Galen's sullen mood from the previous day rolled over the next. Yesterday, Severin had spent another hour assuring Galen he would keep his secret, but Galen was not mollified. Now that Severin knew he was an asteris, he was going to treat him differently. All of the progress he had made with their friendship would be ruined. His stay in Sunmesto had looked promising, but yesterday's adventure into the woods squashed that outlook. Galen was not even sure Severin would show up today. He sighed and laid his forehead on the register.
Galen looked up at the familiar sound of a customer coming in. Severin shyly waved a greeting. Galen nodded back. Severin walked up to the counter and jumped up to sit on the wood. Galen leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms.
"Hey," Severin said.
"Hey." Galen offered nothing more than that. They stared at each other awkwardly until Severin snorted.
"Really, you're not going to say anything?"
"I don't have anything to say." It was the truth. There was nothing he could say that would erase Severin’s memory of the previous day.
Severin rolled his eyes, "You're being difficult."
Galen let out another sigh, "Look, you know that I know that you know."
Severin slid off the counter. He took a chair from the other side of the room and pulled it next to Galen. He sat down and said, "Yes, things are going to change."
Galen opened his mouth to reply, but Severin held up a finger. "Things are going to change, but not for the worse. You're my friend, and I'm not going to let myself ruin that. I don't care that you're an asteris."
"You seemed to care when you called me as bad as an astera." Severin was not the first person to discover that Galen was an asteris, and he would not be the last to leave because of the discovery. Even those humans who were initially fine with him left once they realized how different they were. Asteris stopped aging once they hit their thirties, and many who had followed him for long had to face their own mortality. Spending his lifetime surrounded by those who grew old and died left him to reflect on his own almost immortality as much as they reflected on their ageing bodies. Would he mentally die before his body had the chance to decay? The older he got the more likely that possibility become.
Severin rubbed a hand down his face. “I’m sorry. I’m not proud to say that was my knee jerk reaction. You were right. We haven’t been taught that asteris are the kindest people in the world.”
“It’s not easy to shift perspectives. How can you say you don’t care when I know you do?
"I promise that I don’t think you’re a horrible person. My reaction was uncalled for, and I immediately regretted it. I say I don’t care because I mean it," Severin angled his chair toward Galen, "Why are you trying to push me away?"
"I don't want you to treat me any differently," Galen said.
"You certainly aren't allowing me to treat you the same."
Galen paused at that. He guessed he had not been giving Severin the benefit of the doubt. He had been too focused on what would happen if he did not accept him. He gave a short laugh, "I'm not, am I?"
"Nope."
"Well, I suppose I shouldn't catastrophize before you've given me a reason to."
"Nope," Severin grinned.
Galen laughed again, "I guess today is your turn to be the mature one."
"For once in my life."
Severin stood up, dragging his chair to its previous location. He hopped back onto the counter. He stared intently at Galen. Galen gave him a questioning look. "What?"
"So," Severin wiggled his fingers as though he was casting magic, "What did you do to that astera?"
"I cast an illusion." Galen mimicked Severin's finger movement.
"You were still casting the illusion when I uncovered my ears, but I didn't hear anything. It must have been loud if it scared away the astera."
"You didn't hear anything? That's not too unexpected. To be honest, I didn't think you would, but I thought you should cover your ears just in case," Galen shrugged.
"Does the illusion not work on humans?"
"Illusions work on all living things, but they only work if the victim doesn't know they are in an illusion. When you saw me casting, it broke the illusion."
"But I didn't know it was an illusion."
"You knew I was an asteris as soon as you saw my magic. This means you knew that the noise was a spell and not a real sound. Ergo, you knew you were in an illusion."
"Wow, even something as simple as that breaks the spell."
"Yes, that's why asteris tend to stick to simpler illusions."
"The astera saw you cast it as well, but that didn't break the illusion."
"You're giving the astera's intelligence too much credit. The creature couldn't tell there was a correlation between me and the noise. It's easy to cast spells on animals because most can't tell the difference. Humans are another matter entirely."
"Are illusions the only spells you can do?"
"No."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Nope!"
Severin frowned at Galen. "You won't tell me."
"I don't make a habit of telling humans everything about asteris."
"You don't trust me," Severin accused.
Galen could see his reluctance to give away information was making Severin upset. He tried to smooth it over, "I'm just not comfortable telling you all there is to know about asteris right now."
A frown still marred Severin's countenance, "Okay."
"Severin."
"I said okay. Why don't you use spells more often?"
"I'm not good at them."
A wry grin replaced Severin's frown. "You? I can't believe Mr. Perfectionist isn't good at something."
