Ray

The Dean tried to interrogate Ray for a while, but Aunty Ariana managed to get him out of the office. The two of them boarded Aunty Ariana’s vehicle, a disc-like car that floated in the air. The inside was cushy, to say the least.

A couple of recliner chairs were the only seating there. The insides were notably dark, but the darkness was more calming and comfy than dangerous. Ray felt sleepy just resting on the chair, it was clearly built for resting on long journeys.

The car lifted up and flew away, though had a hard time making out the direction. Aunty Ariana was thankfully good enough at levitation that it wasn’t a bumpy ride at all.

“So, were you gonna tell me you’re Fae anytime soon?” Aunty Ariana said, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

Ray jumped up, retracting his earlier statement. The ride was a different kind of bumpy.

“Well-um-uh, I didn’t really think about it?” Ray said, suddenly very attentive to the fact that he was in a closed space with a Marchioness of the Empire.

“Oh, don’t be so scared, I suspected long ago. I blame Matilda, she’s the one that made me read all those banned books. Not that it was rather hard to tell you weren’t human. Did you know that you were singing instead of crying as a baby? Matilda tried to hide it from me, but I spent enough time there to catch you a few times.” Aunty Ariana said.

Ray did not know that.

“What do you intend to do now?” she asked.

“Well, Ma thinks we shouldn’t escape until we are at least Tier 15, it’s apparently not safe.” Ray said.

“Yes, that is a good idea. The Empire isn’t the safest place for you, but Afreial doesn’t have a big Xnarthan presence, and I can help hide you. Not to mention her side job as a Scholar. Did you figure that one out yet?” Aunty Ariana asked.

“Just a few hours ago. Ma has been acting suspicious for a while, she downplayed her crossing those Tiers, and she’s been going out more and more. At first, I thought it was just the rebellion, but now…” Ray said.

“So she did end up connecting with the rebellion,” Aunty Anita said, sounding defeated for some reason. Ray just tried to hide in the recliner, he’d mess up again.

“Oh, don’t look nervous, I suspected it for a long time. The only reason I wasn’t sure was that I didn’t want to be. Do you know why she moved here?” Aunty Anita asked, surprisingly changing the topic. Ray had to admit that he was put off by the lightning fast nature of this conversation. Aunty Ariana seemed more interested in telling him things than having an actual conversation.

“No, Ma never said.” Ray replied.

“Matilda and I were both disciples of the same Master, Duke Rendez, one of the Deans of the Capital Mage Academy. The difference was that I got a good element, and Matilda didn’t. At first, she did the same thing you did, but she got a bit more successful.

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Master was ready to give her a higher rating when I intervened and told the truth. Matilda hadn’t used her element, she’d used a poison she had concocted. I still regret the decision, I was worried about her, and maybe a little jealous.

Matilda had been the better disciple, better at mana manipulation, better at studying. I was the one that got into fights every chance I got. Matilda always got me out of it.” Aunty Ariana said, speaking very fast.

Ray had questions. A lot of them, for one, how did Ma end up as the Duke’s disciple? Did he not help her at all after? And if she could concoct poisons, then wasn’t it all right?

“The poison Matilda concocted used many rare materials and could only kill that one beast. Matilda claimed that her element made her physique stronger too. I knew she was lying, and when the chance came, I exposed her.

Master laughed at us, he already knew she was lying. I still remember the look on her face. Master had her parents forge her signature on marriage documents. And forced someone thrice her age to marry her. A rural baron that was deep in debt and had not married. Matilda was furious, she refused to accept the marriage.” Aunty Ariana said, her words slowing down. Now she seemed to be sinking into her words, almost pensive.

Ray was shocked. Ma was married? Had she escaped somehow? Did she have another family somewhere else?

“Master had her put in her room until she accepted. I visited her. The look of hurt on her face broke my heart. In the span of a few hours, she'd been betrayed by everyone she had ever known. Master, me, her parents. The Academy had already kicked her out, she had no way to escape.

