Fox, Satyr, Dragon Pt. 02

"My wedding happened six years ago." Balraj said. "Just days after..."

"I see." Jack murmured, looking at Alina and Branigan's shrinking backs.

***

Later that night, while Balraj, Alina, and Heyan were travelling back home, Alina broke the tired silence. "Branigan told me what happened to him, Bala. When we went on our walk."

Balraj's grip tightened on the steering wheel but he did not take his eyes off the road. "I am sorry. For not telling you."

"Why didn't you?!" Alina snapped. Hearing Heyan whine briefly in the backseat, Alina lowered her voice. Her hurt glare remained. "You told me he got sick!"

"I didn't want to frighten you just days before our wedding." Balraj said. "And, obviously, the less people that know the better. A secr-"

"Cut the bullshit, Bala." Alina said. "I keep a secret better than you can and you know that. And you had plenty of opportunities after the wedding to tell me! Damn it to the Advent, Balraj, he's my nephew too! I have a right to know! I may not know him as well as you but damn it I love him. Anyone you love, I love."

"I am sorry." Balraj brushed his remorseful tears before they made it to his mustache and beard. "I am sorry, Alina."

"Tell me why."

Balraj shook his head.

"Tell me, Bala." Alina said. "No more secrets."

Balraj sighed a short, but shaking, sigh. "I was afraid that... Don't be upset when I say this."

"I'll decide whether or not to be upset, Balraj." Alina said tersely.

"Fine." Balraj said. "I was afraid that if you knew, you would not let Branigan be Heyan's godfather."

Her son's slumber prevented Alina from shouting, so she hissed instead. "What?!"

"I've wanted Branigan to be my child's godfather since before I even met you, Alina. And that didn't change even after Branigan cut his lifespan in half." Balraj said. "I'm sor-"

"You know why Branigan told me the truth?" Alina asked. "He wanted complete transparency. He wanted me to know who I was giving Heyan to in case something happened to you and me. And you know what I said? Huh? Tell me, Bala. What do you think I said?"

Balraj hung his head in the red glow of the stoplight. "Heyan will still be Bran's godson."

"Of course!" Alina didn't need to yell. The wounded fury in her eyes was enough. "Do you realize how many parents would do anything for a guardian like that for their kid? Most parents would die for their child. No question. But anyone else? They can't reasonably expect the same sacrifice." Alina paused to catch her breath. "I would never expect Branigan to die for Heyan. I pray that never happens. But I know now, implicitly, that Bran would. We could all beg him not to and he still would."

"You're right."

"I know." Alina huffed and sat back. She didn't speak again for another five minutes. But when she did, she sounded less angry. "Branigan checked and confirmed what Simran said. Heyan's fein is healthy. Strong even. He'll shine when he comes to Foxcastle."

"...Good." Balraj nodded. "Good."

"With plenty of godsiblings to play and study with." Alina smiled. "Three girlfriends. Likely becoming three wives. I can't believe it."

"Yes. Even among Dra, a relationship like theirs is uncommon." Balraj said. "Four individuals completely in love with each other."

"How do they not get jealous?"

"It helps that Dra are raised in a culture where polyamory and polyfidelity are seen as normal." Balraj said. "It can still be hard. Most people may get two partners and those two partners won't be romantically involved with each other. Like, for example, Sasha's three parents. Mathias and Chel are dear friends and nothing more."

"I see." Alina said. "Do you wish for another?"

Balraj snorted. "Love, you have learned tonight just how stupid I am. I'd be lucky to keep you around for the rest of my life. I can't imagine another."

"You are lucky." Alina said dryly before brushing his hair. "Never hide something like this from me ever again, Balraj."

"I promise."

***

Branigan had attempted to entice them into spending the night, but Sasha and Natalia were exhausted and Branigan's bed wasn't large enough to allow for more than two sleeping adults. Natalia opened their dorm door and held it for Sasha.

"Woops." Sasha stepped back off the envelope on the ground. "Looks like you got mail, Nat. I think Natalia Foley got it by accident as usual."

"Damn it I've told her not to slip it under the door like that." Natalia sighed and took the letter. She tore it open upon seeing who it was from. It was shockingly short considering the sender. Natalia feared the worst. "Bran's dad finally got back to me."

"Really?!" Sasha crowded over Natalia's shoulder. "Finally! He took his damn time."

"Don't say that. Bran said he was busy."

"What could he be busy with? He's retired."

"Well if you'd let me read then maybe I'll find out!" Natalia snapped, having tried and failed to read the first sentence for the fifth time.

