Hand on the doorknob, deep breath. Calian had done the hardest part, pushing down his unstable feelings and thoughts while confronting his rebellious memories, but one last hardship was before him. Melody.
She’d carried him home and helped him when he was barely conscious, she’d let him bawl on her and given him back his room without asking questions, she deserved an apology and an explanation. Calian had a ball of lead in his stomach, a knot in his throat, it was going to be a difficult discussion for him who had never opened up.
He pushed the door open, and headed for the kitchen, whatever Melody would ask was still less important than his growling stomach. As he came into the brightly lit kitchen he saw Melody, half-slouching on the table, scrolling idly on her phone. The faint noises he had made while moving must’ve alerted her because he had barely blinked and she was already closing the distance between them with a few quick steps and stopping just before his face. She looked him up and down and nodded, satisfied.
“It’s good to see you’re not injured. I thought one of the boars had done you dirty at first, when I saw you kneeling in the mud there I feared for the worst. Took me a while to understand that you were fine, just shaken probably,” said Melody in a too casual tone.
Calian purposedly ignored the obviously practiced tone she’d used and shrugged, “Yeah, I have a few bad childhood memories that are still haunting me. Doing…” he interrupted, searching for the right word, “Killing those boars brought all that bad stuff back.”
Melody nodded but didn’t add anything, she simply sat him on one of the stools in the kitchen and served him some of the toast she’d prepared for herself. When Calian sat and dug in Melody simply stared blankly at her plate for a while. After a while, Calian had eaten more than half of his plate, she spoke, “If you… If you ever need to talk about anything I’ll be here to listen. I’m probably not the best person there is out here to listen to traumatic childhood and stuff but if it helps, I won’t shy away,” she said slowly, thinking carefully about each word. “Or I could also recommend a good psychiatrist to talk to,” she added, with a forced cheer in her voice, her attempt at humor making her smile faintly.
Calian, who had been chewing on his toast all this time, waiting anxiously for the dreaded questions to come, downed his glass of water before answering, “I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting that from you. Seeing how you’ve been scrutinizing my every action and thought I’d figured you’d bombard me with questions about what happened. I’m surprised you’re just offering support with no questions asked.”
As Melody was reflecting on how to best answer, Calian had put his fork and knife neatly on each side of his plate and was looking at her with a piercing gaze she’d never seen on him. At some point, half sure of how to answer him and deeply unsettled by his gaze she wiggled on her stool and answered while avoiding his eyes, “We both know our relationship is built on mutual benefits. But our relationship doesn’t need to rely purely on transactional benefits. I’ve known you for what now ? Almost five weeks ? Even if you’re not my closest friend I still consider you as one. And as thick skinned and greedy as I am, I still help my friend when they’re in trouble,” she explained, a smile creeping on her face at the end.
She took a deep breath, more assured now than when she had started, “It doesn’t take a genius to understand you were having a bad panic attack back there. When I saw you all limp and sobbing in the Clearing but with no wounds I pieced a few things together. You never opened up during our month together, I don’t know much more about your past now than I did when we met. You’re almost a workaholic and you prefer to avoid any social interactions to the point of preferring to write me a book about magic instead of doing a real face to face lesson. I figured you had some deep trauma that resurfaced at the Clearing. Now, who am I to question you about your past ? You’re my friend so I’m not going to leave you all alone in that forest, and I’m more than willing to listen to you if you want to vent. But I guess it’s not my role to try and pry answers out of you. That’s my reasoning, I’m offering you a hand that you can grab at any time, but I’m not forcing you to share our secrets with me if it’s not your wish.”
As she finished the look on Calian’s face was a mix of both stupor and relief. His slightly twitching leg stopped, and he allowed himself to relax, his shoulders visibly relaxing and the veil of wariness that clouded his eyes before was gone. Melody had melted his worries like snow in the sun. Calian nodded, “I appreciate the thought, you guessed right I don’t particularly feel like sharing anything for now, but I’ll keep your offer in mind.”
After Calian’s declaration both fell silent once again until Calian had finished hid breakfast. As he got up he readied a spell by habit to clean the dishes but his near empty mana reserves brought him back to reality. “Uhm Melody, I’m sorry but I’m almost out of juice so I won’t be able to do the dishes. Do you mind bringing me to the Clearing once again ? I’ll recharge there and we’ll have the occasion to part officially.”
