Carla had of course known that Valar’s mental state wasn’t the best, that was clear for anyone to see. That expression of his though… She had seen something in his eyes that she couldn’t explain. The vulnerability, the pain; they weren’t something she had seen in anyone’s eyes, let alone a thirteen-year-old boy’s.

  He was evidently way more troubled than she had ever thought, but that made at least a certain level of sense. He hadn’t talked much about his awakening, probably even lying about the circumstances surrounding it. It was safe to assume that something traumatic had happened to Valar in addition to the panther attack, but to react so badly when somebody just asked about it. That was bad.

  Carla’s thoughts ran their course as she walked around the area looking for a good street vendor, eventually spotting one who sold rolls of bread with spiced sausage. She ordered two, paid the ten or so coppers and began walking back to her newest teammate.

  Frankly, Carla wasn’t even sure if Valar was the worst case in the team—at least mentally. Ciel was pretty fucked up, and despite Arthur’s outward demeanor, he wasn’t fine either. As a matter of fact, Carla didn’t think herself fine either, but she wasn’t nearly as bad as the others. Okay, Rodrick is way more stable than me, but the others are nutcases, the whole lot of them!

  When Carla reached the boy, he was sitting on the bench with both of his eyes closed. She could see the marks of tears that had dried just minutes ago, but didn’t say a word before she sat down beside him.

  “Sausage roll?” were the first words that escaped Carla’s mouth. She couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at her own expense. That’s the best thing I could come up with? Maybe I am as bad as the others, after all…

  Valar opened his eyes and gave her a small smile as he grabbed the sausage roll from her hand. “Thanks.”

  They fell back into silence as they ate their breakfast. Despite the somber mood, it was actually quite nice. But they had something to do, and the day wasn’t going to last forever.

  “Let’s go?”

  “Let’s go.”

  As they walked the main avenue leading to the Western district of Lyndale, Valar buried the memories of pain and suffering back down to the deepest recesses of his brain. It was difficult mental work, and he was pretty sure that it wasn’t a good fix at all, but it was all that he had. Frankly, he didn’t know how he should deal with the experiences other than what he was doing right now.

  It’s the best I can do, but it clearly isn’t nearly enough. A boy on the street managed to draw out those memories, and it wasn’t even his intention…

  It wasn’t all bad, though. Earlier, when he had sat down on the bench and delved deep inside himself, Valar had felt his wound radiating out the abhorrent burning pain that Valar subconsciously always tried to block out. However, when he had managed to start burying those memories and purged them from his thoughts, the wound calmed down to almost normal levels of pain. It wasn’t as good as it had been, but it wasn’t much worse.

  That gave him confirmation on something he had been already suspecting: The burning pain caused by his wound was altered by his own emotions.

  He had noticed before that he could feel the burning pain much more easily when he was feeling sad or disappointed in himself. Conversely, when he was happy the pain could almost be forgotten entirely. The only thing that he wasn’t sure about was if the pain actually rose in intensity. I could just be focusing on it more when I’m feeling negative, but that doesn’t feel like it tracks…

  “Smile a little,” Carla squeezed Valar’s shoulder as they walked through the avenue. “You look like you saw a ghost, and that ghost was a kitten murdering ghost that murdered cute kittens-”

  Valar chuckled, a small smile staying on his face afterward. “Okay, okay, I get it. No more brooding…”

  “That’s the spirit! Wouldn’t want to be all doom and gloom when we go to meet your professor, would you?”

  Valar shook his head. “She wouldn’t be happy, I think. How do we get in though?”

  “We can try to get in using your link to her, but I suspect that will fail unless she or her niece spots you, but I’ve got a different idea. I have a name too, you know?”

  “Your name… Thorn, was it?”

  Carla released a mighty sigh and rubbed her eyes in clear annoyance. “Can I assume that you have absolutely no clue about Leorian politics?”

  “The royals are on top?”

  “You framed that as a question, didn’t you?” Now Carla’s face was fully buried in her hands, the woman miraculously avoiding collisions with other pedestrians even though she was walking blind. “You might be worse than Arthur…”

  She removed her hands from her face, slapped herself once, and started speaking. “As you already suspected, the royals are at the top of the Leorian hierarchy. The king is obviously the highest authority, the queen right below him but above everyone else. Next up are their sons and daughters, seventeen in total. All of them aren’t public figures, but you can assume that each one is a powerhouse in both influence and personal power.”

  “Yeah, I’ve met one,” Valar nodded. “Arwen is a pretty nice guy.”

  “Wait, huh?” Carla turned her head so fast Valar feared it would cause whiplash. “You’ve met the youngest prince? Where?”

  “He had access to the same private areas at the royal academy as I and Zeke did,” Valar explained. “Oh, you don’t know Zeke! He’s an abstract-.”

