The next morning, I was greeted by an old man. Black robes, hooked nose, menacing and no-nonsense face, but a personality of gold. He was a nice old man in other words. Well, that’s what I’d have thought normally but I knew his career depended on being nimble with words.

“Sir Archibald! What a pleasure it is to finally make your acquaintance! I’ve heard so many wondrous stories of your adventures! Ah, must be nice to be so young!”

I chuckled a little, “I don’t deserve such flattery from one as accomplished as yourself.” What a nice way to say old. “I do hope our journey is fruitful, Mr…?”

“Felix Aristotle. Please, call me Felix.”

“Then please call me Eric.”

With introductions underway, a slight bit of the man’s true personality shone through when he learned he had to mount a zephyr. He looked at his horse with faux tears, saying goodbye in a heartfelt way.

We touched down on the pier about an hour after and saw the gigantic ship with the Ulanos flag soaring high. Felix couldn’t wait to get off the ‘damned sky beast’ as he called it. He feared no man, but animals were another thing.

“Greetings madam,” he encroached the guardswoman at the ship’s entrance, “I am Felix Aristotle, the negotiator sent here on behalf of king Farron Maxwell to intercept your business here. Might I meet with your leader?”

“Right this way, sir.”

We were led inside the foyer of the gigantic ship and made to wait a few minutes so that Ulanos’ official might ready himself. When that time was up, a guard escorted us to a room. But before we could enter, we were searched for concealed weapons.

“Gentlemen,” the woman sitting in the centre of the room stood up, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am lieutenant Isana Belgrave.” She gave a slight bow and Felix then introduced himself. “I must extend my gratitude for your coming here on such short notice, and also apologise for us coming into your waters unannounced.”

“Pay it no mind, lieutenant. It does spike my curiosity why you chose to, visit us,” Felix replied, taking seat in front her desk. I stood at the doorway, whilst the lieutenant had two guards on each side behind her.

“Yes, but before that,” the woman, probably no older than thirty, pulled two glasses from her drawer, “care for a drink? It is a fine import.”

Immediately, I cast Light Link and used Renew on Felix every now and then, since Vivify’s waves of healing could be seen. Thankfully, as they shared a glass together, it didn’t seem to do anything except give him a little buzz, which was quickly washed away by Renew.

“Now, as for why we’re here. Ulanos is interested in trade with Methelia. It’s well known how amazing the magi of Methelia are. We would like to trade with you anything Methelia wishes to have from us in terms of resources, in exchange for your knowledge in sorcery. We can even pay in gold if you wish.”

“I see. It sounds tempting, and magic is a marvellous study. Hmm, I shall bring your wishes toward my king with the greatest of persuasion. Might I ask why you wish to excel in magic?” Felix brought across the question quite nicely.

“There is only so much we can do to advance and develop Ulanos without the aid of magic. If we had the variety of magical knowledge even close to that of Methelia, we would flourish. Mr Aristotle, we wish to embark on an architectural revolution and build our cities bigger and stronger. With the help of Methelia, we could make that dream a reality.”

“I see,” he rubbed his chin and nodded, “that is indeed a reasonable request. Yes, my king would be quite pleased.”

They wrapped things up rather quickly but before we could leave, the lieutenant spoke up, “Ah, Mr Aristotle, if I may be so rude as to inquire about the young man with you. Won’t it be fine if he could sit and chat as well?” He looked down at my feet in his peripheral vision and gave a nod to me. What a heavy atmosphere this was.

“Pardon my curiosity young man, but are you perhaps, a mage?” she asked before I could properly sit.

I gave a simple smile, “That I am, lieutenant Belgrave.”

“Marvellous! Would you mind checking on my sister? She’s been struggling to master a very basic spell. Maybe you could give her some guidance? If that’s alright with you Mr Aristotle.”

Again, he nodded, but probably rued the lieutenant’s will to involve us further in any way. We went to the top deck to meet this sister she spoke of. The girl had short spiky hair, somewhat like a tomboy.

“Hey, the name’s Bianca. You?”

“Eric. You were having trouble with a spell, yes?”

Her face contorted a little, “So that’s why she sent you here. She’s always schemin’ up something. Ugh. Yeah,” she admitted, “Sand Bullet. Do you know it?”

“Well, I never bothered to learn it.”

She formed a small sphere, about the size of a marble and tried shooting it from her palm but the sand simply scattered. “That’s about my progress with it. How’re you gonna help if you don’t know the spell?”

I shrugged, “I’ll just give it a shot and see what’s up.” We talked a lot more casual with Felix and the lieutenant off in the distance, but they were watching us like hawks. I brought up some sand, formed a tiny sphere no bigger than an eyeball and tried shooting it but I ended up with the same result as her.

