There's an arrow in that tapestry....? ( Ed x Zel)

Weeks had pass since a massive party had been held at the castle while folks were away doing kingly business and other fun stuff. Aside from a few counts of angry ice sculptors and some very confused and angry house keepers, everything had gone quite well. Or, as well as it could be without a drunken noble orgy happening. Thankfully someone remembered to switch out the spiked punch for the regular kind halfway through the evening. And we all go, thank you Zel.


Even so, he was incredibly grateful that everyone had returned and he could get back to the more menial task of balancing treasury counts and up-keeping the Archives. Though, lately, the alchemist seemed to be using his desk in the War Room more and more...and even had a tissy fit that left one member of the castle's staff as a very confused and upset parakeet. That parakeet --who's name is Rodger-- was currently perched on one of the two arrows that were protruding from one of the very fine tapestries in that war room. He seemed to have gotten over the initial shock and seemed to rather enjoy being a parakeet. Even singing little tunes and whistling for tidbits of sandwich crumbs from the other residents of the castle.

Today, though, he was taking a nap in the quietest room of the castle that happened to be the room Zel was in, and that happened to be the War room--as I mentioned earlier.


Every so often a conversation would strike up, but the most resent one that was still going on was about why Zel was missing that pendant of his.

" Ah? That crystal and steel pendant of mine? " Zel kept on asking, since he did have many pendants, " I haven't a clue. Perhaps a hawk flew in and stole it in the middle of the night. "

" Just like the one that shot the arrow into the tapestry then challenged you to match it, huh? " Rodger slyly clarified, getting a feathered quill pointed at him by the tired looking man, " And what about those fabulous ice sculptures at the --"

" Fabulous? It was a male figure stark naked. And you know it! That is . . .just... whoever comissioned those for the party should be discovered and hung by the shins for a day. Over a bed of petunias. Housing angry ants. "

" Special.... "

" I thought so. Now what was that number again? The Archive. Visitors in the past year? "

The bird was silent for a moment before moving a wing feather back into place, " Three-hundred and a half. "

The bridge of his nose was grasped and Zel for a moment sat in silence. That was . . . low. Very low. It was concerning how low it was. " That was the check out, right? "

" Correct-ckt-ckt~ "

Edward strode through the castle. He was on a mission. His sword, he needed his sword. It was in the war room so that was where he was going. He opened the door and found Zel. He walked across the room and hefted his emerald encrusted sword off the wall.

"Hello Zel, I had been meaning to talk to you about the azrein army reports and........why are there arrows in my favorite tapestry? Is tat a parakeet?" He asked disgruntled. All thoughts of the reports and rosters gone from his mind. "Why do you have a parakeet, I thought you were more a falcon kind of guy." Edward raised an eyebrow.

He slipped his sword out of his scabbard and checked the blade. Still sound and shiny. He pushed it back in with a clink. "Have you seen my black longbow? Ah there it is, shoved in a corner. I tell you there is no reverence for fine weaponry among those bratty pages." He grumbled as he pulled out a length of bowstring, bent the bow and strung it. He lifted it up, having set the broadsword down for a moment, and tested the string. Nope not tight enough. Unstringing the bow, he fished out another string. Tested it and grunted approval. Iron Ox Hide was always the best. Even if it did need to be imported from the world below.

Rodger the Housekeeper fluffed up and flared his crest in absolute insult. " Well I never! " He gave a shrill shriek and a chirp, clicked his beak, hopped on the arrow once, twice, then flew out of the room to go bother the cook and ask for a cracker for singing a limrick. Amazing perks birds had...


