In the morning, Teerom found himself in a predicament. He woke up a few hours too early, so now he was stuck under the other boys. With great effort and patience, he eventually managed to slip out without waking them.
He walked outside and stretched, making the mightiest grunt ever.
"We're leaving today, eh?" He talked to himself and took in his surroundings once more. The trees reflected the sun's bright yellow light but still provided a cool shade on him.
'A lot of stuff happened, but overall, I'd say it's been a good trip.' He sat down on a log in front of the smothered campfire. Paley had already packed up most of the meat into the bags beside the tent.
"Hm, where *is* he?" Teerom stood up and began looking around.
"Why'd you wake up so early?" Adimia came out of the tent, rubbing his eyes and yawning profusely.
"I couldn't get any sleep last night. It suddenly got cold, and my hand started to hurt again." Teerom said and showed his right hand. The Dark Conjurer's hand.
"Where's Paley? He didn't come with us into the tent last night." Adimia asked.
"Yeah, I was just about to look for him. Knowing him, he's probably training his magic really hard." Teerom chuckled and walked into the forest. Adimia followed beside him.
Reben and Amasha finally woke up two hours later. They walked out to find Teerom and Adimia in a panic.
"What's up?" They asked.
"Paley's missing!" Adimia said.
"We have to split up and look for him." Teerom began, but Reben cut him off. "Did you check the lake?" Amasha asked.
"Why would he be in the lake?" Teerom asked. They would later find Paley floating naked - with underwear on - in the middle of the lake like a dead fish.
"Hey, guys," He greeted as he drifted to towards the left.
"What're you doing?" Teerom asked.
"Bathing," Paley replied.
"We can see that, but why naked?"
"It feels better this way. I saw this girl bathing here last night, so I thought I might as well try it. She was naked, so I got naked too. The water feels super good on your skin. Try it." Paley explained.
"I never thought Paley would have these kinds of fantasies," Adimia muttered.
"What fantasies?" Amasha and Reben asked innocently.
"Fantasies of lust. Love in other words." Adimia explained, and the two boys turned red.
"You think he- No, I don't want to think about it," Reben shook his head.
"He'd be a great father," Amasha said.
"Haha, he would." Adimia took off his shirt and pants, "You guys coming? I wanna see if this water really is that good." He dived in and slowly floated towards Paley.
"Oh, well, we might as well." Teerom and the other boys joined him.
The boys spent about an hour floating around and relaxing in the lake. It was strangely warm but not as comforting as Paley described.
"You guys feel it yet?" He asked.
"Nope,"
"I do feel something digging into my back," Teerom said and felt around his butt to feel something slimy wriggling around. He screamed and somehow jumped in the water.
"There's a leech on me!" He exclaimed and pulled it off his back. It made a popping noise as it detached. The other boys laughed at him as he shook it off his hand in disgust.
"We should start heading back home. Mom is probably worried about us." He cleared his throat.
"Don't worry about mom worrying. I sent her a message yesterday that we're alright." The evening before, Paley had flung a tablet of rock with that message inscribed on it towards the orphanage with air magic.
"But yeah, we should start heading back. I gotta get those herbs to Bacha, and I bet Teerom can't wait to confess to Jurie." Paley smiled slightly and flew out of the water.
"I can't get over how cool you look when you fly," Adimia said as he and the other boys swam.
"I'm just standing still," Paley landed on the grass, wetting it, and began walking back to camp with the other boys.
"Yeah, but you stand with power! With authority! Like a knight." Adimia flexed his chest like a proud knight.
"I don't like knights," Paley said. They reached the camp and took the tent down. Since it was made of wood, Paley scattered the pieces around to be recycled by nature. He picked up the bags and began walking.
"Come on, there's no way all knights are bad," Adimia argued as they walked through the forest back to the orphanage. The previously thick undergrowth was now pretty much a field of grass with small shrubs. There were many Amoreviola flowers littered around, but they got scarcer the further the boys went from the Fulguron nest.
"From my humble experience, the *majority* of knights are major assholes," Paley replied.
"What experience? You lost your memory."
"I might not remember any events or details from my past. But I do remember the very familiar feeling of hating a knight. The only church that I don't despise is the God's Church." Paley said.
He truly didn't remember any of his past, but the nightmare he had - which he also had no memory of - burned the memory of his feelings towards certain groups. Especially the churches.
"Fair enough." Adimia accepted defeat. There was no changing Paley's opinion.
"If you can remember how you felt now, then you should get your memory back soon, right?" Teerom began, "You promised to tell me what your real name was first, you better keep that promise."
"Don't worry, I will... If I remember my name." Paley hesitated, "To be honest, I don't even know if I want to know about my past. I'm fine as I am."
"In the end, it's up to you. But then you wouldn't be you, would you?" Amasha, out of all people, said.
"Wise words, Amasha. I'm surprised." Paley smiled slightly.
"Anyways, I was gonna ask. Is it okay if we don't say anything about the giant rabbit, or Amasha falling off a tree, to mom?" Adimia asked.
"Yeah, she'd probably die from worry." Teerom agreed.
"But it's not good to lie," Reben said.
"Not if it's for the good of someone," Paley added.
They arrived at the orphanage in about twenty minutes.
"Ah, home sweet home." Teerom sighed, "It was a great trip, guys. We've been through so much-" The other boys had already begun crossing the river without letting him finish his monologue.
