My Good Friend, The Villainess

7 - Future Abroad

Duman was eventually found out and chased around the house by mama with her favorite feathered fan slashing at him when she got too close to him. It was something fun to watch, as no matter how hard Duman tried, mama was just as fast, if not faster, than him even with his head start. It ended when tea time around and mother was too tired to keep hitting him.

The house was back to its usual liveliness.

"Duman, do you know much about diseases?" Duman raised an eyebrow at the question, nursing a cup of coffee darker than both our hair combined. He had never been very big on sweets, or tea time really.

"Depends on what kind of disease we're talking about. I've been about with mom's side of the family in Salaq in disaster areas after floodings, which is usually followed by outbreaks. Any specifics?"

I fiddled with the new necklace grandmother had gifted me, rubbing the pendant between my fingers as I thought about what the vision had mentioned. "Someone gets spots all over, their eyes get stuck closed and look kinda gluey, and they have trouble breathing... Something like that."

Duman leaned forward in his chair from his relaxed positioning, pondering for a bit. "What color spots?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, with everything else you've mentioned... It sounds like Mora's Pox. Not that I've ever seen an active case."

"Mora's Pox?"

Duman nodded, his face gaining lines in the same way our father's does. "From what I remember about it, it comes from the far north in Resema's mountains with the spring season. Not very infectious, but extremely deadly. It's not mentioned in many medical books her since the possibility of a Egunie are next to zero and with the small amount of people who catch it and the even smaller amount that survive, there's not much to study. Why do you ask?"

"Is there a cure?"

"Not that I know of. I can ask Auntie Zehra about it the next time I'm in Salaq since she's the Healer of the house."

Mora's Pox... How in the world would Mr. Ennius catch a disease hundreds of miles away, not to mention in another country he would have no reason to visit? Something was definitely strange here. Well, that was if it even really was Mora's Pox.

"Are you thinking about learning to be a healer when you go to stay with mother's family after your Menele Rights?" Duman inquired, filling his cup with more coffee after having left it empty. "You haven't shown this kind of interest in medicine before."

I shook my head. "I... don't really know what I might train in with mama's family. It's still so far away."

"That's what I thought too, but look at me, in the summer I'll be doing my rights in the palace and then it's off to Salaq till I'm 20."

When a peer or really wealthy or important person in Eguniel turns 18, they have to do two things in the capital before being considered an adult. They go to the Menele Temple to have their mana alignment tested and sign the Menele Records, then they are presented at the palace to the king and queen by a sponsor. After that, me and Duman follow Salaqi culture in autumn and stay with mama's family for two years to learn a skill and connect with the family spirits.

"Then what do you want to study?"

"Something to do with navigation, and anything to do with whatever magic I can do. Maybe ships."

"You realy are a wanderer."

"Hey, at least if I learn how to wander the right way you won't have to worry about losing me."

"That's true. Oh, Uncle Cyrille said to come visit him because he sees your butt more than he sees your face."

"Ouch. Noted. Uncle Cyrille never fails to verbally gut check me."

We both looked at each other and laughed.

I ate a pastry off the tray, flakey and covered with cherry syrup. "What do you actually want to do, Duman? I mean, in the future."

Duman shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "Well, learn from father how to manage the land, expand the family name, settle down, and everything else."

"That's what you want to do?"

"It's what I'm supposed to do."

"Yes, but what do you want to do?"

"I wanna see the world."

"The world."

Duman's eyes became all sparkly, his eyes like the bronze on coins when they catch the light. "I want to see the deserts of Mantelso, the lights in Resema, the forests of Hamanek. I want to sail all around the seas and see whatever's across them. I want to meet all sorts of people, eat all sorts of foods, and speak all sorts of languages." Then his eyes went dark. "But I can't. It wouldn't be right. And I'm okay with that."

I blinked at him. "Are you really?"

"... I don't know." I don't like the look my brother gets when he gets like this. He looks so sad. Lost. He fixes himself quickly, grinning from ear to ear all of a sudden. "What about you, Ada? What do you wanna do?"

"I... want to have enough power to protect the things I care about. I guess."

"... The fact that you sound more adult than me kind of pisses me off. Never mind."

"... I can't wait for you to be gone for two years."

"You and me both, Ada. You and me both."