Author's Note: So this is divided into two parts simply because I felt like I needed a division for the sake of coherency. Sounds like an oxymoron and a contradiction, I know, but it makes sense to me and that's all that matters. So please enjoy this little two-shot and without further ado, I leave you to read.The Challenge, Part I
Regin was a complicated man. He had his share of faults. Every now and then he even showed a virtue or two. Regin had an older brother he despised. It was an interesting relationship. Because his older brother inherited everything, Regin was able to pursue a life different from the family business in the Magicians' Guild. This was both liberating and infuriating. Regin could never win against his brother. The older boy simply knew how to push his buttons and manipulate him. He could goad Regin into doing just about anything.
Regin was also a smart man. He understood the negative effects visiting his older brother had on him. Inevitably, he would wind up doing something completely asinine after a family visit and he tried to avoid them altogether if he could. He used his work at the Guild as an excuse. Even then, he could not simply turn his back on his blood relations. Though a magician now, he still had responsibilities to fulfill.
And so, very much against his will and better judgment, Regin found himself exiting an overly frivolous carriage that his brother had sent for him on a fine autumn day. The carriage however was only a sample of the overly extravagant tastes of his ridiculous family. Regin liked to think that in this day and age, after all the trouble with Sachakan invasions and black magic, he had grown to be more reasonable than his relatives. Such a belief was generally well proven by the horror with which he examined the latest tawdry additions to the already overwhelmingly decorated front hall of the mansion.
He was greeted by a pair of servants that had been working in the house for as long as Regin could remember. They smiled warmly and bowed. Regin honestly felt more attached to the servant staff than his parents. When it came down to the basics of life, the servants acted more like protective parents than his mother and father ever had. Though he was unaware of it, the servants felt rather attached to him as well and mere words could not describe the joy they felt at the man he had become after the boy he had been. They had feared the worst.
The servants directed him to the library where Regin's brother was supposedly waiting. It astonished Regin that his brother would actually set foot in a room with books. He had never even slightly enjoyed reading and he looked like a positive savage compared to Regin's voracious appetite for novels.
Regin found his brother standing by the window. Already, Regin could tell by his stance that his brother was about to brag shamelessly. He wondered what it could possibly have to do with him. For the most part his brother did not enjoy their meetings any more than Regin did, so he must have had a particular reason for sending for him.
"It's been a long time, brother," Regin called out, seizing his brother's attention from the window.
The man grinned at Regin and he felt his stomach twinge. It wasn't going to be good. "Indeed, it's been too long," he replied.
Regin remained silent for he did not feel like lying.
"I have grand news to tell you," his brother announced after it was clear that Regin wasn't going to say anything.
"Do tell," Regin urged shortly.
"I am engaged," his brother said.
"How wonderful," Regin lied. He didn't particularly care. Since joining the Guild his fortune was completely independent of his family's. He would not suffer or gain anything from any match-making in his relatives.
"Indeed it is! The wedding will be in the middle of winter."
"That's a bit far off, isn't it?" Regin asked. It was only just the beginning of autumn.
"I assumed you would like the time to find yourself a suitable guest to bring with you," his brother said.
So there it was. Now they had arrived at the real reason that Regin had been summoned. His brother wanted to rub in his face the fact that ever since the Sachakan Invasion and Regin had lost a good portion of his adolescent faults in favor of becoming a real man, he had failed miserably in the romantic aspect of life.
"Why would you assume that?" Regin asked. He knew that protesting the point would only lead to some sort of challenge that he would have to accept and inevitably lead to him making an ass of himself for all to see, but he could not prevent the words that spilled out of his mouth.
"Dear brother, you must be sure to bring the right caliber of woman to my wedding," his brother replied in a scandalized tone that made Regin utter multiple obscenities within the silence of his own mind.
"And you assume that such a task would be difficult for me?" Regin continued.
"Do you know what would make me the happiest?" his brother said, dodging the question he had no answer to. He did not wait for a reply. "I would love to meet the Guild's Black Magician."
Regin blinked at his brother, unsure of whether he had really heard what he thought he had just heard. He couldn't have possibly heard his brother suggest that he bring Sonea, the Black Magician, to his wedding. No, that could not be. It simply could not be.
"Unless, of course, you do not think you could convince her to come," his brother continued.
Regin pride rebelled against such a remark and against all of the better judgment he went in trying so hard to abide by, he replied, "Of course, she would come. I am a very important person in the Guild. And furthermore we are great acquaintances," he lied.
"Wonderful," his brother declared grinning widely. "I can't wait to meet her. I'll be sending you the invitation shortly."
