Gregory entered the private room first, giving the others present a smile. “Sorry for the delay, but it’s going to stretch just a tiny bit longer. Father is asking to speak with all of the parents, you and Umbrose as well, Mother.”
Yoo-jin smiled as she rose to her feet. “Of course.”
The other five followed her, clearly wondering what Hao wanted that couldn’t be discussed in the room. Jenn and Yukiko went to take their seats and Gregory shut the door once everyone had left.
“Did something happen?” Daciana asked.
“In a fashion,” Yukiko replied with a knowing smile. “Who can say when the winds of fortune can blow and in what direction?”
Nessa’s eyes narrowed, her lips pursing as she stared at Yukiko. She never got the chance to ask because a mostly muffled exclamation came from Gufta outside the room.
“But why?!”
“Well, I’m sure that the winds of fortune are met with surprise,” Jenn snickered.
“You did something,” Victoria said calmly, “with the bet that your father won.”
“Hmm… but that might break the bounds of what a clan can and cannot do without getting in trouble.”
Nessa nodded slowly. “A clan can give gifts, but there are… if not rules, then guidelines… that are adhered to. Normally, it is a single enchanted item and maybe some alchemical supplements to assist whoever they’re enticing.” Her fingers touched the earring she wore. The hand she used bore the lingering traces of the burn she’d received during her first match. “No clan has gone that far for us, though.”
“Silly of them,” Gregory grinned. “Once you sweep tomorrow’s matches, I would expect a number of clans to want to speak with you, and others who have spoken with you will want to speak with you again.”
“It’s too bad we’ll be busy focusing on the tournament,” Victoria replied. “If only they had tried to express their deep interest before now.”
The door opened, revealing Hao wearing a large grin as he led the others back into the room. Ramon and Vana looked dazed, while Gufta and his wife, Betty, looked highly uncertain. Umbrose had a bemused expression as she took her seat. Yoo-jin shut the door behind them, leaving Lin in the hall.
“Is everything okay?” Daciana asked before everyone could sit.
“Everything is fine,” Yoo-jin replied.
“Are there rules against parents giving their children gifts?” Gufta asked Daciana, staring at her intently.
Nessa answered, “No, the academy has no rules against it. There are rules about clans or those in clans giving gifts, but not families.”
Gufta looked uncertain, clearly trying to decide something. He was still waffling on what to do when Ramon shook his head and sighed.
“Nessa, these gifts came from family friends who think you can use them,” Ramon said abruptly. He put a bracelet on the table, along with a ring. “The bracelet will conjure a barrier for a total of ten seconds, but you should be able to break down the time you use it into sections.”
Nessa’s eyebrow rose at what he said as she stared at the thin metal band on the table.
“The ring will help you heal minor wounds; bruises, scrapes, and the like,” Ramon said as if reading off a card. “The ring recharges off ambient aether, and the bracelet needs aether pushed into it.”
“These must be worth—!”
“Your family clearly has friends that wish to see you grow strong and live for years,” Hao interrupted.
Nessa blinked. She looked at Yukiko, who was smiling at her with an innocent expression. “Friends… yes. Friends are important.”
Daciana looked at the two pieces of jewelry on the table in front of Nessa. Her lips turned down and her tail drooped. Victoria was also looking at the two items with sadness.
“Here!” Gufta said suddenly, shoving two identical pieces onto the table in front of Daciana. “Friends. Gave them.”
Daciana’s head snapped up to look at the three apprentices sitting across from them. Her tail began to wag again. “Friends! Yes.”
“Oh, Victoria, this package was given to me a moment ago. Your name is on it,” Yoo-jin said, placing a box before Victoria. “I saw the tag and knew it must have come from someone who wanted you to succeed.”
Victoria blinked at the tag that was square in the center of the box. “‘To Vicky, from a surrogate mother’,” she read out loud. Her eyes went from the box to Yoo-jin, then to Yukiko. Hands fumbling the simple bow, she finally got the box open and revealed the same two items the others had received.
“Your friends all have good taste,” Hao chuckled. “Protection and healing are always important.”
