Sam cleared his throat. Sure, his stupid joke didn’t land with anyone, but its main purpose was complete. Hiding the elation and relief that he felt after having his doubts assuaged. “Anyway, now that my unearned talents are officially confirmed. Where do we go from here?”
“That’s a good question,” Esther said, returning to her sit. “But it’s not in my purview, I’m afraid. I was just here to test you and now my job is done.”
“What do you mean, not in your purview?” Sarah asked. “You’re a Ruler. Who else could teach him about threads?”
“Plenty of people. Other, older Thread-Weavers. Level 10s trying to become Rulers. Very talented level 8s and 9s. Take your pick.”
“You pick! You can’t just leave Sam hanging without a teacher.”
“Obviously not. He’s practically guaranteed to be a Ruler if he applies himself. But I’m not in charge of his studies. It’s up to the academy how to educate him. Of course, there isn’t really all that much to think about. Right, Dan? Aren’t all Thread-Weavers just sent to study in Larsus?”
“What?! You want to shuffle Sam off to the elves? That’s ridiculous!”
“Well, not right away, sure. Let him spend the next half a year being brought up to speed and then send him to the Royal Academy once their school year starts.”
Sarah shot out of her chair, but Maurice held his hand to placate her. “Surely some other arrangement can be arranged,” he said. “Can’t you, for example, be the one to teach Sam what he needs to know about threads?”
“When?” Esther asked. “I’m being redeployed in two weeks. You’re gonna ask George or Alia for help? Didn’t think so.”
“What about level 10s? Last I heard, both Luke Haffer and Hao Jingway were just on the cusp of becoming a Ruler.
Esther scoffed. “That’s just an official designation meant to allow them longer periods of absence from the front lines. Trust me, they’re not going to make Ruler anytime soon.”
“Are those real people?” Sam whispered to Sarah.
“I don’t know everyone there is to know.” Sarah gave him an incredulous look. “Although I do know Hao. But only because he’s the younger brother of one of the teachers here.”
“And I’m guessing that the older brother isn’t a Ruler. Does that mean that he’s a lower level than his younger brother? Oof...”
“You are correct,” Dan said. “He’s level 8. But it’d be a mistake to let his brother’s higher level make you think any less of Lin. He is one of the best, if not the best, spearfighters we have teaching in the academy. And besides, if the two of them were to fight, it’d be a tossup as to who would win.”
“Lin would win,” Esther said. “No question. Hao is too level focused. But… as I was saying, there is no one who’s knowledgeable enough about threads to teach Sam available.”
“What about the Rulers switching places with you?” Sam asked.
“No,” answered all three people arrayed opposite him. Sam looked at Sarah for confirmation. She shook hers in agreement with the group.
“Doesn’t matter,” Esther said. “That’s not my point. Even if it were other Rulers instead of those two. Even if it was me staying here for the whole three and a half years of Sam’s studies. I still wouldn’t be able to teach him. There’s a difference between teaching a level 10 about threads in order to help them become a Ruler and teaching a sub-level 1 Thread-Weaver. After all, there’s a reason why we delegate the teaching of all of our Thread-Weavers to the elves.”
The conversation momentarily stopped there, everyone presumably wondering how to solve the current dilemma. Which made Sam feel really fucking bad. He didn’t like people fussing over him so much. Reminded him of the weeks following the accident when everyone that spoke to him did so while trying to assure him everything will turn out fine. Turns out they were right. Well, he was fine; they were dead.
However, what he really hated was that it wasn’t just fussing over him but deciding his fate. And unlike how he was used to living, as of yesterday, his life or death and future endeavors actually had an effect on the world at large. What would happen if they reached the wrong decision? Waste his potential and doom everyone alive? Although, from the sound of it, for now, there was really only one decision to make.
“Look…” Sam said with a feigned shrug. “Sure, I’d probably prefer not to move to an even more alien environment. But, if that’s the only option open to us, then so be it. Can’t let my brute luck go to waste, right?”
