Damn, it got cold quickly.
Aaron pulled the collar of his jacket up against the wind as he stepped off the bus, shoving his free hand deeper into his pocket as he half-walked half-jogged the short distance from the bus stop to the bakery. It was hardly a far way—a minute at most—but that dampness in the air was brutal, and by the time he stepped in the bakery door, he was chilled to the bone. It was certainly a good thing this cold front waited a day to arrive; he could only imagine how much
more miserable the Dark Eyes exam would have been in this cold.
The bakery, thankfully, was warm and bright, although he could have stood the heady smell of fresh-baked sweets to be a bit fainter. An occupational hazard, he supposed; one could only start their day with decadent pastries so many times before they started smelling sickly. But it was that very purpose that sent him here: a new order sheet for the next month’s breakfasts. It was flagrant busywork, seeing as every other month’s orders had been made by Eloise by phone, but with the mood Varis was in tonight, Aaron was less insulted than normal at getting kicked out for the morning.
The bakery staff was friendly, and it was a simple enough thing to submit the order, even if it did draw a strange look from the man who came out from the back to collect the form. Aaron paid no mind—hell, he hardly even saw the looks people threw at him anymore—but he did hesitate to step back out into the cold just yet. This was technically his last task of the night, and he was under unspoken orders to get out of Varis’ sight until curfew, so he had some time to kill. And, as luck would have it, it was at that moment that his phone buzzed, and with it a blessed excuse to loiter inside the bakery a few minutes longer.
> Where’re you at rnAaron squinted at the text for a moment, making sure the message and its sender were indeed correct. Did Eris flip Max that fast? What on earth did he want?
> The bakery in town, why?> Perfect, less prying ears, stay right there for like 10 mins> Um, okay?Max stopped responding after that, making his way into town at record speed given the lethargy the mage usually acted with. He stepped off the bus virtually unrecognizable, hoodie pulled up over his head and an elaborate black fur cloak that reeked of Eris Samael draped over his body like a creepy overly-fashionable cultist from a bad movie.
He ducked into the bakery with a huff, pulling the folds of his uncharacteristic outfit choice tighter for warmth before bothering to acknowledge Aaron.
“Didn’t know you had a sweet tooth. You seem like a boring black coffee type.”Aaron had settled into a small table in the window of the bakery as he waited, though he just about gasped when the bizarre person in the
cape who burst through the door turned out to be
Max. Not only did he make it in record time—certainly he must have been nearby, there was no way Max moved from his dorm to town that fast—but given the cape, Aaron would have expected the newcomer to be Salem.
“...I am, actually,” he replied flatly, forgoing his usual politesse to look Max up and down. He gestured at the empty chair across from him, though his suspicious gaze didn’t leave Max.
“What on earth is that?” Max scowled at the question, no matter how deserved it was or how much he’d been expecting it. He opted not to respond until he’d sat down.
“I can only fit so many layers under this armor and this was the warmest thing in Eris’ closet. Okay, second warmest, but if you think this is fucking ridiculous, you should see the collar on the other one,” The mage grumbled before looking over toward the counter.
“This place sells warm drinks, right?”Aaron didn’t bother hiding the snicker that escaped him, but nodded.
“Yeah. Never had them, though.” Max stood up wordlessly and walked over to the counter to stare at the menu for a few moments as the cashier looked at him expectantly. Eventually he shrugged and muttered,
“Hot chocolate, I guess.”He promptly returned to Aaron’s table, not bothering to wait for the drink to be made. For the moment, at least, he was a man on a mission. After that, he was out of ideas on how to keep Aaron distracted. Maybe he could stretch this out for an ungodly amount of time if he played his cards right.
“So, as you might’ve guessed, I need to talk to you.” The mage left his question unasked for now, mostly because he was pretty sure he’d have to go fetch his drink halfway through Aaron’s answer anyway. If he even gave one—didn’t Eris say this lady died centuries ago?
Aaron was almost too perplexed by the sight before him to come back with the obvious response, but he managed something similar.
“Either that or your dorm was on fire,” he replied dryly, though he couldn’t help but smirk.
“Is this about yesterday?”“If my dorm was on fire I’d be too busy trying to throw Eris into the middle to call you,” Max huffed, then managed the bare minimum of what could be called a grin. Once again, he left Aaron conversationally blueballed as he stood up to grab his drink off the counter. He even had the audacity to make obnoxious sipping noises once he sat back down, as if he were savoring the drink like a pretentious sommelier.
“Yes, this is about yesterday. Sort of. Who’s Greta?” He asked flatly, contrasting the sudden urgency with which he’d rushed over with his usual apathy. Technically, this wasn’t even
his question, so he had no reason to be engaged.
“One of Nox’s training partners or something, I think? I don’t know her full name.”Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Aaron sat back in his chair for a moment, eyes on the table as he put his thoughts in order.
“That would be Greta Bordeleaux, I imagine. She was more like Nox’s mentor a few decades after she was Embraced. She was killed only a few years before the Treaty,” he explained, looking back up.
“I don’t know if you remember Sir Bordeleaux when he was here, but she’s one of his ancestors. Big name in the pre-Treaty history of the royal family.” He looked puzzled.
“Why? I thought you hated the royal family and everyone who had anything to do with it.” This time, Max had to fight back a real grin. He was tempted to just ask this over the phone last night, but there was something about texting that made it bad for asking these big questions. Aaron would have time to think; to backspace and edit and put his thoughts in order. The way he looked down just now would’ve been lost on Max. But was he hiding something or just trying to remember some boring history lesson from his youth?
“I’m personally not particularly interested, but Eris told me to go look her up last night. I figured asking you was easier than reading some propaganda piece from the library.” He rolled his eyes. Aaron was probably as much of a propaganda piece as the books would’ve been, perhaps even more so, but this was still less effort. He could double check anything the Retriever said later anyway. Plus, there was always the chance he might slip up.
“Speaking of propaganda pieces, you happen to know anything about her that wouldn’t be in one of those books?”Aaron gave Max a deadpan look. If he gave out castle secrets that easily, he’d have probably been executed for treason when he was sixteen and some Countess or Duchess or whoever she was thought showing a little more cleavage would make him say something he shouldn’t. Not that he knew anything all that particularly scandalous about Greta; all he knew beyond what was public knowledge and what the aristocracy already whispered about were some details and a few old family rumours. Still, they involved a few things that Princess Ryner would probably have preferred not see the light of the moon for the moment.
Ugh. Not that he was particularly thrilled to have
that cross his mind. With all that garbage yesterday and having been up since five with
Malek, that was the last thing he needed to be worrying about. Although, come to think of it…
“None of that would be all that useful without the basics,” he commented, laying his hands on the table and spinning his ring. Malek did have a point: he did
not belong to Ryner anymore. She should know as well as any that whatever secrets he knew were as good as gone. But if he really was going to be a Sinnenodel, he wasn’t about to do anything for free.
