Chapter 20: Sitting on the sidelines
Felix Sythias’ POV (continued):
About twenty minutes before the end of the break, I had to go. The training field where Aerial Combat was taught wasn’t close by, so I would have to run there at a gallop if I still wanted to make it on time. Sure, I could have left earlier and just jogged, but I enjoyed spending time with Alex.
We had eaten lunch together and had talked about our next classes. Alex had Basic Swords and Magic next. It was adorable how excitedly he talked about it. After that he had Basic Flight. I didn’t have either class, so we’d only see each other again in the evening. That thought was kind of strange; we’d spent most of our time together this last week and the idea of not doing so for an afternoon seemed foreign to me. Looking back, it was crazy how fast we’d become friends, but at the same time it felt like the most normal and natural thing in the worlds—we just clicked.
I said goodbye to Alex and set off towards the field with a gallop. I should be able to make it on time, despite the distance.
The reason the field was so far away was that any student could attend the class as long as they were capable of stable flight. And because they could fly, the field could be further away. This also meant that students of all years, and thus of all levels, would be there. And since there would be mock fights, it was too dangerous to have the class in the field next to the big building filled with low-level year-one students. The risk was simply too great that a stray attack would kill someone. And while the professor could protect the low-level students at the field, she couldn’t protect an entire building full of students at once. Strong as she was, even she had limits.
The professor for this class was someone I knew well. She was a friend of dad and came by to visit every so often. She had a reputation for being a tough and stern teacher. And to be fair, she was, but she was also really sweet if you just behaved and did the homework. Students often disliked her for this, according to her. I thought she was probably exaggerating, but I would find out myself soon enough.
I arrived at the field with only a few minutes to spare. I stood there, panting, as I looked around for the rest of the students and professor Marchie. The field was really just that: an empty field. That was fine, we only really needed it for the space above it, anyway.
At the side of the field stood a small group of about a dozen students and one professor, who was hovering just a few centimeters above the ground. Seeing as it was the only group visible, I assumed it had to be the right one and walked in their direction.
Once I got close, I recognized professor Marchie and knew I was right. It seemed I was a little late, since the professor was already instructing the group. I couldn’t make out the words, though. The group itself was a mixed bag of races. A few humans, a few elfs, a dryad, a beastkin or two, and even a lizardkin. Once I got within a dozen meters, the professor turned around and greeted me.
“Ah, Felix, welcome. Come, join the group, then we’ll get started,” she said.
It seemed I wasn’t late, despite what I’d thought. I joined the group, and she started explaining the class. It didn’t look good for me. We’d start with basic flight patterns and how to counter them, and we’d be learning by experience. Fuck.
She divided us into groups of three, but did a double take when she got to me and saw my wing—or more accurately, my lack thereof. How did she not notice I only had one wing when I arrived? She wasn’t usually so distracted.
“That’s, um, going to make things difficult,” she said with a frown. “Why don’t you wait here for a moment while I split the rest of the group up and we’ll see what you can do while they practice.”
I didn’t like it, but what else could I do? Flap my arms about like a little kid play-pretending they’re a bird, hoping it might lift me into the air?
She glided over to the remaining students and split them into groups and then gathered everyone, including me, together. She then went and explained the exercise we were going to do. It was a simple one, mostly meant to get to know each other while introducing some basic concepts—we would be playing tag. Each group would have one person who was ‘it’ and would try to tag one of the other two. It was a fun game while on the ground. At least, I thought it was. The other kids had sure seemed to enjoy it, growing up. But this was Aerial Combat, so there would be no ground involved, only flying. The added dimension would make the whole game a lot more difficult.
The professor handed everyone a harness with a speed limiting enchantment on it and told them to put it on. While speed differences would come up later, right now it wasn’t the point, so the enchantments limited everyone to the slowest flier in their group. It also had some basic impact protection, and a whole range of sensors. She also had one specifically made for me, but I wouldn’t need it this time. Or the next time. Or the time after that. Like I had feared, I would be sitting on the sidelines for quite a while. Damn it.
After everyone took off into their own little bit of airspace, professor Marchie glided over to me.
“I’m sorry you can’t join, but we’ll figure something out; I assume it isn’t permanent?” she asked, pointing to my stump.
