Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

In any case, the initial meeting was much calmer and more subdued than Zorian expected. The steam ship that carried their parents languidly entered Jasuka harbor and then disgorged an endless stream of passengers and cargo, temporarily creating a miniature pandemonium as the throng of disembarking people and dockworkers shouted and pushed at one another. By the time Daimen and Zorian had found Mother and Father, they already looked absolutely exhausted and were in no mood to start a fight. They were surprised to see Zorian in Koth, of course, but mostly they were glad to have an extra person help out with the luggage and whatnot.

"Aren’t you supposed to watch Kirielle?" Mother asked him, frowning.

"I am," Zorian said. "I’m just here to pick you up. I’ll be back in Cyoria before nightfall."

"How?" Father asked. "I thought no one could teleport over such distances. And teleportation is supposed to be advanced magic, anyway."

"It’s a secret," Zorian simply said.

Father made an indecipherable hum and said nothing further.

"Whatever it is, I hope you can use the same method to send us home when the time comes," Mother said, sounding worn and tired. "Ship travel doesn’t agree with me. I think I lost a whole year of my life getting here. It would be great if we could avoid boarding a ship for the return trip."

And that was it. Nothing more was spoken about Zorian’s presence. Especially since, when the group had finally stepped through the dimensional gate and entered the Taramatula estate, they were greeted by Orissa and the rest of the Taramatula delegation. At that point, the mystery of Zorian’s presence on another continent was the furthest thing from their minds.

Naturally, Mother and Father were full of smiles and compliments. The tiredness they displayed before Daimen and Zorian seemed to instantly disappear and they busied themselves with handing out very expensive gifts and endlessly praising the thoughtfulness and generosity of their hosts. If Zorian hadn’t known in advance what their purpose for coming here was, he would have never guessed they disapproved of the marriage.

Two days passed. Mother and Father slowly settled into the Taramatula estate. Zorian tried to stay away from the place as much as possible, not wanting to get tangled into Daimen’s mess too much, and the simulacrum he had left in the estate did the same. As such, he didn’t really know how their attempts to talk Daimen out of the marriage were progressing. He had his own things to worry about. Now that he had a simulacrum outside the Taramatula estate, he hurriedly arranged for a group of Silent Doorway Adepts to be transported to Koth, next to one of the local Bakora Gates.

Happily, the operation to acquire the gate key was a full success. Both Zorian and the Silent Doorway Adepts were ecstatic about this. For the aranea, this gate key represented access to a virgin territory awash with opportunities. For Zorian, it was a way to ensuring easy access to Koth without having to rely on Daimen. Plus, he suspected that having this key would make it much, much easier to convince the Silent Doorway Adepts to cooperate with him in future restarts.

Now, however, Zorian was back in the Taramatula estate. His parents had specifically called for him to come see them. In all honesty, Zorian had totally expected this to happen. They had taken his presence in Koth in stride when they had first come, but now that they had time to rest, talk with people and think about things, they no doubt realized there was something very much off about him. The only thing he hadn’t been certain of was whether the restart would have come to an end before this happened.

He was currently standing in one of Taramatula meeting rooms, Father and Mother standing in front of him. Originally, Daimen had wanted to be present for the talk as well, but they had shooed him away, insisting this was a private talk . That had been kind of amusing. It was not often that they treated their favorite son in such fashion. Apparently, whatever arrangements Orissa did were insufficient, and they still opposed the marriage. And since Daimen stubbornly refused to give up on the idea, they were currently not terribly fond of him.

"We spoke with Daimen about you," Mother said suddenly.

She had a complex, worried look on her face, as if she was having trouble deciding how to handle this. Father, on the other hand, stayed silent and stony-faced, his emotions indecipherable.

"Yes?" Zorian responded blandly.

"He tells us you’re incredibly powerful and competent. Far more than you let on," she said.

"True," Zorian admitted. He didn’t see the point of hiding it. They already knew he could move across continents in a quick, reliable manner.

"But why would you keep something like that hidden from us?" Mother asked imploringly. "Having another genius in the family is a joyous thing. Surely you don’t think we would have stood in your way?"

"Ah, you mean… like you’re not standing in the way of Daimen’s marriage?" Zorian asked innocently.

"That’s something completely different!" Mother said, scowling at him. She quickly reined herself in, however. "And besides, we’re not standing in Daimen’s way. We’re simply… trying to pull him back for taking a wrong turn. If he stubbornly refuses to heed our advice, we will reluctantly accept it, not sabotage his life in revenge."

"What she’s saying," Father suddenly spoke up, "is that we already disagree with what you’re doing with your life, so what’s one disagreement more? You can just throw one of your juvenile hissy fits, just like you always do, and we’ll grit our teeth and bear it because at the end of the day you’re still our son. Just like we always do."

Zorian stretched his mouth into a thin line and gave Father a narrowed stare, but said nothing. Father simply stared back at him, as if daring him to say anything.

"Andir, honey, I thought we agreed I would be the one to talk," Mother sighed.

Father raised both of his hands in a gesture of surrender. He also gave her an exasperated look, but she had already turned back towards Zorian, ignoring him.

"What are you planning, Zorian?" Mother asked him bluntly.

"Nothing much," Zorian said. "I’m going to move out of the house immediately after I graduate. Maybe sooner. Open my own business, buy myself a house, things like that."

"You think running a business is easy?" Father challenged. Well, that didn’t take long.

"I’m an amazing mage," Zorian said immodestly. "Even if I had the worst business sense in the world, I’d still be able to make enough for a living."

"But the family business–" Mother began.

"Not for all the money in the world," Zorian said, cutting her off.

A brief silence descended upon the scene as Mother and Father shared a long look between them.

"Oh!" Zorian said, suddenly remembering something. "I’ll also take care of Kirielle."

This statement naturally caused both of them to give Zorian a look of surprise.

"What do you mean you’ll take care of Kirielle?" Mother asked slowly. "Why would she need someone to take care of her?"

"Well, someone needs to teach her magic and nullify that stupid arranged marriage you prepared for her," Zorian said casually.

A look of intense, shocked outrage appeared on Mother’s face. For a moment she seemed unable to process what she just heard, but then she outright exploded at him.

"You little brat!" she snapped at him agitatedly. "You have no idea what you’re talking about!"

Weirdly, Father just laughed at the scene, shaking his head at nobody in particular. Zorian was mystified by this reaction, but decided to ignore it for now.

"The situation seems simple enough to my eyes," Zorian countered, unperturbed by her outrage.