Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«Not nearly as average as you think,» Ilsa said. «Just getting this far requires extraordinary intelligence and dedication — especially for a civilian-born student like yourself, who wasn’t exposed to magic your entire life. People keep an eye out for people like you. Also, you’re Daimen’s younger brother, and we both know how famous he is.»

Zorian’s lips stretched into a thin line. Zorian was sure the last reason was what it all came down to in the end, and all the other arguments were just excuses and attempts to butter him up. Even with his brother on a whole different continent, Zorian still couldn’t escape from his shadow.

«You don’t like to be compared to him,» she guessed.

«No,» Zorian admitted in a clipped tone.

«Why is that?» she asked curiously.

Zorian considered side-stepping the question — his family was a sore subject for him — but uncharacteristically decided to go for honesty. He knew it wouldn’t do much, but he felt like venting at the moment.

«Everything I do is always compared to Daimen and, to a slightly lesser extent, Fortov. It has been that way since I was a child, before Daimen ever became famous. My parents have never been shy about playing favorites, and since they were always interested chiefly in social achievements, I was always found wanting. My family has no use for a withdrawn bookworm, and made that abundantly clear over the years. Until recently, they ignored me completely, treating me more like I was my sister’s babysitter than their son.»

«But something happened recently that caused them to take notice of you?» Ilsa surmised.

«Fortov happened,» Zorian growled out. «He bombed several exams, had to be bailed out by father’s connections. He has shown himself to be generally unreliable, which is a problem, because he was supposed to be the spare heir for the family business, just in case Daimen dies on one of his escapades. So now I am suddenly taken out of the metaphorical closet so they can groom me for the role.»

«But you don’t want to be the spare?» she guessed.

«I don’t want to be involved in Kazinski family politics, period. I am not a part of that family anyway. Never was. At best, I was only ever a loosely aligned associate. I appreciate them feeding me and funding my education, and I’m willing to reimburse them for that when I get a job, but they have no right to ask something like that of me. I won’t hear it. I have my own life and my own plans, none of which involve playing second fiddle to my older brother and wasting time on insipid social events where people suck up to each other non-stop.»

He decided to stop there, because he was just making himself angrier. Plus, he suspected Ilsa didn’t empathize with him much. Most people thought he was simply being overdramatic about his family. They weren’t the ones who had to live with them.

When she realized he wasn’t going to say anything more, Ilsa leaned back and took a deep breath. «I empathize with you, Zorian, but I’m afraid such comparisons are unavoidable. For what is worth, I think you’re shaping up to be a fine mage yourself. Not everyone can be a prodigy like Daimen.»

«Right,» said Zorian, refusing to look at her.

She sighed, running her hand through her hair. «You make me feel like the villain here. Family issues aside, why are you so bothered by this? It’s a party. I thought all teenagers liked parties. Are you concerned about finding a date? Just ask some first-years and they’ll jump at the chance — they can’t attend unless invited by an upperclassman, you know?»

Zorian released a sigh of his own. He wasn’t looking for a way to find a date — he had no doubt that simply dropping his last name would net him some impressionable giggly first year for the evening — he was looking for a way out. Something that Ilsa wasn’t willing to provide him with, it seemed.

«I’m not getting a date,» Zorian told her, rising from his seat. «I may have to come to the dance, but I’m pretty sure that bringing a date is not mandatory. Have a nice day.»

He was surprised that Ilsa didn’t try to contradict him as he left. Maybe this whole dance thing won’t be such a chore.

Zorian trudged through the corridors of his residence building wearily, not in any real hurry to get to his room. The teachers had refrained from giving them any substantial homework over the weekend, knowing that everyone would be too preoccupied with the summer festival to get any work done. Normally all that free time would be a godsend to Zorian, but just thinking about what he would have to endure tomorrow was enough to make Zorian lose the will to do anything fun or productive, so he fully intended to go to sleep the moment he arrived at his room.

As he entered his residence building he noted that someone was already in a celebratory mood, because the walls of the corridor he was passing through were full of colorful splotches in vivid yellow, green, and red.

«Zorian! Just the man I was looking for!»