"Young master?! Where are you?!" The head maid, Miss Fennec was calling for me. I saw her from my perch above the gardens, sat casually against the trunk of a large Ember Oak along one of its branches. She's most likely a bit angry that I skipped out on my etiquette lessons this morning.
Look It can't be helped Miss Fen, if I had to learn how to use five different kind of forks I was going to use them as unorthodox weapons at best, I thought to myself with a chuckle. Damn. Lost my place. A quick skim of the page had me back where I was before Miss Fen broke my concentration. I often found excuses to read, usually old literature from before the Age of Kings like the book I had sitting on my nightstand, or the one currently propped up in my hand.
Books like these were the kind noble ladies liked to hide from their husbands. As for where I get them…
"Master Drace!" She sang with urgency somewhere below me, earning a sigh from my lips. That woman is testing my nerves this morning. Very well then.
Before Miss Fen could find where I was, I dropped from my perch with all the silent grace of a cat just behind the fussing maid. I had managed to not make a sound on my way down, courtesy of the wind pressure I had emitted around my body before landing.
"Morning Miss Fen."
"OHHHH!" The woman whirled around, startled to a pitch. She looked about ready to slap me. Much to my amusement. "You insufferable little—"
"Look, I know what you're going to say. You're upset that I'm skipping out on Mr. Hart's lessons." I said with a guilty grin set upon my face, which was just earning me a veritable scowl from the esteemed head maid.
Miss Fen would not be put down by an admission, her finger already poised and angled in my direction with the sheer determination this woman possessed, "You know full well the Master wants you educated in the full spectrum of nobility, regardless of your previous social standing or lack thereof. You took very well to the ballroom dancing lessons last week, are simple table manners beyond your skills?"
"My 'skills' as you so aptly put have nothing to do with how many pieces of dining ware it takes to get through a meal." I countered back.
"And yet high society dictates otherwise. Now, run along and apologize to the good Mr. Hart, he makes quite the commute across town just to educate—" she trailed off as she noticed the book in my hand.
You could practically see the part where she realized what I had.
"Where did you get that?" Her scowl shifted into embarrassment as she was putting two and two together.
"Your stash as always, about the fourth book this month I've pilfered from your room. You tend to not notice." I said, with no semblance of shame.
"Give it back!" she stammered, reaching for the book before I had just moved it higher than her arms would go. Despite my young age of fifteen, I had a lot of reach on Miss Fen.
"But I'm not done reading it." I said plainly, still keeping the book out of her reach despite the little hops she gave in futility.
"You—" hop, "should not be—" hop, "reading such things—" hop, "at your age!" Hop, hop, hop. Every time the book was kept from her reach, the redder her face got. I was trying my hardest to keep a straight face for her efforts.
"Why? What's in it that I shouldn't know about?" I snickered, the smirk just making her angrier. "Oh, my Miss Fennec, what bad things am I going to learn about." I started laughing.
"Oooh!" she huffed in frustration. Then held that knife finger up to my face again, "Fine! My eternal mortification aside, you are going to those lessons Young Master!"
My hands went up in defense of the deadly pointy finger, I pissed her off good. "Okay, okay. I'm going. However, on one condition. Just let me know when you get the sequel alright?"
SLAP!
…
Later in the day I had finished up Mr. Hart's Dining Etiquette lessons and was making my way to my room to change into an outfit more suitable for my combat training with master Sebastian. Admittedly I was glad to get the lessons over with, because I liked my combat training more than any of my other lessons.
For the last three years I've spent most of my time training my body to accept, strengthen, and master the use of mana. Master Sebastian made a point to never teach me anything specific to my element. Only that I had to make a conscious effort to improve my own magic by myself. If a mage was to become truly unique and powerful, they had their own path to tread. He merely helped me along when it came to rudimentary skills and training.
Currently I wasn't adept at producing quality spells. In general I struggled with conserving mana, so I've been trying to find a work around by studying wind mana theory. Every mage is unique in their own way. From the way their body tempered mana to how much they could control or contain. While a mage can always train their body to contain and absorb mana more easily, it was even more difficult for a mage to train their body to conserve the elusive energy. It was like moving water with your hands, difficult to mold, easy to spill.
However… I had my work arounds.
Nudging through the door to my private room I made for the trunk settled at the end of the large bed. The spacious storage container contained several items of importance to me, combat gear, and some favorite books I've collected.
After collecting the combat gear, I started changing, soon into the act I took a measured moment to grasp the silver pendant around my neck. It was not overly complicated of a piece, just a coin like item that depicted a falling star on its face. It wasn't much but it was the last thing I had of who I would call my family. I didn't remember them of course, but this was enough to never forget them. My original caretakers made sure I never lost this.
The pendant was my only clue to my old memories from before I was seven, and no matter how much I tried I could never remember them. My adoptive parents, Hescha and Arrad, took care of me from then until they died. Arrad was lost on an adventuring trip sometime a few years before I was thrown into the slave trade. He was presumed dead. And Hescha raised me herself until she was killed by the Skelian slavers that captured me.
I shook my head and dropped the pendant. It hung loosely down to my chest. After continuing to dress in the black combat outfit, I took a breath.
"Better get out there." I said, knowing that master Sebastian will indeed be waiting for me. He was a punctual man like that.
…
I made my way out the back gate towards the forest that lined my master's lands to the sparring grounds dressed in my personal combat gear.
This consisted of a sturdy hard leather lined coat that hung just past the studded belt that was strapped to my waistband. The coat itself was short sleeved, with a hood that attached around the lapel which stood up straight around my neck. In place of sleeves, I had fingerless leather combat gloves that belted around my wrist. Along the backs of my hands and knuckles were silvery metal plates made of Aerosteel, a metal that conducted and enhanced my wind magic.
