The South Sceresian Convent of Omne was not a place for children. It was a nunnery full of elderly women who had turned to a life devoted to the god, Omne.

  The sisters took Susi in because she was able to be quiet and follow instructions. Yatner and the other vagrants had fortunately taught her how to speak and communicate, so she was able to understand requests.

  Tharsa, the head mother of the convent who had met Susi on the steps of their cathedral, personally cleaned the mud and grime from Susi’s hair, arms, and legs. Susi had only memories of bathing in the river with her family. Being able to take a proper bath was something she had never experienced.

  Susi’s mind awakened from the warm slumber of childhood early as she was taught to read and write while learning the Nashiradan: the Aallandron bible that told the nebulous history of the Aallandranon world around them.

  The nine living sisters made her set the table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They taught her proper etiquette, and how to sit and eat like a noble. Most of the sisters had come from upper class households, so they imbued their standards and ways of living into Susi.

  Susi stayed with the sisters for four years, learning everything they had to offer. She learned to love life with them, but Susi was not a mere mortal Aallandron. Her occasional display of strange abilities unnerved the sisters.

  She could go to Scerasa alone and back in several hours. She sometimes set the table for nine without taking a single step. It was peculiar at first, but everyone noticed eventually.

  After the Prohibition of Magical Abilities Act was issued by Chancellor Damius Marks three years after the girl had been saved by Tharsa, the nine of them finally realized what Susi was.

  The sisters discussed trying to find ways of passing Susi onto one of the many orphanages in Scerasa or Narcuss, but they would discover the secret she was hiding and would do what the guards probably should have done on the steps of their cathedral.

  Instead of trying to get rid of Susi, the sisters agreed that suppression was best. They told her that while she might be able to make things happen, it would be in her best interest to make sure no one ever found out what she could do.

  One day, Susi and Tharsa were on their way back to the cathedral from town when they were overtaken by guards heading in the same direction. Standing on the side of the dirt road leading to the woods where the cathedral lay, the two watched a small army of guards hurry past.

  They had been gone since the morning, but it took six hours to walk from the cathedral to Scerasa. With such a long journey, they had to make their trips count by gathering everything they needed from town.

  They entered the forest and were met by a roadblock of guards at the mouth of the wood. The two could see the cathedral’s top amidst the oaks surrounding it in the distance.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “What’s happening?” Tharsa asked one of the guards at the roadblock.

  “We had an escaped thief,” said the guard. “Looks like he was one of those casters. He broke into the church this morning and…I’ve never seen such a mess. You two won’t be able to stay here tonight.” The guard’s face went white at the memory of the crime scene.

  The two were devastated. Tharsa broke into tears.

  Susi couldn’t believe what had happened. They had nowhere else to go, so they made their way back to Scerasa. Tharsa had just enough money to purchase a room for the evening.

  Susi cried herself to rest that night before falling into a deep dreamless sleep.

  When she woke, Tharsa was gone. The head mother’s bed was made as tradition had insisted that it be after one wakes first thing in the morning. Susi had slept through her departure.

  When she asked the teller at the front desk what had happened, he said that Tharsa had checked out, leaving only the message, “Sorry,” with the teller for Susi.

  Leaving the hotel, Susi had nowhere to go. She had no money, she couldn’t go back to the cathedral.

  Standing at the intersection where she had stood many times before, she couldn’t believe that her world had fallen so far so quickly. It was there on the deck that she began to cry.

  She must have stood there for ten minutes with her hands on the railing, tears rolling down her face as she watched the rain fill the Sceresian streets with mud.

  All out of tears, Susi saw the man in the navy blue robe with the staff across the street. He was seated cross-legged next to the bench before the closed building next to the general store. His staff lay across his legs. He gave her a gentle nod as he surveyed the rain pattering upon the cobblestone streets.

  Having no other person to interact with that seemed trustworthy, Susi stepped out into the rain and crossed the street. She stepped onto the plank path beneath the wooden porch overhead where the man sat.

  “Too wet to travel just now, eh?” he gave her his signature relaxed smile that was out of place with the hardened faces Susi normally saw floating through the streets of the city.

  “How do you do it?” Susi asked.

  “Do what?” the man met her green eyes with his gray-blue ones.

  “Seem so calm everywhere you go.”

  “Easy: be calm everywhere you go.” he said simply. It was such a basic answer that Susi hadn’t considered.

  She relaxed at the thought that everything was basically fine. She had eaten with Tharsa the night before and wasn’t hungry. She didn’t have any money, but that wasn’t something she needed to worry about quite yet. No one was bothering her, and people typically left her alone.

  “I don’t have any money.” Susi sighed.

  “What do you need to buy that you can’t grow or catch?” the man asked. “The forest is teaming with wildlife as you know.”

  “My father used to teach me to catch things…but I’ve forgotten how.” Susi said.

  “Easy enough to learn. If you’ve got nowhere else to go, you can stay with me.” the man shrugged. “I’m looking for a new apprentice anyway.” He stood up as the rain began to lighten, stretched, yawned, and started walking down the deck alongside the street.

  Susi considered the man’s offer, wondering what kind of apprenticeship he was talking about. Having nowhere else to go and no other action to take, Susi followed after him.