At first the talk proceeded in a fairly standard fashion, but the usual routine he was used to was quickly shattered when they reached the topic of habitation.
«According to this,» began Ilsa, momentarily shaking a piece of paper she was holding, «you lived in academy housing for the past two years. I assume you intend to do the same this year, too?»
«Err, actually, no,» answered Zorian. «I’m taking my younger sister with me this year, so I can’t do that. Unless the academy makes allowances for such things?»
«It doesn’t,» Ilsa said.
«I figured,» Zorian said, not really surprised by that. «We’ll just stay in a hotel for a few days until I find a place to rent.»
Ilsa gave him a strange look that Zorian had trouble deciphering.
«You don’t have a place reserved already?» she asked.
«No,» Zorian said. «The decision was a bit abrupt so I didn’t have any time to make proper preparations. Why?»
«I may have a solution for you in regards to that,» Ilsa said, straightening her posture into a slightly more serious stance.
«You mean you know a place I could rent?» Zorian asked. Ilsa nodded. «That’s… fortunate, I guess. What do you have in mind?»
«First of all, I want to emphasize that what I’m about to offer you has nothing to do with the Cyoria Royal Academy of Magical Arts,» Ilsa cautioned. «This is something strictly between the two of us, understand?»
«Okay,» said Zorian cautiously. He was getting slightly concerned now, but he sensed no deception or ill intent from Ilsa. He waited to hear what she was offering.
«A friend of mine is renting rooms at very reasonable rates…» Ilsa began.
After several minutes of questioning and reading between the lines, Zorian decided he would give Ilsa’s friend a chance. Her ‘reasonable rates’ were a tad expensive, but it was manageable. Ilsa also suggested her friend loved children and would be all too happy to take care of Kirielle while he was at class, which would be worth every piece he paid for the place if actually true.
After that, the topic shifted to his choice of mentor (or rather, the fact that he wasn’t allowed to choose one), and his choice of electives. Since he had pretty much tried out every elective he was even remotely interested in by now, his choices were pretty constant at this point: botany, astronomy, and human anatomy. He chose them solely because he knew for a fact that teachers of those particular subjects didn’t care in the slightest if he chose not to come to class, and because Akoja didn’t choose any of them as her electives (and thus wasn’t aware he was skipping them).
The moment Ilsa went back to the academy, Kirielle came barreling down the stairs like a herd of elephants, ignoring mother’s admonishments about running inside the house. No doubt she had finished packing a while ago and had been simply waiting for Ilsa to leave so she could come out.
«I’m ready!» she grinned happily.
«So you have everything packed?» asked Zorian.
«Yup!» she nodded.
«What about my books?» asked Zorian.
«Why would I pack your books?» she scowled. «You can do that yourself, lazy ass!»
«Well, you did take them from my room and hide them under your bed,» Zorian remarked.
«Oh!» Her eyes widened in understanding. «Those books! Umm… I guess I kind of forgot to give those back to you. I’ll put them back in your room, okay?»
«What are you two talking about?» mother asked as she approached.
«Nothing!» Kirielle said in a slightly panicky voice, whirring quickly to face mother. «I just forgot something, that’s all! I’ll be right back!»
She quickly bolted up the stairs, ignoring mother’s repeated admonishment about not running in the house. Zorian looked at her retreating form with narrowed eyes. Why was Kirielle so frightened about mother finding out she had been taking books out of his room? It was hardly the first time she helped herself to his things, and mother never cared before. There was something of significance hidden in that seemingly innocuous reaction, he just knew it.
He was starting to think he didn’t know Kirielle half as well as he thought he did.
«I’m bored.»
Zorian opened his eyes and glared at his little sister. He couldn’t close his eyes for more than a minute without her saying something or ‘accidentally’ kicking him in the knees with her pointy little shoes. And he had thought the station announcer was annoying.
«I can tell,» he said, rolling his eyes. «What do you want me to do about it?»
«Play a game with me?» she said hopefully.
«Haven’t we done enough of that already?» he sighed. «There are only so many times I can beat you at hangman before it gets boring.»
«You were cheating!» she protested. «‘Asphyxiation’ isn’t even a real word!»
«What!? Of course it is!» he shot back. «You’re just—»
«Liar!» she interrupted.
«Whatever,» Zorian scoffed. «It’s not like that was the only game where I won.»
«So you admit you cheated in that one!» she concluded triumphantly.
Zorian opened his mouth to retort before he closed it again.
«Why am I arguing about this?» he asked out loud, though it was directed more towards himself than Kiri.
A sharp crackling sound that always heralded the voice of the station announcer stopped any further argument they may have had.
«Now stopping in Korsa,» a disembodied voice echoed. A crackling sound again. «I repeat, now stopping in Korsa. Thank you.»
«Oh thank the gods,» Zorian mumbled. Not only did arriving in Korsa mean three quarters of the journey was over, it also meant someone was going to join them in their compartment, thus giving Kirielle someone else to annoy.
Someone other than Ibery, though — he purposely avoided his usual compartment to ensure she and Kiri would never meet, since he had a suspicion a conversation between them wouldn’t end well. Kiri didn’t like Fortov any more than Zorian did, and she was a lot less tactful about it.
«So many people,» Kiri remarked, watching the throng at the train station through the window. «Are those all students like you?»
«Most of them, yeah,» Zorian said. «Though not all of them go to the same school as I do. There is more than one academy in Cyoria.»
«I thought mages were rarer than this,» she said. «Mom says you need to be really smart to be one. Do you think I could be a mage too one day?»
«Sure,» he shrugged.
«Really?» she asked, a mixture of excitement and suspicion radiating from her voice and posture. Zorian supposed she half-expected him to use his agreement as a set up for a mean-spirited joke or something along those lines.
«Yes,» he confirmed. «I don’t see why you couldn’t. You seem to be doing well enough in school from what I heard, so I don’t see why your intelligence would be a problem. And it’s not like our parents can’t afford to send you somewhere, even if it isn’t Cyoria.»
Kirielle didn’t answer, choosing instead to look through the window in silence and pointedly refusing to look him in the eye. He was just about to ask her what’s wrong when the door to the compartment slid open, distracting him.
«Byrn Ivarin,» the boy introduced himself. «Can I sit here?»
Zorian waved him in without a word. This was the guy who inspired him to seek employment in the library the last time they had spoken with each other. The boy had been quite talkative back then, so he should be perfect! Even if he was disinclined to talk to someone so young, he doubted Kirielle would let him ignore her, and he seemed too polite to just plain snub her to her face. Hopefully he would keep Kirielle busy till the rest of the journey.