Chapter 18 — If Only Abjuration Could Protect From Stupidity
Ria arrived at her classroom on the second floor without difficulty. As with the other halls and towers, the Hall of Defensive Magic had a listing of class locations prominently displayed near the entry. That, and a few hesitant stops for directions had proved sufficient.
Taking a deep breath in relief that no one had caused trouble for her yet, she joined the steady stream of students entering the classroom and found a quiet spot inside to look around for students she recognized.
The sight of two familiar purple-haired Vesali girls caused her to groan. Her worry only increased when the pair noticed her staring. Fortunately, she only held their attention briefly as one of the pair scoffed something snide which caused the handful of other girls around them to titter—the kind of girls that clearly spent too much time having their hair arranged and jewelry coordinated.
Ugh. Would she have to keep a low profile to avoid further drawing their attention?
Her mood improved almost immediately as a certain blond boy walked past.
“Faris!” Ria called over and approached the boy with a cheery wave when he stopped to look for a place to sit in the tiered seating.
“Ah, Ria,” he returned with a faint nod, looking rather more nervous than expected. “Is Iselyn taking this class as well?”
Ria shook her head. “No, she’s focusing more on Alteration and Illusion magic this term. I think it’s just you and me, unless you have some other friends in this class?”
His gaze made another sweep of the room, but he seemed rather resigned to failure.
The seating was filling up while they were talking. Wanting to make sure she could sit together with him, she quickly spotted an empty section on the side of the room furthest from Phaelys’ cousins. “This way! Let’s sit over there!”
She managed to stop herself from leading him away by the hand, and thankfully he did follow her up the steps and down the row she had selected.
Once they were seated, she asked him if he was going for an abjuration certification, and he denied it, explaining that most of the descendants of the Greater Houses are required by their Houses to study abjuration so they can defend themselves against ambushes and understand and work the warding enchantments that protect the castles and keeps and such. Ria thought that was fascinating.
When the topic petered out, after some visible reluctance, Faris spoke up with an apologetic expression and gesture, “I saw the duel yesterday.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “What happened was unfortunate. That you seem to have caught the notice of Ophesia and Nielle might be even more unfortunate, though...”
“The purple-haired twins?” She glanced over at where the pair were sitting.
The beautiful blond boy cringed. “Don’t call them that. They hate it. Ophesia, Nielle, and Phaelys are all cousins from the current main-branch of House Vesali. Ophesia and Nielle both have older siblings but are considered geniuses and are the current favorites to take control of the House in the future.”
Ugh. So not only were they from the old royal family, but they were effectively young princesses with the power to lord over their inferiors.
Wait. “Faris, isn’t your grandfather the leader of the whole country?”
The boy turned a bit pale. “You want me to bother grandfather about school matters?”
“What? No!” Where’d he even get that idea? “I was just curious why you seem… intimidated by them, maybe? Ah! But don’t worry about that! Let’s be friends! You can help me navigate the social scene, and I’ll beat up… er, make mean faces at anyone who bothers you.”
“That’s pretty funny coming from One-shot Girl.” A chuckle came from the tier behind. “Already stood out enough to get smacked down by the Vesali’s, and now you're snuggling up to the best-looking boy in class?”
She already had a nickname like that?!
Ria noticed Faris’ resigned expression as she twisted around to deny the assertion about him, but the words died on her tongue at the sight of an ornate mantle and an expensive dark-grey robe with vivid red trim.
The self-assured raven-haired girl grinned smugly at the provoked reactions. “Zena Emberflow. I’ll join your little group. I’ve had my share of run-ins with the Genius Cousins before, and there’s safety in numbers-” She paused and glanced toward the front of the lecture hall, her grin widening further. “That golden-insignia boy who just entered, we should recruit him to join us as well. With his negation affinity, our group should do well on the group-casting tasks.”
Negation affinity? Ria looked back at the entrance to see a familiar face and familiar silver-lined black robe. He was one of the boys from her visit to the Special Student Services room. If she recalled correctly, he had a weird nature-sounding name.
When their eyes met, Ria smiled and discreetly waved him to come over. He froze before coming to a decision and heading their way with his broad shoulders slumped. Was she really that scary?
Rather than that, there was something important Zena had said. “Why are the group-casting tasks important enough that we need a group ahead of time?”
“That’s how this guy does his end of term exams; A portion of our individual evaluation is based on our ability to withstand bombardment by a third-year elementalist as part of a multi-mage defensive ward.”
“Harsh…”
Even Faris looked surprised at that.
The gold-insignia boy had made his way along the tier of seating just below and was drawing close, so Ria greeted him with a bright smile and an apologetic gesture, “Sorry, I forgot your name when we met last time. I’m Ria. This is Faris and Zena.”
The boy met each of their eyes in turn. He might have grimaced a bit at Zena’s introduction. Did Zena have a troubling reputation? “Yentis Oakshield. It’s my fortune to meet you in person, Faris Novidus.”
