Alan awoke the next day, in a pool of sweat. He’d had nightmares, which was a first in this world. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had nightmares, but he had at least gotten sleep, which had still refreshed him somewhat.

Alexar apparently had the morning shift, and had left early, so when Alan finally got up to eat some breakfast, only Naida was still around. Alan silently thanked the gods that he avoided the railgun discussion with his dad for a while more. Naida seemed to have gotten a good night’s sleep, as her bright smile was back in full.

“Good morning, little sunshine! I’ve got to run soon, but I’ve prepared a little something for you, as an apology for yesterday.” She went on to put an egg on top of an already full plate of food. “Here you go, sweety.”

“I’m the one who should be apologizing, mom. I was an idiot, and I’m sorry.” Naida’s smile suddenly grew in intensity, as she swept in to give him a peck on the chin.

“Aww, you called me mom! How I’ve missed hearing that from you… Ironically, that’s what I needed to be reminded of yesterday, that no matter how old you act, you’re still young, and bound to make mistakes now and then. You’ve been such a careful and considerate child, that I’d almost forgotten that you still are one.” Naida said, thoughtfully. “Well, I’ve got to go now, see you for dinner, Alan.”

That was another first, Naida hadn’t been all that fond of him insisting on being called Alan, but she might finally have come around to the idea. Well, it was something to contemplate for later, as he soon had to get ready for school, which brought him to his first problem of the day. He’d haphazardly slung the “railgun” away in the entrance hall the day before, and he found it lying there still. Should he bring it to school? He felt almost nauseated at the idea, simply because of the connections to some of the most horrible events he’d heard of back in his old world, but his paranoia was telling him that he might need it on the way to and from school.

He finally decided to pack it down in his bag, in separate parts. It wasn’t like anybody could just pick it up and use it, and he promised himself that he’d never touch it inside the school, unless there was serious and dire need for it.

Alan held onto his pack in an unusually strong grip while entering the school area. He felt like he was violating some sort of law, even if he’d seen plenty of other pupils armed with small daggers and such. It was a school for nobles, after all, and they rarely let others instruct them on what they were allowed to bring in. Besides, several of the teachers were armed as well, probably doubling as a sort of security force, so Alan doubted anyone would really bother about his strange contraption.

Alan entered the classroom and found his spot, in the back of the room. He’d spent the first few years at the front row seats, but slowly migrated backwards as his interest in developing his magic overcame his interest in the lessons. It was a while into the first lesson of the day, something about an important peace conference between two countries Alan hadn’t heard of, before he noticed that someone was missing. He immediately berated himself for taking so long to notice that his only friend in class was not present. Alan turned an almost threatening gaze towards Catherine, who seemed to have just noticed as well and looked almost as surprised as he was, before just shrugging and turning back to her book. Alan had to admit that she might simply be ill and staying home for a day, which he shouldn’t worry too much about. Unless she had caught something bad, it wasn’t like this world had advanced medicine. Maybe it was dangerous, potentially lethal. He had no idea what kind of scary sickness or virus one might catch in this godforsaken world. She could be dying right now.

Alan got up, quickly mumbling something about having to leave because of an emergency when the whole classroom grew quiet, before practically running out. It wasn’t until he was well outside and on his way, that he noticed he’d been followed.

“What are you doing out here?” Alan was surprised at his own accusing voice, until he fully remembered Catherine’s threat.

“I’m coming with you, of course. I’m concerned as well,” Catherine answered, seemingly completely unaware or simply uncaring of Alan’s hostile voice.

“Hmpf..” Alan didn’t really have a reply to that. Except for the threat, Catherine hadn’t been anything but nice as far as Alan knew. He still wouldn’t let her get away that easily though. “You threatened me about hurting her, and now you’re concerned, huh? Seems bloody legit.” Alan grumbled.

“I admit that it wasn’t the most gracious path I could have followed, but you had knowledge I wanted, knowledge I still want, so I simply resorted to easy ways of getting you to talk. I never actually intended to hurt her, not when I realized you didn’t actually care for her all that much, at least. And I do actually care, she’s been wonderful at distracting Drake, something which I really do appreciate. The annoying fool has gotten it into his tiny little mud pool of a brain that we’re destined for each other, and any respite given from his incessant courting rituals is a blessing. So what do you say, let bygones be bygones?” Catherine asked, a small smile adorning face, seemingly already certain that he would acquiesce.

“Are you still having me followed? Oh, sorry, shadowed?” Alan asked, with slight sarcasm.