He glanced at the ceiling for a second, winding back the story he remembered from his lessons. Only now that he really thought about it did he realize just how entangled it had gotten with the bedtime stories his aunt Clara used to tell; it actually took him a moment to unravel fact from fiction, though he couldn’t quite shake a nagging feeling that there was something he was misremembering.
Whatever; it wasn’t like Max would be able to tell the difference.
“Greta actually came from some small human village, back before any of the noble families were really established. Back then, Geoffrey Noila was just one lord of many, and they practically declared war on each other every other night. They had this tactic of Embracing whole towns and then setting the newborns on each other like dogs; they were all starving and crazy and would kill anything in front of them, so they were a cheap, effective tool for things like siege assaults, field battles, anytime you needed a lot of attacking power and weren’t worried about losses. Anyway,” Aaron had to tear himself away or he’d be talking military theory all night,
“Geoffrey ended up personally killing the attacking lord, but rather than execute the newborns, he offered them a place in his forces.”Even if Max was planning something—though he wasn’t quite sure what just yet—it was clear in his face that Aaron was happy for a chance to talk about a subject he’d studied so extensively.
“Now, Greta rose up through the ranks all the way to Knight Commander—basically the top of the chain of command under Geoffrey—in a century, which was totally unheard of for an Embraced; those higher ranks were usually only attainable to vampires who’d been personally turned by either Geoffrey or one of his offspring, but she had this uncanny ability to turn a hopeless situation into a decisive victory. Which is exactly what she did.” He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.
“What actually earned her her title was a battle called the Battle of Althisa, which was a small town that doesn’t even exist anymore, but at the time was a neutral town that formed a vulnerability in Geoffrey’s border. Lord Pieron had mounted an offense on it, and Greta routed them, sealing off the border. That victory over Lord Pieron made Geoffrey the most powerful lord of that time, and it’s likely that the Noilas’ entire rise to prominence hinged on that victory. It’s something the Bordeleaux family prides themselves on to this day.” Max wasn’t sure what to make of that. Aaron had, obviously, dodged his question. Knowingly too, given how he worded it. But he couldn’t for the life of him figure out the reason. Loyalty to the royal family would’ve been his first thought, but denying any such under the table actions happened or even denying having knowledge of them would’ve been his go-to for that. Right? So was this actually a diversion or just necessary context? Max honestly hadn’t figured he’d fold that quickly, if so. That, or the Retriever was just
aching to go off on a masturbatory tirade about how great the Noilas are.
Either way, he tentatively decided he hated this Greta lady. Vampiric barbarity was a nice touch to the story, though Aaron didn’t have to look so fond when he was describing mass executions, but the real kicker was that this bitch was apparently the crux of the Noilan war machine. He really hoped the end of this story had a touching moment where Landar melted her down into a puddle and pissed in it.
“So what was her trick? She some kind of master tactician? Charismatic general? Just impossible to kill?” He doubted that last one, given she was dead.
“That's the thing; there wasn't just one,” Aaron replied, an air of wonder in his voice.
“It's like she had it all; she was a monster on the battlefield, knew strategy like no one else—I think she actually invented some of the tactics used today—knew how to take advantage of every little weakness in the enemy— I can't even list it all. She was a perfect storm, like she was born for war. But there was one more thing that I think really set the scales in her favour.” He shifted in his seat, reigning himself in a touch.
“Now obviously her being Embraced wasn't unique; every vampire back then was Embraced, the magical advancements to produce born vampires didn't come until a while after the Treaty. But the way the Embraced work is that since their lives are so much longer than they were originally meant to be, over the centuries they gradually ‘forget’ what it was like to be human. They lose their capacity to empathize and understand human reasoning. But Greta didn't.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice.
“No one knows how, but she never really lost her humanity. She developed the ruthlessness and the cunning that older vampires get, sure, but they say she could ‘switch’ between a vampiric and human mindset like that.” He snapped his fingers, producing a small flash.
“Now, that's generally considered a weakness. Humans are inferior, after all. But I think that was her secret.” He tapped the table.
“She would have been commanding armies of freshly turned vampires. They would have been confused, probably scared, and starved out of their minds. They were effectively humans with stronger bodies and powers and limitations they didn't really understand. I think Greta’s capability to empathize with them and relate to them on a human level is what made her so successful. I don't think Geoffrey or Lord Pieron or any of the older vampires of the time could have commanded an army as well as she could.” Oh, big deal, she was a better liar than the other sociopaths around her. Max would’ve dismissed the story as too corny if not for the fact that this was exactly the type of thing the Noilas wouldn’t have bothered making up to make the story sound nicer. Aaron was right, humanity was a weakness to them. Question was, what the hell did this have to do with Varis? He was tempted to ask if she had any connections to the Sinnenodels, but if he played his hand too early, Aaron might start changing his story to omit the details he was looking for. Fuck, Max didn’t even know what details he was looking for. He didn’t even have an idea of where the connection would even be!
“Alright, she secures the border. Then what?” Max made a beckoning gesture with his hand to signal for Aaron to continue as he swallowed enough of his drink to hurt his tongue. Fuck this weather. Fuck nighttime too.
Aaron chuckled.
“Well, so far she’s secured the Noilas’ path to the throne, but she gets even more intimately involved in that. See, most people actually learn about Greta first not as the Knight Commander, but as Princess Nox’s mentor.” He hooked one arm around the back of his chair, gesturing vaguely.
“You’d never guess it, but Princess Nox had a very rough transition after her Embrace. After Her Majesty—who would have been Princess Anastasia at the time—Embraced her, she sort of clung onto Princess Ryner, which was normal for new fledgelings, but continued for decades after she should have outgrown it. Since Greta was the one the family turned to to make a victory out of an impossible situation, they tasked her with turning Princess Nox into someone fit to join the family, or dispose of her otherwise.” He grinned.
“Luckily, Greta did as she always did, and she ended up turning Princess Nox into the force of nature she is today—with the help of that pesky humanity issue she had, specifically. They grew close throughout the process, and by the end of it they were inseparable, both on and off the battlefield.” He shook his head, some amusement showing through.
“It’s kind of unclear whether their affair was supposed to be a secret or not, but if so, it was one of the most poorly kept in history.”Yep, Max definitely hated Greta now. If she was inspiring little Noxes to run around, he couldn’t imagine she’d have been a very likeable person, empathetic or otherwise. Especially if she was fooling around with that little psychopath. Apparently the lover angle wasn’t too secret if even Eris was in the loop about it, though he could’ve just picked that up from Varis. But… where would Varis have picked it up if it was a secret? On top of that, it was a little weird to think that the royal family wasn’t actually related at all. Even weirder to consider they were people once. Was that where Ryner’s eccentricities about mages came from?
