: +3 Levels
Survival: +1 Level
Title: Witch Apprentice
The quest did not order me to accept.
It waited.
I looked at the tools Agott had placed on the table.
A formal magical trial, taken with limited knowledge in unfamiliar terrain, would test things ordinary lessons could not. I had trained for years to enter a world whose dangers I could not predict. Refusing the first controlled challenge placed before me would make little sense.
Still, Qifrey-sensei had not sent us.
“Did he ask you to give us this trial?” I asked.
Agott met my eyes.
“No.”
“Does he know you intend to?”
“No.”
Tetia stood as well. “Then we should wait until he comes back.”
Agott’s posture tightened.
“If they are ready to be registered as apprentices, they should be ready to pass the first apprentice trial.”
Coco looked from her to the wrapped shoes.
“What do we have to do?”
Agott turned toward her.
“The Dadah Range is formed from enormous pieces of mountain floating above the ground. The Diadem Herb grows on the highest sphere. You pass by returning with one.”
“How are we supposed to reach something floating?”
“That is the test.”
Coco’s eyes moved toward the magical tools.
Agott touched the glass sphere first.
“This is a Guidance Orb. A fragment of Diadem Herb is sealed inside it. Once activated, the light will point toward the plant it came from.”
She indicated the shallow trays.
“A Vapor Bubble. It will provide water.”
Then she rested her hand on the wrapped shoes.
“You may take three contraptions in addition to your pen case, ink, and paper. No teacher may guide you once the trial begins.”
“Can Haruya and I go together?” Coco asked.
“You will enter through the same Windowway. Each of you must return with your own herb. If one of you reaches the summit by being carried there by the other, that person has proved nothing.”
Agott’s gaze shifted briefly toward me.
She knew I was physically capable in ways Coco was not.
The restriction was directed at me.
I found it reasonable.
“I will not carry Coco through the trial,” I said. “I will help if her life is in danger.”
Agott hesitated, then nodded. “As long as you accomplish the objective yourself”
Coco examined the objects.
“The Guidance Orb and Vapor Bubble count as two?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes lowered to Agott’s feet.
Agott followed her gaze and immediately understood.
“No.”
Coco blinked. “I didn’t ask yet.”
“You were about to.”
“The shoes let you fly, don’t they?”
“They allow controlled gliding and limited movement through the air. They do not make an inexperienced wearer skilled at using them.”
Coco drew closer.
“The mountains float. They would be useful.”
“They are mine.”
“I will take care of them.”
Agott folded her arms.
Coco did not retreat.
“You said the test is about using the tools we choose. I have only learned two spells, and neither of them can make me fly. If I am supposed to show ingenuity, I need something I can work with.”
Agott stared at her.
Coco’s voice softened.
“Please.”
The refusal remained on Agott’s face for several seconds.
Then she unwrapped the shoes.
“They respond to the direction of your feet. Keep your ankles steady. If you tilt both toes downward too sharply, you will dive.”
Coco accepted them with both hands.
“Thank you. I’ll return them safely.”
Agott looked away. “Whatever.”
The words came out colder than the concern beneath them.
Coco seemed to hear both.
She nodded.
I took the Guidance Orb, the Vapor Bubble, and a folded length of enchanted cloth that Agott said could stiffen when activated. It could serve as shelter, a bridge, or a surface for drawing if the ground proved unsuitable.
Coco took the same orb and bubble from a second cabinet, along with Agott’s Sylph Shoes.
We filled our pen cases.
Pens. Ink. Practice paper. Prepared squares. Cloth for cleaning mistakes before a circle closed.
My Nichirin sword remained in Inventory. I could retrieve it in an emergency, though I would not use an ability Qifrey-sensei had warned me to conceal unless survival demanded it.
Agott led us to a round window built into the rear wall of the workshop.
Ordinary forest filled the glass.
She opened the frame and removed the spell plate beneath it. After adjusting several signs with her pen, she returned the plate and closed its circle.
The view inside the window trembled.
The familiar grassland vanished.
A darker forest appeared on the other side, dense with broad roots and pale hanging vines. Mist rested between the trees.
Coco approached slowly.
“The window is showing somewhere else.”
“It is somewhere else,” Agott said. “A Windowway joins two distant frames. Once you pass through, this route will remain available for your return.”
Tetia stood behind us, twisting her fingers together.
“You could still wait for Qifrey-sensei.”
Coco looked at Agott, then at the strange forest.
Fear crossed her face.
So did determination.
“If every apprentice has to prove herself, I want to try.”
I stepped beside her.
“I do too.”
The quest window waited at the edge of my vision.
I accepted it.
Quest Accepted: Consent of the Crown
Agott handed Coco the Guidance Orb.
A green point of light awakened inside it and leaned toward the open window.
“Follow the light,” she said. “It will lead you to the range.”
Coco secured the Sylph Shoes and held the orb close to her chest.
I checked my pen case once more.
Then we stepped through the Windowway.
The air changed immediately.
The atelier’s warmth disappeared behind us. Damp earth softened beneath my boots, and the forest rose around us in old, twisted shapes. The circular window remained suspended between two trees, showing Tetia, Richeh, and Agott on the other side.
Coco lifted the Guidance Orb.
Its light turned through the glass, searched for a moment, then pointed deeper into the woods.
Somewhere beyond the trees, a low shadow moved across the morning sky.
I looked up.
Between the branches, I caught my first glimpse of a mountain shaped like a perfect sphere.
It floated above the forest.
Another hung beyond it.
Then a third, higher than the clouds.
Coco followed my gaze.
Her mouth opened slightly.
“We have to climb that?”
The green light inside the orb tilted upward.
I smiled despite myself.
“It appears so.”
Behind us, the Windowway snapped shut.