Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

He should have brought Orissa with him, he lamented. He had originally left her behind because he didn’t want to provoke his parents in this particular meeting, since they were bound to be extremely distraught already, but now he wondered if her presence would have been a positive thing instead.

It was too late for such regrets, however. The train soon entered the station and began to disembark, it wasn’t long before Daimen spotted their parents.

They weren’t carrying much in the way of luggage. Daimen winced internally. It made sense, since they must have had dropped off most of their stuff when they had stopped by in Cirin. Still, the fact they were carrying practically nothing meant they expected this to be a very short visit. This… was probably going to get unpleasant.

Not long after Daimen had spotted their parents, they also spotted him. The two groups quickly made their way towards one another.

"For heaven’s sake, what are you children still doing in this city?" Mother complained the moment they were within earshot.

"Mother-" Daimen tried futilely.

"The whole city was under siege until recently. The academy is closed . Why aren’t you all back in Cirin already?" she continued. Father was totally silent, simply studying each of them in turn. Once he saw that all of them were unharmed, he seemed to relax a little. Most wouldn’t be able to tell, but Daimen was the closest to Father out of all the Kazinski siblings, and could read his little tics pretty well by this point. "Never mind, I’ll help you pack your bags and we’ll be home by tomorrow."

"What? No we won’t," Zorian simply told her in a bored tone of voice.

"Zorian, please let me handle this," Daimen urged in a low tone of voice.

Father gave Zorian a penetrating look for his statement, a gesture that would usually instantly put Zorian on defensive, but of course, this time traveler Zorian was not bothered by it in the slightest. Zorian didn’t talk about family all that much, but Daimen got the notion that Zorian had barely interacted with Mother and Father during the time loop. The two were practically strangers to him, and it showed in his attitude towards them.

That, more than the fact he’d had to kill his original self to be here, greatly disturbed Daimen.

"You seem to have grown some spine in the short time you’ve been here," Father remarked, still staring intently at Zorian. He didn’t say whether this was good or bad, but Daimen knew he thought it was both. He liked when his sons had a firm, decisive attitude, but he also didn’t tolerate disrespect towards himself and Mother.

"Zorian is just dedicated to his studies," Daimen hurriedly explained, shooting Zorian a quick look to shut him up. "Just because the academy is closed doesn’t mean we’re all doing nothing. Zorian is organizing a study group for his class so they can continue studying on their own in private. He even got some of the teachers to help him out."

"But Kirielle-" Mother tried.

"I like it here!" Kirielle immediately exclaimed. "I have friends here and everything!"

"It’s dangerous here," Mother said firmly. She glanced around the group for a second. "I really regret not taking her with us this time, but what’s done is done. What I don’t understand if how you could all let her stay in here under the circumstances. She must be terrified after what happened here!"

"But I’m not!" Kirielle protested.

"Quiet," Mother barked at her.

Kirielle immediately shirked back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daimen could see Zorian’s mood immediately worsen. Out of all of them here, Kirielle was the one Zorian cared about the most. Daimen was pretty sure his little brother would be willing to make an enemy out of his whole family for Kirielle’s sake, which was more than a little disturbing. Kirielle was a cute kid, but she could be a massive brat sometimes.

"Anyway, if Zorian is as busy as you say, what about Fortov?" Mother continued. "He could have taken Kirielle back to Cirin just fine, yes?"

"Yes, he’s already a failed student wasting his time and our money here," Father agreed. "Why not have him be useful for a change?"

"You!" Fortov protested, visibly outraged.

"Am I wrong?" Father challenged.

"Why even send me back here if that’s what you think about me!?" Fortov protested.

"Please, Father," Daimen urged. "Look, I know Fortov had some issues with his studies lately…"

Father scoffed. Mother sighed. Fortov looked furious, and very bitter.

"…but I have been giving him some help lately, and I’m sure he’ll turn the situation around," Daimen said.

He had promised to take care of Fortov back in the time loop, apparently. Although Daimen didn’t remember it, he had to admit Fortov needed his help. Certainly Zorian made it clear he didn’t want to do anything with the guy. Apparently, despite having lived in the same city for years, Zorian had never bothered to interact with his brother and figure out how to help him.

For all his newfound maturity, this new Zorian still had clear traces of his old self.

He sure could nurse a grudge, for instance.

"And for how long will that last?" Father challenged. "You’ll be back in Koth soon, I imagine, and then he’ll be back on his own. I doubt one month will make that much difference."

"Actually, I’m going to be around much more often than I usually am," Daimen said. "Haven’t you wondered how I got here before you?"

Father and Mother looked at each other.

"Well… I thought maybe you used the teleport network…" tried Mother.

Daimen shook his head with a slight smile.

"Mother, Father… I want to show you something. We can go and meet my fiancée and her family now, if you’re willing. It’s what you were travelling to Koth for, after all."

"What? They came here with you?" Mother asked incredulously. Daimen understood her disbelief. A single individual like him could conceivably cross large distances on a whim, but a small group of people was a lot bigger challenge.

"You’ll see," Daimen said with a grin. "Things are going to change a lot in the future, I think. Who knows, maybe even your family business might profit out of this."

Thankfully, this was sufficiently interesting that it distracted Mother and Father from further questioning. He knew that sooner or later, Mother would realize that Zorian had already started teaching Kirielle magic behind her back and that her beloved daughter had been literally attacked by assassins during the invasion – if nothing else because Kirielle was sure to blurt it out at some point – and that once she did, there would be hell to pay. For now, though, the crisis had been aver-

"Zorian! Hey! Zorian!"

Daimen looked at the person calling out to his brother and saw a chubby boy with a happy smile on his face hurrying over. An older, well-dressed man with a mustache followed behind him at a more sedate pace. Probably the boy’s father.

The funny thing about this was that the boy clearly acted like he was Zorian’s friend, but Daimen himself had never seen Zorian interact with him at all. That was interesting to say the least.

"Hey Zorian! I see you already got back, too!" the boy said once he got closer.

"I never left, Ben," Zorian said politely.

Oh, so they did know each other. By this point the boy’s father also arrived, though he stayed silent behind the boy. He simply gave a small nod and quiet greeting to the gathered Kazinskis before waiting for his son to calm down.

"You never left? Man, you work too hard," the chubby boy said. "I heard you got roped into being an ambassador for some giant spiders. You got to introduce me to them someday, man. Sounds like one hell of an experience."

There was a long silence as all the Kazinski siblings looked incredibly uncomfortable.