The Burning Flowers

Chapter IV

“So that’s the plan! I’ve successfully baited the bastard into accepting our challenge, so all Jessi and I have to do is beat his ass into the ground and the problem will be solved! After all, he’s far too obsessed with his pride to not back out from the deal if he loses. We’ve got him right where we want him!”

Fayela Rio let out a meek sigh as she recalled the story Hiro had told her the previous night about the duel he had issued to Rennigan. As much as she knew that her team would never function without the cooperation of the water mage, she just wasn’t sure that Hiro was on the right track. If Rennigan lost then he would only be working with them begrudgingly, and in her eyes, it almost seemed more damaging to force him to cooperate than it would be to not have him cooperating at all. Instead, she wholeheartedly believed that the only way their team could excel and rise up to first rank would be to find some way to convince Rennigan to willingly set aside his ego—a task that she didn’t even know how to begin to address.

God, what terrible luck, she internally lamented. All things considered, I’ve actually gotten myself a really strong team. Jessi and Hiro are powerful alone, but have ridiculously good teamwork, and if one can ignore his arrogance, Rennigan is clearly a brilliant mage. Noctis even said we would have won that battle if not for him, and I’m prone to agree.

Faye knew she would be lying if she claimed she wasn’t disappointed by the way orientation turned out, but at the same time, she was proud of the way she fought and of the fact that she gave it everything she had. Abigail was a powerful opponent, and despite what the young woman had claimed, Faye truly wasn’t certain she could have beaten her without backup. All she needed was help from her team, but Rennigan had been so insistent upon facing Nigreos himself, and no matter how much she argued that her rock magic would have been better suited to handling Nigreos’s power, he wouldn’t budge, leaving little room for argument.

He clearly had something he wanted to prove, but all he succeeded in doing was making an embarrassment out of himself and out of the rest of us. Faye shook her head with irritation, clenching her teeth as she stepped onto the dorm tower’s lift and chanted “ortumo”. Yeah…Rennigan really is the only obstacle preventing us from thriving at this school. We have to deal with the matter somehow, and while I know Hiro’s heart is in the right place, I just feel that we’re going about it the wrong way.

She frowned in thought but came up with nothing, and soon enough, the girl standing beside her glanced up and spoke.

“You okay, Faye?” Jessi inquired with concern. “You look kinda mad.”

Snapping out of her thoughts, Faye was quick to force a smile, silently admonishing herself for letting her frustration poke through. “Oh, I’m fine, don’t worry,” she assured her. “Just trying to compose myself, is all. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little stressed about the whole thing. It’s already been a week and we’re just as dysfunctional as the first day. I know Hiro’s confident that this duel will fix everything, but…”

“You don’t?” Jessi tilted her head in curiosity as she gazed up at her, seemingly surprised by Faye’s admission. “But you seemed to be cool with it when we were talking earlier?”

The rock mage grimaced as the lift stopped on the fifth floor. She paused for a second as the two of them moved into the corridor, wanting to ensure that she properly phrased what was on her mind, before finally answering.

“It’s just that…I’ve given it some thought since then,” Faye began, “and it’s perfectly clear that Rennigan doesn’t think he’s in the wrong even a little bit. He’s absolutely certain that he’s better than us, and that we lost because we failed to do what he said. No matter how many times we’ve told him that I had the best chance against Noctis, he just won’t budge.”

Jessi snorted in irritation and nodded. “I mean, yeah, but so what? That’s the point of the duel! We just kick his ass and show him that he's not as great as he thinks he is! Once that’s said and done, he’ll have no choice but to concede to us!”

“But I don’t think that’s true…”

Jessi seemed confused by her comment and silently motioned for Faye to elaborate.

“Look,” Faye said with another sigh. “I’m confident the two of you can handle him. In fact, I’m almost certain that Rennigan will lose tomorrow, and I actually agree with Hiro. I do think that if he loses, then his pride will force him to uphold the deal. He’ll accept me as our supposed leader and he’ll do what I want him to do. But it’ll be only because of his pride. Losing a duel, one that’s heavily skewed against him to begin with, isn’t going to change his mind. He’ll still think he was never wrong, and he’ll only be working with us because he’s being forced to. Now tell me, Jess’, do you think this team can function if one us is only helping against his will?”

