Typically, Aiden strode through hallowed halls with purpose. His expression serious and his eyes harsh as he maintained that guard up. He was one of the few outliers in the coven that broke from bloodlines and money. At least, when he'd joined that had been the case. But even now cloaked under the the ‘protection’ of his family name, his birthright, he was still uneasy. He felt paranoid. He needed to do well, to be perfect. Any slight, any mistake would only confirm the terrible thoughts they had of him, of his mother. It was these thoughts that kept him tense even among his peers and had created a habit of pretending he had business at all times. It led to the knot between his shoulders blades at least.

But as purposeful as his stride was he was still a creature of instinct. He couldn't say no to his hunger, which struck his randomly. So the ginger, serious face and all was confidently striding his way to find sustenance. Probably a nearby cafe where he'd purchase cake or a bagel. He could be liberal with his choices. He had allowance now which was a strange and new circ-

He hears his name and slows down immediately. “Yes?” he utters before locating the source. Aiden tries to keep himself from beaming but struggles and instead bites his cheek. “Miss Claire!” he greets as he jogs to meet her halfway. Despite the same rank, he still held the woman to be his superior. A paragon of strength and the pride of the knights. At least, to Aiden she was. He appreciated how straightforward she seemed. It was a welcome relief to the winding words of his retainers. “Yea- Yes! My secondary affinity.” he paused noting her casual appearance. There's a pang of envy as he notes the well worn jeans and well-fitted jacket. He had traded his comfortable appearance for a crisper one: A dark colored dress shirt to hide stains, slacks, and dress shoes. He was allowed a normal jacket, but the crest of the family had to be pinned to the lapel. He got through it reminding himself that he needed the money. His grandparents needed it.

“Did...Did you have a question about purifying?” Aiden asked after a moment or two.

Aiden fails to notice Claire’s awkwardness with the formal title, or if he does he doesn’t acknowledge it. He shook his head in response before adding, “No, I’m not busy right now.” His stomach doesn’t feel the need to interject, tamed by the presence of such a strong witch before him. His prior cravings for cake dissipated, now more eager to assist the older witch in any way he could. “Oh?! I- I don’t mind at all.” He replied almost automatically. Training was always good, and he would be training with a proper knight. Especially when he knew his purifying was lacking. It was…usable, however his weaving was far superior as he had so much more time to perfect it. He just hoped it would be enough to assist properly.

“Of course! Regretfully…the extent of my knowledge is limited so I’m not sure I’ll be able to train for long.” Aiden explained, feeling it was best to be honest about the whole ordeal. He didn’t like admitting he lacked in the skills that ran through his sponsor’s blood, but he felt Miss Claire wouldn’t ridicule him for it. He doubted she’d even mention it to others, which was nice. It wasn’t like he knew her well, but he liked to think she had a good character. He pulled off his jacket and folded it over his arm before setting it aside on the ground. “Just in case.” He explained quickly. He wasn’t too familiar with enchantment magic and he really liked that dumb jacket. Regardless of who had gotten it for him, he was fond of it. It was more comfortable than other things.

claire fermont

Aiden can’t help but flinch at the contact, not really expecting it. Heat rises to his cheeks and his mouth clamps shut as words escape him. He frowned. Even though she was giving him explicit permission to tell her to bug off, it was hard to even think about doing that. He actually did admire the woman. She was a hard worker. He could tell that much by her appearance, and her manner of speaking. He appreciated that. She wasn’t much older than he was, but she had far more experience than he did. She unnerved him, but he respected that. “It’s harder to do that when I don’t know you that well.” He explained after gathering his thoughts. His words lacked the usual forced confidence, but at the very least he was being more honest.

He can only nod as she seems pleased that he needs the training to. Again, he’s happy she doesn’t seem to hold him in contempt. Aiden nodded before smiling at the fellow novice. “Weaving. I’m still expanding on it, but what I know is solid.” He added rather confidently. Weaving was cathartic, and combined with purifying, it could make up for a lot of his personal weaknesses. It was useful to him and that’s all that mattered in the end. “It’s not magically fortified so hopefully I can keep it out of harm’s way.” She turned to lead, and he follows. Seconds later he’s forced to turn back to pick up his jacket off the ground and bring it with him.

Once they settled into their actual training location, he picks a place he deems far enough away from Claire where he can hide his tweed coat. After, he jogs over to Claire who seemed eager to get started. He waits for her next move, though something tells him this would be more about him dodging than actually purifying. He didn’t have a lot of experience with combative purifying just yet. And technically he supposed this was more of a spar…but still. “I’m ready when you are.”


claire fermont

He can’t see her expression, but he trusts that she is returning his honesty. He gives her a moment before replying. “Thanks. Maybe one day.” He’s optimistic of the future. After all, for him the hardest part had already passed. Now what he was left with was his studies and despite hating his teachers sometimes, he generally liked playing around with his own magic. Aiden had heard stories of Miss Claire’s power from Charani Petrov , but he had never had a chance to see it for himself. Aside from the duels in the Empyreal Cup but even then. That was just a little bit. There was definitely more. He believed his friend.

“Sure.” The ginger said simply before turning away from the woman. He closed his eyes for added measure and allowed Claire to make her preparations. He turns back as soon as she begins speaking again. He doesn’t see a visible change, and it doesn’t look like she even moved from her spot. “Right, give me a minute.” Aiden states with a nod. He could find tampered mana at the very least. It was weird feeling, it always is. As Aiden activates his Detection spell, its like lifting a heavy curtain off his head. He feels mana more pointedly, buzzing like white noise but nothing obtrusive. Dark eyes move around slowly as he examines things in his surroundings with care. Nothing. So he begins moving, stepping around slowly. Had she left a trap? Was something above him? Nothing.

