"I don't think I'll ever keep all of these separate," Ray sighed as he went through the spices, the head chef watching him balefully.

"I thought you were supposed to have some sort of higher sense of smell," he answered. "I thought you wanted to learn."

"I do! It's just that it all mixes together. I can't keep them separate. They have all these weird names also. Who things of these?" Ray answered, his nose wrinkling.

"Thyme? Basil? Cumin? Cilantro? Ginger?" The chef spit out the name of each spice with a pained expression.

"Please stop. Please don't do this to me. Those are just names of people. I don't know what those mean," Ray murmured.

"You were the one that came in here wanting to know about the spices," the old chef huffed.

"Did you think I might have wanted your company instead?" He answered, taking on a hurt tone as the chef rolled his eyes

"Nobody wants to spend time with old Hayden without some sort of motive towards my sweets or what have you," he grumbled.

"No, Master Chef Hayden," Ray murmured, "I don't know what you mean."

"Ah, flatterer," the blond-haired man grumbled.

"Ray," another voice cut in, and he turned to see that it was Volbert. "Come with me. With have things to discuss."

He watched him with a few misgivings, having not seen him since the night that he had disappeared. Hayden cut in, "Good! Take this obnoxious beast out of my kitchen. He's been smelling enough of my spices for the day."

Volbert's frown deepened, and Ray immediately felt uneasy as he dared to approach the wizard. The man reached out to touch his arm, and Ray tried not to jerk away as he was teleported to Volbert's office. The first thing the wizard said was, "You've been making quite an effort to act as if nothing happened. Is this some sort of coping mechanism or are you just stupid? I need to know before I start teaching you magic."

"I don't know what else I'm supposed to do," Ray grumbled. "It's not like I can change anything about it, and it's not like Lady Corivan is going to talk to me about it. She's been avoiding me ever since she brought me out of the basement."

"Have you considered leaving?" Volbert told him plainly. "I think it would be in your best interest if you did leave."

Ray opened his mouth to answer, annoyance spreading across his features, but what he intended was lost as he realized that he didn't have the reason why he wouldn't want to leave. He did, actually, but he felt immediately foolish trying to speak it aloud. He then found something to cling to, to change the subject.

"You mentioned teaching me magic. What was that about?" He asked, and Volbert sighed.

"That is about keeping you alive if you're not going to see common sense in going elsewhere. You have some sort of magic about you. I doubt it would really be a stretch teaching you at least the basics of magic and a bit about protecting yourself. What kinds of elements do you tend to align yourself with? The mop water when you're cleaning? The dust? The grass when you're laying about all day?"

"It's more about the warmth of the sun," he muttered. "It gets really cold at night. And I really like to cook more than anything though I don't think I'm really that good at it. Not the best anyway."

"So, you're saying that you identify with fire," Volbert groaned, covering his face with his hand.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. It was the thing that earned me Zamorak's blessing when I was a kid, and it was kind of a constant after that," he sighed, reminiscing.

Volbert was now covering his face with both hands. "Violent and volatile. Just the sort of person I wouldn't want learning magic, let alone in my proximity. Even so, fire is the type of magic that I'm most acquainted with by means of attack and defense, so I suppose teaching you won't be too much trouble."

"And does Lady Corivan care that I'm learning magic? What will happen if she finds out that you're here and teaching me magic?" Ray asked.

"She won't care at all that I'm here. I live here," he answered simply. "Did you think she would want to be rid of me for your mistake? I don't believe she'll want you learning magic, but I doubt she'll say anything. It will make you more useful to her, after all."

Ray nodded slowly, believing that to make plenty of sense as Volbert stood and walked around his desk to a nearby bookcase, studying it for a moment before picking out a few books. He stacked them in front of Ray and told him, "I need you to read these. It's essential that you have knowledge of the basics of magic before I dare to teach you anything else that might get you or me injured."

He rolled his eyes, expecting Ray to argue or refuse the books, but was pleasantly surprised as the young man hastily picked the top one up and started looking through it, explaining, "It's been a while since I've gotten my hands on a quality book. I remember that I used to read all the time when I was in Varrock, as dangerous as it tended to be to get what I needed to do so at times."

"You should have said something sooner. It would have been quite simple to acquaint you with our house's library if that was something you were interested in," Volbert answered.

"Remind me of that after I get these done, Master Telago," Ray answered, already leaning forward and reading with great concentration. Volbert noted how Ray seemed to hold the book particularly close to his face and considered offering to assist him with that, but he decided that was an issue for another day.

Ray spent the next few weeks throwing himself into his studies, exploring the intricacies of magic and the basics of the arts while Volbert coached him on specific techniques and ideas as they arose. He took to fire quite quickly and seemed to have an affinity for it. Telago saw him often simply gazing into fires and making subtle gestures, moving the flames about with little effort.

He didn't know what to make of it, but during this time he saw Lady Corivan little as if she were avoiding him or simply didn't care that he existed. It made him feel particularly uneasy and upset, but he didn't mention it to Volbert, knowing that the man would merely mock him or make him feel more foolish for worrying about it. He was surprised when one day she actually did speak to him, seeming to behave as if she hadn't taken such a long hiatus from him at all.

"Dear Ray, why don't you take a walk with me in the gardens? It's such a nice day," she told him with a warm smile on her face. He felt almost weary, unsure of how to take this.

"Yes, of course," he replied after a moment of hesitation, trying not to appear dumbfounded by her sudden change of heart. She nodded widely and took his arm, leading him along and leaning against his shoulder.

"Ray," she asked him once they were outside, "What has kept you so preoccupied lately? You seem rather busy despite how I haven't been requesting you to do anything at all. I want to understand what you're up to." Her tone sounded sweet and curious, but there was something about it that made a rock settle in his gut like she had caught him at something he was doing wrong.

"I've just been practicing magic," he explained carefully, "because I know how important it is to you that I'm always ready when a threat comes up. I want to prove to you that what happened last time won't happen again. I don't want you to have to save me again when it's my job to keep you safe."

At the mention of magic, her lips seemed to purse, and she looked away for a moment as if she didn't want him to see her expression, and he wondered if what he had said had caught her off guard. She looked at him again and gave him a tight smile, telling him, "I'm quite proud of you for taking the initiative in my absence. I was afraid that you might be getting lazy or careless, and you know that a guard of House Corivan can be neither. You're very important to me, and it would be a shame if I'd have to let you go."

He felt his cheeks redden in anger as she said this, feeling as she wouldn't have left him wondering for so long if she actually cared for him. His mouth parted in protest, but the next moment she was leaning in and kissing him. It wasn't deep or insistent, but it was solid and possessive. She leaned back and smiled teasingly, and he felt his heart both melt and sink.