Her eyes ogled me, “How? It took me months before I could even form the bullet!”

“It, uh, it did?” I raised a brow. I was surprised, but just shrugged it off as a lie. No one could be that bad. “Well, I already know some earth-based spells. So, I guess this one’s a bit easy for me to grasp.” I tried again, but the same thing happened. Well, it is sand after all. My third attempt, I mixed in some water into the ball and it worked like a charm.

“Man, this is some bullshit,” she said, “I spent so many months and you did it on your third try!” she sighed and calmed herself. “So, what’d you do?”

“Just add water.”

“Water?”

“Water.”

“The hell is this, noodles? You’re kidding, right?”

I shook my head, and explained to her that sand is sand no matter what. It’s light, sparse, and easy to separate. I guess she just didn’t grasp the idea of mixing another element to master an earth spell. She tried my method and it worked like a charm. After she did it a couple more times and confirmed that’s the way it should be, a hug and kiss was incoming. I could’ve sworn I heard a bit of giggling from her older sister.

With that, we left them and returned to Endathal, bringing news of that meeting to the king. He was pleased their reason for visiting wasn’t too unreasonable, but even with it being harmless, he still was wary of Ulanos. “Hmm, this is a strange trade, though. I’d need to convene a meeting with some old mages. Do you mind bringing them here, Eric? I’ll write you a list of names. Also, I’d like for there to be some battlemages present at Silverport.”

“Can I say no?”

“No.”

“Fine…” I grumbled in jest. With a simple message, the clone I left in Aquan gathered up those mages the king wanted, one of which was that old coot, Aldis. Whilst they came to Endathal, I flew back to Silverport with some battlemages and regular soldiers from Endathal in tow.

The sun was giving off an abysmal heat by that time, so the soldiers wanted to decamp their birds. Being inside heated metal armour was not fun.

I dropped them off in the centre of Silverport whilst the battlemages’ zehpyrs continued on directly to the port. Kinda wish Donna was here, I thought. It was a bit boring to be the king’s mule.

The battlemages took formation at the start of the pier, thanking me for my services. Suddenly, something sped toward me in my peripheral vision. In reflex, I cast Reflect and the sand bullet flew back with just as much tenacity. It zoomed right past Bianca’s face, ruffling her already short hair with its sheer wind resistance. That wouldn’t have ended well if that was an arrow. Reflect only redirected spells after all. I wondered if I should’ve opted for Magnet instead, but soon criticised that choice as it wasn’t any better as a general defence than Reflect because the battlemages behind me would have gotten hit.

I was so quick to analyse what was a better combination of spells to use that I hadn’t noticed the careful advance of Endathal’s battlemages toward the ship. “Hold up,” I stopped them, “remember, the last thing we want is to provoke bad relations and start a war. Try to be more passive, if you can.” I glided across the dock and looked up.

“Can I come up?”

She shouted, “Yeah,” her hands shaking a little. Avatar of Wind brought me up to the deck where she had remained all this time. “Sorry ‘bout that. My aim is…well, it needs work. That was supposed to be a playful greeting.”

“Hmm, that so?”

Her face took a turn for the worse. Worry was smitten all over her. “You’re not gonna tell my sister, are you? She will skin me alive!” She looked genuinely worried. Well, giving us a reason to attack was probably not in lieutenant Belgrave’s plans. This was Methelia versus one measly understaffed Ulanos ship. We could sink them and get rid of the evidence in five minutes. But they probably already thought of that.

This was a sticky situation. I wasn’t even sure why I went up there. Thinking in hindsight, I shouldn’t have. “W-well?” she repeated, my silence speaking volumes.

“It’s fine,” I said to her, then took my time to properly observe her. Due to the heat, she had removed her shirt and kept her blouse on. “You’re, toned.”

Her eyebrows furrowed and her head tilted a little, “Is that a compliment?”

“It depends. Do you use that sword around your waist?” I inquired. It was just a simple short sword, but it wasn’t in pristine condition.

Her eyes got a little serious and she peered at me, “Yes?” she said, hesitantly, but I dismissed her wariness with a smile.

“Then it’s a compliment,” I concluded. Her smile was more one of relief than anything else. Like me, she probably felt like even an innocent conversation with people from foreign lands could end in undesirable disputes. It was a hell of a tightrope walk, but I think her casual way of speaking made me a little less cautious unconsciously.

Her sister however…

“Ah, sorcerer,” the lieutenant’s voice sounded from the echoing room as she stepped out into the deck. “What a pleasant surprise. We weren’t expecting Methelians onboard without permission.”

And there it is, the taunting jab. Hmm, now how should I answer this broad? I asked myself. Bianca, standing at the side of me, slowly stepped backward and away as her sister fearlessly invaded my personal space, but not enough for bystanders to point toward her as the provocateur. It was just bordering on the line of inappropriate for me to react in a way not befitting anyone who’d represent Methelia. She’s a pro at this. Gotta keep it short and sweet, but believable.

