Bloom Days

"Last mm-one!" Aiza proclaimed, opening her mouth and dropping the empty fruit basket onto its stack. Finally, she was done with her chores for the morning! 

A burly looking pouflon with brown spots and a big mustache stood nearby and grinned at her, clapping their hooves together. "Bravo! Thanks for yer help young'un!" 

"You're welcome mister Klein!" Aiza beamed back, her tail wagging happily. The two were next to Klein's farm in GoldFair, a respectable sized orange barn overlooking the soft fields of grain and grass. It had been two months since Mr. Klein and his partner started fostering her at GoldFair, and she LOVED it here. Sure, she had friends at the orphanage, and sure, she missed them... but nothing beat the aromatic air and space of this place. She almost felt blessed that the orphanage ran out of room, which sent her and many other blooms out to the surrounding towns. Maybe when she met them again, she could share some of Klein's fruity berries!... But for now...

Aiza inhaled and exhaled deeply, enjoying the smell of freshly mowed sweet grass in the wind. Her eyes followed a few leaves as they wafted towards the town. Blue banners waved in the town center, a commotion.

"Say kiddo, the Asterfall Mage College is in town.. Since we finished early, Do ya want to check it out?" Klein suggested, pointing his hoof to the town center.

"Asterfall.. college?" Aiza tilted her head in confusion, to which Klein chuckled, "Ah, you may have seen them around, it's a school for students who want to become mages! Every so often they come 'ta the town to scout for talent."

Aiza's eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Mages?!.. WOW COOL! I wanna see them!!"

 

- - -

Several trots later, Klein and Aiza neared the town center, and they could see a crowd of pouflons surrounding two mages in elaborate garbs. Deep blue Asterfall flag poles were placed around them in a circle, almost framing them, as they demonstrated some elemental magic, turning fire to lightning, water to ice...

Aiza was star struck.

"I.. wow! How did they do that?!" She exclaimed.

The mage's staffs and hooves waved. Ground turned to dust, balls of light and darkness swirled around eachother. Then, it ended in a beautiful shower of fireworks made purely of light. 

Applause roared in the croud, and little Aiza was hopping up and down excitedly. 

"Thank you for your excitement." The head mage bowed, then gave a gentle smile. "Without further ado, we shall now be opening our mage's challenge to any blooms who are interested in becoming a mage. If you perform well, we'll give you a letter of recommendation to some of our best tutors, a high honor for any prospective student." 

Aiza's imagination went wild. She could see herself in between the two mages, a confident version of herself, flaring orange fur, a long epic staff, creating a beautiful fireball that sparkled... Impressing all around her. She grinned at herself, looking up at Klein. He gave a simple head jerk towards the mages, beckoning her on with a smile.  

The other mage raised their hoof at a line drawn on the ground. "Please line up here to enter. Don't be shy!"

Aiza immediately bee-lined to the line, shouldering up with a couple of other blooms. There was a sea blue and mint green bloom, and the last one, a dandelion yellow. 

After a minute or so of waiting, the mages nodded at eachother and unfurled a large mat. As it laid out, a wand appeared first, then a book, and lastly a couple of berries none of which Aiza had ever seen before.

"Let's begin our challenge!" The head mage exclaimed, to the backtone of the crowd murmuring in excitement.

 

- - -

The other mage paced between the three odd items, explaining calmly, "There are three tests: First, to levitate the wand and give it a twirl. It's ok if you haven't grasped control of magic, especially at a young age, but we'd like for you to try your best to harness it. Practice makes perfect after all!" They stopped before the book. "Second, how well you can read in a minute. We'll ask you a couple questions for comprehension, take it steady and absorb as much as you can." They then stopped at the strange berries. "Finally, the last test is to identify the properties of the berries as best you can. Don't worry, these even confuse even the most ardent of our students, just do your best."

"You all are brave to come up at all, and for that we have a reward at the end regardless." The head mage added, giving a wink. The blooms' faces perked up in excitement, all hoping it was candy.

"Any questions?" The other mage asked, trotting to the head mage's side.

The blooms all looked at the mages, then at eachother, and all shook their heads at different speeds. Aiza excitedly shook hers, ears flapping into her face.

"Great! Who would like to start?" 

Aiza Suddenly got butterflies in her stomach, and she almost buckled, now realizing everyone was watching. She looked at the other blooms, who were all equally nervous. Come on.... Go! She willed at herself. After a moment's hesitation she bit her lip and closed her eyes, leaping forward.

"We have our first challenger!"

Aiza gave a nervous smile and waved, as she clumsily approached the first item. This was her moment! She straightened up herself and inhaled sharply. Her eyes glanced at the mages, who were watching intently. She was going to impress these mages, and do cool magic! Exhaling, she lowered her head at the wand, closing her eyes and visualizing it in front of her. 

Float... FLOAT! The words rang in her mind. A surge of energy washed over her for a second, she could feel them flowing through her nerves, then to the tip of her limbs and muzzle, and then....! 

Darkness.

....

 

- - -

Aiza could feel herself dreaming... Everything was hazy with an orange glow, and she saw herself standing before the head mage. The head mage had a proud expression, and was shaking Aiza's hoof with theirs in a congratulatory manner. 

