Fate's eyes opened to the familiar sight of a white ceiling and white-colored wooden walls. A stick of incense burned in the corner, casting everything in a crimson haze.
Unlike before, Fate wasn't in a single-patient room. As he shifted his head to the side to look around, he found Venden staring at him, the noble as bedridden as he was.
To Fate's mild surprise, Venden appeared fully healed. A cursory check of his own body revealed that Fate was likewise healed. Even his ear was back.
"I must apologize for my actions," Venden said suddenly, breaking the silence.
"I didn't know nobles could apologize," Fate replied.
The aristocrat chuckled, wincing as the action sent a sharp spike of pain into his chest. He returned his gaze to the ceiling above, giving a light shake of his head.
"It's easy, once you learn your place in the world," he told Fate. "I thought I knew mine before, as everyone of noble blood tends to think, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Tell me, do you have parent issues?"
"You could say that." His father was every bit his mother's opposite; a demon for an angel. It's true what they say, he supposed. Opposites attract.
"We are alike in that regard, then. My father is too busy running the Grendeven family's many assets to care about his children, leaving my mother to pick up the slack. She always said I was her worst child."
"From what little I've seen, you're at least better than your sister," Fate consoled. "You actually have the decency to apologize. And I'm sorry as well. I meant no disrespect to your family with what I said, but your sister decided to take my words out of context."
"Keep your apologies," Venden said with another painful chuckle. "They don't care about me enough to even come see me defend their honor, so why should I worry about them?"
"So what are your plans, then? I'd assume that this loss won't go over well with your family."
"Maybe it's time they stop being my family, then," Venden said seriously.
He brought his newly healed hand up to his face, squeezing it into a fist with narrowed eyes.
"I've done nothing but give and give to the Grendevens since my birth, and the only thing I have to show for it is money. My dreams of becoming the head of the family were smothered in the cradle; I never even stood a chance. I think it's time I emancipate myself."
"Emancipate?" While Fate had been reading his Ziob dictionary a lot recently, he hadn't gotten to that word yet. He was at the words that started with the Ziob letter drendnerd, while this word sounded like it started with the letter rarrar.
"It means renouncing my family, severing myself from them and cutting all ties. I'd no longer be Grendeven, but my blood and Facet would allow me to keep my noble status."
"That sounds serious."
"It is. It would cause not a small amount of resentment, and would be seen as extremely dishonorable on their part, especially with my talent. A family unable to hold itself together is one that cannot be trusted by the Empress to govern her cities."
"I take it they won't just let you walk away."
"No, they'll send assassins my way. Until I become at a Master or at least a Guard, my life will be in constant danger. The only place I'd be safe is the Royal Mage Academy, and even that isn't guaranteed."
"But you still want to go through with it?"
"It's either this or be a pawn my entire life, with no hope of becoming something greater. Believe it or not, I have high hopes, grand dreams. Staying a Grendeven would mean casting all that aside."
"Dreams like?"
"Now that I know I cannot lead my family, I want to start my own. Perhaps form a Mage Guild under the Guards."
"A Mage Guild?" Fate had heard that word before, from the gossiping housewives of Brergan, but he didn't know what it meant.
"While they serve the Empress, Guards are largely independent. They have quotas to uphold and standards to adhere to, but other than that they have free reign over their lives for the most part.
"That's where Mage Guilds come in. As an organization approved by the Empress herself, the Guild is handed higher-risk missions with higher rewards. Being part of a Guild means getting better missions, more funding for better gear, and even gives the chance to work for the Empress herself.
"If I manage to form a Mage Guild, that'd be three times better than running a noble family, both in terms of wealth and status. Only the elites of the elites can form a Mage Guild, and those that are a part of one often have higher status than even Masters."
"That sounds like a lot of work," Fate said after a while.
"It is. But right now, it's the only thing motivating me to get out of this damn bed. And what about you? Do you have any dreams?
"… Fate?"
"I don't know," Fate admitted. "Become strong, I guess. I'm tired of being pushed around by people that see me as either a freak or a lowlife peasant."
"A freak? Why would you be a freak?"
"My eyes. I figured it out a few days ago, but somehow my Facet leaks through them. That's why the white parts are black instead. Because of them, I spent my childhood fighting off other kids or teaching myself how to do so."
"Where are you from?"
"Brergan."
"Ah, that's why," Venden nodded sagely, looking at Fate out of the corner of his eye, his head still facing the ceiling. "Mortals don't do well when faced with a Facet. Their bodies aren't equipped to handle them, and their minds do an even poorer job of it."
"You've been there before?"
"No, but I have a friend who used to live there, some odd years ago. She described the people there as 'as close as family with each other, but like rabid wolves to outsiders.'"
"That sounds like my village. Except they counted me as one of those outsiders. What's her name?"
"Samantha."