by Peri Akman
Tellack furrowed her brow. “Of course they did. What were you worried about?”
Teacher Tellack hadn’t been at the testing, but she clearly had been informed of the results. Quinn’s spirits began to soar. He had found a teacher, someone had wanted him.
But who?
Maybe one of them had already decided they wanted him ahead of time. The empath, maybe?
Or… dare he hope it… Asim of Trell? Maybe Asim had already made his decision ahead of time, when they met in the tavern.
That… that could make sense.
Quinn followed Tellack, hardly daring to believe his good fortune. This had been far too much of an emotional ride for him.
But it would be OK—he would be OK.
Quinn began to construct a fantasy in his mind. It wasn’t much, but it was there. He and Asim of Trell just on an aimless boat. Quinn didn’t have his tattoos in his fantasy, and he was taller, more muscular, brimming with self confidence.
It was a silly little fantasy, but it gave him a spring in his step.
Tellack corralled him back to the mess hall; all the warlocks were gone, but the teachers and wards remained.
No sooner did Quinn sit down than did the teachers start clapping. Not for him specifically, but evidently he had been holding up the whole procession.
Head Vodyk began to give a small speech, but Quinn could barely parse the words. To some extent, he was kind of annoyed. They already knew, but they weren’t saying. This was pure ceremony. In stories, Quinn had heard many interpretations of this. The speeches would occur, and then one by one it would be revealed. It was all very dramatic.
Of course, they had stopped pulling such dramatic affairs a long time ago, and instead just handed out packets of papers to each of the wards.
Next to him, Kay was given a packet, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw the name—
Asim of Trell.
Quinn’s heart sank again. It hadn’t been him. He hadn’t been picked by Asim. Kay had. He felt his throat constrict. The odds had been slim, but part of him had been so sure…
Kay’s face practically lit up, and she gave out a high pitched elated squeal. She was shaking with what appeared to be nerves, shock, and joy.
If anyone deserved Asim, it was definitely her. And Quinn felt all the more pathetic for thinking he had had a chance in the first place.
Quinn was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice one of the teachers practically shoving a packet in his face.
He took it with trembling hands. He didn’t want to look at it, but he had to.
The name was at first unfamiliar. He had to blink a few times to process it, and a few more times to remember who it was.
Kole of Estane. The bandaged warlock. The one who had freaked out Asim.
The name was scribbled in with terrible handwriting. There was basically no additional information.
NAME: KOLE
AGE: YES
GENDER: ALSO YES
FEATS: MAGIC
LETTER TO MY NEW APPRENTICE: NOT APPLICABLE
Quinn frowned. This was… not what he had been expecting.
All the other packets appeared to have all sorts of hastily scribbled information. Kay’s packet seemed to be at least 5 pages.
His packet was a single page.
Maybe… maybe the warlock didn’t write so well? They were covered in bandages, they could have some sort of… muscle… damage… disease.
His hands flexed, and the paper began to crumple. His head was spinning. This day was too much for him. This was not what he had expected when he woke up in the morning. His future was being decided and forever changed, and he had no idea what direction it was going!
More speeches, but they were short. All the wards were shifting in their seats. They wanted to go out and meet their future teachers and masters. For most of the wards, this would easily define the next decade of their lives.
Finally the speeches stopped and some of the teachers went to embrace their favorite wards. There was a lot of crying. Quinn felt oddly out of place. Had he honestly not become close enough to anyone to warrant this? No. No, he hadn’t. It had never bothered him before, but now it did, even if just a little.
Quinn stood awkwardly before confronting Teacher Tellack.
“Where… are they, anyway?” Quinn asked.
“In a separate room,” she said, oddly evasive. “They will come out soon. We have the entire binding process to go through with you lot.”
Quinn nodded. “Could I uh… talk to Kole beforehand? They uh… their paper was…” He showed it to her.
Tellack blinked, and across her face flashed an emotion that Quinn could not place. However, within a moment her face was once again serene and rough, no outward annoyances obvious.