“You still believe that? You are so much more gullible than I expected! You’ve given me the impression of having at least a modicum of intelligence, don’t go wasting that impression away now. I simply asked a few innocent questions to a dear, common friend of ours, why would I have you shadowed when there are so much simpler ways of getting what I want?” Catherine beamed an innocent smile towards Alan, though it didn’t seem very genuine. “Well, I didn’t get what I wanted though, so I might still have you shadowed at some point, but you know, the point still stands. Simple solutions are just better, and often a lot cheaper.” Catherine made an awful amount of sense, which instilled no confidence in Alan. Had he really been going around paranoid for days on end, just because of a small lie? Yes, yes he had. His previous education had not taught him how to deal with people like this.

Alan decided not to open his mouth again for a while, in an effort to retain at least a small amount of self respect. He had to admit to himself that Catherine scared him a bit, though, and wasn’t that a horrible thought for an old professor.

After walking the rest of the way in silence, they were finally outside of the Crow residence. Alan quickly knocked on the front door, impatiently tapping his foot while waiting. He heard some light and quick footsteps inside the house, before the door was slowly opened up. A tired looking Sara stuck her head out from behind the door, covered in a blanket of some sort.

“Oh, hello there Alan,” she said with a small smile, before turning to his companion, “and you are Catherine Storm, is that correct? It’s so nice to meet you.” Sara said, almost putting her hand forward for a greeting before stopping halfway, then retreating back behind the door.

“That’s correct. Nice to meet you too, Sara, Marissa has spoken highly of you.” Catherine said with an unusually warm smile, very unlike her, Alan thought. Catherine continued with the same varm smile, even using a soothing voice, which almost had Alan rolling his eyes, “We’re actually here to see Marissa, as she didn’t show up to school today, and we were worried.”

“Oh, right,” Sara said, flustered, “She’s not feeling very well at the moment, and neither am I, that’s why we decided to stay at home for today. The shop can manage without me for a while, and I’m sure Marissa will be back at school again soon,” she managed with a weak smile.

Catherine pushed inwards a bit as she spoke up, “Can’t we just come in for a short visit and make sure she’s fine? She’s been very disciplined in her magical training lately, and that should help her easily fend off a small cold, so I’d just like to confirm it’s nothing serious. Or we could just go to the church and ask for a healer to come visit straight away, if you nee-”

“NO, ..uuh.. I mean, no, that will not be necessary. She’ll be just fine again soon enough, and I’m sure you’ll see her again tomorrow. Now have a nice day, I really should be going back to bed.” Sara practically shoved Catherine back out of the doorway she’d tried to push herself through, and quickly closed the door. Alan soon heard a lock turn, and the pattering footsteps were soon too far away to be audible.

“Well,” Alan began, “something is clearly wrong. Are the priests horribly expensive or something?”

“Usually not,” Catherine quickly responded, “unless they feel like you’ve wasted their time for no reason, in which case they might expect some recompense. Though that kind of attitude is usually reserved for snobby nobles that call the priests for any insignificant little bruise.” Catherine warily continued, “No, what we saw here was not something the priests could cure, I’m afraid, though I believe her when she said Marissa would be back on her feet soon.”

“What kind of disease would be a problem for priests, but still go away on its own in but a day?” Alan wondered out loud, really annoyed that he didn’t have enough information on the actual capabilities of the priests and their healing.

Instead of answering, Catherine switched tracks, “Has anything happened to Marissa lately? Have you kept her out in the woods for too long, or anything else out of the ordinary?” She asked, with a certain intensity in her eyes, like Alan was somehow at fault for this entire situation.

“No, nothing’s happened to her. We’ve been out practicing as usual, she was at my birthday party a while back, but came home within sundown, and everything else has been normal lat-” Alan suddenly cut himself off, and Catherine was clearly impatient by now, glaring at him to spit whatever he thought of out.

“There might have been this small incident yesterday..” Alan began, slowly and unsure of how to proceed.

“Well, out with it!” Anger mainly coated her voice, but Alan thought he could detect a concerning look in her eyes.

“I might have disappeared from home for a few hours yesterday, and my parents would almost definitely have come here first, to look for me. That is about the only thing I can think of that would have been out of the ordinary for Marissa. I can imagine my parents were quite upset, possibly angry, though they’re usually reserved when interacting with others, so I don’t think it should have been an issue.” Alan managed to spurt out, but still didn’t see the connection.

