Meanwhile, the person in question waved the piece of paper in the air and motioned out of the window. Clearly, if she waited for Beldia to finally manage to take the next step, she’d wait until her hair turned white. She wasn’t quite willing to do that no matter how entertaining Beldia’s attempts were so she’d have to help this along. "Well, I just finished my last exam and the results were good. I have an offer to work as a potion maker in the city not too far from the Arcademy. It was dependent on my results but I think they are good enough to pass. So if you want to see me after we’ve graduated, you can always come over. I’d be happy to see you."

"Really?" Beldia immediately revived, not even bothering about her red face anymore.

Jadvyga nodded. "Of course! In the Arcademy, we had so much to do and it wasn’t always convenient to come over. But I guess things will be different outside so if you can, come by and visit me. I’d love to see you more often in the future."

Beldia’s eyes shimmered. This invitation … she never would have dreamed of getting it. She felt like rushing out and going to give every one of the elders of the Arcademy a smooch just for allowing her to study here and meet Jadvyga in the first place. Today had to be her lucky day!

She looked around, feeling like this was the perfect chance. She just knew it was. Before, she had always tried to create one but now, she was given one. If she just said something nice now and told her that she would love to see her more often as well and, in fact, wanted to be more than a mere visitor or friend, then surely, there was a chance that Jadvyga might actually say yes.

She spotted a small stone that she had apparently carried inside from the garden. She hastily leaned down and picked it up, hiding it in her hand. A confession had to come with a gift. At least, that was what her guide had said and everybody else that she had asked. And she had asked a ton of people. They couldn’t all be wrong.

Beldia closed her eyes and focused, thinking of the spell that she had learned in the last year. This one wasn’t as difficult as the one with the flower but the result should be good enough. Anyway, she couldn’t be picky right now.

Her magic swirled around her hand once again and this time, there was nothing to break. She felt the surface smooth out and her heart raced. It might have worked. It really might have worked. When she cracked an eye open and glanced at the tiny thing in her hand, she indeed had what she needed.

Her eyes went wide and she thrust her hand out toward Jadvyga, presenting the little stone to her as if her brain was running on auto-pilot. "Shi… shiny rock." With that, the words already left her. Unfortunately, she hadn’t prepared a speech for that. She couldn’t say 'a beautiful rock for a beautiful woman', could she? And while 'shiny rock' worked with what she had just created, she couldn’t very well call Jadvyga shiny, could she?

She looked at the other witch with a lost expression, making her laugh in response.

"Oh, a shiny rock! Is it for me?"

Beldia nodded awkwardly, handing it over.

"My, it’s very shiny! You could say it shines like my eyes when they’re filled with hope, couldn’t you?" She blinked at her, stunning Beldia even further into silence.

That was actually a very good comparison. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

Jadvyga put the shiny stone into the pocket where she had already kept the slip of paper and then leaned closer. "Well, do you have something to write?"

Beldia wasn’t sure why she would ask but she immediately jumped to her feet, almost stumbled over them, and then barely managed to catch herself on the edge of the bed behind her. She laughed her own clumsiness off and then rushed to get her a sheet of paper and a feather.

Jadvyga didn’t comment on her lack of gracefulness and just picked up the feather, dipping it into the small vial of ink that followed after and then started to write. "This is the address of the potion shop that I will be working at. I will start my first shift in two weeks if everything goes well.

"I will only be working until the early afternoon, probably about three. After that, I’m off. If you want to, you can come by and ask for me. I will show you where I live then. It’s not far from the shop and that way, you can just come by to my home instead of having to hang around the shop. I don’t think they’d like it if you do. At least not for long.

"Anyway, if you don’t want to wait that long and instead want to see me before that, I’m still in the dorms until the end of next week. I wouldn’t mind if you took me out on a date after the graduation ceremony, maybe." She turned the paper around and pushed it toward Beldia with a smile before putting the feather down next to it. "Well, think about it. You know where the dorms are so you can come over and tell me anytime or we can talk after the ceremony. Anyway, I would understand if it was too soon for you and you wanted to prepare a little further so don’t feel pressured. I know you will also have other things going on.

"Here is my address for the time after that. In exchange … would you lend me that book you had in the garden with you before? It looked really interesting and I’d love to have a look at it to pass some time while I’m still trapped in the dorms. I hope you wouldn’t mind?"

Beldia had no idea what book she was talking about. In her head, Jadvyga’s voice telling her to take her out on a date after the graduation ceremony was still repeating over and over again in her mind. She just nodded with a blank look, not even sure if she was answering that offer or maybe something else. Who knew? It kind of felt like she was dreaming anyway because after everything going so wrong, things couldn’t suddenly go this right.

"Thank you!"

The book was lying on the windowsill so Jadvyga helped herself to it and then walked out of the room with a bright smile. "Oh, if you come by later today, I could make a potion for your face." She cheerfully called out over her shoulder and then walked off, not waiting for a response. Instead, she rushed back to her own dorm room, hastily opening the book and leafing through the pages, wondering if she would really find what she was looking for.

One by one, she took out all the small pieces of paper that were spread between them, smoothing them out and making a small stash. Even up until now, she still hadn’t gotten a real love confession from Beldia even though the other witch had tried so often. In that case, she’d have to make do with all the drafts for the one she had wanted to make today. Anyway, she didn’t mind whether it was said out loud or written on a piece of paper. Love was magical, no matter how you expressed it.