He sighed and followed them.
"Oh, you're back!" Madella opened the door for them and gave them a warm embrace each, "Come on, get yourselves cleaned up and come in for lunch." She ruffled Amasha's hair.
"Hey! Welcome back," Jurie came over from the fireplace where she read a book that Paley stole - again - for her. She thought it was Teerom who stole it as Paley never explicitly said anything, he just left it on the desk next to her bed.
"H-H-Heyy, Ahem, Hey." Teerom felt all the eyes in the room on him, including Madella. She was aware too but decided a man must fight his own battles.
"You okay?" She laughed slightly.
"Of course, what about you-" Teerom was cut off by Bacha, who ran down the stairs and jumped Paley. "Paley! Did you get the herbs?" She asked. Paley nodded and took out a small leather bag from his trouser pocket.
"I even organized them for you." He showed her the tissue-wrapped herbs.
"Thank you!" She took the bag, kissed him on the cheek, and ran upstairs to use the herbs.
"Bacha! Don't experiment now, you're about to eat!" Madella said.
Teerom had been staring at Jurie the entire time, desperately thinking of something to say.
"Don't confess now," Paley mumbled behind him, "I'll find a time for you. Trust me." He walked upstairs.
"Adimia, Reben, Amasha, take a bath, you stink," Madella said.
"Hi, Rauba." Paley greeted Rauba as she came out of the bathroom. Bacha sat on her bed, examining the herbs that Paley picked.
"Hi, how'd the trip go?" She asked and sat down on her bed.
"Great, we climbed on trees and stuff. It was fun..." It was now that Paley realized he didn't do anything that entire trip apart from fighting a giant rabbit and chilling in a lake.
"Sounds like you didn't get to do anything." Rauba caught on. She was only seven but was still very perceptive.
"Oh, well. You know how they are. It's an occupational hazard with them. Apart from Teerom. He's a big ol' chicken." Paley lied down on Teerom's bed. Rauba chuckled at his joke.
"You seem... different," She said.
"Different?"
"Yeah, but it's nice. Did you remember something from your past or something?"
"I found out I might be a Dark Conjurer."
"Like Teerom?"
"Like Teerom."
Adimia, Reben, and Amasha meandered upstairs and went into the bathroom to bathe. Together.
"These are so high quality!" Bacha bobbed with excitement, "You bought me tier-three Somum and Retaxa. How did you find tier five Sanami? They're pretty much Saname at that point!"
"We happened to camp in a mana zone. That might be why," Paley suggested.
"That's definitely why! I wanna go there so bad, but there are monsters..." Bacha's excitement began to die down.
"I'll go with you. If it's only a few people I can keep everyone safe."
"Would you be willing to do that?"
"Of course, I wanna help you with your experiments. Besides, maybe then you can make a powder that completely changes my face."
"True, you do have an awfully evil look." She teased.
"Hey, I don't look *that* bad." He replied, "I gotta say, I'm impressed that you memorized all the proper names for the herbs in that book." Paley had stolen a herbology book for Bacha during his last visit to the library.
The people of the city had no idea the book thief was the same guy who paralyzed a noble, so Paley had two different bounties on his head now. A great feat for a nearly thirteen-year-old.
"Guys! Come downstairs after they're done bathing!" Jurie called from downstairs.
Madella gathered everyone around the fireplace with excitement. She was holding two pieces of parchment with her signature at the bottom.
"I'm sending you off to school!" She clapped eagerly, but none of the orphans seemed into the idea, "What's wrong? You guys finally get to go to school."
"I don't know, mom. Isn't school for the higher classes?" Adimia asked.
"Yeah, but just ignore them. You can finally forge a future for yourselves! Do you really want to live in a shoddy cottage for the rest of your life? And have to take care of poor old me?"
"That doesn't sound too bad," Adimia replied.
"We got Paley to help us anyway, don't we?" Reben added.
"Yes, mother. The people at school are gonna look down on us." Jurie said.
"Don't be worried about what people think of you. If you're a good person, good things will come." Madella lectured.
"As Reben said: you've got me. If anyone talks down to you, I'll deal with them-" Paley began.
"No, you won't hurt anyone, Paley. I know you're very talented in magic. You're a Quimnia, after all. But I don't believe in violence. It's never the solution. Just as you can't put out a fire with fire. You can't put out violence with violence." Madella interrupted Paley.
"Alright..." Paley nodded gloomily.
"I think you guys should do it. You might even end up becoming mages. Then, we can repay mom for everything she's done for us," Teerom said.
"Oh, Teerom... I-"
"It's fine, mom. I understand. I'm too old for school." Teerom was sixteen, turning seventeen (His birthday is on April 30th 6642. - Jurie's is on February 5th 6643 - )
This meant that he couldn't attend a School but needed to go to an Academy.
"I'm sorry, my boy, I tried." Madella felt guilty for him.
"Since everyone's gonna be gone during the day, can I go to work? I don't wanna be bored to death," Teerom asked. He was a bit disappointed, but he came to terms with it quickly.
"You'll have to go to the city and ask around for one," Madella said.
"I'll go with you. It should be easier to find a job by flying around." Paley offered.
"Sure, that'd be great. Thank you, man." Teerom said.
"Jurie, you wanna come too?" Paley asked her.
"Of course, I'd love to go." She glanced at Teerom.
"Then, it's settled. You're all going to school next week!" Madella exclaimed.