A Sea Change

                                         A Sea Change


Jamis looked up at the elderly man before him with a frown. “What do you mean, master?”
         Master Merlin smiled fondly at the youth seated behind the massive desk surrounded by dozens of books on magic. “Although you are my most prominent student you still have lot to learn. You are gifted in five languages, both the astronomical and chemical sciences and alchemy. However when it comes to the matter of alchemy’s practical side you seem to lack concentration. And I am at a loss as to why that should be.”
         “Master I know all the spells you have ever taught me, by heart. I know how and why the universe was created and can name every star within it. So why can I not put the theory of magic into practice?”
         Merlin shuffled his blue robes around his large bulk. “You do not apply your will to the words that you know.”
         “I have tried every technique you have offered. Short of resorting to the dark arts.” The last Jamis whispered under his breath, but not softly enough for Merlin to miss.
         The master magician snorted in disgust. “Only a fool would dare take the path of darkness! You are no fool Jamis, unless my faith in you at my side all these years was misplaced?”
         The torch light in the dozen wall scones behind him cast brilliant lights across his golden hair as he shook his head. 
         “Of course not, master Merlin! But what am I to do? After three years of preparatory with you I am now of age to apply for an internship with the Academy of Magic. I won’t succeed if I can not even create a flame from magic! I must be an idiot since I know the working of how to make the sun set if I chose to!”
         Seeing the lad’s distress, Merlin sighed and set to pacing across the polish timber floors of his library, his slippered feet passing silently as he moved. He paused at the arched window and looked out towards the massive golden spires of the Academy that stood above the Green forest twenty miles away. After a moment he turned back to Jamis, his eyebrows raised.
         “It has never been about your intelligence Jamis, you know this?”
         “Aye master, I am the only one to receive an invitation to study my Preparatory with you in five years.”
Therefore you are no idiot. Your only fault lies in here.” Merlin stated tapping his head.
Jamis shrugged. “I thought you said I am no idiot!”
Merlin shook his head and couldn’t help but smile. “For one so young and talented you can be rather absent in logic and forethought! What I am trying to tell you is that you simply lack a grasp on the right attitude! You have grand plans and desires but there is so much more than hopes and wishes standing in your way of success and making a flame. With focused thought nothing can stop you becoming the master you so desperately want to be!”
“I have the right attitude, Merlin. I have set goals, talent, knowledge, what more do I need?”
“You have all those attributes and more to become the youngest Alchemist ever. But there is more you need before you can accomplish you dreams, you need hard work, diligence and real focus on your goal.”
“I work hard Merlin! I have never had a day off from my studies since the age of twelve. You said no one else has been more dedicated to the arts!”
“Perhaps that is what is wrong. You’ve never had any time off in the last three years.”
“There is no time for playing childish games for one who wants to be a master of alchemy, Merlin! You never did!”
“Perhaps not, young Jamis, but that is a different story, I had no choice. Right now I think you need a distraction to free your mind of all the stress you have unduly placed upon yourself. You have the power to smash aside the wall of self defeat and conquer your fear of failure, if you so wish it.”
Jamis sighed. “But master of course I wish to succeed!”
“I think you need a sea change. I dismissed you from your studies for the summer.”
Jamis bolted from off his stool so quickly that it slammed against the wall behind him. “Master you can’t do this! I will surely fail the entrance exams to the Academy if you do not let me finish my studies.”
Merlin slammed his hand on the table. “Enough! Get a grip of yourself man! You have another six months before the exams start and you already possess more knowledge than is required of you to pass the test.”
“What am I going to do for an entire summer?”
“Whatever young boys do. Go spend time with family and friends or fishing, sailing, or go trekking the wilderness on horse back. Hell, perhaps you should go train with the athletes for the upcoming Olympics, anything to take you mind away from magic and all its frustrations that will eventually set you to throwing someone else off the roof. Next time it will probably be me instead of the crown prince!”
Jamis shook his head in disbelief as he righted the stool and took a seat again. "How could I be so easily dismissed from my studies? What have I ever done to deserve this?"
“Do not see this as punishment, Jamis. You are wildly talented, more so than I ever was at your age. Perhaps too much so. But you are stuck in a rut which is holding you back. You need to blow the cobwebs out of your brain. If you don’t get yourself sorted out smartly, you will burn out before you reach you majority at twenty-one. Where will all your accolades of greatness be then?”
