Chapter 58: Fae Training (2)

“How are you doing there?” Frey asked, looking up from some documents he was reading.

“I’m doing fine…” Clare huffed as sweat continued to form on her brow.

Since arriving at Frey’s office as the sun was rising, Clare had been instructed to keep a crystal ball filled with magic under control. Frey wanted to see what her magic capabilities were and decided to use a common training method.

At first, the exercise had seemed like child’s play but as time went by, Clare began feeling exhausted, like the ball was draining her of her energy. It probably was considering she had to use her magic to keep the crystal ball in control.

Whatever the case was, Clare now understood why Frey called it training.

Frey pursed his lips for a moment before nodding to himself. “Alright, you can stop now.”

Clare quickly removed her hands from the crystal ball, glad the exercise was over. She stretched out her aching arms as Frey walked over to her and took the ball.

After a few minutes of silence, Clare asked, “So… How did I do?”

“Pathetic.” Frey answered as he brought over a cup to her. “Children could do better than you…”

Ouch! Clare groaned to herself. Thanks for completing destroying me there.

“Still, there is some hope.” Frey added. “Your foundation is quite strong. Whoever taught you was a great teacher. An elder witch most likely… That Niro girl perhaps?”

“Um… yeah.” Clare responded, a little shocked at Frey’s words. “How did you know?”

“Well, witches are the only ones with similar magic to us and considering we’ve been isolated for centuries, there are few witches that know any of our techniques.” Frey explained as he handed Clare the cup. “As to how I knew it was Niro, you were using her favorite technique.”

Clare tried to wrap her mind around the fact Frey knew Mrs. Niro when she was younger. It seemed impossible but at the same time it wasn’t.

“I see…” Clare murmured before taking a sip of nectar from the cup. “You must have been close seeing as you know her favorite technique.”

The thick but refreshing liquid instantly gave Clare a boost of energy as she drank it. She wanted another cup but knew better than to ask. Nectar was as dangerous as it was good.

Too much would kill even a Fae, the drink filled with magical properties.

“I wouldn’t say we were close. More that I was her teacher during her stay here.” Frey shrugged it off like it was nothing.

“You taught others?!” Clare gave Frey a look of surprise.

“I did. Why do you think her majesty asked me to tutoring you?” Frey stated.

Right… That did make sense. Clare had thought it was because he was the queen’s trusted sword but it made more sense for her to learn from an experienced teacher.

“But enough with the questions.” Frey said, breaking Clare’s train of thought. “You have a good foundation but that’s it. You’re going to need to train hard to even be considered average in Fae’s magic.”

Clare felt the words stab her heart, constantly forgetting how blunt Frey was with his words. Still, it wasn’t like his words were wrong, they just hurt.

“Okay… I get it.” Clare sighed. “So, what do I need to do?”

“First thing is you need to build up stamina. Magic requires energy and you have next to nothing in that weak body.” Frey explained. “So, you’ll be swimming laps every morning before coming to morning training. Lif will watch over you and make sure you’re doing things properly.”

“You have swimming pools?” Clare asked dumbly.

Maybe it was her being a little stupid but it seemed so weird to see that the Fae Court had something as mundane as swimming pools when everything was so magical here.

They didn’t even have modern day technology and it wasn’t because they were isolated. No, rather it seemed that large amounts of Fae magic made tech objects stop working properly.

It was a little sad to hear but Frey explained to Clare that eventually it would be useless to use any human technology. She wasn’t sure how to come to terms with it but apparently there were Fae alternates that she could use.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we have pools for swimming?” Frey frowned. “Does the human world not have such things?”

“Yeah do… I’m just surprised…” Clare answered awkwardly.

Frey gave her a pointed look. “Alright but as I was saying, you’re going to swim laps as part of your training and you’ll be growing this.”

Frey placed a small brown seed on the table. It looked like an ordinary flower seed but Clare had a feeling there was more to it than meets the eye.

She was proven right when Frey explained, “This plant can only be grown with magic so you’ll need to feed it with your magic. As it grows, you’ll be required to use more magic.”

“Okay…” Clare paused for a second. “So, how does one feed the seed with magic?”

“That’ll be your first task to solve.” Frey stated. “Once you’ve grown this seed into a flower, we’ll move onto your next magic lesson. For now, you’re going to have to solve this problem yourself. Feel free to use those books there for any help.”

With that Frey walked off, leaving Clare wondering how she was going to grow the seed. She turned her gaze to the big pile of books Frey had pointed out earlier and nearly let out a small groan of frustration.

She was hoping there would be more structure to the magic lessons like when she was being taught by Mrs. Niro but that didn’t seem to be the case now.

Whatever. Clare sighed to herself. There’s probably a good reason for me having to grow this seed by myself. Guess I’ll have to just look over those books.

With that in mind, Clare pocketed the seed and turned her attention to the books.