After Arras finally had a good nights rest, he managed to reign in his emotions a little bit. It was difficult, slow going, but when he woke up the next morning he didn't feel like exploding things and shifting the earth beneath his boots, so he figured that was pretty good progress. They didn't spend too much longer in camp, but with what little time he had to himself in the morning he just spent that time practicing with his force magic. It was the easiest to use in a confined space like that, well, without risking damage to any objects anyways.

To be honest... Without the overpowering urge to break things, the march all the way back home was much less enthralling than one would assume it to be. People kept their distance, for the most part, wind magic and everything... And he didn't really have much to do. So he just... Kept on keeping on. He'd been given some basic information yesterday, but nothing much to stew over. Arras would have to wait until they reached Fort Waoakua to get much else done with his life. Sure, he could always keep refining the minutia of his magic, but he could also do that while doing literally almost anything else.

Well, he supposed he could put more effort into practicing... If it had his full attention, it was generally more worthwhile. It wasn't like he could increase the amount of magic he had all on his own, but he could improve the way he used it. Which, he did very often. That was generally his whole modus operandi. Though... For once, that seemed to be getting a bit redundant. Arras wasn't exactly sure why, but in recent memory his practice had started to yield less results. Specifically after he figured out how to increase the efficiency of his force magic. By, you know, using less of it. Especially after his mission in the city, it sort of felt like he was starting to hit a wall that he couldn't overcome completely by himself. He had the feeling that books would, probably, be helpful... But he currently didn't have anything like that to call upon.

So... Sure, he could continue to make miniscule progress for a few more days, and well, that's what he was going to do... But, another topic came to mind, something he should also be able to do right now with little to no issue.

"Illia?"

"What's up?"

"I'm not sure how much of this is my fault, but every time you get around to what you wanted to talk to me about, something else comes up. So, now that nothing is going to be, well, happening for awhile. Why not tell me about it?"

"...Uhhhh... You know, now that you mention it. maybe it could be put off for a little... I dunno, while longer...?"

"...Why?"

"Well... You know... I just..."

"Illia, can you just tell me what it is?"

"I... It's really not the kind of thing you just talk about in the middle of nowhere..."

"Why not?"

"Because. it's personal? I dunno... I guess I'm just trying to find a reason to put it off a little bit longer."

"But why though?"

"You... You know how I didn't really want to talk about my family all that much, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well... I was hoping to change that."

"...Oh."

"It's, really not that much of a problem. We can talk about it out here, it's not like anybody is going to listen in on a mental conversation... But, well, I guess I just wanted to hype myself up?"

"No, it's fine if you'd rather wait until later tonight."

"No! Like you said, this has been getting put off for a pretty long time now. I've been wanting to talk to you about it, I made my mind up as soon as you started using my families name. There was just... Never really a good time to say it. Well, there was, I just didn't think to... Y'know. But, regardless! You deserve to know, it's hardly fair that I know all your secrets, and you know none of mine, don'tcha think?"

"Well... It's not really a matter of fairness."

"Shush! It doesn't matter if it's fair or not, I want you to know. You're the most important person in my life by far. And... Well... Erm... I don't quite know where I was going with that. But, still! You, very important! I want to be able to confide in you, like you say I always can."

"Okay. I'm still perfectly willing to listen. I just... I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to do yourself. If you're willing to tell me? Then I'm here to listen. You have my utmost attention." He emphasized his point by dropping all of his practice magic. Leaving only the wind blowing, and his form intact. So, you know, about half of his usually active magic. The other half being as much force magic as he could muster at any given time, which was now currently gone.

"Right... So, just so we're clear, you're not angry or anything anymore, right?"

"...I don't think so."

"Okay, but think, or know so?"

"...Why does it matter?"

"Please just answer the question."

"No. I'm not angry about anything. I'm certainly not having a great time out in the desert, but I'm not particularly enraged about any one thing now thankfully."

"Okay, good. Cause I get the feeling you'll be a little angry after I'm done."

"Okay...?"

"Right, so, first off, I was born. Duh, that's how everybody's life starts. And well, I was born into the 'Veile' family. And... The Veile's. Okay... Veile. The Veile family is mostly comprised of familiars. Creatures with some kind of intrinsic flaw that can't become overcome without the help of others. So, we're groomed from birth to be of use to other families. They... Certainly aren't a family of low status or anything, but... It's not like they own their own land. They help others, they accommodate and take care of less managed tasks."

