The plan to ban
“You’re going to do what?” Hollered Marjan, his great long bushy beard flapping and whacking him in his rotund stomach in a hypnotic way. His great pockmarked face grew redder and redder, and his eyes bulged.
Jannavive looked up from the long list of names in front of her. She had only crossed out five of them so far, five angry belligerent wizards who had all shouted at her this morning when she had told them the news. She was tired of window-dressing the news, clarifying it, and reiterating and repeating herself. Now all she had the energy for was the bare minimum. It was already more than these egotistical, self-aggrandising manipulators of magic deserved anyway.
“Banning magic.” She said.
Marjan’s face reddened, looking like he was going to explode. Could wizards explode, she wondered? Would they explode in a bloody pulp like the rest of us, or in a puff of magical light and sound? Maybe if she kept this thankless task up for much longer, she would find out.
“You’ll regret this!” Boomed Marjan, his fingers starting to sparkle and spark. She pointed at the sign behind her that stated in no uncertain terms that any use of magic in a government building would result in severe punishment, and she swore that Marjan was starting to emit steam out of his ears and nose.
“You don’t know our power. We will teach you to never meddle in the ways of Wizards.” He shouted, stomping and steaming around the room in a flurry of purple robes and grey hair. “We will teach you… you… pen pushers that the wand is mightier than the pen!” He looked very pleased with that response and stormed out of the room in a flap of self-righteousness, slamming the door behind him.
She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the silence and stillness of the room around her, the latent potent crackle of magic still settling in the room. So far today she had been shouted at, spat at, threatened with death, threatened with a generational curse, and been treated with looks ranging from contempt to pity. She looked at the list in front of her, only another twenty names to go. She wondered what kind of blustering battery they might hurl at her and how long a sign promising punishment would hold against a group of dangerous individuals brimming with power. What punishment was the government actually going to deliver? A fine to people who could summon currency out of thin air or a prison sentence to people who could walk through walls seemed like something of a hollow threat.
She assumed there was some secret plan she wasn’t aware of, way above her pay grade. All she was paid to do was plough through this list, informing people and getting shouted at and abused. Some other bright spark had all the fun in concocting policy and figuring out how to enforce it. She had a thick skin.
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