Regin nodded and left his family's home. A horrific numbness was leaking its way into his body and he vaguely wondered what exactly he had just gotten himself into.
Regin had spent a great deal of time pacing about his rooms, trying to come up with the best way to ask Sonea to accompany him to his brother's wedding. Dreading the arduous task, he had waited for far too long to get it over with. Now it was only two weeks until his brother's wedding and if he did not ask Sonea soon, he would fail epically. Pacing however, was not particularly conducive to thinking. He still had no idea how he could possibly convince Sonea that going to his brother's wedding would be pleasurable.
She was well-known to despise the aristocratic, extravagant way of life of which his own family was a shameless epitome. There was no logical reason as to why she would wish to subject herself to such torture. Regin didn't even want to go himself, but there was little excuse as they were his own blood relations. Sonea… why Sonea had absolutely every excuse not to go.
Feeling frustrated with the lack of ideas, Regin left his spacious apartment to see if the cold air of oncoming winter could do him any good.
He walked at a brisk pace, barely stopping to acknowledge the other magicians he passed. Regin was far too preoccupied with his own thought to pay any attention to those around him or even where exactly he was going. He nearly knocked over several novices on one occasion, and on another, almost flew headlong into a decorative topiary.
Due to his distracted behavior he had not noticed that the people around him were acting rather peculiar. Some were visibly flinching and others shrank away. Such reactions were quite typical of those who were still not used to the idea of a black magician and felt threatened by her approach. Regin did not notice until he heard someone speak her name.
"Good afternoon, Lady Sonea."
Regin looked up and sure enough, saw Sonea walking towards him. Her young son, Lorkin bounced happily along after her, unaware of the looks his mother was getting from passersby. Lorkin was another cause for scorn among the Guild. Many magicians looked down on the fact that Sonea had had a child out of wedlock. Some even went as far as to blame her slum ancestry for the fault. Regin however, admired the courage and strength with which she gave birth to and raised her son. For the most part, she was all alone and yet as far as he knew, she never complained.
"Good afternoon, Regin," she said smoothly as he approached her.
Regin stopped. "Likewise," he replied. "May I speak to you for a moment?" he asked. He had resolved on attempting to persuade her to accompany him. She would likely reject him, but he still had two weeks and if he started now, he might just have enough time to win her over.
"Certainly," Sonea said, privately wondering why Regin could possibly have anything to say to her.
They walked along some distance together, until the crowd around them had thinned out. "My brother is going to me married in two weeks," Regin began.
"Congratulations. Who's the bride?"
Regin paused. "No idea actually. Anyway, I'm expected to bring a guest to the ceremony and I was hoping that you would come."
Sonea stared at him as if he were a five-headed fish that could speak every language man had invented and tap dance at the same time. There was a long pause. "Actually, I can't. I'm very busy," she lied.
She was a terrible liar and Regin knew it. He was being completely and utterly rejected. "What are you busy with?" he asked.
"Uh… things."
"Hmm. Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. There are a lot of very important things I have to do." Sonea's face was turning a shade of red as if she were a mere school girl, which somehow amused Regin immensely. He kept such amusement to himself, assuming (probably correctly) that it would hurt his chances of ever persuading her.
"Well, that's too bad," Regin said. "Good afternoon, then."
"Yes," Sonea replied distractedly. "Good afternoon."
Regin left her with a smile across his face. He had flustered her, which was something he had not been able to do to a woman in a very long time. It made him feel sure that he would be able to convince her. She had not reacted to the idea with disgust which meant, that his family's obsessive extravagance was not an obstacle he had to face. His obstacle was in fact, something that would be much more easily overcome. His obstacle was her own fear.
A startling realization occurred to him. Perhaps Sonea had seen his request as something more than a simple invitation. Perhaps she had seen it as a request to finally open up to another person. She had been withdrawn from any sort of romantic life since Akkarin had died. Regin didn't blame her either. But, now as he was pondering his own dilemma, he realized exactly what might be going on in her mind. Perhaps she was wondering just why he was interested in her company all of a sudden.
As Regin continued to think on the idea all the way back to his apartment, he became rather distracted once more and received a bitter scolding from one of the groundskeepers as he crashed into what was supposedly a very rare and delicate tree. He wondered exactly why he did not find any problem at all with the idea of being the next man in Sonea's life. She wasn't exactly beautiful, but she had attractive features and qualities to boast of. She had an enormous amount of emotional baggage, but Regin found himself not caring at all. The only word to describe his state of mind was curious. That night he went to bed still thinking and wondering what exactly would come of the new path his older brother had unwittingly sent him down.
End of Part I