Chapter 21 (81/82)

Marelda's POV

"Hold up, your brother can do that?" Luca looked more excited than I'd seen him in a while.

Selene laughed. "I'll let him do further explanation. He'll love having someone with the mental capacity and the interest to talk to this about. And you know the town well enough, hopefully, to find any random odds and ends he needs."

Frankly, the magic and mechanics that would go into devices to dispel various illusionary magics was beyond my level of theoretical understanding. I know very well that I am far from stupid, but there are different kinds of "smart" and theoretical branches of magics I am not familiar with are not where my intelligence lies.

"What kind of magic is that? I literally work in battle and espionage type magics and I've never heard of magic objects capable of that?" I asked. I wanted to understand these things a bit better, though, if only because Luca was so interested in them. That's what good friends did, right? Get to know about their friends interests and all?

"Well, Merlin actually works with fusion magic," Selene said. "As far as I know, he's the only magic-user who works in combining Terran technology with Myulan magic. He's brilliant, and he's going to probably be rich off it one day, but for now I'm more concerned with him getting these things done before he has to leave. Hey, while Luca's with Merlin, why don't you and I do something?"

"I suppose we could figure out a strategy for the chimera, if you're up for it? I got a reply from Barin, and judging by the thickness he probably went into hyper-detail again." Selene nodded and I couldn't help but feel a bit relieved that I would be going back to something I could better understand.

"And maybe, if we need a break from that or have some extra time, you could see how accurate my idea of weapon fighting is." Selene grinned. "While I used to be really good at making temporary weapons out of fire, my usage of them was mostly based off of movies—moving pictures, sort of—and such, so they're probably wildly inaccurate."

I'm not even going to ask about the "moving pictures, of sorts" because honestly I probably don't want to know.

But I smiled. "I think that could be managed. I did hear that you hold the record for the umbra sessions at the Academy. Of course, due to my special training I'm not allowed to participate."

"Hmm, we may have to have a battle, just between us, when this is all over. If my magic isn't still so out of whack, that is."

"Definitely."

"So, not to interrupt this wonderful bonding time, but where is your brother staying?" Luca cut in.

She told him, and he bid the two of us goodbye before rushing off. Hopefully he has fun.

"Boys and their toys," Selene laughed.

"Of course, us girls are just as bad in our own ways," I commented

"Very true, very true." Grinning, She looked over at me. "Now, how about we get to this chimera? If the real Myulan ones are anywhere near as deadly as the fictional Terran ones, it should be an interesting challenge, chance of death aside.

"Barin, I swear you are so unhelpful. I thought you were the less violent between you and Elma but I've clearly been deluded all these years." His letter was filled with how to kills creatures like chimeras, not how to subdue them. Interesting and violent but not really helpful in this context. We need to leave with the chimera alive, after all.

Selene laughed, but asked who Elma was.

"Barin's sister. She's a warrior, like him, but she doesn't have magic. The two of them are my sponsors, because official warrior training isn't exactly cheap." I flipped to the next page of the letter. "I mean, my family isn't exactly poor, but between four kids we aren't rich either. Without Barin and Elma chipping in, I wouldn't be able to do the warriors program. Armor and weaponry, the good kind, cost a pretty penny. Frankly I don't know how your family supported so many kids. You're the youngest of eight, right?"

She nodded, opening another book. "I mean, there were times when we struggled, and hand-me-down clothes and stuff was commonplace growing up. There were payments from the Terran Ministry because the father of my brothers worked for them, so the amount was per the seven of them, but my mother and I weren't included in those because neither of us were registered with them. My mother prolly because of the whole princess thing, and then I didn't have a parent who was registered until I was legally adopted by Jonny after my mom died. We always managed to get enough to eat, and as my brothers got old enough to work, it helped a lot. By the time I was twelve we were all doing pretty well. Most of my brothers went to schools in Myula, but the ones who did were all on at least half-scholarships. Except for me, because being educated is free at the academy due to the fact that the royal family pays for it and all. But overall, we managed. My family is super close, so we always help each other out when one is struggling."

"That sounds really nice." I skimmed over the last page of Barin's letter. "You know what also sounds nice? Getting out of this library for a bit. We should take a break."

Selene yawned. "I'm down for that. Walk?"

"Sure."

Selene was frankly one of the most interesting people I've ever met. From what I'd heard of her, she had the potential to be one of the most entertaining people, too. But she seemed…subdued, compared to the stories. Luca commented that it probably was because of everything that had happened. Losing her oldest brother, being held prisoner by an evil elemental and suffering actual forms of torture—including starvation, physical beatings, and emotional blows—then catching up with over a month of school in approximately a week, and now this mess. I had to wonder if she was pushing aside anything negative and focusing on each new project in order to keep distracted. It most certainly couldn't be healthy, and I wondered how long it would be before she broke herself. I haven't known her long, and I don't know her particularly well compared to others here, but I quite liked her. Her halfling status didn't matter—I believed the stigma against those with fae-blood (or elemental blood) or fae-gifts were severely uncalled for. But people tend to fear what they can't understand, or what seems more powerful than themselves.