“Ahh, you bloody idiot!” Catherine obviously did see a connection, and mercifully decided to give at least a hint. “They probably came barging over, first asking if you were with Marissa, then probably demanding an exact location as to where you keep going when you’re out in the woods practicing. Marissa then had two choices; either give up the location to them, or keep the secret, and I’m betting she fell on the last option. That would make your parents angry, probably making her parents angry as well. So, you stupid bloody idiot who ran away from your home for no apparent reason, what do you think happened when your parents finally left, possibly hounded away by an angry father?” Catherine was fuming at this point, and Alan slowly backed away, legitimately scared at this point.

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“Well.. he might have demanded an explanation from Marissa.. And she might have tried to keep the secret?” Alan said, uncertainly, not really understanding where this was going.

“Come on, Alan, you’re not this thick headed. Why do you think Marissa’s always so happy and energetic in class, huh? Too happy, wouldn’t you say? She’s friends with freakin’ everyone, for god’s sake, and she even manages to keep mostly on Drake’s good side, which is an achievement on its own. Why is she behaving the way she is?” Catherine stared daggers at Alan.

“Why is she trying to be friends with everyone..” Alan started, “She’s trying to keep everyone happy, and it’s almost like she knows when someone’s about to get angry.. She was scared that my father would find out about the secret and be angry with her… because… oh shit, oh SHIT!”

“Oh shit indeed. Took you long enough.” Catherine spat on the ground in front of her, a surprisingly unladylike thing for her to do, but Alan hardly noticed.

“Sara can’t possibly be in on it, can she?” Alan wondered bewildered, still not seeing the whole picture.

“If she’s in on- Gaea almighty, Alan, did you fucking see her right now? She was completely covered up, but all you needed to see was still right there. The bags under her eyes wasn’t from being freakin’ tired, alright? The puffy, red eyes? Did you even take a look at her hand as she pushed me back? That you even have the gall to ask if she’s in on it, uuuuuugghh... “

“Alright, alright, I get it, sorry. I’m not experienced with this sort of thing. What do we do, though? We can’t just let this continue?” Alan was finally getting an overview, and the picture he’d glimpsed was horrifying.

“Finally a question without an obvious answer, though that is indeed our conundrum. The sad truth is that there is precious little we can do. It’s barely even illegal, I don’t think there’s been more than a handful of cases as far as I can remember. Stupid patriarchy with its stupid lawmakers. It’s always the women who get the shortest straw in life, in every possible fucking way.” Catherine was still fuming. She abruptly turned and started walking away from the residence, Alan took a few seconds to decide that he still wanted to follow her, in the hope that she’d have a solution, any solution at all really, as he was completely blank himself.

“You have an idea, right? I mean, anything is better than nothing..” He still couldn’t wrap his head around the situation. Catherine had been a great source of stress for him in the last few days, and now she was more or less his only hope for helping Marissa. Gods above, he’d never even thought about it until Catherine arranged it all in front of him. He still wasn’t completely sure he believed it, to be honest, but the signs were quite convincing. Alan had been spared from most of such situations in his position as a professor, he suspected it was because most students lived in dorms, rather than at home.

“I may have an idea.. But I’ll need you to vouch for what you’ve seen so far, and back me up.” Catherine spoke after a short silence, clearly considering something.

“Sure, I’ll vouch for everything I’ve seen so far, though I’d be hesitant to accuse anyone since we’re sorely lacking in actual evidence here.” Alan said, still hopeful that Catherine had come up with some sort of solution.

She seemed to consider things for a few minutes more, before coming to a decision. “Alright, then we’re going to see my father.”

“Why would you need me to vouch for anything to your father?” Alan wondered out loud, without actually thinking about what he’d asked.

Catherine grumbled, but surprisingly decided to answer him, “Because I might actually have tried to have my father shadow you, on more than one occasion…” she admitted, barely embarrassed about her previous lies that she clearly hadn’t done any such thing.

“You really don’t shy away from any methods to get what you want, do you? Your dishonesty will come back to haunt you at some point, you know..”

“You haven’t even met my father yet, but you’re already agreeing on something,” Catherine exclaimed, clearly annoyed. “If nothing else, this should speak wonders for our chance of actually helping out Marissa.”

They finally made it to the base of a large tower, which was officially part of the magical academy, but was mostly used by the most powerful and respected among the mages in the city as research labs. Alan was surprised by the lax security, as the two of them were let in without any questions asked. But then again, there were supposedly several of the most powerful people in the city, if not the entire kingdom, who worked daily in the tower, they might not have much to fear from a few teenagers.

