OCtober prompt 1, Beginnings
I wanted to write something about my apprentice’s early days in Vesuvia, but it turned into some light Muriel angst. Oops.
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From the day he had met her, Muriel knew, he wouldn’t be able to keep up. He just did not expect the facts to hurt as much as they did. She made Asra happy and that’s what matters. That should be all what matters. So why did her sight fill him with dread?
Scilla was great. She was every bit of the friend Asra deserved. She did magic and she did it well. They hunched over old books in her shop for hours, exchanging the tips and tricks of profession.
She had the same spring in her steps, same lightness in her tone. Asra and Scilla would run through the crowded streets of Vesuvia like twin whirlwinds.
She bended in right. Didn’t leave unpleasant impressions. Never blocked one’s path. Never got in trouble. Always knew what to say.
While Muriel…he was different. Strange. He scared children. (He must admit so did she. But she did it on purpose, and only when the kid was being a dick.)
“It’s all your fault.” Scilla pouted, curling into a ball on Asra’s lap. She has bought them lunch. Again. “I knew I was mixing up with the wrong kind. We get bread a few times, and my costumers won’t stop asking me about their future. What am I, a seer?”
“Just send them to me.” Smiled Asra, carding his fingers through her coarse black hair.
“Trust me I do.” She sighed. “But it’s so far! At South End? What if I get robbed? The cobblestone’s so slippery, I might get eaten by a vampire eel! Can’t you just do it for me? For gratis?”
Muriel had to hide a smile. She mimicked people a bit too well. Too accurately. And too often. The baker at the market still bursts out laughing every time he sees Tribune Livia. Muriel did not want to get affected by her charm. He did not want to get executed for offending someone important. So Muriel tried to hide his smile. By the victorious twinkle in her eyes, he did not succeed.
“You know, you could just do it. Read their cards, I mean.” Asra said, affection clear in his voice. “Not for free obviously.”
“I don’t do cards. I have no poker face.”
That was a lie.
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