Tellack squinted a bit, then looked from the hugging affair going on to the door behind her and back again. She frowned. The internal cogs in her head seemed to slowly process the information. After what seemed like an eternity, she smiled slightly and nodded.
“Let’s go find Kole together, okay?” she asked.
Quinn nodded, a breath of relief leaving him.
The two left the mess hall and stepped into the courtyard. From there, Teacher Tellack led Quinn to some of the classrooms that the warlocks had evidently been taken to pass the time waiting.
Quinn wasn’t exactly sure why this had to happen so separately. It seemed a lot more convenient to him if they were just there in the mess hall, but maybe his teachers knew something he didn’t.
Tellack went to open the door, but halted. She turned to Quinn.
“Quinn, why don’t you stay out here, and I’ll get Kole, okay?” Her gravelly voice had shifted to a higher pitch than normal.
Quinn shifted uncomfortably. This was his future and it seemed to be constantly, wildly, and randomly dangled in front of him. He just wanted to talk to this bandaged warlock. Ask them what they liked. What they did. Just something to shape what was probably going to be the next six to ten years of his life. Because right now, all he could see were swirling foggy clouds.
Before Quinn could reply, the door opened. It was Han-Yue. Their skin radiated a pleasant pink.
“Can I help you two?” Han-Yue chortled. Alcohol seemed to be on their breath. It positively reeked.
“We’re looking for Kole.” Tellack spoke smoothly without missing a beat.
Han-Yue sighed. “Och. No use there, she and Asim went out to have it out before the wards came back.”
“Have… have it out?!” Tellack nearly spat.
Han-Yue nodded as their skin suddenly took on the texture of a glass bottle. “Yep. The Wind Walker was mighty pissed at her. Think they used to be a thing, if you know what I mean. Probably a bad breakup.”
Tellack squinted harder than usual. “I… are you sure?”
“Yehp. Why would I lie? By the way, is my kid ready yet? I need to be in Westkill by tomorrow morning, so we need to get a move on,” Han-Yue said, glass lightly jutting out of their skin. Han-Yue stared at their hand in annoyance as it formed a cup shape. Then they brightened, took out a flask, and began pouring a white wine into their cup-shaped glass hand, chuckling brightly as Tellack twitched, Quinn could only presume at the blatant abuse of a fine vintage.
Tellack shook her head and turned away. Frowning, she muttered, “This is unacceptable. This is why this whole policy is—”
She stopped herself as she suddenly became aware that Quinn was still with her.
Quinn frowned. “Policy? What policy?”
Tellack sighed. “Confound it, fine. Look, this is not something we were supposed to tell you but—she’s going to be your master, you have a right to know.”
Quinn’s breathing hitched. This was getting to be too much. He just wanted to leave the Academy! Learn how to do some good! Get married. Have kids. Or whatever it was that people were expected to do.
“About three years ago the government instituted a new policy, putting imprisoned warlocks on a
civil service program. Usually they have to stay in the program anywhere from five years to life, depending on the severity of their crime. It’s a way to keep them busy, and keep a close eye on them, and still utilize their much-needed skills,” Teacher Tellack explained. “It was… well, it wasn’t a secret, per se, but it wasn’t something deemed necessary to be made public knowledge. It was deemed obscene for Academy information. Could cause unnecessary panicking if the communities found out en masse that their futures and welfares were in the hands of former murderers and thieves.”
The string of logic was beginning to appear. “She… Kole… is one of them? A former criminal?” Quinn asked.
“Yes. One of the services you can do is take on a student. We didn’t think she would actually pick a student… we had so many eager warlocks this time around, we thought it would be fine.” Tellack trailed off, muttering under her breath.
Quinn opened his mouth to reply, when they were both cut off by an extremely loud yell a building over.
Tellack’s eyes widened, and she dashed off, albeit not very successfully. She was not a runner by any means, and Quinn quickly outpaced her.
He turned the corner, and nearly yelped in surprise at the scene.
Asim was on the ground, the wooden walking stick planted firmly on his chest. Kole was leaning against it nonchalantly. Asim was panting angrily, his face covered in dirt, his brow busted and bleeding. A gust of wind propelled Asim upwards, but the bandaged warlock pressed down resolutely, and the stick stayed in place. Asim’s head slammed against the ground as he cursed at his failed attempt at escaping.
