Azura had made a mistake. He could tell right away, he had allowed himself to lose control. Lashed out, even though he understood where Katy was coming from, had expected it even. He was too emotional now, he had let himself lower his guard when most of his friends hadn’t reacted negatively, had slipped. He turned around and walked away disgusted with himself. They called out to him, but he ignored them in a haze. He was so distracted he couldn’t even distinguish which voices had called out to him, not that it mattered.
He formed a magic circle in front of him and walked through it. It didn’t take him far, but he was outside of his room, and technically fallying, because his room was several stories above ground level, but that didn’t matter much to him. A quick spell, and his falling direction changed so he was falling towards the school wall only a few feet from him. After landing he rolled to bleed off the extra momentum and walked carefully down the school wall.
Was it a mistake to tell them? No he didn’t think it was. If nothing else he’d find out who his real friends were, and even if they didn’t want anything to do with him going forward, he didn’t think any of them were the kind of people to sell him out. Still of all things, he couldn’t believe Katy would accuse him of hurting his sister for no reason. Even at his worst he’d never have done something like that. He had chosen secrecy because it was in their best interests at the time, and even now if he could go back, he still wouldn’t have told them. He probably would have told Katy once they had been accepted into the academy, but there was no guarantee her reaction would have been any different then.
He wanted to laugh at how naive his younger self was. So foolish as to believe merely getting into the academy meant he’d be free. It was preposterous, in some ways he was even more caged here than he was back then. Though of course it was true that he had freedoms here that he didn’t then as well. He should probably go back, but he was still stewing in his anger, and he wasn’t as confident as he normally was in his ability to reign it in. His new temperament would take some getting used to. He reached the bottom of the school walls and released his gravity spell kicking off the wall so he could land smoothly on his feet and continue on without breaking stride.
It was kind of funny in a way, his new instincts made him more like a normal person rather than less, it was quite surprising given the nature it had taken when it was unleashed before. He wondered why that was, perhaps dragons instincts are significantly different in and out of combat. Ot would certainly explain his even more calm and relaxed approach to combat since the merging.
Perhaps he had just found his topic of research for his time in self imposed exile. The library may very well be the first place his friends think to look for him, but it would take them longer to make the trip than it would him. His wings formed, and he shot into the air until he was high enough that the city came into view. From there a quick portal was all it took to find himself at the town entrance. He then showed his id to enter the town normally. It wouldn’t do to have guards to hunt him down for illegal entry.
He was allowed in without much fuss. He came down here far more regularly than most students after all. Funny enough, simply being seen down here often made him quite well liked among the populace who seemed to think most students thought they were too good to be down here with civilians. It didn’t seem to occur to them how busy said students almost always were. Not that he had any intention of correcting them, at least not so long as it worked in his favor.
He knew the way to the library by heart now, and had no trouble making the trek. It helped that everyone knew exactly where he was going, and made sure not to be in his way. Casual greetings were exchanged as all parties continued on with their day. Or at least that’s what normally happened, his attention was drawn to some shouting on his right. He turned towards the noise to see an average looking man on his knees in front of a much fatter man Who seemed to be very uncomfortable.
It didn’t take much effort to tune in his hearing to catch the words even from this distance. “Please, I know I have nothing to offer as collateral, but my family is starving, and my new job refuses to forward pay me. I swear I’ll have the money by next week. Please just some bread, it can even be the old stuff please!” A tail as old as time, the family had nothing where they were, so moved somewhere where they would have better odds, and found something, but perhaps a little too late. He sighed. He should really go to the hospital, somehow his heart just never seemed to stop bleeding.
He walked over. And dropped a gold coin into the guy's hand, it would more than cover food for a family. At least for a few days. The man stared at him in shock, but he continued on his way. Thankfully he was able to turn the corner before either of them reacted, and didn’t have to deal with any tearful gratitude. That was without a doubt the worst part of helping people.
By the time he made it to the library he had put the situation out of his mind. Now he was solely focused on the nature of the physical manifestation of dragons, and how to preserve them as materials. He didn’t imagine there would be too much on that here, but he had a copy checking the school library too, so hopefully one of them found something of use. Ideally after he had managed to cool off soon.
***
Cynthia hadn’t even considered the possibility of Katy taking poorly to Azura’s secrets. Luna had also had some trouble it seems, but now the other girl was trying to soothe Katy who seemed rather guilty. Not that she could blame her. Getting upset at Azura was one thing, accusing the one who had saved her, and was probably the only reason Katy had gotten this far of not caring about her was a few steps too far.