Back to her usual cheery self, Melody nodded and flashed him a smile, “Sure, give me a minute to get ready and we can go !”
///
Calian was sitting in the greenhouse, closing his eyes and relishing in the warm feeling of his mana pool filling up. He was practicing his illusion skill with Melody, He was producing things like butterfly or tiny animals by stretching and coloring the basic mote of light he had her practice with. Melody was having a hard time following the fast-paced changes he made with his orb of light but was holding on and forcing her own mote to adapt. At some point during a break Calian decided it was time for goodbyes. He stood up and patted his clothes, removing invisible dust, it was his way of preparing for the incoming conversation and to signal Melody that he was about to move. “I think it’s time Mel’,” he declared blandly.
Melody frowned and melted her light in a multitude of little sparks as she released her control. She looked deep in Calian’s eyes, she saw the loneliness of a man who had lost his world, yet at the same time the optimism of one that had found solace in his exile. “I understand, you probably need some time for yourself after everything that happened. Plus you have that big project of yours to start !” she winked.
Calian chuckled, happy to see she wasn’t offended that he needed some time for himself, “Yes, I’d rather no one witness what I’m about to do, but I promise that when I’m done, I’ll give you your fair share of magical knowledge and more. Plus, I’ll gift you your own greenhouse so that you can practice on your own.”
As Calian finished talking they both exited the greenhouse and went to the mage’s house. While looking at his house Melody chuckled, “It’s a nice little house but damn does it look unfinished! No windows, no tap water, no electricity, hell there aren’t many furniture. You’re lucky we prepared you some canned food or you’d starve here. Where will you even sleep you don’t have a mattress !”
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Seeing her worry Calian put on some mysterious air and winked, “A magician can’t reveal all his tricks can he ? Seriously Mel’, I’ll be fine don’t worry, I can fix myself almost anything with enough mana and I’ll just buy the stuff I can’t make. I assure you, I’ll be fine.”
She sulked and pouted and ended up grumbling something unintelligible that Calian didn’t bother asking her to repeat. As they both slowly walked to her car she turned to the mage and looked at him with a grave face he hadn’t seen on her before, “Cal’, promise me you’ll be careful, both because I care about my investments but also because I like having you as a friend.”
Calian looked at her as gravely as she did and, with a hand on his heart, promised, “I swear that I’ll be as careful as I can, don’t worry about me too much.”
For the rest of the trip they chitchatted idly and when Melody got in her car they wished each other goodbye. Calian waved until her car disappeared far away on the road. He silently trekked back towards the clearing but veered a bit to the north before reaching it. After some more time walking, he reached another road and posted himself on the side of it. He waited for a moment and once he’d made sure no one was around he raised his hand, concentrated for a moment and shot a large green magical flare high above the treetops.
After a short wait Calian perked up, an engine noise was growing louder, disturbing the silence permeating the forest. As a black jeep was approaching birds flew out disturbed by the noise. The jeep stopped right in front of Calian and Alexander, the shady looking person he’d sold his first batch of healing potions to, jumped out of it. Alexander was wearing a black top revealing multiples tattoos almost making a sleeve on his right arm, camo pants and black military boots. Alexander silently extended his hand to greet Calian and after both man had shaken hand he retrieved a large sport bag.
“Made it without issue ? Hope you didn’t wait too long for me ?” asked Calian, eyeing Alexander and the suitcase.
“Nah, I’ve seen worst road than that and I reserved my day for you so you could’ve come later I wouldn’t even care. Anyway, grab as much stuff as you can and lead the way,” answered Alexander while grabbing several heavy looking bag from the trunk of the car.
Calian grabbed his fair share of bags too and had to resist the urge to lift them all with a quick levitation spell. As both men headed in the forest Alexander took the initiative to start chatting which was contrary to his habit of observing silently.
“So, why’d ask to call forward our meeting Mr. Rhys ? I understand you couldn’t give me more details with Melody next to you but I remain curious about your motives,” asked Alexander, his voice calm.
“Well I’ve had a recent change of plans and a new project that require my full attention. That’s why I asked you to bring so many materials and books. From our little discussion I understand that my product has been quite the hit in various communities and that you’re already almost out of stock. I’m confident I can ask you to bill the cost of what you brought me today on my share, right ?” asked Calian, matching the tone of Alexander.
