Peter and the Elven Songs (War of Contractia)

by Dixon, TJ

  “If I had gone out of control on a hunt it could have been much worse.” I assure her. “I’m also pleased you’ve made good progress. I hope you are willing to enter the competition with us.”

  “Of course!” Aventurine says.

  “Have there been any bounty hunts whilst I was recovering?” I ask curiously.

  “A couple of small ones, but only with Year 1 and 2s.” Aventurine says. “I was given the chance to go on one but I wanted to focus on the training. Once Dairon is training everyone I am sure I’ll not be able to spend as long training with him.”

  “Do you like Dairon?” I ask.

  “Like? What do you mean?” Aventurine asks sounding very defensive.

  “What do you think of him?”

  “He’s really good at magic. He said before that he couldn’t use it anymore but it seems that methods to seal magic power don’t work on elves because their methods are so different to ours. He was afraid he might be killed if we realised it.”

  “That was silly.” I say. “But what do you think of him as a person rather than as a mage?”

  “He doesn’t really show his personality to me. I don’t think he likes me, but I think he is very loyal to you, which is why he was willing to continue my training. Occasionally he’ll talk about Contractian nobles like we’re evil though, and that annoys me.”

  “Some are, and perhaps they are the ones he has encountered or heard about before he met you. Well, he met your family first after getting captured, and they’re not evil, but he never got to know them.”

  “He makes it sound like I’m evil though.” Aventurine says.

  “Don’t let it bother you. I’m sure he’ll change his mind in time.”

  “I hope so.” Aventurine says. “By the way, Rin said Dairon would be here to see you tomorrow. Then Lilian will be here the next day, and she hopes to have you out of here the day after that.”

  “Now that would be good.” I say smiling.

  “Is there anyone you like?” Aventurine asks.

  “There are lots of people I like. I like everyone in the club for starters.” I say confused.

  “But is there anyone you like more than anyone else?”

  “I don’t think it works like that. I can’t measure my like for everyone and say that one person is first and someone else is last.” I say frowning.

  “Thank you.” Aventurine says smiling now.

  “I don’t really get what you’re thanking me for.” I say even more confused now.

  “Don’t worry, please just forget I asked.”

  “Ok.” I say confused. There is silence for a few moments that starts to get a little uncomfortable.

  “What do you think about me though?” Aventurine asks nervously.

  “You seem to be a nice person, and as a mage it sounds like you’ve made great progress.” I say honestly. She seems a little disappointed for a moment but only for a moment.

  “I hope we have the chance to get to know each other better.” Aventurine says.

  “Well, I’m stuck here and this seems like as good a chance as any to talk. Talking is always a good way to get to know each other better.” I say. She looks embarrassed, but nods. Rin comes in after a while but we talk lots both before and after that. Rin politely sits back, and seems to enjoy listening to Aventurine talk. It is mostly Aventurine talking, partly because I have lost so many of my memories. It sounds like she had a hard childhood despite being a noble.

  “I’m hungry.” Aventurine says and seeing Rin glare at her she asks. “How do you eat if you can’t move?”

  “I don’t. The healer uses magic. I’m getting hungry myself.” I say.

  “I’ll get the healer.” Rin says. “Once I’m back I think it would be best if you left, Aventurine.”

  “Oh, ok.” Aventurine says sounding disappointed. I must admit I am as well. Her cheerful attitude and hearing all sorts of interesting things about her life was cheering me up. I don’t contradict Rin though. She has been looking after me all this time, and has just let Aventurine talk for probably the whole morning without complaining. She seemed to be enjoying it at first but it must have gotten a bit much for her. The healer deals with my hunger and then I have to say goodbye to Aventurine.

  “You seem disappointed that she’s gone.” Rin says.

  “It was fun talking to her. Well, mostly listening. Reminded me a bit of Hermes when we first met.”

  “You couldn’t stand Hermes at first.” Rin points out.

