Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«Oh no, I totally do. It’s not every day you get a chance to attend a party at the Noveda mansion. It’s just that I find it a bit strange, that’s all. I’m kind of surprised you agreed to come, though — isn’t this sort of thing an anathema to you?»

«It’s either this or attending the official dance organized by the academy,» Zorian said. «My only real choice is to pick my poison.»

«Ah, I see,» Taiven nodded. «I guess that in that case this does appear to be a better option.»

Zorian glanced at Taiven from the corner of his eye, feeling slightly guilty. The truth was that his main reason for inviting her along was to personally see how she would fare against the invaders. He knew she was a lot better than him at combat magic, but probably not all that much better, and he wanted a comparison point that wasn’t as ridiculous as Zach or an experienced battlemage like Kyron.

Then again, this was Taiven — she probably ended up fighting the invaders in every restart anyway, just not where he could see her. At least this time she would have the advantage of fighting alongside a combatant of Zach’s caliber.

They barely knocked on the door before Zach came along and ushered them inside. He probably knew they were coming the moment they stepped through the outer gate, now that Zorian thought about it — it would make sense to have some kind of detection field woven into the ward scheme that protected this place.

«I’m glad you decided to come,» Zach told him as he led them towards the dining hall, where the party was apparently supposed to take place. «Considering how you behaved towards me lately, I half-expected you to ignore your promise to come and stay in your room.»

«I don’t know what you’re talking about,» Zorian said curtly. For one thing, Zach hadn’t even bothered him all that much in this particular restart. Was the other time traveler trying to bait him into unmasking himself or had he simply spent so much time in this time loop that he was having trouble sorting events according to which time loop they happened in?

«Uh, what’s going on here?» Taiven asked, looking between them uncertainly. «Is there something I should know or…»

Zach glanced towards her before turning towards Zorian and giving him a thumbs up. «New girl, huh? Man, you have a new one every time I see you. I wouldn’t have pegged you as that kind of guy.»

«What?» asked Zorian and Taiven simultaneously.

Zorian was honestly baffled for a moment, but then realized what Zach was mixing up his restarts again. Akoja, Ibery and Taiven: Zach had seen him with all three of them in various restarts. But that… that was totally different! None of them were even interested in him!

«Zorian is a man-whore?» Taiven asked in a worryingly calm voice.

«I am not!» Zorian denied hotly before focusing his anger at an amused-looking Zach. «And you! Stop spreading stupid rumors about me! I know for a fact you’ve never seen me with a girl until this evening! And you wonder why I’ve been avoiding you this whole month…»

Zach winced. «Sorry, sorry, I was just messing with you. Don’t worry, I’m sure your girlfriend won’t leave you over a couple of stupid remarks by yours truly. Or if she does, she was never worth bothering with in the first place.»

«Oh really?» Taiven said. «You don’t think he’d be devastated to lose a girlfriend as powerful, smart and sexy as—»

«Taiven, don’t you start too,» sighed Zorian. «Zach, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a friend.»

«Who happens to be female,» Zach said, wiggling his eyebrows.

«Yes,» Zorian said, gnashing his teeth in irritation.

«Ah well, at least you already have a girl to dance with for the evening,» said Zach lightly.

Zorian kind of doubted that. Taiven was a very attractive girl, with a nice athletic figure and the face of an angel, and she liked men who were similarly gifted in the appearance department. Chances were high that Taiven would find someone else to dance with once they hit the crowd. Zach maybe, if the way she was checking out his backside was any indication.

«You know, this place is pretty empty,» Taiven whispered to Zorian as they walked. «I know he’s the last of his House and all, but I can’t even see any servants milling around the place.»

«Most of the servants were dismissed from service by my guardian while I was still a small child,» Zach said. It did not surprise Zorian that he’d heard her — Taiven was very poor at whispering. «Since my parents died while I was still a baby, he had free reign to do what he felt was necessary to keep House Noveda standing until I was old enough to take over. As part of that, most of the maintenance staff and other contractors were found to be unnecessary and fired.»

«And you don’t agree with his actions?» Zorian guessed. He could definitely detect an undercurrent of hostility when Zach talked about his guardian, which fit in with the fact that he regularly brutalized the man at the beginning of a lot of restarts.

Zach gave him a curious look before sighing.