Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

“A better question.” Normally, she’d be smirking with a line like that, but not the slightest hint of mirth traced across her lips. “You almost died.”

I blinked. I almost died ?

That took a few moments to process.

“How? Wasn’t that just a simulation?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, and you still somehow managed to almost kill yourself. How typical.”

When I didn’t reply for a moment, she elaborated with an exasperated wave of her hand. “You somehow managed to wreath yourself in ice that spread on its own. Then you lost consciousness . You were lucky the tests are closely watched. They pulled you out almost immediately. Thing is, the ice started spreading again as soon as they melted it off you. Vellum apparently woke you up long enough to get you to toss the sword aside, which stopped the effect from propagating further.”

Oh, is that what that was?

“Uh, oops?”

She raised her arm. I flinched back, but the blow I’d expected never came.

Instead, she slipped her arm under me and gave me a crushing hug, burying her head in my chest.

“Never do that again.”

I felt my hands quiver at the unexpected contact. I… wasn’t used to being touched in a way that didn’t involve violence, at least not in the last few years.

It helped that it was Sera. I pictured when we’d held hands as children. It had been perfectly normal, even comforting, when we were little. I hadn’t associated touching with pain back then.

I took a deep breath and, slowly, returned the hug. “I’m sorry that I worried you.”

I was surprised to find that I actually meant it.

After three years away from everyone, I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have friends.

I pulled her closer, feeling her tense, then relax at the gesture.

“I’m okay,” I said.

That part, unfortunately, was a lie.

The next morning, I woke to find Sera sleeping in the chair next to my bed. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.

I’d been raised to expect Sera to be my retainer. Looking after me while I slept, to make sure I didn’t somehow manage to get myself killed? Classic retainer business.

Now that she was presumably the family heir?

Honestly, she’d have been better off if I had died. Less competition that way.

I wouldn’t have expected her to think in those terms, of course. As practical as Sera could be, I never expected her to make a utility calculation about the value of my life.

Was she actually thinking of me like a sibling now?

I didn’t know what to make of that.

I missed Tristan. I missed him desperately, and I was still firm in my resolve that I’d find a way to get him back.

And when he was back, we’d rebuild our family. He’d always been the unifying one, the one who was effortlessly charming and limitlessly talented. Mother and Father had been so proud of him.

But as much as I loved my brother, he’d never been the gentle sort. He wouldn’t have been watching over me here. He’d have assumed that coddling me would have just encouraged future weakness.

That was my father’s philosophy, and we’d both been trained to believe it completely. I didn’t start to have my doubts until after Tristan was gone.

I was grateful that Sera had never been raised with those values.

Her eyes flickered open as I sat up, awkwardly dislodging my covers. I was feeling vastly better, but Sera looked wretched. I doubted she’d gotten much sleep.

“Hmm?” She mumbled. “What time is it?”

I shrugged at her. “Don’t know. It’s Wyddsay, though, unless I slept through more than one day.”

“You didn’t.”

“Then you can sleep in. No classes to worry about.”

She nodded blearily, and I pulled back the bed’s covers and pointed a hand. “In.”

Sera grumbled as she shifted from chair to bed, and I helped pull off her boots. I wasn’t going to let those filthy things into my sheets; I had standards. Next, I eased her into the covers. She mumbled something I couldn’t hear, and then turned away. I saw the slightest crack of a smile on her face as she began to drift off. She was fast asleep in moments.

Professor Vellum wasn’t quite as friendly with her morning greeting. From her grimace when I walked into the office, I knew I was in for a lecture.

“Ah, it’s the prodigy of idiots.”

I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “And a good morning to you too, professor. As always, your kind words bring warmth to my frigid heart.”

She folded her arms. “Don’t you snark at me, boy. There’s only one seat for snark in this office, and I’ve had it claimed for quite some time.”

“I suppose a duel of wits for the chair is out of the question.”

Vellum chortled. “Please, child. Have you ever heard the phrase ‘death of a thousand cuts’? That’s what the last fool who challenged me got, though the truth was that he could only comprehend one jab in those thousand. You wouldn’t last a round.”

“Don’t attribute to inability what more rightfully would be called disinterest. When the time comes for our contest, I won’t need a thousand strikes to match your own. A single one will suffice.”

She laughed in earnest this time. “A bold claim.” She waved a hand as though she were clearing smoke and grew serious once more. “Though not amusing enough to make up for your little stunt in the test. Now, sit your too-clever rear. We have actual business to discuss.”

Aww, but that was just getting entertaining.

I lifted some books off one of the chairs across the desk from Vellum’s, set them on the floor, and then took a seat. Belatedly, I noticed the top book’s title, Runes of Frost . Interesting.

“So, nearly killed myself, I hear?”

Vellum took her own seat. “I understand that your nonchalance is a way of deflecting from real concern, but I need you to take this seriously. Yes, you very nearly killed yourself. That is not a matter for jest.”

A corner of my mouth turned downward, but I nodded. “I understand,” I told her.

“I don’t think you do, or you wouldn’t have done it.” She was matter-of-fact, neither teasing or scolding in her tone. “Set the sword on the table, and draw it out enough to expose the runes.”

I followed her instructions. It was only at that point that I realized that the feather I’d attached to the handle, the one meant to block the sword’s supposed curse… was gone. My lips tightened as I considered possibilities for how that could have happened.

She raised a finger, pointing at the four runes. “How many of these runes do you understand?”

I glanced it over, thinking about my research, and pointed to one of them. “This is some sort of advanced variation on an ice rune. The others… I’m less sure about.”

“And you still felt it was wise to bring this weapon into a simulation.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t have any evidence to indicate it was dangerous.”

“You didn’t have any evidence.” She raised her hands to shield her eyes. “I will not demean your intelligence again, but you must consider this seriously. You did not have any evidence it was dangerous because you did not understand the weapon at all .”

That felt a little unfair, but she did have a point. “I’ve practiced with it, both alone and with Teft in dueling class. Also, I heard a bit about it from a former climber, and took some precautions.”

“Oh? And what sort of precautions did you take?”

“I bought a gryphon feather to counter the curse on it?” I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

Vellum leaned across the table, glaring. “You mean to tell me that you brought a weapon that you believed to be cursed into a test?”