Skwyr Court

truefriends

Aonva sat in history class, writing down every word the teacher said. Most of it was familiar to her; she’d read through her textbook three times already, in case a quiz was thrown at them without warning. While Sirshi insisted she didn’t need to be that prepared, Aonva didn’t think there was such a thing as “over prepared”.

“After the war, and Torpn became part of Skwyr, more cities came under the court’s rule. Word spread of the possibilities, the safety, and the opportunities the court could provide. Until then, most of the cities had been under the rule of tyrants. This caused the cities to seek out the court’s aide.” Master Rondin stopped talking, and Aonva reviewed everything she knew in anticipation of another question. “Naxta, there were three cities that joined the kingdom next. Name one of them.”

A boy toward the back of the class stood up. His face was always on the brink of a smirk. “I don’t know.”

Master Rondin glowered at him. “Guess.”

Aonva didn’t know how Master Rondin managed to pack so much frustration and exasperation into a single syllable.

The words you speak are just as important as the tone with which you speak them.

Without hesitation, Naxta said, “Zensin.”

Master Rondin’s gaze didn’t ease any. “No. While the acquisition of Zensin was invaluable in establishing a relationship with the other kingdoms, it wasn’t one of the first three to seek the court’s rule. Apprentice Aonva, would you please tell us what they were?”

Aonva stood up and addressed Master Rondin to avoid anyone else’s gaze. “Moud, Bimun, and Sarona.”

“Very good.”

The chime of bells sounded throughout the school. Students immediately began rushing to gather their things.

“For next week, I want an essay on the reasons the cities gave for joining the kingdom. You need to include at least five reasons.”

Aonva gathered her notes and put them back in their place in her bag. If everything stayed organized, she wouldn’t waste time finding it, and she needed more time to study.

She had only just left the classroom when someone called to her.

Naxta walked up to her, still with that same half-smirk on his face.

“You know this stuff, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

She wished she had something to hide behind. She wanted to shrink away from him. Few people who weren’t teachers ever paid direct attention to her, and she didn’t care for it. She didn’t want Sirshi’s extreme of rejecting most human contact, though, so she had to get used to it.

“Then you can help me out with it.”

“Oh. Um… I guess.”

“Great. Tomorrow after class. We can work on the essay together.”

“Um… Okay. We can meet in the library, if that’s okay with you. It’s fine if it’s not, though. We don’t have to do anything, I guess.”

“Great. See you there.”

Naxta walked away with his friends, smiling and laughing with them. Aonva hoped they weren’t laughing at her. No, they wouldn’t be, would they? Maybe it was her hair. Roshil liked it, or maybe she was only being polite. Maybe it was ridiculous. It must’ve been. Her parents were right; no one would like her unless she fit in better. Being a complete neurotic mess was enough to drive any normal person away.

Roshil would’ve told her that normal was overrated. Even after everything they’d been through over the past year, Roshil was always nice to her. And Sirshi didn’t care one way or another how Aonva did her hair. Or that she overreacted to everything and couldn’t stay calm to save her life.

Aonva started toward the door to the castle in a daze. Her mind and head were so rarely in the same place. Just another reason why she didn’t have friends apart from Roshil. Sirshi was sort of her friend, but she was more Roshil’s friend than Aonva’s. Maybe she could make friends with Naxta. She couldn’t think of a time he’d made fun of her, unlike some of her other classmates.

As she reached the doors to the castle from the school, she met up with Roshil coming from natural sciences.

“I never realized how many plants could kill you,” Roshil said. “Don’t worry, though; most of them don’t grow around here. How was history?”

“It was okay,” Aonva said, trying not to launch into a lecture on everything Master Rondin had said minutes ago. “Um… I won’t be at the library tomorrow after class. I mean, I will be, but… but I’ll be helping one of my classmates with his work.”

“That’s fine, he can hang out with us.”

“No, I mean… I’m helping him… alone. The two of us.”

“Oh.” Realization came over Roshil. “Like… Like a date?”

“What? No! I mean, I don’t think so. Not that I would say no to one, but I don’t know him that well, although he seems really nice, and he doesn’t make fun of me like some of my classmates, and—”

“Who’s making fun of you? Let me know, and Sirshi and me will take care of them.” She emphasized this point by punching one hand with the other.

