The Master and the Apprentice (for KinkyVelvet)

[ChrisWk]

Arius watched her intently, making sure she didn't hurt herself or do anything too dangerous. Though when seeing her grow the flower, he raised a brow; as she didn't only manage to make the flower grow, but also the insects on it... That wasn't quite right.

And when attempting the fireball, she even managed to light herself on fire a little bit... Oh she would need a lot of practice and training.

"Right, well... You certainly do have potential, I'll give you that, but it's also clear that you have no idea what you're doing, and that you have no real control. That's all fine though, as learning that control and everything is exactly why you're here, and why I'm here." Arius replied with a light smile.

"Now, I'll add a quick little rule. You are not allowed to perform any sort of magic outside of these training grounds. Nor are you allowed to practice magic alone. At least not yet. Do I make myself clear?" Arius asked firmly, as the last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt, or hurt others.

[KinkyVelvet]

Lily was watching in discreet horror a large bee emerging from the daisy.
"Yes here.. I always have unpleasant unexpected consequences," she admitted.
Her fingers moved, sizzling with static electricity, she had a fair fear of bees, especially those as big as her palm.
"To me... It seems like a right precaution," she said, without taking her eyes off the insect and listening only marginally.
She actually thought Arius would be practically always there, so his supervision would be continuous.
The bee rose a few millimeters from the flower but it was enough, the terror of Lily's phobia triggered her involuntary magic and the next moment bee, flower and a discrete area around them was engulfed in flames.
In short, more or less as had happened with the neighbors' laundry.

[ChrisWk]

It had been a couple of weeks since Lily first arrived at Master Arius'. During that time, she had spent most of it learning how to read, proper mathematics, some basic science, as well as focusing on learning about herbs and their properties, as well as learning to distinguish them from one another. The first few weeks had been pretty problem free, to Arius' surprise. He had expected more trouble from the teenager, but was glad it went relatively smoothly.
Of course she had gotten more comfortable was as a result not as quick to do as she was told, but that was only natural.

Now, however, she had been set to the task of labeling herbs they had collected earlier that day. All whilst Master Arius was brewing some potions, with said herbs and mixes.

"How are you doing over there? I know it isn't fun, but you need to stay focused. It's an important part of being a Witch or Wizard to be able to find herbs and brew potions with them." Master Arius explained.

[KinkyVelvet]

Lily had been quite studious and diligent the first month.
But some things, especially the theoretical ones, sometimes bored her.
At that moment she was looking at the last two herbs she needed to label.
One appeared to be Fire Leaf, while the other was almost certain it was a herb that had something to do with the moon. Moonshine perhaps. Or maybe it was Blood Moon.
She did not remember it, she had fallen asleep on the last pages of the herbalist book a few nights before and she had never had a chance to finish reading it.
However, she was afraid to confess it to Arius.
Eventually, she unsure she wrote Moonshine and Fire Leaf, finishing labeling. She would check later, she told herself, unaware that the man was waiting for those very herbs.
"All right, I'm done," she advised, taking the basket of herbs and carrying them to the great wizard.

[ChrisWk]

Arius returned a smile as Lily walked over to him to hand him over the herbs, which was perfect timing, as he needed a Moonshine leaf for the next part of the potion.
"Thank you, Lily." he said, as he picked up what was labeled as the Moonshine herb and put it into a pestle and mortar, grinding it into a fine powder.
Once it was nice and fine, he poured it into his potion mix. At first, nothing really happened. The ground herbs simply dissolved into the potion, but then... The potion started bubbling.. Bubbling quite violently.

Master Arius raised a brow. That wasn't what was supposed to happen. He had made this potion hundreds of times, and he had never seen this reaction before. He turned to Lily as if to ask her something, but before he could, the pot with the potion burst into flames. The entire potion liquid burning with a strong flame, which blackened the roof with ash.

Master Arius was quick on his feet, as he cast a spell to essentially deactivate the potion's magical properties, and as soon as he did that, it stopped burning and started simmering down.

Though even Master Arius had gotten his robes blackened a little by that...

The 37 year old then slowly turned to Lily, not looking particularly pleased.
"Care to explain why you labelled 'Fire Leaf' as 'Moonshine', young lady?" he asked with a stern tone of voice.

[KinkyVelvet]

Lily had quietly observed Cadmus, even a little curious to see how a potion was made.
When the cauldron erupted, she backed away with a cry of fright and she pressed both hands to her mouth.

