25 - Names and Offers
The duelling hall was already occupied by second years who appeared to have just finished class.
Since it was right before lunch, a few of them lingered, sitting cross-legged on the floor and having conversations that lowered in volume when Ari walked in.
Professor Graham was talking to a male student, but his eyes strayed toward her.
“Arielle,” he said, and the student turned to watch her approach. “Have you come for extra lessons?”
“No. I was challenged to a duel.”
“By who?”
She pointed behind her to Fiodor, who had followed her in.
When she turned back, Professor Graham's eyes were glittering as he planted his hand on his waist.
“Ah. It's Freddie."
“It’s Fiodor.”
“Of course. Is this who you’ve chosen to duel?”
“Yes," he said.
Arielle wondered if it was her imagination or if the boy was holding himself a bit more stiffly than he’d been before. His ruffled eyebrows and downturned lips also spoke to a mood change. Was he upset? Perhaps because Graham got his name wrong?
He needn’t be. Graham got almost everyone’s name wrong.
He remembered Arielle’s name, but she was probably just lucky.
“Are you sure about this?” Graham said.
“Yes,” Arielle answered.
“Not you. Fiodor.” Professor Graham cocked his head. “I understand you’re a very skilled young lad, but this might be just slightly above your level."
"I'm an Antigones," Fiodor responded, astonished.
"I get that, but...she's Arielle Blacksoil."
Ari nodded because it was true, and that made Fiodor raise his chin and stare down at her from the tip of his nose.
“Yes,” he said frostily. “I’m sure.”
“Okay." Graham seemed pleased. "This should be interesting. Clear the circles, you two.”
There were multiple duelling circles in the hall, but Graham seemed to prefer the central one, which currently had students sitting on it. They grumbled and moved at his order, but they didn’t leave the room, standing to watch the fight.
Ari didn’t think she would have an audience, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was the timing. She wanted to stretch the fight out enough so she could utilize an arsenal of spells that she hadn’t had the opportunity to try out yet in combat. However, the battle must only last two minutes or less so that she could keep to her prior appointment at the meditation room.
As they moved, Ari heard the other students' whispers and comments.
“...He actually remembers her name…”
"...first and last name too..."
“....He barely remembers anyone’s name, especially first years…”
“...He always remembered Selena..."
Once the circle was devoid of people, Ari tuned out the conversations and started stretching.
“Can I make a request?” she asked as Fiodor moved in place.
“What?
“I would like us to play roles here. You are the offensive, and I am the defensive. Use your strongest attack spells, and I will defend against them."
Fiodor frowned, and Graham said hesitantly, "I don't think that's wise, Arielle. It sounds like a recipe for disaster."
"It's okay. I can handle it."
"You can..." He trailed off, brushing his chin in thought before he shook his head. "No. I would get in trouble for that. You can choose to take any position you want, but normal rules still apply. No excessively damaging spells."
"But–"
"The answer is no, Arielle."
She blew out her breath. "Fine, I suppose I’ll just pretend that whatever you’re throwing at me is stronger than it actually is." She could tell the boy was a Luxa-Massa lean, which was perfect because she wanted to test out her Vacu-Calor spells, to observe how to use them in a real battle to protect Elric.
“Pretend you’re a dragon," she told Fiodor. "Or an evil legendary mage, and you’re trying to kill my cousin.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Is this a joke to you?”
“No.” Where did he get that idea? “I’m not joking.”
Professor Graham chuckled and said, “Okay, kids, remember the rules. Non-lethal attacks only. Whoever gets their opponent out of the ring wins.”
Ari nodded. Even though Fiodor refused to play along, she did, in fact, imagine him as an evil mage who was hell-bent on destroying Elric. She also imagined she was the only one standing between them.
She readied herself. She didn't know what spell he was going to cast, but whatever it was, he would not get past her. He would not hurt Elric.
The bell rang, cutting off her thoughts, and Fiodor immediately swung into action.
“[Air Bind]." He thrust his wand at her, and she barely saw the shimmering ropes of air about to wrap around her.
"[Air Shield]." The Tier 3 spell blocked the ropes, and she followed it up with, "[Air Slice]." That last move was likely not necessary, as Fiodor was about to drop his spell anyway, but she didn't think of him as Fiodor. She thought of him as an evil ascendant who wouldn't drop the bonds and would not stop until he captured Elric.