“No! You—” She paused as they stepped into the castle and a tingling spread through her body. “You don’t need to hurt anyone.”

“I’m not going to hurt them,” Roshil said. “Father says never do anything directly. If it can’t be traced back to you, you can’t get in trouble.”

Aonva had long since learned that trying to dissuade Roshil from anything her father had told her was pointless. According to Lord Grund, the best way to handle that was to distract Roshil.

“I asked Our Lady Arch Mage about a spell to read books,” Aonva said, hoping that was a good enough distraction. “She said there has been some work on it with Essence Magic.”

Roshil scowled for a moment, an expression that to a passerby might look like anger, but Aonva knew to be her “thinking” face.

“Never heard of it.”

“She said it was still theoretical. The idea is sort of like weaving. You can use weaving to learn something attached to a person’s ‘essence’, like their name or gender identity. Something that’s at the core of who they are. The theory is that a book’s contents are at the core of what they are, so if a thread could be attached to a book, it could be used to read the book. The problem is, we can only attach threads to living things, and even then can only get basics from them, not emotion or anything.”

Roshil shrugged. “So what? Mother used to say that something was only impossible until it wasn’t.”

Aonva paused to file that away. Roshil rarely spoke of her mother, so any information Aonva was lucky enough to get was valuable.

“I have to go to the forge,” Roshil said. “Are we still eating dinner together?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”

“I didn’t know if you wanted to eat dinner with your new friend.”

“Oh no, he’s not an apprentice. We couldn’t eat together.”

“Okay.” That seemed to cheer up Roshil a little. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. See you for dinner.”

#VolumeThree #TrueFriends

Aonva sat in one of the study rooms in the library. She reviewed what she’d brought with her again: her notes from the last four months of class, their textbook, and spare notebooks in case Naxta forgot something. This didn’t make her feel any less nervous, but she didn’t feel like she was going to be sick anymore, so it was helping a little.

Naxta strode into the study room. Unlike Aonva, nothing bothered him. He’d never been worried about anything in his life.

Aonva jumped to her feet when he arrived. She brushed some hair out of her face, criticizing herself for not putting it back in braids. Even if Naxta was from Alforn — or at least his family was — he’d still think her hair was ugly.

“Hi, Naxta,” she said in a soft voice.

“Hey.” He slid into the chair across from her and leaned back.

“Um… Right.” Aonva sat down and opened her notebook to her notes. “So… um… with what do you need help?”

“It’s that essay Rondin gave us,” he said. “You know? Five reasons why people wanna be in the court?”

Aonva didn’t need him to spell it out for her, she’d written hers last night. The court provided religious and political freedom, social acceptance, and economic stability. Master Rondin had told them all of those during class. There was a longer bulleted list in their textbook too.

“I mean,” he continued, “why would anyone wanna be here? It’s so boring, you know? Like, nothing ever happens here. Except last year when that dragon burned down a whole farm, but that wasn’t even inside the city. It’s so boring, you know?”

What Naxta called “boring”, Aonva considered “safe”. That remained at the top of her list of reasons never to step outside the court walls. How could anyone consider “boring” a bad thing?

“Well… um… there’s a good section about it in our book,” she said, pulling her textbook to her.

“Oh, yeah, that thing. I lost mine weeks ago.”

Aonva fumbled her textbook for a moment while she was leafing through to one of several marked pages.

“Oh. Well… um… I’ve got mine, so you can use that today.”

“Alright.”

She found the page with the list on it, then turned the book to face him. “There’s this page, which has a lot of reasons why people wanted to join the court. Master Rondin already explained some of them. I took notes on those, so I can find those if you give me a moment.”

“Sure.”

Aonva left the book and started going through her notes. Once again, she’d put markers on the pages she’d been expecting to use. “I don’t know how much you remember from class, but I take notes on everything, so in case you missed something, I’ve got it.”

“Okay.”

She turned her notes toward him, then looked him over. He hadn’t brought a pack with him, or anything for that matter.

