Cale sat himself down in front of Magdalena and stared at her. She glanced up at him from under her long fringe, giving him a confused look. He didn't respond. He was too busy trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. Well, that had happened last evening.

He licked his lips and opened his mouth. Frowned. Closed it and brought his hand up to his face to drag it through his hair and then bite his thumb. He slouched in the chair and tapped his feet restlessly on the ground, trying to find a way to start this conversation that wouldn't lead to her thinking he was insane.

Finally, he managed to blurt out, "Julius wants to marry me."

He covered his face with his hands and groaned. That wasn't how he had wanted to say it. Cringing, he waited breathlessly for her reaction.

"Well, of course he does," Magdalena drawled, "otherwise he wouldn't have asked my parents if there would be hard feelings."

"He asked your parents?" Cale asked. He looked up from his hands and furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would he do that?"

"To make sure they didn't intend to bring up the matter of our former engagement again," she shrugged out and looked up at him. They were in the garden outside, a light smattering of snow covering the ground. The sun bounced off the glittering snow and lit up the garden patio like tiny little stars. She gave him a scrutinizing look, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head.

"He wanted to do it the proper way," she said when he still didn't respond. She continued, "Make sure that he had all the relevant people's approval so that he could court you properly — like you deserve."

Cale shook his head. He sat up straight on the stone bench and threw her a confused glance. "But what am I supposed to do?"

She rose an eyebrow at him, her lips pulling into the beginnings of a smile. "Do you want to marry him?"

He snapped his mouth shut. Slouched down on the bench again and looked away. Trees were swaying gently in the faint breeze, the leaves long-since fallen from their branches. Snow about a decimeter deep covered the ground and reflected the sun's rays. There was nary a cloud in the sky, the early morning coldly beautiful, the high walls of buildings surrounding the tiny oasis of a garden.

Not many people were out here this early. Cale had certainly never been here before. But he had slept fretfully, waking up from a mixture of dreams and nightmares that left him feeling on edge, restlessly walking here in search of advice.

He didn't know what to do.

He wanted to marry Julius. That was bad of him, he knew. Disregarding the same-sex thing and the age difference, he knew that Julius had a future, one that he wasn't in. He knew that in the novel 'Fire & Ice', Julius had played a startlingly big role in the background, his unprecedented skill as a stone mage proving highly useful in times of combat.

He wasn't a regular in the novel, and he didn't really interfere in the major battles, but he had a future laid out for him. One where he ended up falling in love with one of the girls who were in unrequited love with Sayer, giving Julius' character a depth that was—Cale was thinking in circles. He rubbed his hand over his eyes and sighed, closing his eyes briefly to gather his composure.

Then he mumbled out, "Of course I want to marry Julius. I would have already sent a letter to my mother if not. I just... don't know how this can work."

"So talk about it with him," Magdalena stated, like the answer was obvious. Cale shrunk back on his bench and dragged his hands through his loose hair again. The color of it was startlingly similar to that of the snow littering the ground.

He lowered his gaze to the stone table in between them. Licking his lips again, he shook his head and bit down on the urge to whine. "I don't know how," he squeezed out.

He brought his hands down to his laps and splayed them out on his legs. Fiddling with the frayed edges of the thin coat that he was wearing, it hit him how odd it was. It was nearly minus degrees outside, yet he wasn't cold at all. The coat he was wearing was the same one he wore in the summer, when he had to have one on to be polite. He wasn't wearing any special winter shoes, or thick socks, or mittens or even a hat.

But he wasn't cold at all.

If anything, he felt rather pleasant. Like a lukewarm spring morning, the temperature was just right.

Magdalena sighed and closed the book she was reading. He looked up at her. She faced his gaze head on with a determined one of her own. "Julius would never do anything to make you unhappy. If marrying him won't make you happy, you need to tell him. The sooner, the better."

Cale nodded. Then he frowned, a thought hitting him. "Didn't you think he was spying on me for Sayer?"

"That was before," she said and adjusted the hat on her head so it covered her ears again. "I've seen him with you. I've never seen him like that with anyone else before, not even Sayer. Also, I haven't actually seen him spend any time with Sayer for weeks now, much less seen them speak to each other. I'm pretty sure Julius just stopped talking to him. That seems like something he would do."

Cale glared at her. "Okay, okay, he wouldn't do that. To you. But that's what I'm saying! You mean more to him than anyone I've ever seen him around. Except maybe his parents. And if you're not sure, if you don't want to do this, then you should tell him."

He lowered his gaze to the table. She gave a low laugh, "He won't take it badly. You'll still be friends, I promise. And if not, I'll kick his ass for you."

Cale barked out a half-hearted laugh. He smothered it quickly before rising from his chair. She was right. Julius was a tactless, blunt person, who never said anything that he didn't mean. Having conversations with him was surprisingly easy, if somewhat frustrating, and this wasn't something that Cale could solve on his own. Even if he did feel like he was taking advantage of Magdalena; only seeking her out for her advice and ignoring her otherwise.

In the future, he should spend more time with her. Maybe they could take a trip somewhere, once the school year was over. From what he remembered, she would be graduating this year too.

"Thank you for your help," he said, "I'll tell you how it turns out."

She smiled at him, amused, and nodded. Then Cale set out to track down Julius, so that they could have a sorely needed conversation. Because really, if he was going to marry Julius, they had to talk about some things first. Like, did Julius even have any feelings for him? Cale couldn't really remember what had been said after the word marriage had left Julius' mouth, but he was pretty sure that no mention of emotions had come up.

And Cale wasn't going to marry somebody that didn't love him. Or that couldn't grow to love him — that was, after all, what the courting period was for. Getting to know one another and a chance to let feelings sprout naturally.

His steps sped up as he increased his pace. The first place he looked at was the cafeteria, because it was still early enough in the morning that it was open for breakfast. Julius wasn't there. The next place that Cale checked was the library, because he was simply used to Julius being there so often. But he supposed that that was only when Cale was there too. In the end, Cale found him in Julius' dorms, the location of which he had had to ask of a passing student.

It made his stomach squeeze uncomfortably, when he realized that he didn't know where Julius' room was. Julius knew where his was, and he had helped out tremendously when Cale got sick. Yet, Cale didn't even know where Julius' was.

He had been so focused on studying that everything else had been neglected.

And he hadn't even realized.

But he didn't know what else to do. Studying was the most important thing right now, studying so that he could graduate this year and be out of the way once the main plot starts, preferably in a whole other country. Surely, in light of that danger, a little negligence could be excused.

Except, no, it couldn't. Cale was just trying to justify it for himself. He wasn't the best at maintaining friendships and he had been overwhelmed and he hadn't even tried to make any connections here.

But connections were necessary.

The idea of trying to make a familial connection with Calla's family, of upholding their bond, made him nauseous. It was a disgusting thought, to trick them like that when their son was, if not dead, then still utterly lost to them. They would never see Calla again. But familial connections weren't the only kind out there and especially in a society such as this; connections of all sorts were important.

Friends, allies, people that could introduce him to other people, so that he could find a realtor to buy a house in another country, for example. And the only connections Cale had; he had been continually neglecting. For a good reason, yes, but still. He wouldn't blame them if they wanted nothing to do with him.

Which just made him question, again, why Julius would ever want to marry him.

Knocking on Julius' door, Cale waited. His hands were clasped together in his front and he turned them over restlessly, staring down at the ground and biting his lips. Taking a deep breath, he looked up when the door opened.

Julius stared back at him with cold green eyes.