Little more than a week passed. Settling in was easier than Jace thought. They hadn’t given him his own room yet. As they needed to clear out a place for him to sleep. And Evaliena’s hospitality suffocated him. He thought his palette was being spoiled by good food. Also, he’s never felt this refreshed before, usually still feeling sleepy. He knew this feeling wouldn’t last long.

Sitting at a table with a set of wax tablets and a blackboard in front of him. Evaliena scrawled various collections of characters across the powder matted surface with yellowed chalk. The vixen turned to Jace. “Now I want you over here.” She waved him over. “And I’m going to tell you each line, and you’re going to write your mother tongue on here.” She tapped the chalk on the board.

Jace wished he had his laptop or his phone. But… he hadn’t been experiencing any sort of withdrawal. He took the chalk from Evaliena’s hand.

“Now, this line says. ‘Welcome to Ayre, Jace.’ ‘Today we’re going to learn imperial common.’ ‘After that I’ll test you on mathematics’ ‘Then we’ll do some cooking.’” Evaliena instructed as she pointed to each word. Jace wrote out each word. His lack of grace with the chalk resulted in the stick dropping chips on the floor. “‘Additionally, I might teach you how to repair your clothes.’ ‘And finally down the line, I may teach you herb lore.’” Evaliena took a breath. “We’ll need to work on your writing.”

“I.. I never used a blackboard before!…My teachers never used a board at all…”

“Oh. What did they use? More of your fancy ‘technology.’” The vixen spoke with a bit of sass. “You’ll have to get used to using wax, charcoal, chalk, a slide ruler and an abacus then.” Jace became dejected not having something with a screen to make use of, something to fiddle with. “One thing I have to beat into you, Pup. I’ll be teaching you methods, not memorisation.”

“Not magic?” Jace looked up at the vixen.

“Well, I’ll get to that…” Evaliena put her hands on her hips. “It’s also not called Magic. That’s for fools who don’t know any better.”

“I’m not allowed to learn—”

“No, you can learn the arcane arts.” Evaliena stared at the stone vaulted ceiling in thought. “Normally, we awaken kits when they reach their first milestone. You’re a bit older…”

“It shouldn’t be any different, right?” Jace sounded concerned. Evaliena rubbed her arm with her free hand.

“Look, Jace, just cooperate with me,” Evaliena placed a hand on his back and leaned down to look him in the eye. “Your awakening will be a surprise. I need to make a few arrangements, though. Until then, trust me and also learn your letters.” She took the chalk from Jace’s hand and flipped over the blackboard.

“Now I’m going to write out each character and number of common uses.” She began writing out the script of her native language for Jace to learn.

----------------------------------------

There were fifty characters in total; each representing a phoneme found in the imperial language and three different counting systems. The alphabet had special characters, a dot dictated nouns before them. At least it was an easy language to write as well as fast to write. Every letter needed only one stroke of the pen and could link easily to another letter. With every word written as spoken rather than as read.

But it was all so exhausting. He had his hands on top of his head and chin to the table. He looked to the side at Evaliena. “What?” She shrugged.

“There is no way Imperial common is this… easy…” He looked at the board with everything written on it.

“And why does that make you think that?” Evaliena was laying down on a cushion as she read a large tome. Her palm against her cheek made her look disinterested.

“I dunno.” Jace shrugged. “It feels off to me. Like it was made up.”

Evaliena stretched her arms. “That’s because it is. And it was forced onto us by a brutally efficient empire. What used to be dozens of languages is now just a few.” Jace sat and leaned to listen. “The court scholar that came up with the writing system has been forgotten by time, but that work continues to live on because it’s just so… good. The ability to write and describe any word in a few letters is just so hard to shake. So every Therian and Hume child knows and understands the script.” And likely everyone else spoke a common tongue.

“I would love to know about the empire.” Jace turned in his seat towards the vixen, resting his head on his arm against the back of the chair.

“You wouldn’t love to know about the empire that ruined us.” Evaliena pointed to her lazy self and to Jace. “It’s… it’s downright depressing…”

“My world had its share of nasty regimes.”