“Do… do you need something with which to write?”

“No, I’m not really good at writing.”

Aonva took the pieces of parchment she’d brought with her, along with a pen and ink. She paused, considering what he’d just said. Before she could question it, he spoke again.

“You got everything,” he said. “You got something to eat? I’m starving.”

Aonva bit back the horror at the thought of eating anything in the library.

“No… I’m sorry, I don’t.”

Crumbs would end up everywhere, what if someone spilled a drink on the books and they were ruined, or what if they attracted bugs, or…

He took the pen and parchment from her, then looked at the book again. “That’s a lot of words.”

Aonva didn’t know how to respond to that. Sirshi would’ve had plenty to say about him, but none of it would’ve been nice. Aonva glanced at the study room door. Was Roshil in the library? Maybe Aonva should’ve invited her too. Roshil would’ve had the same essay to write, and she wasn’t as diligent about her work as Aonva was. Although, Roshil would’ve laughed at Naxta by now, and Aonva didn’t want that. If she had a chance to make a new friend, she should try.

Aonva pointed at the list on the page. “That’s the important part. The book expands on each of those items in the later paragraphs. So most of the work is rewording what’s written later.”

“This still doesn’t make sense,” Naxta said. “Maybe I could see yours. It’ll make sense then.”

She glanced at her pack. Her own essay was with her, but she wasn’t comfortable letting him see it. Where was the harm in it, though? It wasn’t as though he were going to copy it entirely, but it was the best summary she had of the information they needed. Surely it’d save Naxta a lot of time if he had a more complete summary than what was in the book.

She reached for her pack and pulled out her essay. She pointed to the first paragraph. “The court provides religious freedom, allowing anyone to worship anything, so long as it doesn’t disrupt the lives of other people, and they don’t force it on anyone else. That’s one example.” She pointed to the original paragraph in the book. “The book says much the same thing, but takes a lot longer to say it. Maybe… maybe you can put it into your own words, then expand it when you write your final essay.”

“‘Final essay’?” The way Naxta said it, a “final essay” was a fate worse than death. “I’m not gonna write this again. I’m writing it once and handing it to Rondin.”

Master Rondin. Aonva didn’t dare correct him out loud, nor did she want to explain the benefits of writing more than one draft to achieve a better final product. She’d already tried explaining that to Roshil, who was far more receptive than Naxta and still hadn’t seen the point of it.

“Oh. That’s… that’s fine, I suppose.”

Naxta started writing. His handwriting was scratchy and hardly legible. Aonva was still sitting across from him, making it nearly impossible to tell what he was writing. His gaze moved between the book and her essay as he wrote, and for once, he looked like he was taking it seriously.

They went through each entry in the list and did the same thing. Naxta was slow to write, but he got there in the end. By the time they were finished, dinnertime was fast approaching.

“I have to go to dinner,” Aonva said, collecting her things. “I… um… I hope you do well.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said, picking up what he’d written. “This’ll help a lot. At least now I know who to ask when I need help.”

Aonva kept her gaze on her belongings, then on the floor when she’d packed them away.

“Thanks,” she said in a small, squeaky voice. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”

She rushed out of the room. Her heart pounded, and she felt lightheaded and a little sick. She’d be okay though. She’d helped out a classmate and made a new friend. She was still a complete mess, but maybe she’d get better at it in time.

I can make friends. The more she thought about it, the happier she felt. I can make friends!

#VolumeThree #TrueFriends

“A mage’s staff is the most important possession they own,” Lord Grund said, wheeling around in front of a blackboard with a diagram of a staff on it. “Magic’s long and complicated, too long to be of use in day to day life. If you want to do exactly the right thing at the right time, you need a staff. It holds prepared spells in it, tuned to specific words.”

Aonva and Roshil sat in the forge, along with the other second year apprentice artisans and mages, listening to Lord Grund’s lecture. Lady Emgard stood beside him, letting him lead the lecture.

“As artisans, you’ll be responsible for aiding a mage in constructing his or her staff before completing your apprenticeship. As apprentice mages, you’re responsible for designing your staff, which an artisan will then aide you in constructing. Lady Emgard, explain why.”

