Wizardly

Chapter Twenty: Master Is Sick?

It continued to bother me through out the rest of the day. So much so that everyone talking about our fight and about me, hardly bothered me at all. When I spaced out at Lunch and then again at Dinner my friends even asked me if I was really okay.

"I'm fine, guys. Sorry. Just a little worried about Captain's training. I really hope he isn't going to do something crazy," I said.

"Oh. I'm sure he wouldn't do anything you can't handle. You should trust Uncle more," Lillyana said and smiled at me when I looked over at her.

"You know I trust him more than anyone. He took me in even though I'm normal and he had no obligation to. In many ways he's like a father figure to me. Even so, the look in his eyes told me this training will be difficult," I said. They all just stared at me and I was confused why they looked so surprised. I finally asked what they were staring at me for.

"Nothing, it's just that you never talk about yourself much or about your relationship to Captain. We had no idea you felt that way about him," Tristan said. Realizing what I said I felt my face heat up. Crap, that was one thing I still wanted to keep to myself.

"Well I did promise to be honest with you all so. Besides - I mean, he is officially my Guardian and all so it's not that surprising is it?" I mumbled and looked down at my food tray. This is awkward. They just smiled at me and then changed the subject. As they talked my mind wandered back to Master Faraday again.

After dinner I decided to go talk to him. I just had to know if he was okay. Much like Captain I look up to him, kind of like an Uncle. When I found him he wasn't alone so I hung back until he was done. Once he was alone I made my way over to him. He looked over at me as I approached. Suddenly his power spiked and I tensed into a defensive stance. He laughed and waved me off saying he was just testing me. I sighed and relaxed rolling my eyes at him.

"Sir, I just - There is something I want to talk to you about if you don't mind. Can we talk somewhere more private?" I asked as I stood in front of him. He studied me a moment and nodded motioning for me to lead the way. I took him to the roof and was glad to see Captain wasn't there either.

"I think I know what this is about. You noticed it didn't you, the weakness in my fighting?" He asked and I nodded. That made this a little easier. "It's not life threatening, but I eventually will lose strength in my right arm. I haven't told anyone about this yet, not even Russell. So I'd appreciate it if you kept this between us for now," he said.

"Does that mean you won't be able to fight anymore? Can't the doctors or healing magic fix it? Is it just your arm or will this happen again?" I asked. He leaned against the wall facing me and sighed.

"There are some things magic can't fix you know. For now, at least, it seems to just be my right arm. As for being able to fight, that depends on if I can manage with just my left arm. I certainly won't be able to fight as well as I used to," he replied. Something not even magic can fix? Cancer or a magic related injury, are the only two things that come to my mind right now.

I tried asking him what specifically was wrong, but he refused to say any more about it. After making me swear not to tell anyone else about it he left the roof, Leaving me standing there dazed by the information. At least for now it doesn't sound life threatening, but for him to possibly not be able to fight must be hard to swallow. The man lives for fighting - it's his job and his magic ability.

I know very well that the Master wouldn't want my pity. Still, would it be right to go all out on an injured man? I know Master wouldn't have it any other way, so I should respect his wishes. I sighed. Well this is going to be very hard to keep to myself. Especially since I told everyone I'd be honest with them from now on. This might be the exception though since it is not my secret to share.

Maybe there is someone I can talk about this with though. The medical staff seems to know something about all of this. Perhaps I can talk to Lana about it now. She might even be able to tell me more about it. That is a conversation for another time. Right now I'd better get back to the others.

As I turned to leave I was startled by Dustin standing there in the door way. I sighed and obviously told him not to sneak up on people like that. He just rolled his eyes at me.

"I over heard your conversation with Master. It's not my place to say anything, but I will say this. Just let it go. He clearly doesn't want to talk about it or want people to know. So just respect his wishes alright?" He said.

"Yeah, I know. I get it alright. It's not my secret to tell so I won't, but it's hard when I promised to be truthful to them and now I can't, again," I replied.

"Everyone has secrets they need to keep. Either for themselves or for others. It's hard to be 100% truthful all the time. You're good at keeping secrets, clearly, so just bear it," he said. I sighed and looked back out over the city. He's right, when push comes to shove I am a good lier.

When I turned around he was gone again and I took a deep breath before heading to find my friends. When I finally met up with them in the main room we sat and talked about the plan and how far it was coming along. The tunnels were nearly finished so the first step was almost done. I on the other hand can't figure out how to get all the citizens in the area to listen to the evacuation idea we had. If it's just a drill some might not want to cooperate. So how do we get everyone on board with this plan?

I went to bed thinking about it and trying to come up with some plan to convince them.