Paper whispered beneath her fingertips as Amber turned another page and peered at the finely scrawled words through narrowed eyes.  Magelights stationed around the room helped her see better, though if she opened the windows, the sunlight streaming in through the fourth floor would have been sufficient.  Unfortunately, sunlight was damaging to the books so it was a bit stuffy and warm, which wasn’t helping.  The subject matter was troublesome so she wore a frown while deciphering the texts.

                While she was familiar with most of the terms she came across, recipes for reagent preparation and combinations were… hardly riveting, to say the least.  And this was the fourth one she was trying to remember.  Again.  For the most part, her reagent knowledge was grounded firmly in the basics, but there were a couple her father asked of her every so often she struggled with, if only because they needed to be so precise.

                With a sigh as she sat back in the chair, Amber ignored the quiet creak of wood beneath her and glared at the books on the table.  Her dark eyes drifted to the rest of the tower library she had cloistered herself in, taking note of the countless bindings that spoke of magic and ingredients and spells and all manner of information Mages should be privy to.  She cared little for magic and the rules of casting it, but as her father always said, she had a knack for preparing the base ingredients.  It was a skill the boys were trying to master in turn, as evidenced by the state of the rest of the room from the night before.

                Three other tables boasted the materials of her father and the apprentices, with various tomes open and littered on the surfaces.  Specific pages had been dog-eared or marked with strips of paper; spare parchments nearby bore hastily scrabbled notes and ideas; and more carefully, words of power were written in very particular places to help them remember the necessary ingredients and the incantation for any number of spells.  She’d heard or read them many times herself, but without the gift necessary to harness the magic, all of it was useless to her.

                Amber wrinkled her nose at the thought and stretched her arms over her head before she turned her tired attention back to her task.  “Just two more,” she promised herself with a determined nod as she searched through her book scouring the pages for more information on Ancient’s Dust – a fancy name for a combination of ground and powdered ingredients in very specific amounts.

                When the current book revealed nothing, Amber stood up and stretched, pulling several pops from her spine and neck as she did so.  Her rust colored, knee length dress swayed while she walked along the walls of books, fingertips tracing over the bindings while her eyes marked the titles.  She paused at the tables used by the boys, briefly wondering if she should tidy up, and then stepped past her father’s.  His was a mess and it would do her little good to even try to sort it; he’d simply undo her work the next time he stepped in.

                Depending on what he was working on with the apprentices, it was anyone’s guess as to when that would be.  With a thoughtful hum, she turned towards the open door and peeked her head out, bracing her hands on the frame while she looked.  Nope.  No sign of them and not a sound coming from the fifth floor either.  Jongwoon was testing them today, so far as she knew, and she wasn’t sure when they would be free later.

                Not that it mattered.  Other than sparring with Changsun, which was an almost daily event anymore, and studying with Seungho when he wasn’t helping her with the garden in the back, she had very little reason to see them.  And yet she found that she wanted to more often of late.  Which was dumb because she saw them all the time anyway.  But they had both grown up considerably in the past year and they were finally coming into their own with being Mages.  Still apprentices of course but they’d gotten to the Journeyman stage and were on the path to becoming Masters.  Of course that wouldn’t happen for some time but it also meant they’d be around for a while longer.

                Amber tapped her fingers on the frame and wrinkled her nose at the silence before pushing herself back inside.  It wasn’t that long after lunch so she wasn’t hungry, but she was restless.  And tired of staring at books.  But it helped her father with his work, so she did it gladly.  At least that’s what she kept telling herself.

                With a huff, she returned to the table and yanked another book close so she could start pouring over those pages too.  The book gods did not deem to be kind though, and after fruitlessly flipping through several more pages, Amber growled in frustration and sat up with her hands on her head.  She winced when several strands of dark brown locks were pulled at the same time.

                “Must be a tough task,” she heard to her right as an amused, gentle laugh followed.

