Frowning at her old classmate, Haylee replied, "I'm not her mother or sister. The girl can find a shoulder to cry on with her friends, if it comes to that."
The four friends exchanged glances shaking their heads, but they didn't argue with the wizard before they began to fill trays of their own.
Chapter 12- New Apprentices
For all their seeming animosity towards each other, Serrena and Haylee surprised the others by moving off to a table to talk alone. Elzen looked a little unsure if he should follow, but chose to join Sebastian and Ashleen instead.
"Are they friends or enemies?" Ashleen questioned looking at the two fire wizards conversing with each other in a friendly way.
"They're about the same age," Sebastian commented adding, "maybe they went to school at the same time and knew each other. Sometimes friends pick on each other as an ice breaker." Looking at Elzen he said, "You and Sylvie were like that as cadets for example."
"I wonder where she was transferred. I left for Windmeer before Sylvie was promoted, but I heard that she was shortly after me," Elzen considered thoughtfully.
"Who was Sylvie?" Ashleen questioned with extra curiosity.
"Just a big, mean girl with a horrible disposition," the mage quickly responded. "Bas will tell ya. She picked fights with me all the time."
Serrena joined them once more since Haylee had already finished and left to return to her tasks as a teacher as their conversation continued.
Ashleen grinned and teased, "Oh, so she liked you. Some girls don't know how to show that they like a boy. She probably wrestled with you as a cadet a lot too. I have heard how these mage romances start. They can't officially show that they like each other, so they express it in a different physical way."
"Hey, stop that, Ashleen! You're going to make her believe that at the rate you're going," Elzen protested feeling Serrena tense beside him.
Noticing Serrena starting to look annoyed beside his friend, Sebastian patted Ashleen's hand and said, "Don't get him in trouble. Those two were like a brother and sister. They loved each other in their own way, but never romantically."
Before their conversation could change to another topic, they were surprised by a new addition to their table. Placing his tray next to Ashleen's, the black uniform of a falconi drew their eyes to Garrett as he sat.
"I hope that I am not interrupting anything, if I join you," the falconi said as he smiled at those near him. "Of course, I hadn't expected to see you again so soon, Sebastian. What brings the owl back to White Hall when he is supposed to be trying to recover from his injuries?"
"We've been hiking in the west," the focus of Garrett's attention answered cryptically.
Showing that he wasn't so easily fooled, the falconi queried, "Oh, exactly how far west?"
While the others in his group appeared uncertain of what to say, Sebastian felt comfortable enough with his former leader and mentor to tell the truth, "I've been working on opening up Kardor with portals to try and bring Ashleen home for a visit."
Thinking of how recently the owl mage had been a resident of the school and its medical wing, Garrett's brow crinkled with curiosity as he asked for more clarity, "How far have you gotten? If you start using portals in Kardor, we could have our ally angry at us from the intrusion, Sebastian."
"As of this morning, I've reached Fort Delial."
Eyes widening with surprise, the falconi had to ask yet another question, "How long have you been working your way there? You were a patient here only a few days ago. You must have been working on it for awhile."
Elzen laughed and confessed for his friend, "He started at Ravenhurst and made it there in less than a day and a half."
"So soon? That has to be.... well, I guess it would be of various distances depending on how you've traveled there," Falconi Garrett realized as he started to try to figure out the distance to Delial that a trip by land versus water would require using the different lines on a map.
"Using wind magic I projected my mind over the sea and on to Atellan the first day improving on my distance and speed each leg. Today I used a new technique to make it to Fort Delial in one attempt. Interus might be too ambitious for one afternoon, since it would be the longest distance to attempt of the three cities; but maybe I can make it most of the way making for an easy push tomorrow."
"You haven't been straining your body too much? Perhaps the healers simply underestimated your ability to heal?"
"Well, leaning against a tree yesterday strained my legs and back, but I haven't risked the area of my wound. Using the type of magic I have tested my stamina, though not physically really. If it wasn't so cold, I might have tried flying as a dragon mage; but I wasn't enticed to try that or test my body in that way," Sebastian replied with a smile trying to play off how well he thought that he actually was. After the meeting with the ravens and falconi, the mage was glad that he had the excuse to buy time for determining his future. There was so much that he felt that he should do, maybe must even; but with the wrong person in charge he might never get the chance to do what needed to be done.
"If you are so healthy, maybe I should have tried to make you teach here for a bit?"
His face wrinkling in distaste, the owl responded, "I don't think I am that healthy."
"You still refuse to believe that you have a lot to teach others? Sebastian, the catalogue of spells that you have in your mind really should be shared. Perhaps if more of your thoughts had been shared, other answers and spells would be revealed already. Talking over your ideas with others might lead to collaboration making it easier still," the older mage suggested.
It was similar to the conversations that he had previously with Raven Leros and some others along the way as well. Most wizards wanted to know everything he had discovered as well, though not everything he had discovered was easy to convey to others. He also found that, whether mage or wizard, too many people just wanted to use him for what he could give them in the way of new spells.
