Bert had given Maril the puzzle box and began teaching her how to open it as they left the Assignment Office. The puzzle to open the box was surprisingly complex. When she realized she was not going to learn how to open the box before they got to Bert’s house she had Owen stop at a park so she and Bert could sit on a bench while she practiced.
She eventually did learn the entire sequence to open the box and practiced it a few times without help to make sure that she would remember. Bert suggested she open it every day so she wouldn’t forget but he reminded her not to take mana from it too often because it could be suspicious if she suddenly began turning all her assignments in early. But at least she wouldn’t be a zombie after working on her assignments.
Bert had been very excited about her new assignments, especially the one to refresh the runes on the city wall. He had asked if he could go with her when she went but he wasn’t sure when he would have a free day from the workshop next. Maril had told him that she didn’t mind him going with her but she didn’t want to wait so long for him to be free that she would have to turn the assignment in late. Bert said that he would send her a letter sender in a package via messenger the next day.
She had argued that a letter sender was much too expensive for their communication, they could just send letters via messengers. But he promised her that it was a small one that didn’t work quite right and couldn’t be sold. So it was no expense at all.
Seeing her skepticism, he had explained that it was the first letter sender he had ever made and there were a few places on the surfaces that didn’t send the writing. But as long as you didn’t use those sections it worked just fine. And he had painted those sections so you knew not to use them. They could use it to communicate when they were not able to see each other.
Maril was a little apprehensive about having such easy communication with someone but she was also a little giddy at finding someone who was interested in being her friend. Maybe now, with Bert’s puzzle box, she wouldn’t have to spend so many days in bed and maybe she would have enough time to actually start considering friendships.
Now she was sitting in the middle of her bed, mostly because that’s where she always went after returning home from working on assignments. But this time she had a basket of snacks from the kitchen and she was wide awake.
She was fiddling with the puzzle box and practicing the sequence to open it, occasionally stopping to munch on the mixed dried fruit and miniature cookies in her basket. She decided she would need to go to the Student Mage Library to see if there was any documentation about the mana rods Bert had told her about and about mana storage in general. The Master Mage Library would be better, but she did not have unrestricted access to it and it was more regulated anyway. Maybe she could go to the library tomorrow since it would be too suspicious if she worked on a new assignment tomorrow since she just finished one today.
She leaned into the patterned pillows piled against the headboard of her bed. The sun was making rippling orange rays of light through the tree branches out her window. She couldn’t see the sunset, but the light made everything in her room glow a warm orange.
~~~~~
Meryl sat up and rubbed her eyes. She didn’t remember falling asleep but it was definitely morning. The sunlight was blazing through the window on her other wall and falling across her bed. It looked like it was still pretty early but the sky was already a clear blue.
She felt great, not tired at all. Not like it was morning, she normally didn’t like mornings. She slid out of bed to go look out the window, it really was a glorious looking day. The wind was blowing through the tree branches and making shadows dance on the ground. There was a pair of birds chasing each other around in the bushes. She smiled.
Maril slipped on some house clothes and tied up her hair. Her hand was on her doorknob getting ready to walk out into the hall when she realized it was way too early for her to be headed down to the kitchen if she didn’t want to arouse suspicion.
She bit her lip trying to decide if she wanted breakfast or if she wanted to avoid suspicion more. She decided that she wanted both and could delay for a while before heading down.
She tapped her foot quietly while she looked around her room trying to decide what she wanted to do for a while. She didn’t really feel like doing anything besides going and getting breakfast. She decided to tidy up her room a little.
She made her bed, which she had not done for quite a while, and put all the pillows back on the bed. She ate the last of the dried fruit from yesterday’s bowl when she cleaned off her nightstand. She put her dishes from the night before as well as some other lost dishes into the basket to take back to the kitchen.