As Faye asked her question, she glanced down to gauge Jessi’s reaction, only to find the girl biting her lip in consideration. “Hmmm… That’s not a bad point, I guess. But what then? What are we supposed to do about him? It’s not like we can just let him call the shots! We already saw how that worked!”

“I’m certainly not suggesting that,” Faye muttered, knowing that of all the options, letting Rennigan act as their leader was easily the worst one. “I think…we have to find some way to convince him that working as a team is the right choice. I want Rennigan to want to cooperate.”

“Ha! That’s not gonna happen!”

The rock mage slumped her shoulders. “I know. Which is why I wanted to come up here. If anybody’s going to have an idea it’s…” She then trailed off as she heard voices down the hall, and when she looked up, she was surprised to find the young man she had come to speak with heading their way. “Well, him.”

Jessi followed her gaze to where Nigreos Noctis was chatting with his roommate, Ryokumo Caeli, and upon noticing the wind mage that was responsible for her elimination at orientation, Jessi huffed and narrowed her eyes, though Faye knew that it wasn't out of actual hatred rather than simple pettiness. The two hadn’t seemed to notice them yet, but as they got closer, Ryokumo glanced their way and grinned, raising a hand into the air in greeting.

“Ah, Rio, Yuahl! Well met!” he called over to them with his familiar charming grin. “What brings the two of you all the way up here? Isn’t your room on Abi’s floor?”

Faye returned the wave with one of her own. “Well, we were actually heading up to talk to the two of you—or more specifically you, Noctis. Do you guys have a moment to chat or are you busy?”

Nigreos frowned as they came to stop just in front of them, seemingly surprised that they needed anything from him. “We were actually about to head down to the market to meet up with Abi and Album, but we’ve got a few moments to spare. What did you need?”

There was a minor sense of relief that Nigreos was willing to give them a second of his time, for as nice of a guy as he had seemed when they briefly spoke a few nights back, he was still a noble and of a very powerful family. Part of her had feared he would just blow them off so the fact that he was willing to hear them out even when he was heading somewhere gave her a bit more respect for him.

“Thank you,” she quickly said with a slight bow of her head. “And I promise we’ll be quick about it. I just needed to ask for your opinion about an issue regarding Rennigan.”

As a look of understanding, and what might have even been a touch of pity, crossed Nigreos’s face, Ryokumo simply chuckled and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his uniform.

“Oh boy, is Glaus at it again?” he inquired with a wry grin. “Truly, I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that prick on a daily basis. What is it he’s done this time?”

Faye snorted. “Well, as it would have it, we haven’t been dealing with him on a daily basis and that’s our issue. We’re supposed to be a team and yet, he seems to have absolutely no interest in working with us.” She then went on to give as fast of an explanation regarding Rennigan’s behavior as she could, with the looks of pity on their faces only increasing as she did. She finished off by informing them of Hiro’s challenge and the following day’s duel between the two roommates. “So essentially, I’m just not sure this is going to work. Even if Jessi and Hiro win, I don’t think forcing Rennigan to cooperate is going to make it much better. So I wanted to ask you how I should go about trying to convince him to work with us willingly. You’ve known him for a while, so do you have any ideas, Noctis?”

Nigreos twisted his lips in thought and seemed to consider their plight for a few moments before grimacing. “To be perfectly blunt, I’m not sure you can do anything about this. Rennigan Glaus is the type of person who knows what he wants and will do whatever he thinks he can to achieve his goals. In his eyes, he can never be wrong, and thus any mistakes he will always attribute to others. He’s not somebody I feel can be reasoned with, and the only time I’ve ever seen him obey anybody was with his father.”

“Well, isn’t that fantastic,” Jessi grumbled sarcastically. “So there’s no winning with him then?”

Nigreos shook his head. “No, I doubt it. Honestly, I think Pafran’s on the right track. He is quite prideful, and so if he loses, he will accept the conditions of his loss. But you’re right as well, Rio. He will accept it, but he will not agree with it. All it will do is further increase his resentment toward you, and will serve to give him even more opportunities to blame any misfortune on you.”

“On an unrelated note, is there any way to get rid of a teammate?” Jessi grunted with a scowl.

Nigreos chuckled and spread his hands out before him. “Not unless he dies on an assignment.”

