Garrick watched her leave the room. He went back to study. That was the only problem with Destruction the actual method took awhile to understand, like how you needed to bring your mana energy down to below 32 degrees to release it as a freezing touch. He read on. When he picked Destruction he thought he would he leveling cities and disintegrating weapons by touching them. Not learning how to freeze a lake by touching it.
He could here them in the other room. He heard Master Tarkin leave the room. Garrick Looked ahead to some later chapters. The was a disintegration spell in there but to perfect it would take months, maybe years. He would eventually be able to disintegrate Armor clothing and weapons just by looking at them. He looked ahead some more to what was the most complex spell in the book. The chapter heading just read "Void" He began reading about a complex spell in which the mage could rip open a "black hole" in the fabric of reality. Garrick knew spell like that would never be taught to him. It was far too dangerous. He was surprised it was even in the book at all. He stood up and went to the kitchen. Master Tarkin looked up from his book,"Have you finished reading?" he asked.
"Yes, master," Garrick replied tiredly. He took a glass and filled it with water. He went to drink it.
"Stop. Freeze the water in that glass. Then we will move on," Master Tarkin commanded never looking up from his book. Garrick looked at the glass. He closed his eyes. He thought of cold. He thought of ice, he thought of freezing. He imagined snow. Nothing happened.
"It is late. Retrieve Lauren from the library and both of you are to go to bed. We will resume in the morning," Master Tarkin commanded.

~~4 year time skip~~

Lauren shivered and clutched her dress closer to her. She invoked warmth to her and smiled as the heat sunk into her. Slowly she let the cloth fall from her fingers and hang normally at her sides. She glanced down that the items in her basket and smiled, glad that she had gone out so early to collect the masters things. She walked easily through the woods that had become like a second home to her the past four years of living with Master Tarkin. No longer did she trip and fumble through the low hanging branches or tricky roots. Though more then little of that was due to her balance and well being spells, she still felt happy about it.

As she walked into the familiar house she set her basket down and went right to making breakfast. What had once been a chore was now something she enjoyed doing everyday. As it was cooking she concentrated on warming the house, envisioning a blanket of warmth making a shield around the whole building. Once the house was comfortable heated she checked on the food before walking back to her room, fetching a book and going to read in the study to the right of the kitchen...

A Fire ball launched from Garrick's hand towards the sky. He leaped away from his invisible foe. A gust of wind shot down towards the ground and lived Garrick up. He no longer needed concentration to acquire release these spells. He had been practicing. He had learned all the basic spells there were in the book. Now he had to evolve them on his own. He grabbed a bucket of water on the ground and threw it up into the air. As it rained down he froze the water into sharp shards of ice. They rained down upon him, He put up a shield, this was not a destruction spell but he felt learning a bit of alteration couldn't hurt in the grand scheme of things.
Master Tarkin sat in his study. He was disturbed by the loud noises from outside. He stood up and walked out the front door. Holding his cloak tightly around him he saw Garrick knocking a tree down with a powerful gust of wind. The boy had gotten quite good, but he was still reckless. Master Tarkin held his hand out and sent a ball of pure white light at Garrick. Garrick instinctively turned around and shot a bolt of lighting at the ball causing it to explode. He saw Master Tarkin and his muscles loosened.
"I'm sorry master," he panted,"was I making too much noise?" Master Tarkin looked at him with a look of what Garrick described as proud disappointment. He was happy that Garrick was practicing but annoyed that he was doing so at such an hour. Garrick whipped the sweat from his brow. "Is breakfast ready? I'm famished."

Lauren got up and checked the food before pulling it out and placing it on the counter. She let the flowers she had been sprouting around the room fade back into nothing. She sighed slightly as she served the food. Life at the masters house never had a dull moment, but fact that the strangeness of it all was becoming normal was what was boring her. She often found herself wondering when her apprenticeship would be over; she had learned almost everything in the books that Master Tarkin had given her and had even perfected most of them. All she really had to do left was to continue with what she was doing now and practice what she knew. There wasn't much more for her to look forward to. Garrick could expand his knowledge on his own, he could find new and exciting ways to use his power; but the problem with an illusion was that there was really only one way it could be done, if you changed the formula in any way then everything would quickly fall apart. She shook her head to distract herself from these thoughts and finished dishing up the food and setting it on the table. She looked out the front door just as Master Tarkin walked back inside; "foods ready Garrick," she called before returning inside and sitting at the table to eat....

