Burnt Trust

Departure

"Remind where you're going again?" Alex raised an eyebrow at Rowan, snapping him out of the memory. Rowan grinned as he remembered where he was traveling to.

"I'm going to the Wreving Trials! Don't tell me you don't remember your own apprentices rite of passage?" Rowan stuck his tongue out at him as he finished putting everything into his knapsack, clipping the top down and swinging it over his shoulder.

"Ah yes, the famous Wreving Trials," Alex's gaze grew misty and his expression grew sorrowful. Rowan noticed something was not right. "What's wrong? What have you heard?" the curious apprentice questioned. Alex sighed.

"I never did the Whitehall Trials when I became a magician," he said, extinguishing the flame with a roll of his hand.

"But I thought you had to in order to become a magician?" Rowan said with a confused expression plastered onto his face, his warm chocolate gaze searching his mentor's.

Alex laughed, a deep, hearty chuckle. "The Whitehall Trials weren't a thing when I was made into a magician," His expression grew somber. "We had something much, much worse."

Rowan was eager to pry for more information, his mentor never talked much about his past or where he came from. It was a rare occasion when Alex talked about his past. The expression on his face was so painful that even Rowan, with his curious nature, couldn't bring himself to ask Alex what happened. There was an awkward silence.

"Anyways," Alex shook his head as in order to clear thoughts from his head. "Do you want some of your favorite candy to take along with you?"

Rowan's face lit up with excitement. His concerned expression becoming a big grin.

"YES!" he hollered, running around the tiny room in excitement, somehow managing to not knock anything over as he dashed around the multitude of piles. Alex grinned once again.

"You know, you're almost 18, I keep thinking you are a child," the blonde magician stated, chuckling. "Come on, I'll take you to the marketplace to get some, and then I'll send you off at the train station."

He strolled over to the big, heavy wooden door, and unlocked the multiple locks on the door, Alex had always said that it was so none of the dirty thieves could steal any of their precious, expensive ingredients. He opened the door, pushing it aside with little to no effort. The growing light of the morning sun illuminated the inside of the house. Rowan sped out the door at the speed of sound, his light purple robes flying behind him. 

He leaped down the pair of stairs, his leather sandals landing onto the hard, cobblestone road. The morning sun was just rising, casting the entire city of Pria in a soft orange glow, making the plain grey cobblestone just little bit warmer. Not many people were walking about, the streets were mostly empty.

Soft footsteps approached Rowan, and he whipped around to find his mentor holding his knapsack.

"Whoops," Rowan grinned sheepishly as he took the bag from Alex, and slung it over his shoulders.

"Come on," Alex beckoned to Rowan, he'd already started walking down the paved path towards the shopping part of the city. Most stores had already opened, a dim glow illuminating most of the shops. Rowan passed by a few shoppers as he followed Alex through the stores, though he suspected most of them were still asleep in their comfortable beds.

"We should get the candy from Nags, she makes the best ones." Rowan said, "Her shop's this way," he pointed towards a mostly deserted, narrow street.

"Whatever you want kid, today's a special day for you." Alex shrugged as he followed Rowan down towards Nag's shop. Rowan had a skip in his step as he walked farther into the street.