* * *
Although most of Max’s wounds had healed, he remained underfoot. Occasionally, he suffered from headaches or dizzy spells. She usually blamed it on him overexerting himself.
“You need to stop moving around once in a while,” she chastised him one morning as she prepared their breakfast, “All you do is jump around and babble and ask questions!”
From the look of it, he was having immense trouble sitting still even in that moment. He rocked back and forth on his toes as he watched her mix ingredients into a bowl. “Whatcha makin’?” he asked, ignoring her scolding look.
“Pastries,” she replied, feeling exasperated. “Would you like to help?”
“I’d love to, my lady!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her waist. She peeled him off, and together they attempted to make and bake what looked like little fruit tarts.
“Where do you get all the fruit from, my lady?” Max asked as he was balling some dough into a container. “Do you have a garden?”
The sorceress couldn’t hide her smile. “The biggest one of all,” she replied, glancing out the window into the forest.
“Oh, of course,” he said right away. After another moment of balling dough and sifting flour went by, he perked up yet again. “What’s it like being a sorceress?” he asked, as if it was such a simple question.
She paused to think about it and took her time putting the pastries in the oven. “It’s lonely,” she replied hesitantly but truthfully. There wasn’t much else to say, in her opinion.
“Well it’s a good thing I’m here now,” he replied, his smile the biggest she’d seen yet. She shut the oven and looked him over.
“And what makes you think you’ll be here for a while?” she asked, skeptical and a little amused.
“Well, I... I’ve got nowhere else to go,” he said sadly.
Not wanting him to cry, she knelt down in front of him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Well, now that you’ve healed up for the most part, you could be pretty useful around the house...” She didn’t want to be mean, but she couldn’t let him think he could get anything he wanted just by quivering his lower lip.
“Oh, yes! I’ll do anything you want, my lady, anything! I don’t know much about magic or stuff like that, but I do know how to keep a house clean!”
A flicker of a smile came across the sorceress’s lips. “I do not expect you to know anything about magic.” Then, she paused, a thought passing through her mind like a gust of wind. “Of course, I could teach you…” She’d never thought of taking an apprentice before, but then, she’d never really had the chance.
Max became overwhelmed with excitement, almost knocking over some dishes as he bounced on his toes. “Oh, really? Gosh, if you could teach me magic… or how to become a sorcerer, that would be amazing!” he gushed.
“Well first of all, you should know that there is a huge difference between magic and sorcery,” she began, unable to stop herself. “Magic is for fools and cheap street magicians. Sorcery is... well, it’s an art. A lifestyle, even. It takes time and energy and focus, not just clever tricks.”
Max tilted his head, looking both curious and confused. “Has it always been that way? I remember hearing stories about the old days of magic and mischief, but only the richest of people could afford to learn it.”
“There was a time when there was no such thing as wealth in anything but magic,” she explained, “But times have changed. If one wants attention or fame, one should study magic. If one wants wisdom or power, one should study sorcery. I’ve spent a long part of my life studying sorcery.”
“And which one do you want?”
“What?”
“Which one do you want, wisdom or power?”
There was a pause.
“I can tell you I didn’t choose to become a sorceress for either of those reasons, and even if I did, I have yet to obtain wisdom or power. You have a lot to learn, little one.”