Mateo And Quita Moz For The Writing Requests Please :D

mateo and quita moz for the writing requests please :D

(This story is set after "Spirit of a Wizard” and before "The Lightning Warrior")

 Mateo paced back and forth in the wooden hallway.  “I shouldn't be worried about this… this is going to be fine. All I have to do is go in there, say hi, then maybe we can talk, and if he's busy I can leave. No big deal right?”  He said to himself.  His clenched fist lingered near the mass of roots which made up the door, hesitating. He had only ever talked to Quita Moz once when he was with Elena, and he felt like he hadn't made the best impression. 

 The first thing he’d asked the Oracle was “Can I call you Quita?” He shook his head as he remembered. What was he thinking!? It was one thing to be awkward around nobility or the palace staff, but it was another thing entirely to give a bad impression to an all-knowing ancient magical being who might be one of the only beings who he could really discuss Maruviain magic with! He desperately wanted to, but he was afraid that his questions would sound childish to someone so old and wise. So the only time he'd ever really met the Oracle was when Elena insisted he come along with her for her crystal tamborita lesson. (A tamborita made out of crystal! It was just as beautiful as he'd imagined. He even got to hold it at one point!)

 Sure, he’d visited the other Sunbirds with Elena, and they were welcoming to him, but they weren't as interested in magic as Quita Moz (If you could even get them on this subject when talking with them). But now that he had his new tamborita from his grandfather's secret library, questions about it had been gnawing away at him and he finally mustered up enough courage to come here and try and ask those questions himself (after a little convincing from Elena, Luna, and Skylar). Maybe if they were here, they'd be able to help him, but they’d encouraged him to do it on his own. So here he was, he was going to walk through that door and say hello, no more hesitation. 

 Or maybe not. “No I really shouldn't bother him, he might not even be here right now…” He told himself. He turned to leave when suddenly the massive roots parted in front of him surprising him so much he fell backward onto the floor. Now that the door was open, he could see the giant Oracle inside, awake and looking down at him.

 He quickly stumbled back up to his feet and tried to brush himself off while making an attempt at a wave. “Hello uh hola, hi there Quita Moz, it’s me Mateo! Hi! Sorry to make a surprise visit like this. I just…”

 Quita Moz slithered towards the door “Greetings Mateo. It isn't a surprise to see that you're here.”

 He looked up at him in awe, “Were you able to foresee my visit?”

  “No,  I did not get any visions about it, I just heard you talking to yourself in the hallway for the past 10 minutes.”

 Mateo turned red “Congratulations me, you messed up your introduction yet again.” he thought. But he couldn't turn back now. “May I come in and speak with you? Por favor?”

 He gestured with his wing “I don't see why not, you may come in.”

 As Mateo walked through the door he looked at the roots that had been pulled away. “I'm glad to see that your door grew back after Kizin broke it. Maybe I should think about getting a door made out of living material for my wizard nook at the palace.” An anxious thought occurred to him “I'm sorry about not stopping Kizin before he got in here.” he apologized “But at least we stopped him before he released the other monsters, so all’s well that ends well right?” he awkwardly laughed and did a thumbs up.

 Quita Moz's expression remained neutral “I agree. It's actually quite impressive that you were able to stop him so quickly. The last time he escaped, much more was destroyed than a door.”

 “Oh well, it was mostly Naomi. She was the one who did all the stuff with the magic bag that day. Also, Elena and Gabe were there to stop him too, I was just sort of, you know, being part of the team.” He said pacing back and forth while flexing his fingers. 

 “You shouldn’t sell yourself short, Elena told me how important your research was in defeating him.”

 He stopped pacing and made eye contact “She did?” 

 He nodded. “Yes, she always speaks very highly of you, you are evidently quite good at your job.” 

 He could feel the excitement rising in his chest. He took his tamberita out of his holster and held it so that his hands didn't just flail around with enthusiasm. So, Quita Moz didn't think he was a total joke after all! “Well, thank you. Thanks. That's good to hear!” 

