Rethi had let all those words, all the feelings, flow out of him in that moment. They felt far away now, despite being only a few hours ago at best.

But there he lay, in a comfortable bed that he was still unsure if it was truly his to sleep in, looking towards the wooden ceiling. He didn’t have anything left in him anymore. He had said all of his words, and it all came cleanly to an end. Mrs. Smithe had agreed to take care of his Mother for two iron smah a week. It was expensive really, but it was a hard job, so he happily agreed. It seems that she knew where Rethi’s home was, which was almost surprising seeing as no-one had been there in at least a few years now, especially since monsters had raided that part of town. She had asked a few questions before nodding and leaving towards his home. He didn’t know how that was going, if his mother was accepting help or not, but he could only hope.

Rethi felt hollow now. Not unpleasantly though. But in the sort of way that your mind doesn’t really care if you stare at the ceiling for a few hours. His mind barely created coherent through after the day he’d had, except for one thing. One person.

Master Maximilian.

He was a strange man; Rethi knew that from the moment that he’d met him. At the time he was standing almost too straight and looking like he didn’t have a single clue about where to go. Rethi thought that he might be just a wanderer, but I had heard the news from the town folk whispering that Mayer had brought in a boy a night or two before.

Rethi remembers looking at the man and thinking ‘He looks very un-boy-like.’ He stood tall, much taller than most he’d have ever met, only a few truly freakish people were taller than him around here. Rethi had wondered if he were a mixblood of some sort at first. He looked too different from Rethi, in his own opinion. Too clean, too pale. Master Max ended up offering money to Rethi. Only to guide him around the town.

He offered far too much for simply being shown around town. Rethi had been suspicious at first but fell to temptation anyway. That money could buy him a decent amount of food for himself and his mother for at least a week.

And then he was thrown into the deep end. Suddenly he was working for Master Mayer and Master Max, he was assaulted by the Jothian boys, Mayer sent out a letter, his mother learned of my begging and he got kicked out. Now he was here.

It was strange. You’d swear that life couldn’t change that fast, but it just continues to prove him wrong every step of the way.

But one thing stayed constant for all of it. Master Max’s unwavering support.

Honestly, Rethi couldn’t see what Master Max saw in him. He couldn’t understand what he really wanted from him either. Rethi used to think he might be a mixed-blood of some sort, but his stamina is endless, and he can summon and unsummon a hammer from thin air. He’d never heard of a race that can do that before. He surely couldn’t be human.

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What would someone capable of all that need from Rethi, the beggar boy?

Master Max is strange. He carries an air of mystery with him, but he doesn’t even seem to notice it. If he does then he ignores it so completely that you’d swear he was unaware. He carries himself in a weird way. He felt stiff when Rethi first met him. But over the course of only a few hours at a time, he seemed to evolve into an entirely different person.

He went from being stiff like a mannequin at the start of that day, to being able to convince Rethi’s mother of allowing him to be his employee. Signing bonus included. All in one, single day.

Maybe Master Maximilian truly is Master Mayer’s nephew, and is a noble of some description. It would explain why he was giving away money like candy, and why he is such a good speaker. But Rethi was starting to find it doubtful. He has suspicions, but everything is so wishy washy that he wouldn’t be able to tell either way.

Ever so slowly, Rethi had come to realise that he respected him. Not false respect. Not respect for your seniors or superiors. Real respect, admiration even.

It was easy to say why. He was charming in a way that Rethi had never encountered before. Sometimes you could swear that he looked past your façade and right into your true emotions, into your soul. Sometimes all it takes is a little look from him, and suddenly your feel as if your thoughts are open to him. It feels like he can read you like a book sometimes. But it was never scary. It was never unpleasant. It wasn’t violating.

It was… liberating, in a way. It was as if the words that I really wanted to say were heard by him whether or not you said them. Rethi didn’t think that Master Max knows that this is how it feels to talk to him. It’s like baring your soul, making yourself vulnerable.

That’s why Mrs. Smithe came running after us. I could see it in her eyes, it was like they had become windows into her soul. He had blown the way so wide open that she was forced to take his words in, regardless of if she wanted to hear them or not. His words were strong, direct and coated with silver.

But before she had come running, Rethi had believed it was all over. He believed that he had missed the one chance that he had been given to make something of himself. He felt it all crashing down around him, and Master Max just held him.

It was then that Rethi felt like a little boy. He felt like he knew nothing and would amount to nothing. How could he even begin to compare to someone like Master Max. Even Master Gram was so much smarter than He. Rethi am only a babe, fresh off his mother’s teat in comparison.

And then Master Maximilian looked at Rethi in the eyes.

Maybe it was then that Rethi realised why it was that Master Maximilian’s words were so effective. Maybe it was then, when Rethi stared into his eyes and he saw myself, potential fully realised.

In that moment Rethi was a Doctor, healing the sick of the world, one patient at a time. He was a Mage of unparalleled intelligence, protecting the world from threats unseen. He was a Warrior, fighting for the people who’d lost hope.

Rethi was everything and anything he could ever want to be.

It was then that he realised that the reason that Master Maximilian could speak to someone’s soul, was because he was speaking from his, baring it to anyone who would listen.

So there Rethi lay, looking at the wooden ceiling in a comfortable bed, remembering a smile of a man whose eyes shone with his belief in him.