Nerluce had never really been to the water Affinity dorms before.

Actually, he'd never been to any of the other Affinity dorms before. He didn't exactly know many people outside of the fire Affinity. Of course, he had academic studies with some of the other Affinities but he'd never really had the chance to move past aquaintenceship with them and he'd never been invited into the other dorms before. Not that anyone stopped him from entering either.

There wasn't much of a difference between the two dorms. The water Affinity was in a tower just like the fire Affinity. The furnishings were a little different. The fire place was much smaller and not lit. Nerluce didn't think he'd ever entered the fire Affinity dorms and not seen the fire place lit. The couches and pallets still existed but they were spaced throughout the room.

Nerluce weaved through the couches and the people and made his way to the stairs. Those were the same. And just as awful. Nerluce didn't know who the fire Affinity's Head Disciple was. They were rarely in the dorms and when they were they usually stayed in their rooms at the very top. Whoever they were they weren't exactly the most social. After climbing all those stairs, Nerluce didn't exactly blame them.

He wouldn't want to climb those stairs either.

Chest heaving, Nerluce lingered before Aristide's door to catch his breath and then a while more to steel his nerves. He highly doubted that Aristide would appreciate Nerluce showing up at his rooms, regardless of his intentions. Nerluce just hoped he wouldn't get stabbed for offering to help Aristide when he was clearly struggling.

Finally, Nerluce knocked on the door. Almost instantly it was opened. Nerluce jumped back, surprised. Aristide looked... well he looked as lovely as ever. His thick dark curls cupped his fine features and his honeyed eyes seemed to focus solely on Nerluce. Nerluce had always known that Aristide looked like a divine being, but seeing him up close always made Nerluce feel as though he'd been suddenly dunked in frigid water.

"Why are you here?" Aristide asked.

The frost had melted from his lashes and he didn't seem so figidly cold. He was just his regular amount of cold. Nerluce cleared his throat.

"Taayir sent me."

Aristide closed the door on his face.

Nerluce stared at it for a long moment before he knocked again. This time the answer wasn't as fast. Yet, Artistide still opened it just enough that Nerluce could see his high cheekbones and narrowed eyes.

"If you need something, you ought to get the Head Disciple of the Fire Affinity."

"I need you," Nerluce said. Aristide froze. Nerluce froze as well, realizing how that sounded. "No, I mean- ah, it's, um-" He tried backtracking but ended up flailing helplessly. He finally stopped himself by taking a deep breath. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Aristide asked.

"I want to practice together," Nerluce said, offering a wide smile. "Taayir said that it would be a good idea since fire isn't either of our primary Affinity."

Aristide narrowed his eyes once again but finally opened the door. "Alright. Come in."

"Really?" Nerluce asked, brightening considerably as he was allowed into Aristide's private rooms.

They were... different than how Nerluce imagined them. He didn't really know what he was picturing them to look like. Perhaps bluer? Or maybe icier? Instead, it was a very plain bedroom with many brown and tan colors, typical of the Tilician style. There wasn't anything too excessive, save for a beautifully patterned rug that was currently occupied by a toddler and her toys.

"Kierli!" Nerluce said.

The toddler turned her head upon hearing her name and put on a bright smile. Nerluce doubted she recognized him - they'd only met a couple of times before - but she was so cute that he hardly cared. She giggled and stumbled to her feet before taking a couple of awkward steps forward. "Hello!" she said.

Nerluce beamed and bent down so that he was at eye level with the girl. "Hi there. I'm Nerluce. It's nice to see you again."

The girl hummed cheerfully and stuck out her hand. "'m Kierli!"

"Oh a handshake!" Nerluce said and shook the girl's tiny hand. "You're so cultured for a little girl. I didn't know what that was until I came to Ethera."

She giggled again and ran over to Aristide to latch onto his leg.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were watching her," Nerluce said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I thought now would be a good time. I can come back later if you want."

"No need," Aristide said, picking Kierli up and balancing her on his hip with an expertise that could only be gained by multiple years of experience with children. He placed Kierli on the floor on the other side of the bed where Nerluce noticed there was a crib and a couple more toys. It seemed that Kierli spent quite a bit of time in this room.

