Jorin's Interregnum

Jorin cradled his head in his hands, elbows braced on the table. The room was filled with smoke. Strangely enough for a wizard, he had never been able to tolerate tobacco smoke. Outside was not much better; the smell of bacon and eggs turned his stomach.

He looked up at the golden chalice in front of him. The morning light flashed off its surface, brilliant as the sun. It was beautiful. He had spent months making it, matching the description in a book he’d borrowed from the library in Aldermaine. It didn’t matter that it would be nothing more than decoration; a gift for Queen Magalia to show her appreciation for her visit.

It didn’t matter that she had never picked it up, let alone seen it. If only she hadn’t caught him so completely off guard - how was he supposed to know that the royal entourage would show up while he was brewing a love potion?

The door slammed open and Magalia burst into the room, face red and eyes blazing. She was an imposing woman: tall and strong, with broad shoulders and long black hair. His heart sank even further when she saw him and stormed over to his table, leaning down with her face inches from his own.

"You ruined everything!" Her voice was low and dangerous, like thunder before lightning strikes. "The trip was magnificent! You treated us like royalty! Not a mention of magic or sorcery or any other darkness! And then you pulled your little stunt on me! You think I don't know it was you?!"

"Magalia," Jorin began, but she cut him off again, slamming a fist down on the table and sending plumes of ash into the air around them. Flames danced along her fingertips but did not burn down upon the table or even singe the fine cloths they were sitting at.

Jorin looked away from her face to glance at his arms - they were covered in scratches and cuts from where they'd run into furniture as they were switched between bodies. It didn't seem to bother Magalia - she had taken several days out of her busy schedule to be here in Mytalia instead of going right back home after their meeting at court yesterday, but he hadn't heard any reports about injuries or accidents during that time.

"Magalia," he tried again. "Please take a breath."

But this time she ignored him and just kept screaming at him until she ran out of energy or steam - whichever came first - leaving him with tears streaming down his face and barely able to breathe through his nose because he forgot to breathe through his mouth earlier when she started yelling at him. She stormed out of the room without another word, slamming the door shut behind her hard enough to rattle the glass panes in the windows looking out onto Mytalia's main square where they sat inside what used to be Magalia's palace when she ruled as queen but now belonged entirely to Jorin who could do whatever he wanted with it as long as no one bothered him about it. He wouldn't even call it his palace because he wasn't really sure what else it could be thought of as since all anyone ever called it anymore was 'the sorcerer's house'.