Azura was pleased with the progress of his preparations. He had managed to make his summoning spell. So his weapons now had a special enchantment on them that he could use as a marker to find and summon them to him. The coin pouch that allowed him to pull coins from his safe was still a work in progress, but he was confident he could have it done before month’s end. Which meant he’d probably be leaving pretty soon. Which led to his current situation. He was currently walking towards the headmistress’ office, and was a little more nervous than he’d care to admit.
It was clear the headmistress had a lot more experience than him in both magic and noble dealings, because she had been able to read him like a book and back him into a corner with almost no effort on her part. Unfortunately he wasn’t willing to risk just disappearing for a few months without her approval. His copies would be here, but it would be fairly easy to discover that he wasn’t if she looked into the matter. He didn’t particularly want to risk the consequences.
The grand doors leading to her office/personal library opened as soon as he raised his hand and prepared to knock. He lowered his hand and rolled his eyes. He wasn’t surprised she knew he was coming, but hadn’t really expected her to play up the drama like that. Not much he could do about it though, so he walked in without complaint. He found everything much the same as last time, down to the way the headmistress sat at her desk with books haphazardly strewn about the desk.
“I figured you’d be coming to see me soon. Your father’s aura is quite domineering, but I got the feeling you aren’t really the type to easily submit to the wills of others.” It took some effort not to let his expression show his soured mood. It wasn’t getting a feeling when she had tested it herself during his trials. At least the fact she had gone about it the way she did meant she wasn’t just going to force him to do what she wanted. Even if she probably could.
“One can’t accomplish anything for themselves if they always bend to the will of others.” He remembered the first time he had read that line. It was in his favorite book during his younger years. The road to revolution. It was a good book if overly descriptive of gory scenes. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Back on the topic of why I’m here. I’ll be going on a trip soon, and I’ll be gone for at least a couple of months, however I do intend to leave a couple copies here at the academy so I will still be attending classes.” It was a risk doing it this way, but asking for permission came with its own risk, so he decided telling her was the best course of action.
“I see. Well you needn’t have worried. There are no rules that say attendance is required. If you wanted you could leave without leaving any copies here, and as long as you pass all the tests to insure you’re up to acceptable levels you will still be a welcome student here. None of the classes or events are mandatory.” Well that was interesting. He supposed it made sense. This was an academy designed to give mages the tools they needed to be as strong as possible. If the staff had to force the mages to put in the work to improve then it wasn’t really worth having them at the academy.
“I see. Thank you for informing me, and thank you for your time. He bowed his head to the headmistress and then turned to leave. He didn’t make it very far before she gave one last parting line. One that confirmed a suspicion he had held since the simulation he had recently been put in.
“Be careful what path you tread. I’ve learned the hard way that stubbornly deciding to do everything on your own, and taking on the pressure of trying to save everyone only leads to self destruction.” It was as he thought. Though even having guessed it he still was having trouble believing it.
“The girl from the story… That was you wasn’t it?” That was the only way he could think of for the characters to be so life-like. Whoever made the simulation had to have known them, and experienced all of those things for herself. The stutter steps only happened when the events couldn’t be reconciled with her own experience. Which wouldn’t normally be a problem since most who took a different route didn’t interact much with the bandit beyond fighting her.
“Perhaps. A long time ago I may have been that girl, but eventually I learned that I couldn’t be that girl anymore. Not if I wanted to withstand the weight. Do you think you can handle all the weight you put on yourself as you are now?” He never turned back to face her. It felt a little rude, but he didn’t have anything to say to that. Not yet, but when he was back from his journey he wanted to have an answer by then. For now he left the office without another word.
***
Roran was having a hard time not grilling Azura about whatever it was that was bothering him so badly. The 2 of them had been researching the subspace, and simulation magic that they had recently been put in. The staff so far had all been helpful in explaining what pieces of the magic they knew, and Azura had found several books in the library about the topic. They were even allowed to get a look at the room that housed all the magic circles that maintained the subspace and the simulations. Which made it all the more upsetting that he couldn’t enjoy it like he normally did.