Zel on the other hand frowned at the Duke, " Now that wasn't very nice. Rodger has been loyal to the family for years and you just go and insult him like that! You should find him and apologize when you have the chance. " The alchemist looked back down on to the book he was writing in and finished up his amazingly long sentence. All the while, he kept glancing back up towards the ox of a man stringing a bow. Oh, that's right. He unstrung the bow to prevent warping a few days back. Snazzy. " And I am more of a Lich Owl kind of person, or a hawk or raven. Parakeet was the first thing that came to mind when I was dealing with rodger a few day's back. "

Oh right the tapestry. Zel threw some sand on the parchment to sop up the rest of the ink, and stood up before walking over and inspecting the tapestry again for the nth time. " A woman shot it first then challenged me. I lost. But apparently won points for being honest. Lady Ellis has a very interesting Lady-in-Waiting. Quite skilled she is. Poised, graceful, polite, and holy cow does she know how to use a weapon. Er... You don't mind that we used on of the spare bows, do you? "

Probably now would be when Ed would notice that Zel was missing the only real permanent piece to his wardrobe, and that would be the pendant. And yet Zel wasn't threatenting to burn villiages or eat first borns... curious.

"Oh no, not at all, that is what the spare bows are for afterall...shooting tapestries. I didn't know that rodger was the parakeet. What happened to him?" Edward really looked at the alchemist for the first time. "And where in Hellfyre is your necklace? You sleep with that thing on!"

Ed was royally confused. Honestly you visit your chosen's herd for three days and now he was surprised that the bloody castle was still standing. "WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED AFTER I LEFT?" He hugged his bow, and tucked the string back into a special pocket. He had come in here because he was about to do a general armements drill for the new recruits but apparently he needed to catch p on the news and gossip around here first.

Zel blinked, and tilted his head to the side before absently reaching up where the necklace usually hung. He drummed a finger on his chest for a moment, shrugged and said, quite seriously, " A hawk flew in, shot the tapestry, and ran off with my necklace during the Masquerade you missed during your visit. Oh. Did you know that that damned ice sculptor is still making naked human sculptures? " Zel pointed to the clock that most everyone that knew the secret passage ways was the door to a way out of the castle in case a siege happened, " She escaped through there. Nice lady. "


He snickered, shook his head and glanced back up at the arrows, " Damn. . . I really did miss by that much, huh? " he muttered under his breath, momentarily forgetting Edward was standing right there. " Anyways, You really didn't miss much aside from the Winter Festival wrap up party. And the decoration turn down, and the whole attack of the winter spiderwebs mob. Missus Sable again was at the head of the charge and frankly attacked Nigel's apartment with so much vigor that I swore I heard the spider's screaming. But then again, you're probably still more keen on knowing why I would part with my necklace. "

And then there it was, Zel shrugged and grinned, " I like her. A woman that knows how to act in public, hasn't slept with every man in court, can lift an unfamiliar weapon and fire it in precision, and knows how to dance and has a sense of humor is one you don't come across every day. Maybe I'll ask for her hand when I visit her father to negotiate arms deals when I do my trip to the Land's below this spring.... "

Edward stared at Zel. He couldn't believe this. The man was twitterpated. He raised a dark eyebrow. "Zel, you allowed a woman to take your necklace, without a fight? I don't think you are feeling okay." Edward looked up at the arrows. "She must be pretty special. Very special. What is her name? You say she is lady Eliis's lady in waiting?" Edward fiddled with his own necklace, the heavy dukal ring that was a symbol of his bond with the King.

Edward paused and blinked. "There were naked ice sculptures? Really? How vulgar."

Edward's mouth fell open. "You are going to ask for her hand and I haven't even met her yet?"

Okay, so he was stretching the truth just a little too far, Zel roared with laughter, " I am, aren't I. But I have completed all my work for the day, minus the last two lines of the Archival Ledger for this year. And I suppose she didn't take it. I gave it. " Reaching up, he scratched the back of his head inside his hood. Perhaps that wasn't the best idea he had, but it was probably the smartest way to find her again. " ah? Name? Yes. Lady Kinley, Lady Ellis' lady in waiting. "


With another snort, Zel nodded, " Yes indeed. I'll give you two guesses who the naked sculpture was, and it wasn't me. "