Garrick sat down and began eating. Lauren had become a good cook during their training. Garrick looked up from his plate at Master Tarkin who was staring dreamily out the window. His beard, which had once been a charcoal grey had now faded into white. No matter how old he got he was always remind Garrick of the man who only four years ago, taught him how to produce fire. Garrick remembered shortly after that when he and Master Tarkin sat in his study.
"What is your answer?" the younger Tarkin asked in Garricks memory. The seventeen year old Garrick had to think about it. What did he want to do with the knowledge he would gain? He had decided.
"I think I just want to travel the world, see the sights, and help where I can. That's all I really can do right?" Master Tarkin never told him if it was a good answer or not he just waved him out of his study and sent him to bed. His thoughts snapped back to the present.
Master Tarkin was now looking at both of them. "I need to talk to both of you in my study this afternoon," he said, without another word he stood up and walked into the library and shut the door.
Garrick was a bit confused, he looked back to Lauren,"What was all that about? Hey, do you want to go for a walk in the garden before then?" Garrick asked. Despite their rivalry Garrick had grown rather friendly with Lauren.

Lauren ate slowly; distracted with thoughts about her family and how they were doing. It had been hard to leave them when she came to live with Master Tarkin and Garrick, but her parents had insisted that she do something more with her life then run an inn, so she had left with the strangers to learn the ways of magic. She thought about her parents, how their business was doing and if they'd had anymore children; about her sisters, and how she had missed at least a few of their weddings; and expically about her younger brother who would be turning ten that year, what would he be like now?

Her answer to Master Tarkin's question had been easy, she just wanted to help people. He hadn't pressed for more of an answer, and she hadn't offered any. Because it was just that simple; whatever she did with her magic, her time, even with her life, she wanted someone else to gain from it. She figured that she would probably search the land for a town that didn't have a healer or medicine woman and settle there, content in spending the rest of her life in a boring little house making the same potions of healing over and over.

These thoughts were dampening her mood even more then the thoughts of her family had, and she was glad when Tarkin distracted her from them. She looked to Garrick, frowning slightly, "I have no idea. Maybe he has to leave to the capital again?" She thought about what else it could be for a few more seconds before smiling, "sure, that sounds nice. Just let me clean up first." She stood and grabbed Master Tarkin's empty plate as well as her own before bringing them to the sink and washing them. She set them off to the side to dry, wrapped up the left overs, then took care of Garrick's plate before drying her hands. "Alright, I'm almost ready," she walked up to her room as she pulled her hair down from the pony tail she kept it in while she worked. She brushed her hair out in the room then descended the stairs with a smile. "Ready?" She asked Garrick as she walked to the door...

"Of course!" he replied smiling. They began at one end of the garden. Garrick stretched in the sunlight. The morning had warmed the cool air a little. He could feel his mana returning as they walked. He looked at Lauren, he had realized that other than her magical abilities he knew next to nothing about her. She had a family he knew that much but nothing else. "So, Lauren, tell me about your family," he said conversationally.

Lauren looked at Garrick surprised by his question. She wondered why he wanted to know but decided that he was probably just making conversation. She plucked a flower from one of the many stems and pulled off the petals one by one. "Well, my family owns a small inn in the city which does fine enough to keep food on the table for our family. I have six sisters, though only one is older, and one younger brother. My parents don't really want anything more from us then to do more with our lives then they did. They to expect our children to improve their lives even further." She shrugged, "which is why when Master Tarkin hinted that I might have some talent for magic my parents leaped at it. Even if there was just a sliver of possibility that I might be good at it, they wanted me to try."

She finally tossed the bare flower away and plucked a new one, pulling the petals from the bud of the flower once more. "Most of my sisters are probably married by now... at least four of the younger; we were all born pretty close together." She twirled the almost naked flower between her fingers absently, "it's weird to think about them, and where I might be now if I hadn't gone with Master Tarkin," she stayed silent for a bit before asking, "what about your family Garrick?"

