From: briana@nas-kan.org   
      
   To The Magic, Sold!   
   By: Brian W. Antoine   
   October 28, 2008   
      
      
   Tanindra did not look happy as he finally opened his door, it was entirely   
   possible that my pounding on it only slightly after sunrise was not the   
   best time to have disturbed him.   
      
   "Hi, I'm from the Acme Apprentice Company, would you like to buy an   
   apprentice?"  Pulling on Lan Louis' tail I forced him out from where he was   
   trying to hide behind me.  "We have a special today, buy one ..."   
      
   *slam*   
      
   I blinked, and started to mutter under my breath about the rudeness of   
   younger Mages these days while Lan Louis started trying to get away yet   
   again, but I had too good a hold on his tail.  Reaching out with my staff   
   this time, I started pounding on the door a bit harder, I think the hinges   
   were starting to loosen before Tanindra gave up and opened the door again.   
      
   "I'd ask if you are out of your mind, but we both know the answer already.   
   What is it you want?"   
      
   "I want to get rid of this worthless son of mine before he eats Kalindra   
   and I out of house and home.  I tried selling him to Valestra over at the   
   Golden Rose, but she just laughed."   
      
   "Dad!" yelled my son with embarrassment.   
      
   "Yeah, I've heard Lan play, I'm surprised Valestra didn't have her sons   
   throw you both out forcibly."   
      
   "She considered it, but ...", and I jammed my staff into the doorway as   
   Tanindra tried to slam the door on me again.  "Now look, I know you can use   
   an apprentice, the last one you took on hasn't gotten out of the hospital   
   yet so you're having to fend for yourself."   
      
   "That was an accident, I told him to label those bottles as he filled   
   them!" came the annoyed comment from the other side of the door as he tried   
   to dislodge my staff and get the door closed.   
      
   "Dad, I want to go home!"   
      
   I caught Lan Louis looking at my hand in speculation as he bared his teeth   
   about the same time my staff started to slip.  *grumble*  Concentrating, I   
   focused on my son just long enough to cause him to start floating off the   
   ground, then I kinda melted Tanindra's door, just a little bit, to keep it   
   from closing.   
      
   "You're going to pay for that," he told me with an annoyed look.   
      
   Tying a string around my sons’ tail, I let him float above us like a   
   balloon.  "I'm gonna be paying for this entire day" I mumbled to nobody in   
   particular.  "Now about buying this apprentice from me, how much will you   
   offer for him?"   
      
   "I told you, I don't need an apprentice."   
      
   "Let me down!  Mom is going to make you pay for this when I tell her!"   
   yelled my son as he bobbed in the air above us.   
      
   "Who do you think told me to see how much I could get for you?  You should   
   not have raided her lemon sugar cookie stash."   
      
   "You want me to buy an apprentice who's a cookie thief?"   
      
   I looked at Tanindra and started to grin, I had him.  "If he steals, beat   
   him for it.  In fact, you should probably just beat him once a day on   
   general principles, I hear it's good for apprentices."   
      
   Tanindra started looking up at my son as if he was considering it.  "Can he   
   cook?  I could use somebody who could cook."   
      
   "Not a bit I'm afraid, or at least I wouldn't want to try eating anything   
   from a kitchen he'd been near."   
      
   "How about magic?  If he's going to be an apprentice Mage, he needs to have   
   some magic talent."   
      
   I tugged on the string causing Lan to bob around a bit more. "Show Tanindra   
   that trick I taught you."  My son just glared at both of us in disgust.   
   "Ok, you'll have to trust me, he does have a little talent.  I'll tell you   
   what, take him, give him a try, if he doesn't actually have any useful   
   talent you can beat him for that also."   
      
   *You realize he's going to be making you pay for this for years to come*   
   came Tan's voice in my head.  *This is hardly the standard way of   
   apprenticing your son*   
      
   *Hey, he's not exactly a standard son* I replied as I held the string I was   
   holding out towards him.   
      
   Tanindra looked from me, to the string, to our son, then took the string   
   from my hand.  "Ok, I'll give him a try, but I make no promises."   
      
   "Try not to put this one in the hospital," I told him as a reached back and   
   pulled a travel bag with Lan's belongings up to where Tanindra could grab   
   it, "I'd hate to have to explain to his mother that you'd turned her first   
   born inside out accidentally."   
      
    	And with that, my son took his first step on the path his parents   
   had already walked.   
      
   Or he'd take it as soon as he figured out how to undo the levitation spell   
   I'd put on him. :)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)