The road was long and crowded with others who had suffered in the disasters. Epiphany was somewhere on the road as well, moving toward the city, but I never saw her. My family set up a new life on my father's brother's farm, which was close to the boundaries of the city. I found Epiphany a few days after our move- she and her family had found some work in the city. We lived very near each other and I saw Epiphany almost daily, whether I went into the city or she came to visit me.
"Zia!"
I stood and turned away from the vegetables and the weeds, rubbing the warm dirt off my hands.
"Epiphany! How are you!"
"I'm fine. I'm just passing by. How goes it?"
"Not too badly. The vegetables will do all right, even with the dry weather."
"Yes..."
"Epiphany, I've been wanting to talk to you." I paused. I might have forgotten about saving the world, but something in me still yearned for adventure. Some summer evenings, I had a sudden feeling that I had to leave. But there was nowhere to go, except to Epiphany. Life was too enclosed. I had to do something...
"You've heard the stories of the Wielder that lives on the edge of the city?" I asked, nervously and excitedly.
"Of course! Everyone has heard of her."
"Do you want to..." I paused. I was proposing something unanticipated and frightening, and very exciting. "We could, I mean... maybe she will teach us magic!" My eyes must have showed how hungry I was for this. I saw a tiny reflection of myself in Epiphany's eyes, a tiny further shattering of limited possibilities. Epiphany beamed.
"It sounds great! Oh, but do you think we could?"
"It couldn't hurt to try!"
"Well! Let's try and ask her!"
Epiphany and I stood before the Wielder's door. All the sinister names I had heard: Magiker, Evil Witch, Cat Woman, all the frightening stories, all refused to leave my mind. I tried to drive the thoughts away, fearing she could somehow sense them, but they would not go. So I gathered my courage, knowing I could not wreak my one chance to learn magic.
I knocked. The door swung open and there was a woman, the Wielder. She was old enough to have a creased face but not old enough to have lost the red of her hair entirely, and as I looked at her I could not decide how old she really was. She waved us inside without a question, as if she had expected us. I shivered as I stepped through the doorway. Epiphany followed. I blinked and a cat jumped out from a dark nook, streaked across the room, and fled. My knees shook. I could feel the two stares, of the Wielder and of Epiphany, both waiting for me to begin talking.
"I... I mean we... I... my name is Zia." I stuttered with intense nervousness.
"And I am Epiphany," my best friend said. Her voice gave me courage.
"We want to learn magic." I somehow managed to look into the face of the Wielder.
The Wielder paused for a tiny moment, and then her face broke into a knowing smile.
"Why?" she asked.
Neither Epiphany nor I answered. I lost my courage and looked between my feet. Epiphany's head was down as well. The Wielder began speaking in a voice frightening in its calmness.
"I have met with many people like you, who want magic without knowing what it is. You are just two young people who want some excitement in an otherwise peaceful place. You cannot accept what is around you. Little else in this otherwise boring world is good enough for you, so you turn and want to learn a sacred thing. That is all you want."
"That's not so," Epiphany said quietly to the ground. I stopped breathing for a moment. The Wielder paused and stared at the interruption. Thoughts of saving the world surged in my soul, but I fought the surge and waited.
The Wielder parroted Epiphany's words. "That's not so?"
I felt chastised, no longer worthy of touching magic for what the Wielder had turned into such a selfish wish. The magic would have been just for me, for my pleasure. But as the Wielder questioned us, daring us to defy her, daring us to say that we were not what she said we were, I felt the thought form in my mind and on my lips: no. I did not utter it, but I feared that the Wielder sensed it. She looked at Epiphany, at me, and at Epiphany again. The old woman stepped closer to me and with a thin, strong hand grabbed my chin and wrenched my gaze into her eyes. Even when she let go I did not dare to look away.
"Zia?" she asked sharply and coldly.
"Yes," I answered nervously.
"You have been a goosegirl, correct?"
"I... have..." I replied haltingly, almost questioningly. I had no idea what the Wielder wanted with me.
"How large, at their largest, are goose eggs laid?"
"About... this large," I said, showing with my hands. I felt Epiphany smile at me. It took me a moment to think of why- that goose egg. Epiphany and I had been amazed when we found it. I almost smiled.
But the Wielder would not stop asking questions. She asked of colors, and I answered the questions as surely as I could. Even though the questions could have been answered by the tiniest and simplest child, I could barely muster the courage to answer.
"What is the color of the stars?"
"Silver."
"And what is the color of the wind?"
"Blue."
Then the Wielder asked of numbers.
"How many whiskers does a cat have?"
"I don't know." I shivered. Cats were frightening. I did not want to know of cats.
"And, the stars? How many stars are there in the sky?"
"I don't know that either. There are more stars in the sky than I have ever counted. But I..." I bit off the rest of my answer, something silly that I had not wanted the Wielder to hear. I had almost told her that I would like to find out the number of the stars. It seemed somehow like the right answer, but it was awkward. I was quiet and hoped the Wielder could not sense it.
I felt that the questions were coming to an end and was relaxing when the Wielder calmly and suddenly flung the sharpest question in my face.
"Have you ever fallen off of your own feet?"
My gaze fell away at my shame-filled answer. "Yes, I have fallen off my feet."
"Without reason?"
"Yes. Without reason. Just today, coming up your walk."
