All Chapters of The choices we make: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Mary felt like she was floating on clouds the next day. She and Bettina was working in the garden and Kopa was sitting in a sunny spot reading. After they had lunch, Bettina and Mary started cooking for the dinner. Mary was making dill stewed mutton, a recipe from Domne. The meat had been cooking since early in the morning and it was now time to make the stew and cut the meat into smaller pieces to add to it. Working in the kitchen always made time go by and soon Mary was getting her cloak and heading out to meet up with Firlea.“I’m going now, we will be back soon” she shouted as she headed for the door.“Do you want me to go with you?” Kopa asked.“No, we will manage” Mary smiled at him. She walked in a hurry towards the river field. She was both excited and a bit nervous. She had decided she needed to talk to Firlea about somethings as they were walking home. Firlea hadn’t arrived at the river field yet. Mary stood in the spot where they usually met and waited, looking at the other

The next week repeated almost as the first week. Firlea and Mary meet up in the mornings and spent the days in the sanctum. For once, Mary was feeling like she did something she was good at. Even though she didn’t know everything or didn’t get everything right on the first try. She knew it was the same for everyone. Even Limia seemed to struggle with things. Of course, she blamed her failures on anything and anyone that was close by. Limia continued talking about how important she and her family were, anyone not belonging to her little click of people was targeted at one time or another. Mary did her best to ignore them. Firlea had been upset the first couple of times Limia’s mean comments had been targeting her, but after almost two weeks, she had also started to ignore Limia. There were just too many other things to think about. Mary had complained a couple of times about Limia at home. Mostly because her behaviour sometimes caused drama in the group. It was hard for Mary to watch o

The tension in the hall was high when Furnlow finally entered and made his way to the front of the room. Everyone fell silent, waiting for him to speak. “I have the results here” he started and held up a scroll he held in his hand. “I want you to form a line. One at a time you will come up to me and state your full name and I will give you your result. If you have questions regarding why you didn’t make it, or if you want your results from the different tests, please step over to the right-hand side where my colleagues will be able to help you” he said, gesturing at six aari already seated behind desks along the right side of the hall. “Once you have your results you will go down to the docks and be ferried over to one of the river fields. For those who are accepted, you will get written instructions before you leave today. Please note that the decision today is final, there is no appeal. But you are more than welcome to try again next year. Let’s get started” he finished and waited

Kopa and Mary started moving towards the dock together with Firlea and her father. Kopa had just put her chest down amongst the other trainees’ things and was about to say goodbye when Furnlow came walking up to them.“Sir Teeran,” Furnlow greeted him with a nod.“Aari Furnlow” Kopa responded the same way.“We are looking forward to having Mary as a trainee,” Furnlow said.“I can tell you she is very bright,” Kopa said, placing a hand on Mary’s shoulder. She smiled up at him.“That she is, I can’t wait to see where a bit of training will take her,” Furnlow agreed. “Well, I’ll let you say your goodbyes,” he said before walking away.“Do you have everything you need?” Kopa asked Mary, and she nodded. “Good, if you need something, just stop the first rider you find in the sanctum, tell him who you are, and say you wish to speak to me. They will bring you to me or let me know you are looking for me.”“Thank you, dad, it will be okay. I’ll be close by. It’s okay,” Mary said to him. As her

“Mary,” he called, and she stepped forward. “This is your mentor, aari Procecsa,” he introduced them and Procecsa asked Mary to follow her. Together, they went through the sanctum until they came to a small room. The room was filled with bookshelves, benches littered with vials, cups, and other interesting things. Crammed in a corner was a desk and a visitor’s chair.“Please sit,” Procecsa said, showing the visitor’s chair as she sat behind the desk. Aari Procecsa was a thin woman with light brown hair and piercing grey eyes. She reminded Mary of Mrs Meata and she therefore felt uncomfortable as she sat down. “I am to be your mentor for at least the coming year,” Procecsa spoke.“Yes, aari Procecsa,” Mary said.“Just call me Sesca. Everyone does. I guess I should tell you a bit about myself. I’m naturally drawn to three types of magic: fire, water, and earth. It’s an unusual combination, but it comes in handy. Most of my work is academic or experimental, as some would call it. I look