  “Stop right there,” Carla raised her hands in surrender. “Even though I’m highly interested in both of those people, we were discussing political hierarchies. If we continue in this direction, I’ll just end up asking questions from you for the rest of the day.”

  “Yeah, that wouldn’t be good, I guess,” Valar said. “Can you continue with the politics stuff?”

  “Politics stuff, he says…” Carla muttered. “So, what do you think is below the royals?”

  “Big noble houses?”

  Carla sighed in relief. “Okay, you’re not as bad as Arthur. In truth, it depends. If you’re talking about politics in Rhondell specifically, the city council holds a lot of power, but the houses are in charge with matters that deal with the whole nation. Here’s where we get to my family. How big do you think a house needs to be in order to have a city named after them?”

  “Pretty big?”

  “Really big,” Carla chuckled dryly. “The Thorn house has hundreds of members, ranging from children and iron rankers to even a couple onyx rankers. The current patriarch of the house, my grandfather Aremir Thorn, leads both his city and house with an iron fist.”

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  “Is he an ice mage like you?” Valar asked.

  Valar was reminded of Rodrick’s comment on Carla’s past as her smile faltered for a brief second. She schooled her face back to a smile—this time a bit forced—before speaking once more. I shouldn’t ask more about her family, that’s for sure.

  “No, he’s not,” Carla ground out. “Most of my family are fire mages, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to pry deeper into that rabbit hole.”

  Valar nodded. “I won’t, that I can promise. We can skip over your family and continue with the politics lesson.”

  “No,” Carla said. “We just won’t delve into personal stuff. The politics side of my house is just fine,” she took a calming breath, then continued. “The Thorn house can be considered to be right below the royal family, just as the Ralins of Kilras, Mortons of Rosthorn and Daltons of Lyndale, although the Daltons could be considered to be above the others due to owning the Rhondell bank.”

  “Ralins of Kilras, Mortons of Rosthorn? I’ve never heard of those. Also, are the Daltons in charge of Lyndale? I never knew!”

  “Wait, you lived ten years in Lyndale and didn’t know the noble house that led it?” Carla stared at Valar, gobsmacked. “Gods above... As for the Mortons and Ralins, they are big houses just as the Thorn house. They specialize in different fields, but you can assume that all of those houses compete at the same level, although the Daltons are clearly winning. There are different city owning houses, but the cities they rule are smaller and less influential, like the Vitans of Vilfrost.”

  “Where is that?”

  Carla let out a long suffering sigh. “If you head north to Thornton from here, you’ll go through Vilfrost, okay? Now, the last part of our little lesson, the smaller houses. There are many smaller houses, but the ones you’ll recognize by name are the Wendirs and Livrens.”

  “I think I get the point… maybe,” Valar mumbled. “They move in lower circles of influence, so a member of a bigger house would be highly respected?”

  “Yes, you’re not brainless like Arthur!” Carla raised a fist in the air. “That’s exactly what I’m getting at! I can’t just waltz into their estate, but if I ask nicely enough, I think they’ll at least hear us out, okay?”

  “That’s better than my idea,” Valar nodded. “Let’s do that.”

  “And what would that idea have been?”

  “Climb the fence and yell for Elaine?”

  “I take back my words, you’re as bad as him. Arthur and you are doomed…”

  Even though the Lyndale house was only a minor one, the estate was absolutely massive. The fenced off area spanned two full city blocks, the mansion in the middle of the estate taking up at least one of them with its bulk. It was a building that could house tens, if not hundreds, of guests, and that was reflected in the opulent surroundings.

  The gardens of the estate were filled with exotic flowers, statues and small trees that looked like they had been shaped by magic to form complex shapes and even a modest pavilion surrounded by a small pond. In that pavilion sat a woman with a familiar face, enjoying a cup of tea.

  “That’s her!” Valar whispered. “That’s Elaine!”

  “Really? That’s Miracle? Call for her!”

  “What if she doesn’t want to see me?”

  “Of course she wants to see you! Yell or I’ll yell!”

  “You are yelling already,” Elaine’s voice froze the pair in their tracks. “I can hear you just fine.”

  “Oh, right,” Carla mumbled. “She’s a gold ranker, of course she would…”

  “I can still hear you,” Elaine’s chuckle suddenly moved closer as she moved to the fence at gold ranked speed. “What are you doing here Valar? Have you even graduated yet?”

  A beaming smile appeared on Valar’s face. “Yes! I joined team Cookie Sandwich just under a week ago! My first contract was to escort a caravan to Lyndale!”

  Will she even be happy to see me? She’s surely stressed out and-.

  “Well then, it’s lovely to see you both,” Elaine smiled down at the pair of short adventures. “My name is Elaine Livren, and yes, my former adventuring name is Miracle. I know who Valar is, but who might you be, young lady?”