“She’s fast,” Ari heard someone say, and she made a mental note to slow her casting speed even more. It was difficult to do in battle, when all thought was attuned to instinct and drive, but she truly had to do a better job at pretending to be normal.
“[Loco Mortis Minor],” Fiodor said, and she was surprised to hear him cast a petrification spell. Curse spells were complex and were, at the very least, at a lower adept tier. It was clever, too, because curse spells would permeate any physical shield and hit the target at the other side.
If Ari were him, the only thing she would have done was to add an extra calor chain at the end for speed. That would have been an easy customization to make, and Ari might not have been able to stop the spell in time if he'd done that.
As it were, she immediately dropped the shield and hit the air with [Bound Curse Break].
She expanded the boundary to just around her, so that any curse that entered the vicinity would be broken for as long as she held the spell.
That stumped Fiodor. He clearly was surprised that she could do that, but she didn't see why. It wasn’t unusual for apprentices to use lower adept spells.
“Well?” she prompted him because he'd paused to stare at her. "Time's running out."
He adjusted his glasses, cleared his throat, and swung his wand again.
“[Light Spear].”
“[Hollow Air].”
"[Misstep Hex Minor]."
“[Deflect Hex Minor]."
“[Swansong]."
“[Bound Mute].”
After the first minute, Arielle was suitably impressed. The boy had well-balanced cores that enabled him to use a variety of spells, even those with essences that weren’t his lean. He was very proficient at curse magic and utilized very interesting spells, which she had to give him credit for. Perhaps that was linked to whatever his bloodline trait was.
However, after Arielle ran through her list of Calor-Vacu defense spells, the exercise became pointless. She was using the same types of defenses over and over because he kept using the same types of attacks, just coming at it from different angles. Ari grew bored, and since she had something else to do, she deflected his final spell and said, “Alright. I think we can stop now.”
“Stop?” Fiodor exhaled harshly, bending slightly before snapping straight once more. “That’s not how a duel works. One of us has to win.”
“Okay then.” She shrugged. “You win.”
***
Graham had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing and hurting poor Fiodor’s feelings.
It was obvious to anyone watching–including the second years who had stopped their discussions to observe the duel–that Ari far outpaced the other boy in every way. He’d used an impressive index of spells for a first year, but she’d deflected all of them without a single thought. He was panting for breath, and her breathing had not once ever become elevated. She was far beyond his level, and it was almost embarrassing to have Fiodor continue at this point, although his pride wouldn't let him give up. Her stopping was a mercy to him.
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“Okay, I have to go now,” she told him, pivoting to walk away.
Fiodor yelled, “[Light Web]."
Graham was surprised to see Fiodor activate one of his bloodline spells. Streaks of light shot out of the end of his wand, interconnecting as they attached to Ari's back.
She glanced behind her, studying the lines dispassionately.
“You’re not leaving until I say you can," Fiodor injected as much command as he could into his tone.
“Yes, I am.” She held up her wand. “Air Slice.”
“That won’t work," Fiodor mocked. “The bonds are made of pure Antigones light. Practically unbreakable. Air alone wouldn't be enough to slice it."
Graham thought it would be this very moment that everything turned around. The danger of the Antigones [Light Web] wasn't just that it couldn't be broken, but that other spells could be passed directly through it, to essentially guarantee a direct hit.
Arielle was in serious trouble.
This might be the point where she lost, although it was still very impressive that she'd pushed him this far and made him activate his bloodline trait.
Arielle studied the webs. "Interesting."
Fiodor gave her a smug smile. "Now, where were we?"
After a few more seconds of studying the strands, she waved her wand and said again, "[Air Slice]."
Fiodor rolled his eyes. "I already told you. That won't–"
The crack came first, followed by a hollow swish.
A slash of air resonated, slicing through the light web and turning it into nothing but weak threads floating to the ground.
Fiodor's jaw dropped.
Graham couldn't pick his off the ground either.
The room was tight with the thick silence of the combined held breaths and disbelief.
Arielle didn't seem to notice or care.
She dusted stray strands of light from her robe.
“Thank you for the exercise,” she told him. “This was fun. We should do it again some other time when you have more varied attacks in your arsenal.”
