¤ Ill Timing

”I had feared that regaining her memory would change Aurora beyond recognition; indeed, during our conversation in the warriors’ training grounds, she seemed like a total stranger. However, a few days later, Aurora was back to her cheerful and optimistic self, and I remember thanking the heavens that she had not lost her irrepressible nature. I was too young and too naive then to realise that it was merely an act that she had put up for the benefit of her friends.”

‘Have you heard?’

‘Yes! Let’s get to the assembly area quickly.’

Salmer watched the pair of excited fairies dash past them. ‘What is the rush?’

‘Apparently the King has passed a decree to select for Advisors amongst the students of the Academy,’ Daedalus said, shrugging. ‘Not too sure about the rumour though.’

‘Hmm.’ Aurora frowned as she thought. ‘It’s not as if it concerns us mortals.’ She had not told, and had made Salmer promise not to tell, Daedalus or Wing about the fact that she had been a fairy in her Before. Salmer respected that, and did not question her request; after all, she could not possibly hope to return to where she had been.

Moreover, it was dangerous to let it be known that she was indeed the fairy Advisor missing from the Court of Orbis, especially since Verchiel had framed her as a traitor like he had promised.

‘Still, our teachers told us to all gather at the assembly area at the start of the next hour. No doubt it must be something important-’ A gong rang out, interrupting Salmer and signalling the beginning of a new hour.

‘Come on, the last one there is a turkey!’ Aurora grinned and started to run ahead of the other two, much to their surprised dismay.

‘Is it your turn?’

‘No, I was the turkey the last time round.’ Daedalus shook his head. ‘I don’t care. Until I work out how to make my flight machine actually fly, you will have to give way to me every other time like you and Wing promised. And since Wing is still not with us…’

‘There goes my untarnished record of Unturkey-ness,’ Salmer sighed good-naturedly and let Daedalus have a head start, himself strolling along easily on his long legs.

‘Brother Salmer’s the turkey!’ By the time he had reached the assembly area, Aurora was already there with Daedalus, grinning as she playfully taunted Salmer. ‘Remember what the turkey has to do?’

‘I remember.’ Salmer’s voice was that of mock resignation. ‘I will have to do anything the winner asks, right?’

‘I’ll keep that favour for another day though.’ Aurora smiled up at Salmer.

‘As long as it is not illegal, insane or potentially life threatening,’ Salmer warned.

‘The turkey has no rights.’ Daedalus injected, a wicked smile on the shorter boy’s lips. ‘I remember that. Why else would I snuck into Mistress Spiruna’s office? It practically entailed all the three things you mentioned.’

‘Heh.’ Aurora hummed nonchalantly as they made their way to the back of the assembly area, which was already filled with students, both fairy and mortal. The noise level was unbearable, as the students all speculated about the reason for this assembly amongst their little cliques.

Then, Verchiel entered the room. A hush fell over the room immediately, as all turned their attention to the tall and imposing fairy lord. He was followed closely by two younger fairies, which Salmer recognised as Wing and Ferra. Both of them looked very solemn, dressed in the dull colours of mourning.

‘Poor Wing,’ Daedalus whispered to the other two. ‘With Lord Sorra gone, I wonder what Ferra will do to him. They never got along.’

‘Yeah,’ Salmer peeked at Aurora to see her reaction, but the girl did not seem to have heard. She only stared long and hard at Verchiel from where she stood, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she watched the fairy lord move to the front of the room.

‘Students of the Academy.’ Turning to face the assembled students, the fairy began, his flat monotone carrying clearly across the heads of all the people gathered there. ‘We gather here today on a sad note. Most of you are probably aware of the unexpected passing away of Lord Advisor Sorra. I hereby represent the Academy in offering condolences to his family. May his spirit live on.’

The students murmured in response. ‘May his spirit live on.’

Ferra and Wing remained behind Verchiel, bowing slightly in acknowledgement of the students’ brief prayer.

‘However, even as all of Orbis mourns the loss of a valued courtier and dedicated War Advisor, we must not forget to tend to the present.’ Verchiel continued, in an almost lazy tone. ‘His Majesty Kranz seeks to appoint one student of the Academy to sit in the Advisor chair at his Court.’

There was a brief uproar amongst the students, especially the fairy youths. What an honour, and what a chance! ‘So the rumours were true,’ Daedalus whispered.

‘Still don’t see what this has to do with mortals,’ Aurora said, as the noise level fell again at Verchiel’s raised hand.

‘The Academy will be organising trials to aid His Majesty in selecting for the best candidates. All students are welcome to enter themselves for the trials, fairies and mortals alike.’ He finished, his tone bland. Another murmur rippled through the assembled students at Verchiel’s last sentence.

