Page 52

SIX MONTHS LATER

As I look at the rows of faces seated before me, some excited, some angry, some blank, and some… well, let’s just say that “blank” would be a compliment, I smile. A year ago, if someone had told me I’d had the chance to stop teaching and refused, I would have laughed in their face and called them a liar. It’s amazing the changes a year has wrought, because right now, there’s nowhere I’d rather be.

Except maybe the big tub in my and Jaimin’s rooms.

“Stop smiling at them like a fool. You’re making them nervous,” Sweetie chides. She’s grazing in the stable pasture, but she has no hesitation when it comes to being nosy. If I want her to stay out, I have to put up full mental shields against her—which leads to me being bitten or stepped on the next time I venture to the stables.

“They’re supposed to be nervous,” I tell her. “It helps me keep them in line.” But I do need to get the class started.

“Welcome, all, to the Academy of Mages. You’re here because, for reasons nobody has ever been able to determine, you were born with a Talent, and it happens to be magic. My name is Talon Silverbright, and I’ll be your professor for Introduction to Magic.” I pause and wait for the usual comments about my lack of professorial suitability.

Instead, there’s a hushed intake of air.

“Talon Silverbright?” someone whispers.

“ The Talon Silverbright? The Hero of Vaderyn?”

Oh. That’s unexpected.

“It shouldn’t be,” Leicht says, his tone heavily implying that I’m an idiot for being surprised. “You knew the stories were circulating through Vaderyn. You’ve heard the songs.”

That’s another thing: songs. Some second-rate bard trying to make a name for herself wrote a song about me—even though she barely knew any of the details—and it caught on. Since then, it seems I can rarely walk past a taproom without hearing my name being sung by a drunken crowd. Jaimin thinks it’s hysterical that I can no longer tease him about being the subject of songs, but if I ever find out who leaked my name to the general populace, suspending them upside down over the chasm is the least I’ll do to them. At least nobody knows I’m also Wasianth. That would be a disaster.

“You can call me Professor Silverbright,” I finally reply, and then, since they all seem to be waiting, “But yes, that’s me.”

Excited chatter breaks out, and I frown. This isn’t how today is supposed to go. Am I really not going to have to threaten them to get their respect?

Maybe I’ll still get the chance. “Settle down,” I order, and to my disappointment, an immediate hush falls. Sighing, I move on. “In my experience, there are three types of student in this room right n?—”

A knock interrupts me, and I glance over at the door. “Enter.”

The person who slips in is familiar to me—on this day last year, she complained to the dean about me. “Excuse me, Professor. I have a message for you,” Lenora Bell, aka Farm Girl, says. She and my other surviving students from last year came to see me in the spring, after I’d returned to the academy, to offer their condolences on Tia’s death and talk about Drey. It was nice.

I take the note and ignore the glance she gives at the windows, as though she’s expecting to see someone out there. I don’t tell her I was too. “Thank you, Lenora.”

She grins and leaves, and I glance at the paper in my hand.

Talon—

Arimen has asked us to have lunch with him today. He says he has important things to talk about. Noon in our rooms.

—Jaimin

I have strong suspicions what this will be about, but they’ll have to wait. I have a class to teach.

“As I was saying, there are three types of student here…”

After sending the class to the cafeteria, I make my way through the academy and over the bridge to the healers’ side of the chasm. Despite Jaimin’s worries, I was right that nobody protested the idea of me, a level-2 mage, choosing my own living quarters away from the Academy of Mages. I honestly think some of the masters would have offered to help me move if I’d indicated I needed it… though that might just be because they wanted me farther away. Apparently, me stabbing another mage to death—even though he deserved it—and then standing there holding the dagger, blood all over me, and asking if anyone else was willing to take extreme measures to get questions answered made them all wary of me.

Not so wary that a few didn’t point out that I’d breached some “legalities” by killing Leng before he could be tried. The dragon riders promptly declared that I’d been acting on behalf of the dragons, and under the treaty, no trial was needed for dragons to execute a person who had confessed to a crime against them. I guess Leicht told his story fast, and the dragons gave their riders instructions. Just one small benefit of being part of a dragon prophecy. Another one is that I finally got to see the dragons’ valley.

“Talon?” someone calls, and I turn to see Preet, the dean’s assistant. She’s smirking. “How was class this morning?”

“Unsatisfying,” I tell her, but I can’t hold back my smile.

“So I shouldn’t expect indignant students to make complaints this afternoon?”

I narrow my eyes. “Did you know this would happen? The whole… respect thing?”

Her laugh makes me huff. “The dean and I had our suspicions.”

“You could have warned me!”

