Who knew what would happen after stealing some bread from a street stall? Certainly not Nagan. Nothing out of the ordinary should have happened, considering stealing food to survive was the norm. But fate, destiny, karma, whatever you wanted to call...
Those days where there was absolutely nothing to do.
Needless to say, Nagan and Az were bored.
It had been a week since Nagan completed organizing Master Dagmire's office, and even longer since the buzz of the Dragon Choosing Ceremony had died down. Az sat as his desk dutifully studying to pass the time while Nagan sprawled out on his bed with a leg dangling off the side.
"Ugh!"
Az sighed and turned in his chair to face Nagan. "You can always try getting ahead in your studies, explore the castle, or even go to the library if you're really that bored."
"The thing is, I already did that today," Nagan complained. "Maybe not the studying part, I'm normal and do not see that as fun, but I already know every inch of this castle and hung around in the library earlier."
He groaned again and flung his arm over his eyes. "There has to be something more to do here."
There was a long pause before Az spoke up, "Well, there's the village outside the castle."
Nagan propped himself up on his elbows, interested in this new piece of information. "We can do that?"
"Yes? As long as we're back an hour before curfew and don't go alone. I just never mentioned it since you were on probation for so long."
It took Nagan 3 seconds to get to his feet and strode towards the door. "Let's go."
"Who said I wanted to go?"
"I will drag you by your toes."
"Hold on, idiot, at least grab your coat. It's cold outside, and I'm not letting you get sick just so you can go and get me sick. Finals are coming up, you know."
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The strong coastal winds bit bitterly at Nagan as he followed Az through the gate. Maybe it was a bad idea after all, but no use turning back now.
"You may want to hang your coin purse around your neck," Nagan said, noticing the small dark green bag at Az's hip. Az waved his concern away.
"It's fine. There isn't a lot of crime around here anyways," Az said confidently, and Nagan let him be.
The village, which Nagan learned was named Carvolier long before the Carvolier Castle was built, was much larger than Nagan initially thought. From the view of the gate, it looked to have filled a few streets before meeting the water, but as Az lead them to the edge, just below them was the rest of the town. All connected by steep roads and bridges along the cliffside. Much to Az's exasperation, it took a bit of convincing to get Nagan on one of those bridges.
It didn't take long for Nagan's attention to shift from the rocky, cold waters below to the village scenery. The buildings were half-carved into the cliff face while the rest were held up by wooden beams, walkways were either hanging bridges, bridges attached to the cliff, or carved out from the stone itself, and there was a complicated network of pulley systems. Along the sides of the cliff, there were purple, pink, red, orange, and yellow flowers stubbornly growing from the cracks. The wind was still perilous, however, and had caused Nagan's soul to nearly leave his body due to a particularly strong gust swinging a bridge too hard. He was glad when they arrived at the main part of the town which was mostly set on solid stone.
Everything was going well until a large man nearly barreled Az over.
"Goodness me!" He hoisted Az back onto his feet. "My apologies."
Nagan knew that move from anywhere and slipped Az's coin pouch out of the man's pocket when he passed. He'll keep it with him for now, just to see how long it would take for Az to notice.
It took a while.
"Anyways," Az said while adjusting the pouch around his neck, finally listening to Nagan's advice, "What are you doing for Turn of the Year?"
"For what now?" Nagan drew his coat around him more securely as he noted his breath turned into a mini cloud every time he exhaled.
"You know," Az gestured vaguely. "Turn of the Year. From when December turns to January."
"You celebrate that sort of stuff?" Nagan asked genuinely to which Az nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah. It's a big celebration here in Tarkon. I guess I just assumed it was a universal thing. This year is my family's turn to host the party, so all the other prominent mage families will be staying the day and night and possibly the next day after that. Once we're let out for our Winter Leave, I'll be busy helping with preparations," Az shrugged. "Back to the original question. What are you doing for Winter Leave?"
Nagan thought about it for a moment while continuing to follow Az's lead, even though they were walking side by side. "I guess I'll just stay at the castle. There's really nowhere else I could go unless they send me back to where they found me."
"So no plans. Perfect. Because my mother asked me to invite you to stay with us for the leave."
Nagan nearly ran into a pillar. "What."
"Don't worry, we have plenty of space and you won't be in the way at all."
"You won't be tired of me?" Nagan joked with a small smile.
Az laughed. "Not at all. In fact, I think I'd miss you if you weren't there. Most of the boys my age I get to see are near the same level of arrogance as Honoria."
"No one can beat Honoria in that competition," Nagan noted solemnly while Az agreed with a hum.
"So will you come back home with me?" Az looked at Nagan hopefully and attempted to do puppy eyes without publicly embarrassing himself. He was relieved when Nagan nodded after a long pause.
"Sure. Plus I'm getting the feeling Madam Arcloven would drag me there herself if she had to."
Az threw his head back in laughter and slung his arm around Nagan's shoulders. Nagan wasn't the biggest fan of physical contact but eventually got used to Az after failed attempts to stop him. He simply smiled and laughed along with the thought while keeping an eye out for more pickpockets.
What he didn't notice, however, was the group of eyes steadily watching them.
•_________________•
"Finals are coming up, you know."
Lol they sure are. Which means I may or may not publish another chapter anytime soon heh
Sorry to leave it at a bit of a cliffhanger(no pun intended :P)