This was informative, if not in a way Eris would be particularly happy with. Or maybe he would; Max had absolutely no idea what he was looking for here aside from a way to connect her to the Sinnenodels. At this rate, the only obstacle to keeping Aaron here all night was Max’s own patience.
“Yeah, yeah, she’s perfect at everything, blah blah blah. How’d she end up dead? Step on the wrong person’s toes?” Maybe a Sinnenodel backstabbed her? That still had nothing to do with Varis, but it was a start.
Aaron sighed. Yeah, Max was doing this for Eris, but couldn’t he at least
pretend not to hate every second of it like the mages of every other respectable vampire did?
“Well, after Greta and Princess Nox founded family Bordeleaux as Nox’s honour guard for an extra layer of security against the mounting threat of early mages and lycans—that’s slightly relevant, by the way—she was killed on a scouting trip looking for lycans outside some nearby village. Only a few years before the formation of the Treaty, too. It’s really a shame. Princess Nox executed that whole village on the spot once the fighting was over, and dug in her heels against the Treaty after that.” He shrugged and sat back expectantly, arms crossed.
Max actually snorted at that.
“For real? All this build up and she gets picked off just like that? Lame. Who did it? Us or the wolves?” He really wanted that petty mage victory here. Plus, it would explain why Nox was such a hardass—she was still assblasted over mages outplaying her little date hundreds of years ago. If it was lycans, then he guessed she was just a bitch for no reason.
“Oh, the mages, no question. Lycans were too stupid for that sort of organization,” Aaron wrinkled his nose in distaste.
“Not to mention, they couldn’t use magic. That’s why Nox took out her frustrations on that village. Of course, moon only knows if they were involved at all; it didn’t really matter.” He shook his head.
“But she did die with a bit more glory than just being ‘picked off’, I suppose. Nox would have absolutely been killed had Greta not put herself in the path of the fire at the last second to save her. I think there are a couple of drama films based on it.” Aaron gestured to the table, letting out a breath after all that talking.
“But yeah, there’s the story. I think Princess Nox actually still has a grudge against fire mages after all this time; fire magic is the very first tactic Bordeleaux vampires learn to deal with, and she’s really never liked my mother. Or at least, less so than she likes the rest of us, if you could call it that.” He frowned.
Max believed the bit about the movies—that sounded like exactly the type of sentimental crap Eris would have his hands all over. But unless said fire mage ended up getting turned into a vampire and became a Sinnenodel, that didn’t tell him anything of value.
“Wow, I must be good at this,” He snickered,
“My first thought when you were telling this story was ‘I bet she gets melted’.” Getting Aaron talking about the war would probably kill time, but he doubted he’d get much more than commentary on her military achievements. He didn’t have much choice, then.
The metal mage let out a final hint of a chuckle before flattening his expression.
“Given I have no idea what I’m supposed to be looking for here and the context of what happened yesterday, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and ask the question I don’t think you want me to. What, if anything, does Greta Bordeleaux have to do with the Sinnenodels?”Aaron gave Max a questioning look. Well, more like a “couple of questions” look. Namely, why on earth Eris wanted to find a connection between Greta Bordeleaux and the Noilas’ chief rival, how on earth that related to what happened yesterday, and why on earth he thought that a
Sinnenodel mage would volunteer that information.
“None whatsoever,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“She was fiercely loyal to the Noilas, and the Sinnenodels were their enemy in her time. She would never have crossed paths with them outside of the battlefield, and they were never big fighters.” He leveled Max with a look.
“And how exactly does a connection between Greta Bordeleaux and the Sinnenodels have anything to do with anything that happened yesterday? Did Eris send you on a fact-finding mission just to force you to talk to somebody?” Honestly, that probably wouldn’t even be that far-fetched of a possibility.
Figures there wasn’t anything there. They were enemies, at least, so maybe there was some behind-the-scenes foul play afoot, but still nothing that had anything to do with
Varis. Max shrugged innocently at Aaron’s prying look. He hadn’t asked anything particularly damning yet, he was just guessing at Eris’ intentions. For all he knew—or rather, for all Aaron knew that he knew, he could be completely wrong here.
“If Eris wanted to force me to talk to you, he would’ve said it. I came here on my own, remember? He just told me to look up somebody named Greta. As for yesterday; you know I got Eris, right? And you got me, and I’m sure you got an earful when you got home about Count Cinnamon getting you. So who does that leave for Eris?” Max sipped his drink, as if pausing to give Aaron time to consider his question.
“I don’t know what he wants with this lady; might’ve even been coincidental, but he didn’t bring her up until after that exam.”“He told you the name Greta came up in his exam?” Aaron all but squinted at the mage across the table. He’d been hoping he could forget all about the exam as soon as possible, but now that he had to consider it again, that blew through all his theories, and he’d be lying if he said he was happy about it.
He stopped in his tracks, though, when something much more immediately relevant came to mind.
“Wait, why does Eris care? Those trials were nothing but a couple of mental mages trying to get a rise out of us. Who cares who said what? It’s over now.” That was valid. Aaron’s own worries about the things Max’s clone was spouting had been mostly dissuaded by his theory, and Varis only lorded it over his head to prove how much of a mistake it was to lie to him. None of it was relevant beyond the confines of the exam and Varis’ intimidation tactics; if clone-Varis did say anything about “Greta”, it was probably just something dredged out of his historical knowledge to confuse Eris.
Oh. Aaron didn’t know yet. That was… advantageous, he guessed. Not really, but it might’ve saved Max from further prying. The question now was whether to play along or come clean.
“Come to think of it, he didn’t mention the name until after he got home from your dorm, so he could’ve picked it up from the real Varis,” Max pretended to pontificate aloud. Technically not a lie, in any case.
“I know you’re playing that little game in your head where you try to pick apart my motives and dance around what I really wanna know, but I’ll be perfectly honest here when I say I don’t even know what I wanna know here. I’m just anticipating possible angles he could be interested in. Fuck, this could all be for a movie or some inane shit like that.”The only part of that that Aaron believed was that Max didn’t know what he was after. If he did, he probably wouldn’t have come in with his questions like a fur-cape-clad bull in a china shop. Still, Max’s total ignorance of how information passed between mages was jarring, and he had to remind himself that it wasn’t a lifelong mage he was dealing with in order for his approach to even begin to make sense.
He sighed.
“Okay, I’m going to be honest with you for a minute here,” he decided.