This reaction, the whole jaw drop thing, was rather uncalled for. Reaching up, Zel firmly closed Ed's mouth with a rather firm gesture. " Frankly, I have a right to consider this without introducing her to either yourself or His Majesty the loose. Then again, whenever she is around, you're always off with that butler in the stables. " Course, it wasn't hard to guess what those loud moans and screams were that came from that stable. That place echoed and the Azrein housed there tended to tell stories if their sleep was disrupted. Then again, it really wasn't hard to guess. Lowly, and perhaps with a little too much amusement Zel spoke up with a knowing and plotting grin upon his face, " A demon and a duke have no place there. But I'm not one to judge considering I've fallen for a perfectly normal woman. Anyways.... Don't you have folks to train? Would you mind if I observed? We apparently lost the Archive guards and I need replacements. There were mice standing before the door this morning. Mice, can you believe that? I don't remember doing that . Smartly dressed mice. In foil and toothpick spears too. Intelligent. Still scatter whne one yells ' cat' though... " .

Edward made a face. "Argh Azzy ice sculptures, woof."

"How did you know about the butler Zel? And I personally like the stables. No noisy maids, twittering nobles and pissed off parakeets."
Edward coughed. "Well yes I do have folks to train. Not that many will be ready once this war starts. I can see it over the horizon just beyond the curve of the earth. It is coming soon and fast."

"Perhaps one of your many proteges has been dabbling in transformation magic again. Remember the day I had a crocodile in my bathtub? THAT was one of your kids who had "Borrowed" a textbook. Made bathing rather difficult having to move that beastie around. Kick him out when i get in and then somehow getting him in again."

Ed snorted. "Hopefully you didn't turn cookie into a cat you know how she dislikes guards and stuff, she might have eaten them."

Ed gathered up his two weapons and started toward the training court.

Beneath that cowl, Zel rolled his eyes and nearly face palmed. " I've had five years, Edward. Naturally I know what a demon is when someone is screwing it in the hay. Energy goes haywire and naturally, you're kinda drawn towards it if you are sensitive to that sort of thing. " Mentally, Zel was just damned thankful it wasn't a demon of war. That... yeah. Not happy thoughts.


And spekaing of wars, Zel frowned and followed, grabbing a couple of thing sabers as well as a crossbow for himself. If he was going to observe he better be able to have some fun. Oh, water arrows and what not. He wasn't going to shoot live ammunition at the boys. Besides, it's been a while since he caused havoc there. New faces probably wouldn't know what the Alchemist was doing there. " Hmm... War has been on the horizon since Azreth took the thrown. Just look at the map! We have almost half the world at war and we're barely struggling to hold on to our peace. Treaties are sent every day, and less than one percent are even forwarded to Azreth because of how outlandish they are. Someone wanted to exchange women for ammunition. Essentially slave trade. " Zel sighed, resting the crossbow on his shoulders. Politics was a depressing subject.

" Cookie? I don't touch her. She's the devil. " he said with a straight face. No, she was human, but Zel and Cookie didn't always get along. They were on a truce period.

"Women for ammunition huh? You know that is interesting, the butler and I were just discussing when I would have to go undercover in a dress. Perhaps that would be the time to try it eh?" Edward laughed uproariously, could you see their facees? A six foot women! " He laughed so hard he bent over. They walked into the courtyard under the cover of hearty guffaws.

"Alright trainees, you get a special treat today, this here is Zel, he will be observing and perhaps joining in on your session. No he is not target practice, but I dare you... oh nevermind you will find out. Anyway. this is a broadsword, it probably weighs more then you do so don't pick one up until I say you are ready. If you can string one of the longbows i have provided then you may practice with that, however if you can't then you will be using short bows like the one Jerenth just poked his eye with. Understood? Good. Practice staves are in the bucket. Go arm yourselves in an orderly fashion.

" That can be arranged faster than you could blink, big boy. Just throw some boobs on you and if they don't lift your skirt, it'd be a riot and then a brawl. " Zel smirked and found himself plotting again. Ah, it was good to have the intelligent man about...that could squish his head like a grape. Ironic.


