The Hermit, The Tower, The World (Vol.2 Complete)

26th of Inandyl - 4th Serrin (cont)

When they arrived in the Great Hall, it wasn't long before Fara and Vesa found them and joined the three of them for lunch. Calas ate slowly and wondered how long the pair had been waiting as it seemed like an awful coincidence that the two of them would also be taking an early lunch. He seethed on the inside about their little game, but like Daz pestering him about going to parties all the time, what could he really do about it?

He offered them a casual greeting, careful to keep his expression bland as Serea gave them a much warmer greeting. Without asking, they both sat and the four of them, plus Chou, all ate together. The pair started with polite, mundane niceties before getting to the real information they wanted. Calas was impressed that they held off as long as they had.

"So, did you two just run into each other coming in, or…" Vesa stretched out the last word, gauging the reaction from the two of them.

Calas wasn't surprised when Serea's eyes darted away quickly from Vesa at the mention. From what he knew of her, she was unused to having to guard or hide her emotions. He supposed that being an only child meant that it wasn't something she thought was necessary. That authenticity was one of the things that he found so endearing about her.

"…Did you maybe come together?" Vesa finished the question in full, a hopeful inflection to her voice.

Vesa's voice brought him back to the present and he knew he had to tread carefully with these two, lest they pick up the wrong impression. That's all the mouse needed right now was another rumor floating around about her. It would be worse if it involved Calas, given his already stellar reputation.

"What's it matter?" Calas asked as he leaned his chin on his hand.

"You just seemed to be quite chatty, the two of you." Fara gave a muted smile in Serea's direction. Of course they were going to try and coax an answer out of the honest one.

"Three of us," Calas corrected flatly and gestured to Chou, "Isn't that right, Chou."

"Breee!" Chou trilled excitedly as she took off from Serea's shoulder and into the air between the four of them.

"Okay, three of you," Vesa conceded with an eyeroll, "So what were the three of you up to before this?"

"Studying." Calas responded blandly as he nodded through a bite of food. It was true, but all that had happened this morning wasn't meant for public ears in his opinion. Especially not Fara's black-furred ones.

An awkward silence descended on the group. The Drakonys pair exchanged a surprised look before Fara shot him one of her wry, knowing expressions. He returned her stare with a flat, unreadable expression of his own. Vesa leveled an incredulous look of hers toward Serea and the mouse, in turn, used her tea mug as a buffer between them.

"It's true." Serea agreed shakily, and Calas nearly blanched at her addition to his statement. "Calas just wanted to see my notes from Relics this term." She only ruined it slightly by breaking eye contact with Vesa when she took a large slurp out of her mug.

Calas assumed a mildly amused expression on the outside for Fara and Vesa, but on the inside he groaned. She wasn't even lying, but now they think we are both lying! Oh, sweet mouse, I hope you don't give them the wrong idea about us for your sake.

"Well, then," Fara picked up the conversation after a long pause, "since you both have been so diligent hitting the books, perhaps you could relax by enjoying the broom race at midday bell." Calas' expression tightened ever so slightly toward Fara at the innuendo, but forced his face back to neutrality when Vesa added on to the suggestion.

"That's right! There is a race today at the pitch!" Vesa turned to Serea with excitement, "Serea, I'll bet you've never seen a broom race before. This would be the perfect opportunity to see a really good one!"

"Your buddy Jem will be there, of course. You should stop by and see him before the race." Fara flashed a satisfied smile and a subtle wink at Calas.

While he did want to see his old friend, the timing of her comment had him on edge. Rationally, he knew the comment about Jem was a coincidence, but there was still a hint of paranoid anxiety that crept into his mind. It manifested as a shiver down his spine.

He tried to cover the involuntary movement with a voluntary one by shrugging to Serea.

"It's your call, mouse."

"Yeah, it sounds like fun." Serea matched his nonchalant, amused expression with a quiet, enthusiastic smile. It seemed that the pair had won her over to go watch a broom race this afternoon. Somehow, it had been implied that Calas would take her and with his own comment he had sealed that fate.

