Way of The Wand

Chapter 4

When Jira opened her door the following morning and saw Kano standing on the porch, she surmised he must have found out about Kalinda’s visit.

Without hesitation, she threw her arms around Kano, swallowing him in a tight hug.

Unlike their mother, Kano had supported her through the years, and even encouraged her back when she harboured doubts about starting her own school of witchcraft.

Kano set himself down on an armchair in the living room, his face darkening with grave seriousness. “Mum tells me you agreed to a tournament?”

“My students believe they need to do this,” Jira responded with a heavy sigh.

Kano let Jira settle in the chair opposite him. “ What did Mum tell you she came here for yesterday?”

“To make amends.”

“And you believed her?” Kano’s eyebrows climbed high up his dark forehead.

Jira scoffed. “You know me better than that.”

Kano reclined into his chair, letting out a deep groan. “Good, because that’s not why she was here. She came to pitch the tournament to you, nothing more, nothing less. She believes at the end you’ll be so embarrassed, you’ll return to Airad to resume your studies in wizardry.”

Jira’s eyelids closed as a soft laugh trickled out her throat. “That woman never gives up, does she?”

“No,” Kano agreed with a laugh of his own, but his seriousness returned almost immediately.

“There’s one more thing. Mum chose me and Daila as champions, along with a third student who’s equally as talented. I can’t tell you who he is because Mum wants it to be a secret. As you know, smarts is more of a witchcraft thing so you have the upper hand there.”

Daila, Kalinda’s oldest child, was Kano’s and Jira’s half-sister. Twenty-three years old and in her tenth year of wizarding school, Daila still had three more years of school to complete but had already gained notoriety as Airad’s most powerful and brutal student.

Kano on the other hand was twenty-one years old and in his seventh year in Airad. Unlike his older sister, he was known for being the school’s high flyer. Flying classes in Airad began from the fifth year and most students didn’t learn to fly well till they were in their ninth. Yet flying had kicked in like instinct for Kano.

Jira had spent six months in Airad before quitting the school. She spent the next three years under the tutelage of a witch and learnt everything there was to learn from him. It was after then that she decided to establish her own school, Jira’s School of Witchcraft, for anyone who didn’t want to devote thirteen years of their lives to learning how to use magic.

Not to mention, only children from wealthy families could afford to attend elite wizarding schools like Airad.

Jira believed thirteen years was far too long a period of study for wizardry. In her opinion, it was meant to drag out and syphon fees from its students for as long as possible. Really, the entire curriculum of wizardry could be compressed down to six years, maybe even five.

If anything, the high dropout rate in wizardry was proof of its unnecessarily long and exorbitantly expensive curriculum.

Kano leaned forward in his chair. “I’d like to help you Jira, but I won’t be throwing away my task just to let your champion win.”

“I wouldn’t ask that of you. Give it your best. If my students win, it must be because the tournament was fair. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Kano’s cheeks lit up with relief. “Good.”

He got up to leave and gave his sister a goodbye embrace.

Jira walked him to the door, only for him to pause just shy of the exit.

“It’s not too late to pull out you know? There’s still time to call this whole thing off. You don’t have to go along with Mum’s games.”

Jira smiled at her brother’s concern. His warmth had always been what she loved the most about him.

“I told you Kano, my students want this. My job now is to guide them through it.”

Kano nodded in response. He’d come to give Jira a heads up about their mother’s plan, and now that he had, even though Jira had refused to back out of the tournament, it was time for him to go.

“By the way,” Kano said, “not a word to anyone I was here.”

Jira drew an imaginary zip lock across her lips and threw away the keys.

Kano turned his gaze from his sister to the sky, and bidding her farewell, leapt into the sky, taking flight.

Jira watched him disappear into the clouds and imagined herself doing the same. It had taken Kano more than a year to learn how to do that, and only because he was exceptionally gifted. Flying without the aid of a broom was a useful skill no doubt, but even for that, she wouldn’t suffer through a full year of wizardry.

While she was still at Airad, what put her off the most about wizardry was the attitude and approach of wizards to magic. They saw it as a means to power, as opposed to what it really was, what it was meant to be, a connection to the world around.

All the dinner table talks she’d had with her family as a kid ended in arguments.

She didn’t want to learn magic because she was power hungry, she wanted to learn magic for magic’s sake.

At seven she started to get into witchcraft, met a few witches at some functions, and through them, came to understand magic in a different light from her family—magic as a means of expression.

Whereas wizarding schools housed hundreds of students in huge complexes and fixated on rules, regulations and uniforms, witches offered a more personal, more expressive medium of magical education.

Students picked out their own school clothes, agreed on their own time for classes and were encouraged to be creative.

Later, when Jira’s students came around for their lessons, she had a poignant discussion with them.

Tomi, Lila, Simi, Kiki, Juwon and Ike squeezed themselves into the small sofa in the sitting room, with two others, Fola and Iman, perched on the arms of the sofa.

The rest crowded around the four arm chairs spaced around the living room, except Timi who hunched over his sister and Lila from behind the sofa, staring directly into Jira’s eyes on the opposite side of the room.

Her eyes drifted from one teen to the other, all looking colourful in their shirts, coats and dashikis.

“We are going up against the most powerful wizarding school in the land.”

Her eyes filled with intensity. “Make no mistake, this isn’t going to be easy.”

“But I believe in you. I have watched you grow in strength and wisdom over the past year, and I promise you, Airad won’t know what hit them.”

The teens broke into a cheer.

Jira held up a hand and the cheer died. Her gaze swept over the whole class before coming to rest on Tomi.

Jira motioned for her to step out and Tomi got up to come stand beside Jira. Next, Jira motioned for Tomi’s brother Timi to step forward. He took his place on Jira’s other side. Jira then motioned for Lila to get up and join them.

“And so we have it,” Jira said, “Kalinda informed me the tasks would test speed, smarts and strength. Lila will be our champion for the task of speed, Tomi for smarts and Timi for strength.”

The class broke into another round of applause.

“Let’s show these wizards just how powerful we witches are.”

After the cheer died down, Jira took the three champions aside to the privacy of her dining room to give them a brief talk.

“We will begin a special training for you three, to prepare you for the tournament.”

She looked into their faces and resolute eyes stared back at her. Jira was pleased, that sort of determination would go a long way.

“But, before that happens,” Jira paused, reaching for three letters on her tiny dining table, “I’ll need permission from your parents.”

She shared the letters to each student before letting them rejoin their classmates.

As she watched the trio get swallowed by the others in high spirits, each student hugging and high-fiving the champions, Jira prayed a quiet prayer to the Gods for them to win.