With that distracted, yet effortlessly insulting speech, she went on her way.
It took Graham some time to get his senses back.
He'd only seen an Antigones [Light Web] broken three times in his entire life, and never by [Air Slice]. Typically, it required a very specific orientation of Vacu essences, which very few people could manage.
Yet Arielle had done it with [Air Slice] of all things.
[Air Slice]?
A damned Tier 2 spell?
Oh ho ho.
She was a total monster.
He grinned, rubbing his beard as his students whispered.
“Oh no. That’s his evil grin.”
“His eyes have the glaze of a leprechaun scenting gold."
Oh, Graham could smell the gold, alright. Tart and borderline acrid, he could already feel the shiny coin between his teeth.
He could already see her accepting the trophy as the champion of the interschool tournament.
No beyond that.
There would be world tournaments. Those had chests of gold attached.
He would get at least fifteen percent of that as his standard fee.
He might even be willing to drop it to ten percent just for her.
But not yet. She was still an apprentice, and it was illegal for anyone below adept tier to take part in the world tournaments.
However, she would be adept soon. He could tell just from her skill. She might even reach that point before her second year, becoming the youngest adept mage they'd ever had.
Arielle Blacksoil.
He committed that name to his ever-busy mind.
She was going to make him very rich.
***
Arielle got to the meditation room on time.
It was thankfully empty, and she hurriedly arranged herself on the mat, plunging her mind into a meditative headspace.
She detected the manalings at the gate, but it was indeed harder to reach the essences from far away.
She’d never tried it at this distance before, and it was certainly a challenge, and what made it even more so was that the manalings couldn't see her.
Could they sense her without sight?
She spread her awareness even further, hummed her mother's song in her mind, and invited them to commune with her.
She heard them get louder, whistling with unreleased pain. Good. It was working.
“What are you doing?”
Ari’s concentration broke, and her eyes popped open.
Professor Llywyd was standing at the entrance.
“Profesor,” she said as the woman approached. “I thought this meditation session was supposed to be private.”
“Is that your attempt to kick me out of my own meditation room?"
“No, it’s just…I get shy when I meditate.”
Professor Llywyd didn't look fooled. “That’s not why. What type of meditation technique is that? Your aura changed colors in a very strange pattern.”
Oh no.
Arielle's mind scrambled to come up with a lie, but she wasn't good at lying in the moment.
However, she did have a convenient excuse handy.
"I have to go meet Rava right now."
She scrambled up to her feet and dashed past Professor Llywyd, ignoring the other woman's suspicious stare.
That was a close call.
Perhaps the meditation room wasn't the best place for this. But doing it outside, where anyone could happen by, was risky too.
She didn't have a good answer to the problem.
But, she knew she would need to come up with a better reason for her actions by the next class she had with Llywyd.
***
Arielle found Rava near the greenhouse, magically trimming the hedges in not-so-straight lines. She was staring up while she did it, clearly deep in thought and unaware of the discordant angles at which her spell swiped at the edges of the grass, resulting in very crooked lines.
It was a little disconcerting to watch her do that, but Arielle turned her back on the shrubs so their vicious lack of symmetry wouldn't make her ill.
"Rava."
The other woman started and then smiled.
"My friend Arielle," Rava greeted. "You know, your name was mentioned at least three times yesterday in the staff lounge. I hear you're getting very popular in your classes."
"I want to earn gold," Arielle launched in with no preamble. "Professor Valeria told me that you used to have odd jobs when you were a student here."
"I did." She thankfully paused her cutting to watch Arielle. "But I'm not sure how possible that will be for you."
"Why not?"
"Well, because I was a massive slacker. I did just the bare minimum to get by, and I was saved at severance by the fact that I had well-balanced cores. So while I wasn't exceptional at anything, I wasn't terrible at anything either." She angled her head down to eye Ari. "You don't strike me as that kind of person."
"No." It didn't make any sense. Why would she come all the way here, attend school, and not do her best? "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Being a slacker, I had a lot of free time. I would go to Khor city on the weekends and help people out for pay."
"Khor city?"
"Yes. It's the closest place to our island, just under an hour by boat. There's a ferry that comes by every weekend for students who have exeats and for staff who would like to visit their markets. Central Khor market is sizeable, and you can find anything you need there, so it's where I do a lot of my buying." She cocked her head. "How about you tag along with me next time I go? We can look around, and you can see if there's a job there for you. I will warn you that they won't pay a lot. The people of Khor are not wealthy by any means, but they're always happy to have an ascendant around to assist them."
