Chapter Nineteen: Reunion

Lorlen reached for the letter that the Administrator had finished reading through and signing and added to the other pile of papers under his arm before returning his attention to his scrawled list of tasks. "There's just one item left for today- did you want to put in an order for new carpets in the Magicians' Quarters now, or do you want to wait until next year, when we'll have more of an idea of how much money is available?"

The Administrator frowned. "Ah, I hadn't thought of that- yes, I suppose we have spent a lot this year, particularly with the renovations to the roof." He ran a hand through his grey hair before grunting to himself with finality. "Let's leave it until next year- and of there are any complaints, we can say we're looking into who can give us the best price. Is that it, then?"

Lorlen nodded an affirmation, crossing off the last bullet point on his paper with a flourish. "Yes, Administrator."

The Administrator screwed the cap back on his pen, which Lorlen knew was his liege's customary signal that he was excused. He had only been in the position of assistant to the Administrator for less than two months, but he was quickly picking up on the man's little signals that he dotted all around the place- the desire to be left alone, for someone to be brought in, for something to be done quicker. As Lorlen started to place all his paperwork back into the binder he had realised he desperately needed a few weeks ago, the Administrator made a sudden noise of realisation.

"Ah, Lorlen," he began. "I meant to mention this to you yesterday but it completely slipped my mind- I apologise. You were- well, are- good friends with Lord Akkarin, are you not?"

Lorlen's stomach jolted slightly- it had been a long time since he had heard anyone but his closest friends mention Akkarin. He had thought about asking the Administrator to look into the whereabouts of his friend, but reasoned that others much higher up in the Guild would decide when such actions needed to be taken, and had tried, with little success, to calm his worries. "Yes, but I haven't heard from him in such a long time. Why, has there been news?" He felt a sudden jolt of anxiety- was it bad news?

The Administrator smiled. "Better- he has returned! He came back yesterday- a bit bedraggled, the poor fellow, having dragged himself across the Allied Lands on just his own two feet, but in one piece. I thought you might like to know."

Lorlen blinked at the man in disbelief, then realised he was being rude and needed to reply. "Absolutely," he managed to stutter out, hoping that any pleasure he was exuding came across as professional and not excessive. "I shall go and find him at once! If that's acceptable to you?"

The Administrator waved a hand absently, a sure sign he was finished with the conversation at hand. "Of course."

"Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

The Administrator gave him a knowing smile. "Have a good evening, Lorlen."

Lorlen nodded respectfully then made for the door, then his mind made him stop, a question suddenly occurring to him. "Administrator, when you say bedraggled, what exactly do you mean?"

The Administrator looked up and shrugged. "Oh, well he just was a bit the worse for wear from travelling- he wasn't wearing robes for one thing, and wasn't recognisable to the point where I was dragged out to the Guard House to identify him. Oh, and he brought a Sachakan servant back with him, if you can believe it!"

Lorlen frowned- that was certainly not like Akkarin. "How strange. Well I shall have to ask him about that. Thank you again Administrator."

Nodding again to the man, Lorlen left the room. He didn't allow himself to run in the direction of the Magicians' Quarters, but did set off at a very brisk walk.

He remembered the way to Akkarin's rooms with ease. He took the stairs two at a time, then raced round the last two corners. Coming up on the door, he slowed and took a deep breath to steady his racing pulse. It wouldn't do for his best friend to think he had gone mad.

He knocked, but didn't wait for a response. He opened the door open wide. Inside he was met with the familiar décor of a magician's guest room. Standing at an open chest filled with books was a red robed back. The door slipped through Lorlen's fingers and slammed shut, making the figure jolt suddenly.

"You're back?!" he said, not a little breathlessly.

The man turned, and for the first time in five years, Lord Akkarin of the Family Delvon, House Velan, Warrior of the Magicians' Guild of Kyralia, was stood in front of him. Akkarin looked a little startled from the slammed door, but then appeared to recognise the man in front of him and gave his customary half smile. "What did that door ever do to you?"

Lorlen could have rolled his eyes if he wasn't so pleased to see his friend- there was that customary sardonic humour, still in full force. "Oh, hang the door, you're back!" Dropping his binder on a table, he strode to his friend and enveloped him in a firm hug. He felt Akkarin stiffen slightly at first, then relax and hug him back.

Lorlen pulled away and grinned at Akkarin, taking in the sight of him. He looked like his old self, but there was something also slightly unfamiliar about him.

Maturity, I suppose…

"Where have you been?!" he couldn't help but sound incredulous. "The Administrator just told me you just strolled up to the gates, servant in tow and wearing normal clothes!"

Akkarin gave that same smile again and shrugged slightly. "That's about the size of it. It was...an interesting road back." He looked around the space and a frown creased his forehead. "Sorry, I'd offer you a drink, but-"

Lorlen waved a hand dismissively. "Oh don't worry about that, I just wanted to see you. After all, you've been gone nearly six years!"

"I am aware."