‘His Majesty assures all who would enter the trials that the selection will be fair and impartial,’ Verchiel said over the whispering, his expressionless face showing none of the reassurance in his words. ‘Interested students will submit their names to their respective mentors by dusk tomorrow. Strictly no further submissions will be entertained after the deadline.’

‘You are dismissed.’ With that, the fairy lord swept out of the room, the hush in the room breaking down quickly as everyone started to talk at once.

‘What was the King thinking?’ A fairy youth before the three of them complained out loud. ‘A mortal Advisor?’

‘Bah, it is probably one of his grand ideas to improve Orbis’ relationship with the mortals,’ his female companion said, flicking her long silvery pink hair dismissively. ‘My lord father says that he does not think His Majesty will actually appoint a mortal. It is merely a gesture on the King’s part.’

All three of them heard her words. ‘No wonder Verchiel would make the announcement,’ Aurora muttered darkly. ‘I didn’t think he would allow Kranz to pass such a degree.’

‘I wonder which mortal would dare to even try out for the Advisor appointment,’ Daedalus said absent-mindedly as he searched for Wing amongst the crowd of students that was drifting slowly to the exits of the large room.

Salmer glanced quickly at Aurora, who met his gaze calmly. Are you? He mouthed. She only gave him an enigmatic smile and shook her head slightly at Salmer’s questioning look. But that did not reassure the boy at all.

‘Over here, Wing!’ Spotting the fairy, Daedalus called and waved. Waving back tiredly, Wing came over to join his friends.

‘Hey.’ Aurora went up to Wing first and tiptoed to give him a good long hug.

‘Hey yourself.’ Wing whispered into her ear as he hugged her back, the grief and exhaustion evident in his voice. ‘I missed you.’ They held each other like that for a while, only breaking up reluctantly as Salmer and Daedalus drew closer.

‘I am sorry about your father, Wing.’ Salmer patted him on the shoulder.

‘Me too,’ Daedalus said. ‘What will happen to you now?’

Wing sighed, sagging a little. ‘I received a very polite letter from Ferra yesterday listing the details of my inheritance and how it has already been arranged for me to be able to claim all of it by tomorrow.’

‘That’s practically telling you to get lost as soon as possible,’ Daedalus winced in sympathy as the four of them moved out of the assembly area.

‘At least Lord Sorra did not leave me entirely at the mercy of Ferra.’ Wing sighed again, his head bowed low. ‘I still can’t believe that he’s… gone.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Aurora slipped her hand into his. Wing looked up at her, and smiled tiredly, his brown eyes lighting up a little as they met Aurora’s.

‘I am feeling hungry. Let us go get dinner.’ Salmer nudged Daedalus.

‘What? But it’s still two hours till the dinner gong! I wanted to get back to my flight machine.’ The shorter boy said, bewildered.

‘See, I know you are hungry too. Come on.’ Disregarding Daedalus’ protests, Salmer towed him off by the arm, leaving Aurora alone with Wing.

The two walked silently together for a while, hand in hand. Finally, Aurora spoke up, concern in her voice. ‘Are you feeling better now?’

‘A little,’ Wing confessed. ‘But it feels strange.’

‘Like how?’

‘Like… like I should be more upset about Lord Sorra’s death. He is- was good to me, even when Ferra kept trying to ruin things between us.’ Wing frowned, stopping in his steps to think. He looked down at Aurora, his eyes full of confusion and guilt. ‘The fairy that adopted and brought me up is dead, and all I feel is… numbness. It is as if it didn’t matter, not enough to hurt.’

‘Ah.’ Aurora was quiet for a moment as she looked back up at Wing. Smiling sadly, she touched his cheek gently with her free hand. ‘It’s okay, Wing. I think I understand. But look at you; you have just returned from mourning his death and you look like you have aged a thousand years. How can you not be caring?’

‘But-‘ Wing stopped as Aurora touched his lips lightly with a finger.

‘But nothing, Wing. I am sure Sorra will understand. He told me that he would not want anyone to mourn his death when it happened, because he never thought that dying could be any worse than living.’

‘That sounds like him alright…’ Wing murmured, considering Aurora’s words. Then, raising an eyebrow at her, he asked, ‘Have you met Lord Sorra before?’

‘How could I?’ Aurora’s face was a mask of gentle puzzlement. ‘I am a mortal, don’t you remember? Why would I be able to meet the War Advisor?’

‘But you said he told you…‘

‘Oh. I mean that someone who was quoting Lord Sorra told me,’ she responded smoothly, even as she looked away and refused to make eye contact. ‘Just a slip of my tongue.’ She tugged at Wing’s hand to pull him further up the corridor.

‘I see.’ Wing let out a small breath. Already, his voice was lighter, relieved of the heavy overtones of regret. ‘Thank you.’

Aurora nodded, not speaking, her eyes trained on her feet as they took one step, and then another beside Wing’s.