“We had items like those when we fought in our first tournament,” Gregory said. “The only reason I beat Jenn was because of the barrier.”
“Broke my own leg on it,” Jenn said with a mock glare at Gregory.
“And yet you still almost won,” Gregory replied. “Sometimes, it can come down to the slimmest of margins for a victory.”
“If… friends… gave us these items, we would be foolish to turn them down,” Victoria said.
“Foolish, indeed,” Nessa said, slipping the ring on first. “I’ve learned that trusting my friends is the best path forward.” She exhaled softly as the residual fire damage faded away. “And it can be comforting.”
Daciana was quick to put her jewelry on. “If Nessa says it’s a good idea, I know it is.”
Gufta and Betty still looked uncertain, but didn’t speak out against it.
“Now that we’re all here, we can have dinner,” Hao said, reaching over to tug on the green rope near his seat. “While it will be good, I’ll still miss the meal that could have been.”
Vana ducked her head, a smile on her lips. “I am very grateful.”
“We both are,” Ramon said, covering his wife’s hand with his. “We haven’t had a meal together away from our place in years.”
Gufta shifted in his seat and finally blurted out what was on his mind, “How can you give so freely? You barely know us, or our daughter.”
“Gufta, my daughter has asked me to treat your children as her friends. She’s had very few of them, having to deal with some of the same bigotry you’ve faced. When she asks me to treat her friends well, I do what I’ve been unable to do for all of her life— I give to those who make her smile,” Hao explained in a soft tone. “I can understand your hesitance and concern. Clearly, we must have ulterior motives, things that you don’t even want to consider, right?” Gufta nodded, and Hao nodded back. “My only motive is making my daughter smile.”
“My father speaks the truth, Mister Lyall,” Yukiko said. “Daciana has been a good friend. Her exuberance has brought a smile to my face nearly every day since we’ve met her. The same is true of Nessa,” she added, looking at Vana and Ramon. “Greg and Jenn will attest that I do maybe go a little overboard when it comes to spoiling my friends.”
Gregory laughed. “Understatement, much?”
“Right?” Jenn snickered.
“A little,” Yukiko said as if not hearing them. “That is only because I have realized that a real friend is hard to find, and I want to treasure the few I have.” She looked at Victoria. “Even my newer friends.”
Victoria met her eyes and, after a second, she looked down. “Thank you, Yuki. I accept your friendship, your trust, and even the gifts from a surrogate mother.”
“When Daciana said she wanted me to meet her friends, I was a little hesitant,” Nessa chuckled. “I had no idea she meant you until I came to the archive that first time. I was so happy that you were willing to speak with and help me. It eased my growing fear of what might happen at the academy. Things might get harder after the tournament, but I hope that our goal will be met… if it is, then the hardships won’t seem as bad.” Meeting Yukiko’s eyes, she bowed her head. “Like Vicky, I accept your friendship, trust, and the gifts.”
“I’ve always accepted,” Daciana said. “I just wasn’t sure that it was okay. There are times I worry that I’m too much like Dad… too forward and too aggressive. I try to temper that so as not to bother any of you. Dad worries about me, but I’m my own woman and I want what I want. I’m not worried that you’re using me. If you wanted to harm me, you’ve had nearly a year to do so already.”
Betty softly cleared her throat, and everyone looked at her. “Unlike my husband and daughter, I don’t push myself forward often. What I do know is that Daciana has been happier this last year than in any other year. I don’t fear for her choices… I only hold the fear any parent with a magi child holds.” She leaned forward and looked at Hao. “My family thanks you. We’d never be able to help her in this manner. While we can’t do much, if we can ever repay the help, just ask.”
“There is nothing to repay. I’m sure the family that gifted you those items did so from a fortune blown in on a wind,” Hao said.
A knock on the door cut off the conversation and, a moment later, it opened to allow three people with carts into the room.
“Ah, dinner,” Hao said.
~*~*~
Dinner passed, and the families chatted about minor things as they headed back to Stabled Hunger. The taproom was packed with people, only a handful of which were Warlin guards. The majority of them were eurtik or part-eurtiks who were eager to hear about how the novices had done.