"That was incredible! I'm going to give you the reward your talent deserves.. The highest award of Asterfall College, the most any lon and bloom have ever sought for, what all kingdoms desire and lust for........."

"ALL THE CANDY!!!" The head mage squealed, throwing out piles of candy from their cloak. Aiza yelled in excitement, dancing in the rain of candy. “YAAAAY!”

Did she do it? Did she really pass the challenge!? 

Before Aiza could really believe it, she heard another voice in the distance of her dreamy vision. 

 

"A i z a..." 

...

"W a k e ---up"

 

- - -

"Wake up Aiza!" 

It was Klein's voice.

Aiza opened her eyes, blinking slowly, her vision blurred. She saw the ground first, and then the mage beside her, with a worried expression. "Are you ok dearie?" They asked.

"Wha--- wuh happen?" Aiza spoke, her voice sounding weirdly sleepy. She gazed around. 

The crowd was gone. The banners were taken down, the mat rolled up, and all the blooms had left. All except one. To the right, the head mage was conversing with the mint green bloom and their parents. The bloom proudly wore a medal around their neck, and held a rolled up scroll with a fancy wax emblem on it. 

"Thank goodness yer awake! You fainted right after ya tried the first test." Klein huffed, ears bent back in worry.

"Wait..huh?" Aiza replied, shocked. She missed the rest of it? She didn't even complete the first test! "I want to do the rest of the challenge!" Aiza said, attempting to get up, her knees shaking.

"Slow down there child... I'm sorry but the event is over. We can't stay any longer as we must return to the college by nightfall..." The mage replied, looking down. They blinked and then gave a small smile. "You gave it your best shot though."

Aiza scrunched up her muzzle. "No... I didn't! Tell me, would I make a great mage?!" She yelled, now propped up against Klein. Her voice trembling, but fierce.

Taken aback, the mage looked down again, eyes focused on the ground, then to Klein. The two had a silent air of agreement, sharing a slightly somber look. They knew something Aiza didn't. 

"Er.. That is hard to say. I've never seen a bloom faint this bad attempting to use magic... I've read in the books before that it's possible but- extremely rare for such blooms to--" They then stopped, catching themselves. "--Ah! But don't let that stop you from trying!" They said, forcing a smile.

Behind the mage, Aiza could see the head mage congratulating the mint green bloom, who was proudly levitating their souvenir wand around. 

Disappointment and jealousy hit Aiza like a truck, and she leapt away from Klein and the mage, bounding off back towards Klein's farm, tears in her eyes. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she bounded home. She failed, miserably! Passed out, in front of the entire town!

Was magic... not for her? 

She bit her lip, her head shook, vision blurring even further from her teary eyes as she disappeared up the path. 

...

...

 

- - -

Klein arrived at the farm several minutes later, huffing. That squirt was fast! He began looking for the upset bloom. It took no time to find her, since for a month now he's noticed Aiza liked to sit at the top of the field when she was upset. And there she was, sitting at the top, the sunset illuminating her orange fur.

As Klein approached, he thought of what to say. What the mage said was true, it wouldn't be easy for Aiza to go down the path of mages-- from what he's heard from his mage friend, fainting was an early sign of a pouflon who would struggle with channeling magic. A rare, generally unheard of case. She was just a kid... He didn't want to let her hopes down so soon in her life. But what to say...? 

"Hey kiddo.. Ya did great. Don't let anything stop you from becoming a mage, if you want to." Klein said softly, settling down next to her.

Aiza didn't respond, continuing to gaze out at the sunset, her tears dried up. She sniffled quietly. "But.. I..- the mage said..." She stumbled.

"To cahoots what the mage said! Yer a tough and hard workin' kid, putting up with my daily farm chores, you even finished a whole basket stack yerself today!" He stomped his hoof down, giving a huff. "I'm sure if ya put your mind to it... you'll make yerself endless possibilities!"

Aiza went quiet. Klein began to sweat slightly. He hoped he wasn't too charged about that...

But to his surprise, Aiza leapt up and yelled loudly. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

"Are ya ok?!" Klein exclaimed.

"You're RIGHT Mr. Klein!" Aiza threw her head up. "I won't give up! I wanna be... A COOL MAGE!"

She stamped her hooves repeatedly, yelling again at the sun, her cheeks still flustered. She was still tearing up, but this time she had a determined face.

Klein could tell she was riling herself up, and he also stood up.

"That's tha farm spirit! I'll support ya when I can, kiddo." He grinned, happy to see her bounce back after her failure. "I know only of tillin' the land, but I'll see if I can ask one of my oldest friends for help with yer training... She's very knowledgeable about er... strange cases and use for magic ya see... Maybe she can help!"

"OH! Kiddo, one last thing.." He reached into his pocket and gave her a piece of candy. "The mage wanted you to have this."

Aiza marvelled at the candy. It was the most well crafted candy she had ever seen, and smelled of lavender. Thanking Klein, she gobbled it up, while still wearing her determined face.

She then took a deep breath.

 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

 

"Don't scream while eating candy kiddo! Ya will choke!!!"

As Klein wrassled her to spit out the candy, he felt maybe, just maybe, this kid will just turn out alright.