After climbing a ridiculous amount of stairs, they were finally at the entrance to one of the upper laboratories. Catherine actually knocked carefully, standing as far away from the door as possible, and quickly retracted her hand. About half a second later, something resembling a small explosion could be heard from the inside of the room, followed by an incessant use of foul language. Once the sounds had dampened a fair amount, more akin to rumbling really, Catherine finally opened the door.

“Hi dad, how’s your latest experiment going,” she said in a horrible attempt to make her mischievous glee sound like curiosity. Alan followed her inside, cautiously.

“I swear you’ll be the bloody end of me, daughter of mine,” a deep voice answered, interspersed with light coughs. There was some lingering smoke in the room, before it quickly vanished through a small hole in the wall.

“I’m sure you’ll manage that quite decently on your own, thank you very much. Anyways, I’ve brought a friend over, and we have a favor to ask of you.” Catherine went on, carefully stepping around some broken pieces of glass on the ground.

“Oh, I see,” her father answered, with growing playfulness in his eyes. “I’ll have to introduce myself properly to your latest conquest, then. Hello there, good boy, I am Magnus Storm, once the greatest lightning mage on the continent, but now sadly reduced to a worried father of a troublesome girl.”

“Dad please stop, we seriously need your he-” Catherine did her best to interrupt by this point, but there was no stopping her father now, apparently. “I understand you’ve come to claim Catherine’s hand in marriage, and though I would be glad to be rid of the annoying brat, it is my duty as a father to defend her honor, and thus I must challenge you to a duel, to ascertain your worthiness. Come now, and fight like a man, or die like a coward!” Magnus held up a metallic staff, and lightning was flung in several directions, luckily only hitting grounded metal hooks up on the walls. Or, as Alan thought about it for a bit, there was probably no luck involved in this display of power, only the absolute control of an old archmage, having a bit of fun.

“THIS IS WHY I NEVER BRING PEOPLE HOME, DAD!” Catherine yelled at the top of her lungs, barely audible over the loud cracks from the lightning. Magnus finally abated in his display, croaking over slightly as he caught his breath, coughing a few more times before quickly wiping away spit with a napkin that suddenly caught fire after being used.

Magnus turned surprisingly quickly towards his daughter, catching her in a surprise hug, before finally sitting down in a chair, seemingly ready to talk. “So, now that we’ve done introductions, why don’t you start listing your achievements chronologically, and I’ll judge whether or not you have the qualifications to marry my daughter or not.” The broad smile on his face made it clear to Alan that he very much enjoyed teasing his daughter, and Alan felt like she deserved a bit of teasing for her behaviour lately, and decided to play along.

“Dad, he’s not here to-” “My meager beginnings don’t hold all that much of interest, until the age of sixteen, when I was on the winning team in a football competition in my school. I graduated from that same highschool at eighteen, with top marks, which is something of an achievement I like to think. From there on, I started my bachelors degree at Princeton University, New Jersey, and went on to win a few small competitions before graduating magna cum laude with a main focus on physics, and after that I ended up in Oxford, of all places, doing a masters degree in particle physics. I finished my education with a Ph.D in Cern, at the Large Hadron Collider, working on the team searching for the Higgs Boson, though we sadly didn’t have much success.” Both Catherine and Magnus were stunned at this point, but Alan continued onwards, having found quite some fun in summing up his life for someone who’d neither make heads or tails of anything he said. “After my PhD was done, I travelled back to Princeton to teach as a professor, eventually marrying the woman of my dreams, and starting a family. We had a son and a daughter, the two most wonderful children you could possibly imagine, and life was great until I died in a car crash, and was born anew in this godforsaken backwater world.” Alan finally finished, his fun ruined at the end. He shouldn’t have talked about his family, it never helped his mood in any way, but too late now, he supposed.

“Now,” Alan added, after talking a look at the speechless duo in front of him, “do you think I have what it takes to marry your daughter?”

Magnus seemed to have trouble working his mouth, opening and closing it several times without actually uttering a word. Catherine managed to find her words, however, though it also took her some time. “And you managed to berate me for being dishonest? I’m not even mad at my father anymore, all the teasing was worth it to hear that story. You’ve got to have the best imagination I’ve ever heard of, to come up with all that in a few seconds, or you just daydream wayyy too much, sounds more likely to be honest..” She bickered back and forth a bit with herself on how well Alan could manage being a bard, before Magnus barely whispered out a few words that would rock the very foundation of Alan’s world.

“...he didn’t lie…”

Alan was in shock, having no idea that his fun little game could go so wrong. The old geezer could actually tell lies from truth? How was that even possible? What would happen now, would he become a test subject, doomed to forever be locked up in a dungeon and experimented upon, to have to live through untold-

“How old are you?” Magnus interrupted his train of thought with a single question, sounding innocent enough, but Alan knew it was a test of sorts.