She winks. “But that would have taken all the fun out of it.” Sobering, she adds, “Master Eldridge is grateful that you decided to continue teaching. He thinks you’re the best thing that could have happened to the first years. Don’t tell him I told you that.”

“I’m grateful to teach,” I admit. “Turns out, I love it. Don’t tell him I told you that.”

Preet pats my arm. “I understand. And I’ll let you know if I hear any rumors about students falling in love with the Hero of Vaderyn.”

What? My face drops. “ What? Preet, what’s that supposed to mean?”

But she’s already walking away, her laughter floating back to me. She was joking. Of course she was joking.

I’ve convinced myself of that by the time I get to the apartment I now share with Jaimin. We had some small hiccups when I first moved in, even though we’d basically been living together for months at that point. It seems that cohabitating while traveling isn’t the same as when you’re at home and in your usual routine. But we worked it out, and now these rooms, with him, are my favorite place to be.

My family is waiting for me inside, and I grin at them as I slide into my chair at the table. “Sorry I’m late. The students were cooperative, and it threw me off-stride.”

Jaimin and Master Samoine, who know all about my teaching style, laugh. The others look bemused.

Jaimin passes me the platter of roast beef, and I help myself to a serving. “So, Arimen… you wanted to talk to us?”

Our young friend nods solemnly, his face serious. He’s changed a lot from the timid boy I met all those months ago—after everything he’s been through, he’s no longer intimidated so easily. He spent a month in the spring with me and Jaimin in Rebithia, helping us get the estate settled and people back on their feet after the trauma of living with zombies, and that made him very introspective. We offered to take him home, but he declined, saying he needed time to think first, and he’s spent the summer here at the City of Knowledge, talking to every healer, mage, and rider who’ll reply (which was all of them—he’s Arimen of the Heroes now) and studying in the archives with Master Samoine’s guidance. He’s still ridiculously young—only time will change that—but he’s matured a lot.

“Yes. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life. For a while, I was so disillusioned by what the temples did that I gave up on the idea of being a priest. That was hasty—I know that my calling is true. I’m supposed to be a priest, just not the kind who would betray the gods.” He takes a breath. “I’m afraid hubris took me for a while, and I began to build grandiose plans of revolutionizing the temples.”

None of us say anything, and he wrinkles his nose. “It’s okay—I got over that. The truth is, I still have a lot to learn if I’m going to help people. If I’m going to be the kind of priest who inspired me. And I think the best way to do that is to learn from him.” He looks around the table at all our faces and says, “I’m going to go back to the Halyn Isles and finish my service as an acolyte.”

“You’re leaving?” Coryn asks, devastated. “I haven’t finished teaching you to use a sword. And who will read me stories?”

Peiris pats his arm. “He’s a competent swordsman already, and I can read you stories. We can’t hold him back from his destiny because we’ll miss him.”

“It won’t be forever,” Arimen assures them earnestly. “A few years, and I’ll be back on the mainland. And we can visit in the meantime.”

Coryn doesn’t look convinced, but he smiles bravely and nods. He went back to Lenledia in the spring for just long enough to help in Lenle’s cleanup of zombie remains, and then he resigned from the King’s Own Guard and came here to start training dragon riders. I was right that they were grateful to have such a skilled fighter, especially when they saw how comfortable he is around dragons, thanks to Leicht. The dragons themselves love him. He talks to them and pets them and has healthy respect but no fear. Plus, Leicht told them all how Coryn beheaded the high priest of Wasianth for his part in Tia’s death, and that won them over instantly.

Peiris also went home in the spring, but only to update their parents and collect some personal items. They convinced the Imperial Pair to make them an official liaison between the Baswich Empire and the City of Knowledge, to enable information sharing so something like this won’t happen again. Before summer really had a chance to begin, they were here, demanding a voice on the combined council and spending every spare second with Coryn, who welcomed them eagerly. The two of them have been talking recently about adopting a cat.

Privately, Peiris told me that they’d probably have to return to the Empire and take up public duties when their older sibling inherits the Imperial throne, but that won’t be for a long while yet, and they’ve already decided that Coryn will go with them.

I’m just happy to have them all here with me, and I understand how Coryn feels about Arimen leaving. But…

“I think that’s an excellent plan, Arimen. I’ll miss you a lot, but now that you’re comfortable with me talking to you telepathically, we can stay in touch all the time.”

He beams at me. “Exactly! I need to do this if I’m going to be a good priest.” He bites his lip. “I really want to be a good priest.”

“You will be,” Master assures him, and I nod. I don’t tell him that one day, he’s going to be the High Priest of Wasianth. He’s got a long way to go before that happens, but I can feel it in him—he’s going to be my voice in the world.

