L. J. Amber

TEWWBAD Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32 – Lost in Translation

Fortunately, thanks to the time she had spent listening to liturgies at the shrines, Laewyn was familiar with the spirits of the woodlands. Unfortunately, as Celaena contorted in her sleep and muttered fevered words in the tongue of sylvan creatures, Laewyn had no other experience of them, and so breathed out in relief as Iolas finished explaining what was happening.

“You had me worried,” she laughed, still nervous. Her gaz...

TEWWBAD Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31 – Enchantment by Acquaintance

Laewyn was fully dressed when Saphienne and Iolas entered Celaena’s study, sitting by the window in a clean set of clothes identical to those she had worn the day before; she flushed as she exchanged polite greetings with them. Celaena hovered near the entrance as she blushed with her, and she promptly excused herself from the room, murmuring that she would fetch them all tea.

Saphienne dropped her satchel to follow h...

TEWWBAD Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30 – Defining Boundaries

Once the demonstration had concluded, and the doused braziers had been returned inside with the other implements, Almon instructed the three apprentices to sit on the grass and take notes while he lectured them at length on the discipline of Abjuration. But before he began, he informed them that they would not be covering all the principles that governed its practice, just as they had not governed all the principles concerning Conjur...

TEWWBAD Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29 – The Outline of Barriers

Rain poured down across the Eastern Vale, flowing down the sloped centre of the grove and on through the elaborate, winding channels that led to the western river. Saphienne always liked the rain, and when she was little she hadn’t cared whether she was soaked through from walking in it, much to the amusement of others. Now in her teens, she pulled up the thick hood of her outer robes – the fabric tightly woven to resist wate...

TEWWBAD Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28 – Show and Tell

Saphienne and Celaena found Iolas waiting for them outside the bakery, still plucking flowers from his robes as he leant next to the wide window. Saphienne settled next to him while Celaena went inside.

They said nothing for a time; the grove was quiet, still yet hours away from the afternoon rush when most elves socialised and collected their provisions. The only other people on the street were four adults, chatting amiably together...

TEWWBAD Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27 – The Presence in Absence

Always quick to think of others, Iolas sprang toward Celaena the moment she collapsed within the gravel circle — though not swiftly enough to break her fall. He took her hand in his own and squeezed as he studied her sweating face. “Celaena? Can you hear me?”

The wizard loomed over them both in his blue robes, his voice given weight by the yellow spell aglow around his neck. “Do not sit her up. She will need a momen...

TEWWBAD Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26 – Mirrors

The horror that Saphienne and Iolas felt as they watched the spirit leave the circle was joined by terror, both apprentices swiftly backing away from the creature now inhabiting Celaena. That something terrible had happened to their friend was immediately apparent: she moved with stilted clumsiness, as though her legs were new to her, yet carried herself with a relaxed ease that the elf had never before shown, not even when feeding her birds. He...

TEWWBAD Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25 – Prisms

Saphienne could be forgiven for thinking that all her lessons in magic would take the form of gentle demonstration followed by intellectual discussion. After all, while he had emphasised the wonder and awe in spellcasting, Almon had stressed that magic was an exercise in careful thinking and observation. Nor was she alone in that expectation; Iolas and Celaena both found their studies academically interesting, but expected that the excitement wou...

TEWWBAD Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24 – What Connects

There are months when nothing makes sense, and moments when everything at last comes together — when all the puzzling pieces that were scattered along the path suddenly click into place. Saphienne had one such moment when she arrived before Celaena’s house, gazing beyond a gate in a low wall that surrounded a hill which steeply climbed through terraced gardens overgrown with budding flowers up to a grand doorway in a house that was gro...

TEWWBAD Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23 – What Distinguishes

In retrospect, Saphienne realised she had made an assumption: she had counted on the fact that Peacock would be able to read her notes. She realised her oversight while walking with Iolas to their second day of lessons, but said nothing to him, preferring instead to practice small talk about the weather; she didn’t want to give him any further reason to think less of her.