Finally, as he steps closer he feels a pin prick egging him on. There’s something there, who knew what it was, but he could feel it. “Miss Claire.” He began, taking a few more tentative steps towards her. There’s self-doubt that rises as he closes the distance between them. Was this a trick? Was he imagining things. But the ping wasn’t going away it was just on Claire. He’s certain its there. He dismisses her clothes, too familiar with that magic to mistake it in Detection. He points at her. “You have something on your person that has a substantial amount of mana clinging to it.” He explained as his eyes ran over her form. No, definitely not the clothes. “Clear your pockets.” His words are more so an order as his focus slips onto the task at hand. No doubt it would be a subject of great embarrassment for him later.

claire fermont

scrolls used: detection

Aiden’s serious expression shifts easily into a happy grin at the praise. “Thank you.” He said politely as he moved closer to Claire, curious as to what she’d done while he’d had his back to her. “I’m not sure if there is a spell to mask mana manipulation against purifying, but if you want to hide something, I’d cover it up with more mana.” Aiden suggested as he pointed at her clothes. “It’s not common for people who can afford it to enhance their favorite clothing right? That’d hide a small enough enchantment. I think.” He added, shrugging a bit. At least in his case, when trying to find an object among so many other magically tampered objects, it was hard for him to zero in on the one he was tasked with. That was all inexperience though. He just had to work on it harder.

He barely understands enchantment but he’s willing to bet that if Claire wanted him to stand so close, chances were something wouldn’t explode in his face, and in Claire’s as well. He took the piece of paper carefully, barely able to grasp it before the sheet began turning itself to ash in his hands. Aiden nodded slowly, curious as to how that was possible while rubbing ash between his index finger and thumb. “That’s so useful, Miss Claire.” He noted, looking at her excitedly. He wondered how he could’ve prevented that. What spell scroll would he have used to keep the paper from disappearing for good? Could he fix this with something else? “I hope that wasn’t important.” Aiden added quickly. Hopefully, she hadn’t been counting on him to remove the enchantment before it reduced her sheet to dust. Wiping his hand on his slacks, he was quick to press on to avoid any and all annoyance from the woman if he had actually messed up. “What next then? Should I turn around again?”

claire fermont

Aiden nods, even if he is pretty sure he had no idea what the scroll she’s speaking of could be. He had just barely started trying to reach advanced levels in his own affinities that he hadn’t yet read up on the others. Still, in due time he would catch up enough to satisfy his clan and then he would be afforded more free time. Eventually. Hopefully that was like in a couple of months or so. He wanted to visit his family more often. He rarely had time to travel to the hovel as it was. “Oh, that’s a relief then.” He hadn’t failed at saving her papers. Good.

He obeys the command, eyes vigilant for what Claire is about to do. He thinks her affinities are rather straightforward visually, but just in case he’s staying alert for changes in Claire’s form. Maybe a strange gesture or a weird twitch in the eye. Anything really. Detection is still active and so he is able to see the lit-up projectile flying in his direction. He freezes in momentary panic. Should he use that spell? Wait- Would that even work? Aiden decides to jump to the side of the rock letting the bright mana missile explode nearby. The explosion isn’t too bad but there’s a slight ringing in his ears and dust on his clothes from the ground it managed to spit outwards.

The ginger dusts himself off and crosses his arms as he thinks if the spell he’d chosen would have been appropriate. He still didn’t have a good grasp of it, so he should’ve tried it. But, if he wasn’t exactly sure how it worked would it have been successful? A part of magic was visualization but was it powerful enough to pull through entirely in this case? “Sorry, I was thinking too hard.” He calls once he’s out of his own head. “That was cool though. Can you control when it explodes? Like a time bomb?” he asked, eyes on the older woman again.


claire fermont

Aiden cracks a smile as Claire didn’t seem too annoyed with him. This was a learning experience after all. He supposed it was ok if he was inept. At least, the experience was interesting, and he’d always wanted to spend more time around Claire. She had so much experience it was guaranteed he’d figure out something new about the knights or magic. He nods in time as she explains the spell she had just used and crossed his arms as he began to think about it. “Well, if you add a timer enchantment…I thought it would work well for delivering coded messages.” He explained. “Timed explosions, could server a number of purposes. Or a timing spell itself would be good I think. Something that locks mana for a few minutes before allowing the spell to function.” Aiden suggested. At that point he wasn’t even sure if this was an enchantment. A timing mechanism would work well with a lot of spells.

Though, he supposed considering the type of work he did it wouldn’t be incredibly useful to him. Still, he liked the idea of protected information turning to ash after the recipient read it. Though, the point would be moot if the recipient was also an enchanter. He looks at Claire for a moment before mulling the problem over. “Depends on when you find the bomb. If it was detected before hand I’d purify it with a scroll called Purifying Blast. Its got a little bit of a radius purification effect that would disrupt multiple of those. If I had needed to purify it mid explosion…” He pauses as he thinks over the ideal in that kind of panicked situation. “I’d use Redirect to divert the energy of the blast. The scroll is pretty basic and it’d be easy enough to successfully use it in a dire situation.” The ginger continued. Surely, there were better examples. Reflect was the obvious one. But at his level? He didn’t even have the basics down pat just yet. “That’s only if I were personally trying to avoid something though. Other purifiers made have different tactics depending on their experience, and paint tolerance.” He added with a shrug. He liked to think he wasn’t that reckless.

He then tilted his head to the side. As he felt a soft pop, he let out a sigh. “Anything else you’d like to test out Claire?”


claire fermont