Azura had a good poker face, better than most people he dealt with, but the enchanter had one critical weak spot. Azura wasn’t yet used to his new ears, and they gave a lot of his feelings away. Frankly Roran was a little relieved. Azura had been nigh unreadable before that contract was set. He probably wouldn’t have long before Azura figured it out and got control of his new ears, but until then the enchanter was an open book. “So you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” He put on a rare serious face and dropped his typical child-like enthusiasm. He knew when to be serious even if he didn’t like it much.
Azura sighed. “I suppose you're probably going to bet the most likely to accept it anyway might as well start here.” The enchanter stopped taking notes on the magic circle array they currently stood at. He did the same facing his friend. “You know that trip I mentioned last week? Well I may not have given you guys all of the details. It’s looking to be around 2 months that I’ll be gone.” That didn’t sound so bad. With his copies it would hardly be an issue. Or at least that’s how it was without knowing what the task was.
“What is it that you need to do?” He assumed the task was pretty dangerous if Azura was this worried about them finding out, but he had a lot of faith in his friends abilities, and felt fairly confident there wasn’t much Azura couldn’t handle. Still if anyone in the party would bite off more than they could chew it would definitely be Azura… or well maybe Lily. It was a close call between those 2.
“To be honest that’s the part I’d rather not share, but I’ll say it’s a task to enhance my connection to the spirit world and empower my contract. I think I’ll leave it at that for now.” He narrowed his eyes. It must be pretty bad if Azura didn’t want to share. The enchanter was pretty secretive, but was usually pretty quick to explain if it was something that was worrying them. The fact that he wasn’t meant whatever it is he was doing would only make them worry more. He decided that after this he was going to do some research on World’s End to find out just what it was his friend was so worried about.
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“I won’t pressure you if you don’t want to talk about it, but you know you’re going to have to tell us at some point, or you risk us finding out not on your terms.” Azura’s ears twitched a couple times. That was good, it meant Azura was carefully considering his options. He risked one more push to try and get his friend to open up. “You know we’ll have your back no matter what, right?”
Azura sighed again. “That’s why I’m so concerned.” Oh? His eyes widened in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting that. He silently prompted Azura to explain. “Look I’ll be frank. World’s End is dangerous. Extremely so, but I can’t have you guys coming with me. Frankly I don’t think I’d go myself if I didn’t have copies to keep me up to speed here.” So that was why. Azura was scared they’d want to go with him. His friend wasn’t wrong. They hadn’t known each other for very long, but there was something to be said about bonds forged by fire. And if he wanted to go then everyone in their party would as well. Save maybe Siara who was easily the most distant.
“Is it really that big a deal if we miss a few months? You would be able to help get us back up to speed thanks to your copies.” He said that, but trying to cram months worth of classes while taking new ones didn’t sound like a particularly fun time. Not that he wouldn’t do it if his friend needed help.
“Look at how much we’ve already improved. It’s been 2 weeks. Think about how big the gap would be after 2 months. I have my copies to prevent too wide a skill gap from happening, you guys have no such fallback.” Azura had a point. They had grown a lot already, and no one could say these classes weren’t teaching them some pretty spectacular skills. Plus of the party the only ones who were good enough at studying to maybe close the knowledge gap caused by months of absence were Cythia, Luna, and him. Despite having good reason for it he knew there was no way Azura would be able to convince Katy not to go if any of them were allowed to come with.
“... I guess so, but still what could be so important that you would risk doing something so dangerous, but not important enough for us to miss a few months of education.” Azura had some warped sensibilities about the importance of some things, so he figured it was best to know just why his friend was going about it like this.
“It’s just something personal. None of you will be affected by the outcome whether I leave or stay. The only one who stands to be impacted one way or the other is me. Just to cut off a point I know you’re going to make. I know that doesn’t mean I can’t ask for help, but like I said it’s not worth all of you guys falling so far behind. Especially given that the consequences for not making the journey would be inconsequential by most metrics. I’d be trading 1 power for another 1 that would probably be at least equivalent. Or at least pretty close. So essentially it’s merely a pointless act of rebellion.” Ahh so that was why. It had to do with Azura’s father.