“I know your weaknesses, Wind Walker.” A rather nasally feminine voice snarled. She stared at Quinn. “Oh great. You.”
That had not been the reaction Quinn was expecting.
Tellack’s panting became louder as she finally caught up. “WHAT. In the NAME OF THE PRISM. IS GOING ON HERE?”
Kole dug the stick into Asim’s chest a bit more. “Wind Walker here asked to speak to me in private. Next thing I knew, he tried to assault me. This is self defense, until he learns to stop being a terrible ass.”
Asim hissed in pain, and flicked a blast of dusty wind at Kole, but the wind seemed to part around her and she shut her eyes as the dust hit her.
“GET. OFF. OF. HIM.” Tellack roared, and the sound waves filled the area. Kole clearly had not been expecting such a thing, and winced. She then lifted her weight from the stick ever so slightly. The split second of time was all Asim needed to propel himself forward and stand up.
Kole responded by raising her stick, most likely in self defense. One of her knees twitched slightly. Possibly the pain was getting a bit much for her.
There was a flickering feeling of pressure in the air from behind Quinn. He whipped around to see Serethen of Javier standing nearby, looking very annoyed. Quinn hadn’t even heard her coming. That was kind of terrifying. Before Quinn could fully adjust to seeing her there, she immediately flickered away again, only to reappear right in between the two fighting warlocks.
Serethen intercepted the staff, and wrenched it from Kole’s hand. There was a sudden silence.
She took a deep breath and scratched her bald, scarred head. “Is there a problem here, Kole?” she nearly whispered, while Kole’s hand remained frozen, outstretched for the staff.
Asim was the one to speak now, his calm exterior gone. “For the love of—will you stop crowding around us?”
Serethen gave a pacifying wave to Tellack, who mostly just seemed relieved she didn’t have to yell anymore.
“Actually, if Kole is violating her parole rules, it is very much my business,” Serethen said, softly, and yet somehow captivating the attention of all outside. Quinn wasn’t sure how “researcher for the government” meant it was her business specifically, but he was not one to question things.
Asim and Kole exchanged a glance, but just for a moment. Asim idly straightened out his sweater, trying to get the dirt off of it.
“I started the fight. Me,” Asim spoke breathlessly. “She did nothing wrong.”
Kole gave an audible snort, staggering without the staff to lean on.
Tellack groaned. “All of you, pull it together. You’re all adults here. You’re supposed to be role models for these kids!”
“Not me,” Serethen said with annoyance. “I passed on all of them.”
“Well, BULLY for you, I guess!” Tellack snapped, squinting very hard at her. Serethen’s soft voice was probably not doing Tellack any favors at the moment.
Asim ran his fingers through his hair and glanced momentarily at Quinn. “Shouldn’t you be back in the mess hall, kid?”
“We were looking for Kole. This—might be her new student.” Tellack ended the sentence oddly. Might be? Was there going to be another test? Quinn didn’t think he could handle that.
Serethen sighed, tossed the staff back to Kole, and turned to leave. “There is nothing that interests me here now. I will be submitting your name for review, Kole.”
And just like that, she vanished. Quinn had never seen a teleporter in real life before. It was jarring.
Asim brushed off his pants. “It appears that this was… a mere miscommunication,” he said coldly. “I will also leave. Could you point me off to the washroom? I’d rather not show up in the mess hall with blood on my shirt, thanks.”
Tellack pursed her lips and pointed. “Take your second left, there’s a public wash that way.”
Asim strode off, leaving Tellack, Quinn, and Kole behind.
“Can I help you?” Kole asked, near derision in her tone. “Or can I leave now?”
“Uh… well… it’s just…” Quinn tried to speak coherently, but it wasn’t working. Had he made a mistake? Maybe he misread his paper. That was possible.
“Your packet was atrocious!” Tellack snapped. “You didn’t include a single discerning characteristic!”