She paused for a moment, considering her next words. "Anyways... Veile's, mostly creatures with big flaws. And by that, I mean mostly ashwings. There's some other creatures, but they're usually adopted into the family. Case and point, you."

"I thought I was just using the name?"

"Well... You were... That was the original plan, yes. But somehow, I doubt that news of a... War hero," she said that carefully. "With the name of 'Veile' won't get to them. So... You might kind of be locked into the family now? My bad?"

"They wouldn't care about a complete stranger using their name? Aren't names important?"

"Well... They are, yeah. But it's not like you've done anything to bring them negative reputation? Being able to claim that they supported the nation in a huge way like this is sort of a no brainer for the family... Even if you had happened to be a little uppity, the rewards would still outweigh the negatives. So, as I was saying, mostly ashwings, some adopted creatures. And you're kind of a part of the family whether you like it or not now...? I mean, you could claim to be separate from them, but that would probably be more trouble than it's worth..."

"...If you say so?" It felt like they were stalling again...

"Now... Since we've got context out of the way... I'll start on the actual important parts. Obviously, I was born into the family. Ashwings, as you may remember, have a pretty low birthrate. So, there's... A lot of attention on newborns. And a lot of expectations... That was... A pretty big part of the problem, to be honest."

"The problem?"

"Getting to it. To be honest, my entire life I was raised to do, basically, what I do for you. I was taught how to handle contracts, politics, how to use support magic, all of that... But... I was never really much good with healing magic. I was a natural with offensive magic, but...That didn't matter to my family. I was the only other daughter born, so... Healing magic it was. I didn't... Have much else of a choice."

Arras continued to walk with an even gait. He wasn't sure what Illia was so upset about, but he figured she was getting to it.

"And, as you know. While I can use it...? I'm not very... Good at it. I was always better with, well, literally anything else I tried. Like I said though... That didn't matter to my parents. So, I... Sought affection from my siblings instead. I thought... Maybe I could live my life better with a little help. That uhm... That didn't go so well." She impassively mumbled.

"My... Siblings. I had a few. One sister, three brothers. Ashwings are only born so often, but they're also born in clutches. And well, my siblings, I'd say they led better childhoods than I did. My sister, she had a natural aptitude for healing magic. She struggled a bit more with mind magic, but not nearly as much as I did with healing magic. Mind magic was the one thing that my parents actually wanted me to learn that I was good at. But, my sister... She got on a lot better than I did. My parents kind of... Paid her more attention. Though, they still didn't let me do what I wanted, even with their desired product..." She grumbled that one out with a bit more resentment.

"I... Anyways. My sister was always so... High and mighty, to be honest. She reveled in how good she was. Thinking back on it, she was kind of mean too. Well, it wasn't really her fault that mom favored her... Anyways, my brothers... You know how I said I was good with offensive magic?"

"...Yes?" By now Arras was starting to get a little confused. Why did Illia talk about her family with so much disdain? It was practically dripping from her tone of voice. Your family was supposed to be the group of people closest to you, wasn't it?

"Yeah... My brothers didn't really... Like that. Because I was better, than they were. With less effort put into it. So they... They ignored me. Left me with mom, with my sister. If I ever tried to do something I was good at... I was reprimanded, if I tried to learn the supportive magic I was being taught? I just... Couldn't do it."

The more she talked, the less and less it felt voluntary. Now that she had started, she couldn't stop. She had to let it out.

"I could feel their stares, Arras. Every day. Baring into me, no matter what I did. Success was treated with distaste, failure was treated with apathy."

And he couldn't find it in himself to interrupt. To shake her out of that spiral. There was a deep pit of negativity that Arras had never known Illia to possess, it enthralled him, drew him in. It was... Shocking. Shocking, and yet also infuriating. How could ones own family treat them like that? Arras couldn't fathom his mother ever instilling a feeling like... THIS, in him.

