Moon Koi

     “Do you really think this is necessary? You're at the top of pretty much every class. You don’t have to master every type of magic just because Velin is good at it,” Izuki said, setting a thick tome on psychic magic on the table. 

     Raahan raised her eyebrow, “Yes I do. I’m not about to let Velin beat me in anything.”

     Raahan flipped through the massive book, looking for the best spell to practice.

Izuki eyed her friend from across the table, “you know, Velin has his weaknesses too, you're much better at physical enhancement type magic than him. Neither of you has to be good at everything.”

     “Just because you’re satisfied with being average doesn’t mean everyone is,” Raahan said without looking up. Izuki huffed a defeated sigh and leaned over the table to guide Raahan to the right page. 

     “Here,” Izuki pointed to one of the simpler spells in the book, “this one allows you to see into the next few minutes of a person's future. Try it on me.” 

     Raahan frowned at the page, studying the instructions, “alright,” she said, “stay still.” 

     Izuki shut her eyes, bracing herself for a likely failed attempt. Izuki crinkled her face as a puff of cold air hit her. Raahan cussed and reread the spell's instructions.

     “It’s alright, just try it again,” Izuki started.

     “I know,” Raahan interrupted, already getting ready for a second try.

     “Wait! Raa, just give yourself a minute,” Izuki grabbed Raahan’s raised hands before she could cast, “Psychic magic takes patients and a calm, focused mind, just take a moment to collect your thoughts and focus on the spell.”

     Raahan looked annoyed, but paused and seemingly tried what Izuki had suggested. 

     “Ok, let's do this,” Raahan said after a moment. A silvery glow gathered in Raahan’s hands and Izuki braced herself again. This time Izuki thought Raahan may have actually pulled it off when she saw Raahan’s eyes begin to change from orange to silver. 

     “Aghhh!” Raahan dropped her hands and gripped her head with a grimace. 

     “Raa!” Izuki reached over the table, but Raahan held her hand up.

     “I’m fine, I must have done something wrong. Let’s try again,” Raahan insisted, looking over the book again.

     “Raa, you might hurt yourself if you try again so soon. We only have one more class anyway, we can practice after that” Izuki explained worriedly, beginning to close the tome despite Raahan’s protests, “besides, we might miss history if we don’t wrap it up soon.”

     “Oh you’re right!” Raahan leapt to her feet. She pulled Izuki along with her,  barely giving her friend time to tuck the book under her arm “come on!”

     Raahan soon slowed her pace when she realized they had plenty of time to make it to class on time and let go of Izuki’s arm. She had started going over the details of tomorrow’s practical exam when a familiar face appeared from a side corridor. His dark skin, condescending expression, and ornate blue and black jacket were all unmistakably Velin. 

     “Ms. Trill,” he nodded to Raahan, “Ms. Shen,” he nodded to Izuki, greeting them both in his politely cold tone. Velin and Raahan were both the top ranking apprentice mages. But neither seemed satisfied to share that spot, always competing to pass the other up.

     “Hi Velin, heading to history class too?” Izuki asked as they continued walking, both her and Velin ignoring Raahan’s glare. 

     “Of course, that is our next class. Where else would I be going?” He answered, sounding as though he didn’t care for a response. 

     “Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question…” Izuki trailed off quietly.

     Raahan glared at her notes in the large history classroom lit by fire and the various windows depicting different historical figures. She furiously focused on jotting down everything important as she leaned over her part of the long, dark oak desk. Velin sat across the room under a magnificent stained glass window depicting Evelon the Serpent Killer. He seemed not to even notice he wasn’t the only one in the room besides the High Mage teaching and himself as he wrote down careful notes.

     Normally she wouldn’t be this annoyed by his mere presence, but her failure earlier and the nagging headache that had started building up were agitating her. 

     Raahan sucked in a sharp breath when her vision went unexpectedly white. It passed in less than a second, but she noticed instantly that the notes under hand weren’t hers, the writing was too small and neat and the Ns and Rs were all given a distinctive twist that made them look like entirely different letters in Raahan’s opinion. 

     It was unmistakably Velin’s handwriting. Raahan reeled back but only her body moved, her sight line remained the same, the blinks not even lining up with her own. 

     “Ms. Trill, is there a problem?” High Mage Vespin asked. Her line of sight shifted up and right until she could see herself across the classroom sitting stiffly upright with her eyes wide. 

     Her vision blurred white again until she was suddenly staring straight ahead from her own seat again.

     “No, sorry Lord Vespin,” she said quickly, blushing but refusing to look embarrassed otherwise. High Mage Vespin nodded and continued the lesson uninterrupted.

     “What happened back there?” Izuki asked in concern. Raahan had refused to answer while still in class, and she had been waiting anxiously for the end of the lecture.

     “It was so weird, Izu, in the middle of class my vision got all blurry and white and suddenly I was looking through Velin’s eyes instead!” Raahan recounted, sounding more excited than she should, “What do you think that means?”

