"You need to have better control over your son! He nearly killed our daughter!" Jean pointed a finger at Bergan, who angrily retorted.
"OH!? And you believe your daughter is innocent?! Do you know what I found when we entered our son's room? Mud and poison Ivy up to my chest. If he had been sleeping or taking a nap, he would have drowned! And this isn't the first time we've seen our son hurt and angry because of your daughter, you heard it from the children, your daughter has been abusing her magic to make my son's life a living hell, and because you and that…" he points to Anya, "and that stupid teacher take her side all the time, it boiled to this!" Anya glared at him but made no comment.
The shouting continued, the villagers split in decision, there were ones who only wanted to punish Faris, villages that produced exemplary mages would receive help in terms of extra supplies, trade, and the mage returning with wealth and riches enough to spread. The land would become more valuable, and the opportunity for knightage or even minor nobility wasn't out of the question. There was another group who was tired of Venka's actions, even before she focused solely on Faris, she had been the number one troublemaker in the village, and her magic and elevated status did little to help. As the villagers interrogated the children for what had been happening, their reactions had grown more and more shocked and flabbergasted at her nearly deranged actions. The only one unflinching was Anya, who simply glared at the orator, Faris kept his head down, half listening to the debates and half listening to Damien, who railed against him.
You didn't have to lose your temper! Why did you lose your temper!? She could have snapped your neck at any time! Even with your crystal protecting you! And you know that!
Faris kept silent until his father shook him on the shoulder. He looked up, seeing the serious faces of the adults.
"…Faris, like we were saying, what you did, wasn't excusable, raising a weapon against another villager, why didn't you come forward about the abuse, why did we have to hear about it now?"
Faris coughed a bit. "2 years ago, Venka and I came out of the forest, her dress slightly dirty, I covered in bruises and scratches. She… abused magic to mess with the rest of the kids, and I got her to stop harassing them. But she wanted to get back at me." He frowned, "She was normally careful to make sure it would be a he said/ she said scenario, where it's my word against hers and maybe Anya's." Anya stood up to protest.
"I gave no such direction to Venka! You-"
"ANYWAYS!" Faris yelled, drowning her out, "She would probably get away most of the time, and by the time I had a mind to stop her, half the village kids were in on it." He shook his head, looking at the kids, who mostly averted their gazes in guilt. "They were probably having stupid fun in my expense, Venka used to annoy them with her magic, but she won them over and got them to bully me, they wanted fun. And if I outed Venka by that point, I'd be ostracized as a…" He smirked, "A snitch, and even if all you parents believed me over your own kids, which you can't in this situation due to how all of you had to be gathered here, that would just make the rest of my time in the village miserable until we grew up enough that I could leave." He laughed, "And besides, it's a month before she heads to the capital isn't it? Even I thought she wouldn't be so stupid to try and pull something as drastic as almost killing me."
"I wasn't trying to kill you!" Venka shouted, standing up despite her father and mother's stern stares. Lips trembling, she looked around, everyone's eyes ranging from impassive to disdaining. "I wanted to mess with you… you, you're such a neat freak that I thought if I messed up your room you'd maybe."
"Maybe what, cry?!" Faris spat. "If I didn't cry when you left me hanging from a tree in that forest, if I didn't cry when you slipped snails, spiders, and centipedes down my neck when you and your friends held me down, if I didn't cry when you took my shoes, and when I found them later, they were dirty and covered in cow dung? So filthy that I had to walk home on the stony ground, tearing my feet, barefoot, you think I'd cry when you flood my room with mud?!" Bergan put a firm hand on Faris's shoulder. "You broke my faungol. I saved up, helped my mom and dad, and with the tiny allowance they afforded me when traders came in, I tried to buy a faungol, but I didn't have enough, so my parents got it, for me!" He emphasized by pointing at his chest. "They bought it for me!" Tears began blurring his face. "I took that thing whenever I could, as long as I knew I would be with it at all times, I'd take it and practice. You knew that Venka." He turned to her again. "You knew that, you didn't just aim for my room, you wanted to break me." He held his head up, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well, you happy?!" Voice breaking, "You had one month left, and we'd be out of each other's hair, I haven't laid a finger on you for a year, no matter how bad I wanted to break your teeth in, but you took it as a sign that you were winning?"
"Ahem." Anya interrupted, "This… emotional outburst of yours doesn't take the fact away that you held a knife to-"
"If I wanted to kill her." Faris said, "Why is she not covered in a single scratch."
"Well… because of her wards." Anya began.
"What wards?!" Faris laughed, the villagers looked confused. "You remember one of the most famous stories of the Shade Slayer, The Dragon Rider Eragon Bromson. As he returned to the Varden, they accidentally shot a league of arrows at him, most were blocked, except for one, that he caught with his hand. I punched and kicked Venka, hard enough to bruise. Yet somehow you decided to use magic to block knife blows over fists? So, what if someone tried to choke her to death?!" Faris asked, glowering, "What the hell kind of teacher even are you?"
Jumping on this thread, a parent spoke up. "My son always complained that you were never teaching them, and that Faris was always helping him and the others understand, I never believed him, because I knew he thought Venka was bothersome, so I thought he was exaggerating. But seeing that brat act like this?! It shows me he and Faris were right!"
Other adults began talking, arguing with each other over who shared the most blame in this incident, it seemed that the lion's share of the blame however was falling to Anya, with even Jean confronting her.
"Just what have you been teaching my daughter?!"
Anya took on a calm face, smiling through her teeth as she calmly answered. "I apologize, it seems I may have overzealously paid attention to Venka. Though, you must also understand its importance. Venka's magic power is unprecedented, just spoiling her, which I seem to have done, is bad, an even worse occurrence could have come about, she could have lost control, and her magic could have seriously hurt someone." Anya holds her hands up, "I'm prepared to make reparations to Faris and his family over their foogle-"
"Faungol." Faris interrupted.
"Yes… that…" She hissed out. "I will make the reparations needed, but at the same time, perhaps we should deliberate in the morning, I will make the order for a delivery of gold, what say, 20 crowns per household, and 35 to the Ser family." She smiled as the villager's muttering stopped. 20 crowns were enough for 3 or so years for a family with three children and the grandparents on both sides. To be willing to offer this much gold for each household reminded them of how much state mages made.
A villager swallows, "Yes… perhaps we should, it is almost sundown." They began to leave, the last thing Faris saw before his father dragged him out of the meeting room was Anya's face, twisted in fury.