“Likewise,” Faris replied.
Ria thought the introductions were going well and decided to move directly to the reason she called him over. “Want to join our group for the group-casting stuff, Yentis?”
The boy rolled his eyes and didn’t seem particularly thrilled. “Zena, you put her up to this, didn’t you?”
Ria glanced back and forth between the two. What was this?
Zena smiled evilly. “I did. But you know how this class goes. And once your affinity is found out, you’re either going to have to join our group or Ophesia’s. Refusing Ophesia will go a lot smoother if you already have a group.”
“Malor’s gaze, Zena,” the boy swore and grumpily took a seat on the tier where he was. “Fine, but just for class.”
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Ria was shocked by Yentis’ swearing, but before she could ask Zena about the obvious tension between her and Yentis, a short, portly man with a master’s stole entered the room and briskly walked up to the lecture podium. She would have to worry about Zena and Yentis later.
“Alright everyone. I’m Master Abjurer Dolerin, your instructor for Introduction to Barriers and Properties of Magical Resistance. This is the introductory course for those seeking a certification in Abjuration. As this is a difficult course with a substantial amount of material to cover, I’m going to start right into the basics of barrier magic, so pay attention. Or at least record the lecture on a holographic device for later.”
That last part got a chuckle out of a few students. The abjuration master spoke quickly but with his entertaining anecdotes and clear illustrations of the critical concepts, Ria found herself raptly drawn into the lecture.
To her surprise, the basic theory for forming barrier magic spells was radically different from what she had learned for the other circles. The current practice used ‘anchor points’ to define the affected area for the spell, often requiring the caster to maintain anchor glyphs and shaping constructs at a distance and apart from the spell’s main construction. Calling it ‘difficult’ was an understatement.
According to Dolerin, two primary ways to reduce the burden on the abjurer were commonly practiced: ‘geometric anchor propagation’ which made use of repeating geometric patterns to self-propagate the anchor points and ‘group casting’ where tasks such as maintaining the anchors were divided between mages. The second of which explained the importance of evaluating a student’s ability to work in groups.
Just as the lecture was really starting to get good and Ria was furiously scratching notes into her journal, a troublesome figure entered the classroom carrying a fancy box and bundle of eerily beautiful black and gray flowers wrapped in embossed silver paper.
Ria immediately had a bad feeling about this—a feeling that was confirmed when Phaelys scanned the seating with his eyes until he spotted her before turning his attention to Master Dolerin.
Zena was already chuckling darkly like a villain and whispered, “Oh, this is going to be good.”
Faris could only groan, and Yentis looked like he was going to be sick, edging further away from her and Faris, so he wouldn’t be in the way.
Master Dolerin motioned to quiet the excited whispering. “How can I assist you, Phaelys Vesali?”
“I have a personal business with one of your students and will be brief, if that will be fine?”
There were muffled squeals from some of the girls.
“Oh, yes. I don’t mind at all.” The middle-aged mage looked just as eager to witness the coming spectacle as his students were, jovially bobbing his head and making a motion as if to encourage Phaelys forward toward his goal. “Please proceed and take as long as you need.”
Whether the Vesali boy was disturbed by the display, Ria couldn’t tell but he certainly didn’t seem as placid as before their duel. In fact as the other students moved out of his way to let him approach, she thought his expression looked a bit… haggard?
Phaelys exchanged greetings with Faris as he approached using the same row that Yentis had used.
The whole room was silent as Phaelys appeared to be searching for the right words. Even the slightest shifting of clothing seemed to echo loudly in the room as everyone waited for what the amethyst-haired boy would say.
Suddenly, he admitted, “It’s terrible. Because of our duel yesterday, everyone is accusing me of... bullying a first-year!”
“That’s stupid!” one of Phaelys’ cousins—Nielle most likely—blurted out in surprise. “It was an officially sanctioned duel!”
“Even so, such an accusation is a stain upon my honor and that of House Vesali. I have come to realize that the only way to resolve these false accusations is to publicly address them and take responsibility for the outcome,” the boy declared.
Ria blinked wide-eyed at learning the reason Phaelys had come. Thankfully, it meant that this encounter was likely to proceed in a less troublesome direction than she had worried it would after seeing him carrying flowers.
In hindsight, it was obvious. With the way she had staged her defeat, his actions were bound to be seen as excessive by at least some people. That still didn’t explain why he was carrying flowers or bothering her about it though.
He took a deep breath. “Regardless of the origin of this event, and though I acted without malicious intent, it is clear that because of my actions a younger student was considered to have been bullied.”
“You’re missing the mark there, Crystal Boy. Just hazarding a guess, but hitting a girl in the face with a big shiny rock right off the start might just have a teeny bit to do with it,” Zena snarked and chuckled at Phaelys’ expense.
“Stay out of this! You frontier soot-spreader!” Nielle spat.