     “I think it just means that you were affected by that botched psychic spell you tried earlier,” Izuki explained gently, “you know how you can botch a physical enhancement spell by accidentally making your ears grow instead of making your hearing better. That type of thing can happen with psychic magic too, just in a different way. It should wear off pretty quickly though.”

     “That’s lame,” Raahan’s face twisted in distaste, “whatever, I’ll just study in my room until passes then,” she said, taking the psychic magic tome off Izuki’s hands, “at least I might learn some things about Velin he doesn’t want me knowing,” she grinned slyly at Izuki.

     “Don’t abuse this, Raa.”

     “I’m not, it's not like I did this on purpose, but if an opportunity rises to get some dirt on him I’m not about to pass it up.”

Izuki sighed, clearly not seeing a point in arguing further, “do you want me to come with you? You know, in case anything bad happens while you're having a vision.”

     “Nah, I’ll be fine, thanks,” Raahan waved as she left for the dorm rooms. 

     “Okay, I’ll be out then, I have to get some potion ingredients,” Izuki waved back, leaving in the opposite direction. 

     Raahan settled down in the small, warmly lit room she shared with Izuki. She decided to sit on Izuki’s bed since it was closer to the only window in the room. Izuki had surrounded the window with a miniature garden of colorful plants from around the world. Her school books and notes sat neatly on a small oak desk beside the bed. Raahan’s side was a bit messier, mostly because she didn’t have enough room to keep all the books and supplies she wanted so she had to keep them stacked in and on top of their shared bookshelf and around her desk and bed.

     She flipped the book open to the failed spell from earlier, determined to study everything about it so when Izuki came back she could cast it perfectly. 

Not twenty minutes passed before the words on the page blurred before her and she was suddenly looking at a completely different room. 

     It was certainly bigger than her and Izuki’s and she only saw one bed. Of course Velin would be given a better room, his family was probably rich enough to buy the school if they wanted to. It looked like one wall was completely glass, but he kept thick violet curtains over them to keep the room dark like the weirdo he was. Dark bookcases that touched the ceiling lined the two of the other walls, each one filled with impeccably neat rows of books. As Raahan watched, unable to control anything she saw, Velin opened a large silver chest at the end of his bed and lifted out a canister of something. She felt a rush of excitement as Velin popped open the canister to reveal glowing aqua colored flakes. Raahan searched her memory for everything she knew about illegal substances and performance enhancing drugs. If she could catch Velin with something like that, she could cause some serious damage. 

     Velin carried the canister over to a hollowed out stone circle in the floor a few feet away from the foot of his large canopy bed. When he looked down into the circle Raahan saw at least three white fish, each with a softly glowing blue spot on their backs, swimming in a small pond. Moon koi, she realized. Raahan’s hopes sank in disappointment as she quickly realized what the canister was full of. As soon as Velin sat down in front of the small pond the fish began swimming furiously around the edges of the pool. Velin sprinkled the glowing flakes into the pond and watched as the koi bobbed around to eat as much as they could. The smallest koi couldn’t keep up and only managed to get to about half as many flakes as the others.

     “Cori, Illune, stop bullying Nulu,” Raahan was surprised to hear Velin whisper to himself, “there is always enough for all of you.” Raahan couldn’t help bursting out laughing. Of course the only time Velin was able to sound anything but condescending was when he talked to his stupid fish. 

     Velin slipped his arm into the pool, separating the koi Raahan assumed must be Nulu and lifted her out in an orb of floating water. She watched Velin feed Nulu in her separate bubble.

     Her vision whitened again, and she found herself staring at the modest door of her dorm room. She glanced over to her bed across the room. Of course Velin got his own room. Such a nicely furnished room too. He had his own indoor pond. Probably a nice big closet for all his stupid, prissy jackets and suits he wears. Whatever, his family was rich. It would have been weird if they hadn’t paid for him to have a nicer room than everyone else. Besides, if she hadn’t had to share a room, she wouldn’t have met Izuki. Izuki was the best friend she had ever had and she knew she wasn’t the easiest person to be friends with. 

     What really caught her attention though was Velin’s koi fish though. The way he talked to his koi fish was something she had never seen from him before. He was always quiet and only as polite as he had to be to keep up his rich family’s appearance. That was the only thing that drove him to beat her in everything. Raahan wanted to make a name for herself, prove that she could be someone despite her mediocre family. Velin was just keeping up appearances like he always did. She had heard rumors that his family, the Quello’s, were once involved with pirates and that’s where their current fortune originated from. While he kept up that facade, she would forge herself into the greatest Mage to ever come out of this academy, maybe the country. And it would all be her own doing, not some family name.

     Raahan tried to keep studying, but found her mind wandering several times for the next hour. Finally, she gave up and decided to practice something closer to her natural talents. She closed the tome and moved to stand in the space between the two beds. With a wave of her hand, Raahan plucked a small book of fire spells off the shelf and made it hover in front of her. She tied her honey gold hair up in a high ponytail and positioned her hands perfectly for the spell she wanted to practice.

