4.19: The Tour

I was nervous. I tugged at the sleeve of my… well, they weren’t my nicest robes, but they were the ones that would look the least weird to nemaganti. My most non-trenchcoat, non-dressing-gown robes.

“What do we do if this doesn’t work?” I asked Fiore.

He shrugged, then resettled Socks, who had grumbled at the sudden movement. “I would imagine that Refujeyo will probably offer them some money.”

“My parents are coming because they think this place is bad for me. They’re not going to be bought off with money.”

“Of course they will. You can buy anybody if you give them enough money, and an excuse they can use to convince themselves that accepting it was acceptable.”

“Your nephew tried to buy me off with a really good offer in our initiation semester. He failed.”

“Then he did it incorrectly. He is still learning, and both of you are still young. Adults are much easier. In your parents’ case, I’d imagine that reminding them that you are carrying a curse of unknown potential and giving them some land somewhere near one of the school entrances, where they can visit you, would work. Somewhere outside of Australia, of course.”

“They wouldn’t just – why outside Australia?”

“If they live outside their home country, somewhere Refujeyo-adjacent or Refujeyo-owned for… let’s say, six months… then the media in your home country will frame them as expatriots. If they raise this sort of thing again at a later date, then it would be viewed much more as a mage society matter, rather than anything that involved Australia. It would massively weaken their position so far as PR is concerned.” He shot me one of his friendly avuncular smiles, weirdly incongruous with what he was actually saying. “And more immediately, the perceived compromise should placate them – you being staying here and them being able to check up on you often means that they don’t have to deal with having made the wrong decision to send you here, as they would have if they keep pushing for you to be removed. They can instead say that they were right all along to send you here. And they can check on you, so there’s no need to be concerned; they’re still being responsible parents. They were such responsible parents that they were able to pull one over on the big bad mages and get them to give them money and allow them to visit, so of course they can take it; all of this just proves what great parents they are, and they don’t have to change position and decide that any of their previous parenting decisions were wrong. Of course it would work.”

“They are good parents,” I said firmly, because I didn’t really want to think about it.

“I’m sure you’re right,” Fiore agreed easily. “That’s not what’s in dispute here. This is simply a matter of convincing them that they were right to give you away to us.”

Still didn’t like how people in Refujeyo always phrased that. “Yeah, well. They’re protective.”

“You wouldn’t be here in a place like this, if that were true.”

“You’re here,” I pointed out. “You went through the Initiation and learned at this school and all that.”

“Yes, we all make stupid decisions when we’re young.”

“You sent di Fiore here,” I pointed out.

The Madjas mustn’t teach their mages the emotional masks that the Acanthos’ and Cottinglys did, because Fiore utterly failed to hide the way he suddenly stiffened, lips pressed white together, and glared off into the middle distance. “Yes. Well. We should move along.” He took off down the corridor.

Huh. Something happening there. Were Fiore and di Fiore fighting over something? When had that started? Recently, I hadn’t seen them be all that affec – hmm. Actually, I hadn’t ever seen them treat each other affectionately. They only seemed to speak when necessary in classes, or to travel to family events. Di Fiore, when asked about his uncle, shrugged off the questions, and looked at me like I was an idiot if I suggested that Fiore might have any interest in anything he was doing. And Fiore… never seemed to mention his nephew at all. Hmm. Was there bad blood there?

But Fiore had given di Fiore the Guardian Ring, a priceless artefact, when he was an initiate. That suggested some pretty heavy trust. Was Clara destroying the Guardian Ring the beginning of whatever was between them? Did Fiore blame his nephew for that, and was still angry?

Interesting. Well, not really interesting – I didn’t like Fiore or di Fiore all that much and their personal affairs were their own problem. But they were both people I had to talk to regularly, so I should probably keep note of this to avoid pissing them off. Or keep note of it so I knew how to piss them off when needed.

Huh. Guess I was kind of an arsehole.

None of that was important right now. I followed Fiore to one of the more normal-looking rooms in the school, a little office with flat white walls and mounted light panels that looked like windows. Instruktanto Cooper was there already, with both of my parents, seated in red upholstered seats that looked like they were pulled from one of the fancier kinds of dentist’s waiting rooms. Both of my parents clutched borrowed tablets; Mum eyed hers like she expected it to electrocute her, and Dad was playing Solitaire on his. Through the transparent back of the tablet, I could see a really obvious card match that he was completely failing to notice.

They looked up as Fiore closed the door behind us and leapt to their feet.

