The sun was already sinking toward the west. They couldn’t see as far as the center of the small mountain village, but the road had flattened out, and it stretched straight ahead. Along the road, a wooden house slowly came into view.
“Is that your house, Kyle?” Shannon asked.
“Yep.”
“Ooh, it’s a nice place!”
He laughed lightly. “Thanks. Stay a while! I want to ask you all about your travels.”
“Of course. I’ll gladly take you up on that and stick around here for a bit.”
“Yay! Okay, come on in!”
Kyle’s mother and father were there to greet Shannon when she came in, and once they’d heard that Kyle had found her collapsed by the river, they readily agreed to let her stay. They seemed happy; it had been a while since they last had a guest. Shannon, being a particularly courteous girl, offered to do chores in exchange for the accommodations, and just like that, the family of three opened up to her.
Kyle’s father sat in a chair, his eyebrows raised, watching Shannon in the kitchen as if she were some new curio. “Oh, so you’re a mage, are you?”
“Yes, I am. Look!”
Shannon waved a wand. Instantly, the silverware, which had been submerged in water, was scrubbed clean, and the vegetables laid out on the cutting board were expertly chopped. The household chores had started to do themselves.
Kyle beheld the spectacle with sparkling eyes. “That’s... That’s so cool!”
Shannon chuckled. “Isn’t it? I’m pretty good at magic, if I do say so myself.”
“You really are a mage!”
“Hmm? Kyle,” Shannon said, narrowing her eyes at him, “did you doubt me?”
“Oh! No! No, that’s not it.” Kyle searched for the right words. “It’s just that...I hadn’t seen you do it, so...”
“Oh, I kid, I kid. It’s awesome, right?”
“Yeah!”
Kyle’s mother, who stood next to Shannon, said, “It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen a mage. This village is so remote that mages rarely ever come here. I wonder when the last time I saw one was.” She looked up, humming thoughtfully as she tried to remember.
“There was that one time,” her husband reminded her. “It was long before Kyle was born. At least twenty years ago.”
“Ah, that’s right! There were three kids who came to the village—apprentice mages. They could barely use magic.”
“Our numbers have really thinned out recently,” Shannon said. “You can see a fair number of mages in the cities now, but it’s not the same as it used to be. Makes things a bit lonely.”
Once, magic had been a routine part of daily life, but just as the number of mages in the world was decreasing, so too was magic gradually disappearing. Now, magic was a rarity. Mages’ schools and other facilities had been established in an effort to prevent the art from dying out, but it seemed that the decline was unstoppable. Mages as a class were fated to perish—and sooner or later, magic would come to an end as well.
“So mages have it rough too,” Kyle’s mother mused. “But Shannon, your magic is incredible compared to those kids I saw.”
“Thank you so much! I’m happy to hear that,” Shannon said.
Kyle thought back on what had happened on the road. “Oh! Ms. Shannon, did you use magic on that bugshroom, by any chance?” He couldn’t imagine that he had mistaken what it was.
Kyle’s father furrowed his brow. “What’s this ’bout a bugshroom?”
“Well, before we got here, Ms. Shannon accidentally ate a bit of bugshroom, but she’s just fine, see?” To Shannon, Kyle added, “So I thought maybe you used magic to take the poison out of it.”
Shannon laughed. “No way. I just ate it normally, remember?”
“No, no, that’s not what happened! I mean, it really was a bugshroom! I wouldn’t make a mistake like—”
Kyle’s father sighed in exasperation. “You’ve still got a lot to learn, Kyle. Sure you didn’t just confuse it for a holoshroom?”
“N-No, dad, that’s not it! That’s really basic stuff.” He paused, hanging his head dejectedly. “I don’t think I would’ve messed that up...”
“You should never be too confident, Kyle.”
“B-But—”
“Ms. Shannon here knows a lot more ’bout the outside world than you do. Mages are also s’posed to know all sorts of things. From what you know, sure, you thought she might’ve eaten a bugshroom, but there’s an exception to every rule. You can’t just look things up in books—you gotta see ’em for yourself to understand ’em. And that means it’s natural for Ms. Shannon to know more than you.”
“I—”
“While Ms. Shannon’s here, take the opportunity to pick things up from her. It ain’t every day you get to watch and learn from a mage.” He patted Kyle’s head. “You’re still green. Focus and become a good man who can contribute to the village.”
“Yes, dad...”
Kyle had been so confident in his knowledge of mushrooms, and now, all that confidence was gone.
Feeling understandably apologetic, Shannon furrowed her brow. “Sorry, Kyle. Did I do something wrong?” she whispered.
“N-No, Ms. Shannon, you’re all right. I just have to study more.”
“Perhaps, but...” Shannon awkwardly scratched her cheek, as if the words she wanted to say were difficult for her.
Kyle’s mother laughed lightly. “Well, that’s enough talking. Dinner’s ready—let’s eat.”