Chương 34: Friends

Arielle was met at her room door by Lyra, who rushed at her so exuberantly that Arielle took a step back.

"What happened?" Lyra asked.

"Did you get expelled? Suspended? Demerit?"

"None of the above."

"Thank goodness," Lyra said, laying a hand on her chest.

"I was concerned they were going to kick you out."

"You were concerned?" Arielle cocked her head, studying Lyra's reaction. It seemed to show palpable relief, which was confusing.

"Why were you concerned?" Lyra appeared taken aback by the question.

"Well, because I didn't want you to leave."

"You don't? I thought you wanted space from me." Lyra had rarely initiated conversation with Arielle in the days since she'd demanded space, nor had she permitted Arielle to speak to her. Truthfully, Arielle had started to give up hope in the concept of a Lyra friendship, as the harder she tried, the more the other girl wanted nothing to do with her. During the week, Arielle had attempted to check the relationship temperature several times, and Lyra had told her plainly that she wasn't ready to talk to her yet.

Following that, Arielle had searched in How to Charm Kings for a solution, but nothing so far had worked. She had assumed that she'd messed up so badly that Lyra would want nothing to do with her again.

"Yes, I wanted space, but not that much space." Lyra offered her a small smile.

"And even if I did want all that space from you, it would still be a shame if someone so talented didn't get to complete the program."

"My leaving would theoretically give you a better chance of making it." Lyra shrugged.

"I don't think I'm going to make it anyway, whether or not you're here." As they stood there, Arielle searched for something to say that would not ruin this moment. She wanted to express clearly how she felt, but she was concerned she would inadvertently annoy Lyra again. What would How to Charm Kings suggest... On the other hand, the advice from the book had so far not helped much with Lyra.

As a matter of fact, it seemed to worsen their relationship as time passed, and Arielle was scared that if she kept doing the same thing, she would eventually push Lyra into full-blown hatred. She stood there for a moment, desperately searching in her head for the perfect thing to say, paranoid that anything she said would inevitably be the wrong thing and would destroy this fragile olive branch that had been extended to her. What should she say? Should she make a joke? That had annoyed Lyra the last time.

Should she offer a hug? No, that was too much, and Arielle did not like hugs much. She stood there for so long that Lyra gave her odd looks.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"You look like you're holding your breath." That's because she was.

"Lyra?'

"Yes?'

"I really want to be your friend." She forced herself to hold the other girl's gaze for two seconds before she dropped it. She caught Lyra's eye flare. A look of shock stamped on her face, and Arielle was instantly afraid that she'd said the wrong thing. That she'd said too much, or too little. Perhaps she had to explain it more, but a part of her was scared that more explanation would make everything worse.

"You…want to be my friend?" Lyra finally ventured tentatively.

"Yes." Arielle figured that, since she was going to take the full honesty route, she might as well see it through, and if it did not work out, at least she had one more experience to add as a data point.

"Why?"

"Because you are kind and hardworking and organized and not loud, and you arrange your side of the wardrobe symmetrically and with a sensible hierarchy and color coordination. You're also the perfect friendship height in that I do not have to crane my head to look up at you, like I do with Riorke and Lacey." Lyra snorted at that, and Arielle smiled, happy to have made her happy even though she wasn't entirely sure what it was that she'd said to trigger that reaction.

"Well," Lyra said, clearing her throat, her face turning red, and she brushed her hair off her shoulder.

"This is surprising. I thought…I thought you looked down on me. That you were one of those who believed I should not even be here, that I was being given too many chances." Arielle shook her head.

"I don't believe that." Lyra raised an eyebrow.

"You did call me hopeless that one time."

"No, I did not."

"Yes, you did. You said something to the tune of 'your problem is insurmountable.'" Arielle had an accurate recall of the conversation, and so she clarified, "I was expressing how shocked I was by the severe nature of your problem. But upon further reflection, it might not be as insurmountable as I thought."

"You think so?"

"Yes. The charms will help you." She sighed.

"I already told you, I'm allergic to charms."

"Elric said that's not possible." Arielle had asked Elric days ago, and he'd told her that he'd never heard a single case of anyone having an allergy to charms, mild or otherwise.

"It's possible with me."

"But it may not be–""It is, alright?" Her tone was testy before she inhaled deeply.

"Let's not talk about this again." Arielle was tempted to nod, simply so that she didn't risk angering Lyra, but she felt that it was too important to let go of.

"I don't want you to leave after severance," she said.

"I would be very sad to lose you as a roommate and a friend. So I want to help you. Please." Lyra's features softened. She said, "I truly don't think you can."

"We will never know if we don't try." Lyra chewed on her bottom lip. Her eyes sank to her hands, which toyed with the embroidery on her robe. Arielle waited for an answer, knowing that if Lyra didn't want her help, there was nothing she could do.