“Kayden!” Mum rushed over and gave me a quick hug. “Are you alright?”

Yeah, except for you two causing this completely unnecessary distraction.“Yeah, of course. I’m great. How are you two?”

“F-fine. Just fine. This place is quite… unusual, isn’t it?”

“You mean because it’s underground?” I flashed her an easygoing smile. I’d picked up a few tricks from Max and the Magistae, and while my easygoing smile wouldn’t fool a legacy kid for a second, my parents were used to a younger me who had absolutely no poker face at all. “You get used to it. I think it’s pretty cool, actually. I’ll show you some of my favourite outside places later.” I’d already compiled a list of my favourite outside places, ranked by how impressive they looked, and crossed off anything obviously dangerous. Unfortunately, that was most of my favourites. No giant rope-free climbing cliff in the gym for this tour.

“Well,” Instruktanto Cooper said, standing up. “I’m sure I can leave you in Fiore and Kayden’s capable hands. Kayden, try not to interrupt anything important, alright?”

“Yes, Instruktanto,” I said in my politest tone. “Thank you for your help.”

He looked at me in surprise, probably because I’d never been this polite to him, ever, but covered quickly, said goodbye to my parents, and left. A Changing of the Guard, I supposed. Fiore stepped forward with a smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet both of you,” he said, shaking my parents’ hands. “I’m Fiore, Kayden’s personal supervisor.”

“His what?” my dad asked, as politely as one can ask that question.

“All of our students here get a teacher liason, to answer questions, help them if there are any problems, that sort of thing. Basically, Kayden is my responsibility.”

“Sorry,” I said, jokingly.

Fiore laughed easily, as if it was normal for us to joke with each other. “Somebody’s got to keep me busy; it might as well be you.” He turned back to my parents. “Should we go, then? I assume you want to see the everyday facilities, how your son lives.”

“Yes,” Mum said. “Thank you.”

I’d been expecting to have to make casual conversation on our long trip down the halls, but Mum and Dad were fascinated by everything, from the walls themselves to the crystal lights to the occasional passing student. I explained all of that instead. “The lights are magic, of course. They’re colour coded to show what areas different people are allowed to access, and double as the school’s emergency system. I think they also receive and broadcast the school’s intranet – we have an intranet, you can get to it through that icon there. No, that’s the map. Yeah, it takes a little while to learn the tunnel layout, so the map is – ”

“Why,” Mum asked under her breath, “is your supervisor carrying a cat?”

Oh, yeah. I’d kind of forgotten that that would seem weird. “Socks is the Fiore’s familiar,” I explained. “She helps him safely cast magic.”

“Do all mages have those?”

“No.” I thought for a second. I’d never actually counted the familiars around the place, but they must be rare, or I’d notice them more. It wasn’t like I was randomly running into animals in the halls. “I think. Um. Maybe… ten per cent of my teachers have familiars? Usually small, portable animals, cats and lizards and stuff. I don’t know what the ratio is outside of school. Some of the students have them, but less; looking after an animal is just another complication.” I should probably get off this topic before I accidentally revealed the human familiar thing. “There are other ways to manage magic without a familiar. Instruktanto Cooper uses a magic wand.”

“Yes, we’ve seen,” Dad said. Right; he’d used it to summon an illusion of Malas at the trial. Probably best not to remind them too much of the trial either. Why had I suggested this stupid tour again?

We swung by the cafeteria first, which wasn’t exciting. A handful of students stared at the nervous-looking couple dressed in commonfolk clothes for a minute, but didn’t come over. Strangers in commonfolk clothes occasionally came through the school, usually diplomats or experts or whatever who spent most of their time outside of Refujeyo, although they didn’t usually look so lost.

We moved on to the dorms. I pressed my palm to the door lock and announced, “I’m bringing people,” before opening the room fully. It seemed polite to warn my roommates, although they already knew my parents were coming.

Our room was cleaner than usual. The janitors had been in to clean the public parts of the room. I could always tell when they’d been in because the floor-damage-concealing rug was lying straight and unwrinkled in its proper place. We always ended up catching our feet on the corners and kicking the damned thing around the room, but the janitors had apparently noticed the floor damage immediately, deduced the purpose of the rug, and always lined it back up perfectly. Which meant that the rug had failed in its purpose, but whatever.

