Fidgeting with the hem of the corset she was wearing over a plain white linen shift, Ennette wasn’t sure why she was heading to the Grand Wizard’s office.
Marlen had called to inform her that the Grand Wizard had something to say to her and Maziar, so when Maziar knocked on her door and asked her to go out, she had no choice but to begrudgingly accept.
Maziar didn’t say much, and what he did say, he said in such a low, mumbling way that she almost didn’t hear him. She hadn’t seen him in nearly two weeks, so she could understand him treating her like a stranger, but it didn’t really match the personality of the boy she’d met just after she’d been summoned.
But seeing the snickering crowd behind him as he waited for her outside her door, it wasn’t hard to understand why.
“Are you leaving, Maziar?” Cardin asked innocently. “Without even saying goodbye?”
The rat-like boy had a very punchable face, Ennette decided as she stepped out of the room. Maziar ignored him and motioned for Ennette to start heading up the stairs.
Not one to be disregarded, Cardin shouted, “Don’t let the bandits get you again!”
“Ass,” Maziar grumbled as he followed her close behind.
“What’s his problem?” Ennette asked.
“He was born that way,” Maziar told her gruffly. “You can’t fix stupid.”
Smirking, Ennette pushed the South Cradle’s door open and breathed the fresh air. It was the first time she’d left her room other than to sit on the balcony or poke around the common area when the others weren’t there.
She’d locked herself inside enough, she supposed. It was time to let it go and start living her life again. Her time would be better spent trying to figure out how she would live in this world of magic and monsters until she could find her way home.
It felt good to be out in the open air again. Since she’d arrived, she’d gone between being depressed about her situation to being determined to overcome it, then back to being depressed again when she was confronted with reality.
A large portion of her time was spent reading what books she had about the geography and history of Varsal and Gaiuel and trying to wrap her mind around the logistics of it all. Yulda and Marlen called her almost every day, morning and night, to answer her endless streams of questions and to make sure she had everything she could want or need.
Yulda in particular was very interested in her. She would often encourage her to leave her room to explore and to make friends with Maziar. Ennette wasn’t sure how to get it across to her how strange that would be for her to do that, but Yulda wasn’t wrong in that Ennette needed to learn to reach out to someone else, too. It made sense that Maziar was probably the best option in his mother’s head, and she being his familiar and indefinitely tied to him just solidified his candidacy.
Ennette, on the other hand, had a very different picture of Maziar; one where he had slaughtered thousands of innocents in relentless pursuit of his desire to take over the kingdom for the Darklands.
But the question remained: How had the Maziar next to her, the very one who’d just chosen to walk past the people who picked on him like bratty playground bullies, become that kind of person?
Let’s face it, that's probably the reason why, Ennette thought, watching from beside him as he walked with his shoulders slumped and his hands in his pockets, staring at the ground dejectedly. It didn’t seem like he had many people around to support him.
“So,” Ennette started, leaning closer to him. “Bandits?”
Maziar shrugged. “It’s a long story.”
“Is it common in this world?”
“Mmm,” Maziar considered. “It’s worse than it was.”
Ennette thought about what she knew about the world and asked, “Is it because of the Darklands?”
“You know about the Darklands?”
“Ish,” she said. “I know they are a problem.”
“The things you know are weird.”
“Regardless of what I knew when I first came here, I haven’t been sitting on my hands, you know,” said Ennette.
“Are you doing all right?” Maziar asked quietly, eyes glued to the path. “I didn’t mean to just…leave you for so long.”
Ennette wiggled her nose. “You aren’t responsible for me, you know.”
“But I am,” he said. “I should’ve at least…tried.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my familiar,” said Maziar.
“I’m my own person, thanks,” she told him. Although she had to admit it was nice to know that he did care. “One who doesn’t want to be here and who you didn’t invite into your life. Why the hell would I expect anything of you?”
His black eyes darted towards her, but he didn’t quite look her way. “Still…”
“Besides,” she started again, clearing her throat. “It’s not like I was really alone. Marlen and the Grand Wizard made sure that I had what I needed.”
Maziar’s face darkened with irritation. “That’s just fine, then,” he snapped and began walking faster.
“Jesus,” Ennette muttered. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” he said. “I’m glad you have someone looking out for you.”
Gaping at him as she tried to keep up, she asked, “Are you jealous?”
“What do I have to be jealous of?” Maziar asked, his eyes going wide. “You know who I am, don’t you?”
“A jackass?”
“I am Maziar Kreeth,” he said, stopping to stare her down at one of the crossroads. “I’m the son of Duke Walden Kreeth and the heir of the Northern Dukedom. I’m the son of Yulda Izaria, Grand Wizard of the Northern Tower. I haven’t been torn from my world and dropped into another because of some idiot’s joke! Hell, according to you, I’m even going to be some great magician! What in all the hells of the universe could I possibly be jealous of?”
Ennette was both intimidated and intrigued by the boy’s rant. She could have retreated, but she chose to lean in. “You’re…the son of a duke?” she asked innocently.