His own father had long since passed, and even when he had been alive was a kind man that no one could take issue with. He had assumed for a long time that all parents were good and kind to their children. Azura’s hadn’t been the first to disprove that notion, but Tiamat was probably the one who completely tore it to shreds. What kind of person would use the threat of offering their daughter to nobles as some kind of prize just to keep their son in line? Frankly if the man couldn’t mop the floor with him in seconds he might have tried to find a way to attack him. “If it was pointless to you then you wouldn’t be doing it. Let me rephrase the question then. Why are you going, and why do you want us not to come? Falling behind may be part of it, but if that is all it was you’d let us decide. You may advise us to stay, but you wouldn’t force it.”
***
Azura sighed. When had Roran become so observant? “Alright you caught me. It’s true if it was just an act of rebellion to keep my contract I wouldn’t risk it, but should I succeed I’ll grow more than anyone else who waded through the pool would. My specialty lies in spirit magic, and just making a contract made my enchantments stronger and easier to make. So how much stronger will I be after being permanently tethered to the spirit world? The fact it allows me to keep my contract and spite my father is just icing on the cake. The why I don’t want you guys coming along is also ultimately selfish. There will come a time when I need your help. Where I couldn’t succeed without it, and when that time comes I’ll need all of you to be as strong as possible.”
He wasn’t particularly proud of his reasons, but Roran deserved the truth. Plus the truth was probably the only thing that might convince them to stay. It would be a blow to their pride, but when needs must. “I see so you already have something in mind, but we aren’t strong enough yet. You’re about to get a major boost, and you want to make sure the rest of us can keep up, is that it?” At least Roran understood that he was also included in the not being strong enough category. Despite all of his advantages he was still only one of the strongest students in his year. He wasn’t even in contention for the strongest, but they would all need to step way up if they intended to mess with his father.
“It’s not about being able to keep up with me. Sooner or later I will be making an enemy out of my father, and when I do I’m going to need powerful allies. Hopefully there won’t be any actual combat against him directly for a long while, because I have no doubt that even after I return and gain my copies memories that my father would still mop the floor with me.” He was under no delusions that even a major boost like a tether to the spirit world would come anywhere close to the power he knew his father wielded.
“Alright, I understand. I won’t stop you, but then you already knew that. I was probably never the one you were worried about, right?” He chuckled. Apparently Roran was even better at reading him than he had given him credit for. Of their party Luna and Katy would be the hardest to convince. Luna still had it in her head that she owed him a life debt, so she would want to come along to try and repay it, and Katy really hated it when he tried to do everything on his own. It didn’t matter how good his reasons were she’d still give him an earful either way.
“Luna will probably stand down once I call in the favor she insists she owes me. Two birds with one stone there. Katy on the other hand is not going to take this well” The worst part was she’d pretend to cave, but then try and sneak along with him anyway. Unlike him she never felt bound to honesty and was more than willing to lie to achieve her goals. Her argument in defense of it was pretty sound though. Even he could admit his careful word choice to manipulate the truth might as well be lies. He may not say anything untrue, but he certainly says things in such a way as to mislead, and really the difference was purely semantics. At least until magic was used that forced people to tell the truth. Then his way was much more useful.
“How do you plan to stop her from coming with you? She’s more than capable of staying off of any of our radars until she attempts to do anything other than focus on stealth anyway. She can even hide from clairvoyance now.” He definitely hadn’t been pleased to learn that. She first used it in a spar against Luna, and while in a fight he wasn’t too worried about trying to stop her from coming along with him; it would be a difficult skill to deal with.
“I have a few things set in place to make sure I don’t end up with any stowaways when I leave, and anyone who tries to follow me on foot would be so far behind there wouldn’t be any point to making the trip.” Reign agreeing to fly him was a big part of that, but there were some upgraded security enchantments he was working on just to be safe. He knew better than anyone how sneaky Katy could be, and her recently discovered specialty of illusion magic made her even harder to detect.
“You willing to give any specifics? I’m quite curious what kind of magic you would use to counter Katy’s abilities. I'm sure the spells are awesome!” He rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t say Roran was faking the child-like energy, but he knew this wasn’t one of his normal outbursts. His friend wanted him to think that the serious moment was over, but he wasn’t fooled.
“I’m not going to tell you so you can turn around and tell Katy.” Roran sighed, but didn’t try to deny it. It would have been pointless anyway. Roran was the one in the party most likely to accept it, but that didn’t mean he wanted Azura to risk the wild lands alone any more than the others would. “If it helps I intend to hire a guide.” Hopefully that would help ease their minds.