When the chaos was settled, she sighed with relief, but it only lasted for a moment.
The girl looked at the great wizard with wide eyes, looking in horror at his blackened robes and feeling a shiver slide down her spine.
"Aehm... I...", she began, as she realized horrified by her mistake, in her haste she had reversed the nomenclatures, writing the wrong names.
“I think…” she began, wiping her sweaty hands on her skirt, “I think I've reversed the labels, sir,” she admitted.
Her gaze lifted, looking at the damage to the ceiling. “I… I was distracted, I'm sorry,” she peeped.

[ChrisWk]

Arius did of course notice how nervous Lily was, and understandably so. This was her first proper screw up as his apprentice, and it was serious. This wasn't like burning some food, accidentally dropping a plate or anything of that sort. This could've been catastrophic.

"A simply sorry is not going to cut it, young lady. This could've been an absolute disaster! What if I had brewed another spell and used the 'Moonshine' leaf instead, and not noticed the side effects? That could get someone killed!" Arius scolded.

"What if I had set you to brew this potion while I was out running errands, hmm? You could've seriously hurt yourself, burnt the house down or even started a forest fire! All because you were 'distracted'?" Arius said, using a tone of voice that Lily had never heard him use before... There was no questioning what she had earned, and she had earned a solid one.

"Let me guess. You didn't properly study last night, did you?" Arius asked with a raised eyebrow, folding his arms.

[KinkyVelvet]

Lily had stared at Arius with wide eyes, her expression increasingly horrified as the great wizard listed the possible consequences.
Her gaze shifted up to where the ceiling was still scorching a little and swallowing.
When asked about the study, she lowered her head.
"I, um ..." she muttered, staring intently at her toes.
"I think I fell asleep as I finished reading the last chapter," she admitted. "I thought I'd have time to get it back these days," she admitted, her voice trembling as her palms sweated.

[ChrisWk]

Arius was anything but happy at the moment, and understandably so. He had spent a whole lot of hours teaching her about the different leaves, roots and other kinds of herbs they would find in the forest nearby. How to distinguish them, and so on. He had also been crystal clear when telling her to study well for it and memorize everything. That had been over a week ago at this point, and she still hadn't managed to remember it all.

And instead of admitting that she hadn't studied hard enough.. Instead of asking for help.. Instead of telling Arius that she didn't remember... She decided to label it and hand it to him anyway, even though he had also made sure to teach her about all of the leaves and herbs' properties. To say that she was in trouble now would almost have been an understatement.

The 33 year old Master Wizard would certainly not tolerate this.

"That is the worst excuse I have ever heard, young lady. You didn't study hard enough, and instead of telling me that or ask for help, you decided to guess and label it incorrectly. I remember teaching you about 'Moonshine' and the 'Fire Leaf' quite vividly, so you do know their properties. It is quite frankly unacceptable. You are my apprentice. The apprentice of the Kingdom's Master Wizard, and you make easily avoidable mistakes such as this?" Arius scolded.

"I wouldn't have been too happy if you had asked for help, as you should have studied well enough for this and had more than enough time to memorize everything, but you wouldn't be in any trouble for it... Now, on the other hand, you are in serious trouble, Lily." the 33 year old spoke with a stern tone of voice.

"Strip. I want your clothes removed and folded neatly, then you may put them on the table. You have crossed the line by a solid margin this time, young lady. You've been so well behaved and done so well so far. But I absolutely cannot let this one slide. Now hurry up." Arius said sternly, his arms folded as he waited for Lily to do as she was told.

[KinkyVelvet]

Lily felt overwhelmed by the weight of the enormity of what had happened. She had no idea that a single mistake could cause all that damage.
She came from a place where her distraction at best cost a burnt dinner.
That "Strip", it was like a lash, made her jump, but the great wizard was so angry that she didn't dare argue.
She slowly began to undo the buttons of her shirt, almost instantly. Such an imperious order was difficult to disobey, especially given the long speech on punishment given on the first day.
The skirt slipped off, along with the shoes and socks, all folded neatly on the table, while her heart beat in her ears until it deafened, a part of her wanted to end it immediately, the wait was unnerving, and yet Arius was was clear.
The girl hesitated as her fingers gripped the hem of her light petticoat.
Then slowly turning her back to the man, she lifted it over her head, folding it, then instinctively tightening her arms to her chest, to hide her breasts from sight as they began to blossom on that immature body of a young woman.
With one hand she slipped her panties down too, her hand that remained there, covering even her nakedness, while Lily, red in her face, kept her head down.