Nov. 3rd, 2013

pegunicent: Default Setting (Default)
Zeke made a point to always have candy for Elsa. He hadn't started out trying to spoil her, but after the first shy smile he got for the gift of a sweet, it became an ingrained habit. She was the most adorable child he'd ever met, polite and quiet. He couldn't remember hearing her ever actually *say* thank you for the treats, but the smiles were telling enough.

Today she had on a lovely yellow and green velvet dress layered in frothing lace at the sleeves and hems. Her tiny wooden shoes were painted in flowers, an expensive topaz brooch pinning her scarf elegantly under her chin, protecting her lovely dark hair from the dirty city air.

"Guarding your uncle again Elsa? You're the perfect bodyguard aren't you? You're so pretty, no one would dare make you angry." Zeke joked, squatting down to be eye level with her. She looked silently at the floor, but her lips twitched in a tiny grin.

"Well, if you're out here, that means Neph's being all scary in there huh? I better wait out here with you and hope he forgets about me." Zeke smiled back, reaching into his pocket which was always better organized than his satchel and pulled out a block of paper wrapped toffy. "I'll share of you don't tell on me." he promised, getting another, slightly bigger smile and a nod. He broke off a generous portion of the snack and gave it to her.

She curtsied, took the toffy, and began nibbling at it the way a mouse might, first to test the flavor and then to savor it.

"Spoiling my niece again are you?" Kavinak asked from the open doorway of Neph's rooms. Kavinak had the voice of someone for whom words were painfully dragged across bone shards before making their terrified way past his vocal chords and out into the light of a brutal world.

Zeke beamed to hear it, even as his blood tried to turn to ice in his spine. "Of course not, only paying my due respect to a lovely lady."

Standing up straight set off twinged of pain and shooting needles of fire through Zeke's legs, but he didn't let it show on his face. He didn't *want* to be getting too old to get down and smile for Elsa.

"Of course, if you were any other smooth tongued rogue trying to charm her, I would be very upset." Kavinak rumbled, a sharp edged smirk twisting his drawn features. Kavinak reminded Zeke more of a light post than a scarecrow, which was the common derogative warning used for him. 'Oh the scarecrow's in, better watch he doesn't fall over!'. Tall, thin, hair glossy with oil and straight as a razor against the creased leather of his cheek. Kavinak was old, though how old was anyone's guess since he'd always *been* old as long as he'd been around and no one could remember a time he hadn't been the shadowy boogyman of the Akademy.

"If I was a smooth tongued rogue at all, I wouldn't be here waiting for Neph to tell me I'm an idiot." Zeke rolled his eyes and grumbled. Gently patting Elsa's head, he gestured at the doorway, "He's waiting for me?"

"Indeed. It's good to see you here again, Zeke. El, come now, dessert needs lunch first." Kavinak nodded his head slightly in Zeke's direction, taking Elsa's hand and waling away slowly down the hall. Zeke shook his head. wondering how such a dark and dour man had such a bright and happy child under his care.

"Well Decimate, into the den."





Kavinak felt the decades pressing on his bones. Each year felt days longer than the last, till time stretched out in endless lengths of minute change. The young measured in days and months, the middle aged in weeks and years. Kavinak was beyond counting even seasons anymore, he simply observed their passing.

He had lived here in the Akademy once, so long ago he barely remembered the details. He was the greatest Magus of the Black Circle now, having out lived all his contemporaries. By right he should take over the Circle and start ensuring the Wizards of the Black were worthy of the Color, but he couldn't be bothered wasting so much of his precious energies on petty politics. Kavinak was a believer in his Color, and the laws of it. Those who courted the Black had to be strong enough to survive it's trials, smart enough to avoid it's promises, and determined enough to see through their Purpose.

Black was the Color of Truth, if the young pups couldn't handle such potency, they'd never cut their fangs into wolves.

'Zeke is getting tired.' Elsa murmured in his mind, her words coming slow and syrupy as her attention wavered from her candy and the locomotion of her body. A normal child would have no issue walking, talking, eating and observing the world at once. Elsa was exceptional to manage it all together at all, given her condition.