Lady Emgard scowled at him for a brief moment before answering.

“A mage’s staff is the symbol of her mastery and her greatest tool. However, artisans are the experts in construction and crafting, making it sensible for them to handle the actual construction of the staff.”

“You’re all into your second year here, so you’ll have to start thinking about it. Staff construction takes place during your fifth-year assignments, which you will do in pairs, one artisan, one mage. That gives you three years to start thinking about the person with whom you want to work. If you can’t stand to be around that person for a whole year, you probably shouldn’t work with them. It’s a complicated process, and this will be the staff that serves you for the rest of your life. Artisans, you’ll need to research construction of a staff, and know what’s possible. That way, when a mage comes to you with impossible ideas they thought sounded good at the time, you can tell them they’re idiots.”

While this earned him a few giggles from the artisans, Roshil in particular, it got him another scowl from Lady Emgard.

“As mages,” she said, keeping her voice calm and not insulting, “you’ll need to start thinking of your focus. Research, protection, tracking, to name a few. I wanted to research dragons, so I put my focus there. Your masters can give you a better understanding of what they chose, and point you in the direction of another master with similar interests that can give you some ideas. You will continue to work with your master on this.” She turned to Lord Grund. “Lord Grund, unless you want to insult my apprentices more, I believe that concludes our lecture?”

“I got my quota in for the day.”

“Then you are all dismissed. Your masters will be waiting for you outside to continue your normal routines.”

The apprentices all stood up and began to shuffle out of the forge.

“I’ll see you after class?” Roshil asked.

“Yes,” Aonva said. “In the library again? It’s fine if—”

“I know it’s always fine with you if we meet somewhere else,” Roshil said, a grin on her face. “I like sitting in the library with you. I mean… Oh! Sirshi wanted to come too.”

“I thought she didn’t like the library.”

Roshil shrugged. “I don’t know, but I asked if she wanted to hang out with us, and she said sure. I’m meeting her at the temple, then we’ll head over there.”

Aonva wasn’t sure about Sirshi being in the library. Once Roshil got focused on something, she didn’t move until she was finished, but Sirshi was vocal about her disapproval of anything. But if it was what Roshil wanted, Aonva was okay with it.

“That’s fine.” Aonva smiled at Roshil. “See you later.”

“See you.”

During class, Aonva struggled to keep her focus on Master Rondin. She still wrote down every word of the lecture (she’d learned a way of writing that looked like scribbles to everyone else, but allowed her to keep up with her teachers’ lectures), but her mind was on Naxta.

I was wondering if you’d maybe like to study together.

Did that sound right? What if he was already doing something else? What if he thought she was too timid? Maybe she needed to be more direct.

Let’s go study together.

No, that wasn’t right, that sounded rude. Why couldn’t she talk right? She’d never had this problem with Kurgm, but they’d always made plans together. He’d ask her if she wanted to do something, she’d always say yes, even if she didn’t really want to, and they’d spend time together. Unless that was the reason Kurgm had stopped spending time with her. Maybe he hadn’t liked that she was so timid all the time. If she were too forceful, she’d only be rude. According to her father, a woman shouldn’t have too many opinions.

Master Rondin finished class by assigning them another essay, then dismissed them. Aonva quickly packed up her books. She spotted Naxta leaving the classroom, and moved quickly to catch up to him.

“Naxta!”

She immediately regretted saying something. She didn’t know what she was doing. All she was going to do was make a fool of herself.

Naxta was in the corridor outside the classroom when he stopped. He turned to her, his usual confidence all over his face.

I wish I could be like that.

“Aonva.” A hint of a smile crossed his face.

“I was wondering… maybe you’d like to… um… maybe we could work on our essays together?”

He walked over to her, put his arm around her, and began leading her away from the classroom.

Panic raged inside her. It took all her focus not to start crying. She fought through it, determined to show that she could be normal.

“That’d be great,” he said. “Hey, you’re taking arcane language with Dordir, right?”

“Yes.” Aonva’s voice shook when she responded. She tried to subtly take breaths to calm herself. “T-tomorrow.”

