Over the Grave of Mage Ien

Vanilla #8 - my mentor/idol/hero

            She was standing over the grave of her mentor, Mage Ien. Karayan thought that it would have been easier to come and see the man she adored for half of her life but standing there was hard on her. It felt like her chest was going to cave in, her head was going to explode with all of the memories, and her heart was just going to give out on her completely. The grave was secluded, off to the side of palace in a small cemetery. The grave itself was under a great tree and it looked like no one had taken care of it for years. She was not surprised, however, since Mage Ien did not have many who liked him and the ones who did were not the type to clean graves. "In fact the only people who liked you are in graves now," she muttered kicking the ground a little.

            Karayan was brought to the city of Adrian at age five. While no one said it everyone knew that the Amarad family more or less sold her to the Vern family. When the world found out that the new mage was born it seemed like no one could think of anything else but getting her to the now 105 year old elder Mage Ien. For five years she heard stories about Mage Ien and who he was and what he did and for five years she did not but look forward to the day that she would meet him. He did everything she wanted to do and when the day finally came that she was presented to him she found herself a bit let down as to what he looked like. He was a frail looking man, like he was about to break, with a long white beard and white hair that looked thin on pale skin. He wore a black robe and looked at her through thick glasses, his eyes looking bigger while leaning heavily on a walking stick.

            "Great, a fucking girl." With those words the people who were standing with her left and she found herself standing in front of her idol. Dropping to her hands and knees she bowed deeply.

            "Mage Ien I am so pleased to--" He did not let her finish before he hit her with the stick directly in the back. The blow nearly knocked the wind out of her and she collapsed to the ground.

            "You are to address me as "master" and never by any other title. Is that clear?" Mage Ien asked as she coughed on the ground.

            "Yes master," she replied. And that was how it was. Mage Ien was not the kind and gentle man she thought he would be. Instead he was gouchy and impatient and did not like the idea of being around a child let alone a girl. So he would hit, he would slap her, he would yell and scream and he always made sure she cried. After two years she stopped crying and after five she stopped flinching. By then he was 110 years old and failing. As a ten year old all Karayan wanted to do was spend time with the young Joseph Vern and Kuriko but Mage Ien would not allow it. His health was failing now and he was dying so he hit her harder, he yelled more, yet she did not flinch nor cry despite how many times she was sure she broke a bone. Through it all she never stopped looking up to her mentor, her idol, she looked up to him in a different way. She knew that she too would live to be over a 100 and Karayan swore every day that she would not treat her apprentice the way he treated her.

            One day, he hit her particularly hard across the face and something inside of her broke. She screamed at him, told him that he had not right to touch her the way he did, and that if he did one more time she swore she was going to kill him. And Mage Ien laughed, he laughed at her so much that he could not breath anymore, and as he gasped for air he said "congradulations for finally standing up to me; too bad it took you too long" and he died. In a way, she knew she got her wish for it was her action that made him die laughing but at the same time it seemed too indirect. Standing over his body as a ten year old she wanted to do it with her own hands. Karayan called the guards in before joining Joseph and Kuriko for a day of being kids.

            Thirteen years later and she was visitng his grave for the first time. She thought of how he died laughing at her and how it took her so long to stand up to him. She thought about the long life she had ahead of her, how she too would have an apprentice in seventy-five years. And she thought about how, no matter what kind of child that he or she turned out to be, she would never treat them the way Mage Ien treated her.

            "Karayan?" Turning around when she heard her name she saw General Trent Zeyvick walking toward her. He stopped a few feet away and gave her a weary look. "You have that took in your eye, the one where you look like you're about to hurt someone, should I come back later?"

            "Say what you need to say, Trent,"she said inwardly wincing at the informal titles they were using with each other and hating him for insisting upon it.

            "Luna needs us to see something; she sent me out here to get you," he paused, "Do you need a moment?"

            "No." Karayan said in a flat voice before walking past him. He watched her carefully before following behind.

            "What were you doing out here anyway?" He asked and she stopped but did not turn around. She felt him standing behind her, close, but still keeping a decent distance.

            "Visiting the grave of my old mentor," she replied.

            "Did you like him?" He said and she turned around, looking at the grave before looking at Trent, a small smile forming on her lips.

            "Yes, I did."