Evaliena relented and rolled onto her back, looking at the ceiling with a sigh. “It was many millennia before my time. But the Empire of Orichalcum and Stars’ wounds, which are still felt everywhere across Ayre. Like other Mer, the snake like Nagasii came from the stars. Unlike the others. They came in force in great black ships.”

“But they’re gone now?” Jace listened intently. So Mer were peoples that came from outer space? That was interesting information to know.

“They were civil engineers and logisticians without peer. However, they saw our world, lush and green, and eyed it greedily. We were not unused to the dismissal and derision the other Mer gave us, bar one group, however. That was an incredible mistake of complacency.”

“What did the empire do?” Jace pushed for information. He wanted to know.

“They tried to subvert us,” Evaliena replied flatly, and she opened up into a tirade. “They didn’t want to just enslave us, they wanted to turn us into them. Entire generations stolen and forcefully educated in their ways. They called it a kindness. Called it civilising the savages. They were actively trying to wipe out our way of life. Entire clans destroyed and forcefully mixed together. Our beautiful argent souls, tainted forever. And anyone that resisted was simply put to the sword and cast aside.”

“That’s terrible…” Jace could not relate. From his world, history spoke of movements and regimes that did similar horrible things. After all, it was all recorded, so people remembered. “What caused their downfall?”

“I don’t know… they dominated our world for a number of centuries, then vanished. Leaving behind their ‘domesticated’ Therians and Hume servants.” The vixen intoned the word ‘domesticated,’ with a fair amount of acid. Jace made a mental note not to bring them up. “Everything they had built decayed without the knowledge to maintain it. And everyone has forgotten them, save for a select few. All that’s left now is their language.” The vixen slumped before letting out a tired sigh. “Is your curiosity sated now, pup?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“I… I… didn’t know it was that bad…” Jace felt sick in his gut and looked away.

“Drop the pity. We don’t need it. And don’t talk about the old empire. It opens old wounds for many clans.” Evaliena warned. “Now take a nap, then it’s back to work.” She poked a cheeky tongue out at Jace.

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“Yeah that’s it, use your knuckle to guide the knife and keep the edge away from your fingers,” Evaliena coached Jace along, showing how he could adjust his grip on the knife. Jace helped to prepare supper again, with Evaliena making good on her promise. Jace didn’t like the look of his cuts, both on his fingers and on the herbs and vegetables. She used her spells to seal up the wounds, but he still felt the pains. “It’s good enough for the broth. Besides, a bit of texture is fine and you’ll get better with time.”

“As with everything else.” Jace rolled his eyes as he kept chopping up the rest of the pile. He had to peel the carrots and apples by hand. Evaliena managed it with a delicate spiral, Jace’s was bits and pieces. The Vixen, however, kept the encouragement up.

A question burned in Jace’s mind. “Where’d you learn all this?” He asked regarding Evaliena’s vast culinary knowledge.

“My Mentor… was rather particular with food. The less said about my cooking skill around that time, the better.” Jace tried to stifle a laugh. The ideas of smoking and charred food ran through his head. Evaliena gave him a light nudge. “When you burn your first loaf, I’ll be the one laughing.”

Evaliena dropped a mortar and pestle with a light thud on the table Jace was working from. He had gotten used to things just appearing from the yellow vixen’s hands. It was like she had a personal bag of holding. A space where she could just summon objects from without feeling the weight. “Mind if I ask where you got that from? You didn’t exactly move very far.”

“No point in telling you what it is. You can not see the construct yet since your senses haven’t been awoken, yet,”

“I’m sure I could understand it conceptually,”

“Point taken. You did tell me the outline of a story about some dark lord’s phylactery.” Jace had shared one of his favourite stories, about brotherhood, a ring, a dark lord, and a journey to save the world. “Let’s see.” She stood up straight, with the back of her hand curled against her hip. “Do you have an idea of objects that are larger on the inside than on the outside?”