"It just got worse... And worse... No matter what I wanted to do, I wasn't allowed to do it. And what I was told to do? I couldn't do it. It was awful, every day. Nobody spent time with me, nobody tried to help me. The isolation was suffocating... So... So I ran away. Out the window, and into the nearby forest from there. The Grand Forest. I spent weeks in there, and... Admittedly, I was scared... I'd never felt so... Alone before. I had to fight off predators every other day. It was dangerous, scary... But... I'd also never felt so free. Sure, I had to fend for myself... But, that wasn't so bad. All on my own for so long, I... Got used to it. In comparison to the stifling home I'd left... The quiet, the everlasting green... It was so much better in comparison. And well... I was beginning to think I could enjoy my life like that. Just, enjoying my time and taking life at my own pace."

She paused for a moment. "And then I touched down for the first time all day long, and got snuck up on by that Felqia. It tore my wings to shreds, and well... The rest is history."

"...Do you mind if I ask a few questions?" Arras asked as neutrally as he could manage.

"...Sure. We've come this far, why not?"

"Thank you. So... Your family just, neglected you? Tried to force you into doing something that you physically couldn't do...?"

"...Yeah."

"And they punished you, because you couldn't do it?"

"Well... I'm not sure if punishment is the word I'd use..."

"It is the word that I would use."

"...Then, yes."

"..."

Arras could at least figure out why he was angry this time around pretty easily. Nothing complicated about it, the most important person in his life, as Illia had so eloquently put it, had been horribly treated for literally no reason at all. The sheer... MISERY, that Illia had felt as she recounted the early days of her life... Arras shuddered to imagine a reality where his own family had treated him even nearly as bad as Illia's had treated her.

"...And your siblings weren't treated this way, at all?"

"No. They could do what they were told. That just made it worse... I could see them being treated how I wanted to be treated. And... I..."

Arras breathed in as deeply as he could manage as he raised a shaky hand to Illia's head. As gently as he could with his lightly trembling fingers, he scratched at her crown.

"Why... Did you just... Go along with what you were taught, for me...? Surely that was... Awful..."

"...No. It wasn't. I... It weirded me out at first too. I had the same thought, was I really satisfied with just... Doing what I was taught to do, but for a different person? And... Surprisingly...? Yeah. Yeah, I think I am. I really care about you Arras. More than anything else I've ever known. I... I dunno, maybe that's just because nobody else ever, well, cared about me... But just... You were so up front about... Anything, really. It didn't matter what it was, you always gave me a straight answer. You never pretended to care, you did care. You never played mind games, you just asked straight up questions and gave straight up answers. When you asked me if I wanted to stay with you...? To stay with your family...? I... I...!"

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"...Breathe, just breathe."

"I don't think I was ever happier in my life... I-I'm sorry, now I'm just rambling on..."

"No. No, it's fine. I'm glad to hear it."

There was an awkward pause.

"N-not about your family, of course. I don't understand how somebody could do something that awful to their own children... But. I'm... Happy to hear that you were happy to hear it. To be honest... I was worried that you wouldn't want to stay with me, when I asked you that. I didn't want to... Admit it, to myself. But... I didn't want to see you go either. You were there for me, when I needed you most as well."

"...I'd hug you if you didn't have to stay transformed right now."

"Do you mind... If I ask another question?"

"Sure, why not? Might as well get them all out right now."

"You said you were good, naturally, with offensive magic, right?"

"...Yeah?"

"How come you... Never practice? You're always working on mental magic, or healing magic... And that seems... Rather pointless, doesn't it? At least, for healing magic."

"Oh... Well, I uhm... You know, I kind of just... If I was going to do for you what I was trained to do, I figured I might as well... Play the part...?"

"..."

"Arras?"

"Let's practice. Together. How much force magic can you use?"

"W-wait, what?"

"No buts. I don't want you to just, do whatever I need you to do Illia. You're your own person, a person that I care for. And you're just... Going to resign yourself to, what, serving my every whim? Absolutely not. So, like I said, how much force magic can you use?"

"Hold on, no! No, seriously, I don't need to learn this stuff-"

"Illia. I'll believe you if you can tell me that without that same misery permeating your every thought."

"..."

"That's what I thought. Now, answer the question."

"...Not much."

"Then I'll walk you through it. It should be good experience if I end up becoming a teacher. Come on, we'll start off slow."

...

