Four years of training had led Ariel up to this moment. Nervously, he fiddled with his bow tie, being jostled by every bump of the carriage. Beside him sat Jasper; no longer a quiet child but a dignified young man at marrying age. To think of the difference that four years made. Ariel had been an adult himself for awhile now, yet it didn’t change the fact that he was not in control of his own life.

And I never will be.

Jasper sighed and tapped his fingers against his leg impatiently. Ariel gave him a small smile.

“Are you nervous, Jasper?” he asked.

“Of course not,” he responded proudly. “How could I be?”

“Well, I’m nervous,” Ariel admitted, staring down at his hands as they fidgeted.

“Worried you weren’t trained enough?” Jasper inquired, cocking his head to the side.

Ariel hesitated. “Well, not that… It’s just I’ve never fought another mage before. I could… die if things go badly.” Admitting the truth made him feel foolish in a way, since he knew he had been well prepared. He had even asked Alys for advice.

“Remember, they will call you a traitor. They will fight you; it’s their freedom on the line and you’re going to be the one standing in the way of that freedom. You were free once, you know what it’s like.”

Even though Jasper’s father was slowly transferring duties over to Jasper, he would still send Alys on the more dangerous missions with high profile mages that needed to be dealt with. This mission would be Ariel’s first, and Jasper’s father had assured them that it would be simple one. Just a runaway Catalyst; it happened all the time. Ariel would just need to return them to their master.

This wasn’t a kill order.

But somehow that fact did little to relieve him.

Jasper pulled a thin folder from the bag at his side and flipped it open. A single piece of paper sat as its contents, and Jasper read over it carefully. Ariel leaned over to glance at it, to which Jasper gave him a puzzled look. Acknowledgement flashed across his face, and he positioned the paper so that Ariel could read it as well.

He probably forgot that I could read. I mean, it’s a rare for a Catalyst nowadays…

His eyes darted over the page, reading the description of the woman they were searching for. Apparently she was roughly five foot three, with dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were described as being a light bronze color, and her face sported many freckles. But the most telling feature was the tattoo around her neck.

“Does it say what type of magic she can do?” Ariel asked.

Jasper frowned. “Not on this paper, but my father told me she could manipulate wind.”

“Another elemental mage…” Ariel mumbled, flexing his fingers.

The rest of the carriage ride was bumpy yet quiet as Ariel fretted over the idea of battling another mage.

The carriage halted once they reached a crowded marketplace, bustling with the afternoon rush. Jasper rose once the door was opened by the coachman and descended down to the ground. Ariel followed him, making sure not to raise his head to look at the coachman directly; he was human after all.

“This was the last place she was seen,” Jasper spoke to Ariel. “We might be able to find someone here who has seen her more recently.”

“If we’re lucky, she’s not far,” Ariel added.

As they strolled through the marketplace Ariel attracted a lot of stares. He was used to the cold eyes of humans as he ventured into public; it was unavoidable. Jasper always seemed oblivious to them, but Ariel could always feel them burning into him.

Trying to distract himself, he glanced about the market, taking in the sights and smells it offered. His stomach growled at the scents of fried foods street vendors were offering, longing for another bite to eat. Breakfast has been hours ago, and he was already feeling peckish.

Jasper must have caught his wandering gaze, because he shook his head and cracked a small smile.

“Lunch will be waiting for us when we get back,” he said simply.

“I suppose I can wait, but if you really wanted to make my day, we’d stop for food before we head home,” Ariel nearly pleaded with puppy eyes.

Jasper let out a long sigh and shook his head. “Not while we’re on a mission, maybe after we get our mage.”

“Yeah… Don’t remind me,” Ariel exhaled gently.

As Jasper approached various humans going about their lives to ask if they had seen their target, Ariel stood silently. Currently, Jasper was talking to rug weaver who seemed to think that she had seen the mage a bit earlier this morning, but Ariel was beginning to lose focus on their conversation. His thoughts drifted and he stared blankly ahead, daydreaming. Platters of foods danced in his head, swirling around, torturing his empty stomach.

“Mommy, mommy, look! It’s a witch!” A shrill cry broke him from his thoughts. Glancing over at a small human child, Ariel felt his heart clench. The child was tugging on his mother’s skirts, pointing at Ariel excitedly. But the child’s mother seemed not to notice as she was bartering with a seller nearby.

Typical human children, they just don’t know when to keep their mouths shut.

Ariel looked over at the child, very displeased, but he knew speaking to a human in public could get him in a lot of trouble. The child stuck out his tongue, to which Ariel took as a challenge. He stuck his own tongue back out at the child.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Ariel pulled his tongue back in and looked over to the aggravated face of the child’s mother.

“What gives you the right to harass my son?” Her voice was raising and drawing in curious eyes from around. Ariel looked desperately over at Jasper only to see that he was still conversing and had yet to notice the commotion. Ariel was alone.

“I’m sorry ma’am, it just…” he fumbled for an excuse. The child seemed thrilled at all the attention he was causing, yet perhaps a little embarrassed too. Words of uneasiness rode on the air, and Ariel could pick up their mumbling.

“Was a mage hurting a child?”

“They really should lock all of them up.”

“Disrespectful…”

“Damn witches.”

Overwhelmed, Ariel settled for bowing his head. “My apologies.”

“I don’t want your apologies,” the woman shrieked. “Where is your master? I can’t believe someone would leave a witch unattended like this!”