“Nothing is going to waste,” Dan said, stopping his writing completely for the first time. “But it is out of the question to demand of you to further remove yourself from the world you’re used to.”
“What’s your alternative then?” Esther asked.
“Ideally? That the elves send one of their tutors here to personally teach Sam. Anything but private instruction would be a waste anyway, so why not make everyone’s live easier and have the would be teacher stay here.”
“They’re not going to agree to that.”
“We’ll see. I’ll schedule a talk with Farris for tomorrow.”
“You’re going to bring it all the way to him?”
“Why not? I don’t know why he was the one to answer your request for information, but protocol dictates that he is to be our liaison in the matter, no? Besides, someone has to inform him that our new Thread-Weaver is also a Taken. After all, while he might not care about the former; we all know that isn’t the case with the latter. And those two together…”
Esther blushed. “Alright! I get your point. I already said it was my bad and that I’m sorry, didn’t I?”
“You did not.”
“Fine. Whatever. I’m sorry! Now, is there anything else you need me from me or am I free to go? I have a meeting with Portal Command in an hour that I’m not going to be late too after I’ve finally got Bogani to stop ‘meditating’ and do her job.”
Dan and Maurice exchanged looks. “I’ll text you if something else comes up,” Maurice said.
“Great! Sam, it was great to meet you! Hopefully next time we meet it will be in a less official capacity and we can actually talk with each other.” She then bid all of them a personal goodbye, extracting a hug from Sarah and a reluctant one from Maurice. Sam hid behind Sarah’s back when it came his turn, and Esther just smiled and mouthed “next time.”
“She likes you,” Sarah told Sam.
“Must be something wrong with her then. Must be something wrong with all you lot, letting me just go off on a tangent whenever I feel like it.”
“Look at this from our perspective,” Maurice said. “It’s very likely that one day, in the not too distant future, you’d be powerful enough to be our boss. If that’s the case, it’d best behoove us to ingratiate ourselves to you as much as possible.”
“Are you serious? Or… was that an actual joke?”
“He wasn’t serious,” Sarah said. “But it also wasn’t a joke.”
“I don’t understand… what other mode of conversation is there then? Wait, never mind, I shouldn’t waste people’s time any longer. Anything else we need to do today?”
“It’s up to Dan,” Maurice said.
“Nothing else that I need from Sam currently. Nothing much that I can tell him until I finish building his schedule. But, in short, my plan for you currently is to have enroll in the academy next year.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“What, you mean as a first-year student?” Sam asked. “What am I going to do meantime then?”
“You’re going to make up for your deficit in knowledge. Currently, it’s not only half a year of studies that make the gap between you and the rest of the first-years, but also six years of learning about magic in some form or another.”
“OK, but how long can that take? I mean, we’re talking about teenagers.”
“Six years are six years. But you’re right, it will probably not take you too long to make up for those years, but it will still leave you behind of the rest of the first years by at least a trimester and half. And that’s not counting the gap in levels. In order to even apply to the academy, you have to be level 2 and under twenty years old. Which means that by the time next year starts, most of the year ones will be halfway to level 3, while you will be only level 1 as a best-case scenario.
“Still!” Sam stood up from his chair, displaying too much protest than a person in his position ought to have if you didn’t know what the person in his position did. “If… If after I managed to make up for those six years. Let’s say it will take me two months. That leaves four months for me to make up for the rest of your first school year. Sure, I probably won’t be able to catch up in every department. But surely, it’s possible that I’ve caught up enough for me to advance to year two. As long as I make sure to supplement everything that I need to.”
“Sure, it’s possible. If that’s what you want. Then that’s what I’ll aim for. Are you sure that is what you want?”
Sam sat back down. “Yes.”
“Why?” Sarah narrowed her eyes at him. “Yesterday you weren’t sure that you even wanted to join the academy.”
“I don’t know… I just don’t like the idea of spending even more time in an academic environment than I already did. I’m just saying that if I do decide that the academy and the whole soldiering business is right for me, then I want to commit to it as much as possible, you know? Not waste any time.”