“Oh, perfect! So if he accidentally falls off the side of a cliff, we get to replace him?” The fire mage leaned forward with an intrigued grin on her face, and while Faye could tell she was just joking around, both Nigreos and Ryokumo regarded her for a few seconds, as if struggling to conclude how serious she was being.

“Er, well, I wouldn't recommend that,” Nigreos stuttered awkwardly. “But regardless, I’m sorry the three of you have to deal with that. I’m honestly not sure what I would have done had Rennigan been my roommate.”

Faye reached up to rub her temples, unsure of what she had been expecting but still finding herself painfully disappointed that Nigreos had only confirmed for her what she’d already concluded.

Damn it… So then maybe there isn’t anything I can do. After all of the work I put in to get into this academy, am I going to lose it all just because I have one terrible teammate? Is Rennigan really going to single-handedly destroy what I’ve worked to achieve?

She clenched her teeth, recalling the many hours she had spent over the course of her life refining her magic and trying to be as strong as possible. Her parents had dedicated so much money to her education and she had never been happier than the day she received her acceptance letter. That moment was when she felt that her work had been worth it, and while she wasn’t sure what she was going to do after the Academy, she was ecstatic to know that her opportunities had grown in number.

Right… I’ve worked my ass off to be here! I’ve put everything I’ve had into thriving, so there’s no way I can just toss it all away and give up! Sure, we’re starting off on a bad foot, but that is not the end! I’m not going to let Rennigan ruin this for me because of his giant ego! I will figure something out!

“One last thing, if you don’t mind,” Faye started. “Why does Rennigan hate you so much, Noctis? You said the other day that you think it’s only because of his pride, but why would he center on you specifically? Do you really have no clue?”

In order to fix this problem, I have to understand the psychology of Rennigan Glaus as thoroughly as possible. Nigreos says he has goals he’s striving for, so if I know what he wants and why he wants it, maybe I can somehow convince him that he needs to work with us to achieve them.

Nigreos took another moment to think and she could see in his dark brown eyes that he did, in fact, have an idea. “Look, I meant it when I told you I don’t know for sure. That being said, if I had to guess, I would say it's probably related to his reason for being a mage in the first place.”

“And that is?” Faye pressed, and even the silent Jessi and Ryokumo turned to regard Nigreos with unrestrained curiosity.

“Rennigan is not from a family of magic users,” he told her. “While I know very little about his mother, his father is on the Council of Elders, and is mainly educated in government. Even a mildly trained thirteen-year-old could beat Kloras Glaus in a fight. From what I know, the Glaus family is a long line of government officials and legislators. Therefore, it was surprising to many that Kloras’s only son took up mage training.” Nigreos paused, as if trying to recall all of the specific details. “Kloras was outwardly supportive and supplied Rennigan with the best education he could and honestly, it worked. He’s a damn good mage.”

Faye nodded her reluctant agreement. “Yes, as much as I hate to admit it, you’re right about that one. He’s definitely talented.”

“Indeed,” Ryokumo mused. “If not for his giant head, he may have been top of the class.”

“Now, this is just speculation,” Nigreos continued, “but many in the Citadel, my father included, suspect that Kloras is grooming Rennigan to vie for the spot of Master Nyx Rana’s apprentice.”

Faye and Jessi both frowned in surprise, and it was the fire mage who reacted first.

“Master Rana’s seeking an apprentice?” she asked, baffled. “I hadn’t heard anything like that.”

But Nigreos was already shaking his head. “No, she’s not. As far as I know, Master Rana has never made any indication that she seeks to train a successor yet. However, she’s also never claimed she doesn’t want one. My father has said she’s rather neutral on the subject, so if Rennigan wants to earn her attention, he has to work his ass off and prove that he’s fit to be the Master of Water if she dies or retires. It’s a large mountain for him to climb, but if he does it, well…” The dark mage shrugged. “There are few who wouldn’t want the prestige and respect that come with the position of Master.”

Yeah, I understand that, Faye thought.

While she wasn’t necessarily shooting to become the Master of Rock, if Sinna Cartus suddenly decided to offer her the position as her apprentice, she would take it without hesitation, as would almost every mage that attended the Academy. There was no higher honor for a mage than becoming a Master of Ijiria, so she couldn’t say she was surprised that Rennigan’s goal was potentially that very honor.