  “I wouldn’t say that, but it is true that I wished Hermes wouldn’t talk so much. It is rare for Hermes to talk that much now though.” I say.

  “So you are disappointed Aventurine left.” Rin says.

  “Don’t worry about it. The important thing is, you are still here, although shouldn’t you get something to eat?”

  “I’ll just have a snack again.”

  “You should eat properly. There’s no point my getting better and then you being ill.”

  “That’s not exactly the same thing.” Rin protests.

  “True, but your health is important too. Eat a proper meal and then come back and talk to me. I could use a short lie down.”

  “You’ve been lying down for most of a month!”

  “I know.” I say with a smile and she knows I’m joking. “But seriously, get a meal, even if you decide to bring it back here.”

  “Fine, but I’m not bringing it back here. That would be cruel when you can’t eat.”

  “I’ll ask you what you’ve eaten, so if you don’t eat properly I’ll know. I can read your aura, remember.” I say. The truth is I still can’t, but Rin doesn’t know that.

  “Fine. I’m not going to describe it in detail though, because that would be almost as cruel as eating it in front of you.” Rin says.

  “Good.” I say because she is right.

  Chapter 13 (Peter)

  I see Dairon but we can’t really train. I don’t really learn much and he seems very reserved but he is clearly relieved that I am not angry at him for fleeing or lying. I ask him to train Yusa because she is still having real difficulty and Aventurine had to promise not to pass her training on to anyone until I said it was ok to do so.

  My, hopefully last day here, and I see Lilian. She reminds me a bit of Aventurine physically but she seems more confident and practical. Of course she is older, but I don’t think that is it. She shows me the contract we made during the time that I forgot. She talks a fair amount, but unlike Aventurine doesn’t really seem to enjoy talking. It is more of a means to an end. In this case it is to bring me up to speed with what has been happening in training and on the couple of bounty hunts that happened whilst I was recovering. She also tells me a bit about herself, but not a great deal.

  Finally the potion is ready. Rin, taking a huge amount of care, opens the small vial and pours it down my throat. The effect is almost instant. I can move again. I slowly stand up. It feels funny after so long not being able to, but I am walking and even running straight away. I have heard of people taking months of hard work to be able to walk again after a serious injury. To go instantly from not being able to move an inch to being able to run is bizarre, but very welcome.

  Now that I am able to walk again my missing left arm is much more noticeable. Lying there unable to move it didn’t really make any difference, but now I can move I really notice it. Rin notices me looking where it should be. I can tell she is worried, but there is nothing she can say or do that will make it come back again.

  We port back to my room and Hermes is waiting there. She was clearly pacing and is relieved to see me. It is still just before lessons. Rin and Hermes both suggest skipping the lessons today, but I am having none of it. I must be way behind already, and have no intention of falling any further behind.

  The teacher doesn’t greet me this time. She just ignores me, but that is fine. The lesson is theory and having missed the previous lessons it takes a fair amount of explaining from Hermes. I am fairly sure I unde
rstand the theory by the end of the lesson, but it has taken a lot of effort.

  Lunch time comes and I find myself greeting everyone from the club before I have even taken my lunch. Last is Aventurine. She offers to buy me lunch, but I politely refuse. Carrying my lunch is harder but with a combination of magic and my remaining hand I manage. Of course Rin, Hermes, and Yu Kii all offer to carry it for me, but I am not planning to become dependent on their help. I have been too dependent on help for the last month or so already.

  Eating soup is easy. I just use a spoon after all. It doesn’t taste as nice as I expected. Perhaps for my first meal in too long, I should have treated myself to something nicer. I could even have taken Aventurine up on her offer, but then I’d feel guilty. I guess as a noble she is probably fairly rich, but I have a lot more money than I had before. Thankfully it seems I left my money in my room, which is really unusual for me. As a result it was found with the rest of the contents of the room. They had just been ported to a storage room.

