Beginning of Something
Percy wasn't surprised when the courier came to tell him of his new position, excited of course, but not surprised. Aeris was many things, loyal to those he loved chief among them. The Lord's estate was immaculate, the building all made of pristine white marble, marble statues littered about the grounds, perfect green moss coated the areas without stone walkways, various flowers and hedges dotted the yards, the interior was equally as impressive.
Currently Percy sat in a chair inside one of the 10 rooms given directly to the Champion. This room seemed to double as a sitting area and a study. Three of the four walls had doors a large glass double door sat on the southern wall which lead out into a private garden, the eastern wall led out into a hallway that eventually led to the Lord's wing of the estate, and the northern wall held a door that led directly to the champion's bedroom which is where Aeris currently was. Getting poked and prodded by royal tailors getting him ready for the ball the lord was throwing in honor of Aeris's victory over Havish.
Percy found it unsettling that the Nobles had all just brushed off the existence of Havish, by the time Aeris and Percy had moved into the Estate the champion's wing had been completely scrubbed of Havish's existence. A short gangly man in scarlet robes entered the sitting area.
"Greetings Phenius," Percy said warmly
"Master Percival." He said with an uneasy reverence.
"Phenius I heard you served as right hand to Havish, were the two of you close?"
The short man cringed a visible tension forming in his face, before he slowly let it all go with a long sigh. "As close as one could be to such a man."
"What kind of man was he?"
"If you're hoping to find some deeper level to his character i fear you are asking the wrong man, to him I was no better than his servant and Havish did not make friends."
"What a sad existence," Percy remarked
"A fact our current champion, Your Aeris, saw to ending." There was a different tone in his voice as he spoke.
"You sound pleased with that," Aeris spoke from the doorway.
Percy noticed Phenius get ridged, his back straightened and his hands balled into fists. His eyes quickly darting to the ground. "I didn't mean anything by it, my lord."
Aeris chuckled it was a light chuckle the tone carefully chosen to ease tension, Percy knew this laugh well and felt himself smile for he knew what was coming next.
"My dear Phenius, you have nothing to fear from me nor from those I call friend. This may not have been a safe place for you in recent years but it is now. Speak as freely as you wish no judgment will be passed here."
There was a long uncomfortable pause as Aeris finished speaking, he made sure to keep a distance from the short man, he saw the same signals Percy did. Havish was not a kind man, and apparently even less so to his right hand.
Finally Phenius spoke in a small tone, "How did you beat him?"
"Let me answer that question with one of my own, have you heard what they call me?"
"The Mirror?" Phenius asked his voice gaining a bit more confidence
"Indeed, do you know why?"
"I have thought about that often in the past few days but I could not come up with a good enough reason."
"Let's hear what you came up with." Aeris said warmly while finding a seat.
"I thought maybe it was because you constantly change your form to fit your position in a duel. I watched you switch effortlessly between form 1 and form 3 in the duel with Havish."
Aeris raised his eyebrows as an amused smile formed on his lips, "that's a perfectly astute observation, and a nearly perfect explanation of my nickname."
Phenius looked up at Aeris and for the first time their eyes met. Percy saw the fear Phenius had leave him and a bit of moisture form at the edges of his eyes. "Thank you my lord." Phenius bowed
"Please, call me Aeris." He said with a smile "Percy thinks all these titles are going to go right to my head."
"Thank you," Phenius paused "Aeris."
"Excellent, now if you would please inform Lord Selaise that Percy and I will make our way down to the Ballroom shortly."
Phenius nodded, bowed once more and hurried from the room. Percy turned to smile at his closest friend,
"I suspect that was the highest praise he's ever received,"
"A pity" Aeris replied absent-mindedly fidgeting with his suit.
"Indeed, but the true pity is that outfit." Percy said with a smirk
"Truly?" Aeris asked incredulously
"Indeed!" Percy mocked "the white completely clashes with your eyes and what's with the mask!?" Percy chuckled
"I would have enjoyed it more if Garin had had a hand in making it, but the damned tailor wouldn't listen to me."
"You know you can call him father," Percy spoke softly
"I have not earned the right to call him my father." Aeris said
"Bullshit."
"He has done so much for me, and I've been nothing but a burden to him."
"That's what a father does for his children, he raises them, teaches them right from wrong and they take advantage of that."
Aeris paused for a moment seeming to drink in Percy's words, "I hear you, and I will think about it more. But unless we want to cause more problems for young Phenius we should make our way to the Ballroom."
"Yay, dancing lessons!" Percy said voice dripping with sarcasm.
" "
Days went by, Aeris and Percy bothhelping plan for the Ball, many Nobles had shown up from nearby cities curious to meet the man who beat the Indomitable Havish.
Finally the day of the ball came. At the behest of Percy, Aeris managed to suggest a few changes to his outfit. A task he was quite pleased he accomplished, looking at himself in the large looking glass he smiled.
His blonde hair neatly combed to the side and a light blue mask resting on his cheekbones perfectly framing his steel grey eyes. He wore a long overcoat that stopped just behind the knees, it was still white but now had an added blue to match the new mask. Under that was a white vest over a light blue shirt and white pants neatly tucked into light blue knee high boots. Holstered at his side was a 2 foot long wand. It had a gold shaft and the grip was fashioned to resemble a white horse's head, overall the wand looked like a miniature unicorn.
A light knock pulled Aeris from his revelry, as he turned from the looking glass and answered the door.
"Phenius! What an unexpected pleasure." Aeris said, stepping aside to let the short man enter.
"Greetings Aeris," Phenius spoke the uneasy reverence somewhat dulled
"I'm not late am I?"