He narrowed his eyes at Fara when he realized that the comment about Jem was bait. He had taken it and he could only blame the exhaustion he felt in his eyes. Calas broke his stoic demeanor to let out a bitter chuckle and shook his head, admitting defeat.

"Alright," Calas sighed in a begrudging tone. "Why not? We had better go now, then, to catch Jem beforehand."

He gathered his things to leave, the movement waking him up a bit as he locked eyes with Fara. The Panthara girl was unabashedly smug, her black tail swishing lazily back and forth to demonstrate her satisfaction.

"Please enjoy yourself." She said more to him than to Serea who had followed suit and started cleaning up her dishes while talking to Vesa. Fara then leaned toward him and lowered her voice, "You both deserve it."

"Right," Calas scoffed at her softly so as not to alert the other two. "This is making up for the party, I take it?" He muttered back to her sarcastically.

"Absolutely." She purred.

"What part of this arrangement is supposed to make up for tricking us both?"

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Fara's posture shifted with her expression to a feigned indignation. "What ever do you mean, 'trick you'? This is an opportunity for Serea to experience something you know an awful lot about. Why, it's only natural that you be the one to show her the way of things."

"Uh-huh. And this is all for the benefit of Serea, huh?" Calas suppressed a growl at her too sweet voice.

"Absolutely," Fara purred again as her smile turned devilish on her feline face.

Liar. Calas thought, but kept the sentiment to himself as he turned away from her.

He clenched his jaw and wondered why that crazy cat was trying so hard to get them together. A glance at Vesa reminded him that his past and future life was always just around the corner and that was no place for someone like Serea.

Taking his things, Calas bid the pair farewell. Serea did the same as Fara shouted after them, "Say 'hi' to Wen for me!" before they left the Great Hall for the pitch.

***

The pitch was the same as he remembered from last term, but colder. Generally, the pitch was only used from Verdalune to the start of Silverveil when it was still warm enough to do so. Unusually crowded for the chill, there was a crowd of scribes on both sides of the stands and Calas led Serea, and Chou, to the side without the Featherborn, Dakota, in the middle of them.

Apparently, this was a large enough event to have both his former colleagues, the bookies, present to handle the betting. If Dakota was on one side, that meant Jem was on the other and he wanted a chance to at least say 'hi'.

Calas led Serea down toward Jem, or rather the crowd around what he thought was Jem. He took his time to survey the groups on the pitch and when he glanced back, it seemed Serea was doing the same as she pointed out Wen's group first. He followed her indication and was a bit surprised to see her team on what was traditionally the challenger's side of the starting line.

"Interesting," he mused to himself, "she is helping the challenger." Shifting his gaze to the other team, his eyes went wide with recognition. "It looks like they will need all the help they can get."
He paused for a brief moment and realized that Serea had no idea about this sport. He pointed out the short, human boy in the flying cap to her and explained.

"You see the guy with the furred leather cap on? That's Lysander Hooper. He is a world ranked broom rider at just nineteen."He could tell the gravity of the situation was not lost on her by her expression and smiled.

"What is he doing here then?" she whispered harshly.

Calas gave her a nonchalant shrug, his smile turning boyish. "Studying magic, of course."

Serea rewarded his jest with a swat on the arm and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Jeez," he whined at her playfully, "you are so violent." He fake nursed his arm as he started toward Jem, who he could now see clearly.

A hedgehog the size of a tall dwarf held a clipboard among a ring of scribes and scribbled on pieces of paper which he handed to one in the crowd. His possum-like nose with two canines hanging down in an overbite bobbed as his focus changed from the board in his hand and the scribes in front of him.

Huge mouse-like ears twitched as he received pennies and exchanged them for slips of paper. He seemed in good spirits though, as his brown and tan quills were slicked down his back and contrasted his round fluffy middle under a pair of overalls.

It wasn't hard for Calas to part the crowd around the spiky Gnawborn. Asking politely generally did the trick, just like old times. Calas schooled his face as he felt the weight of all the stares and the whispers of recognition rippled through those he passed. This also felt nostalgic for Calas but not in a good way. He did his best to ignore it for Serea's sake.