"Sorry."

Ms. Natalia Fox,

I apologize for taking this many months to respond to you and your request for help. Bran knew my response from how long I was taking but I asked him to remain quiet and tell you I was busy. In the time of my silence with you, he did his best to convince me to say yes.

However, as bright as you are, I could not in good conscience allow you to pursue Demonology. Not if I had any say in it. I personally know the cost it demands. As do you, now that you are aware of my son's secret sacrifice. But the intelligence and curiosity you have shown in our correspondence held back my hasty response and replaced it with hesitance. Hence the time it has taken.

I have changed my mind. You can thank Simran for that. She told me I was placing my own fears over your wants and that it was incredibly selfish to do so. Obviously, my traumas are not your own. As such, you cannot be expected to behave like they are.

I spoke with one of my colleagues before she left on a research trip to Persia. I recommended you to her and called in a favor from when we were both apprentices - a story for another time. Unfortunately she cannot be easily contacted while she is there, but when she returns at the end of the coming summer, you will be able to meet her and work out when to start your apprenticeship. I apologize for choosing a mentor for you but you truly cannot find a better person to learn from. Aside from me.

Her name is Dr. Ria Whitherwand. I suggest you read her works before you two meet. She is not immune to flattery.

Sincerely,

Dr. Arthur Branigan Stone II

"AHHHHHH!" Natalia screamed and jumped in place, shaking the letter in her hand. "AHHHHH SASHA!"

"YOU GOT AN APPRENTICESHIP!" Sasha screamed with her and tackled her into a hug. "FINALLY!" She frowned at the letter. "Took your damn time, Dr. Stone! And what was with the tone? He doesn't sound excited at all."

"Because he probably isn't." Natalia said softly. "He's usually way more wordy in his letters."

"Mmm. Okay. He gets a break." Sasha said. "We'll have to go to him if we want to actually meet him, won't we?"

"Yeah." Natalia sighed. "Considering he never wants to come back here."

"If Bran can do it then..." Sasha realized why. "Probably because it didn't happen to him, huh?"

"Yeah." Natalia said. "His son was hurt. Not him."

In the ensuing silence, Sasha read the letter again. And snorted when she got near the end.

"What?"

"Aside from me." Sasha quoted. "Humble."

"In Dr. Stone's case, he's being accurate." Natalia smiled. "The world lost an amazing Demonologist that night."

"You think he's really done with it?" Sasha asked. "His letters to you were eager enough. He's not completely soured on the subject."

"I'm not going to get my hopes up." Natalia hugged Sasha. "But maybe if we help Bran like we're planning to... Dr. Stone will become a Demonologist again."

"You wanna go tell Bran the good news?"

"I'll tell him in the morning."

Chapter 23: Thrash And Chomp

The senior exhibition was coming up in a week, taking place just before exams began. Natalia was in the throes of panic studying even though she was the most prepared out of every eighth year in Foxcastle. Sasha was doing some studying, but most of her time was spent on fine tuning her diffuser - what she and the others had taken to calling her healing potion dispersal device. Jack was fine with the grades her current level of knowledge would get her and was focusing her efforts on training for the tournament - taking place after exams - and preparing for the senior exhibition. Seeing the stress his girlfriends were in had prompted Branigan into forcing them to go on walks a few times a week. Natalia had negotiated it down to one per week now that the end of the year was near. Branigan was not pleased with how those negotiations had turned out.

"I can't wait to just sit back and do nothing for months." Sasha said. She often broke out into impatient speed walking and had to be gently tugged back by Jack or Natalia.

"I can't wait to knock a few heads in at the tournament." Jack said. "That will relieve some stress."

"Mmm." Natalia said. She was doing a fein-focusing exercise with twelve dodecahedron dice. The standard, six-faced dice had become too easy for her.

"Bran said no practicing while on our walks." Sasha said, attempting to grab the floating dice out of the air.

"It's fine. This is calming for me." Natalia easily kept the dodecahedrons out of Sasha's hands while still rotating them into various numerical orderings. The dice did not even wobble from the disturbance.

Jack and Sasha shared a glance. Branigan had mentioned again that Natalia's progress as a Dra had exceeded being simply impressive. They allowed Natalia to pull slightly ahead, and Jack leaned in to whisper to Sasha. "It's looking like it'll be Nat that solves Bran's problem and not us."

"Yeah." Sasha said. "I'm fine with that."

