The carriage ricketed down the path, rocking from side to side not too unlike the boat Oliver left behind a few days ago. Honestly, he should've puked up his entire stomach by then. If not from the motion, from the anxiety, if not from those, from the excessive spellcasting and all-nighters, and if not from all of that, from the fact that everyone he met was tired of him already.
"Excuse me, yes, pardon me," he began, possibly out of desperation for some social aspect to break up the blur of practice and half-sleep. "Hypothetical question for you," he said through the small window to the carriage driver. Rick was his name, just a dull-eyed teen who didn't turn or acknowledge him in any fashion.
"If you were heading toward a massive contest, or at least formerly massive, that would earn you possible worldwide renown and a great portion of your material desires for the rest of your life, even if it would put that life in certain danger of an abrupt and humiliating end—would you still go?" He waited. A jerk of the lines brought the horses on a steady turn and the driver scratched at his stubble.
"Just wondering. Purely hypothetical."
"...No, sir. I believe I would not." Ah, he did speak. Truth be told, the mage wished he would speak more. There was a certain rustic eloquence in his flowing tones and raspy voice. It matched his weathered appearance, skinny though he was, draped in rough clothes and leather packs. "But I've little use for fame or material things."
"Really. That is interesting." Oliver never could tell a convincing lie. Perhaps that was the source of his societal shortcomings and those evident traits that allowed him to become a mage in the first place. "Well now. Thank you, thank you very kindly. That will be all."
And they didn't speak again until the sun eased its way down and the moon slid its way up. Rick originally turned the horse onto a path to the miserable village of Kendon. That was before Oliver got him to swear to turn the carriage around, drive through the night no matter the threat, and travel to Aethia, the (waning) magical capital of the world. Rick made some money off the vow.
He woke up not to Rick, like he expected, but to Aethia's bubbling morning bustle and the accompanying distant bird calls. The ocean was off by a day or so, but the sea birds still graced the city with caws and droppings. Even that early, six or maybe seven in the morning, people moved about the streets and brought the carriage's pace to a patient amble. Fortunately for them, there were few of the new "automobiles" about...
Still, they made it to the arena at the city's approximate center before noon and that was all that mattered. Even if that was when the driver got the other half of his payment, Oliver was thrilled to finally arrive, to look at the vaulted stone spires and rows of pointed arch windows.
Oh, to take it all in firsthand... As Rick unloaded the mage's two carpet bags onto the limestone path and eventually stared at the stout steamer trunk on the rear luggage rack. Oliver was so fixed on the arena, imagining his way through corridors to his assigned and truly unremarkable room (though it would impress him to no end), that it took the carriage boy speaking to get his attention.
"Sir, the trunk."
"Oh, of course, right," he corrected himself, joining an unimpressed Rick at the back of the carriage and pulling up his sleeves. "I'll handle this."
With a whispered incantation, his eyes closed, he missed Rick's muted expression of shock and revulsion as the trunk rocked. Sticks of cedar jutted out from its side, the wood cracking in the strain even as the process left no marks in the trunk or the leather straps. Oliver kept his eyes closed, muttering the made-up language while the sticks bent as if they had an elbow, coming out farther until they ended in square hands. They had no form, looking like thumbless mittens even as they closed and opened.
It got up on its rangy haunches, shook the new arms and legs as if their stiffness could be fixed that way, and clambered down the side of the carriage to pick up the waiting bags.
"Well, thank you for all your help, kind sir." Oliver took Rick's hand in his, shaking it and leaving a small sack of money in the driver's palm. "I expect my gratitude will cover your homeward expenses."
"Sure," he said, seeming a little concerned about something. It had to be one of their mental states. But he put the sack in his pocket and returned to the carriage led by the chestnut horse with stunted ears and eerily large eyes. Riding inside the whole time, the mage didn't notice until now just how unsettling they were.
The two turned their separate ways and that brought Oliver to the arena's gate, guarded by security officials in navy blue uniforms with glinting silver trims almost outshone by the spotless black of their shoes and for some, the badges on their uniforms. Naturally, only two of the ten officials would talk to him.
He went through unsurprising questions without much trouble. What sort of mage are you? How long have you been practicing? Have you ever been detained or arrested by the Mage Council for any purpose? Passing that test, they moved on to the practical portion of the exam. Cast any spell for us, okay, that's great, now use another to unlock this chest no wider than a tankard and get your Trialist Charm. Great, you did that, now...