As they came within sight of the wizard’s home, Iolas...

TEWWBAD Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22 – Innocence

“I suppose the solstice festival feels long ago to you, given your age. You don’t remember, then?”

Brought back to the present as Gaeleath spoke, Saphienne stepped forward, as though she were carefully examining the trio of unfinished sculptures, reaching out to touch the sandstone with one hand while she wiped her eyes with the other — keeping her back to the sculptor. She tilted her head, pretended she had been brushing a loose...

TEWWBAD Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 – All the Ease of Summertime

There had been a puppet show for the children. Saphienne would remember that, nearly five years later.

She had been nine years old, golden haired now summer had arrived, wearing her usual sundress — while all the other children wore clothes reserved for special occasions. In her unfolding memory she was sat at the back of the audience in the tented pavilion, beside Kylantha, who was always golden haired, nestled up aga...

TEWWBAD Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 – For Reason and Passion

When the tea was finished, and the wind stirred restlessly through the bushes, the apprentices stood and exchanged farewells. Celaena hugged Iolas and then Saphienne before she took their empty cups, and she departed to the teahouse with a promise to see them next morning.

Iolas walked with Saphienne toward her house, lengthening his stride to keep up with her as she floated through the groves. “You’re in a good mood.”...

TEWWBAD Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19 – Just Friends

Although Saphienne knew the layout of the village well, she had seldom spent time in public spaces other than the library. Her mother disliked going out unless she had to, and children under the age of fourteen were not able to request provisions, not without a responsible adult to deliver the request on their behalf. Library books were different, owing to the fact that they were borrowed and returned, and Filaurel was especially welcoming ...

TEWWBAD Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18 – Moving Ahead, Falling Behind

Spare a thought for Celaena and Iolas as they sat with Saphienne in the parlour of their master. Although both were older than her – Celaena turned sixteen, Iolas still seventeen – and had prepared for longer to secure their start as Almon’s apprentices, even from that very first day of lessons, they knew Saphienne was ahead of them.

No matter that they were both highly intelligent and thoughtful elves; no matter...

Chapters Revised With New Content!

Don't worry — new chapters are still releasing on schedule!

Hello everyone,

Have you ever finished doing something, only to figure out how to do it better, just a little too late? That was me, a week after I launched TEWWBAD: I suddenly realised a simple and profound improvement I could make to my writing.

Going by the Royal Road stats, people were enjoying the story. But, according to those same stats, there were a significant number of pe...

TEWWBAD Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 – Look, and Look Again

Walking through the village while under a magic spell was quite unlike anything Saphienne had experienced before. She had never tried wine – despite the many bottles her mother kept under the stairs, she had never once been interested – and didn’t really know how it felt to be drunk; but the accounts of drunkenness she had read came back to her as she made her way toward the library. Writers described wine as being relaxing in...

TEWWBAD Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 – Of Magic Made Tangible

Saphienne, Celaena, and Iolas were all very excited for their first practical lesson in magic, and when their master stood to begin, the three apprentices straightened up where they sat cross-legged on the floor before him. Yet all of them were teenagers, and all felt it very important not to show too much enthusiasm before Almon — lest they appear childish.

Each attempted to hide their interest in different ways. Iolas to...

TEWWBAD Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 – Intangible Lessons

To ensure she wouldn’t arrive last, on her first day of lessons Saphienne set out for the wizard’s abode even earlier, still yawning as she made her way through the outskirts of the village. Her lingering tiredness vanished the instant she came within sight of the towering tree — seeing another girl in apprentice’s robes, reaching for the door.

“Celaena!”

Celaena stopped on the doorstep, surprised by the shout ...

TEWWBAD Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14 – An Immovable Rock

See Saphienne as she was becoming, the forthright young girl, fourteen years old. Her hair was once more brown as the earth, and she was still pale — though even these features had begun to lose their resemblance to those of the quiet child she once was, her hair thicker, gloss beginning on her skin. Her eyes were still green, but their childlike openness and passivity had been replaced by sharp observation and implicit judgement, qu...