“When do you want to leave?” Jaimin asks. “We’ll have a party to send you off.”

I swear, Arimen’s eyes get glassy. “Really? Do you think anyone will come?”

“Everyone will come,” I assure him. “They like you.” Even if they didn’t, I’d make them come.

“I-I was thinking… in a couple of weeks? I don’t want to be traveling in bad weather, and winter sets in earlier up north.”

Master nods. “That’s a very sensible decision. We’ll get you supplied, then, and make your travel arrangements—and plan the party.”

“Let’s have a toast,” Coryn says abruptly, standing. “To Arimen, who’s going to make so many lives better.”

Arimen flushes but can’t hide his happy smile, and the rest of us raise our glasses.

“To Arimen!”

That evening, long after our friends have gone back to their rooms and Jaimin and I have finished our duties for the day, we recline in the bathtub, wrapped in each other’s arms, and watch the sun set over the mountains through the big windows.

“Are you really okay with Arimen going?” he asks me quietly, and I sigh.

“I’m going to miss him. And worry, a lot. But this is his path, and he needs to forge it. We might want to plan a trip to the Isles soon, though.”

“How about in the spring?” the love of my life suggests. “It’s far enough in the future that he won’t feel like we’re checking up on him, and it means you won’t need to leave the academy this winter.”

He knows me so well. “Yes. I’m never traveling in winter again if I can avoid it.” I turn my head to kiss his neck. “I love you.”

“I love you too. And I’ll still love you when I ask why you’ve been slacking off with your studies.”

The sound that comes from my mouth is part surprised laugh, part annoyed sigh. “Ugh. I should have known you’d notice.”

“Your master has too. Do you want to talk about it?”

I shrug restlessly, and the warm water sloshes around us. “It’s foolish. I… last year, I had these plans. Ambitions. I was going to attain level-3 in three years, and be the youngest-ever mage to achieve mastery. I was… obsessed with it, as though it would make my mastery more valuable because I earned it young.”

“It’s not an uncommon goal, though,” he points out.

“I know. But after everything that’s happened this year, I don’t need it anymore. It’s okay if it takes me a little longer to get there—I’d rather enjoy my life along the way. If I hadn’t been so caught up in my studies, I could have spent more time with Tia before I lost her.”

Jaimin’s silent for a moment, and I relax into his hold. The sun will be all the way down soon, and then the stars will start to come out. I can warm the water a little, and we can stay here for?—

“That is the stupidest thing you’ve ever said to me, and you’ve said a lot of stupid things.”

My mood shatters. “What?”

“If you hadn’t studied so much, you could have spent more time with Tia? Talon, what exactly do you think your sister would have said if you’d foregone studying for any reason?”

“She—”

“Remember, I knew her.”

I close my mouth, and laughter from Leicht and Sweetie echoes through my mind. Blocking the nosy creatures out, I try again. “Okay, if I’d really slacked off, she would have told me to study, but?—”

“No. No buts. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy your life—as the person who hopes to be enjoying it with you, I encourage that. I love these quiet evenings together, and sneaking out in the middle of the day for picnic lunches. I like riding with you in the early mornings. We’ll still do all that, but you also need to decide if achieving mastery is what you want. Because if it’s not, staying here and halfheartedly studying is a waste of your Talent, your brain, and your time. It’s an insult to your master and to every mage here who’s working their ass off to progress. And it’s an insult to Tia’s memory to drag her into your excuses.”

Every word is a blow, but it’s like I needed those slaps to come to my senses. He’s right. Tia would be so mad with me right now.

I’m mad with me right now.

Shit happened this year. A lot of it, and I can never come back from some of it. I’m not the same person anymore, and not just because I’m also a god. But that doesn’t change who I am on the most fundamental level, and that’s a mage. It’s who I’ve always been, what I’ve always wanted.

I glance at the shelf to our left, where the stone sits. It’s just a rock now—the consciousness of creation, the thing that made it the life stone, faded from it when I killed Leng. One minute, it was there, and the next, everyone who looked at it could tell it was just a chunk of rock. I kept it anyway.

It reminds me of who I am, deep down inside, and of the sacrifices that were made this year.

I smile. “You’re right. I’ll apologize to Master in the morning and make a plan to get refocused. I can’t make level-3 in three years anymore—that timeline has ended—but I can still be the youngest master ever.” And a god, and the only mage to be a dragon rider, and the Hero of Vaderyn.

Watch out, world. Talon Silverbright is back.

Thanks for reading Grave Situation ! I hoped you loved Talon and his team of misfits as much as I do.