“Put aside all the little ties you’re making between me and the Noilas in your head for a minute, because none of those matter anymore. I’ve been acquisitioned by the Sinnenodels, the family that uses rumours and blackmail like cash, so when I hear someone asking for their connections…” he closed his eyes for a second, letting his hand fall back to the table and a wave of nausea pass over him before returning his gaze to Max with a bit more of a pleasant expression, offering the mage a small smile.
“You can see how that could be a problem for me.” He twined his hands together on the table, spinning his ring.
“Now, luckily I can’t think of any reason why Varis would mention Greta when Eris went over last night, so I imagine it was probably something in his exam if he’s so interested in her now. Snooping into the Sinnenodels in any capacity is worrying but I’m going to choose to believe that this is all about Greta herself. In that case, there’s only one thing about her I can think of that you wouldn’t find in any history book or from asking any professor. But,” he looked Max in the eye,
“if I’m going to tell you, I need something from you first.” Max’s lips upturned into another poor excuse for a grin. Finally, they were getting somewhere.
“That’s what I like to hear. This whole thing’s so much easier when we just skip all the pretense. I have no idea how you people keep this up all day; it’s exhausting.” He met Aaron’s gaze solidly and unperturbed. He doubted Aaron considered this an intimidation tactic, but if he did, Max didn’t want to be found lacking. He couldn’t think of a request Aaron could make that would be particularly bothersome for him, but he didn’t want the other mage under the impression he could just fuck him over either.
“So, name your price.”Eugh, he wished Max would stop
smiling like that. If he was trying to look approachable, it wasn’t working. Maybe the next topic for one of their little ‘playdates’ should be on faking a convincing smile.
Still, Aaron didn’t break eye contact, spinning his ring all the while.
“I told you last night that Eris was acting weird. He caught me on his way to see Master, at the cul-de-sac gate. When I told him my Master would be happy to see him, he said ‘that would change by the end of the night’.” His voice was low; not a whisper, but low enough not to be overheard.
“He never elaborated; just told me to ‘give myself time to mentally prepare’ before I got back and changed the subject. And now you tell me he came back and sent you to dig up information. So, what do you know about what happened between the two of them last night?” Unlucky guess, Retriever.
Max lowered his voice to match Aaron, though his half-grin grew smugger and smugger by the second.
“Honestly? Fucking nothing. Trust me, I asked. He mentioned getting Varis mad at Ryner and that I needed to look into the Greta thing. Despite how much he loves to hear himself talk, I’m not exactly his confidant.”That still left the question of what exactly they
did talk about. Eris was dodgy about it the whole time, and while misdirection made sense, Eris did specifically wave off discussion about the rest of the conversation before Max even brought it up. If the point was to get Varis tunnel-visioned on Ryner, why would Eris have said that Varis would be unhappy with him? He supposed the Sinnenodel could be the ‘shoot the messenger’ type, but otherwise he saw too many holes in this story.
All these secrets were annoying.
“Don’t suppose you’ll give me what I wanna know over a nonanswer like that though, huh?” Max fake-lamented. Some of the disappointment was real, but mostly at the fact that he’d have to continue this stupid information bartering game if Aaron didn’t hold up his end of the bargain.
Aaron frowned, shaking his head reluctantly.
“Sadly no,” he apologized.
“Truth be told, my Master could be considered to be in a perpetual state of ‘pissed off at Princess Ryner’, and that’s not even a secret. He’s already on a warpath for being forced to participate in the exam, and I expect Eris already knows that.” He ran a hand down over his face, looking somewhere off out the window. This was one part of being a Sinnenodel that would take a long time to master. He had no idea how to tell if Max was lying. Sure, the smug grin might have been a tipoff, but it also might just be Max’s creepy way of responding when he finally got what he wanted, and he doubted Max was so loyal that he’d go so far as to lie to protect some secret of Eris’ from getting out. Unless it somehow endangered the both of them, but what could have come from the exam that was
that damning?
Ugh, he asked himself that like he hadn’t been scrambling to cover his own ass last night for just that reason. The irony wasn’t lost on him, but he doubted Eris’ exam could have involved state secrets. Of course, he said—thought?—that like he knew how it worked, when he was just as hopelessly clueless about it as he had been when he’d touched the damn skull.
“And you’re telling me Eris made no mention at all of what he was planning before he left, beyond this thing with Princess Ryner?” he tried,
“Because forgive me, but I find it hard to believe he’d give me more of a hint passing by in the street than he’d give his own mage in the privacy of his own dorm. Especially with the two of you so chummy during the exam.”Max rolled his eyes as Aaron once again refused him. There was always the chance he actually didn’t know anything and was just seeing what he could get out of Max before he had to come clean, but assumed the Retriever was savvy enough to realize that trick would only work once, and wasting it on relatively unimportant information like what
Eris was planning over a one-night argument was a waste.
“He didn’t tell me anything. That’s actually why we were fighting, he was acting like I was some moron that’d tell the whole city his master plans if he gave me even a fucking hint to work with,” He grumbled, dropping the smirk from his face,
“I don’t think that jackass even has a plan, he was just covering his ass so he’d look like he had one.” He, personally, had no objection to telling Aaron about the moon mark. He might’ve even recognized it, if Max was lucky. But until Eris had something to go on about that mark, the mage didn’t want to risk it. He really only had leave to talk about Greta, anyway, and he didn’t want to prove Eris right by
actually spilling all his plans.
“So yeah, if you think I’m trying to cover his ass here, I’m not. I’m just trying to get this done in one conversation and avoid having to walk down to the library—there’s this summoner that—you know what, nevermind, you don’t wanna know.”“Well, if I’m just your library replacement, then what I’ve already told you will be more than enough to satisfy Eris’ request,” Aaron reasoned. He didn’t know whether to believe Max or not; all he knew was that he could
not come out on the losing end of this conversation. It was lucky that the information he was dangling in front of Max wasn’t anything that had anything to do with Varis, so he wasn’t gambling with the House’s money, but that didn’t do much to quiet Malek’s voice nagging in the back of his head. He also didn’t know how long he could bargain with Max before he just decided what he’d gotten so far was enough and leave, and even though that wasn’t technically a loss for him… oh, he didn’t know, it just felt like there was a transaction here that needed to be completed.
“Of course, in that case all you’re getting is the ‘propaganda piece’, but I’m sure that’ll give Eris enough to chew on for a while.” Max had the strangest feeling he was being mocked here, somehow. He
did want whatever Aaron was hiding, but he didn’t have any information he could volunteer that would be worth it. Not to mention the mere act of volunteering anything would make him look invested enough for Aaron to fuck him over.