“Nowhere, that is why you can’t dismiss me, not like this. I’ll try harder, I promise, master.”
“You need to slow down, not work harder for heaven’s sake.”
Jamis looked around the library that was his home away from home, a place where he spent almost every waking hour of what had seemed like forever, now it was being taken away from him. Suddenly feeling tired, Jamis knew he had no right to challenge his master’s decision. He stood up and grabbed an armload of the books he had been using for the last two days and walked over to the wall and began placing them back in their shelves.
Merlin took Jamis’s seat at the table and pulled out his pipe. He lit it with a click of his fingers and inhaled deeply, the pungent tobacco fumes and grey smoke set to curling in the air above his head. He studied the youth he had personally watched over since Jamis’s first episode of magic occurred. Several years had passed since the golden-haired lad had willed his friend Locky into the palace moat after a fight over a game as innocuous as marbles. Merlin smiled at the image of the King’s son flying off the palace roof screaming before landing in the cold water of the moat and the following protest by the palace stewards that had fished him out looking like a sodden mop, requesting banishment for the youth responsible. It had been Merlin that had sensed the power that day from right here in the library, a bolt so powerful it had almost knocked him off his chair for he had been dozing. Recognizing what was abound Merlin had stood in the youth’s defence before the King of the realm and won for his troubles a hot tempered student boiling with untamed magical talent. It was a decision he still did not regret regardless of Jamis’s outspokenness, which to be quite frank the Merlin admired, seeing himself in the youth’s eyes several decades previous.
“Now what master, Merlin?”
Merlin looked up to see Jamis now standing before the desk, arms folded. The tall, gangly youth had grown since being in his charge and would fill out nicely with the potential muscles that lay hidden beneath his ragged clothing. Merlin loved the boy as much as any of his own sons and knew that what the boy needed now was a complete break in contemplation. After making the abrupt decision, Merlin smiled as he spoke softly to his charge knowing the outburst that would follow.
“If you are done then you are free to go my lad. I will make all the necessary arrangements for you with the local monastery, as well as pay for you lodging and meals.”
“What! You said to go on a holiday, master Merlin! You never mentioned anything about a monastery! I beg you to reconsider.”
Merlin looked into those stunned silver-grey eyes bordering on instant rage. Within flickered the naivety of youth along with a great intelligence and wealth of power if Jamis but realized his hidden strengths and applied them to his studies.
Merlin took another deep suck on his pipe. “There is nothing I need to reconsider, Jamis. You need to go somewhere to clear your head so that you can focus on what is important to you and what is currently standing in your way of achieving that. The monastery will do you wonders, trust me.”
“How? Besides being boring me to tears praying alongside old men with creaky arthritic knees?”
“Don’t let your tongue catch the ear of the High Priest or you will be on kitchen duties for the entire summer. And if I hear of any further disrespect while you are there your stay will be lengthened.”
Jamis threw his hands in the air in frustration. “Heaven forbid, Merlin!”
“Watch your temper and your manners, Jamis and I will see you here on autumn’s first eve, bright and refreshed and ready to accelerate your learning in preparation for the Academy’s entrance exams.”
“I won’t be ready if I miss the next three months of study Merlin.”
“Nor will you be ready if you don’t work hard, while you are in the care of the priests. Besides, what is wrong with old men with creaky knees, Jamis?” Merlin stated rubbing his knee.
After a long drawn out moment, Jamis wisely withdrew his challenging gaze of gathering storm clouds, knowing he was beat. “Argh!”
He spun around and stomped off to the corner of the library where he left his satchel of pen and papers, knowing he could not argue with the master’s decision, none could unless they wanted to become members of the criminal labor gangs. Jamis shuddered at the prospect of wearing iron cuffs and chains while shoveling dirt and building city roads. The thought of sleeping next to foul smelling fellow prisoners for the rest of his life gave him pause to rein in his boiling temper.
“No matter where you go in life Jamis, it is only you who is in charge of how it all fares out. You can make the next three months a living hell for yourself or a time to reflect and focus on the future, you decide.”
“Yes master, Merlin.” Jamis stated, wrenching the cloth strap of the satchel over his head as he walked back to the table.
“Remember, nothing in this life can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.”
Merlin stated with a friendly wink.
         Jamis nodded then bowed to master Merlin and departed the library.
“How bad can three months in a monastery filled with a bunch of mumbling monks, possibly be?” he mumbled.
“If only you knew.” Merlin whispered with a twinkle in his eye as the door closed with a thud.

                                                             *
Word count 1972.