"Same but I'd like to be involved too. Bran's also my-" Jack was interrupted by Natalia shouting and breaking out into a run. "Nat?"

"It's Lucas!" Natalia answered, swiftly levitated her dice into their carrying case and shoved it in her back packet. "He's attacking Glen!"

Jack and Sasha saw Lucas in the distance standing over Glen. The latter was writhing in pain and not getting up.

"Sasha check on Glen! And Jack, stay out of the fight." Natalia wished she hadn't stopped using her wards. They would have been useful for what she was about to do. To her surprise, she held no hesitance. "LUCAS!"

Natalia wove together a spell that caused a vine to erupt from the ground next to her. Chunks of the ground exploded away from the vine in chunks as it grew. In reality, the vine was actually grass and dirt with their form altered and merged to form a vine. A complicated spell on its own, Jack and Sasha's awe increased with Natalia controlling the vine as an extension of herself. It writhed and twisted like it was sentient. She directed it towards Lucas and grabbed him around the waist, pulling him away from his boyfriend. He cursed and began tugging at the thick green growth. When it didn't yield to his fingers, he began burning it.

"You're going to be okay, Glen." Sasha said. Glen's nose was bleeding profusely and his right eye was swelling, but she was mainly concerned for his strangely twisted arm. She couldn't do anything for him without any supplies. "Jack, Glen needs to get to the infirmary."

"Someone else can take him. It's just a broken arm. I'm not leaving Nat." Jack stood with her arms crossed as she watched Natalia duel Lucas. Jack couldn't dream of doing what Natalia was doing even if her prosthetics were off.

Lucas attacked with three stones, launching them at Natalia in a horizontal layout. Natalia's response to it was almost lazy in its dismissal. Two of the stones were halted mid-flight and forced to drop, while one was permitted to come close until she directed it around herself and back towards Lucas. She shattered the stones she had forced to the ground and shot the shards at Lucas as well. The fireball he had launched in the meantime was simply side stepped and extinguished as it landed on the grass.

"I've got his nose bleed stopped." Sasha said. "Hold on, Glen. I see people running over. They'll carry you to the infirmary."

Glen groaned as he was lifted by two eighth years.

Lucas tried imitating Natalia's vine spell but he could only get it to grow out of the ground, not behave like an extension of himself. He swore as Natalia wrested control of the vine away from him and swung it at him like she was trying to clothesline him. He ducked it, barely, and sunk his hands into the disturbed ground. Smaller vines, looking more like grass due to the ineffectiveness of Lucas' spell, gripped at Natalia's shoes. These too were weak and easy for Natalia to take control of. She dismissed them back into the ground.

"Ah!" Sasha screamed. Lucas had also sent vines after her and they were now wrapped around her arms, pulling her back to the ground. Another appeared and twisted around her neck, easily stopping her from drawing breath. Lucas had taken advantage of her wards being gone now. "Guhhh...Hngn..."

"Sasha!" Natalia made the mistake of turning away from Lucas so she could go to Sasha's aid.

"NATALIA NO!" Jack screamed. As the words left her mouth, a spike of stone broke out of the ground and through Natalia's stomach. "NATALIA!"

Natalia fell to the ground, shocked by the waves of pain emanating from her belly. But she ignored it and saved Sasha by aging the vine around her neck until it disintegrated. Sasha weakly got up, coughing still but able to breath despite her bruised windpipe.

"You're dead, Lucas." Jack stormed past Natalia, ignoring her girlfriend's reaching hand. The spike of stone was still in Natalia. She wouldn't be bleeding out anytime soon. The same couldn't be said for Lucas. "YOU'RE DEAD!"

A look of sheer panic was on Lucas' face until it was replaced with pain when Jack punched him in the face. She didn't pull her punch, following through even as it caused Lucas' head to snap to his right with the crunch of a broken nose. She punched him in the gut and when he bent over gasping, she slammed her open palms on his back, knocking him to the ground and winding him. Jack kicked him on his side to flip him over, noting the crack of multiple ribs over his desperate gasps for air. Lucas coughed up blood as Jack pounced on him.

"Nat..." Sasha said. "Oh God Natalia..."

"I'll be fine...Fuck." Natalia winced at the narrow spike sticking from her. Sweat broke out all over her body and she couldn't stop her hands from shaking. "It doesn't... Feel like it hit anything important..."

"We need to get you to the infirmary. Now." Sasha said, casting a spell to stimmy the flow of blood that the spike wasn't stopping. More students had arrived. "You two!" She pointed at two strong looking fifth years. "Take her to the infirmary! You better be careful or I'll kill you."