"My family?" Garrick hadn't thought about his family in ages. "My father was a blacksmith in a town across the sea. He was a good man. He once told me, 'Son don't ever start something you can't finish one hundred percent,' heh, he was a good man. He used to come home drunk in the early hours of the morning and play with my brother, Gavin, and me. It used to make my mother so mad. She's put us back to bed and throw a hissy fit," Garrick sighed. He hadn't really thought about what had happened to them in quite a long time. "They aren't around anymore though," he said to tossing a rock into a small pond.

Lauren smiled at Garrick's telling of his family, "they sound nice... Garrick and Gavin?" She laughed, "your parents must really love the sound of the hard 'G'." She waited for a little while before asking, "what do you mean they're not around anymore? Just not here? Or..." she couldn't bring herself to ask if they were dead...

"Yeah, it was coincidence,I was named for my mother's father and my brother was named for my father's father," he said smirking. He saw the look on her face, "No it's alright, they died about seven years ago. We lived out in the country and a beast attacked them. I was away at the market at the time so it was gone before I returned. That day I ran, I never looked back, eventually I found Master Tarkin and began learning magic from him," he said. His thought whirled in his head. He had never told anyone that story before, not even Master Tarkin. He looked up at the sun. "I think it's about time to meet up with Master Tarkin," he said.

Lauren looked to the sun and nodded, "so you lived on your own for a year... or two? Without anyone? How... how did you manage it?" She took a quiet deep breath and held it, trying to hold back the tears with it. Garrick didn't seem to be affected by his story to much, but she was about to cry. A few tears slipped down her cheeks and she looked away to brush them off...

"I stole what I needed to and a few kind souls put me up for the night in exchange for some chores. There were good nights and bad nights, I worked on a ship for a few months and ended up in the capitol. That was about 5 years ago. That was where I met Master Tarkin. It may be a sad story but I'm just happy where I am now," he smiling a little. He looked at her, "Don't look so sad, I'm here now right?"

Lauren nodded still looking away, "yeah, sorry, I'm a big cry baby when it comes to sad stories," she said wiping her face again with her sleeve. She took a deep breath before looking back at him with a smile, "okay, I'm better. Lets go see what Master Tarkin wants us to do now," she lead the way into the house and peeked her head into the study off the kitchen, he wasn't there. She followed Garrick who was already heading for the other study that was attached to the library...

Garrick knocked on the door. Master Tarkin bade them to enter. They did so, Garrick sat down in one of the easy chair that were set up opposite Master Tarkn.
"You both have been with me for a long time," he began," but learning the arts of magic will do you no good if you stay around the estate all the time. I have nothing left to teach you. You're assignment is to take this letter here to the coastal of Asad. Take it to an old friend of mine, his name is Detritis. He will instruct you from there on."
Garrick was shocked. "Will we be allowed to come back here, master?"
"Of course, you will always have a home here, but to expand your knowledge you must have real world experience. You may stay the night and leave in the morning," he turned back to his paper. He looked up again," You may go." he said.

Lauren was shocked and dismayed but also excited. They were going to leave Master Tarkin? The thought was frightening; the three of them had lived under the same roof for over four years, it felt like she was being torn from another family. But at the same time she felt tingles of eagerness run across her skin like waves of heat. The one night that Master Tarkin was giving them was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because she didn't have time to say long goodbyes and to start second guessing their leaving. A curse because it didn't feel like enough time to properly depart the home that had so many fun and happy memories inside not to mention saying goodbye to Master Tarkin.

She walked out shortly after Garrick, pausing to etch the vision of the Master into her mind. She went quickly up to her room and began packing. She searched her room for the luggage carrier that she had brought when she first had come to the house. She pulled the dusty bag out from under the bed and set it on top of the covers before going to her closet. Lauren knew that she couldn't bring everything she had; there was no way they would be able to travel with it all. So she grabbed her favorite dresses and used a shrinking Illusion to tuck them away into a bag which she set on the bottom of a small bag, she then did the same with enough clothes for a week or so. She then went about the room, shrinking and packing all that she thought they would need from the small space she had called her own for the past few years. Just as she thought she was done she leaned back against the door with a sigh. She looked around the room, double checking the items left behind, then collected a few more things that they didn't need, but she couldn't leave behind. She passed by her jewelry box and paused, wondering if she should pack that as well. She had decided to leave it behind at first; she never wore any of it and wouldn't be able to start on a long distance journey... But what if it could be used as a bargaining chip somewhere along the way? They were sure to run out of food sometime, and why not have something to be able to buy more with? Finally she decided it was better to have it just in case then not at all.