My pants and boots were easy enough, somewhat loose-fitting black trousers with leather straps along the sides of my thigh, that fit down into half-calf high cavalier boots that laced up to the top. The boots were also laced with Aerosteel plating.
The outfit allowed for speed and freedom of movement in the joints. A wind mage was expected to be fast and light on their feet. Especially an Incursor like myself, that liked to get in close and deal some damage.
"You're late." said the stern and unmistakable voice of Sebastian Claret. Master of the estate and the Lord of the local town. As well as my mentor in magic.
I walked up the stone path out to the sparring grounds just outside of the manor grounds. Most of the field here had been replaced with gravel and rock sometime after Sebastian had taken me as his apprentice. Something about not scorching or rending an entire field of grass didn't sit right with him every time we practiced.
My master stood with his back to me, in his customary charcoal grey coat. His hands rested on the emberwood cane that was his personal casting device as well as a walking stick. He stood there watching the fields of his domain sway with the wind, the trees listing in its waves.
"My apologies master, I was catching up with Mr. Hart this morning." I came to stand at his side, watching the scenery with him. Something about the brisk mid-autumn air brought life to my lungs with each breath.
"I understand you originally were planning to skip them. Miss Fennec said as much."
So, she told on me, "I don't see how dining ware lessons are to help with becoming a mage." I said.
Sebastian simply chuckled this time. "I suppose you wouldn't see a connection, because I haven't really told you what mage society is like. How about we start there for today before I get to punishing you for skipping your lessons with some extracurricular defensive practices."
Uhhh, "That just sounds like a complicated way of saying you're going to be smacking me with more fireballs than usual." The mana within my body already strained to the forefront, sensing my anxiety.
"Your intuition would be accurate in this assumption." Master Sebastian changed his position, now facing me. He looked every bit of a worn-out retired general, as he had once told me he was. His dark crimson hair was militaristically short, and his beard trimmed neatly. The creases in his face told stories of his age, and the scar over left his eye cut into his brow. The grizzled war veteran.
"For starters Drace, noble society and mage society are closely interlinked. Mages are a rare existence, and as such are regarded highly within the upper echelons. I never told you before because I wanted you to complete a good majority of your training before you knew what the rest of your life could be like."
I listened intently to my master, giving my undivided attention to this lesson. "A single extremely talented mage could be the difference of a victory and defeat on the battlefield in war. Comparing us to living weapons is a more apt assessment." Sebastian coughed into his fist, "In any case, the kingdom depends on us for our powers, therefore we're treated as nobles in all but name."
This time I had a question, "You're saying that we're basically nobility because of our gifts then?"
"Correct. I wanted you to take etiquette lessons to prepare you for the future. I've held the kingdom authority off for some time after making a statement concerning your existence, particularly the Academy. I wanted to personally train you rather than let them take ahold of your guidance. You were younger than most when you awakened to your abilities. It didn't seem right to send you off at your age."
"You're at the right age now where it wouldn't be strange for you to be now attending regular training courses. After your lessons complete next week, I'm sending you to Arcadia, the Academy of Magic to be more specific."
This was what these three years had been leading up to. Sebastian had been preparing me for the next step in my training. I've heard of the magic academy that was hosted in Arcadia, the capital of the kingdom. It was where they sent young mages to be mentored. It was prestigious and high class, and I was to be sent there? An orphan of no existing background. "The Academy of Magic." I breathed.
Sebastian continued, "Normally you would be sponsored with a mentor of your own upon enrollment that would guide and teach you between classes. However, you may forgo a mentor on account that you've already received extensive training from myself. Many nobles usually have their children learn from private mentors as soon as their awakening."
Something nagged in the back of my mind, "Master is there a reason that I cannot train with just you specifically. I'm sure you know much more about magic than any of the instruct—"
Sebastian held his finger up, halting the statement. "The truth being is that while I can teach you a great many things, I cannot keep you cooped up in the manor grounds all of the time. It's important for you to go out and experience what it means to be a mage for yourself, meet some friends, develop social skills." Sebastian tapped the heel of his cane into the gravel. "Most importantly is that the Academy is requesting quite sternly that I hand you over for their instruction. As my apprentice you already are held quite high in regard to them, and they would like to personally sponsor your tuition."
This didn't do anything to affect the frown I was wearing, "And you can't just say no?" I asked.
"Not really, no." Sebastian paused for a few moments, regarding the fields and forests beyond them. He looked like he was pensively choosing his next words carefully. "I have expectations thrust upon me by the kingdom as well as my own family, I've neglected my duties for quite some time for the last few years. I'm afraid I won't be able to shirk them anymore, so I can no longer train you as I have. I'm sure you've figured out that I am quite the political figure back In Arcadia despite my retirement."
"I'm aware master, it's just a little difficult to think about when I've known you just as my mentor." I was looking down at the gravel, feeling a little disheartened, "But I understand."
It was true that I haven't been out much these past few years. My lessons and combat training occurred every day, so I wasn't often outside the manor enough. Aside from master Sebastian and Miss Fennec I didn't really know anyone personally. They weren't exactly friends either. Maybe this was a good idea.
In fact, thinking about meeting others my age excited me a little. The thought made me smile.
"Now then…" I heard Sebastian say with an edge to his voice that made my instincts kick in instantly. I immediately kicked off the ground with mana enhancing my body, already swirling to protect me and increase my physical abilities. Just as I had cleared the area a flame explosion scored the ground where I once stood.
Master is not going easy on me today, that's for sure.