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The Luminary of legend was not in residence at Dundrasil, had not been for seven years, and was not expected to be for one more. To say that the news had been an unwelcome shock would be... an understatement.
“A year!?”
To her credit, Veronica had accepted the news with grace right up until the throne room doors shut behind them.
“He is in training, Veronica,” Serena reasoned, ever the voice of calm between the two of them. “It isn’t like he’s gone on holiday.”
“I know that, but...” Veronica huffed, folding her arms. “What are we supposed to do for an entire year while we wait for him to get back?”
Serena hummed, tapping her chin with the knuckle of her index finger. “Well... perhaps we could visit the Royal Library? I know it’s not the Royal Library of Sniflheim, but surely–”
“Well, it isn’t a bad plan for the afternoon,” Veronica sighed, “but it’s not a plan for a year.” She paused. “Then again... maybe we’ll think of something while we’re there.”
Serena nodded, her gentle smile back on her face. “Right we are, then; to the library!”
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Veronica inhaled deeply of the scent of paper and ink and books.
“Smell that, Serena?” Veronica asked, delight in her voice. “Have you ever seen so many books in one place?”
Serena shook her head, looking around with wide eyes. “Goodness, just look at them all! Where do we even start ?”
Veronica spun to face her sister with a wink and a grin. “Where else? The magic books, of course!”
“Of course,” Serena repeated with a fond smile.
With that, Veronica took Serena’s hand and raced off to the card catalogue.
It only took a moment of flipping through for Veronica’s expression to sour.
“Their only fire magic tome is ‘Introductory Pyrotechnics for Pyrotechnicals’ ?” Veronica scowled. “How do they have ‘Get Kacrackin’: An In-Depth Exploration of Ice Spells’ and ‘Give It A Whack: Instant-Death Spells Explained’ but not ‘Frizz With Flair’ ?”
“Grandpa says no one in the royal family has had a fire affinity in four hundred years!”
Veronica jumped, whirling on her heel to identify the speaker, only to find...
A pair of little girls with flaming hair and identical freckled faces, no older than five.
Serena gasped excitedly. “Oh, Veronica, look! Twins!”
Veronica crouched down to their eye level with a friendly smile. “Hello, there! My name is Veronica, and this is my little sister, Serena.”
“Why are you looking for fire magic tomes?” the girl on the left asked.
“ Mirren, ” the girl on the right hissed.
“Oh, right!” The girl, presumably Mirren, cleared her throat and curtsied, mirrored by her twin. “I am Mirren, Princess of Dundrasil, and this is Princess Ferelith.” She straightened up, and then her face lost whatever dignity she’d scraped together to grin brightly. “Are you a witch?”
“ Mirren!” Princess Ferelith put her little fists on her hips, her face all scrunched up.
“ Sorry, ” Princess Mirren whispered back, looking sheepish.
Princess Ferelith sighed, and then smiled at Veronica and Serena. “Can we help you find something?”
“We’ve read a lot of the magic books here!” Princess Mirren added.
“Well,” Veronica said, snapping her fingers to produce a tiny flame, “as it happens, I am a witch!”
“The brightest of our age, it’s said,” Serena added with a smile.
The manners fell away utterly in the face of the fire at Veronica’s fingertips. Both of the girls leaned in closer, sky-blue eyes wide and fixed on the light.
“Whoa...” the little princesses said together.
Veronica grinned, dismissing the fire. “If you want to get technical about it, Serena and I are both sages of Arboria.”
Princess Ferelith gasped. “ Sages ?” she whispered excitedly.
Princess Mirren had far less grace. “How many spells can you cast? I read that most mages have to pick one or two schools of magic, but I think that sounds silly because I wanna learn everything, but Mama says we have to wait to learn magic until she can find a good tutor for us or until we’re old enough to go train with Master Pang, but–”
“Mirren!!”
Princess Mirren covered her mouth with both hands. “Sorry!” she exclaimed through tightly laced fingers.
Veronica shook her head. “I don’t mind; asking questions is the best way to learn!”
“I have one, as it happens,” Serena piped up.
“We will do our best to answer!” Princess Ferelith declared.
“You said your mother was looking for a tutor for you, for magic, yes?” Serena asked. “Your mother, she wouldn’t happen to be Queen Eleanor, would she?”
“She is!” Princess Mirren said. “Did you come to meet her?”
“We did!” Veronica said. “We came to Dundrasil to meet the Luminary, you see.”
Both girls nodded. “Elli won’t be back until we’re six,” Princess Ferelith said, poorly concealed sadness on her little face.
“That’s almost a whole year away!” Princess Mirren moaned, wearing her disappointment more openly. “He came back from his knight training for our birthday, but he had to go back after no time at all!”
“Well,” Veronica cut in before the princess could get too carried away, “we have to wait to see him too. We were very excited, but it can’t be helped.”
“Oh!” Serena leaned down a bit, resting a hand on Veronica’s shoulder. “I’ve got an idea! We were just wondering what we were going to do with ourselves for a whole year while we wait for the Luminary’s return; what if we were your tutors?”
Both princesses gasped loudly, all manners utterly forgotten.
“Do you mean it?” Princess Ferelith asked, her little hands flapping.
“Sages from Arboria! Teaching us magic!” Princess Mirren seemed beside herself with joy, jumping up and down.
“We’ll have to speak to your mother about it, of course,” Veronica said, “but you said she was looking for a tutor already, right?”
“Right!” the little twins chirped in unison.
Veronica stood in one smooth motion. “Right, then! Shall we go see her?”
Princess Mirren shrieked happily. “Magic! We’re gonna learn magic!”
Princess Ferelith shushed her with a little giggle. “ Mirren, we’re in the library!”
“Sorry!”
—Fin