"And I didn't hear from you for about five of them!"

"I am aware."

With those three words, Lorlen knew something was wrong. That repeated response wasn't Akkarin's usual dry sense of humour, which was always accompanied with a sly smile or slight wink. The words were said coldly and with an irritable edge- and that was not like Akkarin in the slightest… This man was his Akkarin, his oldest and dearest friend, but he also…wasn't. There was now an extra edge to him Lorlen didn't know. But then again, maybe he was just tired. He had come a long way, by the sounds of it.

Lorlen decided to push away his lingering anxieties to the side for now and folded himself into the nearest chair. "Well, what have you been doing?" he asked. "Did you write your book? Is it any good?"

Akkarin, who had continue to busy himself by sorting through his book collection, winced "Ah, bad news on that score. Yes, I did write it and yes, it was pretty good, but all my papers were lost. As I say, bad journey home."

Suddenly, Akkarin's low demeanour made sense. Lorlen didn't know what to say to that, so a lame single syllable escaped his lips. "Ah."

Despite the sadness in his eyes, Akkarin appeared to find the word amusing and chuckled slightly. "Yes, my thoughts exactly."

Lorlen considered- surely the entire journey shouldn't just be forgotten, put in the past as if nothing had been learnt at all? "Well, you could go back and regain them- retrace your steps, so to speak?"

Akkarin immediately shook his head. "Oh, no- I've had my fill of travelling. I've decided I'm going to settle down."

Lorlen raised his eyebrows at his friend in disbelief. "You, settle down?!"

Akkarin nodded. "Absolutely. I was thinking about teaching, actually."

It was Lorlen's turn to laugh then. "That I am going to have to see. I'm imagining you surrounded by a group of rowdy first years, trying to teach them a basic shield. Your talents completely wasted."

Akkarin grimaced at the words. "Well first years are out of the question- and I believe that to say teaching is a waste of talents is rather short-sighted."

"Of course, I wasn't being serious. Anyway, I've haven't come completely empty-handed, I come with an invitation- the Peren twins- you know, Darlen and Korlin- they're holding drinks tonight. Everyone will be overjoyed to see you- it's been so long since we've seen anyone but each other! Will you come?"

Akkarin's face had tensed as Lorlen had spoken. "I don't know, Lorlen- I'm not exactly used to company," he said carefully, as if trying to hide some hidden emotion.

Lorlen frowned. "What do you mean? I would have thought all you've been doing is drinking at very fancy parties, surrounded by very fancy women."

"Well I wasn't. I told you, I was working."

And with those words, Lorlen didn't just know something was wrong- he knew something was badly wrong. Akkarin had never snapped at him before, not even when they had been at their most stressed during their years studying. Lorlen had seen his friend tired before, and he had never acted so. Akkarin seemed to have realised the same thing, as he looked down at the floor and cleared his throat into the awkward silence that had settled between them, another thing that had never happened before.

"I- I did a lot of private study, alone. In the mountains of Elyne. That's where I wrote the vast majority of my book. Not much company there, beyond sheep-herders who only speak a dialect of Elyne I have never studied." He looked up and gave a half-hearted smile. Lorlen was almost positive that his hands were shaking.

He smiled calmly at his friend, leaning forward in his chair towards him. "You'll be fine, Akkarin. After all, you were always the person everyone wanted to talk to." Then a thought struck him that he thought would act as all the persuasion Akkarin needed. "Enya will be there, you know?" He winked at his friend, who gave a cough that could have been an attempt at a laugh and turned away.

"So what have you been doing?" Akkarin asked. "I'm going to assume not teaching."

Lorlen wondered whether he should let his friend change the subject so easily, but decided on balance it was probably for the best. "Oh, well I was until fairly recently. But then the Administrator asked for a new assistant- actually, he asked for me."

Akkarin's head snapped round, and he gave his friend an impressed look. "Well, that's a feather in your cap, I must say. Well done, old friend. Be careful, though, you're in the firing line to get the job yourself."

Lorlen felt his face flush and was irritated at himself for it. "Well that would be...interesting. And is certainly not in my plans for the future. But speaking of the higher magicians, you must have heard about the High Lord?"

"Ah, yes, I did," Akkarin said with a sigh.

"I heard Vinara say a few days ago that she thinks he has weeks." One of the best parts of Lorlen's job is that he got to hear all the breaking news at least several hours, but mainly days, before anyone else.

"Poor old bastard. The job probably killed him," Akkarin replied non-committedly, reaching to open another box.

"I wonder who will replace him," Lorlen mused.

"Some other poor old bastard, obviously."

Ah, so his sense of humour hasn't completely died… I wonder if he knows. Perhaps I shouldn't bring it up seeing as he isn't in the best of moods. But the again, I don't bring it up now someone else will just bring it up again later.

Akkarin turned when Lorlen didn't say anything else and looked at him curiously. "What?"

Lorlen couldn't help the smile that came at his friend's confused face. "Oh, nothing."

"No, what?"