“And are you sure that this isn’t going to end up with you burned out because you put too much on your plate?”
Dan laughed, but Sam had an inkling that it wasn’t because of him. He averted his eyes from Sarah’s. “Yes, Sarah, I’m sure. Jeez, it’s like you don’t know me at all. Me burn out? Pfft… Besides, I’m not saying that I’m married to the idea of not repeating year one. Just that I’d like to avoid it if possible. Is it possible Dan?”
“In theory? Yes. In practice? It will depend on you. But if you want to try, then I’m not averse to aiming for that goal. We’ll see. Let’s revisit this topic, say a month from today, and see then if you still want to keep trying and what your progress has been like. It’s no skin off my back. I’ll build you a schedule with advancing to year two as the stated goal and, in case that proves not practical, I’ll just prune it a bit.”
“Great! That’s a deal then.”
“Yes, except that it might not matter in the end, because we still need the elves to agree to sending you a teacher,” Sarah sullenly remarked.
“I’ll handle that,” Dan said. “Would you be alright with my sharing some of what was said today if I deem it helpful to convincing the elven authorities in your matter?” he asked Sam. “It will still be kept strictly confidential, of course.”
Sam shrugged. “Sure, go ahead. I don’t think I said anything more embarrassing than what is already publicly available.”
“Good.” Dan smiled and got up from his sit, notebook in hand. “On to other matters, this is for your room.” He walked over and handed Sam a key. “I arranged it to be the dorm building next to yours, Sarah. Couldn’t do the same one, I’m afraid… Well, Sam, it has been my great pleasure to meet you. I will probably be too busy to check up on you tomorrow, but I’m sure that you will be fine under the capable hands of Sarah. Whatever happens, on Sunday morning, at 8 AM sharp, I’ll be knocking on your door. So make sure to set your alarm early. We’re going to have a long day waiting for us. Until then, goodnight.”
“Wait,” Sam said after the door closed, “we don’t get Sundays off? We’re studying on Sunday?”
“I told you,” Sarah said, “the only free day is Saturday. Besides, you just said that you don’t want to waste time on not studying.”
“That isn’t exactly how I’d put it. But… you’re right, if I’m really trying to give it my all, I’d probably not rest on Sundays, anyway. The important thing is that we get Saturday off. That’s the canonical holy day, after all. Also, I always liked it way more than Sunday.”
“That’s the spirit. Just as long as you remember to actually take Saturdays off. I don’t know why you’re suddenly so hung up on finishing your studies in only two and a half years, but I’m not going to let you burn yourself out trying to do that.” She tried to make eye contact with him, but Sam deftly avoided that outcome by inspecting the key that Dan gave him. What a pretty key. With a sigh, Sarah turned to Maurice. “Would you like to join us for dinner?”
“Thank you, but I’m afraid I can’t. Some work that I have to finish today. Oh, Sam, I made sure that the clothes you picked up yesterday were delivered to your new room.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” Sam said. “I completely forgot about those. And that I don’t own any other clothes anymore. But is it just the clothes? We get bathrobes and toothbrushes from the academy?”
Maurice winced. “Bathrobes no, only three towels, I believe. But… I forgot about your toothbrush again, I’m afraid. Should I go and grab it for you?”
“Fuck no. I mean no, thank you, that’s quite all right. Just means we’ll have to buy one tomorrow, right Sarah? And at least two bathrobes as well.”
“Sure,” she said while getting up from her sit. “The important thing is that we buy you some actual clothes and not the hand-me-downs that the hospital had lying around.” Maurice raised an eyebrow at that but kept silent as he accompanied them down the stairs.
“Oh, one last thing, Sam,” Maurice said before they parted ways outside the building. “I forgot to mention, but I would like to go over your return with you again, this time in more depth. Your unique characteristics are also supplemented by unique experiences, after all. Of course, only if it’s alright with you.”
“Yeah, sure,” Sam lied.
“Great! Then I’ll contact you with the date in a matter of days. Goodnight and bon appétit.”