“I can confirm that we’re already out of stock and have promised our clients to try and source more of your product. It’s, in fact, the main reason I’ve accepted to reschedule our meeting on such short notice and in such a remote place,” explained Alexander, his voice ever so calm even under the strain of the walk through the forest. “As for your payment I have already taken my share and subtracted what is due for the materials, everything left is in the bag here,” he said, proceeding to show the large sport bag.
Both men continued chatting about the sales of the healing potion and Alexander even tried to pry slightly in the manufacturing process, but Calian didn’t let anything slip and continued forward silently when asked things he wouldn’t answer. After a while they arrived at Calian’s house and he instructed Alexander to deliver his materials next to the greenhouse.
Alexander looked at the Clearing with an expert’s eye, looking intently at the strange house, with no apparent construction marks or even any nails, after all the wood had been magically fused by Calian. Alexander also studied intently the ashes present throughout the Clearing, the greenhouse and the absence of windows on the house but eventually decided against making any comments or asking any questions.
They had to make another trip to the car to get everything Calian requested out, and once they were done, they sat on Calian’s porch and shared a refreshment Alexander had provided. Alexander, finally too intrigued to hold back, asked the questions he had, “Alright, I’m curious now, it was a good walk to get everything here, but it certainly wouldn’t take the whole day like you requested. So, why did you ask for me to reserve a full day to come here when a few hours would’ve been enough ?”
Calian sighed, enjoying his drink before replying, “As you’ve probably seen I’m quite the strange lot. I have a strange house in a strange clearing in the woods, far from everything. I ask you to bring books and random materials in this remote place and I even provided some miracle potion to heal scratches instantly, I know I’m not exactly low profile.”
Calian sipped on his drink before continuing, his tone graver, “I made you come here because I’ll probably need to know how to fight at some point. I don’t own this terrain, I built this illegally, and I’ll probably release things even more incredible than the healing potion which I don’t doubt it will bring me trouble. I’d like to learn how to fight with both firearms and weapons.”
Alexander was about to say something but Calian continued his speech before he could even open his mouth, “I have to apologize in advance, if you accept to train me, I’ll probably show knowledge, or absence of it that may seem strange, similarly I might show capabilities or absence of them that might shock you. I won’t explain these strange occurrences and I ask you not too enquire too much about them, if the time is right, one day I’ll explain.”
This time Calian was done talking for good and let Alexander answer him, “I see, I understand why you asked for us to meet for a full day, it’ll need us to iron out the details much more than a simple trade deal.”
Both men fell silent for a long time, sipping at their drink pensively. At some point Alexander took some time to walk around the Clearing, and when he came back he sat next to Calian and finally gave his reply. “While I normally don’t agree or even receive such request I will make an exception. The strange behaviors and capabilities you’ve shown until now are rousing my curiosity and I really want to know more. So as long as our healing potion deal is still running I’ll also train you. What do you say about two meetings a week ?”
Calian grinned, and extended his hand out, in a reprise of their first meeting.
///
Alexander had left, they’d concluded their deal and chatted a bit more before both went back to the jeep and exchanged their goodbyes. Calian had gone back to the Clearing pensive and excited, before moving out from Melody he’d anticipated that he’d need a few materials delivered and Alexander had not disappointed.
Among all the things Alexander had brought him a few were particularly exciting. He’d received equipment to get internet from satellite once he’d found a way to produce electricity. He’d bought books of all kinds on many scientific fields and oh so many materials for experiments. He’d even thought about ordering a surplus of a few things like metal that he could use to shape things like nails, screws, etc, to build more things for his house.
But the most important things he’d need were a few gems and some gold. Those were offerings he’d set aside for when he started the ritual, his mother always said They liked physical offerings. Calian grabbed the package with the gems and gold and set them in a corner of the greenhouse, he’d need them later.
He went off to arrange the diverse packages he’d gotten in a special space he’d made in the house, the place he’d use for his experiments. As he went and arranged everything to his liking the sun slowly set and Calian eventually stopped to start a little campfire with some leftover wood from when he’d constructed the house.
He heated a can of food over the fire and ate it while poring over one of the books he’d gotten his hands onto. When night fell, Calian decided the house wasn’t ready for him to sleep in yet, so he went and made a comfy little space in the greenhouse with a blanket Melody had insisted he take before leaving. He snuggled in his loneliness, he was finally alone ! Damn did he miss that feeling, he liked Melody but constantly living under her roof and by extension her watch was... Exhausting. Watching the stars and the clouds through the clear roof he fell asleep while playing with a little orange flower made of mana.