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"She can get her own mice if needed, but make sure you give her the insects first. I put a silencing charm on the box and advise you not to break it, and make sure she has fresh water, she may splash it around a bit. If she shows any signs of agitation you can contact me and-"
"Asra." You speak firmly, cutting him off. He looks wildly towards you as if you woke him from a deep trance.
"Right, you... You got it, of course." He got his hat and leaned forward, a hand under the chin (or what counted as one) of the snake. "Faust, be good while I'm gone, alright?" He looked towards you again, "I should only be away a week, I just need some supplies from a few towns over and to do a few favors for some friends of mine. And one more thing, actually-" He took the deck of tarot cards from the counter. You think for a moment that he's going to pocket them, but instead, he presses them into your hands.
"If any customers need a reading, I trust you to give them one. You've gotten rather good at the task." You find yourself unable to keep from smiling, even as he turned away in a sweep of feathers, placing the hat on his hair that curled out from under it.
"I'll see you in a week!" He leaves, and the shop suddenly seems quiet. Too quiet. A movement around your neck startles you and you realize the snake familiar is still wrapped around you.
"Just us, then, Faust." You pace behind the counter and seat yourself on the stool. Faust slides across your arm and onto the glass counter, looking up at you with her head tilted. "Yeah, he's gone." You say, having no idea if you answered whatever question she was implying. Faust looked around for a while and you slid forward, crossing your arms and placing your chin on them.
"Staring contest," you demand, knowing you'll lose. Snakes don't have eyelids, after all. But the idea of trying amuses you enough- for about two minutes until you need something else to do. Turning around in the stool you spot the herbs hanging on the wall and you rub your hands over the lavender and thyme, enjoying the scent on your palm. Asra didn't like it when you touched the herbs too much, something about the oil on the skin and residing magical energy. Regardless, you took the time now to carefully smell the herbs, wrinkling your nose at the more bitter ones.
That's the one he makes tea with, you think, and that one must be peppermint... So this is rosemary, wait, or is that one? No, the longer leaves mean that- You become aware of a presence and you turn around, a blue shape hovering in front of your nose. You realize Faust is outstretched from the counter, observing you. Once she had your attention she lunches forward, tapping her nose to yours, and you stagger back, nearly knocking over the possibly-rosemary in the process.
"Really? Fine, alright, whatever. I'm going to do some actual work." Determined to make yourself useful in some way, you find several vials of rainwater and wildflowers. One hand reaches for the books stacked below the counter, and the other to the flowers. There's a question that worked its way into your mind a few months back, and you've been eager to try it.
Several hours later, you hold in your hands a flower crown that fits you and a second one that should fit Asra, if the size of his hat was anything to go by. Faust curls up inside one of them and you pick her up by the middle, dangling her in your hands as you deposit her back onto the counter.
"So these are for expanded learning," you explain to the snake, who is intelligent or magical enough to maybe kinda sorta possibly understand you. "I got flowers for success, for attention to detail, for memory, the lilies of the valley just smell nice-" You pause and then take the head of a flower that bent and broke as you tried to use it. Flipping it upside down, you place it as a hat on Faust. It has deep purple petals, one of which slips down into her face. At the sight, you can't help but laugh.
"Don't give me that look, it's kind of funny." You chuckle again and pluck the flower off with two fingers. "I need to make sure the flowers stay fresh. Do you think there's a spell designed to preserve flowers?" You give the snake a questioning look and she slithers down your back, onto the stool, and finally to the books below. Moments later, her head pops up again, and you find her between several pages of a book. Letting them fall open, freeing Faust, you find yourself looking at a spell that freezes the aging process of small organic materials for several days.
"I can totally pull this off," you say, although your confidence dwindles as you see description. "I mean, if I can do readings well enough to impress Asra, I can do this, right?" Faust looks at you with what you hope is an encouraging expression.
"Right, totally." You lay the crowns down, placing your hands over each one and calming your mind. Then, focusing energy through your hands, you begin a quiet chant meant to direct your magic into the flowers. A sliding of scales up your arm nearly breaks your focus entirely, but having Faust with you lends help in performing the spell. When you finish, the flowers look the same.
"Did that not work?" You hadn't expected it to but feel disappointed none the less. Reaching out to one, you feel nothing.
Nothing. The flow of energy through the flower, that remained for a while after it was picked, had halted entirely. Your eyes widen, "it worked!" And then, "Asra's going to be so proud!" Followed next by a look at Faust and a question of "should I contact him and tell him?" And then an immediate, "No, he'd panic and think something was wrong and not let me get a word in." Lastly, "wait, speaking of his words, I have to feed you now!"
You stand from the stool, realizing how your legs ache from lack of stretching, and you go to the wood cabinets on the opposite wall, opening them to grab a green pouch and opening the pouch to get two slices of dried meat. You weren't sure where it came from- no one in the market sold anything similar- but Faust found them wonderfully delicious, so Asra managed to always have some on hand for her meals.
She slithers up your arm and leans forward, grabbing it from your hand and opening her mouth. You never realized her jaw could do... that, and it makes you reconsider the cute appearance of Faust. Could she eat a mouse whole as well? She stares back at you with an innocent look and you shake your head as if dislodging the thought.