"Hey Jem. How's business?" Calas said in front of Jem just as he finished handing out another bet. The Gnawborn did a double take upon seeing Calas and exclaimed in his very nasal, very quick speech.

"Oh, Cal! I wasn't expecting you to be here!" Jem's hand immediately came up and they performed their normal handshake. "It's nice to see ya around these parts again. It's not the same without ya around, I tell ya."

"You know I would be here if I could, man. Blackclaw's got me hoppin'." Calas gave a sigh, a hint of regret in his voice as they finished their final hand snap. In truth he was glad to not be a part of these events anymore, but it really was good to see Jem again. How could he have forgotten how fast this guy talks? Calas changed his tone as he changed the topic.

"So what's the stats on this one right now?" It was not generally permitted to ask at real events, but those were usually posted somewhere in the real world. These unsanctioned events were so small that while it wasn't great etiquette elsewhere, it was still an accepted practice to ask.

Jem hummed over his clipboard, flipping through a few pages while he did the calculations in his head.

"By my estimation so far, it's at about ten to one, favoring Lysander, of course. This other kid's never even raced before, can you believe it?" He paused for a moment, conferring with his clipboard again. "His name is Narin Tumet, ya ever heard of him?"

Calas didn't keep the emotion from his face as his brow furrowed, trying to recall. "Nah, never." He turned at a tugging at his sleeve and was shocked for a moment to find Serea there. She is a quiet little mouse sometimes… He nodded to her, telling her silently that he saw her before he turned back to Jem.

"Thanks for the info. I don't want to hold up your line too much, but it was nice seeing you again."

"Are you kidding? Hold up my line anytime, Cal!" Jem's voice was almost jubilant.

Calas smiled at the last to his friend before ducking out of the crowd with Serea. Once there was a bit of distance between them and the crowd, he nodded at her to tell him.

"What is it, mouse?" His tone was curious; not demanding.

She started in a hushed tone, "I do know Narin. He was in my Relics class this past term." Calas' brow rose as he took in a sharp breath. At the same time, he led her farther away from the crowd around Jem, eyes scanning their surroundings before he finally nodded for her to continue.

"He was working on some big project like I was, but it was far beyond me." She shook her head as if recalling previous conversations. "I only know that he was working with the advanced smithing team and they called it something like aero propulsion."

Calas weighed this information carefully. He knew that Wen was likely the driving force behind what she called the "advanced smithing team", though that was not what he had heard Wen call it.

He half turned to see the pitch and watched Wen as her and her team of three others as they worked on their broom. There was a crazed smile on her face as she talked and tinkered and that struck Calas as odd. She knew that she was up against Lysander, she should be worried or at the very least anxious.

Her team seemed to be in good spirits, too, all except for a very bored looking elven guy with a very pale complexion. His garb was light-weight and he wore a racing cap with the goggles up. Are you serious? Is that guy supposed to be Narin? He looks like he could fall asleep standing!

All of this pointed to a certain kind of confidence that no one on either continent should have against Lysander. Serea said it was a prototype, but they had been working on it all term. A thought occurred to Calas and he covered malicious grin with a hand. Wen already knows it works. She wants to pit it against the best, which means they think they can win.

He turned back toward her, adapting a more neutral expression.

"How do you feel about gambling, mouse?"

"Huh?" A small confused sound escaped her and it made Calas grin.

"With your information and odds as they are, I have half a mind to put some money on Modwen and Narin." A devilish grin spread across his face as he asked her politely, "Care to join me on a wager?"

He watched her think it through as she stared at the pitch at Wen and her team. He waited for a moment or two before a small gasp escaped her lips. Calas nodded to himself, confirming that she had figured out what he had, and came to much the same conclusion.

Fishing through his pocket he sorted through some loose coinage and pulled out three pennies by feel, with the intention of giving them to Serea. He took her hand in his, palm up, and placed the money in her open hand.

She looked at him then, her reverence broken by the touch and he closed her hand on the coins by gently curling her soft, dainty fingers.

"Go give this plus yours to Jem when you are ready, but don't go over ten pennies." Before she could ask any other questions, he left her to find a place for them to sit and watch the race.