Clouds on the horizon

"Yeah, I had to say it to get Cal out of his hands."

"That's right, the General wouldn't have spared him, he sounds like a horrible man, and I didn't even realize," Liam muttered.

The marshal smiled at his friend's naivete and turned away, and Liam covered his face with his hands, reliving Cal's suffering at the hands of his relative.

"How ironic," he thought, "I didn't want to bring Cal under the Marshal's wing because of his lustful nature, and now here we are anyway and Celestina is dead."

"You should eat," the marshal said softly, pushing a plate of meat toward Liam.

"I can't take a bite," he admitted.

"You've got a broken arm, and you'd better not make it worse. He'll have a lot of questions when he wakes up."

Liam nodded absently. He finished his medicine and put a piece of bread in his mouth and got up from the table. The marshal extinguished some candles and Liam took off some of his clothes to go to bed.

When Pittsu delicately left the room, he climbed into bed next to Cal. The dreams were disturbing and the Head hardly got any rest.

In the morning the healer checked on him and Cal again. The wound on the apprentice's head had healed thanks to the best medicines, and Liam's arm barely bothered him.

The Head had breakfast alone and went for a walk. When he reached the orange grove, he took a break and contacted an assistant at the Academy.

"Third, any news of the stolen artifact?"

"No, Head, but things are heating up at the Academy."

"Why this time?"

"A delegation arrived today demanding a ban on the use of dragons."

"What? Who's demanding that?"

"Several prominent families have united and issued an ultimatum. They want the disciples' visit to the lake of rebirth stopped."

"That's ridiculous," the Head muttered.

"Something else has happened," the Third hesitated.

Liam tensed. The news was getting worse and worse.

"Three students had been killed..."

"What?" the Head jumped up.

"They say they had a conflict with another apprentice and he set his dragon on them, that's what happened..."

"Oh my god!" Liam couldn't believe what he heard.

"When did the situation get so out of hand?"

"Today, the Fourth Elder arrived to temporarily calm the students and start the investigation."

"Why are you telling everything so inconsistently!" Liam erupted, "The death of the disciples was the first thing I needed to hear about!"

"I'm sorry, Head, I'm very shocked by what happened..." sobbed the Third, "can you come back?"

"Yes, I'll be right there," Liam grimaced.

He sought out the marshal, entrusted the care of Cal to him, and after briefly describing the reason, returned to the Academy. The streets outside the living quarters were suspiciously quiet. Liam entered the building and found no students.

He found Third in the assembly hall, and with her was his uncle and a crowd of angry people. It was by the noise they were making that the Head could unmistakably tell where everyone was.

As he entered the room, he drew everyone's attention, and immediately complaints and recriminations fell upon him.

"Please speak one at a time," the Head held up his healthy hand.

The people murmured even more, but then two older men, whom Liam had never seen before, stepped forward. They pounced resolutely on the Head.

"The Academy has become unsafe," the first man said, "shouldn't we drive out the dragons that threaten our children."

"They have no dragons of their own," the Third whispered, leaning toward Liam's ear, referring to the students of the family.

"How can you let these things attack children?" The second man stepped forward.

Liam asked Third if there were any parents here who had lost their children, but the helper shook her head in the negative. Liam turned to the crowd with a frown.

"The Fourth Elder is here to investigate the incident. The culprit will be punished."

The crowd murmured, interrupting him and preventing him from finishing.

"What about the annual parade?!" someone shouted.

"Yes," people shouted, "we need to cancel the annual dragon parade."

People yelled and resented, arguing with one another and attacking the Head. His uncle came up to him and took him aside.

"Let me handle this and you must rest. The parade had better be canceled, as you understand, though it will upset our students," he said, putting a hand on Liam's shoulder.

"Yes," Liam nodded, and with another glance at the shouting people, he stepped back, giving the Fourth the floor.

The Third walked up to Liam, pulling him by the sleeve and leading him out of the hall. They made their way to the office, where there was no more room on the desk because of the reports and complaints.

Liam asked for a mint tea and sat down to deal with the backlog of cases. Most of the scrolls were from families who had withdrawn their children from the Academy.

Liam sighed sorrowfully and blamed himself for missing the beginning of this trouble.

"You got too caught up in the relationship game," he reprimanded himself, "it's your fault this happened. How will you deal with it?!"

Liam sorted through the scrolls. Among them were several from the spies that said the Ancient Spirit had lurked after robbing the library and was doing nothing. This Liam already knew, so he set the scroll aside.

Gradually his table was empty, his tea was finished, and Liam was completely exhausted. He moved to the couch and lay down.

Quietly the Third entered the study, covered the Head with plaid, and left new scrolls on the table. Liam fell into a restless sleep in which Celestina was still alive and Cal had not suffered at the hands of the General.

Liam awoke to the pain in his injured arm. He went down to the second floor of the healer's office and asked for a tincture.