                Amber’s head whipped towards the open door and she sighed when she confirmed it was Seungho leaning against the doorframe.  She had to wonder how long he’d been there for…  “Not normally,” she immediately defended as she pushed at the tome with her fingertips uselessly, her eyes dropping down before rising to meet Seungho’s again.  With another summer behind them, he’d grown into the brown robes even more, filling out the fabric in the shoulders in a way that Changsun didn’t, and it was clear he would need to adjust it again soon.  Annoyingly, she knew the feeling but for different reasons…

                “Anything I can help with?” he asked curiously, pushing off the frame and stepping inside with ease.  As he moved across the room, magelight filtered through his dark blonde hair – magically upright in a curious but attractive style, and Amber couldn’t help but notice it as he drew near.  He paused at her shoulder, one hand moving to rest on the back of the chair and the other carefully reaching to trace the text she was reading.

                “I don’t know,” she admitted with a frown, biting her lip and frowning at the words on the page.  His robes brushed against her leg when he leaned over the table and she stiffened slightly, mentally berating herself.  “How did the test go?” she wondered when he seemed rather focused on the pages.

                “Huh?  Oh, fine,” he flashed her an easy smile as he looked down, keeping his finger on the page to mark where he was.  “Theory is my strong point after all,” he added with a wink, turning to resume his reading.  When he found what she was working on in particular, his brows creased.  “Ancient’s dust?” Seungho murmured in obvious surprise, glancing down to make sure he was correct in his assumption.

                “Yes,” Amber nodded, meeting his gaze evenly.  “Father’s been asking me to look into it from time to time.  Among other things.  He keeps insisting there must be another variant or something of the like,” she shrugged with a shake of her head.  It was harder to focus with him looming over so she nudged him in the hip with her elbow and nodded towards the nearby chair.  “If you know something I don’t, could you take a seat?” she added, squirming slightly in her chair.  “It just feels like you’re… hovering,” she forced a nervous laugh and a sideways glance.

                “Sorry,” Seungho chuckled, taking it in stride.  He stood up and his fingertips brushed her shoulder when he moved to do as she asked.  “I just wasn’t expecting to see that ingredient on your list,” he admitted with a nod, pulling the chair close with a loud scrape that made them both wince.  “You always make runs for the basic ones so I forget you know how to make the compound components too,” he admitted in mild embarrassment.

                Amber had to remind herself not to shift over as he leaned close again, eyes tracing over the pages to catch up to where she was.  “Yes well, we all have our strengths,” she gave a half-smile, which faded when she thought about his previous words.  “Why is Ancient’s Dust unusual though?” she wondered aloud.  Her father didn’t really explain the magics behind the ingredients and she was just as happy not knowing, since none of it much made sense to her anyway.  But this one had made her curious from time to time.

                “It’s a higher level spell ingredient,” Seungho explained matter of factly, tapping on the page with his fingertip as he turned his body to face her.  The motion brought their faces within a hand’s width and he seemed to realize it about the same time she did.  Both froze for half a heartbeat and then laughed as the distance grew just a touch.

                “Which means what, exactly?  What kinds of spells?” Amber asked, resting both arms on the table as she looked between the book and Seungho, waiting for an answer.  The strange tension had lessened somewhat, for which she was glad, but she didn’t know why she kept experiencing it with Seungho.  And Changsun for that matter… which was a lie and she knew it, but it was stupid.  She had similar feelings around the Kim’s son, Jonghyun, with his stupid dinosaur smile and easy words, whenever she saw him in the village.  Idly, she wondered if they thought the same way about the Choi sisters but that only made her annoyed and so she shoved the idea away.

                “Well,” Seungho began, blissfully ignorant of Amber’s train of thought.  “I’m not really sure myself,” he was forced to admit when nothing immediately came to mind.  “We don’t work with it at all since your father told us not to,” he explained with a shrug.

                Half of Amber’s mind was reminding her that both boys were apprentices that happened to live with them and were also just really good friends after a pretty bumpy start.  As such, it took her a moment for the other half to catch up to what Seungho had said.  “Eh?” she blinked with a frown, an immediate twinge of unease twisting in her belly that overrode any of the other feelings she was dealing with.  “Is that normal?” she asked, looking him straight in the eyes.