“Now, as far as how that relates to his hatred of me, well…” Nigreos’s features then turned slightly somber, as if what he was about to say was something uncomfortable for him. “I’m not going to pretend like I don’t work my ass off, but at the end of the day, I was born into the spot of successor to the Master of Darkness. No matter what, my father was going to turn that role over to me. The work that all other successors put in makes what I’ve done look pathetic by comparison. And I know it’s not pathetic, but…”

Ah, I see…

“You think Rennigan resents you because the position of Master was placed into your lap the moment you were born,” Faye stated.

Nigreos nodded. “Precisely. And since he and I are the same age and in the same year now, I think he just sees me as a rival. He wants to prove he’s better than me.”

“Well, he’s certainly not,” Ryokumo quickly chimed in with a smile. “Regardless of the work he’s put in, Rennigan Glaus is a cocky jackass and you are not. That alone makes him inferior, yes?”

Seemingly taken aback by Ryokumo’s swift attempt to make him feel better, Nigreos could only shake his head and chuckle. “Perhaps. But regardless…” He then turned back to face Faye and Jessi. “I hope that helps and I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more use.”

“No, this was great. Thank you, Noctis,” she replied, and soon enough, Nigreos and Ryokumo continued on their way, leaving Faye and Jessi standing quietly in the corridor to take in what the dark mage had said.

“You were oddly quiet,” Faye mused after a moment, sending a wry look Jessi’s way, to which her roommate merely huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

“Well, duh! We were talking to the Nigreos Noctis! You think I was gonna make a fool of myself in front of somebody as handsome as him! Like hell, Faye!”

Faye laughed at her over-the-top reaction before turning back to gaze in the direction Nigreos had gone. “It’s interesting, though. Rennigan wants to catch the eye of Master Rana. It’s a crazy goal he’s got, but I guess that’s not that surprising.”

“So what do we do then?” Jessi muttered. “Should Hiro and I still kick his ass?”

“Yeah, don’t cancel the duel. Doing so would only reinforce his idea that he’s better than us. You should still fight him and give it everything you’ve got, but…”

Faye went quiet as she considered the situation and all of her new information. I can definitely work with this. He wants Master Rana to make him her successor, and he probably thinks that beating Noctis is the first step in doing so. In that case, I need to show him that, in order to beat him, he needs us.

She grinned to herself, pleased that she finally had somewhere to start. It’s a bad hand I was dealt, but I’ll make it work somehow! I am going to get to first rank, one way or another!

***

Roughly thirty minutes before they were scheduled to meet Ryokumo and Nigreos in the market, Abigail and Album departed the Academy and began making their way to their destination. As busy as her week had been and as exhausted as she was, Abi was nevertheless quite excited to have dinner with her team and to have a chance to properly get to know them. On top of that, she was more than thrilled to finally get to see Erika’s famous Night Market with her own eyes, and to her relief, her excitement was enough to finally put the following day’s meeting with Grunly in the back of her mind for a few hours.

Ever since Album’s older brother stopped by their dorm to deliver the Masters’ messages, she had been stressing over the prospect of speaking with Grunly again. Abi was quite proud of her performance in the orientation match and knew she had given it her all, but at the same time, she was well aware of the expectations Grunly had of her, and ever since she met him, she hadn’t believed herself capable of living up to such expectations. She knew that the Master of Nature had already been speaking on her behalf to others in the Citadel, so she couldn’t imagine how embarrassed he might be if she couldn’t be the prodigy he seemed to believe she was. She’d expressed her concerns to Album, but the girl had quickly assured her that she had nothing to worry about and that Grunly probably wanted to congratulate her if anything. Since Album was far more familiar with the Masters than she was, she was slightly reassured by that, but there was still a nagging at the back of her head.

Whatever! This is going to be a fun night so there’s no need to stress about tomorrow! What’s gonna happen will happen, after all!

She smiled as she shoved her fears aside and cheerfully strolled beside Album as they made their way through the rather upscale neighborhoods around the school before finally emerging onto the famed Market Street, and immediately, she was overwhelmed by how much there was to take in. The road was packed with shoppers of all walks of life, browsing the surrounding stalls and mingling with one another. Street lamps powered by fire magic cast a dull red glow that mixed with the oranges of sunset. Merchants shouted out to the passersby in attempts to get their attention and the scents of a variety of foods both familiar and foreign filled their air, mixing together in a unique smell that made her stomach grumble. The sun was setting so most people were seeking out dinner, and even though they planned to get some food with the boys, Abi found herself using all of her willpower not to run to every single stall and see what they had to eat.

