Chapter 69: Chapter 68

Nym approached the table Ophelia claimed cautiously. He couldn’t remember if he’d ever told them where he was staying, and the whole crew liked to drink after they finished a project, so he wasn’t sure how sober she would be. This conversation probably wasn’t going to be fun.

“Ermy,” Ophelia called out, having noticed him noticing her. “Come, sit, talk to me.”

Nym slid into the seat opposite the earth mage. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Wrong? No, why would there be something wrong?”

“Because you’re here? You went out of your way to come talk to me instead of waiting until tomorrow?”

“Oh, I see. No, no, nothing is wrong. I just wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Is it about my lack of parents?”

“No! Well, kind of. But not really. Bildar was right when he said we’re too busy to take on apprentices right now, but you really seemed to get runes, you know? Some of the stuff we touched in on in an afternoon took me weeks to wrap my brain around.”

“Speaking of that,” Nym said, “Why can’t I get more than two blocks to stick together? Every time I try to add a third one, the whole sequence falls apart?”

“Huh? You’re already writing them out? And empowering them? Where are you getting the blocks from?”

Too late, Nym realized that he wasn’t supposed to know how to do the spells the crew had been casting. He was only supposed to be able to see the results, not the actual constructs. “I kind of brute forced some dirt into shape with raw terrakinesis,” he lied. “But I made sure to get the size right so they’d all line up nicely.”

“That’s probably your problem right there. Too many different types of dirt and the rune sequence I showed you is designed to work with refined blocks. That’s why Bildar has to transmute them out of raw materials first.”

“Of course that’s why. I’m such an idiot,” Nym said. “That’s so obvious.”

Ophelia laughed. “You might just be a magical genius if you made it that far in one day. Which brings me back around to my point. How much do you know about the Academy?”

“Some, but not much. I know it’s really, really, really expensive.”

“Too damn right it is. Not every mage goes to the Academy, and not every mage who gets a license manages to graduate first. We generally call drop outs who learn enough to get a license but can’t manage any endorsement magisters, and they are… not well paid. It’s much better to find a specialty that interests you and get an endorsement for it. That’s where the money is. If you can manage two or three subjects that synergize well, even better.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Nym asked.

“Because I was impressed with you today, and I noticed when we talked about your future as a mage, you didn’t seem too keen on the idea of going to the Academy. I don’t blame you. It is, as you said, really, really, really expensive. I won’t pry into your financial situation, but a kid your age making it on your own? That’s impressive enough. It would be more surprising if going to the Academy was in your reach.”

“Rub it in why don’t you?”

Ophelia rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Anyway, to bring a long-winded explanation to a close, how would you feel about doing an apprenticeship with me in about six months? We’re coming into the busy season now, but once it starts getting cold again next year, I would have the time to teach you properly. I’m not the richest person in the world so don’t expect me to have a full library full of books for you or anything, but I could teach you to be a master earth mage.”

Nym just kind of sat there, mouth agape, and considered the possibilities. He’d be able to learn magic from an expert. When he had questions, he could just ask instead of scrounging around, trying to find a book that discussed the topic or doing meticulous trial-and-error experiments until he found something that worked.

Then his mind turned from opportunities to costs. Apprentices didn’t just live on their master’s good graces. He would have to work for Ophelia so she could recoup the financial burden he’d place on her. He’d be tied to her for perhaps years, and he’d just met her a few days ago. She didn’t even know his real name! Plus, he was a criminal in Abilanth and Palmara, possibly Zoskan too.

He wasn’t even sure he could use a teleportation platform without getting arrested. That would be a fun conversation to have with his new master when he was in a mage cell having to explain to her that he’d murdered twenty or so people. No, the idea didn’t float. No matter which way he looked at it, all he saw were problems.

“Can I think about it for a bit?” Nym asked, even though he already knew his answer.

“Of course,” she told him. “Like I said, we’re going into our busy season, so this is something in the future. Take as much time as you need.”

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “I’ll see you all tomorrow?”

“Yes. Come on by. We’ll see you at noon.”

Nym waved goodbye and walked up to his room. He tried to ignore the earth mage staring at the back of his head, and the puzzled look he could see on her face with his scrying spell. He went upstairs and locked his door, then laid face down on his bed and tried not to be overwhelmed by how much his life had spiraled out of control.

* * *

The next day, Nym made his way across Thrakus to scry the Silk Box for any signs of Analia. That failed to yield results again, but he wasn’t about to give up yet. He wandered the city for a little while, and then when it got close to noon, went to meet the earth mage crew, albeit with considerably more trepidation than usual.

