Page 11 of The Witch & the Dragon

“Ah.” Alaric snapped shut at that.

The gloomy thought of potential sabotage pervaded, but no evidence existed, and it seemed a little unfair to instantly criminalize or suspect his second uncle just because of the coincidence. At the same time, though, Tiran really wanted to be right in his dislike.

He just… wished that life wasn’t so tricky on these things at times. The only thing left was to keep going, keep hoping, and endure it all to the best of his ability.

His uncle called him at some point during the evening when all the students were meant to be unwinding for bed.

“I wanted to ask you something,” his uncle Max said. “You remember you were talking about Chloe Gardner? How did her powers help you?”

“Uh… yeah?” Tiran hadn’t been entirely truthful about the situation with his uncle. He mentioned feeling down and Chloe sensing it. He didn’t, however, mention how dangerous his feelings had been. A brief moment of insanity, of despair and grief so great that the urge to just… stop feeling it had temporarily overridden his rational thoughts.

It haunted him on a tiny, hard-to-admit level that those feelings had gotten so big that it was even possible to feel like that when he’d always considered himself rational, logical, and not impulsive.

“She finally contacted one of the professors to ask about the dryad. I told this you before. We’re going to arrange a small escort for her to visit the swamp at the end of the week. They would prefer a fire mage to go with her since if the dryad does attempt anything…. untoward – they have massive fear and respect for a fire mage. So, I wanted to ask if you might be interested in being a part of that escort because your powers are fire-based. Normally, I would go, but I’m off next Thursday, so that won’t be possible.”

“You’re off? Why?”

His uncle’s expression darkened. “Let’s just say I have some people who have been hired to try and dig a bit more into the cave collapse, as well as to call around to some of the various agencies to see if there was an updated will. I don’t want to bother you with the details. I figure you already have enough to focus on.”

“I… thanks.” Tiran ground his teeth in frustration. He didn’t want to have his uncle involved in his affairs, putting out fires and trying to uncover secrets. But he just – he couldn’t – he couldn’t physically and mentally do it. Not now. It felt like a shameful weakness on his part. Even when Max said it wasn’t and that the whole weight of the world shouldn’t be on his shoulders, that he was young, that his parents wouldn’t have wanted him to be burdened when studying…

“I’ll give you a refresher about dryads and some of the other things you may also encounter in that swamp. You should be safe, but it is always better to be cautious.”

There might be less need to be cautious if the academy hadn’t built itself in the hotbed of supernatural activity, but whatever.

“Yeah, that’s fine; thanks. I appreciate it. It should be interesting to see if she will get a gift.”

“Oh, it is. It surely is. The big gifts always invariably end up in a vault somewhere, but the small ones, they let them keep.”

It seemed a little unfair that they might snatch away a gift given to someone, but Tiran at least recognized that some artifacts might be exceedingly dangerous in the wrong hands. It still didn’t explain why the capricious fae sometimes liked to sprinkle ridiculously powerful gifts in the hands of mortals – but perhaps they just got a kick out of the chaos it caused.

His uncle ended the call, and he figured that, hey, now was a good excuse to contact Chloe.

So… a little bird told me that you’ve finally asked about the dryad, and the teachers are arranging for you to visit her on Friday.

A blue tick appeared with the message.

Whoa. She’s already on her phone.

Dots bounced as she commenced typing.

Oh, you heard already? From your uncle, I suppose?

Yes. He also asked if I’d be there to help escort you on the Friday. Turns out they need someone with fire magic in case the dryad tries anything funny.

Wow, you’re coming? That’s great! So now I have an excuse to meet up with you. :)

He blinked at that message. Somehow, he hadn’t expected to read… enthusiasm from her. It threw him for a loop, and he tried to process the message, the intent behind it. Words could only do so much. He really needed to hear her, to see her expressions.

Yes! You’ll never be rid of me at this rate. ;)

That was okay to send, hopefully.

I don’t plan to be…

As his brain processed those words in a minor state of shock, the dots bounced again.

I didn’t mean for that to sound so suggestive; sorry there!

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