“We don’t have all day! Catch up slowpoke!” Theo yelled, but not at me. Or rather, not just at me.

Theo and Elliot raced ahead towards town while Mot and I took our time walking.

“You go ahead!” I waved Theo on.

He frowned and stubbornly waited for us anyways despite Elliot’s foot tapping and the breeze tugging only at Theo.

A few weeks had passed and Mot had solidified his place as my first friend. He didn’t bother me about healing but did ask from time to time how much I practiced stage-one. It was only fair because I asked more about his water manipulation and what else he planned to learn.

When we reached town, we split up anyways, Theo and Elliot going to the fun house that I had come to terms with not being affiliated with clowns or crazy mirrors, while Mot and I went to the square.

I knew some of the dances confidently enough now and Mot always danced with me when we both were there. I learned more about some of the elves that frequented the square. His brother, Eric often played as part of the band and the human girl that often sat next to him was his girlfriend. Most of the elves lived in the forest but to the right in the fork outside town. I hadn’t visited Mot’s place yet, but I wanted to. Was it a cabin, treehouse, or something more magical?

In the middle of turning around Mot, it went dark as night. The music halted and someone bumped into me from behind.

“Mot?” I blindly reached for him and his searching fingers found and clasped mine.

“Hey Barry! Knock it off!” a woman barked and everything came back into view.

“Not funny.” An elf scowled at a cackling, kid elf.

“Dark magic? He darkened our vision?” I asked, fear replaced with amazement.

Barry bent forward to receive some slaps to the back as punishment. The music kicked off again and dancers melded into the routine.

“A silly choice for dark magic, but it’s as rare as light,” Mot said, preoccupied by the prank. “There’s only two people with dark magic around here and they both aren’t trying to progress very hard. I’m going to find someone that learned a stage-three spell to get mine from.” The restriction on how elves could learn magic made them seem not as overpowered as I had initially assumed.

“You want to learn a dark magic spell?” I asked.

He knew water control, but was still mastering that before advancing to another element. That was the same as for humans, needing to fully grasp and handle a spell before moving on to another.

“Why not? Controlling shadows sounds incredible.” Mot shuffled along with the set steps while still preoccupied. “It will probably be one of the last I learn if I can’t find anyone that knows that spell.”

We danced for a while before Dad came by to pick me up. “It’s time to see Pops and Nana. You ready?”

I nodded and bid farewell to Mot.

“Have fun! Eat lots of yummy foods!” Mot waved to me before rejoining the dancers.

“Are you nervous?” Dad asked, carrying me.

“Not really. They’re family,” I answered, although there was some trepidation at meeting the rest of my family members, like Aunt Cheryl. Today we were having lunch with Mom’s family and dinner with Dad’s in celebration of King Azuri ending a war with Lystrandia.

Lunch started off well enough, with lots of attention on me showing up after years of seclusion and many unfounded rumors like me being unwell. I didn’t give any blatant answer and hoped their suspicions would erase when Grandpop hit the nail on the head.

“I think I know why you’ve been away and have secrets,” he said with a knowing smirk as we sat around two tables pushed together. “I’ve heard of another little girl having light magic. Is it you?”

Mom didn’t look happy to have that thrown out despite us preparing for it after my blunder with Mot.

“She does have light magic, yes, but that isn’t why she stayed home all this time,” Dad answered resolutely. “We were a bit too overprotective of her. You know having a daughter is different than having a son.” He laughed, diffusing some of the tension, at least for me and Mom, whose shoulders and expression mostly relaxed.

“Still, it is odd you didn’t let her visit us for years,” Grannie noted as I shoveled food into my mouth without tasting it.

“Grandpop! Tell us about the time you fought a monster!” Theo said as a forceful distraction.

Grandpop went on about encountering a monster in the forest when he was younger, before the monsters were hunted to extinction in the area, as I worried how the rest of Azuria day would go. Theo’s rapt interest in Grandpop’s story kept my grandparents entertained.

“Are there a lot of monsters in the wild?” I asked after Theo’s post-story questions came to a lull.

“Not so much anymore. Not in Azuria, at least. There are some areas we haven’t explored enough to exterminate them all, but there aren’t any near here,” Grandpop told me.

Theo’s jaw dropped as his fantasies of encountering a monster were put into perspective. “Bu-But there are monsters still.”

“By the time you grow up, there might not be any in Azuria,” Grannie teased.

Theo stared at her in abject horror for a few seconds before his eyes widened like a lightbulb went off above his head. “Then I’ll go somewhere else to hunt monsters. There are lots of monsters in Krinosha, right? There have to be!”

“You aren’t going to Krinosha,” Mom told him.

“Where’s that?” I asked.

