“I’m sorry Beau, it’s just not possible.”

“You don’t have to apologise Sheila. Still, who’s renting your spare room?”

“A lovely couple from Leeds, they’re down here for two months on business.”

“That’s quite a journey.”

“That it is, and my guess is that they wouldn’t respond too well to a boy sleeping on the sofa. However…”

“You have an idea?”

“I just might. If I remember correctly, Jackson has a spare room and owes me a favour after sorting his family out with wands. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds perfect, it might do him good to stay with some kids his age.”

“Alright, I’ll let him know, what’s the boy’s name?”

“Ah… Um, good question.”

“Beau!”

Beau walked home, the new blue-haired boy on the block was causing him more trouble than he thought, just this morning he’d almost lost control of his mana meaning Beau had to reign it back in with his own. This proved to be difficult after the harsh realisation of how powerful the boy’s mana was, it was like some sort of super condensed version of Beau’s. He arrived back at his currently closed shop. The boy was sitting on Beau’s usual chair with one of Beau’s products in his hands wearing a face carved with concentration after Beau had taught him the basics of mana manipulation. All the obvious effort produced only disappointment, the boy looked up, pleased to leave his failure behind.

“What’s your name, Kid?” Beau asked after entering the room and hanging his coat and hat.

“It may as well be Kid to be honest, although if you’re asking for the name I was given by my mother then it’s Tepi”

“Tepi? Short for?”

“Short for Tepi. What more do you want.”

“Right, and your last name?”

“I actually can’t remember, but I think it’s Flyer.”

“Tepi Flyer, what an odd jumble.”

“My mother’s Egyptian… Was Egyptian, the male seed came from a white man.”

“Understood. You carry his name despite his absence?”

“It’s the only one I have…”

Beau paused, not sure where to take the topic, eventually opting to drop it completely.

“We have accommodation sorted, and you start University next Monday. Until then I’ll teach you the basics so that you don’t blow up a classroom.”

“And no one there’s going to do anything funny?”

“You’ll be fine.”

“That’s what they all say.”

Beau continued as promised, teaching Tepi how to control the abundance of mana in his body. At first, it was just how to extract it from his body in the most basic form of water, this meant not only practical lessons but theory as well. Tepi took to the theory a lot quicker than the practical aspect. His understanding of elements and how they worked increased so dramatically Beau was initially afraid he’d missed out a whole chunk.

It turns out, magic very much lives up to its namesake. There were a great many things about magic that no one understood, the most prominent being what exactly made mana what it was, and how was it able to morph into almost any element, and why did your understanding of such an element affect how well you manipulated it.

Tepi was severely dissatisfied with Beau’s teaching. Having not been to school himself, he knew only the basics and what he’d discovered himself, he came to realise his own shortcomings and finished each session with a feeling of discontent. Beau also taught Tepi some basic magic circles and how they worked, again, Tepi picked up on it quickly. Beau looked almost manically pleased when Tepi expressed interest, his dreams of raising an apprentice coming to fruition.

It turned out that while he wasn’t yet able to manipulate pure mana, everything that Tepi did summon was tinged with a hint of purple, even his fire was purple, something that was not possible unless you summoned the right chemical, which he certainly wasn’t. Tepi’s magic manipulation was slightly below average, even for someone only learning for a week. Only the smallest amount of mana was escaping and an even smaller portion of that was successfully manipulated. The unused mana wisping away into the atmosphere.

For the entire week, Tepi had stayed with Beau, his training started early and finished late, not only that but having just been freed from a slave's life, even walking outside was a difficult transition for the deeply scarred boy. Most of the days were spent in the living room and every trip taken outside a terrifying experience. Usually sticking to side streets and Sheila’s house, Beau tried his best to get the boy accustomed to normal life, at least he was able to understand slightly what Tepi was going through. The short time period meant the rehabilitation was slightly rushed and ended up with a deranged boy being introduced to a group of orphans who were now his housemates.

“You can’t leave me here, Beau.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know these people, the house smells, that guy looks like a creep and I could go on.”