"What time is it?" You turn your head to the enchanted hourglass on the wall, a trinket Asra had brought back from one of his travels. "Eleven at night? How long did the preserving spell take?" It was a rhetorical question, of course. You look towards Faust. "So, you're fine just hanging out in the shop or do you have a preferred place to sleep?" She responds by leaving your arm and going straight to where Asra slept and you nod, "of course."
Blowing out the candles, you make sure the shop is closed up before you go to your bed, unnerved by the silence of the building. "Goodnight Faust," you whisper, and finally sleep takes you.
On the next day, literally, nothing happens. Faust keeps you company as you clean the shop from the flower experiment and watches as you eat after feeding her, but the day passes slowly, quietly, but thankfully, smoothly. A guest comes to the shop, but only to browse, and you manage to dodge every "what is this?" question by distracted the guy with a simple trick of lighting a candle from across the room. Faust watches, and watches, but indicates nothing. You start to worry.
"Are you feeling alright?" You ask her, concerned for her well being (and for your own, if something happened to her under your care and Asra found out).
She wriggled side to side in a show that yes, she was fine, then tilted her head and a small voice entered your mind.
Asra.
"Asra?" You look at her, "what about him?"
Talk.
"You want me to talk to him?" You raise a brow and the snake shakes her head back and forth slowly, almost too faint a movement to see. Then her tail flicks to very clearly point at herself. "Oh, you're talking to him. Saying all good things, I hope."
If Faust had eyelids, they would be narrowing in your direction right now. Instead, she turns her head away from you, ending the conversation. You huff and turn away as well, "Well, this day has been rather boring. Makes me miss Asra," you pause, then elaborate, "more than usual, I mean." Falling silent, you sit in the chair and shuffle the tarot deck to keep your hands busy. The cards have no message for you today, silent in your hand, the edges starting to wear a bit. You set them down again and glance at Faust, "I think I'll retire early tonight. I'll be up and at it again tomorrow."
On the second full day without Asra, a customer does come into the shop seeking help. A young woman dressed in green, with pleading brown eyes.
"Are you a magician?" She asks, and you nod.
"I'm apprenticed to Asra, he runs the shop. But he's out right now so I'm running the store in his place. Can I help you with something?" You notice the desperation around her, so obvious it seems to billow into the room.
"My name is Raina, I'm looking for... Well, I just need some sort of protection. There's something in my house, been knocking things over, scaring my children. They won't go into the dining room now, and refuse to look in the mirror."
"Sounds like a spirit," you respond, nodding, "those are easy enough to deal with. Have you taken any actions so far?"
"Nothing yet, I told my friend Delilah and she said to come here."
"It's a good thing you did, I have what will help you." You open a cabinet and find the jars Asra keeps for these sort of requests. With a plague still in recent memory- assuming you had an intact memory, of course- people were encountering spirits more frequently than before, and Asra learned a while back to be well stocked with protective charms.
"This is a bundle of sage, salt, and several other magical materials to banish the spirit. I'd keep it in the dining room and leave it a good month after signs of the Spirit's presence stop. This windchime here is to be put in front of your house and will ward it against spirits intending harm." You present both items to her and consult a list on a long scroll of paper pinned to the wall beside you. "We recently adjusted prices, so your total will be 4 silver pieces."
Raina paid with a thankful demeanor. "Thank you again, I'll be sure to return and let you know how it goes."
"I would appreciate that," you say without thinking, and the bell over the door dings as she leaves. Faust has been wrapped around your leg all this time, but makes her way up around your waist and brings her head level with your eyes.
"I think I handled that well," you told her matter-of-fact. She smiled, at least, you think it was a smile, and left you once more.
When Asra comes back early, it surprises you, but he doesn't fill you in on what caused him to do so. He smiled when Faust curls up his arm and around his neck, pressing his forehead to his chin with closed eyes.
"It's good seeing you back," he said, then cracked them open to peer at you. "Did everything go smoothly?"
"Yeah, it wasn't bad." You fill him in on the details.
"So no one wanted a reading?" He motioned to the deck on the counter.
"No, just protective charms." Your gaze lingering by the counter, you remember what you wanted to show him. "Wait, close your eyes, I have something for you."
Asra does so and you arrange the flower crown you made several days ago on his hair, having no trouble sticking it in the curls, and you hold up a hand-mirror for him. His hands flutter up, almost afraid to touch it.
"It's beautiful," he remarks, looking at you to find that you've put on your matching one, "you made these?"
"I used a spell to stop the aging of flowers." You beam and Asra takes a moment to digest the news before matching your expression.
"That's wonderful! Faust told me you were practicing magic but this... You've gone past your comfort zone, and for that, I don't think I could be more proud."
Faust waves a tail as if to say 'don't forget about me!' and Asra runs a hand along her back. "And thank you for taking care of Faust, I knew I could leave her in your hands."
"She's rather low-maintenance," you admit, and Asra rolls his eyes.
"Not always, let me tell you. But that aside- perhaps you could give me a reading, then, to hone that skill?"
You grab the deck and this time, the cards are singing in your hands, ready for your magic. You open the curtain to the back room and Faust turns her head to look at you as Asra enters.
"After you both," you say, and now the apprentice has a teacher once more.