Book of Aurelio - Chapter Five
Famaris looked at me speculatively. "It would be easier for me to interview you if you were at the school." I nodded. A person of interest am I? "You do look about the right age for a Human." Hm. "And what age would that be?" I asked. "Seventeen? Maybe early twenties." I grinned. "I'm forty-three." Famaris nearly choked. "At least when I died," I added.
"Forty-three? How long do your people live for?" I thought for a moment. "The longest living person I've heard was around one-hundred-twenty-years-old. People can regularly reach into the hundreds though if they take care of themselves and see their physician regularly... and listen to them and have good genes. But on average maybe around late seventies and early eighties."
"But you look so young!" I nodded and said, "I theorized that I may have come into this world as either a younger healthier version of myself or a completely new body. I figure the former since I have my old scars and tattoos. But I haven't had a chance to take a good look at myself in a mirror so I wasn't sure." Well now. I glanced at Luz who was puttering around but watching us converse and winked at her. She gave me the wide eyes and picked up something to clean. I still got it.
Famaris was scribbling furiously. He wrote in a large leather bound softcover book with a writing implement that was probably this world's version of a pen. It glowed softly. I wondered how it worked. "Famaris," He never stopped writing but did slow down a little. "Do you have a spare book and pen? That I would be able to keep and write in for my own notes?" He stopped and looked at me considering. I shrugged."Fair is fair. You get to ask me uncomfortable questions about my home that probably never see again, a placed that I was ripped away from, and now I'm in a strange world in a place I know no one and have no friends to speak of. Except Lusserinia and maybe Arthionemoira-" He interrupted, "Alright, alright!" He dug out another book exactly like the one he wrote in and a spare pen and shoved them at me which I primly put to the side.
"Your Humans live into the hundreds. Surely you mean the magically inclined?" he said dubiously. I shook my head. "We don't have magic where I come from. The concept does exist through legends and lore, though." He blinked, astounded. "Non-gifted Humans here live onto their fifties. Sixties is considered ancient." I blinked at that as well. Wow, that sucks. Maybe their medical care is bad. "How about the gifted, as you say?" "They average reach around three-hundred without incident. The very ancient reach five-hundred." "Fuck, wow!" Famaris nodded solemnly. "I, myself, am three-hundred-six." I nodded, not surprised. That follows the theme with most stories I know. The magically inclined tend to live longer than most. So If I were to be a magical boy I could probably surpass that very ancient number. Wow.
He looked at me for a minute, deep in thought. "I'll sponsor you. You probably don't have any money," I shook my head. "So I'll give you an allowance." "Hells, yeah." I said." Famaris looked at me very seriously, "It won't be easy but you seem intelligent." I shrugged. "I don't expect it to be easy and I'm no stranger to hard work. I don't know about intelligent but I think I have my moments."
Famaris smirked. "Humility. It won't help you at the school. And you are intelligent. You don't speak like a commoner. At least a commoner in this world. People will think you're nobility or from a merchant family. And understand that whatever you do will reflect upon me good or bad." I nodded and smiled. "That's fine. I won't let you down." Because I'll be learning magic, bitch! Suck it, Dresden. I'm about to go pyrofuego in this motherfucker.
Famaris and I knocked out the logistics for the next hour. [[NEED SCHOOL NAME.]] The next semester at the school wouldn't be for a few months. Then I had to learn how this world or region used time to understand what he meant. How long was a day? How many days on a month? Were there even months? The common accepted practice was a day was one sun's revolution around the planet. Thank goodness it wasn't a Tatooine situation. There were thirty hours in a day and thirty days in a month. There were three weeks in a month and fifteen months in a year. Everything was divisible by five or ten. I told Famaris our accepted time keeping system and he was astounded at how ineffiecient it was. Tell me about it, brother. I decided not to tell him about the United States and our Imperial System.
The sun had already begun to descend as we began winding down our talks. Famaris had plenty of questions and so did I. But we'll have time for them later. I would be joining Famaris on his journey back home. And it turned out Thion was the reason for his visit. They were friends of a sort and he had sent a message to Famaris informing him of the situation thinking we needed a mage's touch. Famaris had aided Thion years ago killing a tribe of goblins that had moved into the forest. I owed him one. It was a great call.
Eventually we settled down and ate a dinner that Luz had prepared, pan fried steak it looked like. She never made this before. She also reheated bread dipped in butter. I grinned at her and she grinned back. It was perfect. Perfectly seasoned and medium-rare. Just as God intended. The spell Famaris had cast had worn off so he and Lusserenia conversed for the mean while. Wine was passed around and everyone enjoyed their meal in a thoughtful silence. The wine was red and definitely wasn't sangria. It felt heavy, almost syrup like. As expected I felt at total peace with the world. I was Zen itself.