"Well...you should know that because the High Lord has been unwell for some time, this discussion has been going on in the Guild for a few months now. And…more than one person has mentioned your name to the Administrator- as a candidate, I should clarify."

The book dropped from Akkarin's hand with a soft clatter onto the carpeted floor. "Say that again."

"I said that quite a few people consider you to be a strong candidate."

Akkarin looked at him as if he was completely and utterly mad. "I can't be hearing this right."

"Really, did you lose the use of your ears in the mountains? I hadn't noticed."

Akkarin didn't even smile at that, simply continued to gape. "You're playing some terrible joke on me- admit it."

Lorlen scoffed. "Would I joke about a dying High Lord?"

Akkarin didn't answer that. He looked away, and Lorlen could see that his mind was reeling with this new and apparently disturbing information. "Well, that is ridiculous. I'm far too young and have been away far too long. What do they think I would know about…High Lording?"

Lorlen shook his head- that wasn't the point. "But-"

"Besides, it's just speculation. And think about it- the man's not even dead yet, and already everyone is jostling for position." Akkarin snorted softly to himself and shook his head. "They're all thinking how this could work in their favour. I think that's pretty horrific. And I refuse to join in. If someone wants to discuss this with me after the High Lord has passed, then I am willing. But before then would be insensitive and quite frankly ridiculous. Though it would be ridiculous anyway."

As much as Lorlen desperately wanted to ignore it, Akkarin's words and feelings were too obvious for Lorlen to pretend he hadn't seen them. He had to be a good friend, first and foremost. Good friends do two things. The first thing they do is say the things their friend doesn't necessarily want to hear, but needs to hear.

"Well, that's not how they see it. They see it as making the necessary preparations. But of course you're right, it is all just speculation at this point." A pause. "Akkarin?"

"Hmm?" Akkarin picked up the book he had dropped and added to one of the stacks he was making.

Another pause. The second thing a good friend does is make himself available to listen to what their friend needs to say, even if they know they really aren't going to like what they are going to hear.

"What happened out there?"

Akkarin frowned, then made a bad attempt at a fake laugh. "Who said anything happened? Nothing did."

"You just…don't seem yourself."

"It's-" Akkarin looked at his friend and sighed. Looking defeated, he finally came and sat down in the opposite chair to Lorlen, but kept his gaze locked on his hands in his lap. "Look, being away, travelling- it changed me. I got used to a different kind of life, a different way of living. Without many people around. It may take me some time to adjust. So you might have to be patient with me for a while."

"Hmm." Lorlen shook his head slowly. He didn't believe that for an instant. "Well it may have been a while, but I have known you since you were fifteen, Akkarin of Delvon. I know when you're angry, when you're worried and when you're lying. And you're lying right now. That's alright, though, I'm not angry or anything about that, I don't expect you to suddenly trust me again- but when, if, you want to talk about it, whatever "it" is, I'll be here."

Akkarin's head rose from his chest and gazed across at him. From the look on his face, it occurred to Lorlen that no one had said anything like that to him in a while. And perhaps he was imaging it, but maybe is friend was blinking a little more than was normal.

"Thank you," he said stiffly. Lorlen let his shoulders rise and fall slightly, trying to not make a big thing out of it- the last think he knew Akkarin would want would be some big show of emotion, so now the words had been put out there, he would leave the topic be- at least for now. Slapping his hands on his thighs, he rose with what he hoped was a sense of finality.

"Well what are friends for if not for talking to each other? Now, moving on, are you coming to this drinks thing or what? The twins will be starting any moment- as you may well remember, they like to drink a lot and as soon as they possibly can."

Akkarin seemed to wrestle with himself internally, his face a complex mixture of emotions. Then he straightened his back, rose and gave Lorlen a patient look. "Alright, but the moment Darlen starts doing his impression of Vinara, I'm leaving."

Lorlen felt a rush of relief go through him- perhaps if he could persuade Akkarin back out of the defensive shield he had built around himself, he could help him heal from whatever it was that had happened during his travels. "Fine, I can accept those terms." He went to the door to the corridor outside and opened it before Akkarin could change his mind. He slowed for Akkarin to catch up with him after he closed and locked his door. "Now, I should probably catch you up on a few things- you used to always secretly enjoy gossip, don't even try to deny it!" Akkarin had opened his mouth seemingly to protest, but shut it with a faint smile. Lorlen continued. "Well, as you know, at graduation Grenin asked Isla to marry him, which she agreed to at the time- but six months later he caught her…" and so he carried on. He quickly noticed that Akkarin seemed to be far more comfortable listening and chuckling at their friends' antics. rather than talking at the moment, so decided to fill the silence between them with meaningless chatter- perhaps he should find a way to gently mention that to the other party goers when they arrived…

I will get the truth out of you, one way or another, Delvon. I promise you that.

As ever, thank you for reading and reviewing! Life is still busy, but a little more back to normal than it was a week or so ago. One last chapter, eek!