"Okay," Lyra said, finally looking up.

"You can help me. But I don't want to use any charms." Arielle felt a spread of satisfaction, but she curtailed it slightly, as without the charms, it would be significantly more challenging to help her roommate. Then again, Lyra had said that she didn't want to use charms, not that Arielle couldn't use them. If Arielle used the aura reading charm, she might be able to perceive the problem better, which would then enable her to guide Lyra.

"Okay," she said.

"Okay. Good." Lyra nodded once, then turned around, but Arielle said, "You're forgetting something.

"What?" She spun back again.

"You have not yet accepted my offer of friendship."

"Oh." Lyra smiled again.

'"Sure, we can be friends." Once more, Arielle tempered her joy, knowing it was slightly premature.

"Are you sure?" she asked Lyra.

"I will say the wrong thing again, eventually. I cannot help it. I don't always know before I say it that it's wrong, and it makes it difficult for me to be understood." Rather than withdraw her friendship offer, like Arielle feared, Lyra kept her gaze even.

"You know I'm starting to understand that," she said.

"I thought that might be the case at first, but then you seemed to easily make friends with Riorke and Lacey, so I assumed the problem was just with me."

"No," she said.

"It's not. I'm not sure how I established a friendship with Riorke and Lacey. I didn't have any friends in the village before coming here, so I'm not clear on how it works."

"You've never had a friend?" This seemed to surprise Lyra.

"Ever?"

"Yes. I thought I had a friend, but it turned out that my sister paid her to pretend to be friends with me."

"Oh, wow. That's…I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I just wanted to tell you so that you're aware of my relative inexperience in this field. So if I ever say anything to offend you, it's likely unintentional, unless I clarify that it's not."

"Noted," she said.

"I'll try to also be plainspoken with you as well, and let you know when you've said something inappropriate."

"Thank you," Arielle said. That was a relief, like a weight had been taken off her shoulders. It appeared total transparency had been the best policy with Lyra, and now that the other girl understood her shortcomings and was willing to accommodate them, she didn't have to be as scared of saying the wrong thing. There might still be pitfalls along the way. The friendship may yet fail. But for now... both girls smiled at each other, acknowledging without words that they were now friends.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it And even though a lot had happened today, that was what lingered in Arielle's mind, and it left her with a smile on her face as she fell asleep. ** Elric did indeed send Arielle multiple books on Ascendant etiquette, as well as a journal where he'd written Who's Who in Ascendant Society? Along with that, he listed rules like, "Don't ever go to the spirit pond at dawn.

It's said to be haunted," and "Don't wake up too early on the Saint's day. It's taboo." He also mentioned Lord Wesley, who was the wealthiest man with the most connections in the ascendant world. Both son and nephew were archmages, so despite only being a master himself, he commanded an outsized level of respect. So if she were ever to meet him or his concubines, she must greet them with a bow unless the wife was there, then she must greet the concubines with a curtsey and the wife with a bow.

He circled that one several times and noted,'both wife and one concubine will likely be attending family day, so do not forget if you ever come in contact with them.' Arielle assured him she would not forget. She also told him about the update between her and Lyra. Arielle: Lyra accepted my friendship request. I was completely honest with her, against the advice in How to Charm Kings. She knows now that I am socially inept, but she wants to be my friend anyway. Elric: Good. I'm very happy for you, Arielle.

Arielle: I am very happy for me too. In addition to learning everything she could about ascendant society, she also finally had the conversation with Professor Woden about possibly mentoring her in her effort ot attain, or at least better understand, a Vacu-Calor lean.

"Mentoring, huh?" He tapped his chin in thought, reclining on his leather-backed seat. His office was, to put it kindly, a mess. In contrast to Valeria, who kept hers sparse and neat, he had crammed just about everything into his small space. A bookshelf overflowing with books, some of which he'd left open to reveal stained pages.

Plants highlighted every corner, crawling vines crowding the walls, a blackboard on which he'd scribbled unintelligible words, and next to that, there were random paintings of insects that he had sort of linked together with a black marker. It was all an eyesore, and Arielle had developed an itch to start organizing so it no longer made her sick to look at.

"I'm not sure how much time I would have for that," he said.

"As you can see, I have several projects running concurrently, and I'm reluctant to give any of them up simply to mentor a student. And from what I hear, you don't need my help much anyway, what with how balanced your cores are." Arielle started to agree, but she hesitated.

"I need help with runes." She could likely figure out a Vacu-Calor lean on her own, but while advanced spell casting had touched on runes, it had not gone in depth into their actual creation, and that information only seemed to be found in the restricted section of the library, which she would need a senior's help to access. Not to mention, runes were not something she could make in her bedroom.

