Chapter 55 — An Uncomfortable Meeting

The second-year boy that walked Ria to Soulkeeper Renard’s waiting room, Diedor, was given a new task by the woman sitting behind the desk as soon as they entered the room and left her there. He hadn’t been particularly talkative, but she had managed to get his name and that he was from Peth province to the east.

“Have a seat, Ria,” the woman said and motioned to the chairs lining two of the room’s walls. “Soulkeeper Renard is quite busy this morning.”

Ria nodded and took the seat nearest the door to the inner office. Two other students were also waiting but weren’t seated together. One was intently reviewing a technique manuscript not unlike the ones Ria had been given. The other, a third-year boy, seemed to be practicing a complicated meditation—if the closed eyes and odd flow of energy around him were any indication.

For Soulkeeper Renard to have required her immediate presence even though he was busy… was worrisome because it meant he viewed the matter as serious.

The secretary woman’s tone of voice hadn’t revealed anything about how much trouble she was in, and the woman had returned to writing… no, copying a formal letter with Soulkeeper Renard’s excessive handwriting, not paying Ria any further attention. Whether that was good or bad… she wanted to believe that it at least meant they weren’t turning her over to the Inquisitors just yet.

More than likely, the story in the Daily Shadow was the reason she was there, and she had used a technique from the restricted manual without explicit permission. When they were in Vorshan’s Hills, Jarrel told her to lie about such things when asked, but she had no confidence of being able to hide the truth from the no-nonsense Soulkeeper. Surely, he had ways to know if she lied or to find out the truth on his own, and then she would have proven herself untrustworthy and be in even more trouble. No, she would be better off telling the truth in a way that cast her in the best light.

The problem was that there really had been no good reason for her to have used the spirit-magic technique. She did it out of convenience—a short cut. She took the risk because she was overconfident and impatient, something all the books cautioned against often enough that her eyes glazed over upon seeing the warnings. After what happened with the soul-strengthening technique, she should have known better.

Sure, she had gained something invaluable, but the mind-bogglingly reckless risks she took while in that strange state… Was the magic projecting her soul into that glyph-inscribed chamber real? Was the dragon real? Or was it all just a vision caused by using a technique her mind wasn’t strong enough to properly handle? And that didn’t even cover the reckless way she shaped the glyph and poured her magic into it. What would have happened if the Oduron’s Oath boys weren’t there?

Ria sighed in defeat. There was nothing she could find to excuse away her actions other than youth, inexperience, and a failure of judgment, and each of those cut against her efforts to be trusted with more responsibility.

With her thoughts not going in particularly productive directions, she settled back into the chair and used her bond with Ranger to listen in on Elder Genwald lecture. The elder’s insights were always helpful in unexpected ways. Ria was glad that Ranger had wanted to stay behind.

“Kara, has Ria arrived yet?” Soulkeeper Renard’s voice sounded out from somewhere on the desk, drawing Ria’s attention away from the lecture.

“She’s here,” the secretary replied, not quite whispering.

“Good. Send her in. I’ll see her now.”

A huff drew Ria’s attention to the first-year Soulkeeper girl with the technique manual who had been waiting longer, but Ria didn’t dare offer to go last under the circumstances.

“You can go in now, Ria,” the secretary prompted, motioning in the direction of the inner door with her eyebrows.

Not wanting to further irritate Soulkeeper Renard, Ria quickly hopped up from the chair and did as told.

A nervous glance in Soulkeeper Renard’s direction as she closed the door to the gloomy office showed the man with an expression stony enough to make her heart thump with worry.

“Have a seat, Ria,” the spirit mage directed with a neutral voice—not the paternalistic one he used in her prior visit.

The hefty, oversized chair felt as if it would spring out chains or metal restraints as she slid back into the seat, her legs dangling as last time, but no such thing happened.

The powerful spirit mage leaned slightly forward. “Do you know why I’ve summoned you here?”

Ugh. “The incident in the library?” Ria tried.

She hated questions like that. It was a way for adults to trick kids into admitting guilt or confessing to extra crimes. But, even if this wasn’t about the library incident, he was sure to find out soon anyway.

“Indeed.” Soulkeeper Renard’s gaze continued to emotionlessly watch her reaction as he paused to let the word hang in the air before continuing, “Let’s make this simple. Did you use spirit magic in the library?”

Ria grimaced at the directness of the question. “I did.”

“What magic?”

“Wind Through The Mountain Peaks Sees The Path Below.”

Soulkeeper Renard sighed out a long sigh. “I suppose this is my fault for assuming you were aware of the rules for temporary licenses and the study of restricted magics.”

Ria blinked. The resignation of met expectations in the man’s voice filled her with frustration at confirming his bias against her (or maybe Researcher Shadwich), but a realization made her blurt out in surprise, “I’m not in trouble?”

The corner of the man’s almost frown faintly twitched. “Do you want to be?”

Ria vigorously shook her head.

“From now on, do not practice restricted magics in plain view where other students can get hurt. Use a proper warded practice room and make sure you have proper supervision.”

The restrictions were inconvenient, but at this point, Ria couldn’t complain; restrictions were better than Inquisitor visits. “I understand. I’ll be more responsible with my efforts.”

He again watched her for several long moments before slightly nodding. “Good. So, what was so important that you risked turning your brain to liquid the consistency of bone gelatin sitting out in the summer heat?”

Cringing at the imagery, Ria mustered her courage. “I wanted to create a glyph so I could use my affinity—it was a practice assignment for my spellcraft class.”

“Did you succeed?”

“I did.”

“Show me.”