“It isn’t. It’s already regrowing, and it itches a lot,” I said, and I swore the stump itched more as I talked about it. “I’ll be flight-ready in about a month or two.”
“Good, that’s not too long. If it were any longer, I would’ve recommended you take this course another time. What happened?”
I was starting to become a little tired of explaining this to everyone. Even the mundane physics teacher had asked and I barely even knew him! At this point, it was a well-rehearsed tale, so I told it with ease.
She looked aghast. “You were down there when it happened? Dear gods, I’m glad to know that you’re okay. A lot of students… weren’t.”
“Do they know what happened yet? I haven’t spoken to dad much this week, so I haven’t been able to ask him.”
I was honestly starting to miss dad. I’d thought I could visit him as often as I wanted, but now visiting him took four hours just traveling to and from. It wasn’t really doable. And with this mess of a situation, it didn’t surprise he hadn’t had the time either, as much as that sucked.
She shook her head. “I don’t teach any classes down there, so I’m not kept in the loop, but I know they closed it down for now. They’re not letting students in until they figure out what happened and are sure it won’t happen again. It put a lot of classes and newbie crafters on hold.”
“Oh, that’s good. That they closed it, I mean. We made it out safely, but if one more of those bears had wandered over…” I shook my head to get rid of the awful image my mind had brought to life just thinking about it. “I don’t want to imagine how badly that could’ve ended.”
She sighed. “I was part of the rescue crew; I don’t have to imagine. It was really stupid of you to go down there without a beacon. If you’d had one, you could’ve let us know something was wrong and we could’ve come to help. I hope you learned your lesson and never go without one again.”
“Believe me, I have,” I said, waving my stump at her, “I put one with my standard equipment, along with several notes reminding me I should take one with me. I won’t forget again.”
“Good,” she said, and turned back to the students flying about the sky, chasing each other in a chaotic fashion. She took out a notebook and started writing things down. She glanced at me and then also started narrating the things she was noticing. What the students were doing wrong, what they were doing right, what strategies they were using, etc. Every so often she also pointed towards a group when they were particularly well or poorly and she wanted me to pay close attention. It was all very informative, and she was a great teacher, but I would much rather have learned by doing rather than listening.
I took notes while I listened to professor Marchie explain. I wrote them down in the notebook I’d gotten specifically for this class. The notes were a mess, and I’d have to clean them up later, but at least I had them. The people in the sky couldn’t say the same. I’m sure the professor would explain it all to them later, and they could write that down, but I knew they wouldn’t get anything quite this in depth. We only had ninety minutes after all, and couldn’t spend another fifteen minutes just going over everything.
After the exercise, everyone gathered together and professor Marchie explained what had gone right and what had not. Then she went and gave a lecture on various strategies the person who was ‘it’ might apply to make things easier, before drawing parallels with actual combat situations. Getting close and hitting an enemy, as well as avoiding them were important skills. She gave everyone a few minutes to discuss strategies and then had everyone redo the exercise in different groups while applying the new knowledge. And so the class continued.
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Alex Sandclaw’s POV:
Basic Swords and Magic was dull. Well, that wasn’t fair. The lesson material was all very exciting, and I couldn’t wait to go over it and do the homework when I got back to my room. But stars, the professor… I had never before in my life met someone so boring.
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I didn’t think it was physically possible to have such a monotone voice, but the professor proved me wrong. It was so bad you’d think she had a Skill for it. But someone had asked, and she didn’t! And that wasn’t all! She just kept droning on and on, totally uncaring whether anyone actually understood anything she was explaining.
Raised your hand? She ignored you. Asked something out loud? She just continued on. One daring student had even tried walking up to her to ask a question, but she’d just stared him down until he sat back in his seat.
My tail swept behind me. By the stars, this woman had single-handedly made this class the worst part of my day. I wanted to like the class. I really did. And I did like the content of the textbooks and the exercises she had us do, but I wasn’t sure if I could handle this for another six months.
The first lesson focused heavily on the magic aspect of the class. I’d never before gotten any education on magic, and I understood only half of what she told us. I made sure to keep meticulous notes, though, so I could go back to it later when I had more knowledge. Maybe I could ask Felix for help?
