The chamber around him was filled with members of the order.  They all looked down on the old man, some in horror others in disgust, fear, even odium.  They are all hypocrites. Standing there on a lectern overlooking the old man was an even older man, his grey beard was long enough to lightly graze the floor, his face it remarkably calm, but then again it isn’t he that is being tried for treason against the order.

“Luthor, for fifty years you have served the order honorably, carrying out our missions of peace across the world, eradicating our enemies.  For these meritorious services to this order I will allow you to speak on your behalf.”

A smile spreads over Luthor’s face, as he raised his head to look at the men and women before him.  They were all hypocrites, each and everyone of them.

“As you have said, I have served for over  50 years, and in these 50 years I have seen the world, and learned much.  One of the things I have learned is how naive this order is.”  he smiled when he heard the hushed murmur of the people in the council chambers.  “The order is blind, there is no light side or dark side to magic, for magic is life, it contains both light and darkness.  Your pathetic attempts of categorization leads you away from the true meaning of life.”

“This fool must be silenced before anymore of his heretical nonsense influences others.” a member of the council declared as they stood and pointed towards him.

“Councilor Al’karish, I believe I was told I would be allowed to speak? If you could refrain from interrupting me I would love that.”  Luthor growled.  “As I was saying, magic can’t be divided into light and dark, there is no dark spells or light spells, there is only spells, they are not inherently good or evil, they just are, you don’t call a sword evil simply because it can kill it is simply a tool, an object.  It is the wielder who decides what it will be used for.”  he sigh and look at the councilors arrayed before him, and turn to look at all the members of the order. Ah, there he was it had not been but two days he had visited and interrupted his research. And now look at it, they all were interrupting his research.

Annoying.

This entire trial was pointless, only there to serve as an ego booster for certain members, an opportunity to flex their muscles.

“Do not think that you previous accomplishments will save you this time Luthor, during your indecision she was able to obtain a familiar that is unknown to us, but seems to be at the very least S class.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“And is an S class familiar to much for this council to handle?” he asked with a chuckle. “Indeed now I see, you are all berating me and calling my years of work a failure because of a new unknown factor being added into the equation, please council let me enlighten you all...”

“You know something about this familiar?” a council woman asked, she was sitting there looking at him, hands folded over her stomach.

“Indeed, it would seem this has happened once before in history.”

“Oh? Surely you don't mean-” she started, before trailing off leaving her meaning hanging behind in thin air.

Luthor smiled “Indeed lady priscilla, I mean High queen Mariana and her knight...”

[Camp]

They had all stopped for the night. Off to the right there were rows of tents set up for the other students.  Leon was currently sitting alone next to the fire outside their tent.  The tent for Lira and himself was set up away from all the others.  Honestly how far were these people willing to go just to alienate one person?

“This is for you,” she said offering the bowl to Leon. She had just returned from the cook’s tent.

Taking the bowl Leon looked at its contents, there was slices of mutton, bread, cheese, and roasted vegetables. All in all it looked and smelled delicious.

“Thank you,” he said, with a laugh she sat next to him and looked at him, “might I ask why?”

“Why to what?”

“Why you brought me food?”

“A thank you I suppose,” she cocked her head to the side like a puppy would; it lent a sort of playfulness to her features.”That and because you are my familiar,” she stated as if it was the most natural thing in the world.  

She had been in a much better mood since the riding lessons and telling him part of her story, it was like having a massive weight lifted off of her chest, there was nothing better than having someone to confine in.

He sunk his teeth into a bite of lamb, mulling it over in his head. As he was thinking and chewing she reached over and snatched some meat out of the bowl and bit into it.

“Hey!”

“What it was mine I’m just sharing with you. You wouldn’t take a meal away from a woman would you?” she asked in mock meekness, attempting to create puppydog eyes at him.

“You would be surprised what I am willing to do to a woman.”he said, a smile spreading over his face.  She dyed a bright red as the meaning of that sentence sunk in. He laughed at her reaction. “Can I ask a favor from you?”

“What is that?”

“Will you teach me your world’s language?”

“You can understand me right now fine.”

“It would be a dull life if I was only ever able to interact with you.”

She nodded to herself, she was slightly reluctant to teach him however, it was the connection that the two of them shared that allowed her to speak to him and him to her.  If she was to teach him the language, then it would be less special.

She would never admit that however, at least not out loud...