Ramon asked for silence before announcing that the novices had gone undefeated for the first day. Pausing for the crowd to die down again, he reminded them that they still had many days of fighting ahead of them, but the next round of drinks was on the house in celebration.
Gufta and Betty were pulled aside by a few others with wolf-eurtik blood and asked for more details. Ramon went to help Hintle behind the bar while Vana went to check on her sister in the kitchen.
Hao led the way through the room so they could get to the private dining room. “Well, that will only get more exuberant as the tournament goes on,” he told the novices as they entered the room. “I do hope you can adapt to it.”
“It was a shock to me last year,” Gregory added. “We shouldn’t stay out too late, though,” he said, changing topics. “Tomorrow will be another busy day for you.”
“Agreed,” Nessa said. “We do have a little time to spare, if one of the carriages will take us back,” she directed the last to Hao.
“Of course,” Hao nodded.
“We should let them talk, dear one,” Yoo-jin said. “We will see you all tomorrow. Have a good night.”
Yukiko gave her mother a smile in thanks as her parents left.
“I was surprised at how easy today went,” Victoria said once the five of them were alone. “Besides the fire,” she added quickly to Nessa.
“I was, too,” Nessa said. “I hadn’t expected that fire, either.”
“She’s likely been recruited by the Eternal Flame,” Yukiko said, “the woman who threw it. They give those they favor necklaces that can do that. You did very well pushing through it.”
“It hurt,” Nessa said with a shudder. “I considered forfeiting briefly, but then I thought of that cretin badmouthing Daciana and imagined him saying something similar about me… I just couldn’t quit. I wouldn’t give him and those like him the satisfaction of me losing.”
“Finding a way to endure the pain and push forward is hard,” Yukiko said. “I’ve endured similar and worse. If you want to win, to stand at the top, you will all have to find your reasons. For me, it was my dear one.” She gave Gregory a smile.
“Funnily enough, it was the same for me,” Jenn said with a chagrined expression, “even when I was battering him senseless.”
“And for me, it was the promise I’d made Yukiko to see her in the finals for the first tournament, and a desire to prove that our clan was meant to be at the top for the second. Little did I know that someone had a better reason, even when she was beating me senseless.”
“I have a reason…” Victoria said softly, looking at the table.
“So do I,” Daciana growled, staring at Victoria.
“We’re friends,” Nessa interjected. “We all have our reason for wanting to finish first. Even if we face each other in the final four or championship match, we must accept that we can lose to each other. I would hate for that to be what breaks our friendship.”
Victoria looked up with a smile. “Even if you or Daciana beats me, I won’t hold it against you. I’ll just have to work harder to be the one to win next time.”
“I have to fight my own instincts at times,” Daciana said, a little embarrassed. “I never want to lose our pac… friendship,” she coughed, her cheeks going pink.
Nessa leaned over, bumping her shoulder against Daciana’s. “I would hate to lose our team, as well. You don’t have to be embarrassed over your instincts with us.”
“Ness is right,” Victoria said. “While I’m different from both of you, I don’t mind. In fact, I feel like I’m the odd one out most of the time. You both know things I don’t because you were born in a city. I do my best to not act like a fringer, but at times, I feel a little lost. If not for you two, I have no doubt that I’d have been pulled in by a group that would use me instead of cherishing and helping me.”
“Reminds me of us,” Yukiko smiled softly.
“Yeah…” Jenn agreed.
Gregory nodded. “I know exactly what you’re saying, Victoria. On the positive side, those moments lessen over time. Your friends will help with that.”
“I know. I’m doing my best to model myself after you,” Victoria said. “One day, maybe I’ll be able to stand near you as an equal.”
“It’s good to have dreams and a goal,” Yukiko said. “The future for all of us is a long road. If one strives and is earnest, then, in time, their dreams might come true.”
“We should head back,” Jenn said to break up the conversation. “Tomorrow comes early, and we will have studying to do.”
“I’ll go see about the carriages,” Gregory said, getting to his feet. “Be back in a few minutes.”
