6 – The Choice

After the archmage left, Arielle faced her family, who were staring at her for several silent seconds.

“Ari,” Thessa said quietly, planting her hands on her waist. “Do you want to explain yourself?”

Arielle nodded and promptly returned to her initial script. “The fishmonger said that there was no trout today. She offered me a bargain of–”

“I don’t give two toadshits about the fish,” Mother said, and she rushed forward with an energy that had her daughter stepping back.

Thessa cupped her cheek. “Ari, tell me. Have you really been using magic this whole time?”

Ari bit her lip but admitted it with a bob of the head.

“Unbelievable,” Celie said.

“I still don’t get how,” Brom added.

“I talk to the spirit orbs, and they talk back,” Ari explained. “I tell them what to do, and they do it.”

“I thought you’d stopped seeing the orbs some time ago,” Thessa said.

“No,” she responded. “I just stopped telling you about them.”

“I didn’t think they were real. I thought she just zoned and talked to herself,” Brom said. “I thought she was crazy.”

“Don’t call your sister crazy,” Thessa said. “Ari…What do you want to do? Are you sure you want to go to a mage academy? I’ve heard it can be extremely difficult. Very cutthroat. The few mages I’ve met always recount that time in their lives with absolute horror.”

Ari stared at her mother. She hadn’t thought that far, about whether or not she wanted to go to a mage academy. She’d simply wanted to keep her orb-seeing ability.

However, she wasn’t nervous about attending a magic academy either. Academies meant high-level studying, and studying was one of the things she was good at.

“The best thing for her would be to give her powers up,” Celie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Why would she just give them up?” her brother interjected. “It feels like such a waste considering she’s so powerful. Elric said she wasn’t just a regular mage. She’s an Archmage. I think there are only a few dozen of those in the entire world. It takes people several mortal lifetimes to achieve that, and our Ari did in a few years.“ Ari couldn’t be sure, but she thought she detected hints of pride in her brother’s voice.

“That’s not the only thing to consider,” her sister argued. “If Ari becomes an Archmage, she’ll need to keep the true strength of her powers hidden for at least a few years, and she’ll have to lie in order to do that. Our little sister is not a good liar, Brom, and if she’s discovered, that puts her in even more danger. Not to mention, at that point, she’ll be far from home, where we can’t protect her. She’ll be amongst the other Ascendants who are as vicious as they come.”

“Archmage Elric didn’t seem so bad.”

“He’s only one man, and he’s not a good representative of the rest of them. Believe, I’ve met enough to come to that conclusion.” Celie worked as a hired assassin, and her targets were often high-profile, which put her in the company of Ascendants, in a way Brom’s job simply didn’t.

She would know more about Ascendant characteristics than the rest of them.

Arielle had learned a few things about Ascendants and their culture in the schoolhouse. However, apart from Elric and a handful of Greenfingers, she’d never actually met an Ascendant before.

“I don’t know that we need to protect her,” Brom said. “At this point, it looks like she can pretty much protect herself.”

“It’s not that simple. Having magic isn’t everything.”

“But think about her potential. Becoming an Ascendant instantly elevates her status. She’s not stuck in Fenway, trying to be a warrior. She can be whatever she wants. She can be a wealthy aristocrat.”

“Is that all you think about? Money?”

“No. But if we have enough of it, maybe Father will–”

“Don’t say it.” Their mother finally spoke up, levelling Brom with a sharp gaze before returning to Arielle. “I want you to think hard about the decision, my heart. It’s not one you should take lightly at all.”

“Yes,” Arielle said. There were so many angles to consider, and both her siblings had valid points.

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She had to write them all down and weigh them against each other before she could decide.

“Good,” Thessa said. “Now, go wash up for dinner.”

Arielle handed over her wares, explained why she had salt-fish instead of trout, and went up to her room to ready herself for the meal.

It wasn’t long before the door opened again.

She knew it was her sister. Celie moved with a practiced stillness, her presence barely felt.

However, having her there unsettled Ari. Even when she said nothing, the room pulsed with a chaotic energy that triggered Ari to walk over to her desk and start organizing it.

“You’re still not talking to me,” Celie asked.

“No,” Ari affirmed.

“You just did.”

Darn. She kept falling for that trick.

She still didn’t turn around. She kept stacking the books and restacking them in reverse alphabetical order.

“Oh, come now, Ari. You can’t seriously still be mad at me. I was doing you a favor.”

Ari remained silent, punctuated by the sound of tome hitting wood.

“You’re being dramatic, making a problem out of nothing, and blowing everything out of proportion.” The words landed like separate slaps that Ari couldn’t tolerate anymore.

“I’m not blowing anything out of proportion.” She spun around. “I think I have everything perfectly proportional.”

“Okay, Ms. Proportional. Tell me what I did that was so wrong that you haven’t spoken to me for four days.”

“You paid Greta to be friends with me.”

“No.” Celie held up a finger. “I paid her to talk to you. There’s a difference.”

The difference was immaterial to Ari. The result was the same.

She’d thought she had a friend. She’d thought after many long years and failed attempts, she’d finally managed to entice someone, a human, into a companionship. She’d thought there was finally someone who wasn’t put off by her peculiarities, and for two months, she’d lived with that blissful belief.

Until she’d discovered via an overheard conversation that it was simply a trick spawned by her own sister.

“I’m sorry I did it,” Celie said. “But I was tired of seeing you all alone, all the time.”