     Fifty minutes into practice Raahan thought the vision episodes might be over, but yet again her vision blanked. She quickly let the fire in her hands dissipate before she lost sight of it completely.

     “—and you are prepared for the practical exam tomorrow, I assume?” Raahan heard a feminine voice ask as her vision cleared. 

“Of course, Aunt.” She heard Velin answer. An elegant woman sat across from him in a black, velvet chair. Her coiled black hair was cut so short it could almost be considered a buzz cut. Around her head curved a delicate diadem set with sapphires. 

“I had no doubt, Velin, you are always so well prepared for every challenge you are presented with.” 

     “I hope to surpass all of my fellow apprentices and exceed the High Mages’ expectations tomorrow,” Velin said, “I cannot settle for less if I am to graduate at the top of my class.” 

     Raahan rolled her eyes, like she was going to let that happen.

     “And why do you want to stay at the top of your class so badly, Nephew?” His aunt asked casually. Velin remained silent for a few moments, glancing down at his folded hands before raising his eyes back up to meet his aunt’s.

     “Many reasons,” he answered finally, “I believe it is in my nature, for one, but that is not the only reason. I believe I also wish to do something of worth with the Quello name. I have been given a great opportunity through my birth alone, it would be a waste to not use that opportunity and my natural skills to do some good in the world.”

His aunt appraised him silently for a few moments, giving Raahan time to digest what Velin had just said too.

     “What you just said is very eye-opening, Velin. What do you—”

     “Raa?” Raahan heard Izuki’s voice filter in as her regular sight returned, “are you back?”

     Izuki’s soft face appeared in front of her, assessing Raahan quietly.

     “Yeah, I’m good,” Raahan waved her off distractedly.

     “How many have you had?” Izuki asked, setting her bags on her bed.

     “Just two since you left,” Raahan said, picking the fire spell book off the floor and putting it back in its place.

     “Have they been progressively shorter or farther apart?” Izuki asked, sitting on her bed as Raahan plopped onto her own. 

     “Both, the last one came about two hours after my second one.”

     “Oh, that’s good! I doubt you’ll have anymore then,” Izuki smiled, “do you want to try a psychic spell again? It should be safe now.” 

     “Uh, no. I think I’m going to get ready for bed actually.”

     Izuki’s smile fell, “now? But we haven’t even had dinner yet. Are you feeling alright?” She asked, getting up to get a closer look at Raahan’s face, “maybe that botched spell did more damage than we thought, should I get a healer?” 

     “It’s not that, Izu, I just have some stuff to think about,” Raahan assured, “plus, I want to be well rested to get an early start tomorrow,” she laughed half-heartedly.

Izuki watched her, clearly unconvinced, but let it be, “okay, well I’ll be in the dining hall if you need me.” 

     “Thanks Izu,” Raahan said so sincerely that Izuki looked taken aback.

     “Of course, Raa,” she said, hand on the door knob, “um, I’ll see you later then.”

     “Bye,” Raahan waved as Izuki shut the door, leaving Raahan with her thoughts.

     The next morning found the grounds outside the academy filled with jittery young mages. Today’s exam wouldn’t be the most important test of that year, but they all knew it was important to make a good impression on the High Mages that day. Many of them would start deciding who they would take on as personal apprentices next year based on every student’s performance today. 

     “You ready, Izu.” Raahan grinned at her friend.

     “I think I’ll do just fine,” Izuki shrugged a bit nervously. Raahan patted her back encouragingly, “Look there’s Velin. It looks like you and him are the only ones who aren’t nervous at all.”

     “That’s because I’m excited to show what I’ve got,” Raahan boasted, “and that prissy brat is always prepared for everything. Let’s go say hi before we start.”

     “What?” Izuki asked. What Raahan had just suggested was so far outside of Izuki’s frame of reference for her friend’s behavior that she had trouble processing it. “Raa!” She called, jogging to catch up to Raahan who was already several yards away.

     “Hey, Velin,” Raahan greeted, holding out her hand to a surprised Velin, “good luck today.” 

     Velin stared at her outstretched hand, his expression changing from surprise to suspicion. 

     “I mean it, you’re going to need it if you're going to compete against me today.”

     Velin cautiously took her hand in a professionally firm grip, “I don’t believe in luck, Ms. Trill, but thank you for the sentiment. I hope we both perform our best today as well.”

     “That was weird of you,” Izuki commented as they walked back.

     “Stuck up prick,” Raahan muttered under her breath, smiling.

     “Raa!” Izuki insisted, “what was that about?” 

     “Nothing, I don’t know really,” Raahan shrugged, “I just thought I should show him a little respect before I destroy him today.”

    “I hope you know you’re not allowed to actually attack him today.”

     “Yeah, I know. It's a figure of speech,” Raahan assured Izuki as a High Mage appeared in order to begin the exam.