Heirs Unapparant | A Miraculous Origin Story

Chapter 19: Drawing to the Bitter (الرسم على المر)

Distant thunder announced its presence as he scaled the last few rungs and heaved himself over the ledge and onto the rooftops of the dorms. The forewarning mist pattered against his hood and gloves but he paid it no mind as he gazed out past the haze toward the dimly lit field, now deserted of all life in the forgotten hour. The time was late, well past curfew, which meant it was the perfect opportunity for him to slip away and begin the hasty ritual of sorting through his jumbled and often very disoriented thoughts.

It was times like these he looked for quiet places to be alone...well, as alone as someone with a miraculous and a constant animal companion could ever be. This was no oceanside rock carved just perfectly for resting but, for now, it would have to do. He hadn't realized how much he'd come to take the silence and the easy lapping waves for granted until now when all he could hear were the noisy streets and blinding city lights.

Are you sure we should be up here? came the whispery nervousness he had long anticipated from deep within him, so closely ingrown within that he had difficulty differentiating which were Lorr's concerns and which were his own. It is late and you have already had a very long day.

Nicholas tried not to wince as he recalled how their conference with Rikard had run long and he'd been forced to sprint nearly halfway across the campus, managed to get his directions mixed up twice, been unable to decipher which hall he was in (apparently Lorr's translation skills only went so far as the spoken vocabulary), and had ended up being ten minutes late to his first lecture. He had been fortunate enough not to receive a tardy, though his professor had been less than pleased to give him his first warning not to show up late a second time.

The sun has gone to sleep, Master, Lorr implored again as Nicholas selected a spot against the edge of the shingles where he had a bird's-eye-view of the entire property. As has everyone else. Should we not be doing the same? And you have studies early in the morning, hardly later than the sun's rising. It would be in your best interests to rest now while the world is still and free of strife.

"I'll go back in a few minutes," Nicholas promised, growing rapidly annoyed by the hippogriff's endless pleading. "I just need some time alone first."

Alone?

Not you, man, Nicholas hastily corrected himself, hearing the sharp sting in his kwami's words. I don't mind you being here with me. It's everyone else that I'd like to avoid.

I do not understand this process, Master Nicholas, Lorr confessed. Is it not wise to seek guidance from allies in times of great despair and hardship? Do you not wish to discuss your concerns with the Guild or--

--or with Milo? Nicholas cut him off, already knowing what he was going to say. He let his gaze flick briefly to the envelope he was clutching so tightly in his fingers before returning once more to the illuminated city. Not for this, he went on. Grimm wouldn't understand. He doesn't...have the kind of relationship with his family that I did. He doesn't love his sister with the same feelings that I do for Nino.

And so you push him away and retreat to undisclosed locations on your own to attempt and solve your own problems without aid?

It's worked for me so far, hasn't it?

Lorr was strangely silent and Nicholas wasn't sure whether to take that as agreement or complete disappointment with his life choices. Well, either way, the bird (kwami, the hippogriff huffed, though perhaps with not as much irritation as usual) was stuck with him now. They'd been through too much together to be separated. The Guild had seen that when they had first arrived, Master Fu had seen that, even upon his (highly forced by Su-Han) departure.