It took me nearly a half hour of searching to find Master Julian’s office again. I vaguely remembered the location, but unlike most Masters, his office was not labeled with his name, and was only distinguished by the unusual designs on the door. I took a few seconds to consider if I was making a mistake, before pushing those thoughts aside knocking sharply on his door. After a second, a voice yelled for me to come in, and I opened the door before stepping through.

Master Julian stood by his board, his back to me, with a large book in his left hand while his right drew an intricate circular design in white chalk. I had seen similar patterns in “A Study on Aether”, which were intended to magnify or focus magical effects. Interestingly, I noticed that Julian would occasionally pause and erase a portion of the diagram, before changing the angle of a line or writing what appeared to be a new character.

Without turning, he said “One moment Vayne, I just want to finish this particular array. This project has been driving me crazy for months, and I would rather be finished with it. Please, take a seat while you wait.”

I watched him work in interest, but found whatever he was doing was well outside of my knowledge of magic. I could assume it was a way to strengthen a spell or enchantment, most likely wind magic from what I had seen of his skills, but it was incredibly detailed and extremely confusing to observe. After a few minutes, he placed down his stick of chalk, apparently satisfied with the design, before turning towards me and smiling brightly.

“Only a couple hours? I assumed you would be asking me for advice eventually, but I am surprised you came here so quickly! So, what seems to be the problem Apprentice Vayne?” he said, crossing his arms and leaning against his desk as he watched me.

I paused for a minute, as I deliberated which question to ask first. I had two things I wanted to ask, but eventually I decided to lead with my more imminent problem. Training was important, but avoiding the Esttons was essential.

“I have no practical plan to avoid the Esttons, not one I can do with my skills or resources. Every solution I can think of requires much more gold than I own, or magical abilities I have not developed. I need a way to avoid their notice that I can use in weeks, not years, and I frankly have no ideas how to do it. I was hoping you could give me advice to lead me in the right direction.”

“Disappointing, I was hoping you would be able to solve that particular problem without my help but I understand that you are not exactly experienced in this sort of thing. Now, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news, I have a solution to your problem and one that is perfect for you. The bad news, I have no reason to help you betray your sponsor and lord. I assisted you already out of kindness and amusement at your little plan. So, with that said, convince me why I should get involved with you.” Master Julian said, ending with a somewhat smug look.

He had a point. After all, he had no reason to help me with this sort of issue and it ultimately only caused him more headaches. Magical advice is one thing, but I was asking him to help me plot against a Duke, and a powerful Duke at that. But I had spent years studying political and economic maneuvering under some of the best tutors in Ferris, and that led me to a realization. I saw something that could be used to turn this around onto Master Julian.

“But sir, you already have helped me when you signed me up for those three extra classes against the Duke’s wishes. And you sent me a letter implying that I should avoid Sophia and Leon, to continue my plot against them. It seems a little too late to now start worrying about the potential backlash. Helping me get away with it is your best option now, if only to avoid others becoming aware of your hand in my schemes.”

It was a risky statement, as it carried with it the implication that I would be the one telling others of his part in all of this. I was gambling that Julian would rather help me again than risk his secrets becoming public.

Minutes passed as we both sat in tense silence, with Master Julian’s stare boring a hole through me. I kept my breathing even while I did my best to look for hints of what Julian was thinking from his facial expressions. I could feel sweat slowly drip down my back, running between my shoulder blades uncomfortably. Suddenly, Julian’s face broke into a smile and he laughed loudly.

“Threatening a Master is a gamble, but I am glad you managed to think of a way to turn things to your advantage. It shows creativity and guts, if not necessarily common sense. Word of advice, avoid trying that again until you can back up the threat. If I had wanted, I could have used a spell to hold you into place, walked right up to your room, destroyed that letter and schedule, then simply let you say whatever you wanted. By that point, any evidence of my assistance would have been gone and it would have been the word of an untrained Apprentice against a respected Master.” Julian said, his smug smile having returned by the end of his lecture.

I felt the floor drop out from under me, as I realized I had made a grave miscalculation in these negotiations. Master Julian said it casually, but he and I were both aware he was more than capable of backing up his statement. I shuddered to consider the consequences of my mistake, but before I could attempt to backpedal or apologize, Master Julian began speaking again.

“Luckily for you, I found your empty threats more entertaining than insulting, though only barely. Now, as I said I do have a solution for your particular problem. However, I am also a professor and frankly would prefer you come to a solution on your own.” Master Julian said, while walking over to his bookshelf.

After a minute of searching, he grabbed a book and held it out for me. Taking it in my hand, I turned it over and read the title, “101 Essential Beauty Tips for Nobles!”. I knew this man was a bit strange, but that title was not the sort of thing I expected to find in his collection. My skepticism must have been clear on my face, since Master Julian adopted an insulted expression.

