THE APPLE OF SNAKES

l. come

To Nerluce's own surprise, the disciples in the water Affinity dorms didn't so much as give him a second glance when he came bursting through the doors.

They didn't look at him like he was strange or a stranger when he passed them on the stairs. They didn't ask him why he wanted to know where Fonbi was. They didn't give him curious or odd looks when he was speaking to Fonbi. Fonbi didn't treat him like a stranger or ask how he knew what Aristide was doing. No one batted an eye when Kierli called him by his name and came rushing up to give him a hug.

Nerluce wished that he could blame it on the nature of the disciples with a water Affinity. Or the nature of just people in general with a water Affinity. They were said to be laid back and easy-going, able to adapt to any situation. However, while that might've been some of it, Nerluce knew that the majority of it was because he came to the water Affinity Dorms so frequently, he was just considered a part of the background.

That was a bit of an embarrassing thought.

After relaying Aristide's message to Fonbi and hugging Kierli and making all the necessary promises to come tell her stories soon - apparently, both Aristide and Fonbi were second-rate compared to him - he was finally able to make it up all six ridiculous flights of stairs and to the private quarters belonging to the Head Disciple.

Nerluce bit the inside of his cheek as he glanced around. He'd been up here countless times before but... never without Aristide. It felt... somewhat wrong. Like he was invading Aristide's space. Which was ridiculous because as Aristide had said previously: when had he ever hesitated to walk right up here before like he was the head disciple and Aristide the guest?

But still. There was an amount of trust that Aristide had granted him. The trust not to destroy the place or to snoop around his personal things, not that he had many. Nerluce glanced at the door to Aristide's room. He glanced at the hall that he knew led to Aristide's personal kitchen. And then he glanced at the doors to the training room.

It would be easy to forget all about training. He could use Aristide's kitchen and his ingredients and make a meal for himself. He could fall asleep in Aristide's bed - much bigger and much more private than his own. Or he could just turn around and walk down those six flights of stairs again. It would be so, so very easy and yet...

Nerluce couldn't do it.

Taking a deep breath, Nerluce entered the training room. It was no different than the last time he saw it. The walls and floor and roof were all still made of stone. The trenches around the room still flowed with running water. Nerluce lit the candles. First with a match, and then, ceasing control of the flame, he lit the others. A warm-up of sorts. 

There were a couple of stray dummies and weapons propped on wooden stands. Nerluce was pretty sure he couldn't manipulate dead things - he didn't think that was something any Life magickian could do considering it was life magick.

Still, he didn't want to take any chances.

Nerluce was meticulous in his work. He moved the straw dummies and wooden props and any other piece of wood or straw or life he could find, save for the wooden doors - there wasn't much he could do about those. He put it in the kitchen, as far away from him as he could get it. He hoped that Aristide would not come back before Nerluce had a chance to move all of the stuff back, craving a late-night snack.

A small smile stretched on Nerluce's face. He couldn't see Aristide doing that. There was still something ethereal about his angel that made it hard for Nerluce to see him do things that normal people did like eat and sleep and piss. Of course, Aristide did all of these things. Nerluce had seen him eat at the very least. But a couple of meals together wasn't enough to scrub the divinity from Aristide's presence.