Thinking of Felix reminded me of earlier and what happened in the park. I sighed. The person next to me gave me a sympathetic look, probably thinking I was bored. Lunch had been nice, but awkward. My dumb attempt at a joke, of which I still wasn’t sure why I had thought it was a good idea, had been on my mind the entire meal. I’d just been trying to lighten the mood, but surely there were better ways? But our reading sessions had been on my mind, and I couldn’t deny the idea of being so close to someone wasn’t enticing.
But lying on top of him like that had been nice and intimate in a way we hadn’t been before. It still boggled my mind that I could actually be that intimate with another person, let alone another man. And then Felix had made that comment about cuddling. He was right; it had been almost like that. All that had been missing was him wrapping his arms around me. And if I was honest with myself, I wouldn’t have minded if he had done so. And if the thing with my ridges hadn’t happened, I might have asked him to.
That realization had both surprised and confused me. Wanting intimacy wasn’t anything new to me, but I had only ever thought about it in an abstract sense. To cuddle, to hug, to be physical, with someone. That ‘someone’ had never had a face, had never had a personality, and had never had a voice. But not anymore.
Now when I thought of physical intimacy, I thought of Felix’s smile and his scaly arms wrapping around me while his wings shielded me from all the horrible people in the worlds.
It was normal to feel that way about friends, right? I'd only ever felt this way before about family. Did I consider Felix family? No, that wasn’t it. We weren’t nearly close enough for that yet. I was just latching onto the first person to show me any affection, like a parasitic blood worm.
And then I remembered he called me attractive and cuddly, and I wasn't so sure, anymore. What was I supposed to do with that? It made me feel warm and fuzzy and validated. And I liked it. I liked it a lot. Why did I like it so much? It confused me and I had no answers. I didn't like that it made me feel that way.
I shook my head, trying to shake off the thoughts. I didn’t like them, or how they made me feel. Why did I have to make the stupid joke? Why did I even go back to sit on him in the first place? If I hadn’t, then I wouldn’t feel this way right now.
But then… he wouldn't have called me cuddly, either.
I sighed again and ignored the person next to me, who was now giving me concerned looks. I didn’t want to think about it anymore; thinking about it only made me more confused. So I tried my best to just focus on the professor and was mostly successful. He was currently giving a lecture about how the affinities affected the possible effects you could get. It was fascinating. The way air mana reduced the air resistance and slightly boosted the speed of slash was awesome. So even with her boring tone, I quickly lost myself in taking notes.
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After the class we had one last fifteen minute break. I didn’t really want it; both my friends were elsewhere, the next class’ lecture hall was only a minute away, and I didn’t have any food left.
But the break didn’t care about any of that, so I sat outside on a bench in the courtyard, reading through my notes. I’d thought I made some good ones, but in hindsight they were a mess. I wasn’t sure whether that was because I wasn’t really focused on it, or because I simply sucked at making notes. Either way, I’d have to rewrite them later. After I had asked Felix to help me with understanding them, though. Rewriting them while I didn’t fully understand what I was rewriting was a terrible idea. I hoped Felix would have time to help.
About halfway through the break, there was a commotion. When I looked up, I saw someone flying down and landing in the courtyard. It was a lizardkin, like me. He was rather tall and of the jeweled gecko type. His scales had a nice green color, with patterns of a yellowish green running across the back of his head, and probably down his back as well. They were very well polished and glittered nicely in the sun. Unlike me, his back was entirely flat, as far I could tell. He had a lean physique and had a much longer tail than I did. I thought he looked rather handsome, all things considered. Thinking that way about another guy felt weird and a bit wrong, but I let myself do so anyway. It felt like a small step forward.
The lizardkin rushed inside, apparently in a hurry. He passed by my bench on his way and glanced at me before continuing on. I took the chance to check his level while he was this close.
[Level 37]
He definitely wasn’t a first-year student. I wondered for a moment who he was and why he was here, but decided that it didn’t matter. I went back to reading my notes, trying to decipher my handwriting. It wasn’t that great, and I’d need to improve it. I’d be making a ton of notes the next few years and the easier I could read them, the better.
I was so deeply engrossed in my notes that I didn’t even notice when someone sat down beside me on the bench until they cleared their throat. I looked up from my notebook and saw the lizardkin from earlier sitting on the other side of the bench. He sat turned towards me with his arm draped comfortably over the backrest.
