374
edits
Christoph Schrader
Joined 11 June 2011
→Christoph Reports
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This report was dated two weeks after the first.'' | This report was dated two weeks after the first.'' | ||
Dear Annette, | |||
Madame scolded me for not telling you what I look like, and she says that I can’t just send you a photograph, but that I have to tell her — but she also says that you like to draw, and that, if I am very nice, that you might even draw a picture of what you think I look like. She also said that you won’t be able to guess, and that it won’t be as fun if I just send you a picture, but I think you would be able to do it better if I did. I will see if I can capture an image in the mirror like Mademoiselle, my new magic teacher, taught me — Madame is angry with papa for allowing me to learn magic, but papa says that if I am to govern properly, that I must understand how our city works, and that learning magic is a perfect way to do so. I hope that papa is right — people really trust him, and I think that, if people really trust me to run the city, I might be happy doing it. I wonder if I will look like papa when I am older — he is really tall and strong, and he says that he used to be a swordfighter, though he seems happier that I am studying magic rather than following after him, though he won’t tell me why when I ask him. | |||
When I look into the mirror, the first thing I see is my hair — it is about the colour of honey, or the pancakes I poured it over this morning — and my eyes are a sort of grey that reminds me of birch bark. Papa says that they are silver, but I like birch bark better. I have lots of freckles, and papa always says that I have a different number, though I don’t really think that he can count them all — I have tried so many times, but I always wonder if I am counting the same one twice. Maybe there is a spell somewhere that can teach me to count my freckles, or maybe even do it for me, but I haven’t asked Mademoiselle yet. I am taller than most of the boys my age, and my arms are kind of lumpy from climbing so many trees — Madame says that I look like a monkey when I hang from the branches — though I love to climb them, even if it makes me even lumpier. I also get sunburns very easily if I stay outside in the city for too long, though I never get them in the forest — the leaves protect me and make the light soft and warm, but not too hot like it can be on a bright day, though Madame seems to think that the City of Light is one of the coldest places she has ever been. | |||
Madame told me that your island is always nice and warm, but I like the cool forest so much — I don’t understand why she likes to keep everything so warm, but old people always seem to do this sort of thing. People who come from the City of Light all have long hair — we can tell people who come from other places when they don’t — and papa says that mine is always full of leaves, and it makes him smile (Madame says the same thing, and it always seems to make her frown). He says that if I climb enough ginkgo trees, that he will induct me into the Order of the Ginkgo Leaf (our city’s group of knights who protect it from attackers — I think papa wanted to be one of them once, and that is why he studied swords). I like using white magic the best — I have only learned how to cast the ‘cure’ spell so far, but it makes little seeds spread over everything, and when Mademoiselle casts it, it makes so many flowers appear that it is like springtime. I wish that they wouldn’t disappear when the spell is over — it would be nice to have flowers in winter, though the forest seems to be filled with camellias whenever it snows, and I always pick them and take them back for papa — he says that they are his favourites. | |||
Mademoiselle is always proud of me, and I like her lessons better than Madame’s, and she is always mad when I finish with arithmetic or writing to study with Mademoiselle, who always gives me cookies when I cast a new spell correctly. I learned to cast ''aero'' as my first spell — Mademoiselle says that it will protect me as well as drive away anything that tries to hurt me, and that she hopes I will cast it if I am ever in danger. She says that she will teach me to cast ''pearl'' soon, though the spell I really wish to learn is called ''sidereal'' in one of my books — it makes pillars of light appear — and it is my favourite of them all. Mademoiselle says that I have to learn a lot of other white magic first, and that she would like for me to learn some black magic as well, and that she thinks I will find either ''blizzard'' or ''thunder'' the easiest to learn. I have also read about spells that can reflect magic, stop time and make people who are badly injured or very sick well again, though I think I will have to wait a while before I learn to cast them. Mademoiselle says that I look like a perfect white mage, though I don’t believe her, because Madame says that I am always dirty and that I will never make a proper governor — but I think she really cares for me, because papa told me that she has high hopes for the next ruler of the city. Perhaps this means she doesn’t like papa? | |||
I hope you will come soon, I know that you would love it here. | |||
Christoph | |||