Derek and the others waited for the merchant's caravan to begin moving once again then returned to the Windreach delegation. When they caught up they reported the events that transpired to Nicholas and returned to their places along the column. The rest of their trip was uneventful and they arrived in front of the walls of Windreach a week and a half later.
Forty foot tall whitewashed stone walls surrounded the inner city at the top of a large hill. Below, white cob buildings with red terra cotta shingles spread out around the harbor. Another, lower wall surrounded the sprawling outer city and around it farmland and windmills could be seen as far as the eye could see.
This was the largest city Derek had ever seen. It was considered one of the most important ports in the region and the neutrality guaranteed by the Academy made it even more valuable to the merchants and sailing vessels that came here. As they entered the streets Derek was stunned by the amount of noise in the city and the many different styles of dress worn by the people walking the streets. His own normal clothing looked drab in comparison.
They rode through the outer city, up an avenue towards the gates into the inner city. From the avenue he could see the city sprawled below him. There were a half dozen markets spread throughout and dozens of ships pulled up to the wharfs. On the north side he saw a large colosseum and everywhere he looked people thronged in their masses.
As they entered the inner city he saw spires of towers all around him. His mother leaned towards him, “The entirety of the inner city belongs to the Academy and the House. The larger buildings in the center are the colleges and the dorms and the others around them are where the faculty, staff, and guards live. There is an arena and a grand library on the east side, the grand hall of the House on the north side, the Academy's ceremonial hall on the south, and a garden and park on the west side with views of the harbor and city below. This area is almost a city of its own with a market in among the college buildings to handle the needs of the students.”
She smiled at the wonder in his eyes and whispered, “Your grandfather is bringing us to his place for now to visit with your grandmother. You have to be on your best behavior. She is very strict.”
He smiled at her and held her hand, “Yes, mom. I promise I won’t embarrass you.”
They rode through the Academy grounds to an estate on the north side near the grand hall. They were shown to their rooms and allowed to freshen up before being received in the main hall. There, an older woman in a dark green dress with iron grey hair pulled into a bun read a report in a chair facing the hearth.
When Nicholas led them in he walked over to her and said, “Dear, I have brought Eona, her son, Derek, and her apprentice, Alicia. Also, these two are Derek's paternal grandparents Ander and Rebekah and these are the three knights of Serris I wrote to you about, Sirs Kylin, Duncan, and Kenneth. Everyone, this is my wife, Madeleine Windreach. She is the current Dean of the Mage College here at Windreach Academy.”
They could all tell how proud he was of her, he practically stood an inch taller while speaking of her position. She put down the document she was reading and turned towards them. She glanced over all of them before her vision came to her daughter and grandson. A tender look flashed across her face before it was replaced by a chill.
“I see you have finally decided to return to me. Rebellious girl, I told you that man was trouble but did you listen to me? No, you left with him to some backwoods place where they mistreated you every day as if you were some unwanted peasant girl.
“You were the pride of the House! You could have picked any unwed prince within a thousand miles or you could have stayed here and probably become one of the core professors in runic studies, but you went to some no named place without even consulting me or your father.
“You didn’t even think of my feelings, did you? You didn’t think of all the relatives who looked out for you over the years. But you come back with a boy almost grown and want us to claim you two as our own now? What nerve! What do you have to say for yourself? You never even came to visit!”
Derek stood next to his mother and felt her shake at these words. He looked and saw that she was holding back tears from years of grief on her face. He hugged her to his chest and looked at his grandmother who he had just met. She had not given him a good impression.
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“Grandmother Madeleine, we just met so I don’t know what you are like, but mother has been ill all my life. She couldn’t leave Redwyrm for fear of her illness taking a turn for the worse. She always told me of how loving and good you were to her and sang me the songs you sang for her. Please don’t be so harsh on her. She has missed you this whole time and done the best she could.”