With his scimitars belted over his shoulders, and a crossbow idly held, he kinda watched the recruits with the most amused scowl he could muster. Haa....and they thought the alchemist couldn't do practical fighting. " I'll be over here, then shall I? Yes. Yes I shall. Don't mind me~ " Zel did move to the shadier part of the courtyard. Half because he didn't want to over heat when he went through his own practice, but it made creating icy cold bolts far easier. Amazingly, he easily got out of his office robe, folded it up in a neat square of red revealing that he did wear stuff underneath it like a fitted high neck black shirt and sleeves that seemed to accent his lean muscles that seemed to oddly cut off at mid-bicep. There was a reason for that, but it was in the Arcane realm that it seemed to make people's eyes glaze over. Same went for the reason those sleeves seemed almost like gloves with the covering of the thumb and the pinky finger.

But once that was done, he took a few moments to situate those swords comfortably on his back before casually wandering over, and nabbing one of the long bows, taking probably less than a second to string it, pluck it and wander back over to where he was. Obviously...he was up to something when he took no quiver either. Probably unnerved a few students, but he was here for entertainment. Obviously, not their entertainment but for his own. Green eyes sparkled with mischeif as he awaited the start of the lesson, idly standing by with an elbow on an end of the bow. " Well? Practice. It's not like I'm going to do something to disrupt it... too terribly. "

Edward grinned, which also scared the students. A few of the females swooned and most of the males glared. There intructors were indeed pretty, if evil. Edward had a slight idea at what Zel was up too. He did nothing to stop it. It was good for the pupils to come up against unexpected things once in a while, after all war was full of surprises. "Alright everybody have their staves? Stand in the ready positions facing your partners. Kelsing, Numal and Dethring you have strung your longbows and may practice with them by the target range, off you go. Everyone else POSITION 1, 4 and 17 go!" He yelled at the top of formidable lungs. The girl and two boys who had managed to string their bows, trickled out between their classmates. Alfaen tripped on his own feet and did a face plant and his parter lever the practice sword over his spinal column and tapped him, letting him know he had lost. "Well done Suthring."

Course, it was probably his lack of pendant that probably fooled the kids into thinking he was just some nobody. Then again, hardly anyone knew him as Zel aside from Azreth, Ed, and the few he asked to call him that. He watched for a bit before rolling his shoulders, muttering a few words under his breath and amazingly drew three arrows of almost crystalline quality out of nowhere. He drew the bow back, took a calculated look and pretty much shot them upwards to the sky. At their apex, the arrows split, and sped back to earth smaller, almost like shards of freezing water unto the practicing students of the quarterstaves. Thrice he did this in succession in under a minute...which goes to show that he really did have other talents than Alchemy. Done, he stayed poised at that trajectory, wiggling his fingers before glancing to see the chaos that he caused.

" HAH! Alchemy and Archery! A match made in hell. Now...imagine if those were flaming! HAA HA HA HA HA . " Zel roared with laughter before sitting down on the bench behind him, happily grinning at the chaos. He probably should have shouted incoming, but hey... war was chaos.

The entire assemblage of students squawked and screamed and showed various degrees of freaking out.

"Never underestimate someone in a robe. Now then warm yourselves up. Practice! 6, 3 and 2 followed by 11, 9 and 8. Go go go!" Edward grinned madly at Zel. This was so much fun. Eventually Ed let the little weasels fight amongst themselves without him squawking commands at them. That is when he brought out his own sword and started to transition between stances, configurations, strikes, parries ect. Sort of a warrior yoga. Keeping him sharp. He wondered when Zel would get bored of harrassing the pupils and start on him. Edward grinned. He wasn't quite as helpless of the others but he had learned to respect Zel and those waggly fingers.

The chaos was fun to watch. It warmed Zel's little soul just enough to get a brilliant idea. A wicked idea. An absolutely wickedly cool idea that would probably give a few kids nightmares and prepare them for real battle so that they were more afraid of him than the guy with the sword coming at him. He heaved himself up, with the strung bow reverently set down on the bench and appeared to be fetching himself some water from the pump. taking a hand cupping full, Zel appeared to take a drink, but the water vanished from his hands and his gaze was skyward.