'Yes, that happens when one gets older physically. The toll of the flesh creates a toll on the spirit.' He replied. The halls of the Akademy were stone and mortar, loud and cold. Kavinak much preferred his small town home in the city, with it's large warm fireplace and quiet walls.

'Decimate grows stronger.' She pointed out, a thread of fascination in her words. Kavinack pondered being surprised or wary of this revelation, and decided it took too much energy.

'Decimate is not human.' He reminded her. 'How he develops is unknown until it happens.'

She was quiet, thoughts sluggish as she puzzled that over. He held open the iron and oak doors to the courtyard for her so she would not need to further divide her attentions. 'Constant discovery.' She finally said. He couldn't determine if it was a question or not.

Standing in the dim light of a wintery afternoon, Elsa appeared as fresh and new as any young child, doted on and loved. The needle of mourning for her twisted in his heart, as it did any time he let himself see her as others might. As she was, once, so long ago.

Black. Truth. The path he'd chosen to walk when Justice turned out to be so much of an idea rather than a groundwork absolute.

'I miss the girl you were El.' he told her.

She nodded once, understanding. 'I'm not ready to go yet.' She replied.

Children, he thought with a sigh. They were never ready to go on. 'I know.'

Black was a terrible Color to wear, but it was also the only one Kavinak could ever have chosen.



"So, Zeke, it's been so long and you're still not ready to take your trials?" Neph asked. He felt a sliver of surprise every time he was confronted with the reality of Zeke. Decimate left such a searing impression one could never forget how imposing and dangerous he was. Zeke on the other hand faded so swiftly and easily from memory that every time one met him they were forced to try and match the current version against the hazy notions in their memory.

The clothes Neph remembered with clarity. The hair looked a little longer, perhaps. Zeke's stubborn, frustrated grimace however was new. Or at least new enough to make Neph pull on the velvet over his iron fist.

"Is it that time already?"

Neph shrugged. "If you want to be acknowledged as a true Wizard among your peers... I understand if you're satisfied fooling the Bearded folk for their pennies but it does tend to leave *my* image as your patron rather tarnished...."

"I earned my Colors already!"

"*Not* in the accepted manner. Story books and Witch Tales aside, legitimacy doesn't come with heroism but with documentation and paperwork."

The noise Zeke made sounded a bit too much like Decimate trying to hack up a hairball. Neph firmly bit back a smile.

"You are more than ready for the trials, it's a simple matter, just get it done with and you won't be badgered about it any longer." Neph tried to reason with him. As a full Wizard Zeke would no longer be under Neph's protection, which was mildly vexing, but he would also be able to more freely access the Archives and some of the covering lies could be set aside. Lies that could just as easily strangle them as not.

"I haven't decided which Color to wear." Zeke muttered, causing Neph to rub his temples to ward off a headache.

A Wizard, a true one, underwent the trials as a sort of final examination in order to earn the right to sit in the Circle of their chosen Color. It was not unheard of for a Wizard to study under multiple Circles especially in the beginning, but ultimately they had to choose one Color to pursue if they wished to pass the Trials and graduate out of the Akademy.

Zeke was a genius, a prodigy only surpassed by his brother, but even Landier had only been pursuing Green. Zeke couldn't settle down and *pick*. He could pass the Trials for Green, Blue, or even Neph's or Red which was on the other side of the *spectrum*. Given time and enough motivation he could probably pass White and Black, though Yellow was probably a bit much.

Unless...

"Zeke, there's no set *rule* that you only have to take the Trials once, you know." Neph pointed out slowly, as though the answer were obvious, rather than an epiphany he'd just had. "A Wizard can wear more than one Color if they qualify."

No Wizard since the great Kelfax had ever worn more than one Color. Kelfax himself, founder of the Akademy had worn three, and been the greatest Magus the world had ever seen, but he'd also been an uneducated *buffoon* and the requirements to earn Colors had been piecemeal and unclear in those days.

Landier had been prepared to take the Green, and from there work his way to the Pink.

Zeke... Zeke might actually be able to earn it.

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