He did have a point, though. If not for the need to distract Aaron, Max could walk here and now. Eris hadn’t been the one to bring up asking a Starag or anyone else of import for information, so clearly trivial history book knowledge was enough for him to work with at this point. He highly doubted sordid secrets about Greta had anything to do with Varis, given how perplexed Aaron had looked when he mentioned House Sinnenodel. Maybe ‘Aaron’s hiding something’ would be enough.
Max clicked his tongue, raising his hands off the table in a lazy gesture of mock surrender.
“Fine, fine. I don’t have anything of value here and I have no insurance that what you’ll give me in return is valuable either.” His smug look returned briefly,
“Tell you what. I’ll let you in on something you overlooked if you spill the beans. But you’re telling me what I wanna know first.”Eris owed him for this. He could use Eris’ secrets as ammo all day long, but offering his own for something that leech assigned him to do was a debt, even if it was a secret Aaron quite possibly already knew but hadn’t realized yet. Plus, the thought that Max knew something about the information the Retriever already possessed that he didn’t was bound to bother anyone. If this didn’t work, he was quite literally out of hands to play.
Aaron outright laughed, shifting in his chair.
“Sorry, I’m going to have to insist you ‘spill’ first. I’m not about to release something that’s never been heard outside castle walls for something I’ve ‘overlooked’ unless that thing is a bomb under the Sinnenodel dorm.” Max quirked a brow curiously.
“Never heard outside castle walls as in it’s a silly servant’s rumor or never heard outside castle walls as in people get beheaded for talking about it?”“Would you consider ‘pretty stiffly contradicts the official narrative’ a happy medium?” “Only on the condition that I’m not answering any follow-up questions based on what I’m gonna point out until after you’ve told me.” And he had the strangest feeling that there were going to be quite a few.
Aaron squinted at Max for a moment. Malek had made it clear that ‘overlooking’ things was something he seemed to make a habit of. If he’d overlooked something relevant to Eris’ little investigation into Greta and the Sinnenodels, well, he supposed he’d still be up information—namely that Eris was doing any investigating at all—but lacking something Varis would likely want to know. If Max’s little tip was garbage, he could rescind his offer and what, piss of the metal mage for a few nights? He did that by existing in his general vicinity already.
Besides, like he’d noted before: he wasn’t playing with the House’s money. And in this situation, that was actually a good thing.
“Deal.”“Great. If this isn’t worth my while I’m gonna throw the espresso machine at you.” He was half kidding. Mostly because he wasn’t certain if it was nailed to the floor or not.
“You keep making the same fatal assumption every time you talk about the exam—that those clones were just vapid little illusions that had nothing to do with the originals. You’re wrong. They’re a bit exaggerated, sure, and definitely not good at keeping their composure, but they don’t lie. Just like I don’t when you wave off anything Varis’ clone might’ve said as irrelevant and forget to ask me about it.” Max flashed the biggest shit-eating grin he could muster.
“Your turn.”Aaron simply looked at Max for a moment, mulling that over. Now
that was a change from their theorycrafting back in the woods. Back then, Max’s best guess about the nature of the exam was that the pairings were deliberate, and now he was claiming they didn’t lie? That was a little foreboding given the things Max’s own clone had told him, but it seemed too specific a bargaining chip to be something he made up on the spot.
“If those clones don’t lie, then you and I have a bit more discussing to do,” Aaron warned.
“But fine.” Once more, he leaned forward on the table, lowering his voice even quieter than before.
“The generally accepted truth is that Princess Nox resisted the Treaty because the attack that killed Greta rekindled her hatred of mages. If you train under the Bordeleaux and are able to put two and two together, you can also infer that she resisted because of the mage ambassador’s—my grandfather’s—fire affinity.” He looked to the side; luckily, no one was paying them any attention.
“But that’s not everything. Conventional wisdom in my family says that Nox also resisted to spite Ryner herself, because she blamed her for interfering in her campaign to avenge Greta’s death in order to facilitate Treaty proceedings. I’m inclined to think it’s true, given the two of them were always icy, and haven’t said a word to each other outside the public eye since my grandmother was young.” Now that was interesting. It sounded like a weak secret to Max, given everybody had been gossiping so much lately about Ryner and Nox being at odds, but to know the reason behind it had to be a bargaining chip
somewhere. That or he was exceptionally in the know and didn’t realize it. Either way, he’d already played his cards, and now he had to deal with the fallout.
“Okay. I’ll try to make sure Eris keeps his mouth shut on that one.” As much of a tool as Aaron was, Max didn’t necessarily want him catching any flak for helping him. Though, the sadistic part of him was tempted to let the little race traitor flounder if Eris ever decided to blurt out Noila secrets at a party.
He let out a groan after that, deflating.
“Now let’s get your pestering out of the way, because I know you want to get all invasive on me.”Aaron took a breath too, stretching out the tension in his chest he hadn’t even realized was building as he sat back once more. Letting castle secrets pass his lips—even just rumours and a confirmation of gossip—felt utterly foreign, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Dirty, certainly—he’d just literally sold information on the family that raised him—but also… freeing? He didn’t really like where that idea was headed, but he’d admit to feeling a little bit accomplished about his first real Sinnenodel-style transaction. Maybe if he went back to the dorm tonight with a head full of even semi-valuable information after only having been sent on a simple bakery run, he could get a start on getting back on Varis’ good side. Or, at least his less bad side. At the very least, he could show Malek that he wasn’t a totally lost cause.
“I’ll endeavour to be quick,” Aaron quipped, spinning his ring in his lap.
“Though I’m sure you can guess what I’m going to ask. What did the clone say?”Oh good, they were starting with Varis and not ‘uh Max, do you need a therapist maybe’.
“Unfortunately, Eris couldn’t figure out what the fuck it was talking about, so his repetition of it to me probably made even less sense. He said the clone didn’t know who or where he was and blabbed on about random historical events nonsensically. Except, like, he wasn’t treating them like history. Which is probably where Greta came up.” Max admitted. Another nonanswer, but it was all he had to work with.
“Honestly, I was almost ready to reconsider your theory on the clones being bullshit when Eris said that, but the others didn’t really follow that logic. By the way, if this really is the inner workings of Cinnamon’s head, I don’t think he’d take too kindly to you knowing it, so maybe think it over for a bit before blabbing in your report.”Aaron was liable to think that was a desperate bid to not have the information leaked, but Max genuinely didn’t trust that Varis’ clone said all that with no connection to the real thing.