Illia was... Definitely not good at force magic, mostly from a lack of experience, but it had taken her at least five minutes to start using it. Arras very quickly began to find out what she had meant by standards. He was... Patient. At least he thought he was. Maybe Illia didn't, given the light amount of frustration she was feeling, but she was definitely slower to learn than what he had expected. That was, probably fine. This rate of progress wasn't ABYSMAL or anything, so, he thought that... This MIGHT be bearable if he had to do it day in day out. If his students were to progress at a rate similar to Illia? He figured he would have no problems.

She picked up on little tips and tricks somewhat slowly... Or well, Arras supposed rather quickly given the information he was being told about people and how they worked... But, a little slow compared to him. That was fine though, she was learning. Granted, she was also helping Arras out a little via senses magic at the moment, but he could use multiple kinds of magic at once no sweat so that wasn't too much of an excuse. She did make the occasional protest about still not needing to know any of this, but Arras found that rather ridiculous by now. There was a burning sense of accomplishment every time she managed to make something work, and he was more than happy to feed that flame.

He wasn't sure how he'd failed to notice that desire up until this point either. It wasn't like it was something completely absent from Illia's psyche, it had always just been... Quieter. Not at the forefront. Now that he knew what to actually look for, he could distinctly mark its presence in many of his memories, of conversations with her. He... Sort of felt bad for having not noticed it sooner. So to compensate? He did all he could to help her expand her knowledge, to absolutely dump fuel onto that fire. Compared to her more cold personality when it came to matters she was "taught"? This was a breath of fresh air. She kept denying it proverbially verbally, but he could tell that she was quite literally reveling in it. She made no real attempts to get him to stop either... So...

Practice it was. And practice, it continued to be.

...

At long, looooooong last, they finally made it back to Fort Waoakua. Usually, it would've been two nights of camping, but the march was faster than it had been on the way to the city. And Arras was EAGER to finally head home. Well, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to consider the Pennsworth estate a "home" after what they'd sent him into... But, it was the closest thing he had to a "home". But, regardless of that, he needed to talk a little while longer with Eric. Yes, they had given him some general information, but not quite everything. Like, how to contact him after this was all said and done with, what exactly he'd need to do to prove himself worthy of the position? You know, stuff like that.

So, the first thing he was doing, well, besides continuing to practice with Illia... Was getting to searching. Again. It probably wouldn't be difficult, given the fact that the nobles were to be meeting up again, for some reason... But, if Arras could, he'd rather find them before he had to deal with anybody else. He could just keep to himself if he did that. Hopefully, anyways.

"Do you have any idea how I might be able to find him?" Arras made his way through the inside of the fort. It honestly was a fairly interesting location, if you didn't count the sand. and the sand, and the sand, and the more sand... Okay, the architecture was interesting, not the location. The location was boring as usual, just like the rest of the desert had been. So, he was at least keeping himself occupied by lending the place an appraising eye.

"...Why didn't you just keep him in your field of vision?"

"Remember how I said you had my full attention?"

"Oh... You meant that, literally...? Oh...! I mean, I-I'm flattered, but..."

"You're welcome. But yes, I lost track of him."

"Okay... Well, if you can find one noble, you can probably find the rest. And, to be honest, I don't think you're going to find them, well, out in the middle of the open? You might want to check back where we had been staying..."

"...Fair enough, then lets go. Had, ah, do fill in your force magic as much as you can. It's more difficult to use in the moment, but it'll be easier in the future if you do."

"Aw come on!"

...

Back into it, back into long, winding, halls... Admittedly, Arras might've screwed himself over a little bit when he chose to break off from the main group of nobles. He was told he could go do whatever he wanted, independent of the main group, and he took the offer... But, that might not have been the best choice. Because, well, he had things that he needed to do. He supposed it wouldn't be too much of an issue to just wait for that guide that would supposedly find him in a few hours, but... That just felt like an egregious waste of time.

Time. Something that Arras felt like he didn't have a lot of, for some reason. Everything always felt that way, now that he thought about it. Always on some kind of deadline, always waiting for something to happen. He hadn't thought about it all that much until, well, RIGHT NOW, but the thought occurred that maybe he wanted to try something else. Even though he'd already been leaning towards accepting the offer of a job, that extra absentminded thought ticked him over the edge a little further. If there was one thing he served to gain by tying himself to something else entirely, it was time. He needed time to be able to get rid of his contract with Pennsworth, he needed time to continue to grow up... He needed time to practice, he just needed more and more time.