‘How about you? Are you doing alright?’ Wing asked, holding her hand tighter.

‘Hmm?’ She sounded preoccupied, as if deep in thought about something. ‘Why wouldn’t I be alright?’

‘I was worried about you.’

Aurora couldn’t help but laugh. ‘What for, silly?’

‘You know, the spell I accidentally cast on you…’

‘Hmm. Now that you’ve mentioned it…’ Aurora suddenly stopped walking, a hand flying to her forehead. ‘I feel a little… dizzy.’ To Wing’s horror, she staggered a little against him.

‘Oh no.’ He caught her hurriedly before she crashed to the ground. ‘Do you need to go to the medic’s hall?’ Wing peered worriedly at her, only to see the girl grinning up at him.

‘Uh uh.’ Aurora shook her head, her dark blue eyes twinkling mischievously. ‘You still owe me one for that time. Come on, stop looking so gloomy and smile for me, then maybe I’ll call it quits.’

Wing rolled his eyes, breaking into a true smile at last. ‘The next time, I’ll let you just fall to the ground.’

‘What!’ Aurora scrambled to her feet indignantly. ‘Then I’ll make sure you fall with me, you big Turkey Wing.’

‘But I’ve already fallen.’ Wing grinned, ruffling her hair. ‘For you.’

‘You’re evil.’ Aurora punched him playfully on the shoulder, before twining her arm around his, smiling up back at him.

‘Only you’ll know that.’ Wing said, then changed the subject. ‘Hey, are you going to go for the trials?’

‘For the Advisor position? I don’t know,’ Aurora begun slowly, frowning now.

But Wing mistook her hesitation for uncertainty of herself. ‘You should. You’ll never know, maybe His Majesty will pick you. Everyone in the Academy knows about Aurora, the Mage genius.’

‘Maybe.’ Aurora said thoughtfully. ‘And I’ll be able to get back to Court…’

‘Get back?’

‘Huh? Oh, I mean, I’ll get to see the Court…’ She trailed off, still frowning.

Wing continued. ‘I’m going to try for it. Can you imagine? I can be the first Advisor to be appointed straight from the Academy!’

However, there was something forced in his enthusiasm, and Aurora sensed it. ‘Is that what you really want?’

‘Yeah, well.’ Wing thought for a while, then shrugged, his voice a little crestfallen as he spoke. ‘There’s nothing else, is there? Advisor or not, I’ll need to return to serve the Court; I’ll prefer to start higher up in the pecking order. Besides, I cannot live only on my inheritance forever.’

‘Always pragmatic, aren’t we?’ Aurora teased, trying to lighten the mood. ‘Just take one step at a time, like old Eriksen always said. And for now,’ she continued, ‘I think we ought to take the step to search for Brother Salmer and Daedalus.’

Wing caught the meaningful flick of her eyes to the nearest corner of the corridor. He said aloud, ‘Ha. I don’t know, maybe they’re better off missing. Goodness knows I wouldn’t miss them, especially that rascal Daedalus.’

‘Hey!’ Daedalus’ voice squeaked. Wing and Aurora exchanged an amused look before they both rounded the corner to see Salmer clap his hand over Daedalus’ mouth.

‘I thought you guys were hungry?’ Wing raised an eyebrow.

‘Mmmph!’

‘Uh, we got lost?’ Salmer said sheepishly, his hand still held tightly over Daedalus’ mouth.

‘Hmm. Let me lead the way then.’ Aurora laughed, and dashed off, shouting over her shoulder, ‘Last one to the dining hall is a Turkey!

‘But I’m already your Turkey Wing!’ Wing shouted back, chasing after her.

Salmer sighed, watching the two run off. ‘So… it is your turn this time, right?’

‘Nnghf!’

“Aurora and Wing submitted their names to Mistress Spiruna the first thing the next day, as did Ferra and a handful of other of the mage students. And despite Verchiel’s announcement of guaranteed impartiality, there were few mortals amongst those who would enter the trials and pit themselves against the immortal fairies.

I still suspect that if it was not for the ill timing of the Headmaster’s announcement, perhaps nothing would have came out of Aurora’s desire for revenge. What could a mere mortal do against a fairy lord, what more the Heir? But there it was, the chance wide open for anyone to take, whether gesture or not, and it would have been most unlike Aurora to not go for it.”

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This chapter ought to make Alter/BrokenImages epileptic with all that dialogue. Not one line is without dialogue! Go me.

Phew. The whole fiasco with the wanton defacing of the site is over! *throws confetti* Kudos to captain for the quick (re)action to the PMs he gets. Let us spare a line of ‘asdfasdf’ for the death of brainless vandalism-

– Not.

Have a Cookie of Righteous Fury! ^^ Tell me how it tastes like though; I’m not sure if I put in enough chilli. ><