  “Carla Thorn, nice to meet you! I’m a big fan!”

  “Nice to hear,” Elaine winked and Valar felt his stomach lurch. Suddenly, he and Carla were standing on the other side of the fence with Elaine right in front of them. “Come enjoy a cup of tea with me, and we can talk.”

  Elaine led the pair of young adventurers to the pavilion she had been sitting in. Two steaming hot cups of tea were waiting for them, as were comfortable garden chairs made of the same weird wood the pavilion itself was made of.

  “I made it myself. Do you like it?”

  “The tea?” Carla asked.

  Elaine let out a lighthearted chuckle. “Oh, that was made by the wonderful staff of the Livren estate. I was talking about the pavilion.”

  What? The pavilion? Did she use life magic?

  “Yes, Valar, I used life magic to aid in the creation of this pavilion and many other things in this garden. All of these constructions are my creations from the past two weeks. Now, I'm assuming that you didn’t wander to this area of the city randomly. Did you want to see me?”

  Valar gave the woman, ostensibly in her early thirties, a shy nod as he continued looking around the garden filled with all kinds of decorations made from wood just like the pavilion. I could create stuff like this? This garden is beautiful!

  “Did you have something specific in mind, or did you just want to come and talk? I have some free time left, but I need to head back inside soon. I have a duty to uphold, you see.”

  “Healing your grandfather? I remember, yeah,” Valar said. “How is it going?”

  A frown came upon the healer’s face. “Not well, not well at all,” she let out a sigh. “But that was always to be expected anyway. It wasn’t a surprise.”

  “How so?” Valar asked. “Your grandfather falling ill sounds unlikely at best.”

  “You’re right. He’s a silver ranker, so falling ill to all but the nastiest illnesses should have been impossible,” Elaine explained. “You said that you were one of the Thorns, Carla, was it? Can you offer an explanation for our young friend?”

  Carla nodded uncertainly. “I think I know what you’re talking about. It sounds a lot like what happened to my great-great-uncle a while back. He has decided to pass on, am I right?”

  “Exactly,” Elaine sipped her tea and slumped in her chair. “Normally, I would be able to heal his illness with a spell or two. I’ve managed far more miraculous feats in the past, but nothing seems to work with old Kenneth.”

  “Why is that?” Valar asked. “Is the illness magically amplified? Maybe it’s the work of some powerful death mage?”

  That got a small chuckle out of the woman. “No, that’s not the case at all. Besides, death magic would’ve been far quicker. If something, this would have been the work of a gold ranked poison mage, but it isn’t. You see, my grandfather Kenneth Livren has already given up.”

  “Given up? But that shouldn’t affect your ability to heal him at all!”

  Elaine frowned deeply and rubbed her chin in serious thought. “It seems that I need to give you an impromptu lesson on life magic. Come with me.”

  She rose up from the chair, brushed her robe clean of dust and debris and motioned toward Carla and Valar. “Come come! What are you waiting for?”

  “Can we even come in?” Carla asked as she rose from the comfortable garden chair. “We weren’t invited and…”

  “Don’t get cold feet now,” Elaine smiled down at the young woman. “I’m inviting you in right now. This will be a useful lesson for you both.”

  Valar practically bounced from his chair with a grin on his face. Elaine’s lessons have never been bad. I want to see what this is about! He looked at Carla, who was acting far more cautiously, and gave her a genuine smile. The young woman smiled back nervously and fell into step with Valar and Elaine, who led them out of the pavilion and into the garden proper.

  The brown haired woman’s pace wasn’t hurried, but she didn’t slow down purposely either. The semi-relaxed clip gave Valar a chance to look around once more, and he would’ve been lying to himself if he didn’t admit that the garden was absolutely gorgeous.

  Even though the wooden sculptures were relatively new, the garden had been adjusted to fit around them nearly perfectly. Valar guessed that was the work of the estate staff, and while he was by no means an expert on the field, he knew their work was exquisite.

  The garden was overflowing with flowers of all different colours, creating the feeling that they were in a small paradise in the middle of the otherwise monotone city. Every other house around them, big and small, had been either mint green or grey. The Livren house was blue and gold.

  Carla seemed overall less impressed, but that wasn’t a huge surprise. Valar had never seen such opulence, save for the academy and royal palace from afar, while the young woman had lived most of her life in the estate of house Thorn—an even bigger player than the Livrens. What must the estate of house Thorn even look like? How can you make something even more opulent than this?

  “Come on Valar, you’re falling behind,” Elaine’s voice broke him out of his reverie. It was true, he was falling back on the two women who were already over ten paces ahead of him.

  “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize,” Valar muttered as he caught up to Elaine. “It’s beautiful… The garden, I mean.”

  Elaine let out a small chuckle. “Yes, it indeed is beautiful. Now, let’s go. We have a patient to heal.”