“You should look more grateful! All the answers to your problem are here, if you just know where to look. One lesson I have taken to heart over the years is to find wisdom even in unexpected places. And besides that, if you fail to fix your problem with this, it just shows me I overestimated your capabilities.” he said, as he tapped one finger against the front cover of the book I held. I still was unsure, but saying as much was pointless.

“Thank you, Master Julian. I did have another question, something about magic and training in general. I am tempering my Channels and Core now, but I have only done one session a day so far. Is it possible to do more than one session daily?” I asked. I needed to speed up my training as much as safely possible, and this was the best method I had available.

“Good question. Yes, but you need to be very careful not to overdo it or you have the possibility of injury. I would recommend looking into ways to ease the strain on your Channels to avoid that risk. Some herbs can be consumed for that effect, although they tend to get expensive if you use them too often. And only stick with two sessions and no more than that, at least for the next few years. Your body will not be able to take the strain and you will absolutely injure yourself.” he said. I was surprised he told me so openly, but I suspected he felt this was common enough of a question that there was no point hiding information.

Standing up, I bowed politely to Master Julian before saying “I am once again in your debt, Master. Thank you.”

As I straightened, I briefly caught sight of a much colder expression on his face before Master Julian broke into the same grin he seemed to constantly wear. He waved one hand dismissively at my formal gesture.

“You do owe me, twice now by my count. Three times if you consider both of your questions individually, but who’s counting? Now then, I have work to finish and I assume you have training to get to, so if it is all the same to you, goodbye Apprentice.” he said, before walking back to his board and resuming his work on the diagram.

Stepping into the hallway and closing the door behind me, I began to make my way back to my room with my new book in hand. I briefly considered Master Julian’s cold expression, but pushed it aside after a second of thought. He still had given me plenty of assistance, and I did essentially threaten him in the process so I did earn some of his ire. Despite that, I would need to be very careful in the future if I needed his help again. I came very close to making him my enemy, and I knew in truth he was well within his rights to abandon me to my fate.

That did make me wonder why he would bother helping me though, especially after my failed move. In my experience, few people tended to put themselves at risk for no reason other than generosity, and even fewer for a total stranger. I was beginning to suspect he had his own reasons for helping me, though it was a chance I needed to take for now. In a way, not making use of Julian’s assistance and hoping my problems would somehow work out was the riskier plan and left me far more vulnerable.

Of course, that all assumed this book was actually Julian helping me, and not some trick he used to get me out of his office. I suppose the only way to determine that was to sit down and read, to see what I could learn. There was no point in delaying, so I decided I may as well get started immediately.

After reading through this book three times over the next several hours, I concluded that Master Julian had in fact played an elaborate joke on me. The pages were mostly filled with tips on how to look younger, appear in better physical condition or otherwise make yourself seem more attractive. Many tips involved small dietary changes, some mentioned herbs that could be added to meals to help lessen body fat or wrinkles. My conclusion was that it was literature designed to appeal to the shallow tastes of bored nobles, and entirely useless for my purposes.

Throwing the book down onto the table in front of me, I leaned forward and placed my head into my hands in frustration. I was out of options, and it seemed my attempts to escape the Esttons were doomed to failure before they truly even started. As I began to resign myself to failure, I took a deep breath and pushed down my feelings of anger and annoyance. Giving up by this point would do nothing but ensure a result I disliked, and I was not ready to accept that.

Picking back up the book, I opened it up again to the first page and began reading a fourth time. I was not convinced Master Julian had not given me any assistance, not after he had done so much already for me. I seemed to be a gamble for him, and I doubted he would give up on his investment so quickly.

As I scoured the pages in detail, looking for something I may have missed, something briefly stood out to me. It was a paragraph from a section on changing the pigment of skin for several hours using an herbal ointment. The book claimed it was harmless, and would help ward off the somewhat unhealthy pale complexion some nobles acquired from too many hours spent indoors.

...and within a few minutes of treatment, your skin will be transformed before your very eyes to a healthy, tanned shade. Even your own family would not recognize you, and be amazed at the change in your complexion. With just a small application of a two to one-part mixture of…

The last part stood out to me, that even their own relatives would not be able to recognize them. Obviously, a ludicrous statement and clearly an exaggeration meant to sell treatments to nobles, but it raised an interesting idea. I had briefly considered using an illusion spell from “A Study on Aether” to essentially force the casual eye from observing me too closely, but was it possible to use more mundane means and achieve the same effect?

After all, minor changes to my features may be enough to fool someone too familiar with my appearance. Someone like Sophia would likely find me by searching for my longer brown hair, but if I had more closely cut blonde would she even notice me? She may not even bother examining me at all, if her unsociable reputation was anything to go by.

I let a smile come over my face, as I quickly noted down the names of several herbs before closing the door and standing. I needed to take a trip down to the Library, and retrieve a book on Academy rules before I put this plan into motion. But if I was right and this worked, it seemed I owed Master Julian an apology. Finding wisdom in unexpected places seemed far more accurate than I had given him credit.