San rubbed his eyes with weariness, already dreading that conversation. He’ll have to lie, that was obvious, but there was a difference between lying by not telling the truth and lying by telling not the truth. Just don’t mention the voice in your head and you’ll be fine. Fucker, I already mentioned the voice in my head. I can’t take it back! Sure you can; just say that you’re not sure what you heard and your memories are blurry. Yeah… that’ll probably work. I very much doubt that’s going to suspect that I’m lying.
Evidently, he couldn’t keep his worry off of his face because Sarah noticed it enough to remark on it. Fortunately, she seemed to conflate his current status with being concerned over his future days in the academy. However, her telling him to “take it easy. One day at the time and it’ll be fine.” Or that “worst-case scenario, you’ll just have to repeat year one” only served to worsen his mood by reminding him that he did actually have a reason to be concerned about his future days in the academy.
After all, unlike what Sarah seemed to (justifiably) believe, Sam was in a rush. Of course, maybe there wasn’t. He didn’t know. All he had to go by were the words of something he assumed wasn’t a result of him showing the first signs of schizophrenia.
“OK, how about this,” Sarah said in what would prove to be a misguided attempt to elevate his mood. “It’s not just magic that you have to train and learn about. You also need to work out, remember? Physical conditioning. So how about tomorrow night we’ll do just that? A little workout to get the blood pumping.”
“Didn’t you say that it’s going to take my body time until it’s ready for regular exertion?”
“That’s why I’m not suggesting that we go for a run right now. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, you’ll be in better shape. In fact, I’m sure you will. You’ll see, you’ll do just fine and afterwards you’ll feel great.”
“If you say so.” Sam had his doubts. He also had his doubts concerning the whole prospect of working out enough to achieve combat fitness as a whole. His personality was much more geared to the avenue of using magical knowledge in order to be stronger rather than going through the rigmarole of physically hurting yourself in order for your body to improve itself. But both seemed to be necessary in this modern fantasy world. Besides, it’s not like the ideal version of himself wouldn’t combine the two. And one thing was certain, despite his new body, he was still a far cry from the man he wanted to be. Of course, he might have also gotten a new personality to complement his body, one that would no longer have the drive to always strive and become a better person. But… if you went through all the trouble of changing my personality, wouldn’t you also make me less of a whiny bitch in the process?
Shaking his head, Sam went back to focusing on the conversation with Sarah. She was making plans for what they were going to do tomorrow and, from the sounds of it, she had big ones. He didn’t bother asking her to reiterate what he missed. Not because he didn’t want to offend her, he was coming to the realization that that would take such monumental effort of ill-will that even Sam would be hard pressed to do it, but just because he didn’t care enough about their shopping trip to have plans of his own. He trusted Sarah implicitly to think of everything that he might need and worst-case scenario, he’ll just ask her about this or that item on the day itself.
The rest of this day, however, passed in a silent blur. Sam retreated into his mind, and Sarah was happy to let him contemplate in silence. During dinner, she verbally finished her tour of the academy and moved on to a tour of New Alexandria and New Terra itself. Sam listened half-heartedly. There would be time for geographical worldbuilding later. Right now, he was mostly concerned with all the practical bits that he didn’t know yet and would have to learn in record time.
He didn’t realize how tired he really was until he opened the door to his new room. Sarah insisted on accompanying him all the way up (four fucking flights of stairs!) so Sam had to pinch himself in order to wake up and get the last tour of the day. Everything one had to know about the private dorm rooms in the academy. Which wasn’t much. Especially considering Sam only cared about how to turn the water heater on and there was none to be found. Hot water twenty-four seven, Sarah promised. She bid him goodbye with a hug yet again, but not before giving him her third promise of the evening that she’ll come get him tomorrow morning.
Shambling into the shower, Sam told himself that he was going to meditate after he finished, at least for a couple of minutes before going to sleep. It might have worked, but he sat on the bed instead of on either of the two available chairs. Still half-wet, and clad in only an annoyingly sized towel, he was out before he knew it.