“So, it mostly just talked… gibberish?” That
was interesting. Max’s warning might have sounded like a plea in disguise if he didn’t know Max was smart enough to realize whatever got to him would go straight to Varis, but even if it was genuine, Aaron was more relieved than worried. Talking in gibberish was precisely what Varis said his own clone had done when he brought up Yvaine; if they’d both been similarly programmed, maybe the proctors were just drawing from a pool of shared knowledge or something. It was strange that they’d be so garbled when the other two seemed coherent, but maybe it had something to do with Varis’ proximity to him? Way back at the start of the semester when they had dinner with the Lady, Varis had told him to stay close if he wanted to be safe from having his mind read; the second he stepped out of his vicinity he’d been invaded, and he was released only when Varis got close to him again. Back then, he’d thought it was some kind of honour code established between the Lady’s mind mages and her heir, but now Aaron was wondering if he had some protection mages put a strong ward on him to interrupt mental magic. Either way, this was good information to have.
“Do you remember if he mentioned anything specific? Any people, or dates, or specific events maybe? Any names?” he asked, fishing around for anything Max would be willing to give him.
Max considered for a moment. He had the suspicion that gibberish had a purpose to it, even if no one knew what it was yet; but if Aaron wanted to write it off again, Max wouldn’t stop him. As for the follow-up question… Eris hadn’t actually mentioned Greta until he returned from the Sinnenodel dorm. If there were names or events involved, Eris didn’t say.
“Are you asking as Aaron Starag or as Count Sinnenodel’s mage?” Max questioned coolly. He’d gladly theorize about what the fuck that exam was about all day, but not if his silly ideas were going to be weaponized by some leech.
Aaron frowned. Could he really separate the two? As far as he was concerned, being Aaron Starag
meant being
someone’s mage. Although… that wasn’t really true right now, was it? Until he got things ironed out with Ryner, there were still things he was keeping from Varis. Things, coincidentally, that Max’s information could possibly shed light on. He hated this duality, but apparently for the moment it would work in his favour.
“I suppose I’m asking as Aaron,” he conceded, surprising himself when he didn’t even feel like he was lying.
“Which—to be clear—means this conversation isn’t getting back to either of the vampires, right?” Max stressed. He didn’t really have anything to hide here, but watching his words in a situation he didn’t have to was stupid. Aaron could lie, of course, but Max would figure out whether that was his intent pretty soon if the other mage started biting his tongue too much.
Ugh, just when he got his hopes up. Aaron openly sighed, leaning his elbow on the table and letting his forehead fall into his hand. What could he do? He didn't have it in him to obfuscate further; he'd been pulled out of bed at five o’clock that evening to play mind games with one of Varis’ highest ranking mages, spent his night ruining both his wrist and his sanity writing lines, and just came out of a twice-damned
negotiation when all he was tasked with doing was delivering an order sheet to a damn bakery. He was tired, he was drained, it was fucking cold outside, and frankly, he didn't have the energy to dance anymore.
Being a Sinnenodel was exhausting.
“Listen, my Master’s already pissed at me, and I doubt whatever you're worried about telling me is going to be of any interest to him anyway. I don't need to pass on anything that doesn't concern him, just…” he ran his hand down his face, glancing from the window to Max. Ugh, even in the reflection of the window he could see the circles under his eyes. He let out a breath, defeated.
“Just, please don't ask me to lie.” “I never asked that. And I’m pretty sure what I’m gonna tell you is gonna end up turning into another one of your history lessons anyway—but it’s about setting a precedent.” Max leaned forward, tapping the table with his index finger for effect,
“I wanna know that you can set aside everything else and be real with me without us both trying to turn it into ammunition. That’s it.”He didn’t even care if this got back to Varis. More names wouldn’t be any more suspicious than the Greta he’d already brought up. But if he could get Aaron talking, he could at the very least keep
himself more prepared for whatever schemes Varis was planning, even if he left Eris out for the dogs.
Aaron let his weary gaze wander over Max’s face, searching—to the best of his limited ability—for some sign of insincerity. But, to his eyes, there didn’t seem to be any; in fact, Max seemed more genuine than Aaron could ever really recall seeing him. He didn’t usually put that much energy or emphasis into anything. Tonight really was a strange night.
“Your clone said something like that, you know,” he commented absently, letting his hand fall back to the table and straightening up. Have a conversation without trying to make arrows out of every word and falter? So long as Max wasn’t revealing his plans to overthrow the government or Eris’ scheme to assassinate Varis, Aaron would only be too happy to oblige. In any case, they were—almost, theoretically, kind of—on the same side.
“Alright. I can do that.”Max met Aaron’s scrutiny with some of his own, a narrow-eyed stare that slowly shifted into a simple look of confusion. What the fuck was Aaron looking for? If anything, he should be the cautious one here; everyone knew the Retriever didn’t even wipe his ass without asking Cinnamon for approval. But, he was ultimately satisfied with the answer he got. Maybe there was hope for the light mage yet.
“Told you they don’t lie,” He muttered before leaning back in his chair. Much easier to talk without all the tension and unvoiced animosity.
“Now, Eris definitely got names but he didn’t mention the specifics. I was being honest when I said he never brought up Greta until after he got back from the Sinnenodel dorm. Which is why I assumed Varis mentioned it, if he bothered zeroing in on that name above the others. Before that, the only one he mentioned was Ramalama-whatever-the-fuck, the previous Marivaldi lord.”“Ralmevik?” A bit of energy returned to Aaron at the mention, recalling with a slight twist of the gut what Varis had told him about his own clone. His brow furrowed.
“But he was killed… oh, I think 50 years ago or so. And by Master’s own admission, he avoids the Marivaldis…”He sounded like he was talking more to himself than Max, eyes falling to the table.
He thought his clone was spouting off about the nightmares with talk of Yvaine, but would it hurt to talk about Ralmevik’s inclusion? The nightmares didn’t include him, but did them being mentioned together imply some sort of third connection? Or was it really just gibberish pulled out of his and Varis’ minds and mixed together?
Ugh, it was impossible to keep all these threads straight! Surely it wouldn’t hurt to clean his brain out a little?
“Sorry, let me start from the beginning,” he corrected himself, eyes flicking back up to Max.
“Master told me my clone was talking ‘gibberish’ too, and apparently it mentioned Ralmevik as well. I just can’t imagine why.” That’s weird. Maybe one pair’s clones were coherent while the others were just babbling about irrelevant names. Though, two spells in one test seemed like a waste when the same tactic would’ve worked for both. Unless it was some kind of failsafe to prevent the nobles from getting tattled on, but even then, why would that protect Aaron from his own master?
“The shared link here is Varis,” Max proposed,
“The clones are privy to their opponent’s thoughts. If Varis has these names in his head, both his clone and your clone would have access to them. So I can only assume he’s lying when he says he has nothing to do with the Marivaldis, or otherwise he wouldn’t have brought them up twice.”Max made a dismissive gesture before continuing,
“Let’s say he just wanted to get Eris confused with a bunch of needless historical facts. Why would Clone-Aaron repeat the exact same tactic on him? That’s literally his own trick.” He hardened his expression and pointed a finger loosely at the other mage; enough to be accusatory but not enough to look like he was in a courtroom.