Yes, he was using quite a bit of magic and Skill. And apparently talking to himself as he seemed to be doing a rather large spell.... Almost out of nowhere a dragon of ice, large and beautiful as crystals can be, came and landed in the square not too far from Zel. It was just a spell so it wasn't real. But obviously, Zel was bored. " If Your Grace would allow it.... would His students wish to see how they fair against a beast of lore? " The dragon, not a wyvrn, shifted on its four great clawed feet, stretching its membranous glassy wings outward before folding them once more against its back. The great horned beast of ice then gazed at the assemblage, before shaking itself out, sending small icy snow bits around it on the warm day. The monster seemed to take a deep breath, holding it for a minute at least before a snarl crossed its maw and jaws opened, spewing forth a slurry of freezing water and snow that misted away as though it was supposed to be fire.

A few students finally realized that this 'Zel' was the Alchemist of the castle.... and there probably was at least one that soiled their pants. Cause... dude... DRAGONS!

While Zel was muttering Ed was watching him from a pose that allowed for a good line of view. "Oh..no." he said as he watched vapours condense. Soon the dragon landed. Awesome a dragon. One of his candidates fainted outright. "Well that rules him out."

"I don't mind, I would like to watch actually." Ed smiled. Dragons were his favorite. He had always wanted to see one. This was pretty close. From the journals he had read its anatomy was accurate. "Well done Zel."

Edward sheathed his sword and said. " Alimney, Fervera, Intilka you first." The named candidates took their positions.

The thunk of someone hitting the ground broke Zel's concentration for a moment, thus the dragon wavered momentarily before seeming to clear its throat and sit up regally, curling its spiked tail around itself. as it regarded the beings that barely came up to its elbow. Especially the ones that looked like they were holding miniature toothpicks. Once the fainted one was cleared out, Zel's fingers twitched and his arms moved as though he was playing some invisible piano, or puppeting some puppet that one couldn't see.


" Its a little off.. I only had one handful of water. Imagine what I could do with a lake~ " Zel boasted, though he probably would make the same dragon, just a bit more solid and a bit more....dangerous. For training purposes, this was perfect.

Once the two first were in place, the dragon crouched, eyes blazing a blue--as did Zel's if one noticed-- and it shot from the ground in a mighty flap of its wings only to circle around the two for a minute...After all..half of the battle with a dragon was getting it to land. The other half was not becoming a snack. The dragon let out a scream that echoed in the courtyard befor diving and again breathing that icy breath of his. It flew a bit lower than it should, but again, Zel was being nice. . . . That much would be obvious to Edward at the least.

The dragon dragged its claws on the stone and sand, massing wings out in a glide as it flew no more than two feet from the ground ready to devour the two disciples in the gaping maw........

Edward's hair stood up on his arms as the dragon screamed. He loves that sound. Although it did jangle his nerves. That was half the fun. Not many things managed to have that effect on him nowadays, once you grew over six feet, not too many things wanted to pick on you.

Edward watched as the dragon flew low and yelled at the warriors, "Split up and hop on! Don't forget your swords!." What he didn't tell them was to use their daggers to hang on. They would find that out through trial and error. Silly kids.

The Duke admired the crystal blue of the dragon. It was a beautiful beast. He wondered if any of the candidtes would succeed with the dragon. How long would it take them. Personaly he wouldn't want to fight a dragon. They were so rare and magnificent and he had always wanted one as a pet.

The trainees took the hint and leaped onto the back of the dragon. Zel's shoulder twitched as did the dragons. Snarls cross their faces before the dragon took a flap and spun into a spiral...only one trainee seemed to hang on from sheer panic, the other slipped off with a thud. They weren't harmed, at least they weren't too harmed by the fall. The blast of cold water that came afterward drenching the person pretty much called him out. Now for the annoying one clung to a scale.