She needed additional tools from a dedicated lab, for example, a tool called a distiller, because a rune scroll, unlike charm scrolls, needed further treatment before ink could be applied to them. Runes were also dangerous to practice alone, at least for people who didn't know what they were doing.

"Runes," Woden murmured.

"Well, I know a lot about that, but there's someone who might know more."

"Who?"

"Telip. I don't know if you've ever met him, but he's a fourth year."

"Yes. I know of him."

"Grand. He would be the one to go to if you need help crafting runes. Of course, I cannot force him to help you, so you will simply have to charm him."

"Charm him?" That seemed unlikely for her at this stage. She'd only just managed to charm Lyra after weeks of trial and error. However, with Maus, it had been instantaneous, so perhaps there was some variability that could work in her favor.

"How do I do that?"

"You can start by attending our weekend club. Charms, Potions, and Runes, CPR for short. Telip is the chair of that club, and we're still small, having only been established four years ago and grown to about ten people since then. You're welcome to join."

"The club teaches you how to make charms and potions?"

"Yes. Mostly, it helps students who want to focus their stoichiomancy on artificer research, so there might be other things students work on, apart from charms, potions, and runes. I think your friend Lyra is in the club as well, and she does mostly plant research. We have sessions for an hour every Sunday, and I'm typically there to help, but in the times that I'm not, Telip leads on that front."

"I see." She already had her weekends full between her school work, her extracurricular work, and tutoring Lyra and Maus. But she'd been wanting to talk to Telip for some time, and if this was one way to win him over, she had to take it. In a way, she was also relieved not to get mentorship from Woden. Given the state of his office, Arielle wasn't sure she could spend an hour there every weekend as she did with Valeria. Currently, Valeria and Ari were working on her list of spells.

Valeria was good for bouncing ideas off of and learning the limits of the bonds. For example, when she'd wanted to add an extra Massa double-bond to one of her spells, for stability, Valeria told her that it might lead to one of the essences temporarily earning an extra charge, which Arielle had never heard of before. They were going to talk more about it in their next session. Arielle was also helping Rava run more errands after school.

Most recently, she had begun using the [Revertus] spell to fix statues around campus. When Rava had seen her do it, her jaw had slackened.

"What is it?" Arielle asked. The spell wasn't unusual. It was a Tier 5, although the use of Vacu might make it more complex for other students to learn.

"Charms my foot," Rava muttered in response as she walked away. Neither Rava nor Garret had mentioned anything wrong with the cleaving channel, so Elric's tampering had gone unnoticed. Arielle was also getting better at healing the manalings. She'd been able to expand her reach around the island, and she was so close to being able to do it from her bedroom. Toward the end of the first week, Arielle had an interesting combat session.

Dueling class was strange these days; she felt people were whispering about her, but she couldn't always tell what they were saying. And this time, she was fighting against Riorke.

"Take it easy on him, Swanchild," Lacey called out, and someone whose name she did not know also said, "Good luck, Arielle."

"She doesn't need luck," Cuthbert said.

"She's going to crush him." Riorke smirked at that, and he held it as they walked jointly to the circle. He cracked his neck and then his knuckles and said, "You understand I'm not going to hold back with you, right?"

"Understood."

"Okay. Good." At the sound of the bell, Riorke leaped toward her, faster than she was used to. So fast that it seemed that she blinked, and he was nearly right in front of her. It was only the force of habit that had her throwing up her [Air Shield] in time. But he must have studied her because he dropped at the last minute, looped around the shield, and tried for a side attack. He almost succeeded, about to grab her and shove her out of the circle.

As it was, [Blink] sent her back in time, and his shove met the expanded shield, hitting it with a reverberating sound.

"Ouch," she heard Maus say.

"That had to hurt." Riorke didn't act like it as she charged at her again. She almost thought she saw flame lick the edge of his feet as he came at her. She shifted back. Then shield. Then back some more. Then shield. They were getting into an easy rhythm, but that wasn't good enough for Graham.

"You can't be on the defense the entire fight, Arielle," Professor Graham called.

"You have to try for offense."

"I don't want to hurt him," she said.

"Go on," Riorke said, with a mad smile that reminded her of Selena.

"Hurt me." But she truly didn't want to, and also a part of her didn't want to stop the fight. She was having a lot of fun. This was the longest fight she'd had in combat class, as most of her sessions lasted only a handful of seconds. This time, she might just stay the whole minute. She tried to do that by maintaining a careful distance from Riorke and shielding when he got close. Finally, he got past her shield again.

He did a triple combo maneuver, first going in front, then feigning to the side, then finally shooting to the other side and bursting forward with his hands thrust out.

"Got you." He grinned.

