The Academy started each new Year on the first day of October. Ciaran and his class were second Year students now. It was not a big accomplishment, as more than ninety-five percent of the students passed the first year. The real difficulty started once the children wanted to pass into Year four.
The ceremony for the beginning of school was massive, every student from years one to three were forced to attend. All of them were accompanied by their family. This was one of the few instances where Ciaran could see his family.
And they were there, both his father and his mother. They were attending as Rayon's guardians, all he had to do was step up to them and say hi, and yet he couldn't.
He eyed them from the Maze, hidden by his sister's spell. Eleftherios was next to him, keeping one of his arms on the boy's shoulder. On his other shoulder stood his loyal familiar, in her tiny normal spider form. As his most loyal follower, she made it her duty to always protect his master, and through their bond, she could feel just how much pain, watching those humans in the distance had caused him.
"You don't have to do this, you know. We can just turn around and leave, there will be other chances." Eleftherios told him.
The boy looked up at him and smiled his eyes sad and lifeless.
"I can't back down now, less we got in trouble with Sis for nothing."
In the time he got to know them, Ciaran learned just how much Verdania hated humans. She was very vocal in her opposition to their plan and told them the boy was not ready for this meeting, but they went anyway, and she didn't stop them.
They couldn't see her, but she was watching them, and she was still upset. Ciaran knew she was right, he couldn't face them, not directly in front of a crowd anyway. He once thought he had his emotions on a leash, but his confidence in that had dwindled.
Neither party could afford a tantrum in public, so he came up with a plan. His great master plan was to ask his teacher for help. He asked Mrs. Elizabeth Parker to invite his parents to his small bedroom in the Academy.
She was most surprised by that of course. Her student rarely showed his serious side, rarer still asking her for anything.
She did not miss, how he said he did not want to be in public. Sadly for her, she misunderstood. She thought he did not want to cause trouble with the Empire because of his supposed exile in the Academy. She told him it would be no trouble, but she would ask for the favor returned during the school year.
A surprising deal for the boy, but not unfavorable. His teacher had a stick as thick as a tree up her ass, but she was not a bad person. Hell, he would even go as far as to call her kind, when she wasn't nagging him at least.
And so the ceremony passed and the guests were leaving.
"Mr. and Mrs. Clades, could I interest you in a tour of the Academy? I am sure young Rayon would like to rendezvous with his two friends over there." Mrs. Elizabeth Parker called out to them and then pointed at Sunny and Clara.
The Clades were smart people, they immediately realized what she was asking them to do, and left shortly. The kids were a little sad Ciaran didn't see them on the first day, but they were happy the family would be reunited.
When they got to the room, the old woman simply left, leaving them in privacy.
Camille was trying her best to remain calm, but she was shaking, terrified to even knock on the door. Liam seemed calmer, but if one looked deeper one would see the man was frozen in fear. They stood and stood until the door opened on its own.
And there he stood, a boy seven years of age. He had grown at least ten centimeters in height (3.9 inches). His body no longer looked disproportioned, and even if you could not call him handsome, he was at least not the ugliest kid in school, not anymore at least.
"Well now, there must be a limit to humility guys. You can't just stand in front of my door all day, please come in." He said with his most charming smile.
And so they did, not even daring to breathe. They entered and they stood, this time inside their son's small room, still unable to face his eyes directly.
Despite his false bravado, Ciaran was about to have a panic attack, he wanted to talk to them, but now that they were here, now that he had them where no one could see, he was choking.
He closed the door, his back to them, barely keeping his breathing steady. He would have loved nothing else than to lose control and hyperventilate, at least then his brain might finally have the necessary oxygen needed for this conversation. Alas, his body denied him even that little courtesy.
And so all three of them stood, unmoving like statues.
"Ok, that is enough. This is why I told you, you need to wait for a little longer kid." Verdania materialized out of nowhere, hugging the boy from behind.
All three of them were startled, but Ciaran let out a deep breath. This was still going to be a very difficult conversation, but having someone so powerful literally at your back, had this way of bringing in calm.
They walked to the bed. It was a funny sight to see, the boy walking slowly, while the woman kept him in a tight hug, her eyes glaring at his parents. The fact that she was still posturing as if she kept any of her graceful image only made the scene more comical, but nobody laughed.
"So I hear you have been keeping things from me. Before you start talking, I had a deal with Big Sis Verdania not to ask what you have done to me; I just know I am not your biological son. And, just to be clear here, I still think of you as my parents, fuck the blood. You raised me, you get to be burdened with the responsibility of the title of my parents."
"Now don't think I don't resent you, because I do, very much so. I don't know what you did to me, to hide me from whomever you were hiding me from, but it messed me up. It messed me up really bad. Big Sis over here has been trying her hardest for almost a year now, and I am not even close to being healed. Every treatment is torture, every drop of blood burns in a slightly new way. I never get used to it, you know, the pain is always just slightly different than before, so I can never be prepared for it."
"But I will heal, and I understand that you did this, not because you wanted to, but because you HAD to. I understand that you chose to cut me because if you didn't I would be dead. But I still resent you. I tried to forgive, I really did. Logic dictates that you did the best in a bad situation, and I understand, but please understand when I tell you, I STILL cannot forgive you. My very body reminds me that I can't. "
"I can't promise you that I will. All I can promise is that I will try. I will try to heal. I will try to forgive. And I want to try to be your son again; this I can promise you is one of my greatest wishes. But it will take time. Years, decades maybe. I can't give you a date, but I will try to make it take as little as possible." He said.
The boy said every word slowly, with as much clarity as he could muster behind his tears. After he went silent everyone but Verdania was crying. Her face remained stone cold, but her fingers were clenching Ciaran's clothes, she was on the brink of returning this room to the ice age, but she held, if barely.
In the boy's soul, Ariadne cried to be let out, but her Master kept her within. He loved his parents, but he could not trust them with his secrets, not anymore.
"Thank you, Ciaran. Please know, that Camille and I love you. We always have, and always will. Your response is largely understandable, and we will respect your choice, but I am a greedy man, so I will ask you to consider one last thing. Your mother didn't know what I did, I didn't tell her. She learned from The Pale Lady, just like you. If you must hate, hate me, but please, please do not cut her out of your life" Liam said, as he fell to his knees.
It had been a long time since he had kneeled before anyone. One was to know that The Merchant didn't even need to bow to The Emperor, but now he was bowing his head to the floor.
"Ok." Was all he could squeeze out before Verdania teleported them to the Maze, where the boy lost control and wailed like a wounded beast for hours, until he fell asleep in her arms, eyes still wet.
"He will need the dreamless spell again."
"Next time when I tell you our little brother isn't ready to face mental turmoil, you WILL listen to me Eleftherios. Because my heart broke today, and I almost ended those bastards then and there. I held today, but I will not next time." She said as they both watched the boy sleep, each in their own thoughts.