MAY 18 Monday.

I move another book to the side and open another to continue reading, right now I'm researching different topics. Specifically, I'm reading about different runes and a few spells I'm interested in, and I'm also researching the rune I couldn't identify on the Frost dagger.

I've found a few clues and a few runes that have similar parts and could be related to this one, but I still haven't found it yet. I flip another page and start reading through it. In other news my training with space magic has been, well not a success but also not a failure.

I've been training with only small pieces of paper and I have improved over the past week, but it has been very slow and tedious, even for me. The main problem is simply the magical conversion ratio, I can only practice for an hour at most and that's if I go slower than I need to, to be safe.

Beyond my space magic, I've also been thinking about something else. My plants specifically the Blood Leaf Tea, it's a very important plant to me and by far the plant I use the most. And now I think I've progressed enough to start copying the plant's magical flows.

I haven't been breeding the Blood Leaf Tea because the magical cost to grow many generations of it back to back would be extreme. So I wanted to learn its magical flows first to cut down on the magical cost, but I haven't been learning it because of the complexity, now that I've gotten much more control over my life magic and have gotten better at copying plants' magical flows I should be able to start breeding the Blood Leaf Tea.

My thoughts are interrupted by someone sitting down across from me and waving to get my attention, "Hey." When I look up I'm greeted by Avalon sitting down with a few books of his own and a satchel strapped on him. "It's good to see you again, Shade." He says with a slight smile. He didn't sneak up on me as I saw him moving around out of the corner of my eye but was too distracted to recognize him.

:Well isn't this a pleasant surprise: I return his smile. "It's good to see you to Avalon, how's your self-study going?" His smile grows a little but he doesn't say anything and starts looking through his satchel for a moment before passing me a piece of slightly weathered paper that's ripped on one side.

I take it with my hoof and start looking it over, after a moment I recognize it. This is the same page I ripped out of my book when I first met Avalon on the train, the list of names has around half of them crossed out. "You've read through all of these?" I decided to speak Griffin because I don't often get to.

His smile widens and he nods. "Yes, most city libraries seem to have a few of those books so it's not hard to find a book or two while delivering things." he also switches to Griffin, he doesn't ask why and just keeps speaking. "I did have some questions if you don't mind?" He asks while looking a little hopeful.

"Sure, what do you need help with?" He nods and passes me another piece of paper, it's filled with several math equations and a few spell matrices. "Do you need help with all of this?"

He shakes his head. "No, I've only been able to feel my magic so far not use it, and I'm trying to find a good spell to start practicing with. Those are the best ideas I've found so far." I look through the list again and see that all of the spells are very simple to learn, at least for me.

I recognize several but a few of them are probably more complex than you'd want for a starting spell, but a few of them could work well for this purpose. After looking through them I flip the page over, and I grab both a quill and an ink well out of my saddlebags.

I start drawing a matrix on the back of the piece of paper. This is the matrix for the modified version of the Candle Flame spell I made over two years ago to be more efficient. It's perfect for what he needs and it doesn't contain any knowledge that I can't give away.

It only has one rune, it's safe to cast, and it's easy to control, also I think a convenient source of fire could be useful to him on his deliveries. I give him the matrix, the runic context for the single rune used, and some instructions on how best to cast it, it's all written in Griffin and once I'm done I pass it back to him.

He takes it and starts reading through it, his small smile growing as he reads and that same look of excitement he had on the train reappears. "This is perfect, thanks."

"No problem. By the way, good work on getting so far, not many do." And I mean what I said. From what I know most who try to learn runic casting stop when they see how much math and knowledge is necessary to cast even the most basic spell.

He looks embarrassed and scratches the back of his neck. "I wouldn't say that, it's all just so interesting, and honestly it's fun for me." I can hear the passion for magic in his voice and I'm much the same, magic will never not be interesting and fun to use for me.

"Good, keep that attitude, it will take you a lot further than you'd think. Anything else you've been struggling with?" He nods and starts going over a few things he's needed some small help with. It's mostly just him asking me a question or two while we read through the books we have while just enjoying each other's company.

While we're talking about another subject we are interrupted by a voice to our left. "Uhhh, excuse me?" Apparently, neither of us saw whoever walked up and both turned our heads towards the voice. At the end of the table we're sitting at stands Twilight Velvet looking a little lost.

:Is today just the day people I haven't seen for months come to talk to me?: She has a saddlebag with her, and a very cute-looking Spike sitting on her back. He seems to have grown a little and is looking at the world around him with curious eyes, and honestly, his face is adorable.

Twilight Velvet has a slightly confused expression on her face as she looks at us, It doesn't take much thought for me to realize she's confused about what we were talking about. I switch back to Pony and greet her, "Hello Miss Velvet, I hope you've been doing well?" I greet her with a friendly tone.

We may have both apologized and forgive each other last time but it's still a little awkward for me, I try to not let it show. She greets me with a small smile and returns my friendly tone. "Shade, it's been a while, I'm doing just fine thank you for asking. And like I've told you before, no need for Miss, Velvet is just fine."

Avalon takes out a piece of paper and looks over it for a moment while we're greeting each other and gets my attention, and I look over to him. "Sorry for interrupting, but do either of you know the time?" He asks. I concentrate for a small moment and watch as a spell matrix forms and is cast in a fraction of a second.