So I helped her. I put her on a ship to the Elven continent. The man she was engaged to died the next day, leaving her his Barony. I think Master knew that, that’s why he had arranged for the marriage. But Matilda wouldn’t have any of it, she was done with all of that.

The thought of returning to the nobility disgusted her, and then you came in. A Fae child. The fact that she managed to keep you hidden so long is a shock in itself, even in Afreial.

But it would be impossible in the mainland, the Elven continent is not feverous in its persecution, something about living in Elven homes makes it hard to demean them as animals. The mainland folks don’t have that problem, it's every child's dream to hunt the barbarous elves down and expand the Empire. Though it's still rare for one to know what a Fae child looks like, the chances of your discovery are much higher.” Aunt Anita said.

“So if I wasn’t around, Ma would have gone to be a Baroness.” Ray said, deep in thought.

“Oh, please. Matilda wouldn’t have gone even if you weren’t around. And besides, she would need to sign the papers to accept the Barony, and she didn’t do that. I have no idea if she could still inherit it now.” Aunty Ariana said. The vehicle had stopped long ago, as far as he could tell, though it was hard to tell in this vehicle.

“Why tell me this now, Aunty Ariana? Has something happened?” Ray asked, now worried.

Aunty Ariana just looked at him. “Yes, Ray, something has happened. The bakery has become a thorn in the Empire’s side. A few Xnarthan members are coming, Ray, including a disciple of the Emperor.

And there are rumors that the Emperor has gone to the Dwarven continent to ask for their surrender. Now, if you were a cunning organization that wanted to destroy the rebellion in the root without making anyone a martyr, what would you do?”

Ray thought for a few seconds, to halt a rebellion you needed to prove that it was hopeless. The bakery was proving that it wasn’t, but if the bakery was proven to be owned by a Baroness…it would destroy the entire point of it.

“The Xnarthan are going to take Ma away.” Ray answered.

“Not the Xnarthan, they don’t get involved in these matters, it will be the political bureau. A technically separate bureau, but they have a lot of agents in common with the Xnarthan.” Aunty Ariana said.

“Does Ma know about this?” Ray asked.

“I haven’t talked to her about it, but I would be surprised if she didn’t know.” Aunty Ariana said.

“What do you want me to do?” Ray asked.

“I don’t know, Ray.” Aunty Ariana confessed, “I can’t see a way out. Matilda’s the intelligent one. I just burn things. I just felt I should warn you before you say something you regret today, you may not get to see her again.”

Ray nodded as the door opened to reveal the bakery door. Had Aunty Ariana been blocking the entire street for this long?

“I was levitating above the bakery.” Aunty Ariana said as Ray looked at her judgingly. “Now go.”

Ray nodded as he left. But one thing stuck by him.

“What was the thing with Count Friendez?”

“Oh that? Just some politics. The good Count was unhappy that I broke his monopoly on herbs. And protested the fact rather violently. So I did the same. Now I have a monopoly on herbs. A rather nice turnaround, isn’t it?” Aunty Ariana said, shrugging as the door closed behind Ray.

The bakery was unusually quiet, the occupants were all staring at the black disc-like vehicle take off. Well, everyone but Norman, who was stealing cookies from the display. Ray walked to him and picked the cat up.

“Are you stealing cookies again?” Ray asked him.

“I don’t remember.” Norman answered, tilting his head in Ray’s hands. Ray looked at the cat in shock. The answer wasn’t something he could refute, given Norman's condition, it was quite likely that he had forgotten it. But Ray had a hunch that the sneaky cat was just lying.

But he had other things to worry about than one old Fae, the Scholar of Afreial waited for him. Ray walked up the stairs to Ma’s room, creaking it open as he looked for her. The room was empty.

Ray headed to the kitchen, finding it empty too. In the end he found her on the third floor, sitting on the dining table, eating a plateful of cookies.

“Ma, when were you going to tell me about the Scholar of Afrieal thing?” he asked as Ma looked up at him.