"Where's your aide?"
"Hm?" Oliver looked up at the stern woman's face, finally over the scar at her left jaw line and not staring at it instead of her eyes anymore. His new fixation had been on the opalesque gem in the center of the stone charm. He was in the middle of wondering if everything at the arena was made of stone when she interrupted him. "Excuse me?"
"Your aide. Where are they?" Aide. Aide. Why hadn't he heard of this before? Oh no, not good... They were starting to question his hesitation.
"Oh, my aide, you meant him. Well, he's off looking after the horse. Chestnut, a real dear. Well, no, she's a horse, but..." He trailed off and sensed that they had lost their patience. "I'll go and get him, she'll be alright."
He didn't even ask if he could join without an aide since he already had the Trialist Charm and all. He just left the trunk behind to wait, running past the landscaped woods towards central Aethia. If he could find Rick at the stables, if any remained in the city, and offer him yet more money, which he was running out of, then convince him to be his aide and learn some magic... Well, that shouldn't be hard. Wasn't that everyone's dream?
Panting, Oliver stopped in the first hotel he came across and began the search. He wouldn't leave the city that day because he hadn't slept the night before, which left that night and the next morning to find him. "Excuse me, pardon, if it's not too much trouble," he paused for a gasp of air, "did a young man come in here named Rick? To stay the night?"
They said no in that place and demanded to know who was asking in the second one, assuring that he wasn't there mostly because Oliver didn't want to argue. So the hunt went until the fourth place of lodging, where the staunch doorman told him what he so wanted to hear. If the horse and carriage outside weren't obvious clues. "Yeah, a few hours ago. A real lanky thing he was. Looked like he hadn't slept in a day."
"Oh, that's him," Oliver sighed, daring to smile now that he had the news he wanted. "Which room is he in?"
He got a leery look, a once-over to see if maybe he looked the sort who would kill someone in their rented room and cause a huge mess for the owner. Another few coins lost, but the room's location gained, he went upstairs to the third door on the left and banged an open hand on the door.
"Rick, open up," he called, staring down at the knob and forcing himself to not go in anyway. "I have another favor that needs doing. I wouldn't trust anyone else with it, of course, so I came to give you the first chance. Extra money, Rick, I can promise you that if you'll help out with this one favor."
Oliver jumped at the thump inside the room, maybe something slamming against the wall or onto the floor. He waited, biting his lip and biding his time. "Rick," he ventured after a few seconds without another sound. "How is everything in there? Are you alright?" Soft rhythmic creaks got louder and then the door opened just a crack. Rick looked worse now than before, a lot worse.
"What is it." Eyes half shut and the look on his face just begging Oliver to give him a reason to punch the mage, Rick wasn't in any mood for politeness and Oliver wasn't crazy enough to demand it.
"Can I come in and talk?"
"No."
Well then. Alright, Oliver could work with that. Running both hands through his hair and taking a deep breath, he started up with his explanation.
"Remember that probably massive contest?" And his future aide's eyes shut even more. He lost some ground there, granted, but it would be won back as soon as he got to tell the story. "Well, to be in it for real, I need an aide."
"I'm not it."
"Hey, hear me out," he bargained, stopping the door with his hand only because Rick didn't slam his hand in it. If he really wanted to, he could. Being a carriage driver made him a lot stronger. "There's a lot in it for you, Rick, I promise. I'll pay you twice what you made as a driver," Oliver said, counting the benefits on one hand and watching the driver's interest pique as his eyes almost nearly opened.
"I thought magic was dying off," he answered, but he was swaying, Oliver could just feel it. Or perhaps that was the numb, light feeling of anxiety and holding his breath between answers.
"And isn't carriage driving? Look, I'll teach you magic, and that in itself is an experience to behold. Plus, you can stay at the arena with me and a ton of other mages and their aides, and the Council will take care of everyone completely free of charge! What do you say?"
And then there was the wait. He kind of hated looking at Rick leaning against the doorframe, wondering if this was worth it. When that smirk finally came, it brought a flood of relief with it and Oliver smiled back. Wasn't often that both of them felt happy for the same reason. Not that they'd known one another long.
"Alright, Mr. Oliver," he agreed and held out his hand that wasn't on the doorknob of his side of the door. "You've got a deal."