“Twelve,” Alan said, nonchalantly, or at least trying to.

“Not lying now either… hmm what a conundrum… Now I see why my daughter wanted you shadowed, though she never gave me any worthwhile reasons. Alright, Alan, let’s table this discussion, for now you have my attention, why did you come here today?”

“Ehh… I’m actually not sure, maybe Catherine should explain…” Alan answered vaguely, as Catherine hadn’t actually shared her plan with him, outside of her need for his testimony.

She seemed to need a moment to pull herself together too, before finally taking the initiative. “Dad, we need you to put a shadow on Marissa’s father. We believe he is violently abusing both his daughter and wife, and we need to put a stop to it. Now, I don’t believe for a second we could get evidence of the actual acts, not enough to get him convicted anyhow, stupid judges and their stupid laws, but I strongly believe we can get the evidence we need from the prison he works at.” Catherine finally drew a breath, apparently a bit overeager to share her plan.

“Ah, so you believe that he’s also taking advantage of his position as a captain of the guard teams, to have his way, so to speak, with prisoners and convicts? Sounds plausible, and it has certainly happened before.” Magnus now turned to Alan, as if looking to confirm the story he’d already heard so far. “Is my daughter’s view of the Crow household’s standing in line with your own so far, or is this another thing she’s imagining as a result of lack of entertainment at school?”

Alan was confused for a second, before responding. Shouldn’t he be able to tell the difference, being able to tell the truth from lies and all.. Perhaps it wasn’t as omnipotent as he’d first believed. “I also believe that Benjamin Crow is an abusive father and husband, potentially using violence, though I have nothing but circumstantial evidence at best to support the theory. But it makes sense, from the way Marissa has been acting, though I’m no expert in these matters.”

“Hmm…”

A long silence ensued, as Magnus apparently considered their words. Catherine actually had a pleading look, full of concern, and Alan thought it might have been one of the few genuine emotions he’d seen her display so far.

“A marriage is sanctified by the gods, the church would have us believe, and not to be disturbed by the hands of men outside of it. They sadly have sway with the laws in the land, and considerable power in their own right, making them a dangerous foe, should any lawmakers try to defy their ways.” Magnus began, seemingly conflicted on the issue. “But the treatment of prisoners is actually one of their redeeming works, having pushed heavily in favor of humane treatment of all who are convicted of wrongdoings, as they believe everyone can be saved, if the right circumstances are in place. This idea might have some merit to it, though I cannot say with certainty that you’ll get results in a reasonable amount of time. It all depends on this Benjamin, doesn’t it?” As the archmage finished speaking, he took some time to think to himself, keeping both Catherine and Alan waiting anxiously for his response.

“Well,” Magnus suddenly got up from his seemingly comfortable chair. “I’ll help you out, though I can’t promise much. I’ll speak to an old friend of mine in the royal guards, and maybe we’ll find something, maybe we won’t. In the meantime, I suggest you look for other ways of extracting your young friend and her mother from the hands of this abuser. Though do be discreet, we don’t want him getting wind of what is happening, especially not getting any ideas that he might be followed around. And now, I bid you adieu, for I must get changed before presenting myself for the royals, and I’d hate to traumatize you young spirits. ..You know, one look at this athletic and amazing body of mine, and you’ll-”

“Oh, Gaea take me, please stop dad!” Catherine practically ran out the door, pulling Alan after her, before he got any more chances at teasing her or Alan.

When they were finally out of the tower, bidding a hasty goodbye to the guards at the entrance, Catherine finally let go of Alan’s hand. She seemed to have forgotten about holding it in her flight, and Alan thought he could detect a hint of embarrassment seeping into her chins.

“This is where we split up, for today. You did good, most people just run away when dad does his “initiation rites”, and he’s done them for absolutely everyone that I’ve ever brought home. And before you ask, no, I haven’t had any conquests, as he so politely put it, and I’m not interested in conquering you either, so don’t get any ideas. I’d like to delve deeper into your ridiculous courting session later, don’t think you’re getting away from that, but right now I’m frankly both furious and exhausted, and I’m going home to rest. See you tomorrow, Alan.”

And with that, Catherine abruptly turned around, and marched away in an impressive speed, showing no care for whoever had to jump out of the furious young lady’s way. Alan was dumbstruck for a little while longer, and was beginning to see a pattern in how often this world had surprised him in the last few days. Perhaps it was finally time to go home, and try to put some of the stress out of his system for the rest of the day.