Stepping back, Maziar rubbed his eyes. “How do you know some of the most obscure things of this world yet don’t have any concept of public knowledge?”
“Probably because I was dropped into this world because of some idiot’s joke,” she pointed out.
He blinked, then laughed.
Almost immediately, the air around them shifted, and the tension broke. With a sigh of relief, Ennette turned the direction that she thought led to the central tower and started walking again.
“Not that way,” Maziar told her, brushing her shoulder with his hand. Startled, she spun around to see him chuckling, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. “That way.”
“A-Ah…” she said and followed him down the other path. Even though she could see the tower from anywhere, the roads were like a maze.
“Sorry,” Maziar said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Where was that attitude of yours when Cardin was picking on you?” Ennette asked, side-eyeing him. “It’s already pretty dumb he’s making fun of the son of the Grand Wizard, but if you’re the son of a duke, shouldn’t there be some kind of political repercussions for that sort of behavior?”
“It’s not worth it.”
“But it’s worth it to snap at me?” she asked.
“I…no,” he admitted, his cheeks turning with a light shade of red over the grayish pallor of his tanned skin.
Seeing him act so bashfully, Ennette decided to let it pass. “I’m sorry, too,” she said.
“For what?”
“Locking myself in my room for two weeks.” Ennette grimaced. “And relying on your mother and Marlen.”
Maziar shook his head. “That’s what you should have done,” he told her. “You didn’t need to be exposed to the bullshit that Cardin and his minions were throwing around, and honestly, my mother and Marlen are probably the best people to turn to in your case.”
“What was Cardin throwing around?”
“Stupidity.”
“Involving me?”
“Mostly me, but he certainly didn’t make an exception for your circumstances.”
“What did he say?”
“You don’t want to know,” Maziar groaned. “I’m used to his shit. You don’t need to be.”
“Hmm,” Ennette pondered as they approached the Central Tower’s gates. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Maizar being forced to field all the bullying on his own—and she was very annoyed that the other casters, especially the teachers, seemed to ignore what was going on between their initiates.
Ennette and Maziar entered and spoke to the person at the front desk. Because they had an appointment, Marlen was contacted and was able to summon a portal to the top so they didn’t need to walk up all those stairs again.
While they waited for their audience with the Grand Wizard, Ennette asked Maziar why they’d been summoned in the first place.
Maziar’s eyes went wide. “You don’t know?”
“Marlen didn’t tell me when he called,” said Ennette, shaking her head. “He just said that I should come with you.”
Unhappy, Maziar shook his head. “This’ll be fun,” he muttered. “Glad to see they are consistent, at least.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll find out,” he told her, just as the people who had been talking to the Grand Wizard before them left the room. A pretty blonde-haired girl with a gentle smile stepped out with a tall man who was probably in his early twenties. He had ice-blue eyes behind silver-rimmed glasses, and his long black hair was loose around his shoulders.
“Nurlos…?” Ennette breathed in wonder, earning her another curious glance from Maziar.
Nurlos, however, took no interest in her and set his eyes firmly on the boy next to her.
“Maziar,” Nurlos said, approaching them. Ennette hid behind Maziar as he got closer. Pointing at Maziar’s hand, he asked, “May I?”
Shifting his stance, Maziar let Nurlos see his hand and Ennette watched as Nurlos created a magic circle between his fingertips with a flash of light.
Running it over his hand, Nurlos said, “It’s healing well. And your shoulder?”
“No issues,” Maziar said.
“Any residual pain?”
“No.”
Nurlos nodded. “Good. Another week, and you shouldn’t need to worry anymore,” he said, then seemed to hesitate. “Your mother…”
“I really, really, don’t need you to speak up for her,” Maziar told him.
The girl beside Nurlos looked worried as she glanced between them, but Nurlos just seemed a bit sad.
“I see,” he said, then bowed. “I will take my leave then.”
“Are you going, too?” Maziar asked in a quiet voice. “With her?”
“We are.”
The tension that Ennette felt around Maziar earlier returned, and Ennette wasn’t sure if she should move away or not.
“Be careful,” Maziar told him, clenching his fists.
“We will,” Nurlos told him, gently patting him on the shoulder before letting Marlen show them out.
Before they could go in, Marlen had to check on the Grand Wizard’s status before allowing them in, so they waited to be called.
“Maziar,” Ennette started, looking him over. “Did you get hurt?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Was it Cardin?”
“No.”
His words were short and quick, but he took a look at her face and said, “I got into a riding accident.”
She immediately knew it was a lie, but she wasn’t sure what exactly he was lying about or why—but she also knew that he wouldn’t likely answer if she asked.
Whatever was wrong with him, he got over quickly, however.
“You know Nurlos?” Maziar asked with furrowed brows.
“Ah—it’s, well…” she started, trying to figure out how to explain to him without explaining. Luckily Marlen saved her by calling them into the Grand Wizard’s office.
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