Wizard of Jatte by Rowan Erlking (librera reader txt) 📕

“Are you so attracted to her?” Theobold finished the sentence.

Glancing up at him, Theissen nodded. “What is wrong with me? The first week I saw her she was just a kid to me. A pretty one, granted. A lot like Alania.”

“Your sister?” Theobold looked surprised, flapping his wings anxiously.

Theissen whimpered again. “Yeah. I never told Alania, but I really admire her. I liked her only a little less than Dalance. She was always nice to me. Never looked at me like I was a freak. Sometimes Kinnerlin and Tolbetan gave me looks. And Doreen never quit glaring at me for being a wizard. Kolbran looked at me in the way I looked at Dalance. But Alania, she listened to me when I complained. I have to admit, I liked her better than Milrina.”

“So, Tippany reminds you of your big sister.”

“Not so much now,” Theissen replied, sighing. “Tippany is shier than Alania was. She also has that vulnerable optimistic side to her that Alania never had. Alania could get really negative at times. But really, I don’t know what to do about Tippany. I don’t dare tell my mother about her.”

“You think about telling your mother about the merchant’s daughter? How often do you really think about her?” Theobold settled on the railing, a perch that always made Theissen’s head go light. It never had that effect on the birdman’s nerves, though.

Shaking his head, Theissen straightened up. “Never mind that. I just have to keep reminding myself that she is fourteen. She’s fourteen.”

“She’ll turn fifteen soon. Then sixteen. You know people do have a way of growing older.” Theobold hid a laugh, watching Theissen attempt to regain his composure.

“Stop it.” Theissen squared his shoulders, then checked Theobold’s pack to make sure all the ties were secure. “I’d rather you kept your mind on the feathers.”

“Blah, blah, blah.” Theobold climbed over the high tower rail. One nudge and he would fall. “I’ll go meet with that team driver and haul back the stupid feathers. Just don’t get married while I’m gone.”

“I said stop it.” Theissen was inclined to push Theobold off.

Pushing off the tower himself, Theobold flapped to maintain his altitude, calling to Theissen before flying away. “Fine then. Just don’t forget to find happiness for yourself while you are busy making everyone else’s life easier, Carpenter. Ta!”

The birdman swooped over the rooftops gliding on the high winds over the city out to the skirts. He soon looked like any other bird in distance. Theissen watched him with some envy. For a moment, he wished he had wings himself so he could fly off from all the responsibility heaped upon his shoulders.

Theissen lingered at the top of the tower for some time. His heart ached. Truthfully, he grieved to see his friend and closest confidant go. Theobold was honestly the only one who had treated him as an equal. The birdman had been a crutch for him in many ways. Someone he leaned on. And, as many had accused him, it was also convenient to have a demon that was willing to back him in any endeavor. Someone like that always standing right at his side, kind of like having his own private thug.

Now, standing alone on the tower he had claimed with magic that he learned from a book that had changed his life, Theissen once again began to wonder at his own place in the world.

Wizard of Jatte. That’s what people called him. Even in the carpenter’s shop where he had managed to produce numerous pieces of furniture as well as build up a clientele in just the third week of opening it, they called him that. But they did want carpentry work done when they came. Mostly. People came from all over the city, and even from out beyond the skirts to hire his work. His apprentices, Teppan and Ronen, were kept busy with many of the basic pieces, and he often worked late into the night on the finer pieces. But that was when he wasn’t dealing with molemen and birdmen issues around the tower.

Outside his carpentry, everyone saw him as The Wizard. The Wizard visited the docks to chat with foreigners. The Wizard spent his free time with a flying demon, who took him almost anywhere. The Wizard was frequently called upon for small favors with protection spells and pest extermination, of all things. The Wizard was also famously busy with his inn--though really he was making excuses to visit Tippany, pretending to see her mother for random errands, such as the wash and information about the best markets.

The thing was, Tippany also kept coming back to the tower. She often visited him in the shop. The second time she had come, he gave her a tour of the entire tower, just to sate her curiosity, he told himself.

He had watched her walk around the tower, peering into doors with a timid curiosity at first, and yet she got bolder when she recognized faces. Then she began to ask more questions. From then on Tippany even came over to help Manda with dinner. She and Manda chatted like friends, though Tippany often came by to tend to the twins while Manda went shopping or was preparing a difficult meal.

The twins scowled and stuck their tongues out at Tippany the same as they did Theissen. They were always making faces behind her back when they thought she was not looking. But the twins called her the girl with the magic hands. Theissen double-checked to be sure, but Tippany’s hands were as normal as the flow around her. He realized they called her this because she was just skilled at catching them when they were up to no good, and swatting them where it smarted the most to make them behave. Notably, the twins were more disciplined when Tippany was around.

But Tippany was fourteen, regardless of how she looked at him, or how confused he got about his own feelings while watching her.