It felt bad to think, but honestly Katy’s mental state was more concerning than Azura’s. Azura would calm down and figure stuff out on his own, Katy would definitely not. She’d just beat herself up more and more. So she and most of the others stayed when they wanted to go after Azura. Not to say none of them went after their wayward leader. Roran was heading into the town to see if Azura was there.
The 2 of them were on the same wavelength when it came to research, so they had decided that Roran would be the best one to pull Azura out of his funk, and wasn’t that an odd thing to think. Azura had been visibly distressed, and that was unusual. It seemed like the trip to the pool had affected him more than they had anticipated. Not that she had any doubts about his ability to get it under control. He was still learning about what exactly the changes were, but once he knew she bet he’d be able to get them all under control.
“So I know asking you to apologize is a bit much, but you could at least say the last part was a mistake. Your criticisms were completely fair, or at least worth an explanation, it was only the last part that seemed a bit too far.” Luna was doing an odd mix of comforting Katy, while trying to get her to agree to talk to Azura. She didn’t think either was going particularly well.
How could they? Katy had guilt, and anger rushing through her mind in equal measure. Azura had lied to her for a long time, but even she knew he was probably right about her death if the fact she knew ever came out. Although something had been off about the way Azura had said that, almost like he hadn’t actually known that either, but he moved on to the next point too quickly for her to really analyze.
“Was it a mistake? He did look out for us, that can’t be argued, but he didn’t even trust us. If he had told us not to tell anyone, we wouldn’t have told anyone.” She didn’t think it was them telling someone that Azura was worried about. All it would take was one time where they talked about it with each other. If anyone heard it or even a piece of it, that would be enough. That was probably what Azura was worried about.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I don’t get why you're so angry honestly. Would you really have rather had to worry about the secret getting out and you being killed every single second of every day. To be honest I’d go so far as to say he did you a pretty major favor.” Lily knew what it was like to live every day in fear. Knowing that one slip could very well bring her end. Even in her current state Katy knew that, and didn’t try to dispute Lily’s words.
“I understand a little, but I think Lily is right. You may not like how he did it, but it was definitely to protect you that he did it. I’d say you actually do owe him an apology, it’s not even like he lied to you. He told you point blank that there were secrets he wouldn’t tell you. He even told us there were things he wouldn’t share, and we aren’t even really entitled to those things in the first place.” Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to keep most of them here with Katy. Luna was the only one even remotely on her side, even she had to admit that Katy’s complaint felt a bit spoiled.
Azura had looked out for her since they were little. She got to grow up in a far better environment than most servants, honestly probably even most people. She was only allowed that privilege, because Azura worked hard to make that so, he took all the hits, all the punishments, all the blame. So what he kept some important stuff secret from her, the knowledge wouldn’t have helped her at all, at the time it would only have made her life miserable. Assuming it wasn’t the reason said life ended prematurely that is.
Katy glared at all of them. “And why does he always have to suffer alone?! Did you know there was a reason he distanced himself from his siblings until his brother died? He thought if he was far enough away from them his father would leave them alone and focus on him. His plan was to make sure all the crap his father does would be focused on him. The only reason he stopped was because he realized it hadn’t worked. All it had done was alienate him from his siblings, and they still got punished and compared to him. Anytime we got in trouble he sent me away and took it all on himself. I just got to watch as he tore himself apart just so nobody else would have to deal with it.” She started out heated, but the more she talked the more the energy seemed to drain out of her. “I guess I just thought once we came to the academy he’d be able to rely on me a little more, only to find that he was still handling everything on his own.”
Now that, she understood. Katy had said the opposite of what she had meant, in the heat of the moments words had gotten mixed. She was sure Katy still thought of it as selfishness in a way, and she actually agreed a little on that point. No one wanted to watch their friends suffer, and that’s exactly why Azura took it all on himself, but that meant that all of them had to watch him suffer through everything on his own. It was pretty hypocritical when she thought of it like that, and perhaps Katy’s accusation made a bit more sense when viewed through that lens.
“Well he’s trying to fix that now isn’t he?” Or at least trying to be honest with them. She doubted he was going to stop taking the weight of the world on his shoulders any time soon. Still she couldn’t blame him for that, if she had the capability to keep everyone safe on her own, she’d certainly try.