Our personal areas were cleaner, too. I’d spent the previous night frantically shoving everything into drawers to give the impression that I was a sensible and neat student now. Kylie always left her bedcurtains closed, but for once they weren’t carelessly flung closed on her way out the door, but hung neatly and symmetrically. A small tea stain on one of the curtains that she’d been ignoring for months had been removed. Max’s curtains were open, because Max was in the room, studying. Everything in there was organised and symmetrical, the way it had been during our initiation semester, before he had been permanently possessed by the chaotic spirit of fringe research. He looked around at our approach, and his face immediately split into a smile. “You must be Mr and Mrs James!”

I would’ve thought that there’s no graceful way to clamber over a bed, but Max managed it. He enthusiastically shook my parents’ hands, looking… well, starstruck wasn’t the right word, exactly. But he definitely looked happy and a little nervous to meet them, like he’d been wanting to for ages and wanted to leave a good impression. It was a manner that conveyed ‘I’ve been told so much great stuff about you’ in a way that looked completely sincere and unintentional, and if I didn’t already know better, I probably would’ve fallen for it.

I’d forgotten how good my friends were at this.

“I’m Max,” he said. “It’s great to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you too, Max,” Dad said, giving him a look-over. I wasn’t worried. Max’s everyday clothing and mannerisms were several levels more respectable than my best behaviour.

“So why are you here?” Max asked. “Interested in magical theory? I’ve been looking into Suliak’s hypothesis about how doppler shifting might affect our readings on the power output of translocation spells beyond a certain speed, and frankly I find the whole thing fascinating. Kayden thinks it’s a load of bunk, of course.”

Max, you beautiful bastard. I’d never even heard of Suliak or their hypothesis. I did my best to look like I knew what he was ranting about, but didn’t have to say anything, because Fiore cut in with, “Then Kayden is correct. Doppler shifting isn’t relevant because the spelled object isn’t moving. It’s teleported.”

“Then why do we get a light reading at all, huh?” Max asked. “Sure, it’s a lot lower frequency than expected, but there’s a distinct reading at – ”

“Suliak gets a reading because his equipment was bought in nineteen ninety seven! It’s a phantom reading; it happens!”

“Then why does the direction of travel match the expected direction perfectly?”

“Wishful thinking! Why is it off the frequency expected for a normal signal and also off Suliak’s doppler-adjusted expected reading by more than ten per cent? Suliak’s model is further from the actual results than the original – ”

“The numbers are off more, but the shape of the curve matches perfectly! Perfectly! And the travel – ”

“There is no travel! They’re testing teleportation spells!”

“Information still has to move! And if you even think the words ‘space folding’ in my direction I – ”

“Girls, girls, you’re both pretty!” I cut in. “Mum, Dad, my apologies for Max and Fiore, this place is chock full of nerds.”

“Max here is a promising researcher in Alania Miratova’s lab,” Fiore explained. “His work is generally good, even if he is horribly misguided about how translocation magic works.”

Pretty much everything that had been said in the last couple of minutes went over my parents’ heads, of course, but they certainly looked impressed.

Kylie came in, looked startled for a moment that her room was full of adults, but recovered quickly. “Fiore. Mr and Mrs James. Nice to meet you.”

“This is my other roommate, Kylie,” I said.

Mum frowned. “Boys and girls together?”

I had expected this. I rolled my eyes. “Nothing can happen, Mum.” I rapped my knuckles on Kylie’s force field. “The beds all have their own private little rooms that nobody else can get into.”

Honestly, students probably were having a lot of sex at Refujeyo. Probably not in the bedrooms, unless they wanted to crawl under the beds to get in and out, but there were plenty of private, comfortable places on campus and through the portals outside. But that had nothing to do with room allocations.

Mum still didn’t look happy about the co-ed rooms (was she upset that I was sharing with Kylie, or with Max, I wondered? No, I shouldn’t get all tangled up at thoughts that were going to make me angry at her, being angry wasn’t helpful here), so I changed the subject slightly. “Kylie’s like me,” I explained. “She came here to deal with a curse.”

“Oh!” Mum said, her expression clearing as she and Dad looked Kylie up and down again. Kylie didn’t meet their eyes. She hated being stared at by strangers.

“She’s a very powerful prophet now,” I added.

Kylie opened her mouth to protest, but it’s a little hard to protest a blatant, objective truth. After a moment she just mumbled, “I still have a lot to learn.”

That was probably enough embarrassing my friends. I let my parents look at the room for long enough for them to determine that it was a comfortable room and good learning environment for their very dutiful and well-adjusted son and then, with Fiore’s help, gently urged them back out the door.

This was going great. Fantastic.

We could do this.