The Keeper of Magical Things

Certainty Bulrush is a novice at the Guild of Mages, and she badly wants to be useful. The Guild took her in, her little brother depends on her, and her magic is too weak to help anyone much. When a simple assignment offers a way to earn her magehood, she accepts it.

The catch is her partner. Mage Aurelia is brilliant, annoyingly good-looking, and has managed to put off nearly everyone she has worked with. Together they must carry a collection of minor magical artifacts to Shpelling, the dullest and least magical village around, and keep them safe there.

The work is practical and a little absurd. They have to repair an old warehouse, sort the gossipy teapots from the swords that are somewhat on fire, and manage a rowdy young catdragon that followed them along. Above all, they are to avoid trouble, because the Guild's relationship with ordinary citizens is already strained and a magical accident could tip it over.

As the two get to know the villagers, and each other, they begin to suspect that the Guild's hoarded magic would do more good if it were shared. This is a warm, light fantasy with a slow-building romance between the two women, comic touches throughout, and a cozy village at its center. Magic is unreliable, though, and attraction only adds to the risk.