She cleaned off her vanity and watered the small plants on her windowsill. She even took the time to pull off the dead leaves and drop them in the basket to take away. She put away the stack of books that were sitting on the floor in front of the bookshelf and straightened the stack of notebooks that were filled with her sketches. While she was straightening the bookshelf she found a place behind some of the books where she could put the puzzle box where it couldn’t be seen. As she was hiding the puzzle box she stopped and practiced opening it once more. Just to make sure that she still remembered. She did.
Consulting the clock on the wall she decided that it was probably late enough for her to go to the kitchen without being too suspicious. She picked up the basket of things to take to the kitchen and stopped in front of the vanity mirror.
She looked at herself in the mirror and put the basket down. She undid her hair and fluffed it up, hoping to make it look like she just got out of bed. Then she shrugged, picked up the basket, and headed down to the kitchen.
Vicki was in the kitchen kneading bread dough on the counter. As usual, there was a pot of thin, brothy soup hanging near the fire.
“Good morning Miss Maril,” Vicki said looking at her as she came through the heavy kitchen door, “Would you like some soup?” Vicki started to dust the flour from her hands.
“I can get it, don’t worry Vicky,” Maril said as she opened a cabinet to pull out a bowl after lifting the basket up onto the counter, “Is there any bread ready?”
“It’s not quite ready,” Vicki said, watching her “You are a little earlier than normal. There should be some rolls ready in a little while if you don’t mind eating them warm.”
“Oh yeah,” Maril said and feigned a yawn, “I woke up and I thought that I,” she paused and rubbed her eyes dramatically, “should come down and get some food before I fell back asleep.”
Vicky turned back to the bread dough, “Very well, help yourself to the soup, I’ll bring you a roll when they are ready. Oh, and a package came for you. I left it at your place at the table.”
Maril paused with the ladle hovering over the pot of soup and looked over her shoulder towards the table. She could see a package wrapped in brown paper with a few loops of string around it sitting on the corner of the kitchen table. Apparently Bert works fast and keeps his word.
She finished dishing the bowl of soup and carried it over to the table. It looked like her dad, who normally ate breakfast in the kitchen while reading the newspaper, had already headed out this morning. The paper and his dirty dishes were still at the other end of the table. Maril wondered where he was headed so early in the morning.
She was anxious to open the package but decided that she would wait to open it after she got back to her room. But that didn’t stop her from picking it up to feel it. It was quite thin and small, much smaller than the other letter senders she had seen. If she didn’t know that it was a wooden board she would have guessed it was a small book, maybe a journal
She put the package down on the table in front of her so she could start eating soup, after a couple of bites, she realized that she was sitting up straight, looking out the window, and smiling to herself. She stopped, scrunched down in her chair, leaned on the table, let her face relax and sag, and closed her eyes partway. When she was satisfied that she looked half asleep she continued eating. She hoped Vicki hadn’t noticed her abrupt change, it looked like she was still kneading dough.
She studied the handwriting on the outside of the package from under her partially closed eyelids. Her name and address were written in block letters with each line sliding down at a steeper angle than the line above it creating a wedge shape of text.
Halfway through the bowl of soup Vicki brought her a couple of small rolls of bread on a plate, “Be careful miss, they’re still quite hot from the oven.”
Maril mumbled her thanks without looking up and carefully ripped pieces of the roll off to dip in the soup. When her soup was gone she got up and ask Vicky if she could take some snacks with her to eat later. Vicky squinted down at her, but then filled a basket with small containers of nuts, more dried fruit, and a few rolls that looked like they had raisins in them. Then the tall woman carefully handed the basket down to Maril.
Maril thanked her and put the package into the basket with the other things so she would have a hand free to push open the thick kitchen door.
Just outside the kitchen door, Owen was standing at the bottom of the flight of stairs, “Good morning Miss Maril. How are you?”
“I’m doing okay. I think I’m going to head back to bed,” she said quietly slouching a little more, trying not to look suspicious.
He watched for a few more seconds, “Very well, do be careful on the stairs up.”
She nodded and started up the first staircase, carefully placing each foot in front of the other. Leaning on the gnome height handrail, she pretended to be much more tired than she actually was and slowly climbed the two long flights of stairs to her room.