The dragon roared again, slamming itself onto its back in a primal matter.... thankfully becasue it wasn't a real dragon, no harm was done to the trainee aside from a few scrapes, but that still didn't shake him. In fact it earned the dragon a prick. That was it.. Whipping its head around, the dragon took the man in its jaws delicatly then snapped him up... Depositing him sopping wet on the ground after that waterslide of fun through where the dragon's stomach would have been. Zel looked amused, as did the dragon...but smugness was nowhere. Again the mighty beast sat prettily with its tail wrapped around its claws

Zel tilted his head to the side then spoke, " . . . Not bad. You're both 'dead', but not bad. But I do grow bored of this..... " Zel slammed his hands together. A loud clap and the dragon smashed away as a near blinding light spewed forth from Zel's hands. He then pulled them apart, palms skyward. Now there were two chimera....no...Grypons.. Full height and again made of that icy water. WIthout hearing anything other than an ' OH SHIT' from some archer in the back, the two monsterous horse sized beats charged forward ready to cause some not so harmful harm.

Their claws ripped into clothing, but just chilled skin, their beaks ripped and snapped their weapons, but almost froze limbs... Obviously, Zel was trying to make a point that their opponent wasn't these creatures, but himself... so far no one has picked up on that. And he was getting very bored. And annoyed.... And being so very OPEN WITH HIS SPELLS! . . . Yep. the Island was doomed. With a raised eyebrow he glanced at Edward with a ' Seriously? I hope these aren't the best...'.

Edward gazed wistfully at where the dragon had been. But soon the specter was replaced with two griffons. His eyes brightened merrily again. Griffons were some of Zel's favorites he thought. He tapped out a message in the code that the inner circle of the king's court used.
"Perhaps if I tickled you while they fought? Then they may have a chance oftherwise...no." Edwards eyes crinkled at the edges with mischeif. He called a friendly hawk down from its coastings on the thermals. The magnificent creature floated down to alight on his broad shoulder. One of the potege's was watching and looked astounded.. unfortunately he was no longer paying any attention to the griffon. Pity.

Edward stroked the soft feathers of the birds chest and watched cryptically. Ah yes...any minute now. At least the other candidate was paying attention to his beast. Ugh. Younglings. The hawk called in agreement. Edward waggled his eyebrows at Zel. His sparkling eyes told the other to "Have fun~."

It was astounding to Zel that none had caught onto the first rule of fighting anyone with magick: Take them out first then deal with the summons if they're still around. Then again, folks didn't quite really pay all that much attention when there were birds of dangerous levels charging, clawing, and mauling with freezing potentials. He just didn't quite know what to do.

And that poor kid that stopped paying attention? Yeah, he got a beak full of water to his face.

" Tickle? Though you are right... They still wouldn't have much of a chance... And I think I stirred the ants nest enough for one day. " As much as he longed to watch the birds terrorize the students, they didn't have time for this. There were other things that needed to be done. And Edward was looking a bit too smug there chilling with the hawk for his own good. That glint in the man's eye was amusing, and did indeed catch the Alchemist's attention just enough.

A few flicks of his fingers and both birds stopped in their tracks, one was even in mid swipe of a poor student that tripped on backpedaling. The birds turned, screeched, then charged with icy crests flared and wings tucked at the massive swordsman and the bird. Yet before they made it within striking distance... POOF! Back they went to water and Zel sat heavily down on the bench behind him. Laughing. Madly. " Haaaa, that truly was fun. The most fun I've had in months. Ah, well, relatively speaking. " He managed to control his laughter for a moment to assess the damage he caused. No destroyed structures, the flowers look freshly watered, and aside from soggy trainees, nothing seemed too out of place. Well, nothing out of place from a crazily happy Alchemist.

He paused and realized he might be frightening the younger folks. " Oh, um... so... Yeah. I'll not interfere anymore. "

Ed gave him a wry look. Feathers were strewn in his hair. And his bird had jumped ship as the watery griffons had charged. He stared at Zel , waiting for the other man to laugh. He could only hold his face still for so long before he cracked up too and both earned concerned looks from the students.

