I stretch myself luxuriously when I exit the bathhouse, my stomach growling a little, I should probably find an inn or somewhere to stay. I look up and the street but I can't make heads nor tails about most of the signs visible outside the buildings. I choose a direction on impulse and starts to walk down the street looking curiously at the people and shops I pass by.
Somehow I can feel something odd prickling at the corners of my subconscious, as if there's something my magical senses should discover but is diverted from, but the problem is that it's very hard to hide something magical from a pixie. Almost by reflex my mind is subconsciously attracted by the tricky magic and starts unfolding it so it's brought to me at a conscious level.
Suddenly my mind gets through all the diverting and subtle magic and I can see it. There are threads of magic going between patterns spaced out far in between and they're pulsating with subtle magical power. It must be masterful magic since it took even me such a long time to notice it and I'm a pixie so by nature I'm very good at that. Oh well, let's go see what that glowing door hidden in the alley does.
I walk into the alley, the noise of the street getting kinda muffled, people doesn't really seem to care much about the alley for some reason… though it's filled with garbage. To my left is the glowing door, it's mostly just a faint light in the stone wall of a building, though that's how I'm perceiving it with my strong senses… nothing at all really gives it away unless you can see the magic in some way like me.
I can see that there is a ward on the door that hinders people from entering it. I lean against the wall so my ear is very close to it and then I can hear the small whisper of a boring spell of dry magical words that let's you enter, people around here really should learn how to make more beautiful magic than this. Muttering the dry boring spell quickly I can then enter into the door and I'm suddenly in a room and judging from the windows I'm now far up in a tower room somewhere else in the city… ooh this seems fun and I can't hold back an excited giggle from escaping me.
“Hrrmm!?” I jump at the sudden sound, turning my head to the side where I see an old man with a long silvery beard, funny hat and a long robe sitting by a desk and looking indignantly at me.
“Can't they ever teach you young ones to take the main gates into our grand establishment than use all these back doors, it's getting on my nerves to be interrupted during my most important work. I will have to take this up with the council this is getting out of hand, how do they expect me to unravel the mysteries of making fire that doesn't smell when it burns off of wood if I'm disturb all the time!?”.
“Umm… I'm sorry but I'm kinda new here” looking at him apologetic with large eyes and he seems to calm down somewhat.
“New you say?” he looks me up and down uncomprehending at first, then after adjusting his spectacles “By the three hidden cities! You're no human, if my memory serves me right you're one of those fairy creatures?”.
“Why yes, I'm a pixie to be precise” smiling proudly as I tell him what I am “I'm looking for a nice inn and preferably one where they serve blueberry pie”.
He scoffs indignantly “Does this look like an inn to you young lady? This is the prestigious and hidden magical establishment of this frivolous city… why they placed it here I have no idea, must have been the council a millennia back. Those old…” I stop him before he rambles on.
“No no I didn't think that, I was wondering if you knew of one”.
“Oh, I know of many fine establishments, once, 15 years back…” again I interrupt him.
“Like here… and now?”.
“Right, well I was coming to that part” then he peers at me, his eyes glinting “You know, the problem with my fiery project isn't making a fire that doesn't smell, but to make the magic fire sustain itself simply by burning wood like an ordinary fire. I will have to test your skill since only those that are quite well versed in magic are allowed in here and if you manage to make a fire that doesn't smell and burns off of wood for a while I'd say it's fine” he hands me a torch and indicates that I should start.
“Oh well, this isn't going to be hard” I say confidently, I wave my hand around the torch, quickly weaving my spell and a bright flame erupts from the torch shining with a warm light and smelling a little of lavender.
He sniffs the air grimacing “it smells of… lavender… it shouldn't smell you know, though it is quite nice like this”.
“I just thought that it would be nicer than no smell and this way I think I might have made it last for quite a while as well”.
He peers at the flame, inspecting it carefully “You might very well be right about that, who would have thought”.
My stomach suddenly growls loudly and he laughs with mirth “let's go find you some blueberry pie my pixie friend”.
