Morning came, and with it came training.
During that time, Ming categorically refused to separate from Ezera by even a single inch. Ezera let him be, fully aware he would be leaving soon enough. He hadn't managed to persuade himself to do it at dawnbreal.
This caring teacher needed one last reassurance, after all.
Throughout the morning, Ezera sat against the wall with Ming pressed against his side, reading another chapter of the mysterious array volume. He was confident he could find something in this that would satisfy Ming's request.
That didn't stop him from attentively watching his students as they ran through their drills, practiced their basic moves and learned new spells or tactics.
He cheered too, for them.
Dereck was there too, of course, and Ezera memorized his features when the knight wasn't looking. Even though the man was one of the Queen's most trusted knights, going as far as to be qualified of childhood friend, Ezera trusted the red-haired knight to love and nurture the children in his stead for a time.
He didn't know how much Dereck knew of the high priest's schemes. It made him anxious, even though he knew the other would never hurt a child. He had come to appreciate the students as a teacher just as Ezera did.
So. Ezera trusted Dereck, but this wasn't something he could entrust him with casually.
His eyes narrowed in thoughts, but he looked away before Dereck could spot him.
By chance, his gaze met that of Ernst. His powerful stare was piercing through the professor, unreadable as ever. Ezera smiled at him slightly, but didn't wait for him to turn away. He had long since learned Ernst wasn't one to tame his attention for the sake of conventions. Thus, he looked away first.
Ernst was one of the students that would never be fine with the use of the scrying lens, along with Yuga as a matter of fact. Shanon was much the same. Ernst was a lone wolf, one that was always alert, but not in the same way as Yuga was. It worried Ezera, that some of them remained inaccessible to his reach.
But he had already made up his mind.
The rest of the day, went on too quickly, for Ezera. By the time it was time for him to teach his class the day's lesson, he had abandoned the idea altogether.
"Say, kiddos?" He said instead. "What about a game?"
They looked at each other.
"What game?" Helene asked somewhat timidly.
"Mh... First, follow me. Let's go to the training all, see if it's empty right now."
It was indeed empty. Ezera felt like, ever since his class had arrived, the knights had moved to another place to practice. It was convenient for him.
"So what are we playing."
"Let's see. Where was that ball you all played with in the forest?"
The rules of the game were simple. Ezera would count slowly to thirty, and the students had to spread out and throw the ball at each other. If one didn't catch it right with both hands, one would lose. On another hand, the one who had the ball at the end of the thirty seconds would lose too.
"Come on, spread out everyone!" Ezera clapped in his hands, grinning as he did.
They listened.
"Wait," Hiro frowned, "What happens to the loser?"
"I'll quiz them," Ezera didn't miss a beat.
Only groans answered him.
"Are you ready? Come on, start up! One, two three..."
At first, they had a slow rythme, passing the ball around at random. But then, in the last five seconds, they realized they had to get rid of the ball. The time limit made some of them nervous, which might have been why Alexandra fumbled three seconds to the end of the countdown.
"I lost," she sighed.
"Don't worry, you'll do better next time," Ezera comforted her. "That is, if you answer the question correctly. Tell me then, what was Pascal's point of view regarding the Universe compared to man?"
"I should have never chosen Philosophy as my specialty."
"Don't worry, it'll be a math question next time."
"That's worse!"
Hiro thought too much, he was the next one to fail catching the ball. This time, Ezera did ask him a math question, which he answered without difficulty. Soon enough, he found them breaking out in teams, and they were coming up with a point counting system more intricate than anything he could have imagined himself.
Saemi lost the fifth round, because she wasn't fast enough to get rid of the ball.
"How many times did Lyndala go at war with Luversten in History?"
"Seven times?"
He lauded her for her studious memory.
Eventually, he stopped counting every second. Instead, he reminded them every ten seconds, and he only counted down the last five seconds. It put them on edge.
His students took this opportunity to carry out a conversation.
"Why does this feel like an exam?" Yuga grumbled dubiously.
"Don't be that way," Ezera sing-sang. "Who says I didn't just want to spend some time with my favorite students? Ten."
"We're your only students."
"Then it makes sense."
Lina received perfectly, and unhurriedly passed to Suzuka.
"Alan said Professor made a friend though."
"Oh! Congratulations!"
These brats spoke as though they saw him as an asocial.
"I'd punish you for insubordination if I wasn't so distracted by your inherent cuteness," he said, "Twenty. And just because I make friends doesn't mean my students aren't my favorite!"
They mostly ignored him.
"But seriously, a friend? Are we talking about sir Dowmrish?"
"No we're not."