“Hmm, lieutenant, your perfume gives quite the pleasant aroma, I must say.” The corner of her lips gave an almost undetectable twitch. “As for my unsanctioned visit, I do believe you have something belonging to me here,” I commanded my water elemental to return to my side, making it obvious what that belonging was.

“Should you have not gained permission from the ship’s guard before boarding?” the lieutenant continued her onslaught.

How does Anjali put up with people like her?

“Hmm,” I smiled, “perhaps. But you would do well to remember you yourself, and this entire crew are unsanctioned visitors in foreign land. This is Methelia territory. Should anyone of Methelian authority wish to board your ship, they cannot be declined.”

A long moment of silence passed by. Only the chatter of fishermen from afar and the periodic crash of waves on the shore pervaded our ears. “Well said, boy.”

“Thank you. Now, if you’ll excu–”

“You seem like a great conversationalist. Why didn’t Methelia send you instead?”

“But they did send me.”

“You know what I mean,” she actually smiled this time. “This is not going on the records. Gloves are off, kid. Just feed my curiosity.”

I exhaled, extended my Life Perception and couldn’t feel Bianca on the deck of the ship, but instead below in what I assumed what be her room. So, she’s afraid of her sister?

“I’m a mage first and foremost. Snaking around with my words don’t interest me. Methelia knows this and so do I. That’s why I rather limit my speech. Are we done here?” I turned my back, preparing to walk off, then felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t you wish to know why we’re here?”

I chortled, “Geez,” and scratched my head. “Man, there’s a thousand and one things I thought of saying just for this exact moment, but y’know what? It’s not for me to find out.”

“Even if,” she placed heavy emphasis, “I said we’re here to pillage this land and raze it to get what we want?”

She earned yet another bout of cachinnation out of me, “Honey, if you told me that, I’d slaughter your entire crew and make this ship disappear in a couple minutes to make it look like you were never here to begin with. Well, that’s what I’d like to say, but even if you had the gall to look me in the eyes and tell me you’d do those things, it doesn’t mean you’d actually do it – or get the chance to.”

With one side of her lips perking up, she drew her own sword upward. “You’re a funny kid,” then took a step back. Magnet was already prepped so she’d fail.

Like a flash of lightning, Bianca raced up to us and deflected the lieutenant’s strike. Continuing with the rotation, she sank a spinning kick into her sister’s stomach, pitching the lieutenant into the wooden wall of the captain’s cabin.

My eyelids spread open in absolute shock. I was so stupefied that even as she grabbed my hand to run off with me, I could hardly support myself. She grabbed me by the waist and jumped off the ship with me, and even then, my mind was still fixated on lieutenant Isana Belgrave flying like a Sand Bullet. But that soon faded when the fright of the fall encumbered me. Levitate gave us a safe landing then I promptly flew off with Bianca in tow, not exactly knowing where I was going.

What in the name of Hydra’s magnificent ass just happened?

We stopped in the woods a few kilometres out, a totally random place. I leaned against a tree. How do I even begin explaining this? “So, uh, out of ten, how likely is it we’re going to war?”

“That’s your question?!” she rolled her eyes. “I mean, kinda makes sense, though.”

“Hell,” I stood upright again, then squatted down to have a couple thoughts, but I couldn’t foresee what would happen at all. “You wanna go back and talk to your sister about not starting a war? None of us need that.”

“But I just attacked her.”

“But she’s your sister, so…”

“Don’t you care that I just saved your ass?”

“From a sword?” I cackled.

“The hell’s so funny?!” she drew her blade in anger. I knew I touched a nerve there.

“Go ahead, crazy. Try stabbing me.”

And so, she did, surprisingly. But it just went right through the void thanks to Magnet. “And that’s why you did that for nothing. But, I mean, I appreciate your concern though.”

She fumed, stamped the ground and paced about, grunting in frustration. Her fingers streaked through her hair in anguish until she did like me and stooped down, almost to hide her face. “Why didn’t I just go for the kill?” I heard her ask herself.

“The kill? What kill? Bitch, you were planning on killing someone?!”

“You, dumb fuck! Ugh! I could just kill you right now! Why didn’t you just leave while you had the chance?! You can fly, can’t you?” she sat down and leaned back onto a nearby tree. “And yeah, I maybe was, kinda, somewhat planning to kill her and frame it on Methelia? But, uh, you know, stuff happened.”

Now I began fuming. “So, all this shit was premeditated? If you were gonna frame us, why the hell did you try to save me then?”

She shrugged. I could feel like a vein would pop in me. What was I dealing with here?