 “You're welcome.” Then the sunbird looked puzzled and seemed to stare at him more closely. “Did you paint me on your tamborita?”

 Oh no, he'd meant to ask about this more tactfully but now that the Oracle had seen it, the words just burst out of him all at once. “No, I mean, maybe? I mean, I didn't paint it! I found it in my abuelo's library, along with some old robes of his and I decided to start using it because it's so cool! And I realized it looks like you, and I didn't know that my abuelo even knew that you existed, so I didn't know if it was coincidence or if it was on purpose! And I wanted to know if you ever met my grandfather Alacazar before?”

 The sunbird spread his wings and furrowed his brow “Whoa, slow down Mateo, deep breaths. You look like you're about to fall over again.”

 “Right. Yes. Yep. Deep breaths.” Mateo breathed in and out for a few counts before Quita Moz continued. 

 “So Alacazar was the one who made it? That makes sense, he was quite the artisan when it came to crafting tamboritas, and he did quite the handsome job on this one. May I see it more closely for a minute?”

 “Yes, of course!” Said Mateo, handing it to him. “So you did know him! That's so cool, but I thought that everyone assumed that the sunbirds had disappeared since before he became the royal wizard?”

 Quita Moz Held the tamborita in his tail feathers like they were a hand. “We had disappeared, it was a calculated decision. There were certain things that needed to be dealt with before we made our presence known again, and you never know when it's the right time to come back after being gone for so long.” He turned the tamborita over. “Hardly anyone knew that we were back, but Alacazar was curious to a fault and eventually found us. He visited me a few times before humans were banned from visiting Vallestrella.”

 “Wow, that's amazing! You must have had a lot of time to talk with him and get to know him, right?”

 “Well, yes, we discussed things, monsters, magic, the future…”

 “So you told him prophecies about the future? His future?” Mateo was becoming ever more excited. The whole concept of prediction magic was fascinating, and yet with all he had read up about it he felt like he had barely scratched the surface of understanding it. 

 “Well, the flames can be pretty finicky at times, they didn't always show things every time he came to visit.”

 “Is there anything specific you can remember?”

 “Hmm.” He handed back the tamborita. “Yes, this is a very  good wand.” Said the Oracle, not answering his question. “I'm surprised you didn't start using it sooner.”

 “I only found the library last week. Before then, I had just been sleeping on top of it without ever knowing it was there. Although it was supposed to be a secret library, so I guess that makes sense.”

 “I see…so Alacazar didn't even tell his family about it?” It was hard for Mateo to read the sunbird’s expression. Was he just curious or was he concerned?

 Mateo shook his head “Oh no, my mom didn't know about it, and it wasn't in any of his journals either.”

 “Then it's quite lucky that you found it.”

 “Well, it wasn't quite luck….” Mateo replied, hoping Quita Moz wouldn't ask him any more about it. He could barely talk about it with his own mother, let alone an ancient Oracle he just formally met. 

 “Either way, it does fulfill a prophecy.” Quita Moz replied.

 “Wait, it does?”

 “Yes, you'd asked if I'd ever told Alacazar any prophecies in regards to him. Long ago in the flames I saw a young wizard with brown curly hair, wearing red robes, casting spells in his name. Now that I recall it, yes the wizard in the vision was wearing the same robes as you are now.”

 Mateo jumped up “You saw me?!”

 “Well, at the time neither of us were sure who it could be. After his daughter Rafa was born, he told me it must be her and that he was planning on teaching her magic when she was old enough. He said that he planned on surprising her with robes and her own tamborita as soon as she was ready.”

 “So then…He must have made these robes for her.” Mateo said. He had wondered why they fit him so well when the rest of his grandfather's robes had such wide shoulders. Some old people in town said he looked a lot like his mom, so it must be true of visions of the future as well.

 “Yes, although the flames' picture was unclear. Now that you're standing here before me I see that it must have been you all along. I'm sure that he'd be glad to know you’d found them and could wear them.”

