Read it from the beginning ~ Previous part

“Already? I thought there was another week at least.”

The Master seemed to like her answer. “Is that why you haven’t packed?”

“I-I think it’s all part of the same thing, sir.” She found herself suddenly nervous: what if she wasn’t doing well enough after all — what if he was being nice, but wanted to send her home? As many of my things as Tafo’s were on the Market table, she told herself. And mine sold.

“You have other options available,” he continued. “You know the magic-tester has said that you could go to Skystar as a craftmage, or complete part if not all of the high mage course or an apprenticeship in magic elsewhere. Or you could seek another apprenticeship, in Crossroads or some other village. You have many choices, but you need to choose one. Would you like to stay here?”

Was it a trick question? “I — I like it here, sir. And I like pottery — it’s the first thing except getting in trouble that I’ve taken to. I don’t really want to go to Skystar. I want to study pottery, and I’d like to do it here but if I have to I’ll do it somewhere else.”

“Then don’t worry about packing. I don’t like to let a good student get away, and I certainly won’t send one to my competitors.”

Nayelle let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Really, sir? — Thank you, sir.”

He snorted. “Don’t thank me. Thank your gift.”

###

She was the last one up, most nights, except for Master Noler, and sometimes Tafo or, more often, Kasi, practicing for the final projects for their journeyman badges. She went home for her birthday, early in Autumnfest month, to be teased by her brothers about “such dedication” — she hadn’t been home since she’d left. To her surprise, her parents hushed them. “It’s well enough to work at the Guildhall and help the crafts,” her father said when he thought she wasn’t listening, “but I’ve heard that she’s learning pottery like some of the masters did. They say she could be a craftmaster in time, and then it’ll be her, not us, making our family important at the Guildhall.”

“Well, of course we’re proud of her,” Sandro, her oldest brother, said, “but she’s our little sister. We can’t tell her that!”

She returned, later that day, to Master Noler’s, and barely saw her family for several months.

Next part