Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

"What?" asked Zach, giving him a shocked look. "What do you mean? I don’t understand."

"Veyers probably did this in every single restart while he was still alive," Zorian said.

"Come to our first class and start a fight with Briam’s fire drake, you mean?" Zach asked.

"Yeah," Zorian nodded. "We always wondered why Red Robe bothered to erase your memories of Veyers, considering you wouldn’t normally even interact with him…"

"…but if he normally showed up for class to make a scene, it would be very strange for him to suddenly stop coming," Zach said, eyes lighting up in realization. "If Red Robe is Veyers, he probably didn’t want to go through this at the beginning of every restart just to keep up a charade. It’s a waste of time, and he probably cringed inside at the thought of what an idiot he used to be. However, him being absent from class would immediately tip me off that something is wrong with him… unless I no longer remember him."

"That still begs the question, though… why would Red Robe allow Veyers to expose himself like this after going to the trouble of saving him at the start of the month?" Zorian asked.

"We didn’t kill him," Zach pointed out.

"Yes, but how would Red Robe know for sure what we would or would not do to Veyers?" Zorian countered. "He was playing with Veyers’s life by letting him come here. Plus, even if he scrubbed his memories clean of any sensitive information, he can’t know for sure that he didn’t leave anything of importance behind. It’s just a pointless risk. If I was in Red Robe’s place, I’d never let this happen. I’d trap Veyers in a dungeon and sedate him if I had to. Does Red Robe even care about the welfare of original Veyers?"

"I don’t know if that logic really holds," Zach told him dubiously. "You also brought your little sister here, even though you knew this placed her in greater danger. You cared more about fulfilling her wishes than making her perfectly safe."

Zorian made a sour face at that. He hated when Zach was right like that…

"Anyway, even if Red Robe doesn’t know what you would do, he does know me … well, presumably. I would never just kill Veyers for no reason, even if he does have some tenuous connection to our opponent. None of this is his fault, really. Does he even have any connection to the Cult or the Ibasans?"

"No, that’s all Jornak," said Zorian, shaking his head. "And Veyers doesn’t know about that, either."

"Right. So there is no reason for us to go after original Veyers," Zach said. "He’s just a dumb kid with no way to threaten us. Killing him would be really petty. We didn’t even kill the original Silverlake, even though she could be a real headache if time looper Silverlake manages to recruit her to her side."

"I guess," Zorian said, not really convinced yet. "I still think it’s very weird. I thought him showing up was maybe some kind of trap, but it doesn’t appear this is correct…"

"I put a tracker on him before he left," Zach said. "If he goes back to Red Robe…"

"He won’t," Zorian said, shaking his head. "This is Red Robe cutting him off and letting him sink or swim on his own. He’ll go either back to his family or maybe to his lawyer friend. Assuming Jornak goes back to his home, that is."

They talked about the issue for some time before Zorian decided it was time to leave. Sadly, another thing cropped up before he had a chance to set off.

Placed on the doorstep of Noveda Mansion was a simple white envelope addressed to Zach Noveda and Zorian Kazinski . After thoroughly analyzing it for traps, the two of them opened it and found a letter waiting for them inside.

It was just a sheet of normal, non-magical paper with a few words scrawled on it in fancy, formal handwriting.

Thank you for showing mercy.

Perhaps we can come to an agreement after all.

Let’s talk.

You can pick a time and place for the meeting.

You know how to contact me.

There was no return address, signature, or name of the sender on the letter… but it was obvious who sent it.

Just as it was obvious that they couldn’t refuse the invitation.

It was already late in the evening and Zorian was slowly making his way to Imaya’s place. He wasn’t in a hurry. His thoughts were still stuck on the letter they received back at the Noveda estate. A meeting with Red Robe… what could the third time traveler want to talk to them about? As far as Zorian could see, they were completely and unavoidably opposed to each other. There was very little they could agree upon, and they couldn’t really trust each other to stick to any such agreement anyway.

Especially since Zorian strongly suspected Red Robe got into the time loop by backstabbing Zach. A person like that couldn’t be trusted at all…

As he was passing through one of the many Cyoria city parks, he suddenly stopped and turned towards the small fountain in the center. He had detected a familiar mental and soul signature in that direction.

There was a young woman sitting there, on the edge of the fountain. She was roughly 20 years of age, tall and beautiful, with long black hair and a feminine figure – the sort of beauty that made men turn around as they walked and remained stuck in their head for a while. Also, she was completely unfamiliar to Zorian. He had never seen this woman before in his entire life, he was sure. And yet…

She grinned at him cheekily, patting at the spot next to her, as if inviting him to join her. Some of the men around him cast him dark, jealous glances in response.

Zorian ignored the invitation for a second, directing his attention to the roof of a nearby building, where a large raven was inconspicuously sitting and observing the scene below.

Zorian cautiously approached the smiling woman, his expression darkening. When he was closer to her, he stopped. He could feel a ward field spring into existence around them, but he did nothing to stop it. He could immediately recognize it as a basic privacy ward, meant to stop people from listening in on them.

"Hell, Silverlake," he said. "You look much better than you did the last time we talked."

"Ha ha, you flatterer!" she told him. "I feel better! My mind is clearer, my bones do not ache, and I no longer get tired as easily. Being young again is everything I hoped for, and more!"

"Is this really what you looked like when you were younger, though?" Zorian asked her curiously.

"I have no idea," she said with a shrug. "I don’t have any paintings of myself when I was younger, but I do remember being quite a looker in my younger days. Anyone who could legitimately call me out on this little bit of vanity is long dead, so who cares?"

"Little bit of vanity…" Zorian repeated quietly.

"Yes, just a little bit," Silverlake said, pretending to adjust her hair while smiling at him brightly. "You know, you should try not to frown so much. It will give you wrinkles."

"You were surprisingly quiet so far," Zorian pointed out. "What’s up with that?"

"Ah, you know… there’s always something," she said dismissively. "An emergency here, an emergency there, and you suddenly lost two days with nothing to show for it. It’s frustrating, but that’s life."

"Indeed," said Zorian, glancing to the nearby roof where the raven was intently watching them. "I see you got yourself a new familiar. What happened to your old raven?"

Silverlake stopped smiling at him.

"I guess Panaxeth couldn’t get him out of the time loop along with you," Zorian continued. "That must have hurt. I heard it’s not healthy to lose a soul-bonded familiar like that. Especially for witches like yourself. Witches are known for having well-developed familiar-related magic, which probably translates into an even deeper link to their partner animals. Your soul must have suffered considerable damage when you were incarnated into that pretty new body of yours…"