[A Fractured Song] - Chapter 7 - Fantasy, Isekai (Portal Fantasy), Adventure

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Author's note: Sorry for the double post. I had made a mistake uploading Chapter 7 as Chapter 6. Here you go!

Seated across the library’s table from her student, Edana frowned as she observed Frances.

Her student hadn’t noticed, but Edana’s mind had been occupied by musings on the lithe girl sitting across from her. For as easy as it was to teach her student, she could now see that Frances walked on eggshells around her.

Even now she was doing so. A while ago, they had finished dinner and cleaned up. Prior to that though, Edana had made an offhand suggestion for Frances to try to use her magic to turn some pages of her book, for practice.

So ever since she’d made that suggestion, Frances had been painstakingly singing for each page of the book she was reading to turn. Her hands were pressed to the table, her eyes fixated on the book like it was a valuable gem, whilst she tried to furiously sing the page to turn. It was honestly a rather painful sight.

“Frances, that’s enough,” called Edana, raising her voice so that she could be heard over Frances’s singing. “You can stop—”

Several things happened at once. Frances started in surprise, her eyes wide, nearly falling out of her chair in the process. At the same time, the high note her student was singing turned into a combination of squeak and gasp, which ripped the page that was being turned in half.

Immediately, Frances froze, her wide eyes staring at the torn page. Her hand was trembling slightly, and her breath came in short, panicky gasps.

Edana her own eyes wide with surprise, slowly got up and walked over to her student. “Frances, it was just an accident. Are you alright?”

A fear-struck Frances stared at Edana, her hands balling into fists at how close the older woman was getting. Thankfully, the mage suddenly stopped, but her arms were still raised, and one hand clutching that staff of hers.

“I’m fine!” she stammered. She glanced at the ripped page. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to and I know I’m a bad girl, but I was just so surprised. Not that I blame you. I don’t blame you! I was just trying to practice.”

“Frances, slow down,” Edana said raising her free hand higher, trying to look as disarming as possible.

Oh no she’s going to hit me!

Frances shut her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself, and buried her head in her knees.

Aghast at how her student had suddenly curled up in a fetal position, Edana stepped back. A thousand questions ran through her head, along with a hundred different ideas of what to do next.

First things first, if Frances seemed to anticipate being hit, then Edana had to reassure her.

“Frances, I’m not angry, and you’re not going to be punished,” said Edana.

The curled up girl shifted slightly, and big brown eyes looked up.

“Y-you aren’t? I’m not?”

“It was an accident, and look—” Edana sang several notes in quick succession, and before their eyes, the book’s page knitted itself together. “ —it is not something I cannot fix easily.”

Edana knelt onto the carpet, placing her staff on the ground. She wasn’t sure why Frances was scared, but maybe… getting on her level might help? “I am just wondering how are you doing.”

Swallowing, Frances uncurled herself. “I’m fine. I… I’m sorry, I panicked. I was just surprised.”

Edana could not hide the furrowing of her brow. Her student was telling her a bald-faced lie, but what was more concerning was why her student had told her this.

“Frances, I don’t know if I believe you—” Frances froze, and Edana quickly added, “— but I am willing to trust you.”

The girl stared at the older woman owlishly, completely caught off guard.

“But don’t you want to know?”

Edana pursed her lips and hesitated for a second. She so badly wanted to know why her student seemed to be afraid of her all the time, but she forced her inner curiosity to take a backseat. She was a teacher first.

“Yes, but I will not force you to tell me.” At Frances’s questioning look Edana stood back up. “I don’t think we will be endangered if you don’t tell me, so I am willing to trust you.”

Frances stared at her mentor. “But… but why? You don’t know me, why would you trust me?”

“Because I want you to trust that I have your best interest in mind and that I will do my best to help you.” Edana smiled. “And to do that, I need to show that I trust you first.”

Frances blinked, staring at her mentor, while also instinctively trying not to stare. Her gaze thus flickered indecisively from the table to Edana’s face.

Her mind was too full of questions for her to say anything. Trust? Edana trusted her? But why? Why would her teacher take such a risk? Especially since Frances was lying—had lied in fact. She was a wretched, waste of space who freaked out at the most sudden shout. Why wouldn’t Edana want to know why she wasn’t normal?

She settled on observing Edana from the corner of her eye, looking for some sign of anger, frustration. Her eyes were narrowed. Yet, the woman looked as if she was just patiently waiting for her reply.

Frances forced herself to nod and took a deep breath. She didn’t understand this at all, but all she could do was take this offer at face value.

“Thank you, Master.”

“And about Master… if that feels alright, then call me that, but you could also just call me Edana.”

Frances bobbed her head. “Okay, Edana.”

“Now, I think that was enough excitement for tonight. It’s time for bed.”

Author's Note: So yes, I got certified! Unfortunately, this chapter was a bit shorter than I would like so I'm doing a second update tomorrow. I also have added an author page with the blurb. I'm ... at the moment not entirely sure what to actually put in my personal Reddit as I don't really write prompts, but I'm taking any suggestions.