A brief excerpt of Wandering the Deep Crystal Blue - Chapter 17 of Sarabande of Healing.
A few weeks ago, back in the Bahljet mountains…
"How do you and Julia do it?" Rosalie asked him, as he washed the dishes after a pleasant lunch.
"What do you mean?" Hector had just finished rinsing that bowl when she caught his attention.
Rosalie went straight to the point. "Detecting magic by scent, I mean. Like, how does it work? Do you have to cast a spell to make it work or…"
"There's no spell for it." Hector put the plates down as he sat next to her at the table. "It's fairly a natural thing for us magicians to have. To smell one's magic is the same as how you would normally catch others' scents. The stronger the scent, the more powerful they are."
"Odd," Rosalie simply sighed as her fingers played with a strand of her own hair. "How come I can't do it? Other than both of your body odor, I can't smell my sister's magic nor can I smell yours."
Hector was puzzled to hear this, that he initially struggled to say anything as a response. "Really? How long has it been this way?"
"All my life, I suppose." Rosalie merely shrugged. "You say it was normal for magicians. Does that make me abnormal?"
The Forgemaster shook his dull silver hair by the scalp as he explained. "I wouldn't say that but don't feel too discouraged, Rosalie. Magic is a mysterious thing. It has a habit of bestowing gifts on certain people when they're born without warning, and we have no choice but to accept it. But at the same time, it chooses people for a reason we just have to figure out ourselves. Maybe this is one of them. There might be many magicians out there, but only a few are born special than the rest."
Rosalie's face lit up, if only a little. "Thanks, Hector. Though if you wouldn't mind me asking…" Before she finished, she did something unthinkable by leaning closer to Hector beside her. Her bare hands, small and pink with the sun's warmth, wormed their way through Hector's and intertwined her fingers with his before guiding it near his face. "… What does my magic smell like to you?"
Hector was red like wine when she made that request, which sounded so innocent coming from her. Never in his entire life did someone ask him to scent them. He can't quite tell if Rosalie was tricking him into doing something or if she was this dense to get close to something like him. But he did it anyway after a while. With her hand clasping his, he pressed them against his nose and sniffed.
His brain short-circuited in response to what he invited into his nostrils. Her magic was faint and hidden but he can tell how powerful it was. It was absolutely fragrant, like lilies blooming in the summer mixed with fresh ripe raspberries. It was exceedingly sweet and spicy, it was unlike anything he had felt before. The tendency to bury his face in it was intoxicating, like he wants to drown in it. He could only imagine what her magic was capable of with such strength, such sweetness...
"Such beauty…" he thought just as he realized that he spoke it aloud. Like a rigid twig, he quickly snapped away from her hand in a heartbeat.
But as he came to, he wasn't the only one who was as red as a tomato. Rosalie was just as speechless and pulping red as him, which was evidence she too heard his little remark. For a brief moment, they were left facing each other and sitting like ducks in total awkward silence with neither being able to decide what to do next.
Slowly, a sheepish yet cute little smile formed in Rosalie's face. "Thanks," she simply told him, the sincerity in her tone was enough melt through even more of his stone-cold heart. This witch is vexing me greatly with each passing day.
Fortunately, Hector was spared having to bear another moment of this when Julia barged into the dining hall, carrying a handful of tomes at her side. "Done with those dishes, Hector? We have lots of studying to do."
Hector managed a groan. He still doesn't understand why Julia was so adamant to teach magic to him, a seasoned Forgemaster. But he spared not a thought for protest as Rosalie left the hall to the two, with a smile that reeked of total satisfaction as she went. Hector huffed up a big heap of air in shame, as he tries to desperately to wipe that blunder of a memory from his brain.