“I included what was important,” Kole said simply. “I don’t see why my age was vital information. Or my gender. Or this whole “feats accomplished” nonsense. I’m a warlock. By virtue of existing, I’m a unique freak of nature.”
Tellack’s face turned pink with anger. “I… at least talk to the poor boy! This—this is the biggest event of his life, for Prism’s sake!”
Kole looked down at Quinn, then back at Tellack. “Considering how he looks like he’s about to pass out, I really hope you’re wrong about that.”
“Do you want me to get the Javier Researcher back in here?!” Tellack snapped. “Because believe me, I will.”
Kole audibly groaned. “Fine. FINE. Hi there.” She looked down at Quinn with derision. “What do you want to ask? Go ahead, invade my personal life all you want, otherwise I get to go to jail again.”
Quinn swallowed and tried to force a smile. It did not exactly succeed. Instead he just ended up baring his teeth. “I… uh… what do you do as a Freelancer?”
Teacher Tellack seemed to be watching him very closely, like she was afraid he was about to combust or something. Whatever the reason, it certainly was not helping Quinn keep any measure of cool to him.
A weird laugh was the response Quinn received. Kole slouched, leaning against her walking stick for support. “Hah! What a boring question. I do whatever the government tells me to. If they tell me to murder a man in cold blood, I murder a man in cold blood. If they need me to spend three years planting a garden, then I spend three years planting a garden. Otherwise I waste around, performing odd jobs for the good of the community. Come on, you were taught this in class! I’m not your teacher.”
“Yes, you are!” Tellack nearly spat. “That is literally the job you signed up for!”
“Really?” Kole asked, tilting her head in an exaggerated manner. “I thought I was getting a slave.”
Tellack made several incoherent noises of anger, which Kole took as a cue to continue.
“I mean, that’s what you’re doing this whole messed-up business for, right? You raise these kids with an iron
fist, brand them with tattoos that mean they’ll never disobey, and then when they get too rowdy, you sell them to a bunch of warlocks who want someone to fetch them their coffee. And then when those kids get old enough, you pretend to reward them with a brand to replace the tattoo, and hope to the gods that they are complicit and accepting enough that they too will one day buy a slave of their own.” Kole’s voice seemed to be laden with glee.
“That is the plan, right? You wouldn’t actually just cart a kid off to a strange warlock you’ve never even met before, solely because they have a good job? In any other situation… that’d be ludicrous. Unless that warlock’s also a criminal. Then it’s just stupid,” she continued, her weight pressed so hard against the walking stick that it was a wonder it didn’t snap from the pressure.
Tellack gripped Quinn by the shoulder. “Come on, Quinn, we’re leaving.”
Quinn looked at her with confusion, and back at Kole. For a brief second, he willed himself not to budge.
Kole gave a harsher laugh. “What are you going to do, hm? You have no power over him anymore.”
Quinn’s confusion practically exploded over his face, causing Kole to laugh harder. Until he was under the tutelage of a warlock, he was a ward of the school, and, by extension, a ward of the government. By all counts, Tellack had complete power over him. Stranger still was how Teacher Tellack reacted. She stiffened, like Kole had hit a nerve.
“Quinn, right? You’re Quinn? Quinn. Ya see Quinn… there’s a little loophole that no one tells you kids. As much as I whine, I’m not the first to. See… the government thought of it first. Well, no, all us poor wards did, but it eventually got to them. How do you stop some terrible warlock from coming along, taking wards as they please, and doing terrible things to them? What’s stopping me from just taking you away from here and just outright murdering you? Nothing. There’s nothing. Except the all-powerful law.” Kole laughed again at this.
Quinn shivered. He did not like this woman. She seemed to take joy in speaking cruelties.
“So… what do you do? Well in their BRILLIANT strategy, they decided that it was up to the children to decide! So they put a minor little rule in the law that says that in the time it takes to be deemed mature, and it takes to be picked, you are a direct ward of the government, as opposed to the Academy. It means you’re still their dog, they would never think of giving you TRUE freedom, but it means that you can, if you want, say outright that you have no desire to have me as a teacher, and no one can do anything about it!”
