A lone figure cast a shadow on the sands of the Manta Carlos coast. Euna tottered slightly, hunching over a stack of booklets and papers in her arms. Her scarf dangled over the papers, hiding them in their shadow.
Euna's eyes darted from left to right. All she could spot was the light of the late afternoon blinding her from the waves, and the sand and trees to her left. No people in sight. Perfect.
She dumped the stack of papers onto the dry sand and straightened up. After doing a 180 to make absolutely sure that no one was around (again) she picked up the top item on the stack. It was a book hardbound in some tough leathery material. Euna opened it onto a folded page, smoothed the parchment and out, and dropped the book onto the sand. It landed with a thump and a tiny cloud. Some of the sand got into the papers. All of them were tests and class exercises marked 60 percent and below in bright red ink.
Euna wasn't very fluent in her home language, and she was pretty sure she was reading some bits of the chapter on elemental magic wrong, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from setting her tests on fire. With magic.
She swatted her hands as if she was getting rid of a pesky fly, getting her mana running. She held it over her tests and let threads of magic seep out of her fingers, visualizing heat and smoke rising.
When she looked down, all she saw were a few fleeting sparks of mana and no smoke.
Oh well, maybe one more try wouldn't hurt.
Euna's eyes darted from left to right. All she could spot was the light of the late afternoon blinding her from the waves, and the sand and trees to her left. No people in sight. Perfect.
She dumped the stack of papers onto the dry sand and straightened up. After doing a 180 to make absolutely sure that no one was around (again) she picked up the top item on the stack. It was a book hardbound in some tough leathery material. Euna opened it onto a folded page, smoothed the parchment and out, and dropped the book onto the sand. It landed with a thump and a tiny cloud. Some of the sand got into the papers. All of them were tests and class exercises marked 60 percent and below in bright red ink.
Euna wasn't very fluent in her home language, and she was pretty sure she was reading some bits of the chapter on elemental magic wrong, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from setting her tests on fire. With magic.
She swatted her hands as if she was getting rid of a pesky fly, getting her mana running. She held it over her tests and let threads of magic seep out of her fingers, visualizing heat and smoke rising.
When she looked down, all she saw were a few fleeting sparks of mana and no smoke.
Oh well, maybe one more try wouldn't hurt.