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But nobody said anything or treated him differently. He wasn’t sure if that was because it wasn’t as much of a big deal as he’d turned it into in his head or if Ophelia hadn’t told anybody. They finished up their meal and went to the new job site.

Nym spent most of the afternoon with the twins as they explained the difference between soil types and how to recognize them, then advised that separating them out with magic was mostly an application of the same spell cast with different intent filters on their conduits. At one point, one of them even took the time to draw a diagram in the dirt showing the construct they were using. Nym dutifully studied it, even though he’d seen it being built in three dimensions in real time.

“Now don’t go casting that here,” Monick said. “You’re not licensed, but if you wanted to get some practice in outside the city’s boundaries, this is a good place to start.”

“Right, of course!”

Monick winked at him and then slapped his brother on the back. “Come on now, my half of this foundation is at least a foot deeper than yours. What’s the hold up?”

“Well mine’s mostly clay, now isn’t it!” Nomick said. “Plus all these damn rocks I keep running into.”

“Excuses,” his brother said with a sniff. “Just put that fancy alchemy endorsement you’re so proud of to work.”

Nomick sputtered something unintelligible and chucked a chunk of dirt at Monick’s face. Nym stifled a laugh and scrambled out of the pit the twins were digging before he got caught in the inevitable cross-fire. Bildar looked over at him when he popped up, then raised an eyebrow and peered over the lip of the pit.

“Of course they are,” he muttered. “Come on over, I wanted a chance to talk to you anyway.”

“About what?” he asked.

“I just wanted to apologize for my sister,” Bildar told him. “We talked about offering you an apprenticeship, but we agreed not to spring it on you right away. I don’t want you to think you’re not welcome here. The whole crew likes having you around. You’re smart as a whip and as helpful as we could ask for. Ophelia didn’t mean anything by it, and we’re not going to kick you to the curb if you don’t want to apprentice with us. It’s fine to say no.”

What hurt was that it wasn’t that he was even all that opposed to the idea. It was nothing like the contract Bardin had tried to get him to sign back in Abilanth. In a lot of ways, it would be nice to have a master who could solve problems for him. He was sitting fine today, but the money wouldn’t last forever. Being a legitimate, trained mage would solve that problem before it even became a problem. It just wasn’t feasible.

Nym sighed and said, “Can I be honest with you?”

“Always,” Bildar told him.

“I don’t have parents. I’ve been taking care of myself. And sometimes that means doing things that are not exactly legal. What I mean to say is, the offer sounds wonderful, and I would love to explore it, but Ermy isn’t even my real name, you know?”

Bildar stopped working and turned to face him. “Son, we’ve all done things we’ve regretted after. That’s the thing about growing up. You can do whatever you want, but you have to deal with the consequences. You’re young and you probably grew up too fast, but you’ve still got a lot of years left ahead of you. Don’t plan the rest of your life around the idea of running away forever.”

“But they’ll throw me in a mage cell forever if they catch me.”

“I doubt that. Those things are damned expensive to keep running, if nothing else. But what could you have possibly done that’s so bad as all of that? Did you try to assassinate King Maleotrak?”

“No.”

“Get caught in bed with his daughter?”

“No!”

“I’d say you’re probably fine. They’re not going to lock you away for the rest of your life for stealing a bit to feed yourself. And even if they would, you just give it a few years and they won’t even recognize you. You can be Ermy for the rest of your life if that’s what you want.”

“Well, maybe not Ermy,” Nym said. “He doesn’t deserve me stealing his name from him.”

“Whatever name you pick then,” Bildar laughed. “What I’m trying to tell you is you don’t have to go through the rest of your life alone, always looking over your shoulder, always afraid. It’s not a good way to live. Find some friends, make a new family. It doesn’t have to be us, but we’re happy to help you along the way.”

“Oi! You’re falling behind again, old man!” Nomick shouted up from the pit.

“Go back to slinging mud at each other, you idiots! We’re having a moment up here!”

A mudpie came flying out of the pit and splattered against the side of Bildar’s head. The bearded mage took a deep breath and wiped it away. Then he took another breath. Then a third. “Right, that’s it then.”

The whole pile of loose dirt the twins had been building up while Nym and Bildar talked rose into the air and hurtled itself into the pit. There was a pair of startled yelps followed by an extremely loud thump. Nym looked over to the edge to see both of them buried in dirt, with random limbs sticking out from various points.

“Might be the saner option to keep looking elsewhere for family,” Bildar told Nym. “But I bet it won’t be quite as much fun if you do.”

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