99 – In Good Hands

Fortunately, Vivi didn’t have to exaggerate to reassure Petra that the restaurant’s dishes had more than met her expectations. Funnily enough, the woman didn’t even seem pleased to receive that praise, merely relieved, as if ‘it was the best meal I’ve ever had’ had been the lowest bar worth clearing and anything less would have shamed her.

Petra extracted similar opinions from the rest of the table, seeming as intensely interested in their responses as she had been in Vivi’s, then, after receiving those answers, thanked them one more time and left them alone to finish their meal, saying she would return at the end.

When the final course—dessert—arrived, Vivi felt the time had come to address the reason she’d brought Aeris along.

“So, Isabella,” Vivi started. “I should apologize: I think I might have caused you some unnecessary trouble.”

Isabella froze with her fork half raised to her mouth. She delicately set the bite back down and put on a quizzical look. “Trouble, Lady Vivisari?”

“I was heavy-handed yesterday. Not just with my requests to the crown that your father’s actions don’t fall onto you, but also with how I implied that you were under my protection. So in the future, it’s likely that people will see you as—” She wondered how to phrase it. “A way to get to me. Hopefully that just means they’ll try to earn your favor to earn mine, but…”

Isabella hardly needed Vivi to spell it out. ‘A way to get to Vivi’ didn’t just include the carrot end of the carrot-and-stick metaphor. More aggressive strategies might be employed too. In the worst case, someone could try to kidnap Isabella and hold her for ransom to force the Sorceress into complying with their nefarious ploys.

Strangely, though, the girl didn’t seem the slightest bit fazed. She ruminated over what Vivi had said for a couple of seconds, then shrugged. “I see. Thank you for telling me. I’m already Duke Caldimore’s only daughter, so people seeing me as a stepping stone to get to someone important is hardly new.” She shook her head. “Also, please, Lady Vivisari, you shouldn’t be apologizing to me for anything. Not more than a few days ago, you literally saved my life.” She looked down at her plate. “More than that, really.”

Vivi didn’t respond for a few moments. “I’ve still painted a target on your back.”

“My father painted a much larger one.”

That might be debatable, but Vivi didn’t push. “Well, regardless, since I assume you want to continue your magical education at the Institute, I wanted to leave you in good hands. And hopefully leverage a good reputation to shield you until things calm down.”

Confusion scrunched Isabella’s face. Vivi would have thought that the girl had put two and two together by now—if not the moment she’d seen Aeris. Isabella had always come off as an intelligent young woman, and Vivi inviting the archmage along to dinner surely hinted at a greater motive.

“…leave me in good hands?” Isabella questioned.

“You can stay at the manor as long as you want, that goes without saying. But when you do return to the Institute, yes. Archmage Aeris agreed to teach you—an official apprenticeship.”

Isabella sat back in her chair, looking nothing short of dumbfounded by the announcement. Her open astonishment turned to Aeris, and the old man smiled.

“Assuming you yourself find the arrangement amenable, of course,” he said.

Isabella looked lost for several long moments. Eventually, she struggled out, “But… why?”

“You’ll need to be more specific with that question, dear.”

“Why… is everyone helping me so much?”

Vivi almost physically winced at the words. Aeris sighed. Saffra glared at Isabella and poked her in the side.

“Why wouldn’t people help you?” the redhead challenged hotly.

“Indeed,” Aeris said. “There should be no need for reasons for one person to render aid to another. If one can, one should. And that goes triply from an adult to a child, an instructor to a student.” Another sigh. “It pains me that you even voiced such a question.” He waved his hand as if to dismiss the heavy topic. “Normally I pick apprentices from the upper years, ones that I’ve gotten to know through classes I’ve taught, so I don’t have much of an idea what your goals are, what specialty you’re pursuing—if you’ve even decided on one yet. But given the circumstances, I still think this makes sense for you.”

Isabella again visibly didn’t know how to respond. She latched onto one of the less important things Aeris had said. “I don’t have a specialty, or one in mind yet, no. But I’m… not very good in the combat evaluations.”

“She says that, but she still had the best overall ratings,” Saffra told Aeris. “That’s how far ahead she was.”

Isabella not-so-discreetly glared at her friend and elbowed her—then immediately seemed embarrassed, probably because the behavior wasn’t ‘appropriate considering their company’ or something of that sort. Vivi had noticed that Saffra was uniquely skilled at making the normally refined girl break her composure.

“You’re a warmage,” Isabella said in as polite a tone of voice as she could. “It just seems like not the best fit, is what I was getting at.”

Aeris stroked his beard with a serious expression, then nodded. “Should you find a more appropriate mentor in the future, I will have no qualms about you pursuing tutelage elsewhere.”

Isabella’s expression turned outright aghast. “That isn’t what I meant. I meant… me. I wouldn’t be a proper apprentice to you, Archmage Aeris.”