Lilia sat in her room, staring intently at the glass jar in front of her. Amantha had assigned her to practice this skill: she'd carefully shatter the jar, then piece it back together, all without touching it once.
She thought she saw a small crack appear, though she wasn't sure if it was actually there or just her delusional hopefulness. She refocused her mind on the task, and the crack widened and branched off. Before she could process what was happening, the jar burst and shards of broken glass were sent flying around the room; Lilia just barely avoided getting jabbed in the eye.
Lilia kept her face hidden for several moments, then peeked up once she was relatively sure it was clear.
Broken glass was scattered everywhere. Several shards had impaled themselves in her until then perfectly good curtains. Another was stuck straight up in the carpet.
Well, great.
She almost stood up to pick them up by hand before she remembered what she was supposed to be doing. She focused her attention on the shards in the curtain and willed them to gently return to her desk. This went off without a hitch.
Then she turned her attention to the shards on the floor. She must have forgotten to specify gently this time, since the shards came hurtling at her full speed.
Once she had gotten over barely escaping death for the second time in five minutes, she looked around the room for any shards she had missed and gently called them to her desk one by one.
Once the shards were all on her desk, she focused on getting them to stitch themselves back together. The shards created an approximation of the jar, but no matter what she did, they refused to stick back together. She tried for another ten minutes to get them to stick together, but had to give up.
Mentally exhausted, Lilia stood up and walked over to examine her curtains. I wonder if there's a spell to fix these.
~~~
The second assassin found their way in through an open window. It was high off the ground, which was probably why it had been left unlocked as many people wouldn't expect anyone to try and get in that way. However, the assassin happened to be an experienced climber, so getting in through that window was no problem at all.
The assassin made their way through the castle by the light of the near dawn. Servants were likely awake, or would be waking up soon. Hopefully, they wouldn't be near Lilia's rooms for several hours. As she was technically considered a noble, she'd be expected to sleep in until after sunrise.
As the assassin had expected, they encountered no resistance on their way to Lilia's rooms. The few people they did encounter assumed that they were one of the staff and simply nodded politely as they passed.
Lilia's door was cracked open slightly, which the assassin found odd, but decided to think nothing of it.
The assassin pushed the door open silently, scanning the room for potential threats. Nothing seemed to notice their entrance, so they continued inside and closed the door behind them. They looked back into the room towards the bed and froze in shock.
The bed was empty.
The assassin looked frantically around the room. If she wasn't in the bed, then where-
Their eyes landed on a form slumped over a desk on the other side of the bed. The assassin relaxed. She must have fallen asleep in the middle of whatever she was working on.
Silently, the assassin approached the sleeping figure, drawing their weapon as they went.
~~~
Lilia had been gathering reports of vampire activity over the past few months. She wanted to see if she could figure out where Neva was and if she had a plan. She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, dawn was just barely breaking, and her neck and back were extremely stiff.
She was about to sit up and stretch when she heard something behind her; someone had closed her door.
Maybe it was the castle staff, she thought. She glanced again at the window. The sun wasn't even above the horizon yet. No, they wouldn't be coming to her room for another hour, at least. So, who was it?
She heard light footsteps approach her, like they were trying to be silent and almost succeeding.
Another assassin?
Whoever it was was standing just behind her when she sprung into action.
Lilia slipped sideways off the chair and turned around to face the newcomer.
Definitely an assassin. They were holding a blade, which was poised to strike.
Lilia dove to the side to avoid being struck by the blade that came flying at her. She scrambled around the room, trying to remember where she left her emergency dagger.
Where is it where is it-
It was nowhere in sight. She must have left it somewhere and forgotten to grab it. Frantically, she searched the room one more time for something she could use, and her eyes landed on her desk.
The jar.
She rolled out of the way to dodge another slash and locked her eyes on the jar. She had no idea if this would work.
Shatter, goddammit.
The jar exploded; shards of broken glass flew across the room. Lilia barely dodged impalement; the assassin was not so lucky, having caught a shard in their arm.
Lilia picked up a shard from the ground and ran at the assassin, driving it into their chest while they were distracted.
Guards burst into Lilia's room and observed the scene. Lilia pushed the now lifeless body of her would be assassin off of her, letting the guards take care of it.
Definitely going to have to get better security.
~~~
Several days later, Lilia made her way down to Amantha's hut for her weekly lesson. She was still rattled by the second attempt on her life.
Before she knew it, she found herself knocking at Amantha's door. Despite everything that had happened, she couldn't help but feel more relaxed when the door opened to reveal Amantha's kind face.
"Has something happened?" Amantha asked, apparently noticing Lilia's preoccupation as she let her inside.
"What is it?"
Lilia sat down and dropped her head into her hands. "Someone got into the castle and tried to..." She looked up at Amantha. "I need to learn how to defend myself."
"I thought you already knew how to fight."
"I need something more. A dagger can only get me so far. And what if I don't have it? What would I do then?"
"All in due time."
"I can't afford to wait for due time. I need something now."
Amantha looked at Lilia with concern in her eyes. Instead of replying, she grabbed an empty jar and placed it on the table. "Let's see what kind of progress you've made this week."
Lilia wanted to fight back, but she knew there was no use. She turned her attention to the jar and attempted to clear her mind. Thoughts continued to cloud her mind; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't focus. Frustrated, she stood up and paced around the room.
"Lilia-"
"How am I supposed to focus when there are people out there who want me dead? Why should I care about this stupid jar while I'm worried about people breaking into the castle trying to kill me?"
"Lilia-"
"I came to you so I can learn better ways to defend myself, and instead you have me doing this-"
"Lilia!"
Lilia finally stopped, somewhat embarrassed by her outburst.
"I know you're scared. I know this is frustrating for you. But we have to start from the beginning. If you don't build these skills now, then you won't be able to control your magic further down the line." Amantha pointed again at the jar. "Try again. Don't try so hard to force it."
Lilia took a deep breath and tried again to clear her mind. She sat down and focused her attention again on the jar. This time, she tried relaxing more.
A small crack appeared in the jar. The crack expanded, encompassing the whole jar, until it neatly came apart and the bits clattered on the table.
"Very good. And back together?"
Lilia nodded. She took a moment to breathe, then cleared her mind again and focused on the jar. The shards quivered, then rose up to reform the completed jar.
Lilia focused harder, trying to get them to stick together. Some of the cracks started disappearing. Lilia breathed a sigh of relief.
The rest of them fell back to the table.
Frustration bubbled up in Lilia, but she forced it down. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Don't try to force it so much. Encourage them more than demanding them."
"They're inanimate objects."
"Nothing is inanimate in magic."
Lilia absorbed this advice, then turned back to the jar. This time, she tried to be more positive and uplifting to the shards.
Apparently, they responded well to positive reinforcement, as they stuck together and formed a whole jar with ease this time.
Lilia sat back and admired her handiwork. Who knew?
Amantha nodded approvingly. "Sometimes it's better to not be so demanding."
Lilia nodded, internalizing the advice. Maybe it could apply to more than just magic.
"Keep practicing with the jar. I'll give you a new assignment next week."
Lilia thanked Amantha and made her way back to the castle.
Hey all. I keep forgetting to publish once I finish a chapter, so I have one more update coming for today.
Hope you guys are enjoying. If you are, leave a vote, and let me know what you're thinking. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but if you have any feedback on the story or anything else, I try to take that kind of thing into account while I'm editing and it's greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for reading. I'll see you next time.
~Patchesmimi