"Okay." She would love to see more towns. When she was young, she rarely ever left Fenway, and she often thought about what it would be like to visit all those places she'd read about in the stories. "What kind of jobs did you have to do?
"Hmmm?" Rava had gone back to her distracted swiping, and it grated on Ari's nerves.
However, she was reading about diplomacy in How To Charm Kings, and it spoke about reframing others' failures as opportunities to strengthen bonds.
Rather than telling them what to do, offer to carry their burden.
"Did you want me to do that for you?" Ari asked, gesturing to the ledge.
"No, I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You're doing it wrong. All your lines are crooked."
"Oh, don't tell me you're a mini-Garrick. It's fine. No one comes to this part of campus anyway."
Ari wanted to argue, but it would take too much time to convince Rava of her problem, and Ari had too much to do today.
So she walked away before she lost her mind.
At dinner, she sat alone, still fostering distance from Lyra. She ate as quickly as she could, eager to go back to her room and get started on her homework.
As she did, she considered the problem of making money.
Rava was right. Ari was busy, and she would likely be busy for the foreseeable future. Even if she did find work in Khor city, she likely wouldn't be able to go there with enough frequency for it to matter.
She needed something with less of a time commitment.
As her brother always said, the best way to make money was to do it by doing nothing.
Selling products rather than services would be more time-efficient and likely less effort.
But what product could she possibly sell?
Right as her meal was coming to a close, and she was about to return to her room, a body slid into the bench opposite her.
Several bodies, actually.
Most of them were unfamiliar second-years, but she saw Faulkey sitting at the end, curling into himself like a sulky toddler.
"Arielle Blacksoil," the one in the middle with dark features and a pimple above his top lip, said. "I assume you know who we are."
She shook her head.
"Of course. I forgot you didn't grow up with ascendants. I am Maxim Erastus. We would like to talk to you."
"We heard you beat Antigones so badly he almost cried," the boy to his left said.
"He didn't cry," Ari responded. "At least not while I was there. I don't have time for a lengthy conversation, or I'll fall behind schedule."
"I respect that, so I'll make this quick," Maxim said. "Teach me how you broke his Antigones' [Light Web]."
"Why should I?"
"What?"
"I have no reason to tell you that." The truth was that Ari had done something slightly unconventional and rearranged a spell as it was coming together. She hadn't been sure she could do it before, but she figured that a duel was a good time to practice, not when a real evil, mythical mage was going for Elric's neck.
So she'd just rearranged the Vacu components of the spell, instinctively placing them outside of the calor rather than within and turning the spell inside out.
She'd thought direct contact with the vacu would be enough to break the light bands, and she was right.
However, it only worked because [Air Slice] was such a simple spell with a straight chain of Calor and a Vacu stabilizer. It was also likely not something she could advertise.
"I can't teach you," she told them plainly.
He didn't react in anger. Instead, he grinned. "Name your price."
Ari opened her mouth to tell him she had to go, but she paused on that thought.
He seized the opportunity to lace his fingers together on the table.
"I'm sure you know the Erastus have all sorts of connections around the world," he continued. "Once you graduate, you will likely be looking to join a noble clan, right? Well, you're certainly powerful enough, but you know how these things can be with clans only wanting you to come from the 'right' family." He held both hands up. "It would be a shame if all your talents were wasted on a mere second-rate sect. So I can set up an association or perhaps even an engagement with a son from a–"
"Twenty pieces of gold."
His speech stopped abruptly. "What?"
"That's how much I want. Then I'll teach you the spell." Ari didn't actually plan on teaching him the spell she used, merely a spell that was legal and could likely achieve the same thing. She was charging this amount because of Faulkey. His presence here irritated her, and if they were associated with him, it would take considerable effort for her to overcome her distaste for what he did to Lyra and help them.
"Well, we don't necessarily have that kind of coin just lying around," he said. "But our clan does have influence and–"
"I'm not interested in influence, and Elric says I'm to steer clear of clan or sect nonsense." She got up. "I apologize for the abruptness, but I must leave now. Goodbye."