Hours before Departure

After Tabitha had invited their visitors inside, a short party ensued. It came by like a flood that we weren't even able to ask our questions.

"Congratulations on passing, Monty!" the young girl jumped and then ruffled his red hair. My friend sputtered out a few incoherent replies, but I was able to deduce that she was his childhood friend. Then, she found me looking at her. Her mouth formed slowly into an "O".

"I-I'm terribly sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet, haven't I?" She immediately blushed in embarrassment and bowed deeply in my direction. "I'm called Lara, the child of a farmer back in Hirthy  Town. Please pardon my brash behavior towards my friend... I mean, my benefactor, the innkeeper's son."

Suddenly, the atmosphere dropped around us. Even some of the adults glanced nervously or distastefully in our direction. I noticed how one of the men clicked his tongue at Lara. Sensing the declining mood, I immediately laughed it off and said, "Oh, no worries, sister Lara. A companion of Joren is a friend of mine, as well."

She straightened up with a grateful, yet still slightly nervous, look. However, trouble seems to have already been set in stone, and voices soon filled the room.

"Dat lass has always been a bit stupid, ye?" I heard a man whisper loudly. To which a reply came immediately, "Da brat's too insolent and cheeky, and she ain't even dat young anymore."

A heavy claw seemed to have clamped onto my heart. I haven't felt this anger and fear in a long time. I had been basked too long within the abnormality of the floating Isle of Malaya that I had forgotten how things really were at the ground level.

My feet moved before I had thought my actions through. Suddenly standing right in front of the mocking men, I looked up and gave them a smile. "Oh, sirs, I'd rather we not think too much about these customs for now. In my sights, I would only feel bad if a young girl would be scolded because she can't act as she willed in a family she already considers her own." After I had finished speaking, I quickly searched around the room and thankfully found her gaze.

Tabitha didn't miss a beat and clapped her hands again. "Of course, Eleftherion! Mike, Lars, let's not be too stringent about the rules this afternoon. Let's just all have fun, shall we?"

The men reluctantly agreed and left us alone. I sighed in relief. The party soon filled with comforting noise, but I knew a heaviness was still floating in the air.

After Joren was pulled away yet again by his relatives, I found myself walking aimlessly around the room, only to realize that I absolutely knew no one. Then, a girl soon came into my eyes. Her figure looked much like a melancholic portrait, with her hanging her head low and not even drinking from her cup. I walked towards her.

"Hey," I called down at her. She looked up at me with shocked eyes, her cup shaking in her hands. She quickly stood up and bowed towards me yet again.

"I-I'm really sorry about earlier. It's just that... I got so excited for Jory, and-" she uttered rapidly. I, however, paid no mind to her apologies.

"Jory?" I asked with a small smile. "Now that's got to be added to my list of nicknames for him."

She blinked down at me. "Th-That's just a stupid name I made up years ago. No one really c-calls him that."

My brows went up. "Oh?"

Then, I decided to tease her up a bit. "So I guess I can't call him that then..."

She nodded her head up and down, her shortish brown hair swaying down her shoulders. "Yes! That nickname is so silly-"

"... Because you're the only one who can call him that." And feeling a great need to do it, I gave her a wink. Upon realizing my meaning, she started to blush very visibly.

She then quickly shouted out her protests, and although I knew she was still troubled about what had happened earlier on, at least she wasn't looking so down about it anymore.

Soon, her shouts had brought the devil himself. Joren came up from behind me, and asked, "What's up? Why're ya so angry, Lar?"

"I-I'm not angry!" she shouted quite angrily. "This... This boy is just so, so-!" Not finding the right word to describe me, she stomped her foot down in frustration.

"Pft!" Joren let out a laugh. "He got ya with his teasing, didun he?"

Her cheeks immediately reddened. "Teasing? What do you mean, teasing?"

Joren tilted his head. "That wasn't the case? He always calls me names and Monty and stuff and I'd always get mad."

I grinned at him. "What's so wrong with being called Monty, Monty?"