---
"Aurelio," a voice said. I took a sudden intake of breath and opened my eyes. I had dozed off. That was some wine. I looked around the room dazedly and noticed someone was standing in front of me. "Aurelio? Can you understand me?" Holy smokes, Lussernia is talking to me and I can understand her. I grinned at her. She kind of looks like Amy Adams. I wonder if she'd like to make out. "Stupid mage-" "Hey, do you want-" "Aurelio! I can understand you!" I blinked. Of course she can, the mage probably cast something on us. "Yeah, the stupid mage probably cast something on us." She laughed. It sounded musical. Like wooden chimes if that made sense. Elves are weird.
"You were going to ask me something?" Yeah, I wanted to know if you wanted to make out. "Yeah," I said. "I wanted to know," I slurred a bit. "If you know how thankful I am for you. You saved my life. You didn't have to. Most people would have just kept the door shut. I owe you big time. And I will always be your friend," I took one of her hands, gloved, but warm and soft, in mine. "Seriously, whatever you need just let me know."
Lussernia smiled at me and gently put my hand back down and sat down in the chair across from me. Damn, shot down. "Any good person would have done it. And I wanted to. My mother was a healer. I was taught all life is precious." I nodded. "'First, do no harm.'" She tilted her head as if hearing something new. "It's part of an oath the healers take where I come from. I used to work closely with them. To do anything and everything within their power to help the patient. Your mom did good work then." Pride shone in her eyes.
"Also it was for my husband," I stopped slouching and leaned forward. "He died years ago helping Famaris and Arthionemoira kill some goblins," she clutched hard at her coat as she said that and stopped when she realized what she was doing. "He told me to stay here, stay home, safe." I nodded, it sounded like something any guy would say. "I'm a healers but he wanted me to stay home. I listened to my husband and he died. I promised myself that I would listen to my healer instincts always-" she stopped as was about to lose composure, I saw. "It's fine," I said. "I understand, you don't have to say any more."
I wanted to hug her. Would it be weird? I shook my head. Hugs shouldn't be weird. I stood up and went over to her and hugged her where she sat. "I don't know if there's a thing about Humans and Elves hugging but I don't care. I think you need a hug right now," I said into her hair. She froze for a moment before leaning in and hugging me back, laughing. "You humans are so emotional." I stood up when my back couldn't take it anymore. "Maybe we are. But it's better than keeping it inside." It finally hit me when I looked around. "Where's the wizard?"
"Forty-three? How long do your people live for?" I thought for a moment. "The longest living person I've heard was around one-hundred-twenty-years-old. People can regularly reach into the hundreds though if they take care of themselves and see their physician regularly... and listen to them and have good genes. But on average maybe around late seventies and early eighties."
"But you look so young!" I nodded and said, "I theorized that I may have come into this world as either a younger healthier version of myself or a completely new body. I figure the former since I have my old scars and tattoos. But I haven't had a chance to take a good look at myself in a mirror so I wasn't sure." Well now. I glanced at Luz who was puttering around but watching us converse and winked at her. She gave me the wide eyes and picked up something to clean. I still got it.
Famaris was scribbling furiously. He wrote in a large leather bound softcover book with a writing implement that was probably this world's version of a pen. It glowed softly. I wondered how it worked. "Famaris," He never stopped writing but did slow down a little. "Do you have a spare book and pen? That I would be able to keep and write in for my own notes?" He stopped and looked at me considering. I shrugged."Fair is fair. You get to ask me uncomfortable questions about my home that probably never see again, a placed that I was ripped away from, and now I'm in a strange world in a place I know no one and have no friends to speak of. Except Lusserinia and maybe Arthionemoira-" He interrupted, "Alright, alright!" He dug out another book exactly like the one he wrote in and a spare pen and shoved them at me which I primly put to the side.
"Your Humans live into the hundreds. Surely you mean the magically inclined?" he said dubiously. I shook my head. "We don't have magic where I come from. The concept does exist through legends and lore, though." He blinked, astounded. "Non-gifted Humans here live onto their fifties. Sixties is considered ancient." I blinked at that as well. Wow, that sucks. Maybe their medical care is bad. "How about the gifted, as you say?" "They average reach around three-hundred without incident. The very ancient reach five-hundred." "Fuck, wow!" Famaris nodded solemnly. "I, myself, am three-hundred-six." I nodded, not surprised. That follows the theme with most stories I know. The magically inclined tend to live longer than most. So If I were to be a magical boy I could probably surpass that very ancient number. Wow.
