Reunion

Samuel fell onto his new bed. He hadn’t done anything physically intense, yet he felt drained by all the formalities of the past days. They were informed the classes weren’t starting for another week, however because of their contracts they were already living in the student dormitory. They took the opportunity to explore more of the premises. The vast majority of the tower was still off limits for them, which irritated them both. The outside areas of the Academy included a large park, training grounds with dummies and targets, and even what could only be pitches for sports. As the school year hadn’t begun yet, most of the places were empty. For the most part the students they did see wore the same blue uniform as they did. So these are our new classmates? Something caught Samuel’s eye.

“Hey look, it’s Borat and Ariana,” he said.

Madoc gaped at him for a second then looked where he had pointed. “It’s Yorath and Arianwen. Please don’t embarrass us.”

At that point the two new students also noticed them and came closer.

“Oh hey, it’s Mr. Blue-eye-one-hand and Mr. Gruffy,” Arianwen said and waved with a big smile on her face.

Her cheeky remark took them both aback. Her companion was only slightly amused. Samuel had become used to people commenting on his eyes or cringing away from his hand, but such a direct comment was something completely out of the blue. He was fairly sure they hadn’t heard that he had misremembered their names, so this wasn’t some sort of retaliation but just her natural response.

“Hello,” she said after a moment of silence had passed. “Don’t you remember us? You made my drop my supplies a couple of days ago.”

Her further comments finally gave Samuel enough time to gather his thoughts and respond.

“Hello Arianwen and Yorath, of course I remember you two.”

“Woah, you remember our names.” She had the grace to look a little abashed. “I don’t really remember your names.”

“I don’t think we really introduced ourselves back then. I’m Samuel and this is Madoc.”

“Samwell? That’s a weird name. You’re not from around here, are you?”

“Samuel,” he enunciated his name.

“Right that’s what I said.”

Samuel decided not to push the matter further. “No, I’ve travelled a long way.” He told an abridged version of the script they had come up with. “I hope we’ll get along, since we will become classmates soon.”

“You better believe it,” Arianwen said.

“Hpmh.” Yorath was less enthusiastic. Throughout the interaction he looked at them with suspicion and disdain. It was difficult to imagine how two people as different as they were in temperament could be friends.

“So have either of you two ever used magic thus far?” Arianwen asked and there seemed to be a spark in her eye.

Samuel looked at Madoc and was unsure of what to say. By his nature he would deny and obfuscate as much about himself as was possible, yet at the same time getting caught in a lie could prove to be detrimental.

“We had a brief experience with magic in the wasteland,” Madoc said. “You can see the state it left us in.” He indicated Samuel. So we don’t lie but also keep it vague.

Arianwen stared and even Yorath seemed to be taken aback. “What? You survived that place? You have to tell us more about it.”

“Maybe later,” Samuel said. “We still have some things to take care of.”

“If you say so,” Arianwen said, disappointment showing on her face.

“We’ll see each other later,” Samuel said. “Have a good day you two.”

“Bye,” she said and Yorath murmured and they parted ways.

“Good idea. We should probably think about what we should tell people,” Madoc said.

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about that. On one hand I want to keep as much private as possible but on the other hand is there any real reason to not tell them exactly what happened there? It’s not as if we did anything wrong. I mean they even took away the rings. If they were going to punish us for that I’d imagine they would’ve done it already.”

“That does sound reasonable. On the other hand, if you uncover what happened there, you’re paving the way to the questions of what happened before that. We cooked up a story but I don’t think it can hold up to any real scrutiny. Unless you’d like to start sharing the truth of your origin as well.” Madoc made an evil grimace.

“Huh. Well that goes for you as well,” Samuel replied and gave a meaningful look. Madoc replied with a shrug. “Did you manage to get into the library?”

“We’re still not allowed entry until the classes start. I think the seniors can still get inside.”

“Too bad. So there isn’t anything we can do to learn before the start.”

“Other than getting other students to teach us.”

“Were you able to get anyone?”

“None. A couple played tricks on me. I suppose it could count as a demonstration. To me it’s more of a motivation to get even when I regain the power.” His gaze drifted into the distance as he spoke.

The lust for power had never left either of them. For Samuel it meant he could overcome the damage that was done to him. He might never be able to win physical fights or wield a cane effectively again but a greater power was right in front of him. He itched to touch the amulet in his pocket but refrained. He had done so several times carelessly and was starting to get paranoid he would give himself away with his reflexive movements.

“What do you think about those two?” Samuel asked.

Madoc thought for a moment. “They seem a bit annoying, though in distinct ways. On the other hand they accepted you with little resistance. You probably shouldn’t get too used to that.”

Samuel understood very well that some people would not accept him. Then again nothing too bad had happened so far and he had made sure not to provoke any harsh reaction.

“Good point. Having some kind of connection seems like a good idea in general.”