Spirit Speaker

All of the servants were fast asleep, which meant Anna and I had the whole kitchen to ourselves. 

I grabbed pots and pans, stoked the fire, and began preparing ingredients. 

Anna sat in the middle of the kitchen, at the head chef's table, a wide grin on her face. 

"Master that was wonderful," She said, as I began cutting up onions. 

"You haven't even tasted it yet." I replied. 

"I meant what we did for the count," she said, her voice light. "I've never done something like that before. I've never saved a life."

I looked up at my apprentice who was glowing, spirits appearing around her, reacting and dancing to her joy. 

"You did very well Anna." I told her. "I didn't do half as good the first time I had to do what you did."

"Did you throw up?"

"Master Syroka was not impressed." I replied. 

I stoked the fire again and put the pan on the stove.

Soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of frying onion and garlic. 

I looked around the kitchen for some other ingredients, and cut up some vegetables I kind of recognised. I tossed them into the pan and then found a bushel of apples. 

I looked at them thoughtfully, shrugged, cut them up and threw them in the pot too. 

"Magic isn't destructive, nor is it creative." I explained, tossing the ingredients in the air, and shaking the pan. "It just is. You decide how you're going to use it. To hurt or heal, to build or break."

I looked at a bottle of wine suspiciously. "I really hope this isn't that memory wine." I said and added it to the dish. 

"Is there anything I can do like that?" Anna asked. 

"Like what?"

"Healing. I want to learn about that. All you've taught me is how to talk to spirits. You haven't told me how to use them, not like that."

I drained the oil and wine from the pan into a pot and removed it from the heat. 

"You dump a bucket of water on my head at least twice a week!" I said, in the exact same tone of voice that she used whenever she said it 

I found flour in a cupboard, put it in a tankard, added water and stirred it with the back end of the wooden spoon I was using to cook with. 

I added it to the wine, and oil mix that was simmering on the stove.

"That doesn't count, Lukas. It's easy to create fire and water." She concentrated and a ball of flame appeared above her one hand, a ball of water in another. "But that's about all I can do." 

"You scared the hell out of those kids last week." I reminded her. 

"My focus told me how to do that. I've forgotten most of it." She dismissed the fire and the water. 

I stirred the liquid in the pot, added salt, and began sniffing at spices. I grabbed one, took a pinch and put it on my tongue. 

I spat it out immediately. "Not that one," I muttered and then did exactly the same thing with another one. 

"Are you listening to me, master?"

I nodded. "I hear you, Anna," I said. "Let me put things into perspective for you." 

I tasted another spice, grinned, and applied it liberally to the pot. 

"Most mages are discovered as children and spend a few years of constant struggle before they can summon a spirit. You did it in minutes." 

I tasted the sauce, considered the flavour for a few seconds, and braced myself, waiting to be transported into the past. Nothing. It was normal wine. Good wine. 

I poured a glass for myself and another for the princess. 

I handed it to her. She accepted it gratefully. 

"It takes a decade before apprentices manage to speak to them. It took you a few months."

I studied the contents of the pot for a few moments, dipped the spoon into it, brought it to my lips and tasted it, burning my tongue. 

I took a sip of the wine to cool my mouth down. 

The food was surprisingly tasty. 

"And it took me at least six months after first speaking to a spirit before it would dump a bucket of dirt on my master's head."

"You're an elf, Lukas, you're not supposed to be able to summon dirt," Anna said, recalling something she must have read on one of her many visits to the Archives. 

"Half-elf, princess, that's why it took me six months," I said, dumping the vegetables into the sauce, and mixing it around for a few moments. 

"Oh, rice! Damn it!" I searched the cupboards for the grain, dumped it in a pot, covered it in cold water, looked at the pot, looked back at the uncooked rice, shook my head, concentrated for a moment, and watched in satisfaction as the rice in the pot began to swell and soften.

"All I'm saying, Highness," I said, grabbing a couple of plates and filling them liberally with rice. "You've managed to accomplish in one year, what it normally takes others a decades to master."

I poured the vegetables on top, and handed a plate to Anna, along with a knife and fork. 

I sat opposite her.

"In fact, I was only able to do what you just did in my third year at the Academy. Changing the physical properties of a substance is incredibly difficult, but you managed to do it seemingly effortlessly."

"It wasn't effortless, master." She said, taking a bite of the food. She chewed it thoughtfully and swallowed. "Hey, this is really good."

I gave the princess a mock bow and dug in. 

She was right. It was really good. 

"Comparatively effortless then. Many students pass out after just a few minutes of doing that. You held it for over an hour, and all that happened was you broke a sweat."

I took a sip of the wine. 

"My point is, Anna, you're incredible, and you're already far more powerful than some full-fledged Academy mages. There are some that can barely summon a flame large enough to light a candle."

I smiled and summoned a spirit. It lit up the room, before lighting gently on the tip of her nose. 

"Your problem, highness, is that you're comparing yourself to me. And I've been studying magic for over three decades." 

A lot longer than that if we're being honest. 

The princess smiled and took a sip of her wine. "So I'm doing okay?"

I nodded. "You're doing great." I ate another forkful. "But, to answer your question, Anna. Yes, there are plenty of things you can do to heal others, or yourself. You just need to find a spirit strong enough to be able to do what you ask."

"Like the wolf?" 

I nodded. "Like the wolf."

"What was it anyway? I've never seen a spirit like that before. I thought they were all like this little guy." She turned her hand, and the spirit on the back of her hand floated to her palm. 

"Those little ones are lesser spirits." I said, raising my hand and calling it back. "They appear as little lights because that is the easiest form for them to adopt. 

"The one that healed the count is what we call a greater spirit. They are the spirits of forests, lakes, and mountains. They appear as animals because those are the kind of spirits that are under its charge."

The princess thought for a moment. I watched as she put two and two together. 

"Wouldn't that mean a spirit that lots of people frequent would appear as a person?"

"Got it in one." I said. "In fact, you've met one of them already. Remember the girl at the Academy? The barefoot one with the robes with sleeves far too long for her arms? She was the spirit of the Academy."

"She was nice." The princess said, thinking back to that day. 

I also thought about my last interaction with the Academy and shuddered. 

"She was powerful. Very powerful."

I watched her, her thoughts clearly written on her face. She'd never been able to hide them from me, not in either of my lifetimes. 

I held a hand up. "Don't try it, Anna. You can't summon a greater spirit on your own. It would take dozens, if not hundreds of mages to do so."

"Then how did you do it?"

"I offered a gift to any spirit that answered my call, and the wolf was the one that answered. I didn't summon it, I bribed it."

"What was the gift?" 

"Service. It wants me to perform some sort of task for it, and before you ask, I have no idea what it is." 

"Then why did you agree?"

"My friend was in pain. I'd do anything to stop it."

"Would you do that for me?"

I looked at her very seriously. "Highness, I would conquer the world for you."

She laughed. 

"We can put that on hold for now, Lukas. But I do have a request for you."

"Anything you need, princess.

She handed her empty plate to me.

"More please."