"As I said, you will be getting to know me over the coming days Alexander. Now please follow me, I will explain why whilst we are walking."
Alexander was shocked to find out that the nurse was Alice Firestorm, he was also angry since she was the one who had blasted them with the large fireball. But what would that anger really accomplish? And for that matter he had only known most of the men he fought with for a day at the time. It was only Corporal Elden he had know for longer than that, and still it was for a week.
Sure the ball of fire had wounded him greatly, though he seemed to have healed already so it couldn't really be that bad in the end. At the time they were enemies, and now he was their prisoner, though besides the looks and jests yesterday he hadn't gotten a bad experience. For that matter he had even gotten medical care. Doctor Linden had also pointed out the fact that both Miran and Verenden were part of the same empire, so in a way they were of the same people.
Thinking about this Alexander felt that the initial surge of anger he had at Alice had mostly gone away. Sure there was still a bit of anger lingering, but no where near what he had felt at first. It wouldn't really be worth it to not follow her. So he followed behind Alice as she walked out of the tent. Outside a squad of five soldiers waited for her. When they saw Alexander following right behind her one of them spoke up.
Alice said something to the soldier and got him to calm down quickly. Before indicating for the soldiers to follow her and Alexander. They made their way back to the main road before turning towards the centre of the camp.
"You'll probably get some looks and most likely some comments for the next few days, but don't mind them. We, Miran, are still at war with Verenden after all. When we get you a new set of clothes there will most likely be less of the looks. As to why you are getting new clothes and such is because you are a seed."
"What is a 'seed'? You are not talking about a plant seed right?"
"Haha, no I am definitely not talking about a plant seed. What a 'seed' is is a person or being whom have the potential to unlock their magical abilities and start down the road of magic. Normally a 'seed' blossoms, or unlock their access to the Stream by being awakened with a ritual. However there are those rare cases when a 'seed' blossoms when in a life or death situation, they are hit by powerful spells or take certain extremely dangerous substances."
"Does that mean I have 'blossomed' since I was in a life or death situation after being nearly hit by a powerful spell?"
"Yes, though only because of the life or death situation. When you 'blossomed' the initial connection you got with the stream is what most likely healed your body. It seems like the connection had some problems fully healing you at once so you ended up being in pain after being healed. Though the pain should have subsided by now, or at least by tomorrow. Now, the reason why you are going to get to know me is that I will be adopting you into my family."
"What!? But.. I… I am your enemy?"
"Bah, horse shit. You already know that we are people of the Laran empire. And do you really have any better option in store?"
"Well, I guess I don't. But adopting me? I'm nobody. Wouldn't that be dragging you down or something? Adopting an orphan from an enemy?"
"Nah. It wouldn't do that. But to be perfectly honest, the main reason I will be adopting you is because a magic user must belong to a noble family. This is set down in the empires laws as another way to control us. If any non-noble seeds are discovered they are to be adopted by a noble family. In normal times the adoption goes by a list of noble families that were the last to have a new seed. As we are now at war, in addition to you technically being an enemy, we can bend the rules a bit. Though my family are quite high on the list of families at the moment. As we haven't had a new seed since me. Non of my children were seeds nor any of their children."
"Wait. You have grandchildren! How old are you!? You don't look more than thirty!!"
"Heh… Thank you for the compliment but you really shouldn't ask a lady her age. Especially a magic using lady. I will however not adopt you as my own child, you will be adopted by my daughter Elisabeth and her husband. Which will make you my newest grandchild."
Alexander was astounded hearing all this from Alice. First he learnt that he was apparently a magic user, or at least a 'blossomed seed'. Then he got the bombshell of being adopted by the enemy. Well maybe not the enemy any longer? Wasn't being adopted a much better thing than being a soldier in a defeated army? And the fact that Alice would be his grandmother apparently and the fact that she had to be more than 50 since she had grandchildren.
Whatever else Alice was talking about or saying to Alexander went in one ear and out the other as they continued walking. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be extremely happy or some other emotion. One thing however was for sure, he was in a daze. He didn't even pay attention to were they walked. The only thing he noticed from the walk itself was them passing the purple tent in the middle of the camp. Other than that he was lost in thought about everything that had happened.
Five or so days ago he was a soldier preparing to defend his nation. Then he was a prisoner. And now he was told that he was going to be adopted. Furthermore it seemed quite likely that he would be learning magic as well. His life had quite literally been turned upside down.
"..ander. Alexander. Alexander! ALEXANDER!!!"
"Huh?"
"Did you lose your brain during our walk from the doctor? I know it is somewhat of a shock to learn that you are a seed, and probably a shock to be told that you would be adopted. Especially since we were enemies. But you should listen better when someone is trying to talk to you. Now what I was trying to say to you whilst you were brain dead, was that you need to get changed into that new set of clothes."
Alice pointed at a set of clothes laid out on top of a trunk. Taking a quick look around Alexander noticed that they seemed to be in a tent again. He really had been lost in thought not noticing that they had arrived there.
"I will leave you to change, oh and this will be your room the next few days. It is part of my tent, they give us high ranking officers rather large tents."
Alice smiled slightly before turning around and walking out of the tent room leaving Alexander alone. He looked around once more, taking in the details of the room. His room apparently. The bed was not a simple field bed like he had in the medical tent. Now it was a simple wooden construction with a proper duvet, mattress and pillows. Besides the bed was a night stand made of the same wood as the bed. At the end of the bed was the trunk with the clothes on top of it. In addition to this there was a small desk with a chair set against the tent wall that contained the door.
Could he really accept the situation he was in? It all felt so fast. Shaking his head at this thought he made his way over to the trunk. He lifted the pair of trousers that lay on the top of the clothes. The trousers were of a light brown colour. Underneath the trousers was a white linen shirt. He put down the trousers and started undressing. There wasn't much really to remove since he only had the robe he had woken in. Once he had gotten that off he started with the trousers. After the trousers he put on the linen shirt and tucked it into the trousers.
Underneath the shirt was a pair of white socks. After the socks came a tan waistcoat and a white cravat. He struggled quite trying to put on the cravat, but ended up laying it back down on the trunk.
'How does one even put that on? I don't think I could even put on a tie without some form of guide.'
Having given up on the cravat Alexander but on the pair of black shoes sat besides the trunk. There was no mirror in the room so he couldn't see how he looked. It was quite weird going from having worn the soldiers uniform for almost two months to what he would easily class a quite formal wear. But these were the clothes he had been told to put on so there wasn't much he could do about that. Accept it or not, Alice would probably do something if he didn't put it on.
Shrugging his shoulders he exited his new temporary room.