Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

But the fear remained. Ilsa had finished her explanations and left, but Zorian’s mind remained trapped in this ominous scenario for quite a while afterwards.

Sometimes he could be so stupid, Zorian lamented.

The long train ride from Cirin to Cyoria was even more boring than it usually was. This was mostly because Zorian was not doing anything of critical importance, and thus had to refrain from tapping into his mana reserves too much. That mana was best reserved for his simulacrums, who were out there acquiring funds, making magic items, teleporting around, and fighting their enemies. Frivolous uses of magic like entertaining Kirielle on the train with illusions were simply inexcusable. He had scolded his simulacrums over these sorts of things many times in the past, so now that he was in their position it was important that he set an example for them and show them how things should be done.

Additionally, this was no longer the time loop, and he would have to deal with consequences that went beyond just this one month. It was best for him to at least pretend to be a normal student mage in front of a little tattletale like Kirielle. That meant no spellcasting at all for the moment, since students could not bypass the wards on the train.

After an hour or so, he kind of began to understand why his simulacrums were so prone to breaking the no frivolous magics rule.

Still, in the end he found ways to amuse himself and Kirielle without magic. He told her stories of some of his time looping adventures, using true stories with altered names and a few tweaks here and there. Kirielle complained the stories were too fantastical and ridiculous after a while, so they started a drawing competition instead. Zorian had actually learned how to draw reasonably well over the long course of the time loop, but he was nowhere near good enough to match Kirielle, so she always won.

His sister did not mind, though. Even though it was an unfair competition right from the start, she always wanted to keep going for another round. The little imp never got tired of winning.

"Now stopping in Korsa," a disembodied voice echoed. A crackling sound again. "I repeat, now stopping in Korsa. Thank you."

A few things happened in quick succession then. First, Ibery wandered in and peeked into the compartment to see if it was free. Zorian, being kind of bored with Kirielle’s antics, invited her in. Ibery seemed a little taken aback by his friendliness, but seeing Kirielle put her at ease, and she did claim a seat beside them after a moment of hesitation. Then Byrn, a guy he had met way back at the beginning of his time looping experience, also wandered in and asked if a seat was free in their compartment. Zorian happily invited him in, too.

Suddenly, the compartment had become a lot livelier than it used to be. Ibery was shy and quiet, and had immediately chosen to bury her nose in a book when she came in, but Byrn was friendly and talkative and immediately tried to strike up a conversation with them. Kirielle immediately started peppering him with questions about magic and the academy.

"I’m Kirielle Kazinski," Kirielle said, "and that’s my brother Zorian. Are you a student like Zorian? Can you do magic? What year are you? Is it true that you have to fight a giant spider in order to get admitted as a student? Zorian says that’s a requirement, but I think he’s lying…"

"Ha ha, umm… I don’t think I would have gotten in, if that were the case," Byrn laughed. "I don’t think I could win a fight against the other students, never mind a giant spider."

"Lots of types of giant spiders," Zorian noted. "There’s a whole bunch of them that you could easily club to death with a mundane weapon, so long as you keep your cool and don’t panic."

"Oh? You sound pretty knowledgeable about that. Did you ever fight one for real?" Byrn asked curiously.

"Yes, though not as an admission test, of course," Zorian said. "I told that to Kirielle just to mess with her a little."

"I knew it," Kirielle pouted, folding her hands over her chest and giving him a grumpy look.

"Ah, so, I hate to shift the subject, but that last name…" Byrn tried.

"Yes, Daimen Kazinski is our brother," Zorian said with a shrug. "We have very little contact with him, though. He mostly does his own thing and rarely visits."

The conversation continued for a while after that, meandering from topic to topic. Even Ibery joined in after figuring out from Bryn’s question that they were Fortov’s siblings. She did not actually bring up Fortov, however, which was probably for the best. Zorian would have been diplomatic, of course, but Kirielle disliked their middle brother as much as he did and would likely not have anything nice to say about that topic. In any case, the conversation eventually turned towards a particularly shocking event that occurred in Cyoria recently. Namely, the fact that Zach’s place had gotten utterly trashed during his fight with Red Robe, and that he himself had gone missing for several hours while people frantically searched for him all over the city.

"What? Someone actually attacked the Noveda Mansion like that? I didn’t know that," Ibery said, surprised.

"Yes, it happened really recently. The attack happened very early in the morning, just a few hours ago," Byrn said, nodding self-indulgently. He was clearly pleased to have acquired this news so soon after it occurred. Man, news sure does spread fast these days. "I hear the fighting was really fierce. Some of the support columns were damaged, and several walls got breached. I heard repairs will take weeks! It must have been a really powerful force that launched the attack – the newspapers were saying only a fully equipped mage regiment could have done so much damage so quickly."

"But that place is right there in one of the better parts of the city… and aren’t Noveda an old, influential Noble House?" Ibery asked. "How could a force of that size come and go just like that? Where were the guards during all this?"

"Well, someone was clearly fighting the attackers and fought them off in the end, so presumably the guards were not useless," Byrn shrugged. "Besides, I hear the Noveda are not the same force they once were. My father says they’re a mere shadow of their former selves. It’s still crazy that something like this can happen."

"You know, Zach Noveda is one of my classmates," Zorian said suddenly.

"Really?" Byrn said, perking up. "I don’t suppose you heard more about this, then?"

"I just know Zach is fine," Zorian said, shaking his head. "He wasn’t present in the mansion when the attack occurred. He was out drinking and dancing throughout the entire night."

Or at least that was the excuse Zach had picked for himself as an explanation as to what had happened. They modified the memory of the healer that had patched him up (after leaving him a sizeable anonymous tip for his services), so no one should be able to contradict his story. Zorian did suggest to Zach that he should pick some other excuse, since saying he had spent the entire night getting drunk and gods know what else was somewhat embarrassing, but Zach insisted this was fine.

Sure enough, Ibery responded to Zorian’s explanation by wrinkling her nose in distaste, while Bryn simply laughed awkwardly.

"I did hear rumors about the Noveda heir," Ibery said. "They say he’s not exactly a model student, if you know what I mean."

"There is nothing wrong with his magic skills," Zorian quickly said, feeling compelled to defend his friend. "He’s just a little… reckless."

"Are you friends with this Zach?" Kirielle asked curiously. "How come I don’t know anything about this?"

"Why would I say something like this to a little tattletale like you?" Zorian asked rhetorically. "You’d run off to tell Mother the moment my back was turned."