"Ahh nothing like a good brawl and a closing prank. Edward wiped happy tears from his eyes. "I mean...cough.. go shine up your weapons before they rust you brats. And go read your scrolls on magic users there is a pop quiz tomorrow with inly one question and no we are not giving you hints. Zel knew what the question would be already so Ed didn't have to explain. "I hope my bird's feathers grow back eventually. Judging by the shedding she lost half of them in her flight. Pity she was a better student then the actual humans. Aw Zel where did all the good offspring go?"

With a twinkle in his eye, the alchemist watched as the students picked themselves up from the chaos and tended to themselves. He heard a few mutterings about how their instructors were crazy. In a years time, Zel didn't doubt that those same students would be praising this lesson and these rough training/instruction sessions. It was a sobering thought that rattled Zel to his very soul. In a few years, this whole world could be wrought with war and famine, or could be in peace and prosperity... Too many variables. Too many paths. No one could see the chaotic threads right now.

Running a hand through his hair and holding on the back of his neck to relieve the stress that came up from that humbling thought, Zel chuckled and couldn't answer the grand question. " They're young. Probably no younger than His Majesty. Our Isle hasn't seen war in at least... No, I don't want to even begin to fathom that. Not since the internal wars, Your Grace. " He shook his head and those green eyes peered at the taller man. " We're lucky to even have a volunteer army. All the grand soldiers passed before they could bring us good warriors. If even but one nation from Below thought to attack, we would be destroyed. "

You either learned to fight, or you fell, Zel mentally added and cringed as he remembered the girl he was falling for. The bird in question earlier seemed fine, if not irate and down right insulted that someone would throw water at her. Still, feather's missing and all, she was still quite the sight to behold. He found himself staring at her lazy gliding. " How many do we have ready? Their armies have grown... How many are trained to take down... " Could Zel even bring himself to say 'other Azrein'? No. Not right now. It was an unfathomable thought. He just stared at his friend, wishing that he had that comforting weight of his profession hanging around his neck right now.

"I hope the world below never thinks to invade here. We have our own problems." Edward blinked and shook his head. The mental images were quite unpleasant and he didn't want to go there. There were more practical things to think about. Like the point that Zel brought up next.

"I believe we have about seven for sure and fifteen at most who are able to fight." Edward replied. "How are your apprentices coming? Any figured out the secret yet?" Edward knew there were many intricies in magic. One could not just master the art in a night. It seemed to take some inner discoveries and a affirmation of the rules before young magic users settled into the demands of their craft and were able to manipulate magic with the respect it needed. The closest Edward ever really got was testing some of Zel's transfiguration potions which amused both of them. One minty slug potion could go a long way. But he seldom got to see the actual channeling of the power.

" With the climate down there, one floating landmass would be good for all parties. " Ah, well, not so good once they figured out just how chaotic life on the floating magical island was. It would take them two seconds to realize they were in far deeper and dangerous woods than any have known. Especially that stupid Copperbottom fellow from that larger landmass. Whatever the hell that name was. "Until they discover we have dragons and gryphons running around rampant. Oh. Yes. We have dragons in the West and south again. . . .No. I am not letting you go after them."


Frustrated at this news, he again ran his fingers through his red hair, messing the longer strands up again. " My 'apprentices' are idiots. They get thrown at me thinking I can make them amazing magicians, but in truth they are better left to the fields than to study. Those that have shown promise, I've sent to the Arcanium Below to make sure that they learn the proper techniques. If they all survive, we'll have five fully trained Magus or Alchemists ready for battle In the next three months in need of a mentor. I don't have time for that. None of us have time for that." It was a long speech. He was starting to ramble. " Damnit it all... I'm going to be grey before I'm thirty-five at this rate! Grey! Me! Then I'll have to grow my beard out and pray that it goes grey as well! "


Zel stared at Edward for a long bit, then realized this was all being a bit egocentric. " How's that woman of yours anyways? "