11

A few days later, Christian and I were rehearsing with the other musicians again. Everybody was having fun with their respective instruments. I was once again fascinated by how so many instruments and so many musicians could synchronize. It wasn’t a surprise to me anymore, since this wouldn’t be my first concert. I still loved it. We had been getting better, which everyone high-fived about. I was looking forward to us getting as great as we could be. Everyone was looking forward to the concert. We were still nervous, but we thought we could pull it off. We had before, even if each of us had been with other musicians. But we were still nervous and we all understood that. We sympathized with each other. I felt better knowing someone understood.

    We talked during our breaks about music and a ton of other things. Christian and I talked because we were the only ones who were at the same battles. Christian hadn’t been at every battle.

    “During those battles, I was helping other neighborhoods,” he explained. “I was raised by seven dwarves and I spend a lot of time with them in the city. When the neighborhood we’re in gets attacked, I help.”

    “What do you do?”

    “We have lunch, we go bowling, we go to museums… Dad even encourages me to read a lot. He likes it whenever I learn something new. And so do I. How did you learn to fight?”

    “My Mom is a martial arts instructor. She taught me and she’s great at teaching.”

    “How far are you in your training?”

    “I earned a black belt a few years ago.”

    Christian smiled.

    He gave me a high-five.

    I appreciated that and smiled.

    Every time we talked, his optimism lifted my spirits. He told me what he knew of magic.

    “I live with the dwarves in the forest,” Christian said. “I learned most of what I know about magic from books, but they helped me too.”“You grew up in the forest? Were you homeschooled?”

    “No, I went to regular school. We don’t live that far in the forest.”

    “How long have you been studying magic?”

    “For ten years.”

    “You must really like it,” I concluded.

    “I love it,” he confirmed. “And I’m good at it.”

    “I know.”

    “How do you know?”

    “Because I saw you fight the ghouls.”

    Christian smiled again.

    I thought he might be glad that I complimented him.

    “But no one who knows magic can cast every spell,” Christian continued.

    “Why not?”

    “No one is perfect. For everyone who practices magic, there are a few spells they will never be able to master.”

    “Anything specific?”

    “No, it differs from one person to the next. For me, I can only teleport a few feet. I can’t teleport any further than that. And I can’t teleport others. One of the dwarves named James is into magic and knows a lot about it. He and Dad thought it was best if they taught me a lot, then let me learn on my own. They would make sure I understood correctly afterwards.”

    We talked regularly to each other and the other musicians over the next month. We made new friends and we were both happy about that.    My parents continued to fight and I was confused.