Nerluce frowned. "You never told me why you take care of her."

"She's the Chosen Light. Why wouldn't I?" Aristide said, offering Kierli a toy. She took it with a giggle and then picked another toy up in her other hand. She babbled a bit, lifting the toys up and then bashing them together. It seemed as though she was telling some sort of story with them but Nerluce couldn't make sense of it. Aristide walked back over to where Nerluce was standing.

The room was a bit bigger than Nerluce originally realized. It was plenty spatious for the large bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and Kierli's crib and other belongings. Part of it was probably due to the large glass doors that opened onto a balcony with a pair of plush chairs resting on it. The doors were currently open so a slight breeze drifted into the room. Nerluce shivered a bit as subconsciously came closer to Aristide.

"That doesn't explain why she's in your room."

Aristide let out a long sigh and shook his head. "I've always taken care of Kierli. But something happened recently. One of the maids... made an attempt on her life."

"What?" Nerluce asked.

"No one is meant to know," Aristide said, looking up at Nerluce. "But I figure that either you're a part of the attack or you're going to help me figure out who is so there's no point in trying to hide it from you."

"You better believe I'm going to figure out who's behind it!" Nerluce snapped. "I won't let anyone get away with hurting Kierli."

"She didn't manage it."

"Still!" Nerluce huffed, indginently. "How could someone do something like that? She's just a kid! And she's meant to save the world."

"There's a lot of reasons," Aristide said. "Politcal, mostly. Lailusha benefits from keeping the Ever Forest unperged. Itoroh benefits from Ethera having as little power as possible. Same for Tilica. And some of the horse tribes of Riedith simply believe the Chosen Light isn't a Chosen Light at all but a demon in disguise." He sighed. "And... of course there's Darkest Shadow."

That meant Aristide had no clue who was responsible for this attack. There were too many people with too many motives for wanting to eliminate the possibility of the Chosen Light. Nerluce looked over at the babbling toddler and then at Aristide - who couldn't be much older than Nerluce and yet charged with such a massive responsibility - and felt his heart ache.

"I want to help," Nerluce said. "Whatever you need."

"What I need..." Aristide trailed off, his eyes glazing over as he lost himself in the implications of those words. He closed his eyes and then shook his head. "I just need someone to practice my fire magick with. If you're willing to do that much, then I will be grateful. You must have others you'd rather practice with."

Nerluce shrugged. "Not really."

For some reason that was what made Aristide's gaze soften as he nodded and gestured towards the door. "I have a private training ring. Would you like to practice there? I'll have someone come up and watch Kierli."

"Oh- alright."

It made sense that Aristide wouldn't want to practice fire Magick in the middle of his rooms with the most precious child to ever be born into their world. They did that in Nerluce's room but the fire dorms were built differently and they all knew better than to keep highly flammable things in their procession.

They had to wait a while for the person trusted enough to watch Kierli to arrive. When she did, Nerluce instantly felt easy. She introduced herself to Nerluce as Fonbi and she was a short statured disciple with a water Affinity a couple of years older than them. She was chubby and had rich blue hair and green eyes, decorated by paints by a skillful hand. She had a warm smile and Nerluce was relieved that Aristide had a woman like this helping him.

With that arranged, they set off for the private training ring. It was just across the hall and it took up a majority of the floor. Aparently all of the Head Disciples had them so that they would be allowed to train their Magickal abilities to their heart's content.

Aristide took one of the candles from the wall and sectioned off a portion of its flame. That was something that Nerluce could only do about half the time. Aristide made it look so easy. Nerluce struggled to remind himself that he was actually here to help Aristide. It seemed as though it should be the other way around. Aristide so obviously lapped him in skill in every other category so... what gave Nerluce the right?

"Are you ready?" Aristide asked.

No. Nerluce didn't feel prepared for this in the slightest. Yet, he still forced himself to grin and nod. "Of course, Angel."

Aristide nodded. "Then let us begin."