Warfire | Broken Time Series: Book Two

Chapter 31

Nagan and Carthadeus never did continue the conversation.

Things never really returned back to normality, and it didn't get any better knowing that two of the guards with the prince later passed from their injuries. All of the teens knew that what they were doing wasn't normal, but the disappearance of people whose names they barely got to know was...odd. It was real. Lieutenant Larksong, those guards, the messenger that came and went, those were people who had lives and families; families that they wouldn't be returning to.

Not knowing how to process these things, the teens busied themselves with others. Whether on a patrol, helping the villagers with damages, or even visiting Blaine, they did everything they could to help. Even Prince Georgivus had mellowed out and gave Blaine a mighty hug when he was allowed to see his caretaker again. Sure, there were still habitual tantrums, but the teens had learned that that was the prince's way of showing he was sad. He was still a young child, after all.

It took two weeks for the Totari to arrive. Professor Fai had just come back from the fallen soldiers' funeral—something about being the Captain of the troop and having the responsibility of burning their shrouds—and the teens could only watch the less-than-optimistic greeting between Professor Fai and Master Totari himself.

"Fai."

"...Master."

A long pause ensued, and even Nagan began to sweat. While not that much taller than Professor Fai, Master Totari looked tall, and none of the teens could figure out if this was a severe man or a resigned one. He didn't have any white hair yet, but it was clear that Master Totari was older than all of their parents. The long, deep blue robes and white trimming didn't help with the formality of the situation, and two silver pins held Master Totari's top knot together. Master Totari suddenly let out a heavy exhale.

"Have you lost your manners?"

"I have not, I just didn't see it fit for me to salute in this situation considering our positions."

"Then why still call me Master?"

Professor Fai didn't respond.

"Then, moving beyond this subject, why have I been brought here?"

Professor Fai minutely furrowed his brow. "I didn't summon you directly, you came on your own accord."

Master Totari clicked his tongue. "That's not what I meant, boy. Of course I'd come. You know I don't trust most messengers, so tell me, what happened here?"

Nagan couldn't understand what he was seeing at that moment. In his experience, all mages addressed each other formally by calling them master or madam. Maybe even young master and young maiden if they weren't old enough to be a master or madam. So why did Master Totari have a problem with Professor Fai calling him master?

On one hand, Professor Fai was tense and generally looked as if he didn't want to be talking to Master Totari, and that alone made Nagan like Master Totari less. But on the other hand, there was still a sense of familiarity between the two men. It wasn't as if they were father and son, but Nagan felt as if it was something similar to that.

Carthadeus, however, knew exactly what he was looking at. By the greeting alone, it was apparent that Fai was once a servant of the Totari household. He knew that the Froshrinese had a different hierarchy, one that bled over into how their mage societies worked. Mages and mediocres were still largely separated, but it wasn't uncommon for Froshrinese mage families to have mediocre families as servants. Especially the higher mage families. As servants, they weren't exactly paid like the ones in the Honoria or Arcloven households, but those families were well taken care of.