After Rayla had finished writing her letter to Helmond and Amaya, she had fallen asleep in her and Callum's tent. Zym was rolled up against her chest.
Her boyfriend was coming back from seeing the healer Honsa and poked his head inside.
"Rayla?", he asked, very quietly. She didn't answer.
Taking this to mean that she wasn't awake, he decided to take a walk, to avoid disturbing her. The little dragon unfurled, scampering to follow him.
Outside, Lessa's Milites were still lingering. The Legion had moved on without them, leaving Lessa and Honsa behind to catch up later. From ahead, Callum saw someone approach on a Peryton.
"Ho there!", he called, "A word, human."
Callum stepped closer, and the skywing elf got off his ride. He was middle aged, wiry, looked a bit nervous and definitely excited. His light blue skin was unadorned, but he had some sweet golden sheaths for his obsidian horns, jutting from his white hair. The picture was complete with his equally white eyes. A bit creepy, they made him look like he was permanently scared out of his mind.
"I am Prime Legate Yatende Otane. When news reached the front of your release from your… uh… unfortunate imprisonment, I wanted to come see you myself. I just haven't had a chance to. My duties don't allow much respite. Nice outfit, by the way! I like the pendant."
"Callum of Katolis. What can I do for you, Yatende?"
The elf frowned dramatically. "Yatende is my convocation. It's my family. My name is Otane."
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't know."
"No reason you should, `Katolis`", he winked, "First I'd like to extend my apologies. I have never nor will ever tolerate wanton mistreatment of people under my care. This situation will have consequences for everyone who was involved. We may be at war, but we are not barbarians! And, well", he leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "I hear you have an elven summand and have gained the trust of a dragon. That already makes you okay in my books. You're invested in both federations."
Callum flushed wildly. "She... we... uh, we're not summands, b-but we do love each other..."
Otana snorted. "Oh, it appears my information was not quite correct. Apologies! Now! You will do some primal magic for me - I want to know if the rest of what I've heard is true, at least. You can perform Fulminis?"
The milites around them stopped what they were doing, watching with interest.
Callum wasn't happy. He had just finished his first session with Honsa. The healer had comforted him with some water magic, but mostly, they had just spoken. She had told him that for now, he should try to avoid recalling what he'd done to Kel outside of their meetings.
A hint of panic crept into his voice, "I don't know, I might h-hit someone."
Otane's expression became one of condescension. He clearly didn't believe that Callum was a mage. "Of course. Would you feel more comfortable if we walked a bit down the street? We must hurry, I cannot dawdle."
Reluctantly, Callum followed him, Azymondias in tow.
Once they had reached the open road, Otane gestured for him to go ahead.
Callum shakily drew the rune. Nothing happened.
"That's disappointing. But not entirely surprising. Why would you lie about having this power? Tsk."
Otane turned, shaking his head.
"W-Wait", Callum said, shakily, "I can do this. Maybe not f-fulminis."
Otane gave him a look of sopping wet pity, then turned back to keep walking.
"Aspiro!", Callum activated and Otane was blown over, the wind catching in his wings. He landed face first on the road.
"Well, pluck me!", the legion's leader yelled into the dirt, excitedly. There was clapping and laughter from a few Milites who had watched their exchange, "You better be busy with something once I get up, soldiers, or you will rue the day!"
The milites' laughter died down and they skittered.
"Told you I could do Aspiro", grinned Callum.
The Prime Legate reassembled himself, dusting off his clothes as he got up. "Fantastic! Any other spells you know?"
"Again, I know fulminis, I-I just have some issues… using it right now."
"What about Nebula?"
"Never heard of it."
"Well, there you go.", he drew a vaguely cloud shaped rune, "Nebula!"
Dense fog flew from his mouth as he blew, it hung thick in the air. Zym cooed and started running zig zag in the expanding cloud.
"That's good isn't it? Lay down some cover?"
Callum tried it. It was really as simple as Aspiro; drawing the rune, saying the word and blowing.
"Nice! You picked that up quick! Very talented! Now I just need to find you. Aspiro!"
The fog was blown away.
"Thanks for teaching me, Otane!", Callum was thoroughly excited, "What else can I learn?"
"Eager, eager! Very nice. Seeing as you don't have wings, you're going to like this one."
He drew a complicated rune that Callum immediately imitated, so as to not forget it. It looked like a flame, jutting upward, wide on the bottom where it enclosed the rune for Aspiro, pointed on top.
"Alatus!", they both shouted and a mighty gust carried Callum upward, beyond the tops of the trees.
"Uh, Otane?!", the prince called, flailing.
The skywing mage and Zym came flying, settling next to him.
Callum was somewhat panicked, "You know I'm gonna d-die if I fall that far, right?"
"Oh!", he laughed with a bellow, "Don't you worry! It'll put you down gracefully in a moment, just... try not to wiggle so much!"
The spell subsided and Callum descended, quickly, but not dangerously, landing roughly on his stomach. Zym licked his face.
"That was still kinda painful.", he wheezed, getting up.
"Aw, bummer", his teacher said, with fake sympathy. Landing gracefully he continued, "I should've probably taught you this one first, they make a good combo."
The Prime Legate looked over his shoulder for the end of the Legion's column, then shrugged and drew an even more complicated rune. Callum was weary of what it would do, but he wanted to learn so he followed along. "You know that with some spells, you can designate targets? Nebula and Aspiro are directional spells. Fulminis is a target spell. This one and Alatus are tactile, meaning the spell's applied to anything you're touching while you activate. Or yourself, if you're not touching anything, since only your hands can carry the intent."
The rune was complete - to Callum, it looked like a pair of wings connected to an orb.
"Ratis!", they shouted and… nothing happened.
"Did that not work?", Callum asked.
"It probably did. Try Alatus."
Callum was thrown into the air once more, but this time he seemed to hover in place rather than swaying in the gust. As it subsided, he was stuck in midair. Flailing once more, he tried to move.
After a few minutes, Callum got bored.
"Can I come down now?"
Otane laughed, "Use your wit, Katolis! Ratis expires as soon as you touch solid ground! It will keep drawing your power, so don't stay up there too long!", he turned, waving over his shoulder, "It was good meeting you, but I have to catch up to my column! Don't forget, sky isn't the most aggressive source, but the most useful. Farewell and good luck!"
Callum frowned. He already felt very tired. He was a good ten feet from the ground. What to do?
Looking around, he noticed that there was another group of people with an escort in the middle distance, seemingly having exited Larwein in their direction. A rider had separated from them and was closing quickly.
"Aspiro", Callum yelled, the spell, aimed skyward, propelling him towards the ground. As he spun about and landed on his knee and fists, dust went flying and the present Milites started clapping and cheering.
A pair of polished moon elven boots appeared in his vision.
"Well look at you, bein' all magic-y!", Rayla said, helping him on his feet. She was dressed in a new, patchless and startlingly green Assassin's uniform, "Alissa woke me and hooked me up. I've got a winter uniform for both of us, too", she knocked on the unmarred chest guard and sighed contently, "Feels good to be dapper again."
Callum chuckled, weakly. "I liked you in that sweater, but this is more `you`."
She pulled him into a hug and whispered, "You're so smart. Know just the thin' to say", she then looked over his shoulder, noticing the rider who was now visible to everyone on the ground.
"Uh oh", she went.
"What is it now?", Callum groaned.
"Judgin' by the freakishly shiny uniform, that there is a templar canon guard. The senate's close."