“Hi, I’m Viggi.” he said, giving me a small wave.
“Um, hi, I’m Alex,” I said, “Can I help you with anything?”
“In a way. You might have noticed, but there aren’t that many lizardkin on campus. Especially not around the dorms. So when I see one I don’t know, I like to introduce myself and get to know them. Us scalies have to stick together, you know.”
I wasn’t sure what to think. He’d seen me and just wanted to get to know me? I don’t think I could’ve done the same. How was he so damn confident?
“I suppose we do,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
He grinned and stuck his hand out. “I’m Viggi Cragfoot and I’m a second-year student focusing on archery and flight.”
“I’m Alex Sandclaw, and I’m a first-year student,” I said and tentatively reached out a hand. He grabbed it firmly, giving me a handshake.
His smile brightened. “Nice to meet you, Alex. What classes do you go to?”
“Uh, my next class is Basic Flight, and I just came from Basic Swords and Magic.”
“Ooh! Basic Flight? That’s a fun one, if a little boring at times. You want to take a flight Skill?”
“Yeah,” I said while nodding my head. I didn’t say why I wanted it, though. I felt it was too personal.
“Well, I’m not gonna tell you which one to take since I’m obviously biased, but listen to the professor; she knows what she's talking about.”
“That was the plan, yeah,” I said, a little taken aback by the unsolicited advice. “Um, if you’re a second-year student, why are you here?”
“Oh, I had to run an errand for a teacher of mine. One of my classmates was going to be late to his next class, so she had me fly ahead to tell the professor not to write him up. And the professor wasn’t even there! Honestly, I pity the guy. The field our class is held at is rather far away and was chosen with the idea that everyone could fly there in mind. The guy was missing a wing and obviously couldn’t fly, and the class ran late, so he wasn’t going to make it back here in time.” he said, then paused before adding: “Oh! My professor is the same as yours. She teaches most flight classes. Could you tell her I finished the errand?”
“I can do that, yeah. Her name is professor Marchie, right?” I asked. I remembered the name from my schedule. He nodded. “Good. Oh, and this student you were talking about, was his name by any chance ‘Felix’?”
“Yeah, it is! You know him?”
“I do, he’s my friend.”
He whistled. “Damn, you have friends in high places.”
I hadn’t thought of it that way, honestly. “I suppose that’s true.”
“That’s awesome. He seemed nice, too, from what little he said. Bit nervous, though.” He looked at the wall behind me. “You said you still had class, right? It’s about time for it to start, and you don’t want to be late. Not with professor Marchie,” he said with a shudder.
I looked at the clocks behind me. There were about five different kinds. Before I’d come here, I thought everyone used sundials like us. I was wrong. People used all kinds of clocks, and they didn’t want to learn the other systems. So there were five different clocks here. I looked at a clock and saw I only had a few minutes left until the class started. If I didn’t leave soon, I’d be late. I looked back to Viggi.
“Is she really that bad? Felix told me some about her, but he also said everything was greatly exaggerated.”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course he thinks that, he’s the headmaster’s son. Every professor is going to want to be nice to him.”
I shook my head. “You’d think that, but it’s not true.”
“Huh, now I want to hear that story,” he said and looked at the clocks again. “Don’t think we have time for that now, though. Can I borrow your notebook and pen for a moment?”
“Um, sure,” I said and handed him the requested items. “Do hurry up with whatever you’re going to do, though.”
“Yeah, of course,” he said while scribbling something on the last page of the notebook. He then handed it back to me. There was a time, date, address, and restaurant name in there for Friday afternoon in the theater district. It would be right after the lizardkin support group meeting, so I could probably make it, should I want to. Whatever ‘it’ was.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“A restaurant. Let’s meet up again, you can tell me that story, and then we can get to know each other,” he said with a wink, “Oh, and dinner would be on me. If you want to come of course; I’ll be there either way. Now go, or you’ll be late!”
He shooed me away, and I had to run to make it to class in time. Once I got there, I sat down near the back of the classroom, dazed. That guy was a whirlwind. He talked so much. He seemed nice enough, though, and I would be in the area, anyway. I looked at the address and only then did his words and accompanying wink really sink in.
Did I just get asked out on a date?