True Friends, Part III
“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.