They started with conjuring up elements. Marquelle took them to the courtyard where he explained and demonstrated how to manifest the five basic elements.
"The basics of magic is the manipulation of the five core elements," Marquelle explained. "You cannot proceed with the more advanced spells unless you master these five."
Peter hung on to Marquelle's every word, fixated and full of eagerness. "Yes, sir."
"Call me master or teacher. I am instructing you after all."
"Yes, teacher."
Iria smirked at the boy's refusal to call him master. He really had a defiant streak to him. She watched them from the bench under a tree nearby. It was a nice change of pace, watching such a peaceful scene.
"We'll start with conjuring fire." Marquelle put out his hand. He blew on his hand and suddenly, a small flame landed on his index finger.
"Wow! How did you do that? You didn't even chant or say anything."
"Once you've started seeing spells in your mind's eye, you won't need to say anything. In the meantime, the spell is, 'Fiar.'"
Peter put out his hand. "Fiar," he commanded, and a fist-sized ball of fire appeared on his palm.
It seemed fire was an easy enough conjure for the boy. But Marquelle kept looking her way. Could letting down her hair like this really transform how she looked? She couldn't help but laugh a little, especially after seeing Peter get annoyed every time Marquelle looked away from him.
She stood up and decided to leave them. She thought she might as well prepare lunch.
*****
Peter watched Marquelle watch Iria as the princess left the courtyard. He looked a little disappointed. But really, the mage was distracted. It was good that Iria noticed and decided to leave.
"My jailer's really pretty, isn't she?" He teased Marquelle.
To which, the mage glared in reply. "If you're still free to make such crude comments, that means I'm not pushing you hard enough. Were doing fire storms next."
"What?! How is that comment crude?" He pretended to feel wronged, but truly, he was excited. Fire storms were things he only saw in picture books. To actually learn it was like something out of a story.
Marquelle was also only pretending to be offended, he was sure. Especially with that pleased expression he wore teaching Peter.
*****
The mage's kitchen was clean and a little bare. But his cupboards and ice chest were enchanted to stock themselves with whatever he needed. Iria looked at the enchantment in the ice chest. The chest was connected to a company called Spell Grocer. Oh, she knew this company! She saw this while on a joint mission to one of the worlds neighboring her own. They supplied customers with fresh produce from various small farms on their planet, then just billed the customer at the end of the month for what they got. She chuckled. Iria hadn't expected the mage to be the type to support grassroot businesses. She turned to the cupboard. It had a panel in front that showed a catalogue of various pots, pans, and dishes. This, she realized, wasn't a magic item. Instead of mana, this item used some lightning and knowledge on the structure of matter. She believed the mechanism used was something called technology. And it basically replicated whatever kitchenware you selected on the panel. She thought it was fascinating that Marquelle used appliances from different worlds.
*Drip.* Iria turned to the cooking area. She first thought of it as an exhaust pipe. But when she looked closer, it was a hole caused by the melting of the kitchen wall's brick material. It was still dripping matter. Wearing a glove, Iria inspected the cup-sized hole. Magic. The corrupted kind. This was worrying. She would speak to Marquelle about it.
Replicating a plate, she covered the hole and placed an enchantment on it. It looked like there really was an intruder in the mage's castle.
*****
Iria later found Peter sleeping on the couch in her room again. He had been warming up to Marquelle today, but she supposed he still felt safer sleeping near her. She sat on the arm of the couch and brushed his hair from his face. Iria smiled. The boy worked hard today.
One of the senses she honed as a gatekeeper was her perception. And she sensed that there was someone outside her door. True enough, she found Marquelle in the corridor just outside her room.
"I… was going to ask if you'd like to have a drink with me," he said. "But I wasn't sure if it was already late for you."
It had been quite a while since she had been asked out for a drink by anyone. "I would love that," Iria replied.
"What happened to your partner?" Marquelle asked. They were out in the patio, seated on stone benches and looking out over the gardens. "If you don't mind me asking."
"He died while we were on a mission three years ago," Iria replied as she sipped her wine. "He was my brother."
"I'm so sorry to hear that. I assume he was a prince of your kingdom?"
"The king."
"Oh. It's not very common to have a ruler become a gatekeeper. That must have been a very difficult time."
"It was." She leaned back and watched the starless sky. "He was my twin. We were separated at an early age so he could be trained for kingship, so we never really grew up close. But one day, the Libra council came to us and asked us to become gatekeepers, pairs chosen to protect our world from beings trying to get in."
"And your brother accepted despite being groomed for the throne?"
"My brother had a strong sense of justice. He readily accepted it."
"… And how did he react to you being picked as well?"
Iria smiled in Marquelle's direction. "It sounds like you have an inkling as to how that went. As you may have guessed, women don't usually pick up the sword where I come from, especially not princesses. So, it didn't sit very well with my brother, who thought that it was too dangerous for me. But it was the first time I had been offered such a huge responsibility. I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by. We were taught combat and magic. And I got to meet other gatekeepers, and visit other worlds with different rules, with different customs, with different… normals. And I was thrilled!"
There was a quiet amusement in the mage's smile. "I'm glad you took the opportunity then. I hope your brother didn't give you too hard of a time."
"I learned a term from another world. Chauvinistic. It means something like a male prejudice against women. Do you have that term in your world?"
"Yes, we do."
"My brother wasn't being chauvinistic. It's just that, in our world, men are expected to be the ones protecting women from any form of danger. And to let me be fighting beings that can very well kill me when he is very much capable of fighting is simply wrong from the perspective of a person from my world. But I was very happy being a gatekeeper. So my brother was often conflicted. He wanted me to be happy. But keeping me happy means it's not always safe."
Marquelle refilled her glass. "How did he die?"
"There was a particularly difficult attack on our world. At the same time, there was also an invasion on our kingdom. My brother saved our kingdom, but he was already too hurt and exhausted when he joined me. He died. And I was forced to perform both our spells to fight the attackers of our world. That was also when I realized I could perform both my and my brother's gatekeeper duties."
"Hole or not, it's not easy to get into my castle. For that, there is no doubt you're a powerful magic user and a very capable gatekeeper. But haven't you ever thought of getting another partner?"
Iria beamed at him. "Aww, thank you for saying that about my abilities. Coming from a powerful mage such as yourself, it's very encouraging." She turned back to the dark sky and replied in a more somber voice. "It's not that I didn't want to. But gatekeepers need to be compatible. The next most compatible partner for me is my little brother, the new heir to our kingdom. He's still much too young. He's just around Peter's age. And I don't think I'd like him to have a gatekeeper's life on top of his duties as would-be king."
"You're afraid he'd end up like your twin."
"It's good to concentrate on one thing, I think. Let him have the quiet life he's now being groomed for. Besides, even with just kingship training, he hardly has time to be a child. Let him play using the little free time he has left. It'll be gone for him too soon."
"Only you would consider being a king a quiet life." Marquelle chuckled.
"Haha! Sorry, your perspective tends to change as a gatekeeper." She sipped her wine. "Ah, right. I wanted to talk to you about your intruder."
Marquelle became a bit more alert at her words. "You encountered it?"
Iria told him about the hole in the kitchen. "I followed traces of its magic but lost it in the tunnels underground."
"You sure it's our intruder?"
Iria shook her head. "You could also have an infestation of mutant rats," she replied with a smirk.
"Neither sound very pleasant."
She laughed. "I guess not."
"I suppose that means we just need to wait until our intruder makes an appearance again. I hope you don't mind the stay."
"Keep bringing out the good wine and I might not want to ever leave."
It was his turn to laugh. "I'd better break open my reserves then."