Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

"Pile of bones?" Zorian asked, his voice curious.

Zach opened his mouth to respond but Ilsa chose that exact moment to walk into the classroom and Zach dropped the issue.

Zorian had to restrain himself from glaring at Ilsa as she smiled at him. Couldn’t she have waited a few more minutes?

Ignorant and uncaring of Zorian’s internal grumbling, Ilsa accepted the list of present students from Akoja and began introducing herself and her class. It wasn’t anything that Zorian hadn’t heard eight times already, so he mostly ignored her in favor of keeping an eye on Zach and plotting how to extract time travel related information out of him.

Suddenly he realized that Ilsa had stopped talking and was looking in his direction. After a few moments he realized she was looking at Zach.

"Mr. Noveda, you look quite ill. Please tell me you didn’t come to my class with a hangover."

The class erupted into laughter and Zach winced, either because loud noises bothered him in the state he was in or because he noticed the undercurrent of agitation in Ilsa’s question. Either way he recovered quickly.

"It’s not a hangover," protested Zach. "I just woke up like this, I swear."

"And you thought that coming to class like this was a good idea… why?" Ilsa prodded.

"Err… I honestly didn’t think it would last this long. I figured it would pass in an hour or two," said Zach sheepishly.

Zorian frowned. If the sickness was a consequence of the spell the lich had targeted them with that evening (and Zach certainly seemed to think so, if his previous comment was any indication), that would mean Zach had been suffering its effects for the past 8 months or so, as Zach had been absent for that long. Why would Zach expect a condition that serious to pass in an hour or two ?

Why couldn’t there be any simple answers in all this?

"Well it didn’t," Ilsa concluded. "While I appreciate your dedication to your studies," Zorian distinctly heard Ako snorting derisively in the background, "I must insist you go home or, better yet, visit a healer. You look like you’re going to collapse any moment."

Before Zach could say anything, Zorian rose from his seat.

"I’ll get him home, teacher," he said. Zach gave him a surprised look, but Ilsa just nodded and shooed them away.

Zorian picked up his bag and left with Zach in tow, very pleased with himself. He got a legitimate excuse to talk to Zach in private and a permission to skip a class he had already attended 8 times by now. Could a victory be more complete?

"You didn’t have to do that, you know?" Zach remarked, trailing behind him. "I can get back home on my own. I don’t feel that sick."

"But if I hadn’t done that, I would’ve had to sit through 2 hours of boring review," countered Zorian.

Zach laughed, but his laughter quickly collapsed into a painful sounding cough.

"Damn," he wheezed. "He really did a number on me."

"Who is this someone you keep mentioning?" prodded Zorian.

"It’s not important," Zach mumbled. He took a deep breath and fixed Zorian with a speculative look. "Hey. Want to go to the cafeteria and grab something to eat?"

"You think your stomach can handle it?" Zorian asked.

"You bet," Zach nodded. "I’m starving!"

Zorian shrugged and gestured for Zach to lead the way.

That was how Zorian found himself sharing a table with the cause of his time traveling problems, trying to think of a good opening for a conversation he wanted to have with the boy. Or should he wait for a few days to make Zach get used to his presence? Hmm…

"You know, I find this whole situation very amusing," Zach said between mouthfuls, shoveling noodles into his mouth and attempting to talk at the same time. Now that was very amusing. His mother always insisted he should aspire to behave like a noble . She would have a heart attack if he ever adopted Zach’s eating manners. "A good little student like you, skipping class to have lunch with a class delinquent… what is the world coming to? What would your mother say if she saw you now?"

"First of all, I’m not skipping class – I’m escorting you home," Zorian pointed out, ignoring a snort from Zach. "We just stopped for a meal so you wouldn’t collapse from starvation before we get there." Another snort. "And my mother would go all sparkly-eyed at who I’m having lunch with and promptly forget I’m supposed to be in class."

"Ah. A social climber," Zach said, a sour expression on his face. "Say no more. At least you’re male so she wouldn’t try to pair us."

"Well, I do have a 9-year-old sister…"

"Don’t go there," Zach warned.

"Fine," agreed Zorian. He didn’t particularly want to continue in that avenue, anyway. "So are you going to tell me who roughed you up or what?"

"You’re a lot nosier than I remember," Zach huffed. "What makes you think someone roughed me up?"

"Your offhand comments aren’t as oblique as you imagine them to be," Zorian said.

"Whatever," Zach scoffed. "I just breathed in some weird fumes while I was messing with my alchemy set yesterday, that all."

Ah, the trusty alchemical accident excuse. So cliché, yet so effective. Zorian had used it quite a few times himself. In any case, he wasn’t willing to let go so easily. He decided to risk it and try to provoke a reaction from the boy.

"Must have been some really weird fumes – the aftereffects almost look like soul magic exposure," Zorian speculated loudly.

Zorian had expected some kind of reaction from Zach, but what he got was quite a bit stronger than what he had imagined. Zach immediately sat straighter in his seat, eyes wide in realization. "Of course! That’s why I’m still suffering the effects, even after the revert! The son of a bitch targeted the very thing that gets sent back – my soul!"

There was an eerie silence in the cafeteria as everyone stared at the crazy boy shouting nonsense in a crowded dining hall. Zach slowly lowered his hands (he had been gesticulating wildly during his little speech) and mumbled an apology that was too quiet for anyone but Zorian to hear. Scattered laughter rippled through the gathered students for a few moments before everything finally returned to normal.

"Err…" started Zach. "Maybe we should continue this at the fountain, yeah?"

"I don’t know," remarked Zorian carefully. "If you intend to be this loud, I don’t think it will do much."

"Oh ha ha," grumbled Zach. "So I got a little excited… not everyone is an ice cube like you Zorian."

"Ice cube?" asked Zorian, an undercurrent of warning in his voice.

But Zach was already packing, and Zorian could do nothing but huff in annoyance and follow after him. Still, Zach’s little outburst answered a few of his questions. So it wasn’t his memories, or even his mind that got sent back – it was his soul . That would certainly explain why his spellwork and shaping skills didn’t disappear every time he started over. It was common knowledge that magic was heavily connected to the soul, even if no one really knew the exact mechanism of their interaction.

When they finally reached the fountain, Zach seemed to be in a contemplative mood so Zorian took a moment to study the schools of colourful fish swimming in the basin of the fountain. He actually pitied the poor things, since they were unlikely to last long. For years the fountain had been in disrepair, and it was only due to the grander-than-usual summer festival that it was renovated. How likely was it that the Academy would continue to maintain it after the occasion passed? Not very. And it was even less likely it would be kept in a good enough condition for the fish to survive. Their days were numbered.