The next morning Klavis knocked on his brother’s door and walked in, not waiting for a reply. Kamilis was sitting at his desk and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding “Oh it’s you! You’re early!”
“Yep. I know, it’s not like me. I just wanted to get back home as soon as we could. I already picked up the powder for father.” Klavis paused for a moment. “Were you expecting someone else?”
Kamilis looked back down and continued writing on a piece of parchment. “No, of course not. I’ll be ready in a moment.” He glanced up “What makes you think I expected someone else?”
“Oh, nothing, it just looked like you were about to jump out of your skin till you saw it was me. “Let me guess, a girl?”
Without looking up Kamilis answered “No, no, I just didn’t expect anyone to visit this early.”
Klavis plopped down on the bed. “Uh huh, sure. It was a girl and not just any girl, it was Arlana.”
Kamilis stopped writing and looked over “How did you know?”
“Easy, anyone who was at the tavern last night could tell she had a crush on you. Well, everyone but you.”
Kamilis shook his head and went back to writing “No, I don’t think so.” He paused writing for a moment “I’d know.” Then shook his head, continuing to write, “No, we are just colleagues.”
Klavis sat up and looked at his brother. “How can someone so brilliant and sure of himself be so clueless when it comes to a woman. No, she definitely is interested.”
Kamilis put down his quill and dumped a little sand on the paper and shifted it around to help dry the ink. “No…Well I guess, it would explain last night.” He frowned and funneled the sand back into a small bottle.
Klavis’s eyes grew wide in surprise. “Last night, what happened last night?
“Nothing much, she stopped by the lab last night and saw me working.” Kamilis folded the paper and placed it in an envelope, closed it and sealed it by dripping on some wax and pressing his signet ring upon it. “She saw a version of the healing salve that I created and then gently kissed me on the cheek.”
“Really?” Klavis couldn’t stop from grinning from ear to ear. “I don’t see the problem there. We can always wait. I’m not in that big of a rush.”
“No…” Kamilis paused as he looked down at the sealed note on the table. He’d spent the last hour working on it. Although truth be told, he’d been thinking what he’d write in this note for weeks, ever since he’d walked passed that first Beacon Tree. He didn’t realize it till this moment, but he had been planning to make this trip since that first day. There was little doubt in his mind that he needed to do this. He looked up at Klavis, the boyish grin of his hiding his natural intelligence all too well. He was glad his brother was so eager to join him. He always apricated the company, even when he annoyed him. For a moment, the memory of Arlana, her lavender sent and her soft lips on his cheek broke through, but he quickly pushed it aside.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“...no reason to wait.” Finished Kamilis. He then stood up and threw a bag at Klavis. “Put my books in the bag, will you? I just need to finish this.
Klavis stood up and took the bag, walking over to the bookshelf. He grabbed a stack of three books and slid them into the bag. Frowning, he looked down at the bag. It didn’t get one bit heavier. He looked over at Kamilis who was standing at his desk looking down at the envelope. “How did you get one of the Magi Guild’s void satchels?”
Kamilis glanced back at the door and thought it was better to make sure it was closed first. He walked over and shut the door while answering his brother “I talked to my mentor. I told him I wanted to travel to each of the villages and do some plant surveys. I asked if I could borrow one of the satchels so I could easily carry the plant samples, several books from the library, as well as several books of my own.”
Klavis opened the large satchel and put it up to his face, trying to peer inside. It was an odd sensation, looking into a bag and feeling that there was more room in the bag than was in the room where he stood. “I’ve never had the chance to see one of these. I wonder if I could con my way into borrowing one too. They do like me here after all.”
Kamilis walked up and slapped Klavis in the back of the head. His brother removed his head from the bag and glared at his brother. “Klavis, just finish putting my books in the bag. We don’t need another satchel. I want to get out of here as soon as I can.”
Klavis went back to putting in the books, folders and scrolls into the apparently bottomless bag. After only a few moments of packing he paused and looked back at Kamilis who was once again standing at his desk, looking down at the folded note. “It’s Arlana! You want to leave before she gets up! You dog! You did more than get a little kiss last night, didn’t you.”
Kamilis turned back to look at his brother, his face red as the fires of hell. “I would never do…do whatever you think we did. It was just a little kiss on the cheek. She just asked some questions, questions I’d rather not deal with right now. Now get back to packing my books and let me concentrate.”
Kamilis turned back to the desk and looked back at the note. He held his hands above it and closed his eyes, concentrating. After a few minutes he opened his eyes. The envelope was gone. He turned and saw his brother was sitting on the corner of his bed, quietly looking at him, with a few books still on the shelf. “So what’s that note all about?”
Kamilis put his writing kit back into a small wood box. He went to his trunk, pulled out his traveling cloak and threw it on his bed. “The note, it’s nothing. I just…I just wanted to make sure if something happens to us, that people knew what we did.”
He picked up his traveling bag from within the trunk and went to the desk and stuffed his writing box into one of the pockets. “If I’m not back in a month the spell will fade, and they’ll find the note. I’m sure we’ll be fine, you know me, I like to plan for everything.”
Kamilis strapped the bag to his back, took the cloak off the bed, threw it on and then snatched up an intricately carved, but well-worn staff that was leaning against the wall in the corner of the room and then opened the door “Come on, let’s get going. Leave those books. If we hurry, we can get back home before lunch.”
Klavis stood up, still holding the void satchel and then slung it over his back. He looked around the room. The bed was clean, the desk empty. The only thing that told you someone used this room was a few loose papers haphazardly stacked in the lower shelves of the bookcase, next to the few books left behind. It felt…abandoned. For most people they would see this and think it was just Kamilis being his normal austere self, but the staff. He rarely took the staff anywhere. It was a family heirloom, given to him by their grandfather. He usually left it safely locked up in the Magi’s vault. If he was taking the staff, then he was a lot more worried than he was letting on. For the first time Klavis hesitated “Maybe this was too risky. Maybe we should leave well enough alone.”
Kamilis looked back through the door and the two brothers eye’s met.
Klavis studied Kamilis’s eyes, they were steady and resolute, even if his face screamed of impatience. Klavis had always been the one known for taking chances, for not looking before he leapt. This had gotten him in a lot of trouble, but it had also provided him with a lot of fun. Kamilis had always been the reliable, steadfast son. Always planning, rarely taking a chance without considering the repercussions. Kamilis had been the rock that kept Klavis anchored to the world, he wasn’t sure where he’d be without his brother. For a moment it occurred to Klavis that if something happened he might not be able to return home, but his brothers eyes, they comforted him. He knew he'd be safe
Kamilis gave Klavis an exasperated look “Come on, let’s get going!”
Klavis snapped back to reality. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go.” He quietly followed Kamilis out of the room and down the hall while thinking “No, Kamilis doesn’t take those kind of risks. If anyone were to push beyond the boundaries of reason it would be me. I’m worrying over nothing.”
When they reached the courtyard, the stable hand already had their horses ready to ride. By the time they were riding down the road Klavis’s brief moment of worry had long since passed.