Donna knew I should keep my guard up in case Elder had thoughts of vengeance.

Her cause for concern was justifiable. Depending on Elder’s reactions, I’d have no qualms with just leaving them there again. With Gale’s eyes, it wasn’t difficult to find them walking along a country dirt road some kilometres away from where I left them. I prepped myself before skydiving then floating down with Levitate.

Anjali was stunned to see me back; not totally pleased, but stunned nonetheless. Elder remained deadpan. “I’m here to pick you up,” I said to her, “providing he doesn’t attack me.”

She simply shook her head, “What of the Ingen chieftain?”

“Safe,” I kept my eyes peeled for any attacks, all of my Avatar buffs were on and my finger was on Magnet’s trigger, to pull, “in the Order,” I elaborated a little.

Instead of Gale, I summoned Phoenix and asked him if he would mind flight. He didn’t. His fiery feathers wouldn’t actually burn others unless he willed it. Elder would fly on Phoenix, and Anjali and I would fly on Gale. This was insurance somewhat, because if he attacked me and Gale was caught in the melee, I would lose it. On the other hand, if he decided to attack Phoenix whilst on the bird’s back, Phoenix would simply roast him alive. His reflective shield couldn’t protect against omnidirectional or indirect spells.

In a few hours, we made it back to Aquan. Elder was unusually quiet, but it was hard to say if he focused on the Ingen chieftain or me. Another meeting was in order with recent events. Neth represented his people. To be honest, it was more like a confirmation on what happened for archival purposes. Elder explained his side of the story, which was all true. I then described what I did after I left Anjali and Elder all the way up to our current position. Seeing as Elder didn’t bring it up, no one sought to question me on my actions.

His daughter pulled me aside to speak privately after the meeting. “Mr Archibald, have you spare time this evening? There are things I wish to discuss.”

“Name a time and place.”

She invited me to a fancy restaurant within the northern district to have dinner and go over some “legal formalities”, according to her. Donna teased me about our ‘date’ but I only saw it as her trying to get on my good side for some favour she probably wanted. However, that didn’t say a trade of equal exchange couldn’t be made for that favour. I kept my mind open.

Night fell quickly and I glided over from my home in the western district towards the restaurant. The atmosphere was quiet, soft and lightened even further with live music, purely instrumental though. It served as a nice backdrop to diminish the clatter of silverware on plates. The tables were fitted with fancy red cloths and wine glasses. Heck, this was the kind of place Dawn’s parents would probably go to.

“Good evening,” I greeted Anjali before sitting, serving as a cue for my guiding waiter to leave us. She stood up, in a simple, strapless wine-red satin dress teasing just the right amount of cleavage to make me fiend for more but everything else about her attire and mannerisms spoke of a distinguished and noble lady. Her hair was styled in a way that partly covered one eye. She had those unnecessarily long black gloves that went up above the elbow. Her lipstick a dark red to flow with her dress and her eyeliner black. Her makeup was light, a plus in my eyes. The ends of her hair were fading into the same red as her dress. Just how much did she prepare for this? I asked myself, knowing fully well her hair wasn’t dyed before. The more I gazed at her radiant picturesqueness the more I noticed little details. To be fair, these details only made my butt sweat in nervousness, metaphorically of course.

A horrifyingly confusing motley farrago of hints. Apart from her contradicting signals, the only other thing that had me just a little uncomfortable was the formal clothing and the heinous amounts of gel clamping my hair into a slicked-back hairstyle. It was fair to say I was not in my usual skin, nor was I in my usual environment. Thank Hydra’s voluptuous ass that my wealthy grandparents taught me table manners – enough to get me through tonight without seeming like an idiot at least. The stunning woman extended her hand for a simple handshake, to which I obliged.

You want to know why I’m explaining all this menial crap instead of talking about the real issue like Methelia being on the cusp of war, don’t you? I’m getting there, don’t worry.

We sat. “I hope I didn’t have this young lady waiting long.”

