Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

Imaya’s kitchen was crowded. Crowded and loud. Between Zorian and Kirielle, Kael and his daughter, visiting Ilsa and Taiven, and finally Imaya herself, the room was as full as it could comfortably be and there were constantly at least two simultaneous conversations going on at any particular moment. Strangely enough, Zorian felt comfortable being there. In the past, these kinds of gatherings had annoyed him terribly, and he would find some reason to excuse himself and leave as soon as possible. The difference, he realized, was that he was no longer in a gathering of strangers. This was the first time he actually felt he belonged in one of these things, instead of being a barely-tolerated intruder constantly scrutinized for weakness and misbehavior.

He still remained mostly quiet, of course. But it was a comfortable silence.

«…and then Grunt and Mumble hit it with polar beams and froze it solid,» spoke Taiven animatedly. «I don’t know whether that really killed it, but it put it out of the fight long enough for us to run for it. Most harrowing experience of my life, let me tell you. I’m really glad Zorian was there — if I had chosen any other third year student as filler, I don’t think I’d have survived that encounter.»

Zorian fidgeted in his seat, a little uncomfortable at the praise. If it weren’t for him, Taiven wouldn’t have encountered that troll in the first place, so he didn’t feel like he had done her any favors.

«While it’s indeed impressive that Zorian can contribute in such a fight, I’m going to have to insist you refrain from bringing him along to your dungeon delving in the future,» Ilsa said with an amused smile. «He’s my apprentice now, and it would look absolutely terrible on my record if I let my apprentice be killed by a rampaging troll or some other monsters immediately after signing the contract.»

«Err, yeah…» Taiven fumbled. «Well, I have no intention of going down there for a while. I reported the incident to the police, but the cleanup will probably take months, and the place is too dangerous for me and my group at the moment.»

«A wise decision,» Ilsa nodded. She then shifted her attention to Zorian. «And the same principle holds for you. I don’t want you taking such risks in the future. I will ignore the issue this once, since you were helping a friend and the situation escalated beyond anything that could reasonably be expected, but from now on consider all excursions into the Dungeon forbidden until further notice.»

«Of course,» Zorian immediately agreed, having no intention of actually honoring the restriction.

«And I want you to consult me before doing anything similarly dangerous in the future,» Ilsa warned. «Is there anything else I should know about?»

«Not really,» Zorian said. Ilsa gave him a hard stare. Hmm, maybe he should throw her a bone to distract her with before she starts actually monitoring him. «Well, I’ll be meeting my aranea tutor on a regular basis, but she’s totally harmless. Wouldn’t hurt a fly, despite being a giant spider.»

«Ah yes, the spiders,» Ilsa said with obvious distaste. «Don’t worry, Imaya has already told me about your… condition. I wanted to speak to you about that, but I’ll wait until we can meet in a more private setting.»

Zorian nodded, appreciating Ilsa’s discretion. Kael still didn’t know about the full extent of his mental abilities and Zorian didn’t believe this was the time to reveal them. He was kind of disappointed that Imaya had told Ilsa about his ‘condition’ without asking for his permission. It was by no means unexpected, but still disappointing.

«I’m curious,» Kael said. «If your teacher wouldn’t hurt a fly, what does she eat? I’m pretty sure all spiders are strict carnivores.»

«Mostly rats and stray dogs,» Zorian said.

«Rats?» Kirielle asked in disgust.

«I’m told rats can get pretty big in Cyoria,» Zorian said.

«Ho boy, can they ever,» Taiven confirmed. «I swear I once saw one of them stalking a cat instead of the other way around…»

«She’s just telling fisherman’s tales,» Imaya quickly assured the disturbed-looking Kirielle. «I’ve lived here my whole life and have never seen anything like it.»

«How do you know that stray humans aren’t also on their diet?» asked Ilsa.

«According to Novelty, the idea is about as likely as a group of humans hunting an occasional dragon in order to put some meat on the table — that is to say, not very. There is almost always easier prey around,» answered Zorian. «Not that aranea are harmless, far from it, but if they kill me it’s not going to be because they want to eat me.»

«Novelty?» Kael asked.

«That’s the name of the aranea tutoring me,» Zorian shrugged. «Well, technically her name is Enthusiastic Seeker of Novelty, but that’s unwieldy and she doesn’t mind if I shorten it.»

«That name sounds stupid,» Kirielle said.