"No..." Natalia resisted. "Jack! Stop Jack! She's killing him!"

Jack had pinned Lucas to the ground, her knees on his upper arms, and was pounding into him. The Sarkan was taking care not to use her full strength. She wanted him to feel some pain before she ended him. Jack had tossed out all other rational thoughts. Consequences be damned. Treating Lucas like a human opponent be damned. He's not a person. He's rotten. Rotten, rotten, rotten!

Jack had neglected to strengthen her hands with a spell before she began hitting him, so she was causing herself pain with every blow she landed. The people watching, in horror, weren't sure if the cracking sounds they were hearing were coming from Jack or from Lucas.

"SHE'S KILLING HIM!" Natalia screeched.

"And?" Sasha asked, rising up with the boys as they lifted Natalia.

The venom in Sasha's question stunned Natalia into confusion. "...And? What... Sasha?!"

"Let him die." Sasha said, ignoring the two frightened fifth years until she realized they hadn't started moving. "Well? Get going! Now!"

"Okay!" One of the boys jumped, accidentally jostling Natalia.

"Ah!" Natalia yelped.

"Watch it, you idiot!" Sasha fumed. "GO!"

"Jack...Please! Don't!" Natalia reached a desperate hand toward Jack. The Sarkan had her fingers wrapped around Lucas' neck. Jack had managed to do a basic healing spell but didn't keep her emotions in check. Jack's rampant bloodlust was felt - for a bare two seconds - by everyone present, causing some to vomit. Natalia somehow managed to keep herself from throwing up and struggled weakly against the students carrying her. "STOP!" She noticed help had finally arrived. "COACH! STOP HER!"

Seymour pulled Jack off Lucas like she weighed nothing, and tossed her to the ground hard enough to stun her but not hurt her. "HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!"

"He tried to kill Nat!" Jack surged forward while healing herself, aiming to use her emotional fallout to catch Seymour off guard. But her healing spell failed.

"I don't care!" Seymour glared at her as he pushed her back again. "Infirmary. NOW!"

"Coach!"

"NOW, JACK!" Seymour turned away from her in disgust and sighed as he looked down at Lucas. He was beaten beyond recognition, but miraculously still conscious. He stared up at Seymour with the eye that wasn't swollen shut. Seymour ignored the defiance in that glare and picked up the student.

***

Natalia, after being put under for the operation, regained consciousness later that night. Branigan had been sitting next to her and stroking her hair as she slept and so was the first one to notice her eyes open. "Hey, gorgeous."

"Lucas." Natalia said, then coughed due to her dry throat. "How is he?"

"Alive." Sasha poured a glass of water and held it out to Natalia. "He's a few doors down. For now."

"For now?" Natalia repeated after drinking. "Why? What's happening to him?"

"Grandpa is expelling him. You're only consequence free because multiple witnesses said you were coming to Glen's defense. He's fine by the way."

Natalia's eyebrows raised though she wasn't that shocked. Causing serious physical harm to a fellow student were grounds for expulsion even without prior offenses. Which meant... "Wait! Then Jack? Is she getting expelled too?!"

"No." Branigan said. "She almost was. Seymour talked Neil out of it. But she's still banned from participating in the tournament at the end of the year. And..." He glanced at Sasha and sighed. "And the senior exhibition."

"What! No!" Natalia's eyebrows furrowed and she frowned. "Jack was coming to my defense!"

"What she did to Lucas goes beyond that, Nat." Branigan said. "Jack mauled him to the point of hurting her own damn hands."

"Where is she now?"

"Seymour came and got her so she's probably getting an earful from him as well." Branigan said. "She was here until about an hour ago. Got her hands bandaged while she just stared at you. We all were. We knew you'd be fine but..." Branigan shook his head.

"Damn it to the Advent, what a mess." Natalia groaned. "Sasha I'm so sorry about the exhibition..."

"It's fine." Sasha said. "Your life matters more."

"You're clear to eat." Branigan said softly after a moment. "I'll go get you something. What do you want?"

"I'm not hungry."

"You're eating something light then, love. You need nutrients." Branigan stood, though he kept a hand on her head. He looked like he didn't want to go. "Please, Nat."

Natalia looked into his worried eyes and relented. "Okay. A salad. Not too much dressing."

"I'll send it with a golem and then go and try to rescue Jack from Seymour." Branigan said. "When I come back, it'll be with her."

"Okay." Natalia said. "Wait! I have a question."