“It’s the kingdom to the west. They act like they are so great, being neutral. They never helped us fight against the Lystrandians,” Grandpop complained.

“Now, now, let’s leave such unpleasant topics aside. Who wants pie?” Grammie asked.

***

Azuria Day dinner went worse than I imagined.

As Grandma welcomed us inside, Grandpa yelled, “Stop right there! Don’t touch anything and go back to the children’s table at once!”

Sammy, who was my age, ran into the living room. He had burst into tears and made it halfway across the room towards us when my uncle picked him up and brought him back to the dining room.

“Make sure you mind your manners,” Mom told me and Theo as Grandma led us to where the adults sat at a table and two cousins sat at a smaller table, notably away from a bookshelf of wood and stone sculptures.

I sat beside Francesca, the blonde girl that liked hanging around Elliot with her friend Penelope. Sammy’s blubbering ended as Theo sat beside him. He sat taller and Theo nodded solemnly at him like a dutiful soldier.

At the adult table sat my parents, grandparents, Francesca’s parents, and Sammy’s parents. His mom had a round, pregnant belly. At the kids table it was just me, Theo, Sammy, and Francesca. On Mom’s side I had five cousins.

“You’re the other light elementalist?” a woman eyed me from the adult’s table. “Are you like your brother, wasting away your gift with uncivilized nonsense instead of developing your gift?”

Francesca’s cheeks reddened and her gaze dropped to the kid’s table. I balked at her mother’s ideology.

“Cheryl, they’re being children, enjoying their youth as all kids ought to,” Dad said easily, not letting his sister’s disdain affect his attitude.

“Well, my Francesca is a light elementalist as well, and she’s focusing on mastering stage-one so she can start healing. I bet you aren’t maximizing the gift your daughter has. I bet that’s why you’ve kept her away, because you didn’t want to accept that my Francesca is better than her. My child is beholden to serve a greater purpose.”

Mother’s eyes burned with the most anger I ever beheld in her, and that included the time Theo tried making a flaming sword.

Dad’s hand gripped hers, dispelling some of her anger. Francesca slunk in her chair and I found a new appreciation for her. She obviously wasn’t comfortable with her mother talking like this so they probably didn’t see eye to eye.

“Maddie is more than her element and she is free to practice her magic as she likes. She isn’t beholden to anyone,” Dad stated and I couldn’t help but grin at him, heart swelling at having such a stalwart person stand up for me. I knew through and through that I could depend on my family.

Theo stood abruptly, fists clenched at his sides. I had been more focused on the adult table and Francesca, rather than my brother on my other side.

“Maddie is the most talented—”

I stomped on his foot and he cut off in a startled yelp. Aunt Cheryl’s lips pulled up in a slight snarl at his outburst.

“Sit down,” I whispered at him. “We don’t need to prove anything.”

“How’s the church coming along?” Grandpa asked Dad to change the subject.

This Grandpa appeared more refined and less approachable. I had spent some time the last few weeks visiting Grandpop. He had been thrilled at my love of dancing and shared he had often spent time with the elves doing the same. This grandpa gave off the air that he couldn’t be bothered by childish happenings, so much so that he kept us at a separate table. There was no chance of him offering to throw my sixth birthday party.

“It’s coming along, slowly but surely. They are very intricate about how they want things,” Dad said.

“That’s great to hear,” Aunt Cheryl spoke up as Grandma opened her mouth to comment. “The church we have now is so uncivilized.” She prattled on, but I didn’t care to listen so I chatted with Theo and Francesca about the fun house.

Francesca’s gaze flitted between us and her mother. She leaned closer to us and whispered, “My mom doesn’t approve of the fun house. Don’t let her know I go there, I beg you.”

“Your secret’s safe with us.” I mimed zipping my mouth shut and throwing away the key.

“So you know light magic too? I wish I can get to healing soon, but I doubt it,” Francesca said.

“I’m sure you’ll get there before long,” I said, unable to share my progress. It wasn’t like she spent her infancy using magic out of boredom and curiosity. She was older than me by a couple years, but still on stage-one. “Sounds like your mom wants you to be a great healer or something?”

Francesca sighed, slumping forward. “Yes. She thinks if I’m proficient that I’ll get hired as a royal physician.”

“That’s not a bad job,” Theo said. “Is that what you want?”

“No. Well, I don’t know. . .” She sighed again.

“It’s not a bad idea to be open to things and see what happens,” I said, wondering where I would end up. I couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from my family. The magic tower and king’s castle were definite impossibilities. I could heal here just fine, and dance off the clock with Mot while I was at it. My parents had never pressured me into any sort of future, job-wise or not, and my gratitude for that stood immense.

“Even if your mom doesn’t support your dreams, I will.” I smiled at Francesca.

She smiled back and I decided upon gaining my second friend.