“Hmm,” she mused, her elbow on the table and her chin lightly resting on the back of her hand, “you learn to develop absurd amounts of tolerance and patience when dealing with bureaucrats.”

My nervousness only increased when I took a sip of the wine the waiter brought whilst we waited on our appetisers. For someone who probably knew the law like the back of her hand to get me – an underaged fellow – alcohol, already raised some flags in my head, but I suppose those flags were already up the moment I got her invitation. “I hope you don’t mind me guessing your taste in wine,” she said, with a dangerously seductive voice.

“You, uh… you realise I’m a minor?”

“I realise,” her lips curled slightly. “A little birdie told me you can handle these things. Perhaps you don’t fancy it right now?”

Despite my sweaty butt, I was rather calm. Maybe it was because I came predisposed to her dropping some request on me after getting on my good side, so I mentally just rolled my eyes at everything she said. Usually, I’d go the blunt and frank route and tell her, ‘Yo, I know your scheming ass is up to something. Just spill it.’ But that would be a grievous waste of this fine atmosphere so I wanted to play this out. I didn’t get to do this every day after all.

“I don’t mind,” we took a sip of it and continued our conversation.

“Well, why don’t we get down to business?” she proposed and I nodded, not at all believing whatever she was about to say to be the true intention of having my company tonight.

“Firstly, king Maxwell and princess Maxwell seem quite fond of you. I’ve even been advised to not anger you. The princess even went as far as saying you’re a lifelong “friend”. Can you tell me why that is?”

Hah! I wonder why?

“Maybe the princess was forcefully seduced…”

What am I, a rapist? I scoffed, meaning it as a mental thing for Donna, but it came out of me physically. Anjali tilted her head slightly, a string of amusement, doubt and uncertainty of asking such a question.

“I’m a friend of Donna, and so I became Gabrielle’s friend as well.”

Her face went through a range of emotion, but they were guised quite well.

“I’ve, heard rumours, about it. People have claimed to see her. Even when I mentioned those rumours to the princess, she didn’t deny them, but she didn’t confirm them either. Excuse me for my brash question but, the talk of you bringing the deceased queen back to life, is it a lie?” she looked me dead in the eye. It was clear she didn’t buy a word of it, but for those things to also come from the mouths of the king and princess probably made her wonder what’s with those ‘lies’.

“It is not.” An ensuing silence floated between us, the strings of the bass and chime of the piano taking centre stage. “You need not take my word for it. She’s in my mind right now, hearing this very conversation. She will meet you afterward. I’m afraid it would be rude to spring another guest onto the staff here when you already made reservations for two.”

“Who would deny the queen her patronage?”

“Queen, king, god, doesn’t matter who you are, being rude is still frowned upon.”

“Hmm?” she smiled, “I didn’t peg you the type to care about such a thing.”

I smiled back, just washing my tongue with a bit of wine, “I didn’t peg you the type to use your charm to secure a favour from a naïve teenager.”

In but a fraction of a second, her neck tensed just a little bit. No matter how much control and discipline you employ, there’d always be times where someone would find you slipping up. “Are you saying I’m charming?”

Not exactly what I was going for, but let’s run with it. “I’m saying you’re downright gorgeous. You even wear makeup just the way I like it. You did your hair to perfection. You wear a stunning dress that accentuates your curves. You’re the most attractive person in Aquan right now. Why is that?” A straight forward question, considering one who adored beating around the bush like she did.

“Ooh, nicely put.”

I waited for an answer, but there was none, she just kind of stared at me blankly. Hell, it didn’t even appear like she formulated any sort of response. The waiter returned with some appetisers and distracted her just as her lips separated to say something.

“Let’s, speak about some issues, shall we?” she changed the subject, and I wasn’t going to chase after the information that would signal the end of this night. Why spoil the fun of guessing and extrapolating? It was a nice little mystery for me.

“The first topic I’d like to talk on is, my job.”

Please don’t complain! Please don’t complain about your job! I abhorred that. Whining about your job in my eyes was just a big drag. But I’d probably whine to Donna if I wasn’t grasping a certain spell.

