True Friends, Part IV
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.