Art of Alchemy

Chapter 20 - Decisions

There was a hiss and Vehya's world spun. She jolted awake to find her cell was dark, no lights had been lit yet so it was probably too early to expect a meeting. Vehya felt groggy and disorientated. Like something had changed but she couldn't identify what it was. Then it hit her.

I can see the crafting circles. She leapt up rushed to the far wall, running her fingers around a design. They were still burly, but she felt like she could almost make out the runes. A scrapping noise had her spine alight in a second and Vehya whirled around.

Professor Scarfengr was sitting on an uncomfortable metal chair in the middle of the Barracks' main room, it had obviously been brought down for him. He held her tired rust-coloured gaze.

"Morning, Vehya." He said softly and then glanced at her cell mate. "Morning, Rynden."

Vehya didn't say anything and neither did Ryn, but she could hear his quiet breathing. She looked back at Scargenr. He's using his casting. Nicholas Scarfengr's abilities were now commonly known. An incredibly powerful amplifier. He could distort magic, not sever connections like Rynden, but warp it, suppress or magnify it. Vehya suspected he was somehow dampening the crafting effects around them. Can he do that as an 'Amp'? She wondered. Apparently so.

Seeing him sitting so relaxed in a dark suit, his features scared and cold, gave Vehya chills. She wondered why he had chosen to amplify her parent's abilities that day. Warp and pervert their sorcery beyond anything imaginable. Was it anger, the hurt of betrayal? He'd suffered life-long harm for his actions, but had never gone public with whole story. Still, he seemed so calm looking at the daughter to the source of his pain.

"I will not mock you in asking how you are." Scarfengr said to them and then his lip twisted up. "You both look like shit." Vehya found that oddly comforting. He looked at Rynden then and his brow dipped. "Calra's asked that the two of you see her sometime today, for a formal apology. You should know, a letter has been sent to your family. I imagine Thias will be in touch."

They waited but Rynden said nothing.

"And Vehya." Scarfengr turned his head to her. "Given your interest in Alchemy, Melcom Cadwick was notified of your acceptance and subsequent behaviour while at Asla. He is in the field currently, but will be returning later this month. I'd expect he'll call on you at some stage. He has been made... aware of your heritage."

Melcom Cadwick. Vehya swallowed and nodded.

Something passed across the professor's face and they all sat in silence for a long moment. "I meant what I said before; expelling the both of you would likely prove disastrous. Neither of you seem the kind to sit back and allow life to pull you along a mundane path. Eventually, you would hurt someone in your ignorance." Vehya knew he was right, but with all the connotations behind the words she tasted bitterness in her mouth.

"Forgive me a moment for blowing an Academy issue out of proportion, but this needs to be said; not for your past actions, but so that you are aware of the greater implications." He looked between them and his eyes landed on Ryn. "Your family has a reputation and as I expect, your father would sooner step down as general that lead the Crimson Knights with bad press aimed at his family. One of the students involve has not been quiet about the incident, despite Calra's best attempts to keep it as Academy business. Thankfully, Lint manage to talk some sense into that moron and his father. Things can escalate very quickly when in the hands of the media, and as you can imagine, I would rather have a man like Thias leading our Sorcerers given the current climate."

Vehya frowned. Current climate? There was no tension between the countires, with the exepetion of one but that would never change. The Valistin Kingdom seemed in be in a state of peace. Maybe that is what he means? Only, his eye told a different story.