Washed, shaved, and robed, Akkarin strode towards Lorlen's rooms. He nodded politely at the Magicians he passed on his way but did not stop to talk to any of them.
He knocked at Lorlen's door and Lorlen answered with a broad smile on his face. "Morning, Akkarin. Good to see you fully robed again. And with boots on!
He had put on the spare pair from his closet, cursing shortly after from the stiff uncommon sensation of having his feet restrained within leather compartments. Boots were excellent when used to them but in truth his feet hurt. He immediately healed the discomfort away knowing that it would only be a problem for a couple of days and smiled at Lorlen.
"Good morning, Lorlen. Wearing proper clothes again does feel good. Did you know that fabric made of poor quality makes your skin itch terribly? Especially when dirty"
Lorlen made a grimace of sympathy. "Come, sit down. I have prepared two nice cups of sumi". He sat down. "So tell me, how did you get mugged in the first place?"
Akkarin pursed his lips and then smiled apologetically at Lorlen. "Mugged is hardly the right term" he said and sat down sipping of the steaming sumi.
"To be honest, I had decided to celebrate the fact that I was on my way home and had taken the liberty to open up a bottle of wine. Not the good kind, mind you, but the one that knocks you unconscious and gives you a giant headache in the morning, as it turned out. Anyway, Takan and I were enjoying our selves immensely and the wine seemed to taste better and better – you know how it is… Before any of us knew it, three bottles were emptied. So we fell asleep.
Next morning, the camp had been emptied of all of our belongings. The thieves had even removed the tent what with us still sound asleep in the open around the camp fire". Akkarin laughed a little making Lorlen chuckle as well. I should be an actor, he thought to himself.
"I expect the thieves must have had a good laugh as well at my expense. As a thank you for my generosity, they left their own clothes for us to wear. We were out in the middle of nowhere, so I suppose I should be grateful for the gesture, actually.
However, they had left us with nothing apart from those clothes. After the first shock had settled, I decided it was quite a challenge. It is not often, after all that one finds one self starting from scratch. Though I must admit in the end, I could have done without the last couple of days".
Lorlen laughed and shook his head. "It is so you to be all stubborn. I would have called out for help immediately".
"Hmmm, well, being away from the safety of the Guild all these years has perhaps made me a bit more strong willed, I'll admit as much".
He took another sip of the sumi and averted his gaze to Lorlen. "Being away has taught me to deal with things little by little. Perhaps I have simply matured. I find myself to be much more patient now. I have learned that things have an amazing way of turning out for the benefit if you do not rush into deciding what to do about them."
He placed his cup on the table and smiled at Lorlen and leaned back in his armchair. "Now, your turn; Tell me all about what has been going on with you and with the Guild while I have been away. I want to know it all, affairs, rivalry, brilliant research results, everything".
After hours of recapturing the most important events of the Guild and the most exciting gossip – mostly marital scandals and who had married whom from their times as novices and why some were now enemies etc., they split up.
It had been a pleasant morning so far.
Returning to his rooms, he was glad that he had not had to talk much about his journey. Lorlen had asked a couple of times about his studies and he had told him that he had isolated himself from civilisation apart from hiring Takan as his personal servant.
Further on, he had told Lorlen that the old scripts he had been studying in the different countries he had visited had spoken highly of meditation as a way of obtaining a higher understanding of the world as a whole and of one self. He had found this to be very true, he had lied to Lorlen.
"Did you keep a journal?" Lorlen asked and yes, he had in fact kept journals but the thieves had taken the liberty of removing them as well. As Lorlen could imagine, he could not possible retrieve all of the information without going back again and frankly, he did not want to leave the Guild any time soon. Being a Guild Magician actually living within the Guild seemed more appealing to him now, he had said.
Lorlen had bought his story without showing any disbelief however he did tell Akkarin more than once what a terrible shame it was that none of his research was left. Akkarin had shrugged and told him that he still did not consider the years a waste of time as it had matured him as a person in general. And that could not be put into a journal anyway as it was only of interest to himself.
"Perhaps one day I will continue my original research but right now I am just happy to be where I am. I look forward to engaging myself fully in Guild affairs. I am certain I will still find that there are things that could be changed for the better and go annoy some of the old rats with my progressive ideas, don't you agree?" He had asked Lorlen who had laughed and agreed with him. At least on the annoy matter.
He sighed. Next Freeday he would have to attend the night room. He had to go there as everybody wanted to see him and Lorlen was all excited about it.