"Working with one or two people isn't too bad, but having to cover the same information over and over day after day..." Sebastian wasn't even sure he could describe the idea of how much dislike he had for the monotonous repetitions involved.
"Have you considered taking on an apprentice or two?" Garrett proposed a different form of teaching.
"I've kind of been Sebastian's apprentice since returning to Hala," Ashleen replied with a smile. Her real reason for doing such a thing had really been to be near Sebastian. First, she had waited with him for Yara to return, since she was his first love. There had been some cracks in that relationship and the wilder had realized that she had been in love with him almost from the first moment that they had met. Time spent with the mage in Silver World had only made her want him more, though Ashleen had tried not to be the reason that he broke up with Yara. She hadn't wanted to be that kind of woman, though she had teased him enough even so.
"A wizard for an apprentice, I guess that is better than this one," the falconi said gesturing towards Elzen. "I wasn't sure if he was ever going to grow up enough to actually live up to his potential. If his need to prank others, especially girls, could have been channeled into learning to be a better mage he would likely be better than you, Sebastian."
Pretending to be offended, Elzen retorted, "I could be his apprentice. I've been able to learn quite a bit of his magic and can even heal."
"There are other mages who can heal also," Garrett replied. His attention moved to Sebastian and he asked, "Have you found anyone else with your ability to use gates and the other niche spells that seem to be yours alone?"
Glancing to Elzen, the owl had to admit, "Elzen does have some ability as a healer and has learned some of the same spells, but wind riding, making portals and some of the other rare spells are still beyond him."
"If he had the power of a wizard, would that help or does the ability to use these spells just seem to be hit or miss as a battle mage?"
The question made most of his team look conf
used, but Sebastian understood what he meant and replied, "A battle mage has the same potential to learn as a wizard, though certain spells would be out of their ability because of the lack of power like holding gates. They might make them, but not have the strength to maintain one long enough for people to use them.
"Losing people in the void or worse, makes me leery of teaching other mages portal magic."
"But you can do it," the falconi stated with a frown. "Surely as a mage you see that there must be a way around the power issue. You've figured something out. There are times where I've seen you holding gates open without even borrowing power from your apprentice here."
Ashleen glanced at Sebastian feeling the others begin to question that point as well. She knew the risks he had taken and still took to harness power that might very well cut his life short. If Sebastian could figure out how to make such things safe, he would likely show the mages how to do it. Southwall's wizards would latch onto such a technique probably; though being able to add magic reserves might also confuse how they separated wizards from mages by power. Such a shakeup didn't seem to be a particularly bad thing in his opinion however.
Sebastian looked at Elzen in thought. There were runes which he was still testing on his body, maybe his friend could benefit from a set as well. If he was certain that they could be used safely to augment battle mages' power, Sebastian would gladly create a set for his friend who did seem to follow many lines of magic that were similar to his own.
"Elzen already knows most of what I do, but there are still spells that he can't do," he stated for the falconi.
Looking at Elzen for only a moment, Garrett returned his attention to the owl and shook his head. "Elzen might benefit from direct study, but he is already a falcon. I was thinking of maybe having you mentor some promising cadets for once. A falcon might be too restricted in thought to learn your odder spells. If you started with someone rawer in nature, maybe you'd find more success."
The idea made Sebastian frown. Half of the reaction came from considering the idea, while the more negative part of his response settled on being restricted by untrained and probably immature cadets. Baby sitting such candidates didn't seem too appetizing, though he had to admit that he had once been the same problem for those who had mentored him.
Nearly wincing at the potential trouble he was about to unleash, the owl asked, "Did you have someone in mind?"
"Have you met Xander yet?" the falconi asked pointing towards a familiar looking mage.
The dark haired boy, who still sat with his wizard friend who had drawn those glances from Haylee, was at the end of the gesture.
"He has that kind of potential?" Sebastian questioned curiously. While he still remained wary of picking cadets to learn directly from him, most of those that had once followed him as a team had moved on to other positions. They had left him over time while he had remained in Hala, even though the owl had used his portals to cross more and more of the world. Since he had appeared to have little need of a permanent team, Raven Leros and the white wizards of Hala had let the guilds and mage corps assign them new missions and posts like they normally would without fear of disrupting his process for learning new magic.
"He has the ability to heal, but his power is limited so he can't do as much as I think he could with access to a wizard powering him for example. Xander has shown promise with understanding some of the other spells that only seem beyond him because of his innate strength."
"I can't make a mage more than he is," Sebastian said, though that might be a lie. Certainly he could show someone how to use wood staves or a wizard's staff like he had created to harness more power. Adding the power wells made from runes he had created had the potential to keep more magic tied to him, but he still wasn't positive if it was safe. While he wore the runes, the owl had already needed to adjust them as he continued to work out the kinks of the unproven magic.
"You don't know what he might be capable of with the right teacher," Garrett countered seeming unwilling to give in to the younger mage's protests. "Maybe you should get to know him before you give up on the boy. According to his trainers, Xander might be second most promising candidate for magic behind you."