                Seungho scratched his head, the action doing nothing to upset his hair, and frowned thoughtfully as he mulled it over.  After a moment, he finally shook his head and sighed.  “Actually, no.  I’ve seen him getting ready to use it but he won’t let us go near the stuff for the most part.”

                Somewhat troubled, Amber caught her thumbnail between her teeth as she leaned back in her chair and did some quick thinking.  “That’s strange,” she murmured as if to herself.  Now that she thought about it, every few months or so, her father asked her to do more research on Ancient’s Dust, but usually with some small alteration in mind or another book he’d found.

                “What is?” Seungho prompted, leaning around over the table to get a better look at her face.

                She heard the question but chose to answer it with one of her own instead.  “Which book could we look in to see what spells use Ancient’s Dust?” she asked with a hint of tension.

                “Plenty,” he answered without hesitation, nodding towards the library around them.  “I’d wager-”

                “Oh those theory exams are a bore!” Changsun interrupted as he stepped through the open doorway with an abundance of agitated energy.  “I know the details are important but ugh!” he scowled, pulling at straight, black hair in frustration, his brown robes fluttering around in his haste.  Then he noticed Amber and Seungho and paused, very nearly midstride.  “What’s going on here?” he inquired with one finger drawing invisible circles around them while one eye squinted in confusion.

                Whatever unnecessary embarrassment Amber suspected she might have felt otherwise simply didn’t appear as she looked at Changsun with the same thoughtful but tense expression.  “What spells use Ancient’s Dust?”

                “Huh?” he snorted, taken aback by the question and looking to Seungho for an explanation.  When his fellow apprentice failed to offer a better response, Changsun wandered over to Amber’s side, in a position that mirrored Seungho’s from earlier, and pulled the book closer so he could take a better look.  “A few.  Why do you ask?”

                “Because I want to know what spells use it,” Amber responded with a glance at Changsun.

                Once more, Changsun looked to Seungho for some sort of reasoning but the latter simply shrugged and got up.  “I don’t know for sure so I’m going to start looking,” he explained with a wave.

                “Um… okay,” Changsun frowned, looking between the two uncertainly.  “Is everything okay?” he tried again, focusing his attention on Amber.

                “Yeah,” she nodded with a forced smile, standing up and taking a half-step back to give herself more space; it had become an almost unconscious action at this point.  “I just need to make sure of something is all,” Amber finally explained with a nod of her head, her expression cloudy.

                Changsun mumbled something unintelligible in the back of his throat and shrugged.  “Sure.  I, uh, think Jongwoon-”

                “Mage Kim,” Seungho called to automatically correct him.

                “-was looking at a book the other day that had a spell or two that used it,” Changsun ignored his peer as he moved towards the master Mage’s worktable.

                “Changsun,” Seungho hissed in warning when he realized what the other man was doing.

                “What?” the taller apprentice paused, giving Seungho a curious look.  “You know he won’t even notice.  I do it all the time,” he explained as if it made everything alright.

                Amber frowned at that, even if it was true.  She’d never seen him doing that but she very rarely shared the library space when they were around.  “Doesn’t mean you should anyway,” Seungho echoed her sentiments on the matter.

                Another time, she might have argued the point, but right now, there was something she needed to know.  “Which book, Changsun?” she asked, shadowing the taller young man with a nervous feeling in her stomach.

                “Give me a moment,” he waved with his hand while he moved to investigate the table, walking with effortless grace and firm purpose.

                Amber’s fingers were wrapped tightly around the book Changsun found when she finally located her father in the main house instead of the tower.  He hadn’t been in his room or the examination room as she had thought.  Nor was he at the top of the tower in the casting hall.  Instead, he was in the kitchen with a partially eaten apple raised to his mouth when she marched inside and slammed the book on the table.  Jongwoon jumped and nearly dropped the piece of fruit as he whirled to look at her.  “Amber!” he yelped, clearly caught off guard.

                “Tell me you’re not trying to cast the spell that took mother,” she demanded tightly, clenching her jaw after to keep it from trembling.  That did nothing to prevent her eyes from stinging as if she wanted to cry, which only made her more annoyed.