It was Galen's turn to frown. He was not a perfectionist. He just liked to put effort and quality into every single thing he did. Whether that be putting away his shoes or learning a new language. He tried to manage his expectations for everyone else. He said, "I am not a perfectionist, and that isn't how spellcasting works."
"Well, how does it work?"
"Asteris are gifted in one craft. Kind of like how some humans have aptitudes in certain talents, but not others. I am not gifted in spellcasting, so it's hard for me to improve."
"What are you gifted in? If you can tell me."
Galen gave Severin a side-eye, "My gift is in potions."
"That must be useful for medicine-making."
"It is." The conversation trailed off, but a comfortable silence ensued instead of the stifling atmosphere of earlier.
Suddenly, Severin brightened, "Could you teach me magic? Like one of those magicians."
"No!" Galen shouted. Severin startled and fell off the counter. He looked at Galen in shock.
"Okay! No magic."
"I will never teach you to be like a magician." Galen snarled the word. Severin stepped back. Magicians and asteris had a bloody history. Asteris' skill with magic allowed them to do various tasks much easier than their human counterparts. When asteris first interacted with humans, they had been happy to teach them all they knew about magic. However, humans could not use magic like asteris could. Bitterness soon festered among the humans, but they relied on the asteris' magic to help them. This established an uneasy partnership that was tested when humans discovered they could, in fact, use magic. Asteran parts enabled humans to do all the magic they wanted, birthing magicians. Asteris had outlived their usefulness.
At first, things remained just about the same, but soon hostilities rose. An invisible struggle between the souled and the soulless began. Magicians had gotten good at using magic and created the Magicians of the High Court, an international organization of the strongest magic users. Asteris magic was more powerful, but their numbers were limited, and they couldn't use magic indefinitely. The human population boomed, while the asteris' remained stagnant. Fearing the turning tides, asteris fled and hid. Magicians saw their weakness and struck. They hunted them down and used the asteris' bodies to fuel their magic. The asteris' already small numbers dwindled further. Eventually, the asteris grew harder and harder to find as they got better at blending in. The evasiveness of the asteris caused magicians to stop their hunt, and they instead focused more on advancing humankind.
The last hunt of asteris was over 200 years ago, and all who were involved are long dead, but Galen still felt lingering resentment toward the magicians. Enough resentment to not want to train one. Galen knew he was being unfair to Severin. He knew it was an innocent question. Not many humans today were aware of what exactly happened. However, despite how long ago it was, Galen could not forget the feeling of being hunted. He imagined he never would.
A lump formed in Severin's throat, "I'm sorry I asked."
"Yeah," Galen huffed. Tension filled the air, leaving Severin frustrated. He had just fixed what happened yesterday, and he managed to screw it up again.
The door opened. Severin and Galen twisted their heads to look at who entered. An elderly woman hobbled in. She shuffled to the counter, "Hello, my dear. I am here for my incense. The orange blossom one."
Galen plastered a stiff smile onto his face, "Of course, I'm right on it. That will be 10 silver pieces."
Severin made room for the old lady as Galen collected her wares. The woman looked between the two men, sensing something amiss. Ignoring it, she laid her money on the counter. Galen handed her the incense before depositing the money into the register, "Thank you for your purchase."
"No problem, dear." She hobbled out the shop, taking the forced pleasantness with her.
Severin and Galen once again stood in silence. Severin desperately thought of a way to break the tension. Galen spoke, "It's fine."
"No, it's not. I keep messing up!"
"You don’t know any better."
"I wouldn't have asked if I knew you would react like that. I'm sorry."
"Severin, I know. Stop apologizing. I told you it's fine. Drop it."
Severin did not know what to say. He could not leave with them at odds for another night. He needed to say something. "I was scared."
"Huh?"
Severin cleared his throat, "When my parents got sick, I was scared."
"Severin," Galen softened, "You don't need—"
Severin interrupted, "I was scared because I knew no one would help them. My mom got sick first. My dad went into town to get help, but nobody would. The sheriff wouldn't let them."
"Morstat."
"I hate him. I hate him so fucking much. My mom died, and my dad got sick soon after. He died a week later. I prayed to Pravu every day for a month straight after that. I prayed for him to take me too, but I never got sick."
"That must've been hard for you."
"I told you this because I wanted you to know that I trust you. I don't know what happened between you and the magicians, and you don't have to tell me. I am here to stay, and I want you to trust me."
Galen stared at Severin quietly. Severin fidgeted. While Galen did not smile, he was calm. He said, "I want to."
"That's all I need to
hear."
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