“Great. We got that test coming up, and, since we’re good friends now, I’m sure you’d tell us what’s gonna be on that test after you take it, so we’re ready for it.”

“What?”

Women shouldn’t argue all the time.

Men don’t want you to have your own thoughts or opinions, they just want you to agree with everything they say.

“But… but that’s cheating,” Aonva said.

His grip on her tightened. “But we’re friends, right? And friends look out for one another. Like when you let me copy your essay.”

“But… I didn’t… you weren’t supposed to—”

“What’s Rondin going to say when she reads those essays? She’s gonna wonder which of us copied the other. I’m gonna tell her I worked on it with my friends. And if you’re not one of my friends, then that means you copied off me.”

She felt sick, trapped. The walls were closing in on her. She couldn’t breathe.

“So, we’re friends, right?”

Aonva couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Y-yes.”

“Great. So I’ll see you tomorrow after that test so we can study together.” He withdrew his arm. “See you later, friend.”

After wanting friends so badly, the word “friend” felt like a slap in the face. Naxta walked off with his friends, smiling to one another. They hadn’t a care in the world. That left Aonva alone, with the weight of what she’d done threatening to crush her.

#VolumeThree #TrueFriends

Aonva walked through the library in a daze. She’d let someone else copy her work. She hadn’t meant to, but that wouldn’t matter once Master Rondin read their essays and realized they were almost identical. When Master Rondin asked them about it, Naxta’s friends would back up his story, and Aonva would be all alone. There was nothing she could do about it. Unless she kept helping him cheat.

She walked down the shelves as the books glared down at her, scolding her for being so naive, so blind. She’d done this to herself. Everything that happened to her now was her own fault.

She thought about hiding in her room, but that wouldn’t make anything better. Nothing would fix her mistake. Could she go to Master Kaernin? Would he understand what she’d done? That it’d been a mistake, that she hadn’t meant to help someone cheat? She knew she couldn’t go to Lady Emgard. She was the most successful mage in the kingdom. She wouldn’t understand why Aonva had done it. Aonva wasn’t sure she did.

“Aonva?”

She whirled around and saw Roshil. Her only friend in the entire kingdom. The only friend she’d ever had.

“Found her!” Roshil called over her shoulder, and Sirshi walked up.

“Great, can we go?” Sirshi asked, making no effort to keep her voice down. “I’m sure I have things to do that don’t involve books.”

“What’s wrong with books?” Roshil asked. “They’re great for learning things. Sometimes. When they’re not too dull.”

“Sure, but books can be taken away, and then what?”

Roshil elbowed Sirshi. “Don’t say things like that around Aonva.”

The two of them turned their attention back to Aonva. Roshil frowned at her.

“Are you alright?”

Aonva tried smiling, but she felt the tears start coming anyway. “I’m fine.”

“You’re crying,” Sirshi said. “That’s not fine.”

“See? That’s why you don’t say things about books disappearing around Aonva.”

“It’s not that,” Aonva said, trying to stop herself from crying. “I’m fine, really.”

“What happened?” Sirshi asked. “Did you miss a question on a test again? I don’t see what the big deal is about that. I do that all the time, but it never bothers me.”

While it was obvious even to Aonva that Sirshi didn’t care about this, Roshil kept frowning at her. She was worried. She cared. Aonva looked at Roshil through tear-stained eyes. The one person in the entire city who wouldn’t care that she’d cheated.

“I helped that boy I was talking about with his essay,” she said, keeping her voice down, “but it wasn’t really helping, he just copied off mine. Now he’s going to tell Master Rondin that I copied off his unless I help him cheat more. I can’t do anything about it, and I can’t stop it, and cheating’s not allowed for an apprentice, and if I get caught cheating, I might have my apprenticeship terminated, and I don’t know what to do!”

Sirshi’s face hardened into a glare.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, really, it was an accident, and—”

“Who’s this boy?” Sirshi demanded.

“His name is Naxta,” Aonva said.

“This is the boy from your history class?” Roshil asked.

Aonva nodded.

“Tell me where to find him,” Sirshi growled. “I’ll set him straight. Give me five minutes alone with him, and I’ll—”

“No!” Aonva said, still trying to keep her voice down. She glanced around, hoping no one was listening. They were all crammed into one of the aisles, so she couldn’t see much else.