“I’ve been negotiating since I can remember, and with these issues surrounding the Virai, there are even more meetings scheduled where certain figures need convincing. I’m versed in,” she paused, “utilising the tongue,” then licked her lips. It wasn’t exaggerated, but it was enough to be appallingly symbolic. “However, I’m not a strong and powerful mage like you, so some people would be out of my reach no matter what I say.”

Indirect flattery. She’s really trying, huh? Does she expect me to believe there’s no other strong mage who can do what she wants?

“I’m offering a position as my assistant negotiator. You don’t have to do much, just stand and look intimidating, or show off with one of your summoned creatures.”

“Interesting…”

But nah…

“You want me to work for you?”

“With me. As a partner, if you will. I’ll make it,” she glanced away then looked back at me, “worth your while.”

“Hmm,” Donna grinned grimly, as if every word I said was hers. It almost felt like Donna was spinning her own little web unbeknownst to Anjali. Negotiation, huh? I thought about it and it certainly whistled a sweet tune in my ear, but that simply wasn’t me.

“I think everyone who knows me would agree I’m much better suited to battle with spells than to battle with words. An enticing offer, but you could certainly find a better assistant in someone else.” What a fancy way to say no.

Not even batting an eye, her hand rested atop mine, “I want you. No one else will do.”

I straight up jumped, something she’d been waiting for since I got there. Any sort of fettered behaviour was like a wounded prey around an apex predator. She smelled blood, but she placed her jaws on another target for some reason. “But I understand your reluctance. I shall let it go.” She retracted her hand. It could’ve simply been her priming me up to take the steps she wanted me to take, to tell her I’d at least think it over. Or, it could’ve been because she saw a certain fire in my eyes, one that didn’t appreciate her pussyfooting around with her little acts of persuasion here and there.

During our main course, we spoke of some boring legal things I could barely remember. Why she was relaying this information to me and not her father, the head of the Order, was a mystery. For dessert, she had some sort of cake, and I opted for another glass.

After some seconds of a longer than usual silence between us, and paying the entire bill, she spoke. “Eric Archibald.”

“Yes?”

“I will court you.”

“…”

Donna, help!

“Hey, man, she’s your problem. It’s you she wants, not me.”

What? That doesn’t make sense! You’re my woman, right?! Get mad or something! Defend me, dammit!

“Eh, I don’t really care who you date, as long it’s not a really off person like that Nayla woman, and as long as I get a lil’ something every few days.”

Is sex all you care about? What am I, a piece of meat?!

“Of course not, honey. But you do have a nice piece of meat.”

I’m so done with you.

I must’ve appeared taken aback due to my silence, but even then, Anjali never broke eye contact. This was the lioness pouncing on the limping deer.

“Um, yeah, no. I’ll pass.”

“Why not?” she snapped back, her eyes peering into mine. For someone with a masterful finesse over words, she sure was straightforward all of a sudden. More like, how was she doing the math here? She looked like, I don’t know, twenty-seven? I was fifteen, near sixteen. She was the royal negotiator! Heck, the kind of ambition it would take to become the royal gardener was huge, but she landed a job such as that at such a young-looking age. I haven’t even had a normal adult thought like owning my own home yet. Even remembering to eat while studying was a hurdle for me. I went on to explain those things to her. She said, “I don’t care” at the age issue, “position doesn’t matter” at her out-of-everyone’s-league job, and to put the icing on the cake, she said, “Dawn already gave me permission to pursue you,” when I mentioned that I was seeing someone. Not gonna lie, that last one made my mind swirl. What’s that? Did I believe her, you ask? Hell nah.

I laughed, light-hearted and showing clear friendliness, “Well,” I stood up, “I suppose this joke has run its course, and so has this lovely night with you. Let me see you home.”

She stood up in turn, slammed her hands onto the table and leaned towards me a little – and yes, she was taller. “Please don’t make light of something so serious!”

