COMPLETED Remembrance of Self | Fantasy | LGBTQ

Chapter 8 - Part 3

["I'm so relieved you still want to be friends with me, Tas." Once more, he looked over his shoulder, but this time to make sure that Vick, Kip, and Mav were nowhere near close, but he quickly spotted them sitting at another table with other people. Haide pulled a bit of Fios and raised a barrier around them to block the sound. Tasgal noticed it and his eyebrows creased. "There's something I need to tell you."]

The air outside seemed lighter and more refreshingly crisp than Haiden remembers. Maybe it was because a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders, or that he consolidated his friendship with Tasgal, or both. He couldn't put his finger on the exact reason for his uplift in spirits, but he was grateful he mustered the nerve to open up. Haiden didn't know where to start so he just poured everything on Tasgal, except for a few small details he was adamant to avoid. Right from the very beginning, to Avlan forest, to Maree and Camila, to Master Rwoy's teaching, and finally to Regor's spirit. Almost everything was now in the open. Haiden was like the many history books in the Academy's library,, with masterfully selected bits of information to steer the reader as the author intended, glorifying the winners of wars and battles to the detriment of the loser. This made Haiden feel as if he was lying, but Tasgal, on the other hand, was seemingly happy for Haiden's burst of perceived truthfulness. He was very accepting to everything that Haiden had told him. Taking everything in, absorbing the information, and thinking it over. He would add in a few words here or there but never subtracting or dismissing Haiden's feelings or experiences. Haiden had made the right decision to trust him. He even handed over the book, on the Hundui people from the library, since Tasgal had more knowledge of the world than he did, and maybe he could just find out what they needed to help free Regor. After all Haiden already had it memorized by now.

The two had parted ways as Haiden had to go to a late lecture on different mote interactions led by both Master Omnelia and Master Rwoy, and Tasgal had to rush to his training that had already started. But, before they did, Tasgal made Haiden promise that they'll see each other tomorrow at lunch again. He could not help his rosy lips stretch ear to ear in a wide mile, his amber eyes light with a glint of fire, and his heart pitter patter in his chest with a swirl of emotions. He unconsciously hummed a soft tune as he walked the stone tiled way, absorbed into his own fantasies that if they were to be enacted or put to paper he would have certainly felt the wrath of the Disciplinary Order. Thinking about that Thau character in the plaza made him shudder.

He had to be careful. If someone would notice he'd be sure they would turn Haiden to the Disciplinary Order. But, at times, moments with Tasgal were so sweet he cared not for the petty plans of Bras and his goons, of being seen, discovered, or even Thau himself. Everything else just vanished to the back of his mind.

Shamelessly caught into his own thoughts, Haiden managed to take the long way around to the lecture that was being had in the white palace. The stone tiled ways, flanked by skeletal shrubs on either side, weaved through the massive grounds of the Academy, that were now devoid of any fellow students, who were probably attending the lecture. It led to a side entrance in the palace that Haiden had never used before. While still a few hundred feet from it, he was quite shocked to see Master Coner dragging something familiarly small, to what looked like a child, behind him. As he got closer Haiden recognized the small body. It was Mara.

Master Coner dragged the slave child by her hand towards the entrance. The girl squirmed and pulled to no avail, her face clearly distressed, filled with tears, but she dared not scream or voice her cries. Her thin malnourished feet planted vainly in the stone tiled ways as she had no strength to oppose a grown man, let alone a Master Wielder.

Haiden's gut sank with dread, he couldn't imagine what horrors the girl would be subjected to. She must know what awaited her, terror visibly filled her light tan eyes, much like Haiden's they glinted of amber fire. He knew that look all too well. He was certain that's the same look he had when he saw the creature that horrid night.