Maril painstakingly climbed the steps into the carriage. Slowly and exaggeratedly she moved over to the bench and waited for Owen to close the carriage door.
Once he had, she could barely contain her excitement. She grinned ear-to-ear and struggled to not bounce on the bench. She had done all seventeen aqueduct pillars in one day. The assignment was done.
She pulled the assignment page out of her backpack and gleefully checked off the last pillar, number 749.
She pulled the other assignment out of the folder. It was to refresh the runes on both sides of both ends of a minor bridge. It was on the way back to the city. She could do it today. It would be easy, so, so easy. The carriage lurched as it pulled back onto the highway from the rough path to the aqueduct.
She scowled and sighed at the same time. She couldn’t. Especially now that she knew how undeniably illegal the puzzle box was. It wasn’t worth the risk of drawing any attention to herself. Gently she slid both assignment papers back into the folder and then into her backpack even though she suddenly yearned to throw something out the window.
She leaned her head against the wall of the carriage, she wasn’t even tired. She couldn’t believe how big of a difference it made to be able to refill her mana. She and Bert had speculated, via letter sender, why some mages, like him, have lots of mana and some mages, like her, had much less. They were able to come up with quite a few theories, but nothing that made more sense than straight-up plain luck. Maybe it was a little hereditary. Maybe it had something to do with what they ate or where they lived. Maybe it was connected to their eye color, Bert had pale green eyes that looked much more magical than Maril’s bland brown eyes. Or maybe it was just random luck.
Out the window, the sun was getting low enough that it was turning the sky and landscape bright colors. The swaying grain fields looked like they were glowing and the fat heads of grain rippled in the wind making moving gradients of yellows and oranges. Maril, like most gnomes, appreciated bright colors more than most humans. Sunset was probably her favorite time of day. Today’s sunset was turning the sky vivid purple but the fluffy clouds were catching the sunlight and were a brilliant orange. She gazed out the window and was glad she was awake to see it.
A while later the carriage rumbled across the river bridge. The sun was almost down. She had one last view of beams of light reflecting off the river waves before the sun went out of sight behind the city wall. Owen paused the carriage briefly at the guardhouse before driving through the gate into the city.
The city was still awake even though the city walls completely blocked the remaining sunlight and cast a long dark shadow over the whole city. The shops along the street had lanterns hanging outside, both mana fueled and standard oil and flame. People were still walking around. It was not as busy as it was during the day and the people were not as rushed. Owen drove slowly down the dark streets and people meandered to get out of the way to let the carriage pass.
When they got back to the house Owen pulled the carriage into the carriage house beside her father’s nicer carriage. Her carriage creaked as Owen steppe down from the driver seat and tied the horse. Maril waited for him to open the carriage door and help her down. Owen watched her leave the carriage house and walk down the short covered path to the house’s side door before beginning to unhook the horse. Maril tried to walk in a tired and unsuspicious manner.
Pushing open the door she stepped into the back hallway. The first thing she noticed was Nora standing partway down the hall. She had a strange expression on her face and was worrying her hands. When she saw Maril come in she hurried down the hall to meet her.
“Oh, Maril, hi. Your parents are,” she paused and cringed when shouting came from farther in the house. “Are… discussing the Nobel’s Harvest Festival.”
Maril scrunched her nose, “Oh, is it time for the harvest festival again?” It was a disagreement her parents had every year. The harvest festival was an all-day event hosted by the Tellas Family. It was extravagant and impractical. Apparently it had gotten even more absurd and bizarre in the last decade than it had been before.
For most of Maril’s multi-decade childhood, her father’s argument had mostly won. He argued that the festival was an extravagant waste of mana. He didn’t want to support the frivolousness of it. And more important to Maril, he didn’t think that she should be exposed to the, in his opinion, debauchery.
His wife, Maril’s mother, who was not a mage, always argued that it was just a social event. That they needed to go to socialize with other nobles and to keep up appearances.
When she was young, Maril had always been angry that she was not allowed to attend, not even for the few hours that her parents usually went.
For the last couple of years, they had taken her with them for just a few hours. She could definitely understand her father’s viewpoint. The festival used an enormous amount of mana. But he was also probably biased since there was no competition for the ‘Infrastructure’ permit.
Many of the mage permit types held competitions to show off magic items. And there were live competitions for the mage permits types that don’t craft items. The competitions were judged by a panel of High Nobles and even some members of the Tellas family. She had heard that the prizes were really good, but that the real prize was the recognition and fame from winning. Winning the Harvest Festival competition was a huge step in a mage’s career.
Maril had heard about the winners from last year. The winning ‘Intricate Item’ was a cooking pot that could be used to cook food without a fire. The winning item in the ‘Textile’ permit had been a headband that changed the wearer’s hair, skin, and eye color. And the winner for the ‘Matter Transfer’ permit had been a spell that teleported a painting. The painting reappeared a little fuzzier but apparently it had been good enough to still tell that it was a painting of a tree. A huge improvement over standard matter transfer spells that completely mixed up the material being transferred.
So far there hadn’t been a competition for ‘Infrastructure’. Many of the mages with ‘Infrastructure’ permits were more serious and less frivolous than most other noble mages. Maril wasn’t sure how much of her father’s disdain was due to the waste of mana and how much was simply a result of not being involved in the competitions.
“… and they’ve been talking about you, miss.” Nora continued, interrupting Maril’s thoughts, “Your mother thinks that it is important that you go and socialize for the entire event this year.” Nora stopped and pressed against the wall as the yelling picked up again.
“Of course she has to go this year! How can we expect her to choose a suitable husband if we won’t let her, no, don’t force her, to attend social events?” Her mother’s tiny frame backed into the hallway. Her arms were animated and swung around wildly. “She has to go and meet people to get to know them.”
“Charlotte, I agree that she needs to attend for social events, but this is not the one.” Her father’s voice echoed through the hall from the dining room. “The Noble’s Harvest Festival is a waste. If she had a different permit and had a chance to compete to prove herself I would consider it. But as it is there is no benefit of her, or I, going. There is an ‘Infrastructure’ meeting in a few weeks. I will take her to that event.” He sounded like he was attempting to placate her.
It didn’t work, her mother’s voice climbed an octave, “You want to take her to the ‘Infrastructure’ meeting where most of the mages are old enough to be her grandfather?” she screamed, throwing her hands in the air again, “She is going to the festival this year regardless of if you go or not.” Charlotte glared through the doorway, Maril could imagine her father’s resigned face as he tried to think of any other arguments that might change her mother’s mind.
When there was no immediate response Charlotte spun to stride away. Mid-spin she noticed Maril and Nora standing at the end of the hall. “The harvest festival is a week from this Saturday. We are going, I will get you an appropriate dress. Don’t plan anything else for that day and don’t be too tired to go.” She finished her spin and stomped down the hall away from Maril and Nora.