  The afternoon lesson is fire magic practical and it takes a lot of effort. Thankfully Hermes is able to help me again. She was always stronger at fire than I was. I am actually worn out by the end of the day. I decide to just watch the training today. I’ll take part tomorrow.

  What I see impresses me. Everyone has made progress. It sounds like a lot of Yusa’s progress was from the single training session with Dairon, but she should be able to improve plenty if she made that much progress in a single session. Of course by now the whole club knows about Dairon, but they are keeping him a secret from everyone else. The teachers must be mystified by the sudden progress!

  I already know to expect great progress from Aventurine, but I am not disappointed. Just for fun I ask to see Rin, Charlotte and Aventurine have a simple competition. The winner is Rin, but only just.

  Cherry is doing really well, but so are Midori and Tabi. The others have made progress at wind magic, but the gap seems bigger now than before. I wonder to myself how I would fare against Cherry. I am pretty confident I would win, but she seems to have come along far enough to make me really work at it if I ever had to go against her.

  Helski and Yu Kii have made great progress under Lilian. To my surprise Sherry seems to have made very little progress. I almost wonder whether she has gone backwards since I last saw her. Jenny seems frustrated and perhaps embarrassed by this.

  They change from their primary element to a random element as usual and there seems to have been progress here too. The training is almost over when they hold a quick porting exercise. Apparently this has happened at the end of every training session lately.

  “See you tomorrow!”

  “Goodbye!”

  “See you in the morning!”

  “Peter! Do you have a minute?”

  “Sure Cherry.” I say.

  “I’m Sherry.” She says. I must have gotten mixed up during the porting. Unfortunately Rin is close enough to hear and she seems suspicious.

  “What can I help you with Sherry?” I ask.

  “You were right the first time.” She says and looks suspicious too now. “I thought you could tell us apart from our auras.”

  “I could, but my magic isn’t entirely recovered yet. It’s still a bit off balance, so my perception is off too.”

  “Oh, ok.” She says but Rin was obviously listening.

  “You didn’t tell me that.” Rin says walking up to us.

  “I didn’t want to worry you over nothing.” I say. “What did you want to talk about, Cherry?”

  “I just wanted to know if I could take part in the competition. If now’s a bad time though…”

  “Of course you can take part.” I say.

  “Thanks! Do you know who else will be on the team?”

  “I still need to talk to everyone. Certainly Rin, Yu Kii, Aventurine and you.”

  “What about Sherry?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.” I say. “Besides I need to talk to anyone who will be on the team before I can make a final decision, and before I can tell you.”

  “What about yourself?”

  “Of course I’ll be on the team. I have to be, and even if I didn’t I wouldn’t ask everyone else to do this while I sat back and did nothing.”

  “So there are five people already on the team, and five more places open.”

  “Yes, but we don’t have to use the full ten people.”

  “It would be better to do so though.” Cherry says. “And my sister is one of the better members of the club, so it makes sense to use her.”

  “That’s enough Cherry.” Rin says sounding annoyed. To be honest I am a bit annoyed too.

  “Rin’s right.” I say. I was considering using Sherry, but this makes me want to avoid doing so.

  “Sherry! What’s keeping you?” Cherry (?) asks, but it is not the sister I am talking to. I blink in confusion.

  “Damn.” She says and glaring at her sister ports away.

  “What’s wrong?” Cherry (?) asks.

  “You’re Cherry right?” Rin asks.

  “Yes. You can tell that can’t you, Peter?” Cherry asks cheerfully.

  “Actually right now my power is a bit off balance, so I can’t. Your sister just said she was Cherry, and after offering to join the competition was trying to convince me to take Sherry as well.”

  “That idiot!” Cherry says. “Of course I’m happy to join the competition, but that idiot sister of mine... I’m really sorry. She didn’t mean any harm by it.”

  “After pulling that trick you’d better not let Sherry into the competition, Peter.” Rin says darkly.

  “She really didn’t mean any harm.” Cherry apologises again.

  “Regardless, it isn’t Cherry’s fault.” I say with a sigh. “We’d be glad if you join the competition, but we’ll need to consider whether to allow Sherry to join.”