Theissen turned and walked down the stairs, closing the hatch above him once out of the top.

“No! I don’t want to!” One of the twins shouted at the top of her lungs. She ran barefoot through the hall from Theissen’s room. The dog scampered with them, tongue lolling out in pure joy. The dog yapped happily at him once and hurried on.

Knowing those girls, Theissen felt into the flow of energy with the room, searching for anything that might be stolen. His silver teacup was missing. Again. They really liked it, mostly to play with.

With a jerk on the threads of flow, he made it fall from the girl’s hands.

“Ah!” The girl shouted and jumped back just as the cup clanked to the floor. She whipped around in a horrified stare at him at getting caught. “Where did you come from?”

“Upstairs,” he said with a slight glare. “What were you doing in my room?”

She stuck out her tongue at him and ran off towards the stairs. He let her go. Picking up his increasingly dented teacup, he carried it back into his room. He set the cup on the dresser he had made about a month ago. The rest of his room seemed intact, but he felt out for any more missing things, just in case.

Everything was there.

Sighing, Theissen walked back out then closed the door, locking it tight to the doorframe with a touch. He usually didn’t have to do that, but it felt necessary that day. From there, he headed downstairs.

He closed the door to Theobold’s nearly vacant room as he walked by it, patting the dog on the head. It had waited for him. Descending to the floor below, Theissen glanced into the vacant rooms along the way. Many of them had yet to be filled.

The tower apparently had housed several more guards than they had ex-demons. They had found rooms for sleeping, where they had removed old rotted-out bunk beds. They had replaced all the old furniture with new, more comfortable pieces. They had also found rooms that Theissen suspected were used for planning strategy. On a large, fragile table, he had found an old map of the coast and the land nearby among several bones still in the armor of the Ki Tai. Of course Theissen had buried the dead, taking the armor. He hung that on the bottom floor next to the rack for the snake and their coats. Most of the other rooms had been built as living quarters.

The thing was, with all ten of the tower floors available, they only filled about five of them. The top two floors were Theissen’s and Theobold’s. The bottom three housed the men and women. The common living areas and individual rooms filled that space (Daanee and Ronen had finally found a civil minister to marry them after the second week, joined by three other couples). The middle five floors remained mostly empty. It felt like an immense waste of space to him.

“Oh, there you are!” Manda puffed and huffed as she climbed the stairs, her short legs struggling with the steps that were built for race even taller than Jatte folk. “There is someone downstairs that is looking for you.”

“Really?” Theissen hurried, passing her as he descended. The dog rushed on his heels.

“Yeah.” Manda tried to keep up, practically hopping down the steps to match his pace. “A mean looking brute-of-a-man in a leather jerkin and a fancy-pants one. They rode up in a lordly carriage.”

Theissen rushed faster. He hurried past the third floor, then the second. Jogging out into the main hall, he saw both well-described men standing in the colored light shining from the stained-glass doors. The brutish man was no one Theissen recognized. Neither was the lordly one. Neither looked local to Jattereen either.

The brute saw him then whispered to the other one. The lordly man stepped forward. “Are you the fourth son of the Lumen carpenter?”

Nodding, Theissen politely bowed. “I am. If it is not impertinent, may I ask who you are?”

The man bowed gently. “I am Lord Baron Dennerin Kinabar Dulgen Landowner of Coverteen Manor, and I am here on an order of business.”

Coverteen Manor. That had a familiar ring to it, but Theissen could not place its location in his memory. He frowned, taking them in with the side of his eye.

“And what kind of business are you here for? Do you want some furniture made? If so, we can take this to my shop.” Theissen walked towards the far door, glancing once at the list of rules with a smirk.

Lord Baron Dennerin did not move. “No, Mr. Carpenter. This is about a former job you did for my wife.”

Theissen halted before reaching the door handle. He lowered his hand and turned. “For your wife? I don’t recall doing anything for a Coverteen Manor.”

The large man gave a snort and turned to his master. The lord baron nodded then pulled out a piece of paper, unfolding it and extending it toward Theissen.

By this time Manda caught up to him, gasping for breath. Her two daughters dashed out from the kitchen, running back up the stairs with wicked glee. The dog joined them, seeing that these men did not look like they were going to threaten his master.

“Maybe you will recognize this,” the lord baron said.

Walking back, Theissen took the paper and turned it around. It was a drawing. Theissen blinked at it. His eyes widened on the image. He looked up at the lord baron with horror and took a step back.

“Hold on a minute.” Theissen retreated further, glancing to the thug-of-a-man at the lord baron’s side. “Before you say anything, I didn’t touch your wife. I swear it.”

A faint smile cracked across Lord Baron Dennerin’s face. He inclined his head in a nod. “I know. I came to pay you for your work on the cabinet. My steward said you fled before recieving your