Ria formed the glyph in front of her and held it for Soulkeeper Renard to inspect. Showing him was actually a relief. If there was something dangerous about her glyph, maybe he would spot it. She wasn’t sure she trusted Researcher Shadwich to be as concerned about such matters.

“Impressive. The amount of truth captured is quite excellent for student work, maybe even for a licensed spell researcher,” Soulkeeper Renard praised, his eyes glowing in the dim light of the office, and he motioned that she could stop maintaining the glyph. “Have you been able to integrate it into any spells yet?”

Letting the glyph dissipate, Ria nodded. “The domain spell. Zena Emberflow and several members of the Flaming Dragons helped me test it, and I used it in the tournament. As part of my term project for my spellcraft class, I want to use it to develop spells for orichalcum manipulation and telekinesis based on the spells already used for silver.”

“Ambitious,” Soulkeeper Renard commented. “You’ll be publishing your work and the glyph to the Grand Library then?”

Ria nodded. “I will.”

Soulkeeper Renard touched his clean-shaven and cleft chin with a curved forefinger before leaning back to sit more relaxed in his chair. “Was there something you learned from the experience?”

Certain that the man was using his body language to manipulate her emotions, Ria looked to the side and took a moment to gather her words, but she already knew the answer from thinking things over in the waiting room. “The risk I took with using an unfamiliar technique without adequate knowledge, experience, and supervision was shortsighted and reckless. After already having to come to you for assistance, I should’ve known better.”

She glanced back in time to see the corner of the man’s mouth rise slightly. “One can hope you aren’t just saying those words because you assume it’s what I want to hear. Were there any other restricted magics not allowed by your enchanting license that you used unsupervised this past week?”

Ria started to shake her head ‘no’, but froze mid-motion as she realized in horror that she had! “I-I cast a vermin ward,” she admitted then rushed to explain, “It’s something I’ve used so often in the past that I didn’t think about it and forgot I wasn’t supposed to use that kind of magic since my license was changed.”

She couldn’t help feeling depressed about such a stupid mistake, fidgeting with her hands and not meeting his gaze.

The silence stretched out uncomfortably before the Soulkeeper let out another sigh. “That ward might be fine under your enchanting license. There are standard abjurations for vermin. Do yourself and me a favor and learn one.”

Ria breathed out in relief and nodded. “Thank you for your leniency. I’ll visit the Grand Library before my next class.”

Her answer drew a chuckle from the man. “By the end of the day would be fine, I’m sure.”

She glanced up in surprise. Was he teasing her?

Before she could decide, his face became business-like again. “I see the calming technique was helpful.”

Ria nodded. “It was. Thank you. The opposing element damages growth in my natural affinity’s attunement though, so I’m hoping to progress past relying on it soon.”

“Interesting. But not necessarily a bad thing when a mage apprentice has progressed too quickly and exceeded her foundation. Consolidation is an important step that shouldn’t be overlooked in one’s haste to improve.”

There might have been some sense of rebuke in his words, but she accepted the advice as offered. It was certainly true enough that she had overextended herself and was now desperately shoring up her forward progress with stubbornness and raw power while scrambling to fill in the missing knowledge and skills.

Silence again settled into the room. Ria shifted in the seat, a seat that she was beginning to suspect was designed to become more uncomfortable the longer one sat, and while she was optimistic that the meeting had gone better than expected, there was a lingering sense that consequences were still being considered.

Soulkeeper Renard reached for a blank piece of paper and a quill and began to write. “With how rapidly you are progressing with the manuals already given, it is dangerous to let you continue further on your own. I’m assigning you a tutor to teach you the proper safe practices and guide your development. The person selected will contact you in the next few days.”

What? Where did that come from? Ria wanted to groan at her spirit magic studies becoming chaperoned, but having someone more experienced to personally teach her… maybe this was an opportunity? Or maybe it would be a major pain.

After a few moments, he looked up. “You can go.”

Ria eased off the chair, and looked back once upon reaching the door, but he didn’t seem to notice, having returned to his writing. As she let herself out of the office, her emotions were a jumble of annoyance and relief.

“Hope you have a good day, Ria,” Kara told her. “Try to stay out of trouble.”

Ria nodded and mumbled something to the effect that she would as she exited the office.

Once out in the hallway, Ria had to rest a hand against the wall and close her eyes for a passing of the sands to calm the shaking in her knees as a tension she hadn’t been aware of suddenly left her.

She survived. She would be leaving the Mausoleum not wearing magic restraints accompanied by Duelleres or an even creepier Inquisitor. And somehow, she’d escaped without the borrowing of a certain map and certain books from a certain lost royal section of the Great Library getting found out.

Though she was grateful for Soulkeeper Renard’s assistance and leniency, she didn’t understand why the aggravating man felt the need to play those games with the room’s lighting and constantly trying to put her off-balance. It was childish. Before meeting the Soulkeeper, it was something she’d only encountered in fiction.

Ria huffed out, expelling the irritation, and straightened her robe.

Thankfully, the hallway was empty of anyone to notice her moment of weakness. And fortunately, Soulkeeper Renard’s office wasn’t far from the entry hall, so there was no risk of getting lost even though he had left her to find the way out on her own.

With one last calming deep breath, Ria forced her feet into action. Her week was already busy with her debut rapidly approaching, and Soulkeeper Renard had piled on one more task. Really, it was something she should have done on her own without having to be told—not just for her vermin-repelling ward but all her regularly used wards.

Lestina greeted her on her way out, and Ria was glad to see the third-year girl, stopping to exchange pleasantries, but quickly excused herself at the first opportunity to do so. She would have to hurry to find what she needed in the Grand Library before her next class started.