Nielle’s insult only made Zena chuckle more for some reason.
Phaelys grimaced. “Cousin Nielle, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but please let me handle this in my own way.”
“Cousin Phaelys, you are wasting your time and effort,” Ophesia scoffed. “I doubt either of these frontier bumpkins have the social graces to appreciate what it means to have a Vesali come and address a perceived slight.”
“Cousin Ophesia, Ria’s foreign origins and understanding or lack of understanding of our social customs are not the issue here.” Phaelys made a placating gesture before continuing, “Ria of Shadewood, as a demonstration of my sincere regret for having treated a younger student in an unchivalrous manner, I am presenting an assortment of my favorite Elven confections, Tastes of Spring by Chef Asliryni. And as you use shadow magic, I thought Deepforest Shadowblooms might be beneficial for improving your attunement.”
He placed each on the shared desk, and her hand drifted over to touch and sense the flowers with her magic.
Phaelys seemed relieved that she was showing interest in the gifts and concluded with, “It would relieve me greatly if you could find it in your heart to receive these tokens of goodwill and explain to all present here that I didn’t bully you.”
He wanted her to publicly proclaim she wasn’t bullied?! Ria had been leaning toward accepting the gifts and letting the matter go, but with that... She couldn’t help her eyes narrowing and her chin setting in annoyance. The more she thought about it... a public apology with publicly extravagant gifts... his apology wasn’t to her! It was to make himself look better!
“But you did act to bully me,” Ria rebuked him. The gasps from all around were intimidating, but she persisted. “You and Administrator Rente Ravelle forced that duel on me, even though there was no way a first-year student would stand any chance. What would you call that if not bullying?”
The Vesali boy closed his eyes for a moment and the whole room was silent again as everyone sucked in their collective breath, only to breathe again when he opened his eyes and slowly nodded. “Indeed, that was the end result of my overeager and misguided actions. I cannot speak to Administrator Rente’s motivations, but when asked to represent the second years, I was only seeking a challenge against a worthy and respected opponent with real combat experience and a commendation from the High Council for valor. I never sought a one-sided contest and regret the role I played in such. Will you not receive the gifts?”
If Phaelys had been a pawn deceived into participating, then that was substantially different from if he had knowingly asked to participate. Maybe she was wrong… If he was being sincere, then pushing for more might even be her bullying him.
“Fine, but…”
Even if it would be bullying in return, she really didn’t want to let him off with only things he could buy. She furiously wracked her brain for any possible favor she could ask. Researcher Shadwich was already handling the situation with Ranger, but Phaelys’ family might have access to even better knowledge and resources. Or maybe she could ask for books on crystal magic…? No, that might be too presumptuous. Other than her licensing issues, the only other need she had at the moment was an escort for her debut.
Wait... If Iselyn was debuting beside Faris, Phaelys was the only boy she knew who could compare in looks. Was this a rare chance that would never come again?
Deciding to be bold, Ria fortified her courage and made her demand, “If you really want to apologize and convince everyone that you’re not bullying me, then be my escort when I debut at the party Administrator Asara is holding on the evening of the Spring Moon Festival.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Ria was doubting the wisdom of her demand. Phaelys was practically a prince after all! And the further gasps and outrage from the girls in the lecture hall weren't reassuring. The sudden knee-slapping cackles from Zena were perhaps the least reassuring of all.
“You brazen hussy!” Nielle fumed. “A Vesali escorting a nobody?! You reach above your station, goldseeker!”
“You don't have to agree to this, Phaelys,” Ophesia reinforced. “Tell her off.”
The other girls in the room seemed of similar sentiment, and Ria worried that she just blundered into making enemies of half the school.
Phaelys raised a hand to forestall his cousins and directed a disdainful glance in Zena’s direction before giving Ria a more evaluating consideration than she was comfortable with. “Ria, I cannot give you an answer today, but I’ll discuss it with my father.”
The whole room was dumbfounded, none more so than Ria.
After her brain started working again, Ria numbly put her etiquette lessons to use, “I thank you for your consideration, Phaelys of House Vesali. I shall gratefully await your response.”
Phaelys seemed a little surprised at her formal reply, but nodded and left, the whisper of fabric the only sound of his departure.
The stunned silence following the result was broken by a throat-clearing from their ebullient instructor at the front of the room. “Wasn’t that something! Now, if you’d all turn your attention back this way, I will be continuing the lecture.”
The two Vesali cousins glared at Ria, grumbling to each other before deciding to pointedly ignore her as the lesson resumed. Zena was still trying to catch her breath, and Faris was rubbing his head and muttering something about his mother.
Ria stored her apology gifts and sighed. Even with the lecture resuming, it didn’t stop the occasional angry glares from dozens of her female classmates. She could already tell it was going to be another one of those days.
She knew it was her own fault, but couldn’t she have just one normal day as a normal student spending time with her friends while learning magic…?