Zorian quickly cast the ‘floating disc’ spell, and a ghostly horizontal circle flickered into existence in front of them. It was a very useful spell that they were supposed to learn in Ilsa’s class somewhere in the middle of the third year, but Zorian had been proactive enough to track it down in one of the restarts. It was similar to the ‘shield’ spell in mechanics, but this particular force construct was mobile and optimized for supporting weight as opposed to absorbing blows. It dutifully floated after them as they started walking out of the train station.
«Interesting,» Kael said. «I must admit that, when Ilsa told me my education is severely lacking in many areas, I thought she was exaggerating. Is this what an average third-year student is like?»
«Well, no,» said Zorian. «I’m actually way beyond what a third-year student should be. Though I’m hardly unique in my skill…»
Kael hummed thoughtfully.
«Why would your education be lacking, anyway?» asked Zorian.
Kael remained silent for a few seconds, and Zorian was just about to conclude the morlock wasn’t interested in talking when the boy finally decided to answer.
«My education was… unconventional,» said Kael. «I was a sort of unofficial apprentice to a village mage. One that wasn’t a member of the guild. Her skills were somewhat specialized, so much of my proficiency with magic is a product of my own personal efforts. In other words, I’m largely self-taught.»
Zorian’s respect for the other boy rose a few notches after hearing this. Magic was hard enough to learn with proper instruction. For a young boy to go at it all by himself and get far enough to join a third-year class… though if he’s such a genius…
«I hope I’m not being too nosy, but—»
«But why am I going into Cyoria, now?» guessed Kael. «I got a pretty good offer from the academy, and it wasn’t like I had anyone stopping me from leaving. My parents died when I was young, and my teacher… she got sick during the Weeping. As did my wife. Kana is the only family I have left.»
Zorian flinched. «Oh gods, I didn’t mean—»
Kael shook his head. «Don’t worry about it, mister Kazinski. If I was to fall apart every time someone broached that topic, I would have to become a hermit and avoid people completely. It is natural to be curious about these things.»
Zorian still felt pretty terrible. He had pretty much assumed Kael had gotten some girl pregnant and later had to take responsibility for the child. But no, the guy had been married and everything. A bit shocking to marry and have children so young in this day and age, but hardly unheard of. He studied Kael out of the corner of his eyes in the resulting silence. The boy looked very delicate, with pale, willowy physique and gentle facial lines. Coupled with his shoulder-length white hair, it gave him a rather… feminine appearance. Nonetheless, the boy clearly had no shortage of inner strength if he could move on after losing so many people to the horrible sickness. Back in Cirin, there was a woman who had lost a husband and both sons to the bloody tears fever, and never managed to move past that. She had actually blamed the entire Kazinski family for her tragedy, claiming they had used their ‘magic powers’ to curse her loved ones because of some petty disagreement. Zorian would be the first person to admit he and his family were no angels, but that was just absurd. And kind of sad.
«There is no need to pity me, mister Kazinski,» said Kael, breaking him out of his thoughts.
«Oh, I don’t pity you,» Zorian said. «I think you’re very inspiring, actually. You’re a single parent who somehow managed to find the time to teach himself magic to such a degree that a world-renowned institution like the academy in Cyoria acknowledged your potential. They gave you a scholarship, didn’t they?»
Kael nodded. «I wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise.»
«They rarely give out scholarships, you know?» Zorian said. «About 5 to 6 of them each year. You must be pretty amazing to have caught their attention like that.»
«It’s mostly my medical expertise,» Kael sighed. «I made a vow to myself after… well, you know. I swore to myself I would become the best healer of the age and make sure a tragedy such as the Weeping can never happen again.»
Uh… wow. Zorian didn’t know what to say to something like that.
«I made quite a lot of progress on that front, if you permit me to be a little immodest here.» Kael said. «But… well, it’s complicated. We can talk later, if you’re still interested. Me and Kana are rather tired from the journey and I’d like to retire for the day. Kana especially.»
Zorian suddenly noticed Kana was starting to doze off on Kael’s shoulder. She had been so quiet throughout his entire interaction with Kael that he had almost forgotten she’s there. If only Kirielle could be that docile.
«Yes, sorry about that,» Zorian apologized. «I got carried away, I guess. I’ll have to give you a tour of the city some other time, then.»
They spent the rest of the walk in comfortable silence.
«You were absent yesterday.»
Zorian gave Akoja an annoyed look. She wasn’t going to give him grief over that, was she?
«I was excused,» he noted.
«I know,» Akoja said. «I was just wondering where you were.»
Zorian was about to tell her it wasn’t her damn business where he went in his free time, but then he reconsidered. He was getting strange vibes off Akoja, almost as if she was… concerned about him. Very strange. Normally he would write it off as just another weird thing Akoja did from time to time — the girl seemed to have logic all of her own sometimes, one that not even her obsession with rules could explain — but his recent conversation with Kael stopped him. Was he too dismissive of other people? Up until yesterday, Kael was simply ‘that morlock transfer student’ to Zorian… It brought back memories of his conversations with Zach, and the other boy’s remarks about Zorian’s behavior in previous restarts, before he became aware of the time loop.
«I was doing a favor for Ilsa,» Zorian said. «Showing our newest transfer student around the city and such.»
«Oh,» Akoja said, glancing at Kael for a moment. The white-haired boy was sitting several rows behind Zorian, silent and aloof as always. He gave virtually no indication that he knew Zorian was in the classroom, but Zorian could feel the morlock’s eyes on him from time to time. «Who is he anyway?»
«Kael Tverinov,» Zorian answered.
«I didn’t mean his name,» Akoja huffed, realizing, after a few seconds of silence, that he wasn’t going to say anything else.
«Not sure what else to tell you,» Zorian shrugged. «He sounded like a good person to me.»
«He looks kind of arrogant,» Akoja remarked. «And girly.»
«Well how judgmental of you,» Zorian remarked with a frown. «You come off as a bit arrogant yourself, you know?»
Well, so much for being nice to Akoja! She stomped off soon after that, shooting him a nasty glare.
Resolving to be more understanding towards people was hard.
It took Nora Boole only 2 days to organize their first lesson, and the moment Zorian stepped into the classroom Nora had reserved for them he realized Nora was taking this very seriously. It was a professional-looking workshop, the sort that students normally couldn’t access without special permission from the teachers. Nora beckoned him forward, positively radiating excitement and enthusiasm. Suddenly he remembered why he had been pensive about getting instruction from her. Considering the amount of homework and additional reading Nora assigned as a matter of course during her classes, Zorian dreaded finding out what she considered an appropriate workload for an actually talented student.