“Today is the day,” Maurene has been restless throughout the morning. “I hope that we get accepted.” He bit his lips though, knowing full well that he himself does not have a good chance. The teachers were never impressed by his affinity of magic, and The Magic School of Ivanstya only accepts those with outstanding potential. In short, it is a school only for children highly gifted in magic.

“Hm, let’s just see,” Marquez knows how much his best friend likes to study magic, but it actually only goes as far as that. Maurene isn’t one you would expect trying out magic tricks. He is more who likes to share tips to his friends and let them execute his magic theories. The magic school he dreamt of going to might be actually torture for him in reality.

The education of the Magic School of Ivanstya relies heavily on on-the-field experiences. That is why only children with extraordinary affinities are selected. The teachers want to be as efficient as possible in the classes.

Marquez got the intel from Uncle Nomi. He has been hesitant in sharing that information to Maurene. Firstly, he does not want to break his heart – let the school do it for him. Secondly, it does not sit well to spread around such intel in general – he does not want to hurt Uncle Nomi’s trust.

“I don’t know,” mumbled Marquez again while doing the finishing touches of his craft.

“Hm, yeah… Let’s just see.” Maurene has not even started anything today. He just sat on the bench and fidgetted with his tools. But then he sat up. “I’ll go to Red. I need some distraction.” 

“Okay.”

“What’s up, Maurene? Can’t concentrate?” Red knows that Maurene often struggles to sit still and focus on his work. He has gotten better at it over time, but the red phantom notices that today he is too restless to keep himself focused.

Maurene only nodded. “I’m so nervous about the letters.” He took a seat near Red. “I don’t know, Marquez seems to know something he doesn’t want me to know. Now I don’t know if I should wish to be accepted or not.” 

“Why don’t you just ask him?” 

“I think it’s some dirty secret from one of his relatives. He doesn’t like to talk about those.” The young boy scanned the table near him for something to fidget with. He then took a stick and spun it around.

Red has not much to do today, so he decided to stand up from his working station and prepare his student some tea. “Well, you can maybe make him talk about it, without him realizing he shares a state secret. I think you got the skills for it.” 

Maurene frowns. “The skills, yea. The will, no. I might be called the Master Manipulator, or Skilled Tongue, but I would never use those skills against a friend.” 

“Why though? Why do you treat your friends differently than strangers?”

“It’s not about friends or no,” the student explains,  “it’s about trust. I wouldn’t manipulate someone whose trust I value. I value my friendship with Marquez, so I don’t want to manipulate him. I don’t want to turn his trust towards me against himself. That would be… cruel…”

Red has strong affinity with fire, so he could prepare the tea rather quickly. He handed a big cup of it to Maurene. “Talking from your own experience?”

The boy pressed his lips together. “Kind of,” he blew on the tea. It was still a little bit too hot for him. “I was arrogant about my charm and skills, thought I could handle everyone.” He sighed. “Guess what, I got backstabbed by someone I wouldn’t even thought of as a threat. The rat used me to get the bar keeper’s trust and stole his stuff. And who got blamed? Me.” 

“Ah, I think I’ve heard of that. Was that the thing with Somber?” 

Maurene only nodded. “His assistant beat me up. ‘Never should’ve trusted a rat like you,’ he said, without even listening to me. Well, the guy never liked me in the first place.” The tea got cool enough for him to take a short sip. “To be honest, I didn’t like him either. So that’s fair, I guess.” 

Red chuckled. “Ah, that’s why. Somber and Giddle warned me about you when they knew I took you as a mentee. Their story makes sense, but I sensed that some information was missing.” 

“Yea, the rat was really… Ratty. I often had the urge to just beat him up, but… Well, it won’t solve any problems. Sometimes I thought about how I could make him pay. I like Somber, and I want us to be friends again. I like the people in his bar, they were always so friendly. The rat took it all away.”

“Or not.”

“Hm, or not. It’s my fear and confusion that hinders me to go there. But how could I ever convince them that it wasn’t me? The rat made a really good job in framing me.”

Red got an idea. But he decided to keep it for himself. Maybe it’s a good surprise for this gloomy boy. “Well, you never told me about what really happened. I don’t know how I could help you if you don’t tell me the whole story.” Sometimes you just have to use someone’s weapon against themselves. For their own good. 

And so, Maurene told Red everything about the friend who had backstabbed him. He finally got a distraction from the school’s announcement. 

“Well, that just means that you got too much on your mind. Don’t you think you keep to much to yourself? Even I didn’t know the whole story about him before, and I think I would have never known if I didn’t decide to take a break right when you started telling it to Red.” Marquez tried to distract his friend. As expected from all of them, he got rejected from his dream school. 

Maurene tried to defend himself. “But how, I can’t go around blabbering about people to everyone. And you certainly don’t want me to complain all the time about people, do you?” 

The friend shrugged his shoulder. “You don’t have to tell anything to anyone. What I wanted to say is that you have to get things out of your system. Maybe write everything down, and then burn the paper, or I don’t know. And you don’t have to worry about me getting tired of you. I will listen if you need someone to talk thinks through.” He patted Maurene’s shoulder. “A Master Manipulator needs a clear mind to be successful. So don’t put too much stress on yourself, okay?” 

The boy nodded. He felt tears fill up his eyes. But no, he does not want to show them. Maurene waited until they subsided and thanked Marquez. Though, there is one thing he needs help with. “Can you help me look for other magic schools or other alternatives? I have been into so much stress, I forgot to apply to any other school.” 

Marquez is not surprised. “Of course, I still have some free time before the term starts. Let’s get yourself somewhere better than The Magic School of Ivanstya.”