"Not quite," she said, and she hit him with a [Kinetic Push] that sent him out of the circle. She softened the landing for him so that he didn't slam into the ground like Byron had, even as Professor Graham grinned.

"It looks like you win again," Graham said, and a few onlookers cheered, including Lyra, Maus, and a few people Ari had never spoken to. It seemed they were cheering more for Riorke's loss rather than her victory. Confusingly, Lacey cheered loudest of all as Riorke got to his feet and made it back to them.

"Ah, why the long face, my friend?" Lacey mocked.

"Did Swanchild turn you into a fumbling baby?"

"Eat shit," Riorke responded, but he was smiling while he said it. She was reluctant to join them, wondering if Riorke would be angry at his loss, but he waved her over.

"I can't believe I didn't even lay a single finger on you," he said and cracked his neck.

"You ruined my win streak, but that's okay. I'll train hard and beat you next time."

"I can teach you spells," she offered sincerely.

"No need," he said.

"I just need to work on my strength and speed. When meditating, I'll learn to bind some more essences to my physical attributes, and maybe I need to manage enough Tier 1 spells to level up, so I can assign my attribute points to speed." He ran his hands through his hair.

"After all, I'm trying to be an essence-bound mage-Knight, not just a regular mage or a regular Knight."

"Your regimen won't be enough for becoming a mage-knight," she said.

"Yes, it will."

"No, it won't. Your brother proved that enough." Just then, the air went still. Even as the next fighter was called, everyone within earshot of Arielle stared at her, holding their breath.

"Excuse me?" Riorke said, his voice quieter than she'd ever heard it. If she had better awareness, she would realize what those looks and the quiet meant, the warning of coiled snakes rattling their tails. Or if she'd been turned in a different orientation, she would have noticed Lacey's subtle headshake. But though she noticed some awkwardness, she forged on, desperate to help her friend with his problem, so he would not die in the future as his brother had.

"Elric told me that your brother died at the Battle of Reinhelm because he didn't know any spells to shoot down the horde in the distance. It's a very tragic end, and I'm sorry that you had to lose your brother in such a way." She gave a five-second bow and a hand on her chest, a Mossborne symbol of respect and grief toward a fallen soldier.

"It did not have to happen. If he could summon large fireballs or lightning, like some of the Ashbournes of old, he would have been able to destroy the horde long before they reached him. But since he could not, and there was no caster on the team, he sent the rest of his teammates ahead and faced the horde on his own, slowing them down. He sacrificed himself bravely, but he wouldn't have had to if he had spells." She analyzed the group, which she perceived as paying attention to her.

"So you need spells to become a proper mage-knight." The jaw-dropping was the first indicator that she'd said the wrong thing. The sharp intakes of breath. And then there was the boiling anger in Riorke's eyes as he seemed to loom over her.

"How dare you say that to me?"

"Relax," Lacey put a hand out on his chest, and for the first time, there was no trace of a teasing smile as he glanced at Ari.

"You were out of line, Arielle. That was way past shit-talking."

"I wasn't trying to shit-talk," she said and looked at them in confusion and growing consternation as she realized that her words had caused a grievous mood shift. What happened? She was trying to impart a lesson while showing respect and admiration toward Riorke's brother. Did it sound like she was being critical of Riorke? She didn't mean to. How did she fix it?

"What did I say wrong? I wasn't trying to be critical of you, Riorke, simply saying you would be served better if you learned spells. If I said something offensive, let me know, and I can apologize."

"Forget it," Riorke said.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to be upset."

"I said forget it." At that point, Graham whistled for them to be quiet and pay attention to the rest of the duels. But the boys stood in tense, uncomfortable silence for the rest of the session, and once class was over, Riorke stormed out first, followed by Lacey, then Cuthbert, and Cedric, all giving Arielle sour looks. Godfrey avoided her gaze entirely. Something had happened. But what? What had she said? Arielle returned to her room, feeling the whiplash of the emotions. She hated this.

This feeling that she'd said something wrong, that she'd offended once more without meaning to. That she'd hurt Riorke, when he was always so nice to her. Should she not have given him advice? But she was worried about him, not just that he wouldn't make it past severance, but that he would die like his brother. He was too reckless and too stubborn, always fighting against learning the spells with Valeria. If he continued, he might meet the same fate as his brother. How was she to keep quiet knowing that?

But now she'd hurt him somehow. Perhaps, he was angry that she'd mentioned his brother in the first place. Perhaps he was still grieving him. She wanted to go and make it right, but what if she said the wrong thing again? It wasn't until later, when she told Lyra what happened, and Lyra gave her a horrified expression, that Arielle finally asked, "What? Tell me what I said wrong."

"Oh, Ari." Lyra shook her head.

"You said everything wrong."