He looked at me for a minute, deep in thought. "I'll sponsor you. You probably don't have any money," I shook my head. "So I'll give you an allowance." "Hells, yeah." I said." Famaris looked at me very seriously, "It won't be easy but you seem intelligent." I shrugged. "I don't expect it to be easy and I'm no stranger to hard work. I don't know about intelligent but I think I have my moments."
Famaris smirked. "Humility. It won't help you at the school. And you are intelligent. You don't speak like a commoner. At least a commoner in this world. People will think you're nobility or from a merchant family. And understand that whatever you do will reflect upon me good or bad." I nodded and smiled. "That's fine. I won't let you down." Because I'll be learning magic, bitch! Suck it, Dresden. I'm about to go pyrofuego in this motherfucker.
Famaris and I knocked out the logistics for the next hour. [[NEED SCHOOL NAME.]] The next semester at the school wouldn't be for a few months. Then I had to learn how this world or region used time to understand what he meant. How long was a day? How many days on a month? Were there even months? The common accepted practice was a day was one sun's revolution around the planet. Thank goodness it wasn't a Tatooine situation. There were thirty hours in a day and thirty days in a month. There were three weeks in a month and fifteen months in a year. Everything was divisible by five or ten. I told Famaris our accepted time keeping system and he was astounded at how ineffiecient it was. Tell me about it, brother. I decided not to tell him about the United States and our Imperial System.
The sun had already begun to descend as we began winding down our talks. Famaris had plenty of questions and so did I. But we'll have time for them later. I would be joining Famaris on his journey back home. And it turned out Thion was the reason for his visit. They were friends of a sort and he had sent a message to Famaris informing him of the situation thinking we needed a mage's touch. Famaris had aided Thion years ago killing a tribe of goblins that had moved into the forest. I owed him one. It was a great call.
Eventually we settled down and ate a dinner that Luz had prepared, pan fried steak it looked like. She never made this before. She also reheated bread dipped in butter. I grinned at her and she grinned back. It was perfect. Perfectly seasoned and medium-rare. Just as God intended. The spell Famaris had cast had worn off so he and Lusserenia conversed for the mean while. Wine was passed around and everyone enjoyed their meal in a thoughtful silence. The wine was red and definitely wasn't sangria. It felt heavy, almost syrup like. As expected I felt at total peace with the world. I was Zen itself.
---
"Aurelio," a voice said. I took a sudden intake of breath and opened my eyes. I had dozed off. That was some wine. I looked around the room dazedly and noticed someone was standing in front of me. "Aurelio? Can you understand me?" Holy smokes, Lussernia is talking to me and I can understand her. I grinned at her. She kind of looks like Amy Adams. I wonder if she'd like to make out. "Stupid mage-" "Hey, do you want-" "Aurelio! I can understand you!" I blinked. Of course she can, the mage probably cast something on us. "Yeah, the stupid mage probably cast something on us." She laughed. It sounded musical. Like wooden chimes if that made sense. Elves are weird.
"You were going to ask me something?" Yeah, I wanted to know if you wanted to make out. "Yeah," I said. "I wanted to know," I slurred a bit. "If you know how thankful I am for you. You saved my life. You didn't have to. Most people would have just kept the door shut. I owe you big time. And I will always be your friend," I took one of her hands, gloved, but warm and soft, in mine. "Seriously, whatever you need just let me know."
Lussernia smiled at me and gently put my hand back down and sat down in the chair across from me. Damn, shot down. "Any good person would have done it. And I wanted to. My mother was a healer. I was taught all life is precious." I nodded. "'First, do no harm.'" She tilted her head as if hearing something new. "It's part of an oath the healers take where I come from. I used to work closely with them. To do anything and everything within their power to help the patient. Your mom did good work then." Pride shone in her eyes.
"Also it was for my husband," I stopped slouching and leaned forward. "He died years ago helping Famaris and Arthionemoira kill some goblins," she clutched hard at her coat as she said that and stopped when she realized what she was doing. "He told me to stay here, stay home, safe." I nodded, it sounded like something any guy would say. "I'm a healers but he wanted me to stay home. I listened to my husband and he died. I promised myself that I would listen to my healer instincts always-" she stopped as was about to lose composure, I saw. "It's fine," I said. "I understand, you don't have to say any more."
I wanted to hug her. Would it be weird? I shook my head. Hugs shouldn't be weird. I stood up and went over to her and hugged her where she sat. "I don't know if there's a thing about Humans and Elves hugging but I don't care. I think you need a hug right now," I said into her hair. She froze for a moment before leaning in and hugging me back, laughing. "You humans are so emotional." I stood up when my back couldn't take it anymore. "Maybe we are. But it's better than keeping it inside." It finally hit me when I looked around. "Where's the wizard?"
Comments
Post a Comment