"Leon! My boy!" Ursam boomed as he exited his shop arms wide open as if he was about to envelope the youth whose approach became hesitant in a suffocating hug. However, before he was able to, a broom smacked his head, distracting him. The wielded of said broom glared at her husband, before placing down a wide, handled pan and resumed sweeping the flagstones outside of the shop.
Leon covered his mouth, entrapping his chuckles before clearing his throat. "I have the p-p-Pills," he said softly, once his mood had calmed a little.
Ursam's eyes brightened visibly as he ushered the youth into the shop.
Soon, an array of jade bottles with small wooden labels attached decorated a shelf close to the counter, the sign beneath them declaring that they were Smouldering and Bursting Energy Pills. Ursam stepped back from this new display with a satisfied smile upon his face. They discussed prices over tea, settling in the end on 1 silver a pill or 4 silver for a bottle of pills, pricing them well above ordinary Burning Energy Pills, however they would still be less than what the patron at the Auction that day purchased them for. Of each silver, Leon would take 800 brass coins, while Ursam would claim the rest. Leon was worried that his percentage was too great, considering Ursam had assisted him so, but the older man lay his worries to rest.
"It is you that if pouring effort into making these," the man reminded him, "and it is you that obtained the ingredients. If anything, my percentage is too high seeing as all I am doing is making available a shelf and counting the money!"
Not long afterwards, Ursam saw the small alchemist out, but before he left, the older man recalled a thing and withdrew an ornate bottle from his sleeve. He'd already deduced that it was not too late to hand this gift of encouragement over with the words; "Ah last time I spoke to Jin Li, I meant to hand him this. Would you mind passing it along?"
Leon took the translucent, blue bottle that was about the length of his palm and noticed it contained some sort of liquid. Couldn't help but ask; "W-what is it?"
A grin split Ursam's face and his eyes twinkled wickedly. "You see that is..." his words were cut off by a broom to the face.
"Ursam!" His Wife chided, crossly, "What did I tell you about tryin' to corrupt those boys?!"
"Wife!" Ursam pleaded with reddened eyes and marked cheeks. However, his beloved resolutely refused to listen and chased him with her non-lethal weapon. Leon could only leave in confusion and curiosity.
He soon forgot about it, though and after purchasing a flank of salted meat and a small sack of rice upon the way, headed towards the griffin's nests in town. As this was the transport he'd used to arrive here, he saw no reason not to use them to head back as well. He checked the small plant, the true reason for his journey and saw that it seemed well enough before carefully repackaging it in its small container.
His hair became swept into a breezy flurry as a massive, adult Griffin landed with grace despite its size and its occupants disembarked, leaping from the box upon its back rather than use the ladder that was presented. The travellers happened to be experienced Seniors and Teachers from the school. One was quite diminutive compared to the rest, but not a silver hair was out of place upon his head as he landed.
His dark blue eyes enhanced by round frames scanned over the area in habit and happened to land upon a youth with long yin-yang hair, who was waiting close by, ready to travel. The silver-haired Teacher frowned, attempting to recall where he had seen the youth before and his eyes intently looked over the boy, finally landing upon the belt upon his waist. Unlike most others, this boy was wearing wooden carved charms upon his belt instead of jade and the Teacher's interest was piqued.
He took a step forward, ready to question the lad, curious to know where he obtained the charms and more so to know if they were anything like the one in a certain small beasts possession. He'd ever wanted to know the origin of the koi charm, but its previous owner had not been forthcoming. The Teacher had not been sure whether that student had been evasive on purpose or just couldn't recall where he had gotten it from and was embarrassed by that.
"Teacher Volun," one of the seniors called to him when he began to walk in a direction that was not towards their destination.
Ever polite, the Teacher turned to look up at him; "What?"
"Lord Garius is waiting for us at the Singing Drake restaurant," the senior reminded him. Lord Garius was a former student of Teacher Volun's, who after inheriting his title, opened a breeding farm for rare beasts. He sought the two adolescent Coeurl to try to match one with his female mount, hoping to raise a generation of tamed Coeurl in the future. However, although he retained some respect for his former Teacher, he'd gained the arrogance of a noble with influence and power and had a temper to match.
Teacher Volun was not concerned, however. To him, Lord Garius was still a hot-headed child who threw tantrums at whim. Lord Garius being stuck within the bottleneck between tertiary and quaternary stages of cultivation was due to this personality flaw, was Teacher Volun's belief. Not everyone was suited to reach the Immortal stages of Cultivation, Garius was one.
With that thought in mind, he turned back to discover that the youth had already mounted the Griffin that would head back to the school. Satisfied that this indicated that the youth was a student, meaning he could find him later at some point, he allowed himself to be lead towards his appointment.
The Baku that would rather say it is big-boned rather than obese, huffed softly to itself as a brush swept over its pale pink fur, easing some of the ache in its muscles. A rumbling purr of contentment escaped its throat and it forgave its mistress once more for the impromptu journey it had been forced out of its warm stable to make.
Maimai herself was unaware that her Baku had such issues with the not too long journey they had made this afternoon from the alchemy school to the beast taming school. She hadn't thought much about it at all. After all, a Baku mount was meant to be ridden, not meant for lounging about in its stable munching on sweets, which was what the Baku had become accustomed too. In fact, since coming to the school, the Baku felt that it had had more exercise than it ever had in its life! This was not actually true, it was just that before, the moment her Baku seemed out of breath, Maimai would cut her light rides short and return to the stable to pamper the beast. Hence what lead to its... big-boned situation.