The old woman looked down her nose at him and snorted condescendingly at him. “Who missed whom? Eona, if you were ill you could have told us! Were you too proud to seek our help? We would have sent people to cure you and tutor your son. We could have brought you here years ago. You merely had to ask.
“Did you think your father or I would have denied you anything? Did you think we would have allowed you to live in that woodcutter's cabin? If I had known that was how you were living I would have came for you and gotten you away from there immediately. If I had known how they mistreated my daughter I would have pulled that castle down around their heads.”
His mother started to weep, “I am sorry mother, I know I should have told you.”
In a moment the older woman had crossed the room and reached for her daughter. She whispered, “Eona, my Eona. I have missed you so much.”
The two held each other for a while. Derek was not used to seeing his mother like this. He stood awkwardly to the side. After a while the two released their hug and Eona looked to Derek.
“Mother, this is my son. Even when things were at their worst for me, he has been the source of my happiness. He has been a good child and his aptitude is great. I promised his father I would keep him in Redwyrm until his coming of age ceremony. Now I have brought him to you to enroll in this Academy and be a member of this House. He is every bit the genius you once thought I was.”
Madeleine looked him over and checked his status. She was surprised by his affinities and some of his blessings, but when she saw his attributes she couldn’t help but praise her daughter's handiwork with the runic schema. She delved it and said, “Eona, this schema is a masterpiece. This proves the thesis you wrote back then. When this spreads it will revolutionize how runic schemas are formulated.”
Eona smiled while she spoke with a frustrated voice, “Yes, yes, but the schema is my creation. Derek has already used level six spells in combat, he has slain a Greater Demon, he has created tier four rune smith works, and Ovid says he already has the skill to be considered a weapons master. If this isn’t genius, I don’t know what is.”
Her mother smiled, “It looks like you gave me a good grandson then. Getting accepted into the Academy should not be too hard for you. I will have some examiners arrive in the next few days to evaluate you officially.
“From what your mother said, you should have the aptitude to join more than one college and each one you have aptitude for will invite you but you may only pick one, though you will still be able to take courses from the other colleges and will even be required to do so. Which are you considering?”
Derek thought for a while. The colleges at the school included the mage college that his grandmother was dean of, the runic schema college his mother had been a genius of in the last generation, the rune smith college, the alchemist's college, and magic warrior college. He could probably meet the requirements to be invited into the mage college, runic schema college, rune smith college, and magic warrior college.
Between the mage and magic warrior colleges, it was a hard choice but he was already on the road of the magic warrior and the two schools shared most of the important classes with only a difference in priority, with the mage college favoring theory a lot more than the practicality of the magic warrior school. Derek had been raised in theory, having listened to his mother and grandmother discuss it all his life. He was much more interested in the practical applications taught in the magic warrior school.
Derek thought for a while and responded, “I will select the magic warrior college to continue my current path of training. It will also prevent others from being able to accuse you of showing favoritism. In fact, I should register as a Thorne and not a Windreach for the same reason. I do not want special treatment from the other students because I am from the family. Furthermore, I should mask my status so that I can see their true attitudes and not draw attention to myself. Grandmother, what levels and tiers do the starting students usually possess?”
She thought for a bit, “The lowest that will get accepted will generally be mid tier zero with the majority from level seven to ten of tier zero. The top candidates will be low to mid tier one and a few strong ones and geniuses at high tier one or even low tier two, though the ones at tier two will be counted on one hand.”
He looked at her dubiously, “Really? Only the top candidates are at tier one?”
She laughed, “Do you really think every family is barbaric enough to send its children out to hunt demons at sixteen? Most people that tier up to one will do so in their early twenties, while we pride ourselves in the fact that our graduates will all have done so by age twenty.”
Derek thought for a moment, then said, “I will mask my power a little bit then to about the middle of tier one and mask my affinities to be more in line with the expectations of the Thorne clan.”
His grandmother smiled and cast her gaze to everyone in the room, “I am sure that will be fine. Everyone, dinner will be ready shortly. We are glad to have you all. When we have eaten we can discuss things further.”