eight days in, and 13000 words+!

“Mikey?” Rork tried to not laugh, but had difficulty keeping a straight face. “That's not quite as nice a title as Grand Wizard.”

“Hence why I took it,” came the simple Mmikey's reply. “I wasn't really one to enjoy being called Mikey-poo all day long by my peers.”

“So you became the Grand Wizard all because you didn't want to be called Mikey-poo?” Rork was a little skeptical at his story.

“Well, yeah, obviously, what would you have done in my situatation?” smoke rose from Mikey's nostrils as he said this, making him seem almost demonic with the fire behind him.

“I dunno,” came Rork's straight response. “I probably would have asked them not to call me that.”

“Ah,” Mikey pulled the pipe out of his mouth and used it to point at Rork as he made his point, “but what if these were the types of people who wouldn't stop calling you that name just because you asked politely? What road would you take?”

Stuck on the question, Rork was silenced for a few moments. After a little while Mikey put his pipe back in his mouth and took a few puffs before opening his mouth to speak, “You're tired. Your room's all the way at the end of the hallway. Make sure you sleep well tonight, you'll need it.” There was a small glint of softness in Mikey's eye as he spoke. Maybe there's more to him than I first thought.

Rork walked down the hallway, question still on his mind. What would he do if someone didn't stop doing something that he really disliked after he politely asked them. Asking again didn't seem to make any sense, they already declined the first time, and outright rage wasn't really the best scenario either, he knew that first hand.

He dragged his bags into his room and left them on the floor, anxiously dropping into bed. He sighed contentedly; this bed was much more comfortable than the slabs of stone that they called beds at school. He quickly fell asleep, dreaming of his friends and family.

“Alright, awake! Time to rise and shine!” The light hit Rork like a brick to the face. “Up! Up! Up!” This woman's voice was more than just loud, it was obnoxiously loud. “My, ye must have been a tired one, you slept with your robe on, dearie.”

Rork slowly started to stir, eyelids heavier than anvils, and realized that he never fully got into bed; he still had his feet squarely hanging off the bed, planted on the floor. He rubbed his eyes as he slowly managed to find the energy to prop himself up on his elbow and open his eyes part-way to see that he had in fact fallen asleep in his robe.

“Well, how about changing into this nice getup here, dearie?” The woman, dressed in a humble tan outfit with a white belt, had set out some of Rork's clothes for him to wear, under garments included; he flushed slightly, not being used to having anyone, let alone a woman see those. “I'll leave ye to change, let me know if ye have any troubles, or need to know where anything is.” And with that, Rork was left alone in his room.

He glanced about, not really sure what all was there, for there was indeed a lot. He saw books crammed in bookshelves all over, and his bed was across from the door. There was even a small bookcase that extended down from the ceiling. It was a weird room, the material of the walls almost looked like a smooth stone, and there was a desk on the far side, opposite the bed. The room itself was probably no bigger than two hundred square feet, but it felt so large, much larger than his little closet of a room back at school. He even noticed a couch next to the door that he hadn't seen on his way in last night. All the furnishings were rustic colors, apparently Mikey didn't much care for the flamboyant, gaudy style.

After stripping down and putting on his fresh robes, Rork left the room and walked back down the hallway to the room where he had first entered the Grand Wizard's home, or getaway, or whatever this place was. The woman was in the corner, dusting one of the tables which held the skull of some creature unknown to Rork, and it almost looked as though there were some sort of grayish liquid in it.

The woman, realizing Rork's presence as he stepped into the room, turned around. “Well, you look much better now, dearie, what would you like for some breakfast? Just name it and I'll prepare it for you.” She really was a pleasant one, always showing a smile.

“Umm, how about some eggs and bacon? Oh! And a glass of milk?” Rork had no idea what time it was, but judging by his hunger, it was well past noon, and also well past the regular hours for breakfast, not that he was one to complain.

“Alright, it'll be just a moment.” The woman turned around, and after a brief flash of smoke, she turned back, warm plate in hand with eggs and bacon on it, steaming, and a glass of milk in the other hand, condensation falling from the glass as she handed it to him.

Rork didn't realize he was standing there with a slack jaw. “How is that possible? You just brought something from nothing, and some really complicated somethings at that.”