                Jongwoon’s face paled and then he glanced from the book to Amber’s eyes to the front door as they both heard Seungho and Changsun arrive a bit late.  They didn’t enter, but clustered just outside as they waited with baited breath.  The Master Mage chewed on an imaginary piece of food and set the partially eaten apple down before he bit his lip and took a step closer to the book.  He didn’t look at Amber.

                “Tell me!” Amber snapped again, trembling slightly from the warring emotions inside her.

                After a long moment of almost painful silence, Jongwoon took a deep breath and exhaled, “That would be a lie.”  A choking sound was all that emerged from Amber’s throat at the admission.  Still not looking at his daughter, Jongwoon approached the table and placed his fingertips on the book before letting his eyes rise to meet the gazes of his apprentices over Amber’s shoulder.  Automatically, Changsun shrank behind the doorway, looking chagrined, and Seungho appeared nervous in turn.

                “Why?” Amber finally managed to work past her tight throat as she continued to stare at her father as if she could somehow pull the answers from him.

                “You know why,” he breathed with a pained look on his face.

                “You can’t bring her back, father,” Amber reminded him, swallowing the painful lump in as she stepped around the table to bring herself face to face with the taller man.

                “I’m not…” Jongwoon whispered as he trailed off, failing to finish his thought.  But he finally looked at her with haunted, dark eyes.  “I just need to know what went wrong.”

                “What if it happens again?” Amber shot back, reaching out to grab the sleeve of his blue robe and holding tight.

                “It won’t,” he answered just as quickly, gripping her upper arms with both hands.

                “What if something happens to you?!” she shouted, pushing his hands away as she held her balled fists between them.  Her lips trembled and angry tears dripped from her lashes.

                “That won’t happen!” Jongwoon shook his head in immediate denial, reaching to touch her at the last minute but pulling back.

                “How do you know?!” Amber demanded, stomping her foot in her frustration.

                “It won’t happen!” he repeated as his façade of control began to waste away.

                “You don’t know that!”

                “Yes I do!” he spat as color suffused his face.

                “That’s how mother died in the first place!”

                Jongwoon’s face went white.  “She’s not dead!”

                “Yes she is and you can’t bring her back!” Amber shouted after a brief moment of shock.

                “Yes I can!” Jongwoon promised with the fervor of a fanatic.

                “She’s gone!”

                “Don’t say that!” Jongwoon howled, his hand rising into the air.

                “Amber!” Seungho and Changsun shouted from the back as she continued to stare her father down, unmoving.

                With a jolt, Jongwoon blinked and looked at his hand in shock before he pulled it down and turned away from his daughter, hiding his face.  “Just leave me alone,” he whispered thickly, his voice burred with too much emotion and unshed tears.

                Amber didn’t know how to respond to that.  She was still angry and afraid and betrayed and hurting and too many things she couldn’t sort out at that moment.  Her heart was beating so fast and loud in her chest she almost couldn’t hear anything else and everything felt surreal just then.  So she growled and turned around to storm towards the front doorway.  The apprentices watched her approach with wide eyes and then peeled back as she strode through them.

                “Amber, wait,” Changsun tried to stop her.  He grabbed her wrist with a strong hand and stood fast.

                “Don’t touch me!” Amber snapped, wound too tight as she immediately turned back, peeled his fingers from her wrist, and twisted his arm around behind his back before he could react.  He shrieked with a high pitched sound that cut off almost as soon as she released him.

                “Amber...” Seungho called softly, glancing between the wide-eyed but recovering Changsun and his successful protégé.

                Her face twisted into immediate guilt and she stepped back with a hand over .  “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, not waiting to hear what they had to say.  The ground crunched underfoot as she pivoted and Amber started walking as fast as she could.  When that wasn’t quick enough, her leather booted feet quickened to a run and she fled.  She didn’t know where she was going but she just needed to be somewhere that wasn’t there.

(a/n: This played out in a different manner than I intended but we should be seeing a bit more to explain why she's so upset in the next chapter.  ;)  I would say more but I don't want to give spoilers.  haha  Either way, argument side, I hope you enjoyed the update and thank you for reading/being patient with me/commenting!  You guys are awesome.  <3)