“‘That guy’ is called Jackson, and he may not look like much but he’s a nice man. Additionally, you’ll be closer to the University living here. Not only that but if you’re off my premises then I can actually pay you for working at my shop.”

Tepi relaxed his shoulders in desperation, fully aware of the trouble he would be causing Beau if he stayed there. He looked towards the dingy house and haphazard kids, a feeling of dread lurching from within him, recalling all the other times he’d been left with an old man and a bunch of children.

“Nice to meet you, Sir.”

“No need for formalities child, call me Jackson, that title is reserved for only the Queen’s men. You must be Tepi, I have heard a lot about you from Sheila.”

“Right…”

“Here, your housemates.” Jackson moved to the side, allowing full view of the kids behind them, first was a chubby boy, looking to be around a year younger, none of them had any mana from what Tepi could see. The second was a young girl, seemingly eight or so. Lastly, an older girl, one that Tepi could see was around his age, her scorn very clear on her face, although it seemed her anger was not directed at Tepi but rather Jackson.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Tepi.” He opened with the line he’d been told to start with by Beau.

“Tepi, it’s nice to meet you too! I’m Rind (pronounced Rynde).” The chubby boy pointed to the younger girl. “And she’s Daisy.”

“I can say my own name!” Daisy shouted before sniffing some tears back, apparently, she was very excited to introduce herself.

“It’s okay Daisy, you can still tell him who you are.”

After a few seconds Daisy perked up again and introduced herself. Finally, it was the girl at the end.

“My name’s Fila, and if I’d known you were coming I would have cleaned up a bit so I’m sorry for the mess inside.”

Jackson smiled. “Alas, the older you get the less work you can do. As the oldest in the house, Ophelia helps me with a lot of the errands.”

“All of the errands” Fila whispered under her breath.

Jackson laughed again and carried on talking.

“Tepi, allow us to show you to your room, there are two others living here but you will not see them very often. Thank you Beau, and God bless you for saving this child.”

“Thank you, Jackson, I’ll see you soon to check up on him, make sure he goes to school!”

Tepi followed Fila upstairs, Jackson had taken a seat in a heavily worn out rocking chair in the main room, then others were lined up behind him asking him all sorts of questions, many of which he was hesitant to answer, fully aware that not many things about his life were child-friendly.

“This is your room Tepi, and God forbid you decide to wreck it, I will bring to you wrath like you have never seen before, magician or not.”

He had to admit, she was terrifying. In the first place he only had a few of Beau’s old clothes and some parchment as all his possessions in this world, what could he possibly use to make his room dirty.

“Also, we start making dinner at 6 so make sure you’re downstairs for that, you must work to eat and you must eat to work.”

Tepi nodded.

“Well, say something.”

“Alright, thank you, Ophelia.” He managed to stammer, only now realising that he should probably get involved in the conversation. “How can I tell when it is 6?”

“There is a clock in the main room but I will come and knock on your door. And call me Fila please, I much prefer it.”

“Alright.”

“Anything else?”

“No that’s all.”

“You should relax, we don’t bite or anything.” The chubby boy chimed in with his attempt to calm down the very highly strung Tepi. Tepi only smiled but stayed tensed up.

“He’ll relax when he wants to, I would find it hard to relax as well if I saw you’re goofy face for the first time.”

“Hey!”

Daisy started laughing at the word goofy. Fila smiled and closed the door leaving Tepi alone in the room.

Dinner time came and went, Tepi’s role was to cut vegetables and after to dry the dishes before handing them to Rind and Daisy who would put them away in their rightful places.

He noticed Jackson did not do much, only moving from his chair when they ate, then right after reclaiming it, putting his feet up on the foot stall.

Tepi walked back upstairs, still slightly uncomfortable with the new surroundings but was interrupted at the top of the stairs by Fila.

“Tepi, make sure you clean yourself before you sleep, and get ready for school tomorrow!”

Tepi nodded and returned to his room. Entirely unsure of what tomorrow would entail.