章 43: Chapter 43 - Like-mindedness

Outside all the halls and humdrum of music and other types of entertainment the mages could participate in lingered a few figures. Three of them.

Sonder, and the boy, who turned out to be the apprentice of another mage with the strange title of 'Silver Sliver', joined them in their lingering.

"Hey, everyone," he said to them.

They greeted him back in a familiar tone.

And then he introduced, "This is the Dread Mage's apprentice."

They stared Sonder up and down and then she greeted them herself, "Hello, I am- "

"Ah, no." She was interrupted by an older girl.

"No names. Apprentices like us haven't earned the right to be known by the world. I am Red Bonnet's apprentice." Then an idea popped in her head. "R.B, huh. I think you can just call me Arby then."

The boy who brought her then protested, "I don't want to be known as SS."

"Think of something then." Arby said.

He thought, "How about… Rivels? Scramble all the letters in Silver Sliver's title."

"Could also use livers, or ervils, but they don't sound too good."

"True."

"So, all of us are all apprentices?" Sonder asked.

And they nodded, and Rivels said, "Yep, every single one."

Arby then asked her, "So, you're the Dread Mage's apprentice? He must have taught you some… interesting magic, didn't he?"

"Well- Not quite," Sonder said. "I'm still in the 'learning to control my mana' phase."

A small boy, the smallest of them, even Sonder, gave a groan of understanding, "Same. I just want to learn how to cast a few spells but day in and day out I 'must meditate and learn to control the flow of your inner energy'." He imitated an older voice.

"Frustrating being an apprentice, isn't it?" The older girl said, and then looked to Sonder again, "So, what's the deal with the sword? It isn't just a fashion statement, right?"

Sonder was a bit flustered. Of course, she couldn't tell them the truth, but it was something that immediately drew the eye of anyone who looked at her.

"It- When I first met Vel- The Dread Mage, I was in trouble and he helped me out, but one of the side effects was this." She said and thought that was enough of the truth.

She took a hold of the sword and rattled on it a bit to show that it was clearly stuck.

The third of the apprentices, and clearly the oldest, though not an adult yet, spoke up, "I got something similar going on."

He rolled up the sleeve on his left and went to the closest wall and put it right through.

"When the High-Invoker and I did a few experiments about, what he called, the fabric of reality itself, I got the short end of the stick. My whole arm is in a state of 'temporal displacement', and we've been searching for a solution for six months now. I don't really think he thinks of it as a priority task."

"Well, that is the fate we are share. Underappreciated. We may not be the next generation, as many mages are long-lived, but they shouldn't act like we don't want to get on with our own lives," Arby said.