Speaking of growing up, Arras had never really noted it, but he had been getting larger very slowly over time. Fortunately enough, it also seemed like his artifact had been created with his actual shape changing in mind. It adapted automatically, his outfit became ever so slightly larger. It was a nice touch, he wasn't sure how many different levels there were in terms of enchanting, but it felt like good work to him inexperienced as he was. He appreciated it.

Speaking of that as well, a lot of things had begun falling into either "appreciate" or "dislike" categories for Arras. It was a pretty cut and dry way of sorting it to him. Did he like something? Yes? He was much more inclined to put up with it or to interact with it. Like, for instance, he liked books, good food, Eric, Illia, magic, and he disliked... A lot of things. Some, more than others, but the general rule Arras had laid out for himself was to minimize contact with things that he disliked.

And, thus, he had chosen to take the surface level difficulty option of walking away from everybody else when he'd been given the opportunity to do so. And, it now occurred to him, that perhaps sorting things into two very narrow categories, might not be in his best interests. More nuance may end up being necessary. Nothing like the consequences of your own actions to whip you into shape!

"...Maybe check out your old room?"

"Good idea." Arras nodded and closed his eyes. It wasn't difficult for him to recall his memories, but, it was a pretty dispassionate moment for him. He remembered so badly just wanting to sleep... So, instead, he looked for his memories of what happened directly afterwards. A shock to his system, a call out to his being... A very rude person. By himself. And from there, it was simple.

He retracted his steps as he retraced his memories, and before long Arras once again found himself standing at a familiar door. He'd gotten the occasional odd look from some person walking past him in the halls, but he paid them no mind. And those people paid him no mind beyond an initial thought either. They weren't dressed up fancily like a noble would be, and well, normal people didn't often get involved with nobles. So, obviously, nobody tried with him either. That was one of the few things that Arras wouldn't want to give up on if he ever decided to just ditch colonial society. The ability to get people to just leave him alone. It was definitely awesome.

Regardless, he breathed in and knocked. From what he'd pieced together, it was just a polite way to announce your presence, and given Illia's affirmation by way of happiness as he made the motion, Arras figured he'd done it correctly.

"One moment."

Oh, that was actually Eric. Arras had not been expecting that.

The door slowly swung open a moment later, and the two came face to face.

"Sir-" Ahem "-Arras. I thought you might come by some time soon. Care to come inside?"

Another moment later, and he was added to the link.

"Sure."

...

"So I take it you're fully willing to learn?"

To be honest, Arras wasn't entirely sure what that meant, or what exactly he'd need to learn... But, he was pretty certain he was able to learn a whole lot of things, even if they weren't magic related. Common, being a rather good example of that. It had only taken him a few weeks to get the verbal parts of the language down. Admittedly, he was still a little rough around the edges with his reading, but he'd get better with time.

"Yes. So, I'd like to ask, how do I keep in contact with you after this is all over?"

"...Hm? Ah, it's rather simple."

"Yeah, I'll just fly messages across." Illia interjected.

Arras, initially, thought that was a joke. But with her rather serious tone, his impassive gaze quickly transitioned into one of worry.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"That... Won't be necessary." Eric smiled somewhat nervously as he reached into the satchel attached to his belt. A moment later, he pulled out a rather plain, silver colored ring. "Simply keep this ring on your person. It's no transformation magic, but it is imbued with dimensional magic. Additionally, it's infused with long range mental magic. Provided that those with the proper mastery are operating with this, they will be able to contact you at any time. Unless you happened to be across the entire Kingdom. Though, I would certainly hope you aren't. And we'll likely have plenty of time to send the appropriate documents to Sir Pennsworth before we are to make our way back to our territories."

"...That fast?" Arras tilted his head a little curiously. Sure, he was glad to hear that they'd be able to get this done overnight, but, huh. There was no but to it he supposed, it was just good news.

"Pardon? It'll be a few days until we leave at the least. I certainly hope you didn't think the celebrations at the city were going to be the last of it."

Arras felt his heart drop. Of course. Of course there was a catch, there always had to be one.

It was going to be a long, long few days. Well, he'd try his best to make it bearable.

Illia leaned against his neck affectionately as well.

...As would she.

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(Nada)