She shrunk the already small trunk and slipped it carefully into a small red pouch which she then put inside the large suitcase. She laid a few blankets over the items to secure the small things into place and for padding before snapping the case closed. It clicked easily and she smiled at it before pulling it down onto the floor; she hadn't put her real bedding into the case yet, because she knew that she would need it that night. Later she would go to the closet and fold up the travel blankets and pillows, resize them and then add them into the carrier with the rest of her items.

She walked down the stairs and was surprised by the smell of food that had enveloped the lower part of the house. She walked into the kitchen and smiled, "thank you Master Tarkin, I forgot all about dinner..." At his nod she walked over to Garrick's room. She knocked before calling out, "Garrick are you done? Do you want some help?"

Garrick had left for his room straight from the study. He returned to his room, he looked around his room, he saw some books that he wouldn't need and some spare robes, which he set on his bed. He hadn't had any money to buy things so he had almost nothing to pack. Lauren came knocking at the door, she wanted to know if he needed help packing. Garrick grabbed two of the lesser read spell books on the desk and his robes and stuffed them into a spare sack. "No I think I've got it covered in here. He opened the door. "Do we have a map? We might need one."

Lauren thought about it, "I'm not sure, I don't think I've seen any lying around. Master Tarkin probably has one though..." She glanced at his pack, "thats all your bringing? What do you have in there? We're gonna be gone for a while, you might want to bring more. I can make them smaller to fit more things if you need them," she offered with a smile...

"Thanks but tis is all I need," he replied. He didn't want to tell her that it was all he had. He had been pitied most of his childhood and he didn't need more of it. They moved down to the table and began eating. Garrick looked up at Master Tarkin several times. He just smiled while he ate. He remembered the first time he had met Molav Tarkin. He was just a young boy of about 15 or 16 in the capitol. He had bumped into him on a street, knicking his money pouch. He was discovered later by the city guard and returned to a surprised looking Tarkin. Tarkin stared the boy up and down and had told the guard that the boy was his nephew. The guards released the boy. Garrick then traveled with Tarkin back to his estate.
Garricks thoughts swirled back into the present. Later that night he stared around the room he had occupied for 5 years. There was a knock at his door. He stood up and opened it. MAster Tarkin was standing in his doorway. "Yes, master?"
"I have a gift for you, before you set out," Master Tarkin said. He placed a small pouch on Garrick's desk. "I know of your situation and feel this is for the best. Think of it as...an investment in your future." Master Tarkin left the room with out saying anything else. Garrick shut the door and opened the pouch. It was full of coins. There was a note inside with Master Tarkin's long curly hand writing. 'Here is the pouch you wanted all those years ago' Garrick laughed and lay down on his bed. He fell asleep clutching his gift.

Lauren sat up in her bed after a quiet dinner thinking. She kept looking around her room, memorizing every item that she was leaving behind. The knock at her door startled her out of her thoughts, "come in," she called out and smiled when Master Tarkin stepped through the door. "I have something for you Lauren; if you think you can fit it." She nodded and opened the luggage, showing that she had plenty of room. "Already using your magic wisely I see," Tarkin said with a smile and Lauren smiled back. He pulled out a pocket sized book and handed it over, she opened to the first page 'Illusion Fusion' was the title of the small book. She laughed and shook her head at the silly name before looking up. "It's help with advancing in the art of illusion. It'll show you how to mix and fix your spells so that you're not stuck with just what others can teach you."

Lauren stood and hugged Tarkin, "thanks master," she said before letting go and letting him leave. They would save the goodbyes for the morning. She sat down heavily on her bed before slipping the already small book into her bag. She laid down and fell quickly asleep...

