The Master and the Apprentice

Odette poked her head around the large, glass door that led out into the snow-covered garden from the Ballroom, glancing about to make sure no one was already there. The light breeze made her shiver, but she stepped out regardless. As she crept along the the pathway, the music and chatter that came from the Ballroom slowly fading as she moved further away. The quiet unnerved her. There were supposed to be song-birds about, but none could be found. The little princess wished she had saved some bread-crumbs for them, but there was no way of getting into the kitchens today. Not with the Winter Ball in progress.

Presently, she came to a small sitting-area that had been cleared of snow. The white marble benches were too cold to sit on, at least in her opinion, so she busied herself with trying to make a snowball. The snow wasn't sticking, however, so she finally sat down on one of the stone benches and began to hum to herself. She happened to glance down at her hands and began to wonder if she could perform magic like a few of the grown-ups could. She had watched others use their powers for show, and sometimes play, but she had always been hesitant to join in. For one, she thought herself to be too much of a novice to even show anyone else; and two, she was afraid to because of how unpredictable her magic could be. She never wanted anything to happen to anyone if her powers went out of control.

Glancing around to make sure, once more, that she was alone, she then began to concentrate on her hands, her little face scrunching up into a frown. To her surprise, a small ball of blue light hovered above her open palms. She couldn't help but smile in delight, but it was short-lived. The ball of light suddenly rocketed out of her hands and proceeded to zip about the garden, almost too fast for the Princess's gaze to follow. It also seemed to be getting bigger.

The ball of energy suddenly came rushing for Odette's head. She ducked in panic as the energy-ball then went crashing into the tree behind her and shattered into blue sparks. There was a creaking sound, then *WHUMF*.

"Ow, hey!"

Odette glanced behind her, startled. A tall man stepped out from behind the tree, brushing snow off his long, grey coat. She recognized him instantly from one of the times she had tried sneaking into one of her uncle's meetings. She jumped to her feet and lowered her gaze in embarrassment, her hands held behind her back. "I'm s-sorry, sir. I-I thought I was alone," she squeaked.

The man paused for a moment, then finished brushing the snow off his coat before speaking again. "No problem, you highness. I, uh, didn't expect to find anyone out here myself." He shoved some folded pieces of paper into the pouch on his belt.

Odette finally dared to look at him and covered her mouth to keep from laughing.

"What?" He reached for his face, then realized what she had found so amusing and smoothed his pale-blond hair back to rid it of the last of the snow. "Better?" he asked, trying to keep up his poker-face. Odette nodded with a smile, and the man couldn't help but smile back. It was then the small princess was finally able to look him over. His smart, black-and-grey uniform made him look rather menacing, the sword-hilt that stuck out from his left side only adding to his foreboding presence. Odette looked up at his face, startled at the sight of the awful scar that ran from his right brow and down his cheek to his neck. His ruby-colored eyes frightened her most, however.

The man shifted uncomfortably. "What, this?" He reached up and touched the scar. "It's nothing. Just got a little scratched up a few years back." Odette was still rather frightened, so he straightened up and said, "let me introduce myself: I am Captain Cichol; at your service." He gave her a deep bow and smiled. "A pleasure to meet you, Princess." Odette hesitated a moment, but feeling more at ease now, she returned the smile and curtsied. There was a bit of an awkward pause, then Cichol said, "so what exactly were you doing just a moment ago?"

"I.... Well...." Odette blushed. "I was trying to make magic," she blurted, then looked around as if someone else might hear, and Cichol raised an eyebrow. In a lower voice, she said, "I've always been able to do magic. But I'm not very good...."

"Oh, nonsense," the Captain said. "That felt pretty powerful to me."

"You... felt it? How?" Odette's eyes widened. "Are you a magic-user, too?" she whispered.

Cichol smiled. "Yes, I am, actually. See, after you've studied magic for a long time, you can sense magic all around you. Even though I wasn't watching you, I could feel the magic you were using." The little princess listened intently, her eyes wide in wonder. This was the first time she had ever spoken to someone about magic and she didn't want to miss a thing.

"Watch this...." Cichol waved a gloved hand, and as he did, small orbs of golden light appeared and followed his hand. Odette gasped and watched as they then flew about the garden, then came back and spun about her before stopping to hover above her head. "Now, see if you can control them."

Odette hesitated, glancing up at Cichol nervously.

"It's alright," he assured her.

She took a breath and closed her eyes, then reached out her hand, calling to the magical orbs with her mind. It felt like something was happening, but she couldn't quite place it. She opened her eyes to see what was going on, and to her surprise, one of the orbs had obeyed and was now hovering above her open palm.

"Good! Very good!" Cichol praised her.

"Are you doing this?" she asked him, not fully believing it was all her.

"Nope. I'm just keeping them lit. You're the one telling them what to do."

The Princess cupped her hands to try and hold the golden orb, then made the others dance about. "This is fun!" she exclaimed with delight as she made them freeze in place.

Cichol watched her, amused, then said, "you could be a powerful magic-user one day."

"Do you think so?" Odette asked eagerly, but didn't take her eyes off the orb in her hands.

"Mm-hm. Keep practicing and you could become one of the most powerful people in the world."

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For the Hetherev kids art-jam! I'd say Odette is about eight-years-old here. Cichol I added for hight-reference, since Odette was always rather small for her age, up until her teens. Cichol is supposed to be 6'4" or something, but I don't know if I pictured their heights correctly. XD

I'm not going to bother with editing. This was just something small that turned out... not so small. XD

Odette would see Cichol briefly one or two more times, but he would then disappear for twenty years, during which time Odette would become a member of the same peace-keeping organization that Cichol had beed serving for the past one-hundred years. She could never get anyone to tell her what had happened to him, and finally had to accept that he might be dead. Shortly after becoming a full-fledged member of the Guardians, she met Cichol again. He didn't recognize her right away (she looks like a 24-year-old by then), so she gets to see the cold side of him, much to her dismay. It takes a while, but they become good friends again. Another twenty years later, they, along with Tobi and Zag, would go on a mission that ended with Odette and Zag being sucked into a corrupted Gate (their people's name for portals) and dumped into to world of Hetherev.

By the way, Odette is the one of the few people (if not the only one) he's ever been truly kind to. No one else has ever been able to get him to drop his cold exterior like that.

And there you have it. lol


Odette and Cichol (c) ~CorNocte