“Woah,” she muttered, coming to a stop as she attempted to take every single detail and burn it into her head. “This is so cool.”

Album glanced sidelong at her, a very slight smile turning the corner of her lips. “I know, right? I’ve been here more times than I can count, but it never gets old. Not to mention, every time I stop by, there’s always something new to see—a new stall set up or some foreign food I’ve never heard of. People from all over the world come here to peddle their wares, you know?”

“I mean, I’d read that somewhere, but…” Abi shook her head in awe. “Well, it’s one thing to read about it, and another to actually see it.”

Once she had finally caved in and agreed to go to Erika with Grunly, Abi had got to work reading up about the specifics of the city, and one couldn’t research Erika without touching upon the market. As Album said, there were merchants and shopkeepers from every corner of the world that sought to set up shop on Market Street, for there wasn’t a more famous place to peddle one's wares than there. In addition, the consumers were just as diverse, and with one brief scan of the road, Abi could spot at least one person from every independent country on Calkorai, and even a few humanoids—the animal-like nonhumans that mostly lived in the deep south of Norania. Over the course of her life, Abi had met one or two humanoids in total, so she never had she seen so many in one place.

“Come on,” Album urged with a smile as she motioned for Abi to follow her onto the road.

Since her roommate knew the restaurant they were heading to, Abi followed behind her and allowed her to lead the way, all the while looking around and attempting to see every little detail she could. However, it was a slight challenge to avoid getting distracted by her sense, which attempted to read every single person around her, and with such a diversity of people, she was constantly being hit by conflicting emotions of trust, neutrality, and fear. Abi scowled, doing her best to suppress the sense, struggling to keep it from being even mildly annoying, but even so, she remained amazed for the entirety of the short walk before they arrived at their destination.

While the right side of the road was lined with a variety of stalls, the left was mostly constructed of brick buildings, with elaborate signs hanging from the eves in attempts to attract the attention of the shoppers. The one Album brought her to was a two-story red brick building that she noticed was called “Morwhat’s Den” and when the two girls made their way through the front door, Abi found herself standing in a rather busy and bustling dining room, with the many tables all currently filled and servers rushing around with plates full of grilled meat and vegetables. She was momentarily taken aback by how crowded it was, but one glance at Album’s unsurprised expression told her that it must have been pretty normal for The Den. The restaurant was primarily lit by an array of fire-magic lamps lining the walls, as well as the few windows that let some of the setting sunlight inside. Off in the back, Abi could see stairs that led to the second floor, and the sight of customers going up and down made her wonder if there was seating up there as well.

Another quick look around didn’t show any sign of Nigreos and Ryokumo, but when a serving girl hurried over to check in on them, and when Album told them they were meeting friends whose reservations were under the name “Caeli”, they were told they could head upstairs. Album then thanked the woman and began leading Abi toward the staircase and up to the second floor, which she was surprised to find was far less crowded than the first. There were fewer tables, with only a handful currently being used by what seemed to be individuals with more money, dressed well and sipping wine as they softly conversed. Because of this, it didn’t take long to spot Nigreos and Ryokumo sitting at a table in the back corner, and when they did, Ryokumo immediately grinned and raised his glass in greeting.

“Ah, and thus, they’ve arrived!” he called out cheerfully, immediately drawing irritated glances from the other patrons. “Welcome, my friends!”

Album sighed with exasperation and from where Abi stood, she could see Nigreos putting his face in his hands.

“I take it we’re supposed to behave ourselves up here?” Abi whispered as they made their way toward the table, to which her roommate nodded.

“Yup. The second floor is more private,” she answered. “It’s mostly reserved for the elite patrons.”

Abi frowned. “Then how did we score seats up here?”

“Nigreos paid, I imagine, and just put it under Ryokumo’s name to avoid drawing attention to himself.”

“Ah.”

She and Album then took their seats across from the two boys, and while Abi had to grab one of the menus resting on the right of the table to see what they had, Album just folded her hands and waited, indicating that she must have been there often enough to know what she wanted. Soon enough, a server hurried over to take their orders, and once she had departed, Abi found herself even more excited to spend some proper time with her new team.