The Apprentice’s Path

Chapter 3-4

When Craig Derwen left his office, with the Bedwen girl reading a book he hadn't been able to read (and she was a dark arall, at that! Could it get more humiliating?), he wasn't feeling very well, not to put too fine a point on it. He went to his old friend, who always had some beer and snacks.

He crossed the corridor and entered without knocking. Whatever Dave was doing, he would understand. Dave had been sitting in his armchair, writing. Preparing lectures for a new course was never that easy. He had recently moved to Ashford, to get away from the busy life in Ecton. He didn't share many details of why he moved from the capital city to this small university town, but he seemed much more relaxed here. He even let go of his usual compulsion for order: the office still contained some unpacked boxes from his recent move.

He looked up with worry in his eyes.

"Craig, old friend, you seem a bit shaken. What's the matter?"

He sat down, trying to collect his thoughts.

"You know how we have an unofficial duty — to w**d out some of the most… disagreeable people from the Applied Practical Magic Department?"

Dave nodded. Dark arall tended to be impulsive and aggressive, so one of the — unofficial — duties of the school of the Interpersonal and Intercultural Relations Department, or white magic department, was to detect the most aggressive ones and find a reason to kick them out of school. Some skills were too dangerous to leave in the hands of aggressive maniacs. So they teased, and even slightly bullied the students, trying to get a reaction. The ones who resorted to the use of magic or physical force were forced out, whereas those who shouted got a scolding. This task was usually done by Craig Derwen, who (to his shame) actually enjoyed teasing dark mages. Besides, with the number of protective artifacts he was wearing, the highest risk involved was getting punched. Reconciliation or no, there was still enmity between light and dark mages, and Craig Derwen was old enough to remember when dark arall were enemies.

"Well… we also decided to do it with the Dark student in Alchemy." Having magical people in non-magical departments was a rare occasion; magic was usually too tempting, too powerful and easy. "It was hard to convince the Dean of Alchemy to allow us to do that. He is quite protective of his students." Whether the Dean of Alchemy was happy about a dark arall student in his school, letting other departments butt in into his schools' management was not something he would do. If schools go around messing each others' students, what's the point of having separate schools at all? "He gave us a year to do it and told us to stop messing with his school after that."

"And what happened?"

"Nothing. Not even shouting. She learnt to avoid me, and even wrote a very polite complaint to the Dean, but never lost control."

Dave chuckled.

"That must be a first for you. Not managing to make a young uninitiated dark arall lose control at all? When was that? Will I have the chance to meet this student?"

"Oh, yes. It was three years ago, so she's a fourth-year student now."

"Fourth-year, you say?" Dave started rhythmically hitting the table with his pen. It was a habit he had when he was trying to remember something. "I think I remember a dark female fourth year… A certain Miss Bedwen."

"Yes, that's the one. Wait a minute — did you know her before? Is she your family member?”

"I met her in class. She was a bit distracted but came to me at the end of the class to ask whether I'll supervise her minor thesis. And no, just because we share a surname, even a rare one, doesn't mean we're related."

"A thesis, eh? This early in the year?"

"Whatever she's trying to do, be sure: she will write this thesis. And minor or no, I won't allow her to half-arse it. I don't let my students take the easy path — you know me."

Dave was indeed very serious about work. His law firm had been one of the best. It probably would become great again, once they sorted all the power struggles after his sudden departure.

Writing a minor thesis on applied law, reading ancient books on Yllamese history — what was that girl trying to do? In the three years he had observed her, after failing in his duty in the first year (finding that girl's pressure points was a point of pride for him — even if he wasn't allowed to use them anymore). Which brought his mind back to the topic.

"Well, she's in my office — reading those books I bought from a private collection — remember those?”

"Yeah, those ancient books you spent a fortune on, but couldn't get anybody to translate since the only people who know ancient Yllamese are palace scribes? I told you not to trust that dealer — nobody sells actually valuable antiques in secret. They weren't even originals, just a copy of a copy. And unreadable at that." Dave had told him several times not to buy those books. Telling his friend I told you so was one of those things he didn't get to do to Craig that frequently, so he tended to enjoy that.

"Well, that unique prodigy is reading them. As if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. For a report for the history club."

He had searched for an expert on ancient Yllamese for years. In the end, he just donated the books to the department library. Maybe somebody could find a use for them one day. It was a surprise when it happened though.

"Didn't an expert tell you that there are only like thirty people in the world that can read ancient Yllamese fluently — and all of them were in the imperial court?" Dave had tried to help him find a translator, despite being against the book purchase from the beginning.

"Makes you wonder where she learned it. With that surname, her father has to be Kalmari. And it's not like they teach women much in Yllam. You know how they are about women. They even manage to keep dark arall women in the harems."

"And how do they do that?" Anybody who'd met a dark arall woman would know — they don't tend to do what they're told. Even the Inquisition, with their penchant for t*****e, and unexpected visits hadn't stopped them from behaving like they always did. And during the Reformation, when they demanded they were also given full voting rights, it was decided to give them to all women. Nobody liked the idea of giving special rights to dark arall, but with organized battalions of battle-ready females, it's not like they could deny them those rights. Especially considering magic made dark arall females as strong as ordinary men — even without using the magic. "I couldn't even manage my daughter — headstrong that she was — and look at how she ended up." The death of his daughter in a train accident was a particularly sore point for Dave.

"By making them guards, obviously. Don't even need eunuchs or any of that nonsense. But even a harem guard in the imperial court wouldn't know how to read pictograms Why would they? It's impractical, and they have the modernized alphabet." Craig had spent a long time trying to find anybody who could know the subject and had become a subject matter expert.

"You know, instead of speculating, you could actually check out who her parents are. Every student who gets a scholarship submits a form — it should say the family's details. And she doesn't seem rich."

"Right! Thanks — I should check it out." And with that, Craig went back to his office. He couldn't leave the books unattended for too long — or they could get stolen.