“And they say I am manipulative,” Ritathan grumbled.
“Like sees like.”Aramal said.“The Lady High Baroness needs skilled hands.”He held out the glue pot.“Heat this up a bit, would you?”
Ritathan rolled his eyes, taking the pot.“I have skills.”There was a clear pout in his voice.
“You destroy, you don’t create.”Aramal said.
“I create.”Ritathan protested as flames began to lick around his fingers and the pot.
Halithe and Aramal both stared at him.
“Fine,” Ritathan huffed.He looked down at the pot and swirled it a bit as the glue started to melt.
“Why didn’t you burn them, those men?”Halithe asked, watching the heat pool around his fingers.“At the portal, when they threatened us?”
“Well, we did come seeking sanctuary,” Ritathan said.“Not a good first impression, melting every man in sight.”
Aramal snorted.
“I shielded us, of course, but the ones outside my line-of-sight could have taken me down.I might still have received several bolts to the chest, which could kill me.I am not impervious or immortal.Not to mention that you both would have been targets as well.
Ritathan straightened.“And there is this, apprentice.The battle magics are forbidden.I still wear those chains even if you don’t see them, and am still bound by our Guild rules and my contract.As are you,” he gave a nod to her bracelet.“Here,” he said, holding out the jar.“Good enough?”
Aramal nodded, taking the jar carefully by the lip.
“So, I am a simple scribe from the Royal library.”Ritathan focused on Halithe.“You are my daughter, and my apprentice.You’ll need a new name—”
“Leeda,” Halithe said impulsively.An old nickname, from the nursery.
“Aramal is fine with his name, seeing as he is known.I am going to use ‘Rye.’”Ritathan folded his arms across his chest defensively.
Aramal just stared at him.“Rye?”His voice cracked on the word.
Halithe waited, darting glances at each of the men as they stared at one another.
Ritathan spun on his heel and walked out.
Men.Honestly!
Aramal sighed.“Well, let me show you how to glue-”
Running footsteps sounded, then Yfin appeared in the doorway, breathing hard.
“Oh, hey,” he said, flipping his hair out of his eyes.“I forgot a knife to sharpen our wooden hooks,” he blurted out.“And I thought maybe we could use some bent nails—”
“Bent nails?”Aramal frowned.“Oh no, too much work in them for you to use fishing.”He rooted around on the cluttered table.“Here’s a knife,” he said.“In the future, I’ll teach ya forge work, and you can make your own.”
“That’d be good.”Yfin darted a glance between the two of them.“You staying?”
“Yes,” Aramal said.He took the glue from Halithe.“Why don’t you take Leeda here fishing?”
“Sure.”Yfin grinned.
Halithe gave Aramal a doubtful glance.She wasn’t sure what she was getting into.
“Go on,” Aramal said.
“Come on, Leeda!”Yfin headed out the door, knife in hand.“A free afternoon is a rare treat, and we’ll teach ya!”
