Fly Away, Part II
Roshil woke up for the ceremony the next morning. She got dressed, but didn’t go to the temple. Instead, she went to the forge. When she stepped inside, the orbs of light around the room came to life. She walked to each furnace and turned it on. Fire burst forth inside each one. She walked into the back room where the equipment was stored and opened her locker. She pulled off her tunic and hung it up, then threw her apron over her undershirt, pulled on her gloves and goggles, and started working.
She was still hungry, but she could always tune out a stomachache. Eight years of foraging and stealing had helped her hone that ability. Even after almost six years in the court, she still wasn’t used to having food all the time.
Picking up her current project, she brought it over to one of the furnaces. It was a sword, plain and simple. She’d made several others just like it, but according to Master Grund, they were never right. She still had a ways to go before she was a master. Four more years, he’d told her.
It was Aonva’s birthday in a few months. Roshil wanted to make her something that would help her read books. Before she could start researching how to absorb information (if that was possible, mental spells were always tricky), Master Grund told her she wasn’t allowed to give another apprentice anything she knew was enchanted. Masters were, but not apprentices.
You can make something for yourself, but not without my express permission. Enchanting’s dangerous.
The idea had been something to help Aonva read books faster. She loved books more than anything, except maybe Kurgm. Roshil wasn’t stupid; she could see the way they looked at one another. It was the way she looked at Sirshi, the way she wanted Sirshi to look at her.
She realized that making something for Aonva wouldn’t change anything. That’s how people were. Thanks for helping me, Roshil, now go away.
The comforting sound of metal striking metal filled the forge. She could focus on her project and not care about anything else, at least until Master Grund got there.
She was sharpening the sword when he arrived a few hours later. He went up the ramps and called to her.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked after she’d put down the sword.
“Dinner last night.”
“No, I watched you stare at your food the whole time. Before that.”
“I don’t remember. Yesterday, I think.”
“When yesterday?”
Her stomach was a lot like Master Grund. She couldn’t lie to either of them, and they both insisted that she get something to eat at regular intervals, but unlike her stomach, she couldn’t tune out Master Grund.
“Breakfast, I think.”
The worst part about having to stand at attention to her master was that she couldn’t avert her gaze. While the goggles did something to hide her face, she still got the sense that he could read her like a book. Not the boring kind either, the interesting kind, the kind that she didn’t put down until she was finished.
“Go to the kitchens, get something to eat, then go to class. You missing class because you didn’t watch the clock doesn’t reflect well on me.”
Roshil glanced at the clock. Sure enough, she had class in fifteen minutes. Arcane Language Studies. With Aonva.
“Yes, Master Grund.”
He picked up the sword and inspected it while she returned to the back room for her tunic. Other people started arriving at the forge, but by the time they got to the back room, she’d grabbed her tunic, belt, and pack and left.
She grabbed some dried fruit and water from the kitchens before class. She hated not being allowed to eat in the corridors. Last time she’d been caught doing it, it’d been by Master Ekla, who’d let her off with a warning. Specifically, “If you get caught, the punishment is cleaning the corridors by hand for a week.” After that, Roshil had been more careful not to get caught. But during the early morning rush there was no chance of getting away with it.
She sat down in her seat at the back of the classroom just as the chimes to start class sounded.
“Apprentice Roshil,” Master Dordir said, “so nice of you to join us today. Now we can begin our lesson.”
Master Dordir had written several words on the board, all of which Roshil recognized. As far as she knew, they were all ways of expressing affection for something.
“These words all mean ‘affection’,” Master Dordir said, “but it’s important not to confuse them. They each have nuances to them. You wouldn’t use shorarl except with your family and closest friends. While loeoa and raourl both mean affection, loeoa is closer to ‘fondness’, while raourl is closer to ‘obsession’. When crafting spells, it’s important to get the exact phrasing correct. Otherwise, the spell can have unintended side effects.”
Roshil drifted in and out of attention. They knew all of this. Why were they being lectured on it again? She paid attention when it sounded like Master Dordir would call on them, but all he did was assign them an essay on the importance of phrasing in spells. Artisans didn’t have to worry as much about phrasing, since they could work it all out before hand. The more she thought about it, she supposed mages could too. So why were they learning this?
Roshil stared out the window and watched the birds flying. Once again, she longed to fly away. To leave all her problems behind and never come back.
As her mind drifted in and out of class, she thought about Aonva again. Aonva was sitting next to her, but had long given up trying to get Roshil to pay attention in class. Despite her tendency to not pay attention, Arcane came easy to Roshil. Her mother had taught her a lot of words when she was younger, and Roshil still remembered a lot of those.
Aonva wrote down everything Master Dordir said so she’d be ready in case anything came up on a test. She was a much better student than Roshil.
Maybe if I try harder, she’d pay more attention to me.
That was a thought. Kurgm didn’t know much of the language because he was a knight. They only needed the basics. Maybe Roshil and Aonva could study together. They had for a while, but Roshil had never paid attention then either.
After class, she asked Aonva about it.
“You don’t like studying,” Aonva said. “We can, but… well, me and Kurgm—”
“Forget I asked.” Roshil stormed off back to the forge. She didn’t have class again for another hour, so that gave her time to be alone.
I wish I could enchant her to forget about him.
She dismissed the idea on the grounds that she didn’t know how to make it work. As she beat the metal into submission, another idea came to her. She might not be able to compete with her friends’ lives, but at least she could make sure they wouldn’t forget about her.
Thinking about it put Roshil in a better mood. It wouldn’t be too hard. And it wasn’t going to hurt anyone either. She finished the sword, then grabbed some scrap material and started planning.