TEWWBAD Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 – Small Things That Matter

Upon noticing Faylar waiting in the grove, Saphienne shut the door to her family home slowly, curious about why he was just standing there. He had obviously seen her come outside from where he was waiting, but he had said nothing, pretending instead that he was preoccupied by the morning clouds drifting overhead. A gust of wind ruffled his short hair, the breeze sending ripples along his thigh-length coat. He was dressed differe...

TEWWBAD Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 – Taking Care of Her

The man who emerged from Saphienne’s family home was dressed against the cold, wearing a long, padded coat that was split at the front and back, the woollen scarf around his neck wound very tightly. He carried a saddle over his shoulder as he ducked through the doorway, and the braided tail of his long, white hair whipped back as he straightened up — to see Saphienne standing with Faylar, only a little distance away.

A pause...

TEWWBAD Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 – Misapprehensions

In her countless hours in the village library, Saphienne had read that elves possessed much better eyesight and hearing than many other creatures, and that most of the shorter-lived peoples considered their senses miraculous. She found the thought that someone would be so easily impressed quite amusing, though imagining how much duller the world must seem to them made her sad.

However, as she crouched on the frozen doorstep to her...

TEWWBAD Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 – Around the Issue

By now you have a faint inkling of the woman Saphienne would become, and the people who shaped her as she grew. Two of the five moments that defined her have been described, and we crossed out of her early childhood some time ago.

So too the hour that you were to listen has elapsed. Tell me: does the hoard still command your attention? Would you care to fill your pockets now? Or would you prefer to linger until I finish describing...

TEWWBAD Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 – Emerging Shapes

On the night of her first confrontation with the wizard Almon, Saphienne was physically tired, having spent the day working with stone. And yet, as she walked back through the outskirts of the village, she felt wide awake, her thoughts thrumming in her mind like a stringed instrument that had been plucked for the first time. All the snowy world around her was hushed in anticipation, ready for her music, as though she were the conductor of...

TEWWBAD Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 – A Frozen Summit

There was no reaction from the other elves when the illusory glade of flowers and floating stars dissolved away, not immediately, their silence made starker by the wintery clearing to which they had returned.

Almon found his voice first. “Must you dispute everything, child?”

The wizard was livid; his face had flushed dark red, and he threw up his suspended arm in irritation, casting whatever invisible thing had pe...

TEWWBAD Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 – Seeing and Believing

On the day of Saphienne’s twelfth birthday she had risen with the dawn, bathing herself while her mother still slept. As the first light of day shone through the windows of her family home she brushed out and tied back her then brown hair, put on freshly cleaned clothes, and made herself a simple breakfast of wholegrain breads and mulberries. She thought about eating the strawberries that belonged to her mother, but they were not i...

TEWWBAD Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 – The Great Art

Months before Saphienne stood in the parlour and answered the wizard, she had been examined for apprenticeship by another accomplished artist.

Gaeleath had arrived at her family home early in the morning, to be met by her mother, who brought the sculptor inside and called up the stairs for Saphienne. Descending toward them, Saphienne heard a casual offer of wine despite the early hour, along with the surprise behind the polite refusal...

TEWWBAD Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 – A Bloody Contest

“What in the world? Another interruption?”

The wizard had remained seated in his chair when the door flew open under Saphienne’s knock, though the three elves that stood before him had jumped, surprise written on their faces.

Almon maintained his cool, sitting back. “I told you, girl, another time. You are far too young to begin–”

Saphienne strode into the room, not caring that the door hung op...

TEWWBAD Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 – Choosing a Side

With all the options Saphienne had before her, even Filaurel thought it strange when the young elf chose tailoring as her next art. The girl had an extremely keen mind, and while there was a certain creativity involved in designing clothes, the work was far from intellectually demanding. And as for personal interests, she had never shown particular care in how she dressed herself… nor had she ever commented on what others wore.

St...