“Tell you what, Anjali. Kiss Dawn in front of me, and I’ll believe you.”

“Then so be it!” she angered quietly and stormed off into her carriage.

~

Well, crazy night huh? I plopped onto my bed when I got home. Little did I know, it would be an even crazier morning. Dad woke me up early, yanking the covers off me. I bet he wouldn’t have done it if Donna was next to me. “Hey, jackass, Dawn’s here. Get some coffee.”

The cold of the morning winced at me whilst I put my feet on the wood floor. Ugh…

With nothing but some loose underwear on, I meandered out my room. Mom and Dawn were giggling about something but I was much too perturbed by the uncouth amounts of light invading through our windows. I sat at the dining table, coffee in hand, and rested my head down for just a second, but that was enough to doze off.

“It’s amazing you go through this every morning. I’m proud,” Dawn pecked my forehead.

“Your,” I turned my head at her lazily, “lips look damn good.”

“And they’re lonely.”

“I got morning breath.”

“I’ll live,” she kissed me properly, pulling me off the chair and forcing me to stand.

I shrugged my laziness off and got breakfast with her and August later on. I got my duties out of my face as fast as possible and was finally able to relax early evening. Dawn had left with Pyro and Volt to visit Violet and Kira. I stayed at August, where the blacksmith’s hammer became a sort of relaxing sound.

Codex or the pillars? I wondered. The witch gave me an of understanding alchemy and transmutation, and that was great, but damn was it difficult still. August got enchanting from her, which made sense for a blacksmith. Should Hydra’s magnificent ass ever bless him to master enchanting, he’d be filthy rich; so would I if I mastered alchemy, though I’d keep transmutation a secret. Probably. The pillars were a big hurdle, so I opted for the codex I got from Sek’hana’s father.

On entering the void, I noticed the title of the once blank book. ‘Dragon Tongue’. Interesting name, I thought, getting a feel for its size. It was certainly bigger than the previous codices and from what I could gather, Donna had a habit of naming her pieces to be quite relevant to the contents. After reading this book, I’d share my knowledge of secondary elements with my students, elements that would supplement their current strongest. I burrowed into it for the rest of the night. First up was the earth element, probably taking up a third of the book. After I completed about half of the earth part, I retired for the night.

The next day was sort of a day off, and also a little celebration for mom’s pregnancy. Guess Flynn can’t keep his trap shut.

Violet and Kira came along. August had to be there of course else I’d light his ass on fire. Shyla accompanied him. I figured, why not go all out? Especially after looking at the absurd amounts of food dad got. We’d have barbeque to feed a small village. I brought the spirit lords out. Phoenix was as loud as ever. Hydra’s nudity somehow or the other became accepted, even in front of Dawn. Gale was all over Phoenix, and he didn’t look like he had too much of an issue with it. I sniggered at him every now and then. Kor’zha and Tarit were more to themselves, despite drinking with us.

A few students of my students attended, as well as other members of the Order. Of course, Meagan and Keagan were there. Aldis came along as well after dad dragged him out. Some of mom’s co-workers also came to celebrate, bringing a bunch of extra booze.

Dawn, after inquiring about the time, said she’d be back and left the spacious backyard. Now I only had one girlfriend to keep me company. I forbade Donna from escaping into my mind at any point during the day. She got along with Kira, I guess with them being fellow Apostles of the witch. Speaking of witch, even though I made Donna invite her, she didn’t show up. Strange as ever.

When Dawn came back, she brought a guest along. Anjali…

I abhorred the idea that any kind of bickering would ruin the good mood amongst the little crowd, but I couldn’t just turn her away. Besides, she was a mature woman, she’d handle herself as such.

They walked up to me whilst Aug and I had a few drinks. Handshakes were exchanged whilst introductions were underway. “Hey, babe,” Dawn brought my attention to her after I poured some wine for Anjali. She tiptoed, turned Anjali’s face towards her and stole a kiss! A countdown to mental destruction was ticking in my head.