Jace nodded. “Like a bag of holding?”

“Bag of holding?” Evaliena looked thoughtful for a moment. “Why did I not think of that?” She muttered. “Well, anyway, there’s a construct in my right hand I can summon. I can store items into it and take them out. It even keeps perishables fresh.” That would be useful, Jace thought. He kept chopping away. “However… You will not be getting one until I think you’re ready.” A bit of snark in her movements.

“What would that entail?” Jace flicked an ear.

“You’d have to wait.”

“Until I learn your letters?” Jace replied.

Evaliena nodded. “Now stop chopping.” She poured into the mortar black dry seeds that were long and had a rough skin. “Grind up this pepper for me. I’ll lead you through the motions.”

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He went to bed early. Just as the sun disappeared rather than staying up and sharing drinks with the older three Reynards. And the idea of snacking on pickled vegetables wasn’t up to his palette. Yet. Something he noticed over the past week was the amount of meat they were eating. Bread and cereals were often only in the morning. Vegetables were little more than small pickled snacks or used for soup and broth base. And what little fruit he saw got turned into jam. Jam that was dangerously mild with its sweetness. He thought he could accidentally eat an entire jar without noticing.

Jace threw himself onto a small bed next to Evaliena’s. A nice fluffy new bed. He didn’t know where they got the bed and sheets. But he’s thankful for his own little round bed. He buried his nose into it and took a deep sniff. It smelt freshly cleaned, there were hints of other people deep in the down. He wondered how many others had slept on this round of feathers, reeds and fabric. Were they similar to him? Or were they just other Reynards?

He also thought. That by now he should have gone stir crazy from the lack of entertainment and internet. What was so different about him now? Was boredom just the new normal? So many questions he may never know the answer to.

“Hey…”

“Somebody new…”

He bolted up straight. He looked around the room carefully. Where did that come from? It was a very weak voice, frail and wispy.

“Are you there?...”

Jace didn’t answer. He tugged up a blanket over his back and head.

“Come and play with me…”

“I’m so lonely…”

“It’s been so long…”

Jace felt something brush across his flank. He looked back and saw two faintly glowing yellow eyes that eerily glinted in the darkness.

“Aren’t you shy?...”

Jace leapt and ran out of Evaliena’s room, crashing to the ground just outside the doorway. Skidding along the floor into the rocky pillar. He looked back at the darkness of Evaliena’s room as the faint outline of something on four legs slowly strode towards him. Those two eyes locked onto him. His heart raced. Then they faded away.

Evaliena grabbed Jace’s shoulder gently. He nearly screamed, biting back the urge as he saw the vixen’s worried face. “What’s wrong? What happened?” Her breath smelt of alcohol.

Jace didn’t realise the pace of his breath. He looked back at the open door. “S-s-something was in there with me!” He pointed his shaking hand at Evaliena’s dark room.

“Did you hear a voice?” Evaliena asked as she looked at her room.

“Y-y-yeah.”

Evaliena cursed quietly.

“Language…~”

“Aw, you’re no fun…”

“Did you just hear that?” Evaliena looked back as her ears twitched.

“What was that?” Jace continued to stare at the dark space.

“It’s a spirit… That’s trapped here. She comes along from time to time.”

“Is she dangerous?”

The pair hear a loud groan faintly echo below. Cedar and Burr bellowed with laughter. “No… but she enjoys messing with people… in less than wholesome ways… Just go to bed and do the best you can to ignore her. She eventually runs out of energy.” She gently nudged. “However, if she goes for your nethers, you might as well run to me.”

Jace gulped and shook his head. “Nah, I think I’ll stay by you tonight.” His body shook with fear.

“That’s fine…” Evaliena sighed. “Now you think the place is haunted, ugh.” A roaming spirit makes the place haunted anyway, Jace dismissed. Just more and more things to look out for.

“Is there a story behind that spirit?” Jace curiously asked.

“Not while she’s awake.” The yellow vixen told Jace, squeezing his arm tight. He held his tongue and nodded.