  “You’d better not allow Sherry to join.” Rin says darkly.

  “It’s a pity, because I probably would have included her if it wasn’t for this. Anyway, goodnight Cherry.”

  “Good night Peter.” Cherry says wincing slightly. Then she ports. I look around and see Yusa and Jenny chatting a fair way from us. I port to them.

  “Hi.” I say.

  “Hi Peter.” They both say in surprise.

  “Could I talk to Jenny alone for a minute?” I ask.

  “Ok, I’ll port back ahead of you.” Yusa says.

  “Tell Jimmy I’ll not be long. I’m not going to be long am I?”

  “No, this should be fairly quick.” I say.

  “Good night Peter.” Yusa says and ports away. I take a quick look around but other than Rin who ports in as Yusa leaves we are alone.

  “What’s going on with Sherry?” I ask.

  “I’m really sorry about her progress.” Jenny apologises.

  “That’s not what I meant. She just came up to me and pretended to be Cherry to persuade me to let her into the competition.”

  “Oh… Wouldn’t she know that you can tell from her aura whether she’s lying?”

  “I can’t right now. My power is off balance.”

  “Oh. That’s not good.”

  “But even if I can’t tell she’s lying why would she do it?”

  “Since the hunt went bad she’s gone downhill. I think it affected her emotionally more than the others. She’s also probably trying to prove she’s still one of the elite, like she was when she first joined.”

  “She’s our only fire mage that can enter the competition.”

  “To be honest I wouldn’t let her join the competition even if it wasn’t for this. I think you’d be better off focusing on the other elements and accepting that fire isn’t your strength.” Jenny says. “She’s still one of the better mages in the club, but she’s a real risk emotionally. There’s a good chance she’ll collapse under the pressure.”

  “Thank you Jenny!” Rin says triumphantly.

  “I don’t want to give the impression we’ve given up on her tho
ugh.” I say worried. “That could increase the pressure on her too. It’s a pity that Dairon doesn’t use fire magic. Sherry is the only student here that he can’t help.”

  “That’s probably also part of the problem.” Jenny says. “She thinks she’s going to be left behind because of it.”

  “Any ideas?” I ask.

  “I’ve been trying to turn her around for a month now. I just wish that Hermes hadn’t screwed up so badly.” Jenny says. I wince.

  “Well sorry to bother you. Good night Jenny.” I say.

  “Good night Jenny.” Rin says.

  “Good night Rin, Peter.” Jenny says and ports.

  “Good night Rin.” I say.

  “Good night Peter.” Rin says.

  I port back to my room. Hermes is waiting. She asks. “Are you ok?”

  “Yes, just tired. It’s been too long, and I can’t believe that Sherry.”

  “Sherry?”

  “Never mind. Good night Hermes.” I say.

  “Good night Peter.” Hermes says. I look up to the stars but they are silent as usual. I easily fall asleep without the help of a sleeping potion.

  The next morning the first round of the competition is announced. It will be in the morning on our day off this week. That gives only two days including today to prepare. I still haven’t decided who will be on the team. The morning passes quickly, and lunch flies by too. The afternoon lesson is theory so it seems to take longer. Eventually it is over and it is time to train.

  “Before you split up into your groups I have something to say.” I tell everyone, and they gather around me. “The first battle in the competition is on our day off this week. It will be in the morning, so those competing have only today and tomorrow to prepare. I will be training with Cherry, Midori, Tabi and Dairon today. Tomorrow I will be training with Helski, Yu Kii and Dairon. If anyone I mentioned doesn’t want to compete please let me know now.” They all look happy and nobody I mentioned complains or refuses. Sherry looks upset but not surprised. Cherry looks apologetically towards her sister. “Jenny, Tabi, Midori and Cherry to me. Everyone else go about your normal training.”

  “Do you want me to get Dairon?” Jenny asks.

  “Yes please.” I say.