 “That's just what Elena said! I mean, Elena was there, when I found the robes and the tamborita and she also thought that I should have them. I mean, otherwise they'd just be sitting there collecting dust. But now that I know this was foretold, that makes them even more special!” 

 “Indeed, although It is a surprise to me that he would choose to paint me on the tamborita.”

 “Well, I can see why, you were friends! You're the one who told him this prophecy in the first place, and you're majestic looking so why not paint you on it to honor you?”

 “Honor me?” 

 “Of course! You deserve to be honored as much as anyone else I know. You've always helped Elena with her scepter, you taught her spells that were essential for protecting the Kingdom, and you told her about the darkness so she can prepare for it; even if we're not sure what it is yet. You're so amazing! Ha, that's why I was so nervous to meet you and I guess I still am.” He saw the sunbird’s expression was one of apprehension. “Wait, you don't feel that way?”

 He shook his head “It's apparent that Alacazar as well as yourself held me in quite high regard but I did not do much to earn it.”

 “What do you mean? You've been helping us out a ton!”

 “Well, I've been helping Avalor in the present, but back then it was different. Over four decades ago I had visions of some kind of danger coming to Avalor, a dark force that would be hidden from view until its time had come...but I decided not to go through the portal to warn Alacazar about it. I decided that keeping my existence a secret was more important than seeking him out, and I just assured myself that it wouldn't be a big deal. That whatever it was, the kingdom of Avalor could defeat it and I wouldn't need to worry about it. But then it turned out that the threat was Shuriki.”

 Mateo stood still, taking this all in.

 “I only found out what happened when I overheard a jaquin patrol talking about the devastation. Now you are the last wizard left in Avalor.” he sighed “If only you had the chance to meet him. It's funny that you were afraid to meet me, because I've always been dreading the day that you would all learn this.”

 Quita Moz bowed his head, he voice going quiet: "I'm sorry for my inaction, and all the horrors that caused and I’m sorry that you were unable to meet him. You really are a lot like your grandfather, curious, kind, and eager."

 After a long moment of silence, Mateo replied, barely any more than a whisper. “I did meet him, and I-I wasn't able to save him either.”

 “You...did?”

 “Yes I-I-I—” he stuttered as a pain he'd been trying to bury in his heart shot to the surface.

 “Mateo…” Quita Moz spread out his wings towards the young wizard. With eyes full of tears, he ran over to him and accepted the hug.

~~~~~~~~~~

Three weeks later…

 “Hi Quita Moz!” said Mateo as he ran through the door of the cave. 

 Quita Moz looked over at the young wizard, who was carrying a very large backpack and wearing an even larger smile. “Hello Mateo, did you bring those potions you wanted me to look at?”

 “Yes right here!” he said, holding up a few of the shimmering bottles.

 “Great, those look- wait, is that your Maruvian spellbreaker potion?”

 "Yep, it's from the latest batch where I added raíz de estrella to help restore the equilibrium of a target's inner magic after the potion has broken the initial effects of the target spell. It worked well on my plant tests. But umm, what do you think?"

 "Mateo, that's…really clever, I hadn't considered that before, but that plant is a natural counter to the effects of hojas azules de frambuesa, so that makes sense it would balance it out."

 “That's what I thought! I mean, it just sort of came to me one day when I was helping my mom pick berries for Sunday dessert. Then when I tried it out on Monday, whoosh, instantly more effective!”

 “You'll have to show me then.” Said Quita Moz. 

 “Of course, I brought along a whole bag's worth of things to test it on. Let me just set up.”

 As he watched Mateo set up, Quita Moz smiled. The young wizards' zest for magic was contagious. A memory flashed in his mind of many many summers ago when another young man had come to show him some plants that he’d discovered in caves around the valley. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed this, knowing someone who loved magic with all their heart and wanted to share their discoveries with another. 

 When Mateo left hours later, as the sun began to set, Quita Moz watched him leave, thinking about the apprentices of his past who eventually he never saw again. But he was content that he would see Mateo again in two weeks' time. No disappearing, and no pacing.