But back to the chimera conundrum.

"I wonder if there's someone we could ask, at the academy?" I pondered aloud. "But I feel like most of the teachers would report it to the headmaster if students started asking about how to subdue a chimera. It's not like they're commonplace."

"Maybe a student? I mean, I know there aren't many here at the moment, but maybe someone?" Selene hummed.

"What about your buddy?" I asked. "As a prefect he already knows something about the Tower, maybe he knows about how to go about this?"

"I don't think he would. Magical creatures are something he's studied, yea, but not in depth. He probably knows more about Elementals than chimeras, and even then he only would know about as much as I do," she shrugged.

"Pity," I sighed. "Hmm, we might have to ask Luca is he knows of anyone here who would know. I mean, the boy seems to know everything that's going on around here."

"He'd make a fabulous intelligence agent," Selene declared. "But wouldn't he have mentioned it earlier? He's not quite that scatterbrained, I'd like to think."

"Good point." I continued to think while Selene remained silent, until a rustling from the right broke us both out of our heads.

"That's not an animal," I murmured. "I've been hunting since I was little, that's not an animal sound." And with how few students remained at the school, it was doubtful any of them would take a gander through the woods.

"Wanna check it out?" Selene whispered back.

"Sure," I replied with a nod.

I switched to my hunter's gait, making my footsteps go silent. Selene, while quite a bit louder than I, was actually better at most quietly walking through lightly frosted leaves than most people. It was less than a minute before we were at the edge of a clearing that had an unusually tall and broad tree for this part of the forest in the center. At the base of the tree was a man with hair that seemed to be light pink, though that may have been the light. He wore something very similar to the boy uniform, but it was the variant for the one of Luca's level (though not age), not the one of the level most students his age should be at. He looked older than me by two or three years.

Selene glanced at me and I shook my head. I didn't know him. She turned around and walked forward a bit, me staying back in the shade.

"Who are you?" She asked.

The man jumped so badly he slipped and fell back with a yelp. "Sorry about that," Selene apologized sheepishly. She was clearly good at the acting bit, like Luca.

She held out her hand and helped him up.

"No, it's entirely my fault. I got too into thinking." The man laughed, brushing himself off. "Who might you be?"

"To be fair, I asked first," Selene said, sounding like absolutely nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Randy March." I'm not sure why, but that name sounded vaguely familiar. Might be something to look into later.

"Selene Celeste Fonix, nice to meet you. Are you a student at the academy? Because I haven't seen you before, but then again it's my first year." Selene's tone had changed ever-so-slightly, and she seemed to be more on her guard as opposed to the easy-going nonchalance from a moment before. Did she recognize the name, too?

"Really?" he asked. "You look a little old for a first year."

Seleme waved her hand dismissively. "I started late, among other things. But please, answer the question, 'cause frankly, you're a bit suspicious and I'd rather not have to give Klaus more work by bringing you in. Prefect work should be the least of his worries at the moment."

"Klaus? Klaus Goldstein?" Was it just me, or did this Randy seem uneasy at the mention of Selene's buddy? "So he did make prefect, then? Good for him, I didn't expect any less."

"You know each other?" Selene inquired. So it wasn't just me who was suspicious.

"Yeah, a long time ago…" Randy shook his head. "Yeah, I'm technically a student, of sorts. I left a few years back for…an internship, you could say."

Selene seemed as disbelieving as I felt.

"Really, what sort of internship?"

"I work with magical creatures."

"How come you're back, then?" I said, finally speaking up and walking towards the pair. "I'm pretty familiar with the various internship programs, seeing as I'm part of one myself, and I thought internships of that manner finished up the equivalent of a graduation degree."

His nervousness was to be expected. I knew very well I was no small, petite little girl. I was large, and for my training path, it was more than helpful and I greatly appreciate it being so.

"W-well, it's just that I had some business to take care of back here," he stuttered out. "The headmaster does know I'm here, he's the one who gave me permission to wander about the grounds. I've got proof in my bag, if you want to see it."

Selene shook her head. "Naw, I think you're being honest about the permission part, if not about the name and such. Now, you said you work with magical creatures?" Ah, the more useful information we've gotten out of him thus far.

"Yeah, those are my specialty." He nodded, seeming relieved at the turn of the conversation.

Selene and I shared a look, turned to this Randy, and said, in perfect unison, "What do you know about chimeras?"

TheFallenHer0: (Ch 19) Well, they converse like actual friends because they are. At this point, they've known each other for almost three months, and honestly I've become good friends with people within a few weeks, so a few months I think is totally believable. But yea, they compliment each other really well. And Luca, like always, wasn't phased by the random magical dreamology (he's likely come across stuff about it in his personal-interests research. And he's more curious than startled, anyhow.