“Is he? The things he told us don’t really put me in danger anymore, really he should have told me the second we were accepted, or at least that’s when the danger he used as an excuse passed. He didn’t though, he was so attached to his secrets, and as if that wasn’t enough even now he’s hiding stuff from us.” Her eyes widened in surprise. Was he? If Katy thought that, then it was probably true.
“Yeah, but I think that’s because they aren’t his secrets to tell.” Lily didn’t seem surprised at Katy’s last comment. She gazed at Lily curiously. What other secrets would he be keeping for someone else other than Lily’s history?
“He’s hiding something else for you?” It was a testament to how much Katy had calmed down that her tone wasn’t accusatory. Actually if anything she sounded almost relieved. She supposed that made some sense. It was one thing if he was protecting someone else’s secret, and another altogether if he was hiding his own.
“I think so. After the incident with the shadow panthers he warned me not to use my unique magic, said that it was probably just as dangerous for me as it was for everything around me. I don’t know what exactly he figured out, but I’ll say that he was very intense when he said I shouldn’t use it.” She had felt those flames herself, so she knew something was up with them, all of them did, but it wasn’t surprising that Azura might know something they didn’t. He had been the one to put them out after all.
“That might be part of it, but I feel like there is something else too. Remember when he told us how that weird entity first interacted with him in that library? Well maybe it’s just me, but it felt like there was something else he thought about saying, but decided against it.” Really? She had remembered perhaps a fraction of a second delay between that and his next story, but hardly enough for her to consider it doubt.
“Are you sure? It seemed to me like he was just deciding what to tell us next.” Not that she doubted Katy, it was her that had known Azura the longest after all. Still, what else could possibly be so important to hide when the rest of that was shared? What could be more important and/or dangerous than an all powerful entity watching his every move?
“I’m fairly sure. Even I can’t read Azura perfectly all the time, so I won’t say I’m positive, but that was the vibe I got.” She didn’t really think it fair to keep being mad at him over a maybe though. She was about to say as much when there was a knock on the door.
“Open up, we’re here to check on the reports of a cursed object.” They all turned to the door, she had admittedly forgotten about the inspection. She figured after Elismera had realized the taint was gone she would have called it off, but she was probably just spiting Azura with the inconvenience. Katy opened the door before any of them could react. They didn’t have anything to hide, but it would have been nice to prep themselves mentally at least.
“Have at it. Azura’s not here, but don’t mess with anything in here. He specializes in enchantment magic, so there are without a doubt defenses in here we don’t know about.” The 2 calm looking men nodded. They were in oddly formal attire, looking almost more like butlers than investigators, but they cast several spells around the room, and didn’t seem at all bothered with the current audience. Which oddly enough included Elismera who had walked in behind the 2 men.
The elf girl tried to open one of Azura’s drawers, and she laughed when the elf’s hand shot back to her side, and she glared at the dresser as if it had killed her family. Cynthia wondered what the drawer had done to her. Azura had a habit of making sure all of his defenses were different. Just in case someone ever figured one out he always said. “It’s clear, if he’s hiding a curse object of the level you described, then I’d be more worried about him than the object.” The men spoke professionally, and she had to give credit to the fact they didn’t seem bothered by the colossal waste of time.
“That’s impossible! I felt it myself, surely you can open his stuff, you have to be trained on how to get around defensive magic! His enchantments may very well be hiding the taint.” She hoped they didn’t agree to dig around. Not because they would find anything, but because Azura would be pissed if his room was a mess when he came back.
“If you have some kind of proof other than just your word that he has such an item we can do a more thorough search, but failing that there is no sign of a cursed item within 5 miles of this school, not even a sign that there might have been one. She held in her reaction barely, but that was a bit surprising. Azura’s copy had the cursed dagger for almost 2 months, there not being any sign at all that there had ever been a cursed object here didn’t seem right.
“Wait you mean to tell me there aren't traces of any curses at all? Isn’t that even more suspicious? If I’m not mistaken some of the students themselves have even been cursed, and one of this group who seems to be missing at the moment is definitely cursed, surely there should be traces of that if nothing else.” She sighed, leave it to Azura to clean up too well. They wouldn’t be able to trace it to him, but they might stick around a little longer to investigate.
“Like I said someone can clear the taint from an area this big completely then they are far more dangerous than the cursed object, but there is no evidence of any curses here, so we can’t afford to waste our time searching a lost cause.” The 2 men bowed and left calmly. Elismera stood there in rage for a minute before she snarled and stormed out of the room herself. Well that could have gone a lot worse.