The Wielder abruptly turned away from me and toward Epiphany. Epiphany's gaze was already on the Wielder. The Wielder began questioning Epiphany, driving the questions even harder than she drove them at me.
"And, Epiphany?"
"Yes. Epiphany." Epiphany made even her own name sound like a song, like music. She was nervous, but she was thinking about what she was doing. I reached out with my mind to support her.
"And you, too, have been a goosegirl?"
"Yes." Epiphany answered with shyness, and perhaps some fear, but she did not hesitate. She was moving slowly enough to think about what she was saying.
"So, how many eggs can a goose lay each spring?"
"I, personally, have never seen more than twelve to a nest." Epiphany found the courage to smile, and I felt her smiling at me. Twelve eggs, she seemed to be saying excitedly, as she had several years ago, when we had found that many eggs in a nest. We had celebrated then. Who would have thought we would be talking to the Wielder of a town today?
She continued asking questions. Epiphany continued answering.
"Skyflowers are a shade of blue that is darker than the sky, but lighter than the reflection of the sky on deep water."
"I believe that affection, thick blankets, and cool drink are the best things to give to one who has the fever and chills."
"I have never fallen off my feet within memory."
"And are you telling the truth?" asked the Wielder.
"Yes."
The Wielder paused for a moment, as if thinking, and then turned and walked across the room, beckoning for us to follow before she disappeared into a doorway. Epiphany and I followed.
Inside was the Wielder's kitchen. The Wielder motioned Epiphany and me to a pair of low stools. While Epiphany sat, I looked around for anything Wielder-like, and immediately spied the glowing embers on the hearth, and the black stewpot hanging over them. I raised my eyebrows at Epiphany, wondering some magical concoction was cooking. But the Wielder went over to it, stirred it, and casually tasted it. It looked like normal soup.
A kitten that had been sleeping next to the stove woke, stretched, and padded over to Epiphany's stool. Epiphany rubbed the cat between the ears and along the arch of his back, while I continued watching the Wielder. She shifted pans in and out of her small stone oven, holding them with cloths like any other woman. When she finished, she set a plate of warm, coarse-grained bread on the table, and sat. Feeling out of place, I sat quickly and awkwardly. Epiphany took a tiny piece of bread and began chewing slowly.
"I am surprised at you two," the Wielder began, almost friendlily. "You are not what you at first appeared. In fact, I have a proposition to make. Epiphany, I have never met anyone as suited toward magic as you. I would be happy, almost honored, to teach you all I know of the art."
"That would be wonderful!!" Epiphany breathed, her eyes bright and wide and blue. I felt exceedingly happy.
Suddenly Epiphany's happiness dimmed. "And... what about Zia?" she asked. I had not been mentioned. What about me?
"I have no interest in teaching Zia," the Wielder said. "Zia, you are brave, but too, shall I say, too human. I don't think I could even teach you, even if I wanted to."
"What?" I gasped. But I HAD to learn magic. It felt right. I could not see Epiphany learning magic without me. We had to learn together.
"I don't think I can learn magic if Zia doesn't," Epiphany said. "We have to stay together."
"You have to, or you want to?" the Wielder asked.
I could not bear to see my friend learn magic without me, but I could not bear to hold her back.
"Epiphany..."
"No, I'm sorry, but I will not study under you if Zia cannot learn magic as well."
The Wielder looked closely at Epiphany's face, and then glanced at me.
"Very well. I cannot afford to loose a pupil such as you, Epiphany. And I have recently been looking for someone to help me in my yard and garden. Zia, you look strong. You could study for a short time each day, and then work for me to help, in a way, to pay for your lessons."
"Yes! That... that's great!" I said. I would be learning magic! I had never been happier.
"I will teach you, but I cannot guarantee you will learn."
"I WILL learn!" I assured her. "I will try so hard-"
"There are only a few conditions that you must promise to adhere to, as pupils," the Weilder interrupted. "You must follow any instructions I give you EXACTLY. First of all, I will be teaching you two separately. You will come only when I tell you, and leave when I tell you. And you will never tell anyone about your magic lessons. You will not even discuss it between yourselves."
"I agree! I agree!" I said excitedly, hungrily. Epiphany was nodding her head rapidly. We would have agreed to anything.
"Very well. Epiphany, please come tomorrow at midday. Zia, you will come at the same time, but you will work until Epiphany's lesson is over. And remember, tell no one."
We left, each with a thick slice of the Wielder's bread.
"Too bad the Wielder didn't show her power," I commented as Epiphany and I were about to go our separate ways.
"I'm not so sure..."
"Her kitchen was like ours. The same strings and wreaths of vegetables hung from the rafters. She cooked nothing but soup. She had cats, of course, but they just lay there. I wish we could have seen her use magic!"
"You mean, you didn't see?"
"What?"
Epiphany leaned closer, as if telling a secret.
"Remember when she moved pans in and out of the oven?"
"Yes..."
"The fire below had gone out, but it was roaring by the time she shut the oven door. And she never put on a stick of wood or lit a single match!"
I gasped excitedly and quickly hugged Epiphany.
"We get to learn magic!!!"
"See you tomorrow!"
"Bye!"
I thought on the way home. Epiphany was the perfect magic girl. Perhaps she would someday be the next Wielder. And I, I was a girl wanted to know how many stars there were in the sky, but who fell off her own feet.