“I think you need to seriously consider that you’re being played as much as we are here.”Aaron crossed his arms. There was a very significant fear in the back of his head that he’d just revealed something he shouldn’t have, but he tried not to panic just yet.
Varis hadn’t said anything about keeping the events of the exam quiet, he reminded himself. The only things he wanted to keep under his hat were the crypt and Yvaine’s name, and those were for personal reasons. He was fine.
“Played by who, though? And why?” He questioned.
“At its heart, that whole thing was just an exam. Princess Ryner has this… strange attachment to the idea of ‘bonding’ with your partner and ‘emotional honesty’ and other such—” he had to stop himself from saying ‘nonsense’,
“—things, which was apparently the secondary purpose of the practical, but I don’t know why she’d sanction anything beyond that. This is a school, remember, and as far as I know, Her Highness does her best to keep politics out of here. She has no reason to mess with us beyond her little team-building games.” He shook his head, leaning back in his chair with a helpless shrug.
“I’m just as disturbed as you are by all of this, but, I don’t know… what if we’re just being paranoid? For all we know, she let the Mental students control the challenges and they just screwed something up.” Max rolled his eyes. The Retriever was too well-trained, practically jumping to the defense of his masters before raising any suspicion their way.
“Not Ryner, stupid. Varis. Though I’d be shocked if she didn’t have a hand in this, even if by accident just because she wanted to make him squirm. The intent of that test was to throw all your dirty secrets in your partner’s face. At least, I’d assume. That still doesn’t explain the pairings, though. Maybe it was an introspective thing? See, looking at this from Ryner’s angle is too complex,” Max groaned, waving the thought off before taking another sip of his now mostly-cooled drink.
“But Varis? He’s a victim in her game, and everybody around him knows it. So why not lie about the clones speaking nonsense? I did it, there’s no reason he wouldn’t come up with the same idea. He tells his little pet about some nonsense gibberish, which of course you blab about, which then gets back to Eris, and now Eris thinks it was all gibberish too and he just drops the subject. Easy.” If Eris’ plan took into account that Aaron would tell Varis about Greta, there’s no reason Varis’ plan wouldn’t consider Max talking about Ralmevik. Unless he thought the metal mage was completely noncompliant with Eris; though that reputation suited him just fine. If he was lucky, that was a fatal mistake on Varis’ part, and if not, at least no one would be calling him a sycophant.
“But that doesn’t account for Eris’ experience,” Aaron reminded Max.
“Master could lie about his experience with my clone, but that doesn’t explain why his own clone was speaking gibberish to Eris. They didn’t have any contact between the end of the trial and when Master and I debriefed, which was before Eris went over.” He shook his head.
“Besides, not everything my clone did was out of the blue. There were a couple of things about its trial that did make sense, and I struggle to believe Master would lie if there was more he could have used to twist my arm.”“Oh, I don’t think he lied about what happened in there. I think he lied when he said it was nonsense. It seems counterintuitive to mention his secret if he wanted to keep it hidden instead, but if we’re working under the assumption that this very conversation was going to happen, you’re misleading Eris when I report all this to him. And, if you did keep your mouth shut, you knowing is irrelevant, because you also think it’s just nonsense.”Max scanned the room furtively for anyone who looked like they were listening in before leaning forward again to lower his voice.
“There’s something else. I wrote it off at first, and I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you this anyway, but Eris seems to think clone-Varis could use magic.” He paused to point accusingly at Aaron again,
“Remember, this conversation never happened. Anyway, the clone apparently looked like it was overpowering the mind mage controlling it or something. Since clone-Eris had full control over the environment in my exam, I just assumed this was some background trick that was symbolizing his ego or some pretentious crap.”Secret? What secret? Aaron almost rolled his eyes, glancing out the window as Max ran the length of his theory. More and more he was thinking they were both overthinking this; that the reference to his nightmares and the crypt were unfortunate tidbits plucked out of his mind at random in the midst of a botched cloning, and they were both losing sleep for nothing. That was, until he mentioned the clone using magic, and Aaron’s head snapped back to Max.
“And what makes you think it wasn’t?” he asked, careful not to jump to conclusions just yet. That didn’t necessarily mean anything; it was just nonsense upon nonsense for all they knew.
“You don’t need to live with him to recognize that Master is preoccupied with control; a little exaggeration for shock value and it’s not a far leap to think they might have set it up that way deliberately,” he posited.
“As for Eris, well…” a whole host of disturbing images washed through Aaron’s mind, and he closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head as a shiver passed through him.
“Putting aside his more… personal dealings, he’s a businessman. I’m sure he prefers to have things well in hand, so being faced with a situation he couldn’t manipulate to his liking would probably bother him. Besides, I think seeing a vampire use ‘magic’ would put anyone on the back foot.”Max nodded along at Aaron’s reasoning. He was halfway hoping the other mage had some light to shed on that bit, but it didn’t sound like a clue at all.
“I thought so too, I was just bringing it up in case you knew anything about it. Quite frankly, I don’t think Eris knows shit about magic anyway.” He leaned back to his former relaxed posture, once again looking around inconspicuously.
“Either way, I’d be shocked if Cinnamon wasn’t hiding something here. One clone being weird, I can write off. Two clones? Both of them having to do with Varis? Nah. If you don’t wanna believe it, suit yourself, I’m just saying I think you should be careful.”Aaron sighed wearily, giving a half-hearted shrug.
“I’m a Sinnenodel. I have eggshells in my shoes.”He leaned forward on his elbows, letting silence stretch between them for a moment as he absently looked around. He did think Max was barking up the wrong tree thinking Varis was somehow involved—after all, if it had been his choice, he’d never have taken part in the exam to begin with—but he supposed the warning came from a good place.
“But I do appreciate your concern,” he decided to voice as much, his tone more sincere.
“I’ll keep an eye out.” He checked his watch out of habit, eyebrows shooting up at the time. He’d been gone from the dorm for an hour! He checked his phone, surprised to find no text from Varis wondering where the hell he went. Though, more than likely Varis was savouring every second he was gone.
“Is Eris expecting you back? You were in quite a hurry to get here,” he asked Max, gesturing with his watch hand.
Fuck, the Retriever was getting antsy, and Max still had like two hours to kill. Walking around didn’t sound particularly appealing, given the temperature. Fuck, was he gonna have to get his ass kicked again under the guise of wanting to train?