However when a journey has a purpose, there maybe short cuts, but there are no cutting rides short. Maimai needed to come to the beast taming school and the Baku was expected to bring her here. And that was that.
Her purpose was one the not very successful alchemist was actually quite pleased with; she'd finally fulfilled the request she had been working hard on for the last two weeks. Having created the last couple of pills required to fulfill the request, she had gathered up the form, pills and potions and ran all the way to the stables that she might deliver them sooner.
A loud yowling from a stable block close by startled her and she turned around to notice that a familiar face had just left the stable, bucket in hand and an enthusiastic canine leaping about his legs. "Long time no see!" Maimai called out happily.
The tall boy's eyes widened and his lips curved slightly, but Maimai couldn't help but notice that his dark, blue eyes darted from one side of her to the other. It had certain, honed senses tingling. "It's just me," she said, casually and gleefully noted the disappointment in his face, before sighing inwardly. As if to confirm her suspicions she wondered aloud; "Who were you looking for?"
Tor scratched the back of his head and had the decency to look a bit guilty as he answered honestly; "I thought Leo would be with you."
"Why?"
"Well are you two not joined at the hip?" He retorted. Sure enough, rumours about the small alchemist and one half of the alchemist school's twin lotuses had travelled beyond the boundaries of their school.
Maimai huffed, blowing a loose curl from where it strayed upon her face. "You shouldn't listen to rumours, Leo is my best friend, nothing more," she told him, tartly. "That and you must have heard that he is Teacher Sagi's student now." Tor hesitated, before nodding in agreement. It's not that he had not heard, it was just that Teacher Sagi had a bit of a reputation of being eccentric in his choices of Students. None of his students, past or present, had been considered outstanding or worthy of note and even now none of them could be said to be famous. However, there was also no foul rumours regarding them either; they seemed to have not risen, but not fallen either. Tor did not know whether this was a good thing or not, but he understood the implied meaning; a direct student had little free time during the week.
And yet it seemed Maimai was not finished with her subtle complaint; "And if he is not running errands or being taught by his Teacher, he is with Jin Li! How can this one's company compare to one's boyfriend!" It wasn't as if she wanted to take Leon away from Jin Li for some 'girl' time, she would be content being their third wheel!
Tor's expression became quite stiff. "Boyfriend?" He recalled the man who seemed to have a possessive regard towards the small alchemist and his stomach felt quite sour.
In truth, Tor's own feelings regarding the alchemist were complicated. In the beginning, he felt nothing for the youth, just seeing an obstacle in Caprian's way that made the fat fool take his anger out on his subordinates, him included. Leo upon the brink of death was what opened his eyes to his own idiocy, frightening him, making him question what he was doing and then only relief was felt when he found that Leo had survived.
The next time they met was after Caprian had been accepted into the inner school and his own mood had been unpleasant having realised that the person he'd been told to follow had dropped him like useless waste when he was no longer required, all previous promises empty and disregarded. And even though he'd been responsible in part for what happened to Leo, there was no anger in the youth's heart, his expression had been clean and innocent... and cute! Tor had felt shaken, more so as Leo trusted him to take him to the Beast Taming school that time and later forgiven him for his part in the bullying. Some new emotions had begun to swell within Tor, but there had also been a fair amount of guilt.
Still, though his feelings had him seek out Leo with his eyes whenever he came back to the alchemist school, guilt had him suppress the budding blossom. And now, like a rose experiencing a sudden frost, the blossom began to wilt. Leo had moved even further out of his reach.
The yowling of a Coeurl sounded out once more and Tor glanced in melancholy at the empty bucket he'd used to carry the beasts food to them. Xiao Xiao yipped and growled, expressing some silliness, as if the cooshee was telling him that the felines were so greedy and ungrateful! Tor laughed, easing the ache in his gut as he bent down to bury his face in his partner's soft fur.
Ah, the lesser Male leads seldom grab the attention of the main shou, Maimai murmured to herself, before a vision in blue caught her attention and she cheerfully rushed forward to affectionately attack her best friend. Leon managed to not fall into the dung he'd just avoided when he caught her. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her eyes sliding over to where Tor was still kneeling with his cooshee partner.
"Ah, d-d-didn't kn-know the gr-griffin would fly here!" He mumbled with a slight pout. He didn't travel to and from town by Griffin very often and so didn't know that there were a few different beasts travelling back and forth from each school. When he had disembarked, he'd enquired the tamer how to get back to the alchemist school, that man had simply shrugged and suggested he come to the stable, see if he could hitch a ride. Who knew Maimai would be here?
Suddenly a bolt of black and blue fur leapt at him and yipped happily. Leon chuckled and greeted the enthusiastic cooshee, before saying his hello's to Tor. He noticed the other's eyes were slightly red, but he didn't inquire. Tor looked disconcerted, his smile a bit false, but his voice did not waiver as he covered the awkwardness with a throwaway comment; "Are wooden charms all fashionable now?" He joked, he'd known that Leon seemed to like them in the past and that tall, arrogant youth had one as well. Now Maimai's sash also adorned one.
"Leon made this!" Maimai gushed, showing off the crane talisman at her waist. "Isn't it cute?" Tor nodded amicably as Maimai turned to Leon and offered him a ride home.
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