After the healer's efforts, he felt much better and was poisoned off to find his uncle. He found him in the courtyard, talking to a couple of students.

"So this apprentice has long held a grudge against those three?" It came over Liam's ears.

"We saw them bullying the boy, but no one could punish them," the student said, emphasizing the last words.

"Yes, their families are very powerful and have always settled the conflict..." muttered the other, afraid of his voice.

"How long have those three been bullying him?" The fourth went on.

"About two years..."

Liam looked at the students in amazement and put his palm to his mouth to hold back a cry. He was stunned. Terrible, disgusting things were happening right under his nose, and he, the Head, knew nothing.

While these honorable families went on about their business behind his back, using power and money.

Liam turned pale: he had just plucked Cal from such an environment and learned that the situation at the Academy was no better...

The brave students revealed many of the Academy's dirty secrets in conversation. They even volunteered to take the Elder to the place where the students were locked up and tortured, and they seemed to know it firsthand.

Liam closed his eyes, his head aching. To distract himself, he contacted the marshal; the day was almost over, and he wanted to hear that Cal was all right.

"Why does your voice sound so miserable?" the marshal asked relaxed, "If work doesn't make you feel good, quit it."

For Pittsu, it was simple. Liam rubbed his temples and tried to make his voice sound carefree.

"How was your day? What did you and Cal do together? Did you behave yourself, I hope?"

Marshall Pittsu snorted and laughed.

"Your princess is perfectly fine, eating and sleeping, saying nothing, his ligaments are damaged, the doctor said."

"Hmm, I get it," Liam smiled wryly, introducing a cozy and beautiful world to Pittsu.

"Don't worry about a thing."

"I won't, but you have to contact me twice a day and tell me how things are going."

"Okay, I won't promise, but I'll try," laughed the marshal and the connection broke off.

Liam returned to reality. He needed to write letters to the parents of the dead students. He didn't know what it was yet, but he had to do it.

As the time ticked past midnight, Liam finally got up from his desk. He had managed to finish three letters and was now exhausted and hungry.

The students' dormitories were not glowing as before but were bleakly empty. Of the remaining students at the Academy, Liam knew no one personally. He was amazed that even his personal students had left Aether.

He decided to stay the night in his office and lay down on the couch again. Early in the morning, he was contacted by the marshal.

"Cal has regained consciousness, but is still disoriented and can't tell the difference between reality and illusion."

Liam frowned.

"Is this such a side effect of the Transfer technique?"

Marshall was silent, then clarified:

"The Captain's memories are mixed with his own, and it will take him time to learn to separate them."

Marshall yawned and was clearly sleep-deprived. Liam thanked him for his help and said goodbye.

Barely had Liam gotten to his feet, there was a knock at the office. The third one came to her senses that the Head hadn't eaten all day yesterday and had the bored cooks prepare a hearty breakfast for Liam early in the morning.

The Head had to open the door for her, as both of her hands were busy eating. Agreeing to share the meal with the Head, the Third sat down with him at the table.

After the meal, she informed him that the funeral would be held tomorrow and that the Chapter must attend. Liam sighed, he still didn't know what to say to his grief-stricken relatives, but he looked around and handed the Third Elder the prepared scrolls.

***

Cal opened his eyes when the sun was low outside the window. It gilded the tops of the gardens and lightly penetrated the room. The man's body seemed broken and weak. The events of the last hours before he passed out flashed through his mind.

On the bed, beside him, the marshal was sprawled loosely and reading a book with his hand under his head. He was just turning a page and happened to notice that the patient opened his eyes. Without making any sudden movements, the marshal watched Cal carefully.

The man tried to say something to the marshal, but he failed. The crimson fingerprints still reminded him of his encounter with the general. The marshal placed a cautionary finger on Cal's lips and said:

"Don't try to speak, you hurt your ligaments while you were unconscious."

"Li-am," Cal said in a hoarse whisper.

"He's all right," the marshal said, "almost all right. A broken arm, but nothing else. He's at the Academy now, and he asked me to keep an eye on you."

Cal closed his eyes and nodded. He touched his neck and grimaced at the discomfort. There were many things he wanted to ask the marshal and Liam, but for now, he could only wait to speak again.

The marshal stood up and offered Cal some warm water and honey. Then he asked if he wanted to go out for some air and Cal nodded gratefully.

Carefully holding him by the arm, the marshal led his guest along the grove straight to a small fountain. Around it was cozy, shady arches with wicker furniture.

The marshal chose one of them and signaled the attendants to come and go, and soon they were served a light snack and Cal's medicines. The marshal kept his eyes on his guest.

Ever since seeing him for the first time, he had gradually become imbued with him. With a penchant for romance, the marshal had already grown attached to Liam and Cal.

But after learning the sad secret of the blond angel, Pittsu completely lost his head.