"Quite the contrary, I came to speak with you."
Aeris noticed Phenius start to drop his gaze. "What about my friend?"
With a deep inward breath Phenius met his gaze. "I wanted to ask if you would teach me to use a wand." His words were hurried and there wasn't a single pause between them.
Aeris's face broke out into a wide smile, "most definitely, Percy and I spar every morning an hour before sunrise in my private garden, you're more than welcome to join us."
Phenius nodded quickly and turned to leave, he paused at the door. "Thank you, Aeris."
"Thank me with an invite to your first duel." Aeris said warmly
Phenius left, and soon it was time to depart for the Ball. Aeris had been expecting to see Percy waiting for him but he was nowhere to be seen.
Heading to the ballroom, Aeris wove his way through the lavish halls of the Estate. It was strange he was actually starting to think of this place as his home. He stopped at a large intersection of hallways on one wall was a large painting, it claimed to depict the war for Denarae. The painting detailed a man with golden flowing hair hurling magic at monstrous humanoids. Aeris wasn't sure he believed the tale of Denerae's war, but the painting was pleasant to look at.
The ballroom was packed with people, Aeris moved around the edge of the room scanning the crowd and partially looking for Percy who he found chatting up a chiseled looking noble in golden attire. The gold indicated he was from Wesset, a large port city north of Denarae, Percy seemed to be enjoying himself so Aeris decided to let him mingle. He eventually found a spot on a balcony overlooking the main floor it had a small table with two chairs and a few refreshments set out.
"I feel when Lord Selaise threw this ball he expected his new toy to be prancing around the room pleasing the neighboring nobles." Came a soft female voice
Aeris turned and saw a woman in a deep purple form fitting gown, her mask as elegant as her voice. It resembled a bird and had purple and gold intermingled, that meshed with the gold lipstick made her violet eyes pop.
"I'm not one for prancing, and apparently the neighbors know where to find me." He said with an easy smile
"I'm not just any Neighbor," she said extending a hand adorned with a golden glove that ended above her elbow.
Aeris took her hand while easing himself from the chair, "Olivia Selaise," she said with a smile of her own
The smile sent an array of sparks through Aeris's body, sending a million flying things to life within his stomach. "Three moons in the sky couldn't hold a light to your beauty my lady." He said bowing his head deeply
Olivia chuckled warmly as Aeris's lips met the back of her gloved hand. "Quite chivalrous for the son of a silk merchant." She said warmly
"I've had some training."
"I'm sure,"
The pair sat and watched the ball together for sometime, Olivia informing Aeris of the identity and holding of each noble they saw. He learned the strapping noble in gold Percy had been wooing was Atticus Finerall, prince of Wesset. When eventually Aeris decided it was time the ball met their guest of honor.
"My lady, it would greatly please me if you would dance with me." He spoke softly
"We can dance," Olivia spoke standing slowly "when you introduce yourself to the other Nobles. I'll be waiting here."
Aeris stood meeting her eyes and taking her hand gently, "you have yourself a deal."
The ballroom was filled with Nobles and their guests, Aeris slowly made his way around the room greeting the Lord's and charming the ladies, the entire time his mind was on Lady Olivia sat on the balcony.
"Tell me Master Aeris, what drove you to duel the champion, you don't strike me as the type of man who strives for this life." Came the backhanded comment of Lord Vace.
"He insulted my father." Aeris said pretending to ignore the poorly hidden jab
"A truly noble cause," Lady Vace swooned.
The lady was young, and her gown a tad more revealing than truly necessary but the other inhabitants either didn't care or hid their disdain carefully. Lord Vace was the second most powerful man in the room and his Champion a terrifying sight. The towering man had Umber skin, a perfect contrast to the apple green of his suit. He greeted Aeris with a cold smile.
"I did not care for your predecessor, though you seem to be a suitable holder of the title champion, Kinaas Everwai." The champion introduced himself.
"Truly the pleasure is all mine Master Kinaas." Aeris said with a broad smile
"Perhaps we could spar one of these days."
A cooing sound came from Lady Vace, "I would very much like to see that."
Aeris chuckled trying in vain to ignore the look in Lady Vace's eyes. "Name a time and place and I'll be there, I feel I could learn much from a man of your talent."
Aeris departed from the conversation before it got too out of hand and found himself face to face with a lean woman, her scarlet hair framing her angular face. She had piercing green eyes and smelt of cinnamon and fresh apples.
"Aeris Argent." She said in a warm hush.
"An absolute pleasure," he said taking in the gold of her dress and her easy stance "Lady Finerall."
She raised her eyebrows and put on an amused smile, "I see you've paid attention."
"Its what I do." Aeris said a heat rising in his chest.
"Care to dance?"
"It would be the highest honor, my lady."
"Please call me Lorelei."
Lorelei led Aeris to the dance floor, once there he placed one hand on the crook of her back, and the other held her free hand delicately. They twirled and swayed through the ballroom, as they moved Lorelei leaned in close.
"How did you beat him?" She breathed
"Mostly counter moves," Aeris said just loud enough for her to hear.
"Hm, how did you know you'd win?"
"Honestly, I didn't but my word is as important as my skill with a wand."
"I'm sure that's not the only thing you're skilled at." Lorelei said resting her head on his chest.
"I'm rather skilled at Rune Chess, and my friend, Percy, says I have a remarkable talent for making an ass of myself." Aeris said with a smirk.
Lorelei's laugh was like soft rain on cottage windows, "you fascinate me Master Aeris."
The pair danced into the night, gently conversing where they could. When the ball was over they parted ways and Aeris spent the night as he usually did when he had a lot on his mind. Staring at the night sky.