"The birds chirped early in the morning. He heard Lauren walking around. He rose slowly and walked down stairs where his bag lay. His new money pouch bumped against the inside of his robes. Master Tarkin had prepared breakfast for them. Garrick began eating. Master Tarkin was looking out the window. Garrick paused, Lauren wasn't down yet. Garrick looked up at Master Tarkin. "I never thanked you, for saving me from the city guard when we first met," Garrick began.
"And you'll never have to," Master Tarkin finished. Lauren came down a little later. Garrick ate in silence, smiling to himself. Thank you master, he thought, thank you for all you have done for me.
Later that morning Lauren and Garrick waved goodbye to Master Tarkin, Lauren was hugging him. Master Tarkin waved after them then returned inside. They began walking. Garrick stopped before leaving the estate. There was a very skinny baby tree in the ground a few yards away, Garrick smiled, "See," he said,"I knew you would grow back." He turned and set off...

Lauren slept in late, wanting to enjoy the feeling of the bed under body because she wasn't sure how long they would be sleeping on the ground. She rose and dressed before going downstairs to eat.

She hugged Master Tarkin before leaving, "I'll miss you Master, I promise to visit as soon as I can." He smiled, "I'll look forward to it."

The walk through into the woods was easy and exciting, but soon they had to deter from the path that they had made through so many years of pushing their way though and forge on into the unknown. They found the main path to the city soon enough though. After some time of walking down the slightly paved path in silence, Lauren spoke up, "hey Garrick? Do you think we could not go straight to Master Tarkin's colleague? I... I was kinda hoping that we could stop in Leola for a day... and I could see my family... It would only take an extra day or so..."

Garrick thought about this. One of Lauren was enough to handle but a family of them? Although the promise of a warm bed and a hot meal would be few and far between for quite awhile now. "Sure," he said at last, "I'm in no rush to get to Asad."They walked down the road for quite awhile. The sun began to set as they looked for a place off the road to sleep. Garrick found a place covered by a bit of woods.
"Right here should be good," he said lighting a few gathered branches on fire. He rummaged in his sac he produced a bit of bread. Master Tarkin had packed food for both of them. If rationed properly it would last a few days. Enough time for them to reach a town.

Lauren smiled, "thanks." She walked happily down the path next to Garrick, and wondered what was going to be happen once they got to Asad... It got dark sooner then she expected and then they were veering off the path to set up camp. As Garrick set some branches on fire, she expanded the heat from the small flames to envelop a large space for their beds. The sun set quickly and as it was going down she added little lights into the air so that they could see. She made her bed quickly, pulling the small blankets out and expanding them to their original size before laying them out and fixing them into a bed. She shifted through the pouch that held her clothes and she pulled out a sleeping gown.

Lauren glanced over her shoulder at Garrick before standing and expanding the dress. She dimmed the lights as she walked into the line of surrounding trees, "I wont go far and I wont be gone long; I'm just going to change." She did so quickly and returned to the camp before the chill could set into her skin. She slid into her blankets with a smile towards Garrick, "do you still need these lights?"

"No that's alright, I'll keep the first watch," he said. Garrick was not that tired. It would give him some time to expand his alteration abilities. He looked down at Lauren who was asleep. The fire began to die out, before it did Garrick re-lit it. Taking control of the dying embers and giving them strength to blaze again. It was warm around the fire. The chill of the winter night had long set in and Garricks winter robes were barely enough to hold it out. He wrapped a blanket around himself. That was better. He looked up into the sky, the moon Had moved since the last time he checked.
There was a rustle behind Garrick. He turned, probably just a squirrel or something.
The rustle was in fact two bandits by the names of Fred and Cheeks, they are the sort of nondescript reoccurring villains that get zapped every episode and thrown away into the sky. This time however they were looking upon the two travelers with curious delight. They crept out of the bushes behind the young man. Fred grabbed the man by the hair and put a knife to his throat. "It's you money or your life, sonny," Fred said as Cheeks moved around to where Laruen was sleeping. Garrick's expression did not change, he simply reached up and touched the blade, which immediately crumbled to dust. He then blew a gust of wind at Cheeks making him fly backwards. They scrambled together. Cheeks pull his blade out.
"I don't think you want to do that," Garrick said Garrick stood up, his eyes flashed and two large balls of flame came up from his hands. The bandits turned and ran.
Garrick turned back to the fire. He cast a large shield charm around the camping area, why hadn't he thought of that before? He curled up on the grounds and fell asleep.