Sighing, which was a tell that Sebastian allowed to escape just to let the falconi know that he was doing it under protest, the owl rose and walked towards the table. A shadow followed him and the mage noted that Ashleen was at his heels. While he didn't know why she came with him, he didn't tell her to go back either.
When they arrived at the table with the cadet and his apprentice friend, Xander looked up and his eyes widened.
"Owl Sebastian, what are you doing here?" the boy stopped a moment hearing his words coming out in shock. "I mean, is there something that I can do for you? I've been studying your spells and have to say that I am amazed that you could translate so many spells into something we mages can understand and use."
Xander had stood up bumping the bench he sat on enough to draw glares from others sharing it further down the line. While the cadet looked shocked to be talking to him, the female apprentice looked more wary of seeing his approach.
"Falconi Garrett seems to think that you have a good grasp of the new magic too. You've been studying the new spells?"
Looking uncertain, the cadet replied, "I can heal and use the light and darkness spells. I am still learning, but I think I get some of the others even if I don't think that I will be able to do them all." He blushed and looked at the floor as he confessed, "I don't think I am powerful enough to do some of them."
Sebastian considered the cadet a moment longer making him sweat unintentionally before he asked, "How are you with air magic?"
"I can make the spears and such," Xander replied with a shrug. "I am comfortable with the element, but again my power might limit what I can do."
The girl frowned as the cadet put his ability down again. "You can do more than you think. You saved a lot of lives at the Twins. You protected me several times, Xander. Don't put yourself down."
It was said with love, Sebastian thought glancing at the girl. He wanted to smile at her defending the mage, but this was business and the owl had trained his face to avoid revealing more than he wanted known. "You know that other wizards or mages can add to your strength by sharing theirs during a spell, if you need it?"
Xander nodded. He seemed unsure of what to say to such an idea.
Wanting to sigh, Sebastian said, "Be ready to travel in the cold and meet us in the portal courtyard."
"I have practice this afternoon," the boy worried aloud, though the owl considered it was also just an excuse to avoid the sudden change.
"I think Falconi Garrett will sign off on a single afternoon, but if you think you need more training Falcon Elzen and I can put you through more than enough drills to hone your fighting skills," he added and started to move back to his table.
Shaylene stood up with a frown and complained, "You can't just come in here and make him go away!"
While Sebastian didn't bother arguing with the girl, Ashleen stopped long enough to say, "It was Falconi Garrett's suggestion, so I don't think either of them have much of a choice."
Refueled and thawed out, more or less, Sebastian led the others to the courtyard and found the cadet already waiting for them. He had a small pack ready and a canteen.
"You've come prepared?" he asked the young mage sounding amused.
"You told me to be ready to travel," Xander responded looking a bit unsure of himself.
Giving him a nod, Sebastian called a door into being before sending the others ahead of him. He felt something else pass by as well, but held the door just long enough to exit the other side and recalibrate his senses from the long distance.
Looking around him, the mage noted the four travelers with him standing in the snow. Xander appeared the most surprised.
"Is this your first time using portal magic?" he asked the cadet.
"The third time, sir," Xander replied looking a little pale. "Whe
n we evacuated the west tower at the Twins, was the first time. They sent us to White Hall after a couple weeks using another portal. I was less distracted the second time." After pausing a moment, he asked, "Are those islands floating around in there?"
Nodding, Sebastian answered, "Everyone refers to it as silver light or a void, but Darius believes that the islands are remnants from the Dark One's old world. When he was forced from his world into the void, the emperor dragged all those bound to him from men to beasts to the very land around him into his prison. From those resources, he must have built a slowly rotating system of islands; though Darius couldn't say why the Dark One wouldn't just make one large piece of land instead."
Extending his hand to the side, the others were surprised as a shimmer of light signaled the breaking of a stealth spell as a girl suddenly appeared before falling back into the snow with a squeak of shock.
"I thought we had a stowaway," the owl said with a chuckle using a sailors' term to explain her presence.
"Shaylene?" Xander questioned hurrying over to help the apprentice fire wizard up from her seat in the snow. "What are you doing here?"
Frowning at Sebastian, the girl replied, "I didn't trust him. No one just walks into White Hall and drags a cadet off like that."
Raising an eyebrow questioningly, the owl countered, "Why wouldn't you trust me? It wasn't my idea to test Xander out. I was just doing as Falconi Garrett suggested more or less."
The little fire wizard put her hands on her hips and a pout on her lips that had her elders all fighting laughter at her expense. "What do you mean that you want to test him?"
"I'm sorry. Are you his keeper?" Sebastian teased the girl.
Stamping her foot angrily, Shaylene protested, "That isn't an answer!"
He looked at Xander who was red in the face and unlikely from exposure to the cold air.
"According to the falconi, he might have the ability to do more of my spells. You've said that you can heal already."
Nodding at him, the cadet replied, "Yes, sir, though not for very long. We were lucky that other wizards came to the wall that could heal. I was exhausted by the time I escaped the wall and could only remove a few arrows."
Battle Mage Bonds (Tales of Alus Book 13) Page 16