The time appears in the air and Avalon looks at the piece of paper again, he doublechecks but then gains a slightly panicked expression. "OH, I'm going to be late! Thanks for the help Shade but I have to go." I just give him and nod as he packs everything away quickly and leaves after a moment with quick steps.

I turn back to Velvet as we watch Avalon leave in a rush, she also looks back to me. "A friend of yours?"

I shake my hoof in a so, so, motion. "Mostly an acquaintance but he's fun to talk with and good company." I do my best to keep a relaxed and friendly attitude.

She moves over to me and lays down where Avalon was. She's about to continue but is interrupted by Spike demanding attention, hearing a baby dragon cry is interesting. She looks over at him and gently shushes him while calming Spike down. "It's ok, I know you're probably hungry and we can eat when we get home." She gently consoles Spike.

She's able to calm him down after a minute, she handles Spike with the skill of an experienced dam who's dealt with more than one foal before. Once she's done she turns back to me, "Sorry about him, we've been out for a while and he's probably just hungry."

"It's fine, and I'd just like to apologize again for what happened last time." I am sincere with my words and I do regret bringing up bad memories after trying to gain her trust. It's not something that bothers me all the time, just something I'd like to fix if I can.

She smiles again and nods. "And I'd like to do the same, it's not proper of me to be so hostile when you couldn't have known." There are a few moments of silence but she breaks it with a more upbeat tone of voice. "How about we agree to move past all that?"

I'm glad she asked because frankly I'm not the best at things like this, I'm a blunt pony, and trying to dance around an issue doesn't work well for me. "That would be nice, although I am curious, did you come just to find me?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "No, I actually wanted to talk to you earlier when me and Twilight normally visit the library, but couldn't find you."

I nod. "Around that time I moved my apprenticeship to a different part of the library, I do book editing and copying now instead of sorting," I say while moving the books Avalon left on the desk into a neat stack to the side.

"Well, regardless it's nice to have this put to rest." Spike decides it's once again time to make his displeasure known to us.

It's also at this point when Velvet once again attends to Spike that I remember I have a few small treats on me I keep for Entropy. "I have a few small things on me if you need to feed him?" I offer while taking out two small bags, one with berries and the other with a few small pieces of meat under the Universal Preservation spell.

Once I realize he might not eat meat yet I awkwardly take the second bag back. She raises a brow at this, asking a silent question. "I have a pet crow and these are normally her treats, that one is filled with juniper berries, and this has some meat in it." I finish carefully.

She reacts with a very slight amount of revulsion, but she seems to be controlling her reaction well. "Right you eat meat, you might be able to help me if you're willing?" She holds no prejudice in her voice, just a very slight amount of hope.

"I don't mind helping if I can, what do you need?"

She actually looks a little embarrassed. "Well, it's less about me and more about Spike, we were told recently that he's old enough to start eating meat and that we should try our best to feed him some." Ok, now it makes some sense.

"Raw or cooked?" I take out another piece of paper and my quill again.

"From what we suspect either is fine, but we were told to cook it just to be safe." I nod and start writing down several things. Several recipes for unseasoned fish, how to tell when fish is properly cooked and safe, and a few ways to tell that the fish you're buying is of good quality.

I look back up to her and ask something else. "Do you remember where to buy meat?" She looks more embarrassed as I did give her the location last time we met. I add that to the list and pass it over to her before taking the second bag back out. I cook the meat I bring around with me just to keep its shelf stable for a little while longer.

I take out a single small piece and move it over to her, "This isn't seasoned and is properly cooked, we could test if he likes it if that's fine with you?" I offered it to her.

She looks at the small cube for a few moments before taking it from me in her horns field, she takes Spike off her back and places him on the table while moving the piece of fish over to him, while also keeping her distance from it. She hesitates before it gets too close and looks back at me, she scrutinizes me for a few moments.

I'm more used to her paranoia. She doesn't really know me and I just offered her adopted foal food that could be dangerous, so I took out another cube and ate it in front of her. A good lesson for anypony, is to never underestimate the paranoia of an overprotective dam, and don't underestimate the lengths they will go to, to keep their foal safe.

She cringes a little at my display but moves the piece of fish over to Spike. He looks at it for a few moments before sniffing around for a moment, he follows his nose to the fish, reaches out with a claw to grab it, and shoves it into his mouth immediately, he chews it down happily.

"Well, he seems to like it," I say while smiling at the adorable face Spike makes after getting what he wants.

She nods and relaxes some, "Thank you, and sorry about the suspicion." She says looking a little apologetic, and from her tone I feel like there's probably a reason why, but I'm not planning on asking why anytime soon.

I wave it off. "I'd have done the same, is there anything else you need help with?"

"Still it's not nice to do that when you've been so nice, and no I was planning to search for recipes and instructions but you've given me everything I need, thank you again. I should get Spike home and it's getting late, have a good day Shade." She answers with a smile.

I smile back. "No problem, also double check for bones if you get a piece of meat you don't recognize." I realized I forgot to add that to the list I gave her, and decided to remind her about it. "Also please tell Twilight and Shining hello for me."

"Gladly. Let's get you home." She says the second part to Spike as he fumbles around with a book cover, she picks him up and walks away leaving me alone again. :Well if nothing else that's resolved: I turn back to the books on the table and check the time.

It's almost dark and Entropy will be annoyed with me as it is, so I pick up all the books and start putting them away before heading home.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

It took longer then I thought it would to color that.