“Nope, I was given explicit orders to get to fuck out until around six. No idea what he’s doing in there, and I don’t think I want to. In the meantime, though, that leaves me with fucking nothing to do.” So much for honesty, even if what he said was still half-true. Maybe he’d fill Aaron in tomorrow once he had the context. Or maybe not, given he couldn’t think of any scenario Aaron needed to be distracted for that could end with the loyal Sinnenodel dog not barking.
“Fair enough. I’m pretty sure the only reason I was sent down here was because Master was tired of looking at me.” Aaron let out a chuckle, more a rush of air than an actual laugh. A decently convenient coincidence, at least; gave him a chance to work on that little side project Eris gave him, even if the vampire’s digging made him a little unsure if he wanted to keep obeying his little ‘requests’.
Speaking of…
“Oh, have you thought about your arcane major yet?” Aaron asked,
“I realized I forgot to ask when we were talking about it.”Small talk. That was good. He could… hopefully fill the time that way. Other than the vampires, though, Max had no idea what he and Aaron had in common enough to carry on an extended conversation.
“Honestly? I’ve been going back and forth,” Max admitted with a huff,
“Transmutation sounds, like, superficially useful considering my affinity, but then I figured, hey, why not go evocation outright and skip the middleman?” Not to mention, with all the stuff he saw Feliks doing, he’d have so much versatility with whatever metal he was toting around already that he couldn’t see himself ever needing any other kinds on such short notice.
“Well, you’ve got time to figure it out. For mine, I had to submit all my documents a whole semester early,” Aaron commented airily. He spun his ring in his lap, thinking.
“Transmutation sounds more versatile, if you want my opinion. Evocation is kind of a one-trick pony, but I think Transmutation covers a bunch of different sorts of spells. Though, whichever one you major in, you still have the choice to dabble in the other.” As far as Max was concerned, that one trick was the only one relevant to his magic. What else was Eris going to have him do with it? Puppet the stage lights so he doesn’t have to hire a lighting team?
“What’s with the early due date? Cinnamon on your ass about that too?” Max questioned, brow raised curiously. Did the noble mages have stricter due dates? He couldn’t imagine why. Or did Aaron already have some arcane spells under his belt from the pompous magic tutors he probably had? It’d be annoying if not for the fact that Mister Perfect gets used as a literal stepping stool by a leech.
Aaron shook his head.
“No, no he was actually pretty angry when I asked his permission to take it,” he corrected.
“The Mental program just has stricter requirements than the others. The course load is very specific—I think I need four additional affinity courses and three advanced spell theory ones, I’d have to check the documents—so in order to plan out your courses and start on time, you need to get your application in with a full semester to spare. And then you need approval from professors and your partner and all this extra planning to cope with the program…” He ran a hand down his face. He was rambling, the early start to his night catching up to him.
“I guess it’s supposed to be hell when you get past the Protection course and finally begin.”Max just stared in sort-of-amusement-but-mostly-incredulity as Aaron listed everything. Who the hell would willingly choose to do all that extra work? This idiot was exhausted enough just by being in the same room with Varis, and Max would be shocked if Aaron settled for anything less than perfect grades in every class.
“So you are a masochist,” he whispered reverently, as if he’d just stumbled onto some grand secret to the meaning of life.
“If Varis didn’t put you up to this, why even bother? Sounds like a lot of fucking work.”Aaron leveled Max with an unamused look.
“Yes, pardon me for wanting to keep my thoughts inside my head,” he retorted condescendingly, though he quickly lost the energy even for that.
“Like I said before, Lady Sinnenodel has a thing for mental mages. I’d like not to leave myself wide open to be tampered with.” He frowned thoughtfully at the table, eventually sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose as all the unpleasant, incoherent reasoning he’d given Varis came rushing back.
“And… I mean, it’s… ugh.”He shook his head in uncharacteristic frustration, waving the thought away as he put his gaze pointedly out the window. If he told Max what he really thought, he’d just wave him off as crazy. Like Varis, and Malek, and everyone else he had to explain it to did.
“Nevermind. It’s stupid is what it is, but I’ve made up my mind and there’s no going back now.”Fair enough point. Max would probably be running to take every mental course he could if it’d spare him regular brain scans by some psychopath and her slaves. Still, if protection was the first course, was the rest of the major really necessary? Probably more nuanced than that. Come to think of it, there was a very decent possibility mental magic was way more common than he thought. No wonder all these mages are fake to the point of cognitive dissonance; they had to even think their own lies.
“If you’re having second thoughts, maybe work through them before you sign up for the evil mindbreaking affinity-stealing major.” Max suggested cheekily,
“Your logic sounds fine to me.”At first Aaron leveled the other mage with a deadpan look, but after a moment he had to succumb to a laugh.
“Thanks. That’s actually pretty nice to hear.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the woman behind the bakery counter steal a few glances their way, clearly trying not to be noticed. Aaron shot her a sheepish grin nonetheless, turning back to Max with a slightly lowered voice.
“I think we might have overstayed our welcome.”Max followed Aaron’s gaze briefly and outright scowled at the woman, paying no mind to subtlety. Well, he didn’t clock her over the head with a dough hook, but one unpleasant run-in with cops was enough for this year.
“She listening in or something?” He asked as he turned back to the other mage. How many mages came around here to talk politics on a regular basis? The workers around here probably pick up enough stories to start an information brokering business, but they’d probably all be dead if they were particularly gossipy. Besides, it was just arcane major talk.
Aaron grinned and shook his head, moving to stand.
“I think we’re just supposed to buy more if we stay here too long, and I’m afraid I don’t have any money.” He put his hands in his pockets, giving the woman another apologetic smile before looking back to Max.
“If you need to kill some time, we can continue this conversation in the dining hall. I certainly want to hear more about why you don’t have a winter jacket.” Max stood in turn, an amused snort escaping him as he lifted up the cloak a bit.
“I do, but it was too tight over the armor and whenever I walk around without a weapon I run into vampires that wanna talk to me.” Or worse, Eris fans. But at least they were usually beat off with a bad attitude rather than any actual threats of physical violence.
At least Aaron proposed a plan; Max didn’t even know where people
went to hang out around here. He wasn’t sure he knew how to entertain for a whole nother hour—or more, what the hell could Eris be doing that was taking this long?—but he did always have the ‘I’ll let you kick my ass in the training rooms’ card to play as a last resort.
Snickering, Aaron gave the woman behind the counter a wave and led Max to the door, pausing a moment to prepare himself for the cold. Damn, it looked like the wind picked up, too.
“Fair enough,” he agreed, pushing out the door and onto the sidewalk. He could find some way to kill another two hours with Max. Maybe then he’d be able to go back to a less-displeased Varis for having socialized and stayed out of his sight a little longer.