"Uh? But he's the only one who actually respect Professor out there. The others are just creeps."
"Hey!"
"Ah, I wasn't saying that to offend you, Onyx!" Hymei corrected herself immediately. "It's just that..."
"Five."
"Oh shit."
"Four."
"Language."
Hymei fought off a smile.
"I was saying that because Professor's not easy to approach sometimes?"
"Three."
"That's so weak, Mei."
"Kai, I swear, if you open your mouth again..."
"Two."
"What are you gonna do? I'm stronger than you!"
"One."
She sent the ball flying at him.
Needless to say he lost that game.
"That's cheating!"
"What's the difference between a democratic and a republican government?"
"I didn't even take that specialty!"
It was also needless to say that Kai didn't know how to answer.
Therefore, Kai was eliminated.
"That's all your fault, Mei!"
She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Start again. One!"
"No, but seriously. I just feel like they don't like us a lot around here?"
"Like we need their approval," huffed Shuna.
Ezera blinked. That was uncharacteristic of her. Most of them looked at her for a solid five seconds after that.
"What? It's true! As long as sir Dowmrish is here with Professor, and maybe the Scribe apprentices... Ah, and the Cook. She's nice... Do we need to pay attention to what they think?"
"Ten," Ezera almost forgot to count.
Alexandra smirked.
"You're right. Who cares about them! As long as they don't seem suspicious."
"How suspicious?"
"'I'm gonna brainwash you' type suspicious."
"Twenty."
Luca hummed thoughtfully.
"Though I don't think that's going to happen," he said as he looked quickly for someone to pass the ball to. "Did you see that elegant knight the other day? With glasses? He said he was checking on Onyx' swordsmanship. Sir Dowmrish stayed polite, but he didn't even let him get close to us."
Ezera found himself grateful, remembering that instance. He hadn't been there personally, but Ashera's memory of it echoed in his mind. He hadn't been able to hear the other man from there, because of how far Ashera had stood. Dereck's actions reassured Ezera, knowing the knight kept his promise to keep the children safe, for Ezera's sake and probably their own too. They were safe with him, he thought.
"Five."
"Give it here!"
"Four."
"Argh, I had it!"
Ezera smiled at Alan.
"What was Japan's level of integration in the mondialisation in the first half of the 19's and why?"
"That's... You're doing it on purpose."
Of course, Alan was a model student and answered mostly correctly.
"Say," Alexandra said after a while. "That we finish high school and want to go traveling."
"I don't see why you can't?"
Ming hummed.
"Professor said we should send him regular letters," he commented in a murmur.
"Of course!" Alexandra exclaimed indignated. "I'd never forget about Professor Gemstone! I'd write him letters every week and I'd tell him the epic adventures I travel through!"
"You would ask him to solve your troubles, wouldn't you?"
"Never!" she took exagerated offense, belied by her wide smile. "He'll need only sit in his comfy couch and read how I solved them on my own. The only thing he'll need to write back he's that he's proud of me and welcome me when I come back to eat at his house!"
That generated a round of laughers, even as Suzuka buried herself in her thoughts.
Ezera halted on that thought for a while.
I'd only need to write that I'm proud of them and welcome them when they come back.
That's...
It dawned on him that it wasn't the role of a teacher at all.
Not in the slightest.
"Okay," he agreed.
They didn't really see him as such.
He should have known. They were so unruly. Of course they didn't follow the rules.
And they would come back, he thought.
Suddenly, he didn't know why he had been so anxious.
He looked at them as they played around. They were growing nicely, blooming here, even if not in their original world, under the attention of their friends and attached caretakers. They knew how to defend themselves. They felt safe. They spoke of the future.
They saw him in their futures, even though he wouldn't be their teacher anymore.
Mh. Perhaps that was a lie.
He would always be their Professor Gemstone.
***
"Hey."
He looked up, seeing Kai in front of him. The confident boy stood there, his hand extended toward Ezera.
"Gimme."
Ezera blinked. Then, he fished a scrying lens out of his pocket and flicked it at Kai. Kai caught it, and smirked.
"I'll show you the results of my work. Just you watch."
Just like that, he left again.
Ezera smiled ruefully. He had such temperamental children, he thought as he made his way in the tunnels.
Yes. They would handle themselves just fine. And it's not like those were goodbyes forever.
Ilya was waiting for him, at the entrance of the dungeon. He needn't ask if Ezera was ready. Ezera smiled at him, like one would a well known partner.
"Let's go."
He was reassured.
The next instant, they had disappeared.
Twenty-eight days have passed, since the Heroes' arrival.
The New Moon rises once again.
[ End of First Act ]