“You don’t need to worry about him,” Roshil said. “We’ll take care of him for you.”

“But… but…”

“It’ll be fine,” Roshil said. She smiled, but it wasn’t reassuring. “I promise. Nothing will happen to you.”

“A lot’s gonna happen to him,” Sirshi said, clenching her fists.

“But… you…” Aonva struggled to find some argument to dissuade her friends from getting into more trouble. “What if you get caught?”

“We won’t,” Roshil said, exchanging glances with Sirshi. “No one’s going to find out about this.”

“Unless, of course, they already know about it,” a new voice said.

The girls all stood at attention as Lady Emgard hobbled into the row of books.

“My Lady Arch Mage,” Aonva gasped. Her throat suddenly felt too small. Her head began to spin. This was it. It was all over.

“Don’t worry, I came in around ‘what if you get caught’,” Lady Emgard said. “But then, I already know the whole story.”

Aonva stared wide-eyed at Lady Emgard. She couldn’t have figured it all out already. Could she? Of course, she could’ve, she was Lady Emgard, Lady Arch Mage of Skwyr Court. Dragons were afraid to go up against her.

“I just had the most peculiar conversation with Master Kaernin,” Lady Emgard said. “Peculiar, in part, because he initiated it, but also because Master Rondin told him that Apprentice Aonva’s essay was similar to another student’s essay. Almost identical, in fact. Master Rondin was afraid this boy was forcing Apprentice Aonva to help him cheat.”

Aonva briefly wondered why Master Kaernin had gone to Lady Emgard about this, but Lady Emgard would tell her if it were important.

“Now, based on the conversation I overheard, this is more or less accurate, and Apprentices Roshil and Sirshi are offering to silence this boy, to ensure that Apprentice Aonva doesn’t get in trouble.” She turned her stare that Aonva was convinced could see inside her mind on Roshil and Sirshi. “Apprentice Roshil, Apprentice Sirshi, shame on you both for conspiring to intimidate a student like that. The court does not operate that way. Apprentice Sirshi, Master Moudren would be most disappointed in you if she were here.”

Sirshi muttered something, but didn’t argue any further.

“As for you, Apprentice Roshil—”

“I—”

It was a universal law that when Lady Emgard raised her hand, everyone near her went silent. Her glare hardened just enough to ensure that this was always the case. As she lowered her hand and folded it on her staff with her other one, her gaze softened.

“I know Lord Grund has taught you better than that, Apprentice Roshil. The first thing is to apologize. I don’t need an explanation.”

“My apologies,” Roshil said.

“Sorry,” Sirshi added.

Lady Emgard smiled, then turned her gaze on Aonva. “Very good. Rest assured, as far as the court is concerned, the only problem here is that someone blackmailed and intimidated you into doing something you didn’t want to. Next time this happens, please talk to Master Kaernin or myself immediately so that we may handle it. That’s our job.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

“Good. I will talk with Master Rondin for you this once, but in the future, this will be your responsibility.”

“I understand, My Lady.”

“Good. Then if there are no other problems to discuss, I’ll leave you ladies alone.”

The three of them stood at attention as Lady Emgard turned to leave.

“Although while I’m here,” she said as she stopped at the end of the aisle, “a word of advice to all three of you. As apprentices, you all have bright futures ahead of you. Never let anyone, especially men, change that. You decide where you go next.”

Aonva let Lady Emgard’s words sink in as she watched Lady Emgard leave. How many times had she let other people make decisions for her? Her parents had told her that she was supposed to be dependent on other people, that she had to act a certain way so people would like her. Here were Roshil and Sirshi, two people who defied everything her parents had ever told her. Roshil was her best friend, and Sirshi didn’t care if she never saw another person.

“So,” Roshil said, “books?”

“Sure,” Sirshi said. “Why not?”

Aonva smiled and nodded. As they all sat down in silence, Aonva began to think that maybe she could get better one day. She had friends that accepted her the way she was. She hoped that one day, that would be good enough.

#VolumeThree #TrueFriends