He pushed at my shoulders harshly. "Shut up, Therion!"

I blew a raspberry at him. Then...

"Heh!" A soft sound came to my ears.

Trying not to look at her, I listened to her laughing at our bickering. Joren must've wanted to keep her laughing too because he did his best to succumb more to my teases, eliciting more and more of her happy sqeals of delight.

~~

"How did you know?" I asked the fiery-haired woman.

My bag was already packed and ready for the Academy, but I didn't expect that Joren would have all his needs taken care of in no time. This either meant that his parents had seen us go through our examination and swiftly acted upon it, or that they've known about our plans from the very start. I'm betting more on the latter, especially with Tabitha involved.

"Did you overhear us?" I asked her again. Although I was pretty sure I had kept all of our conversations clandestine, I suppose even with my training from the Order, I could still miss a thing or two...

"No," Tabitha replied with a shake of her head. "Although I knew you two would talk between yourselves, I hadn't really thought much about it. What really gave it away was that son of mine."

I quietly sighed. "He did act suspiciously... like a lot."

"That he did." She laughed quickly. "I knew something was up with him, and knowing him and our destination, it didn't take us long to make our lucky guess."

"How'd you know we'd pass then?" I asked. "You shouldn't have been there to watch us take the exams."

She looked at me silently for a short moment, and then sighed softly. "Why wouldn't you pass?"

That immediately made me chuckle. Granted, I too hadn't been the least bit worried about our results. I knew how great my talent was, and I also had no doubt that Joren would pass, especially with the natural way he used notes since a very young age. So, her serious, yet incredibly simple, answer made me feel silly.

"So, you aren't angry at me?" I continued my interrogation.

"Why would you ask that?" She looked incredibly surprised by my question.

"Well," I started and coughed a little bit. "Didn't Farseer tell you about me? About how I came with you so I could go to that school?"

"Elmar told me that, yes," she replied.

"So, aren't you going to blame me for not stopping him? Or for lying to him?" I stared at her face for any subtle reactions.

Instead, she shook her head firmly. "Of course not. It's not your duty to take care of our child. And besides, Freud and I have been thinking about Joren's schooling in the past year, so this really did come by as a convenient solution to our problem."

I was still a bit worried. But then she continued, "Joren made his own choice, Eleftherion. We raised him so he would make his own decisions and choose his own path." She then smiled quite sadly. "It runs in the blood, really. I just didn't expect it'd happen so soon."

"Children do grow up so fast, don't they?" I asked, remembering my youngest brother from my past life.

I saw Tabitha looking at me oddly. "And you're a different sort of case as well. While I worry my son might be moving too fast for his maturity to catch up, I worry that you simply mature too quickly."

"Haa..." I let out a breath. "Well, isn't that a good thing?"

Then, she looked at me with the loneliest pair of eyes. "Often times, the children who mature too early are only forced to do so by the hardships of life."

I could only respond with silence.

~~

The Lunar Academy for Special Mages was an exclusive school meant for the Aerim Continent's best magical talents. Of course, what set them apart from other schools, aside from their great education system, was that they were open for all children to try. As long as the child was younger than 18 and had sufficient magical power, the child could always test his luck in the entrance examinations no matter how many times he wanted.

Hidden within the wide Forests of Elara, just beside the Moon City Lunaris, the Academy has been around for hundreds of years, with history dating almost as old as the continent itself.

In recent years, traditions have been made to cater towards the citizen's wants. The entrance examinations, which were once held privately, were now open for all to see. The process itself has been shaped into a spectacle for the masses, with surprises prepared every year.

Of course, no one would actually say that this was because the number of students have been gradually decreasing in the years, and that the prestigious Academy was only forced to create so much noise every single year just to attract the talent they needed. Suffice to say, it was a fact unbeknownst to many, but can easily be realized by the intelligent few.

The truth remains that as time passes by, the Academy grows anxious from the decrease of magical talent, and with it, the whole Aerim Continent, too, shakes in fear, especially with the threat of outside forces looming in to strike the kill.