She just winked at him as she said “It's just a matter of mixing magics, that's all, anything is really possible if you think about it for a little while.” She motioned with her hands, hinting that Rork should grab the plate and glass from her.

Rork took the food receptacles and sat down in the chair. Cramming a huge bite of eggs into his mouth, his face melted into a content smile as the warm eggs slid down his throat, leaving a trail of pure bliss and tastiness. “These are great!” he nearly shouted as he stuffed another mouthful of eggs into his mouth, followed shortly by a bite of the best bacon he'd ever tasted before. It was chewy, and yet still had a crisp crunch to it at the same time. He didn't wonder about this paradox, however, for he was too happy to be eating such good food that he didn't have time to figure out the properties of crunch to chew ratios and how tasty they are.

He gulped down half the glass of milk in two swigs, and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. Pausing for a moment to take in the taste of everything, he asked the woman, who had returned to her dusting, “So, where's the Grand Wi- I mean Mikey?”

“Oh, he had some important affairs to attend to early today, but he should be back shortly, dearie.” She moved her hand to right beneath her lower lip and made a rubbing motion while looking at Rork, who quickly caught on and rubbed the little bit of milk that was hanging off his lip.

“So, what exactly does the Grand Wizard do?” Rork had never actually heard what the Grand Wizard did, just that he was able to control all six elements.

“Oh, I think he'll tell ye when the time is right, come now, finish your meal before it gets cold.”

Rork, not needing a second reminder, dug into his food with renewed vigor, and washed it all down with the remainder of his beverage, letting out a huge, content sigh as he reclined further into the chair in which he was sitting.

He didn't even realize that he had fallen asleep, but he was awoken suddenly by the clomping of boots on the stone floor. He looked around suddenly, noticing that his plates had been taken away, and there stood Mikey, sopping wet, with streams of water running off him. “Well, Nana's gonna have a fit about this one.” He looked at the chair where Rork was sitting and smiled. Then, without any sort of reason, steam started rising off Mikey's gray robe and white hair. Rork sat up a bit as it continued, not sure of what was going on.

“Oh,” spoke up Mikey as he realized that Rork must have been somewhat worried, “don't worry, I'm just drying off after a bit of a swim. Unfortunately, it seems that more of these attacks are happening, even in the secluded areas of the merfolk.” He took off his hat and twisted it, dripping even more water onto the floor. As the steam slowly stopped, he reached out his hand and drew the skull to him from the table in the opposite corner of the room. He made a quick motion and the water from the floor flew up and, with a second motion of his hand, landed neatly in his cup, which he then downed in one swig.

“Now that just warms the body right down to the soul.” He sat down in the chair opposite Rork and pulled out his pipe, lighting it with a match on the table. “So, I trust that you slept well?”

Rork slowly nodded his head, not quite sure what to make of everything that had just happened.

“Well, it is a very comfy chair, I've fallen asleep there many a time, though Nana usually comes in and shoos me off to bed when I do.”

“Is that the lady who was cleaning around here earlier and made me breakfast?” Rork asked.

“Well, it better have been, or else we've got an intruder here,” came Mikey's reply with a wink. “She probably got your clothes set out for you too, huh? Yeah, she does a very nice job of keeping this place clean, I would be nothing without her, I'd have too much stuff to take care of here, I'm a real slob. Do, please, be nice to her, she is a wonderful woman, and you'll learn much from her, maybe even more than you'll learn from me.”

Rork was confused by that last statement, but nodded slowly, not wanting to make a big fuss.

(greetings again my faithful followers.  I hope you had a great day!  I don't work tomorrow, so I just miiiiight be able to sneak out the next 1667 words before just before midnight.  Also, I hope you all are enjoying the way I've decided to take it, and if you're not, well... too bad, it's my story ;) .  Seriously, though, do feel free to leave comments or ideas on where you might think it would be good to take the story.  Also, a shout out to my wonderful wife, who puts up with me writing after I get home from work instead of helping out with dinner as much as I usually do, she's amazing, and hopefully all those with wonderful wives out there will understand this need to make it known that I have a wonderful wife.  I love you, sweetie :) .  Anywho, enjoy your middle of the week, and I look forward to posting for you all again tomorrow, so don't change the channel.  Laterz!)