Noble felt a little uncomfortable under Julius's stern gaze. His eyes always looked too kind, it was strange to see them have such intensity.
"Nothing is on my mind in particular. I mostly just wanted to check in like I said I would. I have missed seeing you." Noble appreciated the guidance of her mentor over the years.
Did she only ever come when she needed something?
"You have spoken to your mother?" Julius asked, his words tentative.
"Every day since I got back. Why?" Noble tilted her head curiously.
"Did she mention anything in particular that you might like to talk about?" The older gentleman pressed.
"What do you mean?" Noble scrunched her face, garnering a soft sigh from her mentor.
He smiled weakly. "I seem to have misunderstood the reason for your visit. I had assumed you were here for more than a social call. Forgive this old man and let me try again. Good morning, Noble! How are you doing on this fine day?"
The professor smiled warmly at him. The survivalist expert could be a little eccentric at times, but he always meant well.
"My therapist said I am coping well," Noble responded half-jokingly.
"I am glad you are talking to one," Julius told her. "Many of my contemporaries did not understand the importance of mental health until it was too late."
He paused for a moment of silence, and Noble wondered briefly just how many of his friends had broken under the pressure of the trauma. Then he blinked and came back to the present, his face brightening like he was coming out of a daze.
"Yes, it's very good for you to take care of yourself. I hope you won't stop seeking help just because you are back at work."
"Considering that the person I have been seeing virtually works at the Academy, I doubt he will let me fall through the cracks. I will probably transition to in-person sessions instead." Noble hadn't wanted to leave the house before, but now that she was back at work, it made more sense to plan appointments around her new schedule.
"Good girl. Or should I say, Master Noble?" Julius's eyes crinkled as he dipped his head deferentially.
"There is no need to stand on formalities and you know it," Noble chuckled. "But if you really want to be correct, I suppose you could call me by my True Name."
Julius's eyes grew a little wider. "Lena mentioned you had gotten one but wouldn't tell me what it was. She said you should have that honor."
"May I?" Noble motioned to a blank sheet of synthetic paper on Julius's desk. He passed it and a writing utensil over for the professor to use.
She sketched a few runes on the page before handing it across the table.
"This is what the Spell wrote. It's translated as "Child of Promise."
The old man's bushy eyebrows nearly shot to his forehead. Noble smiled. That was the reaction she had been hoping for.
While she could do some basic translation, like she had with Theo's message, Noble was nowhere near fluent. Julius, on the other hand, was an expert.
Her mentor loved runes. And new ones always gave him a childlike quality to his face.
"Interesting! Most interesting!" He muttered.
Pulling out a booklet of handwritten notes from a drawer, he thumbed through many pages until he came to the one he desired. Then he spent many moments in silent contemplation, comparing the professor's writing to his own.
"You are sure this line is right there?" he asked without judgment.
Noble closed her eyes to focus on the runes behind the Spell's translation. "It is perhaps a tad more straight down than what I drew, but yes."
"Fascinating..." Julius smiled at the page, his eyes glistening.
"Care to tell me what has you looking like a child in a sugar shack?" Noble hid her amusement behind a scowl.
"Yes, of course. It is your True Name after all. Child of Promise is one translation of it, but I find the second one more interesting." Julius turned the page around for her to see. "This symbol can mean child or progeny, but it can also refer to one who receives an inheritance. And this one was the one I had to check on. It does mean promise, but it is also an alternative rune for hope."
"Hope? Like the Demon of Hope?" Noble knew of the Kingdom of Hope and had read about its tragic ending.
Demons didn't have lineages, at least not to Noble's knowledge, so having a True Name referring to one would be unheard of as well.
Julius shook his head. "It's a different rune. That kind of hope like the mysterious being is often better translated as desire. This kind of hope is when you look forward to something that you believe will happen. Like a promise."
"Which is why the Spell translated it to promise rather than hope." Noble understood.
The teacher nodded slowly, his smile growing wider. "Exactly. But I will disagree with the Spell. Or at the very least, I want to amend its translation. You are not just Child of Promise. You are Inheritor of Hope."
Inheritor of Hope. The words resonated in her core for reasons she could not explain.
"I am the inheritor of a hope-filled promise?"
"Seems so." Julius's eyes glistened.
"The Spell brings death and destruction. What kind of hope can it possibly promise to me or anyone else?" Noble had survived two Nightmares.
If she wanted to transcend, that would mean yet another hellish trial. That promised pain and hardship, not hope.
"I don't know," her mentor answered, "But I'm excited to find out."
Excitement. Noble didn't feel excited.
She felt burdened. What hope could she possibly bring to the world?
She thought of her newest attribute [Kingdom Keeper]. Though a seemingly passive quality, it also placed some responsibility on her for keeping others safe.
That was a tall order. One that Noble wasn't sure she could fulfill.
"I am proud of you," Julius leaned forward and offered his hand in congratulations.
As Noble took his hand, she felt something change inside her. It was the same warmth she had felt during her interview with Teddy.
A loud bang sounded overhead. The tile from the ceiling came crashing down, landing in the chair behind Julius and splintering the seat. It had all happened so fast that neither of them even registered what was happening until it was over.
Julius's eyes went wide as he moved out of the way and they both looked up.
While the alloy exterior of the building was exceptionally strong to defend against attack, the ceiling between floors was made of more mundane material. Cracks were now lining the ceiling and a piece of it was missing to reveal the synthetic wood of the floor above them.
Noble gasped and immediately used her Ability to hold up any other parts of the tile that might decide to follow the first.
She turned wide eyes on Julius. "Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine." Julius furrowed his brow. "I told them this would happen! That visiting lecturer is just too strong. Even his footsteps have been causing cracks in the ceiling since last week!"
"We should probably get out of here and let maintenance know. I would hate for the rest of the tiles to come crashing down on your head." Noble glanced up, pretty sure at least one more was ready to fall. She held it in place.
Julius nodded and headed toward the door. "I'm lucky you were here. If I hadn't felt compelled to shake your hand, that would have struck me across the forehead!"
Noble remembered the moment before the ceiling collapsed. She paled. Maybe, just maybe…luck had nothing to do with it.