Ferdinand 3rd Year Royal Academy

The following day, Peter waited outside the Ehrenfest dorm. He just far enough that he wouldn't be accused of trying to enter, but close enough that it was obvious why he was here. The young scholar had his usual robes trimmed in a green that matched his hair. A long-strapped pouch was thrown over one shoulder and looked like it might contain any number of things considering it was about half the size of his chest. Idly I wondered how long he had been forced to stand there and why he hadn't sent a message asking for directions of time and place to meet. Regardless for whatever reason he had for not calling ahead it was abundantly clear that this would become a problem if people saw.

"You look suspicious just loitering like that." My tone was cold and implied indifference to any potential consequences the other boy would face. Instead of looking abashed at his shamelessness the other boy smiled cheerfully.

"No one saw me."

Justus choked back his laughter at the boy's irreverent behavior. I sighed internally while tapping two fingers against my temple to try and keep my thoughts from showing. "That is not really the point-." I thought better of any further explanation. It seemed clear that Peter understood quite well why what he was doing was unseemly, but he did not seem to care at all. Though I was mildly curious how he could be so sure no one saw him. I promptly discarded that thought. Instead, I moved on down the hall leaving any explanations to be given by my attendants.

"We will be gathering before joining the Dunkelfelger knights for their after-lunch training." Justus informed the blue-cloaked boy. Peter nodded and instead of asking questions about what kind of materials we were looking for he ended up trading gossip with my eccentric attendant. I kept my sigh to myself and allowed their chatter to become background noise. Once we reached the exit, we summoned our high beasts and flew off towards the forest. There were a couple different areas I had noted that grew valuable materials outside of our gathering spot. When we veered away from Ehrenfest's gathering area, I could practically feel Peter's gaze on my back, and the clear question mark that hung in the other boy's mind. Most students gathered from their duchy's gathering spot, but I had plenty of reason to avoid it. First, and most obvious was our site lacked anything more than the mundane materials. Which; while useful, was not what I needed. This however did not cover the danger posed gathering there.

Other students.

After the sabotage of my room, I noticed many students looked openly disappointed. Their efforts afterward had almost doubled. Four separate attempts to humiliate me had foiled in just the couple of days it had been since my meeting with the Dunkelfelger archduke candidates. Thankfully, between my excellent entourage, and Lady Minerva's new technique, the attempts had all ended in failure. Something I couldn't exactly tell a student from another duchy. Much less someone who was simply going to report it directly back to that vexing woman. However, I was still left with the original problem. What was the best way to deal with my enemies and pressure to them to keep their nastiness to themselves?

I was still pondering the best way to crush my enemies when we landed in clearing not far from where I had noted a particular material grew. What I was looking for here was a briar bush with fruits a little bit bigger than a larger gold coin. They were a bright green fruit and while they were edible, they were also incredibly bitter. The last time I had found them I discovered that they had a very pure water attribute to them. Good for potions, even if I had yet devised a way to deal with the bitterness the fruit left. A small price to pay if things turned out the way I thought.

Caw!

I glanced up in the snow laden branches. A whole flock of crows were perched on the already weighty limbs of the trees. There were easily four dozen of large birds crowded together for warmth and safety. They were also watching us with excessive interest. Was that because we were potential threats that had invaded their space, or that we represented the possibility of food in this leaner season. Judging by their size, they were not desperate for food. Best to leave before we invited trouble. It would be a pain to kill them for my materials.

I started off again, hoping the birds would let us go in peace. Suddenly the whole flock broke into a ruckus, cawing and flapping their wings. Obviously, they were upset, but this was unnatural. No normal birds would make such a fuss about us leaving. To do so was to potentially attracted an even bigger predator to them. My entourage closed in around me, each of them drawing their schtappes. Only Peter seemed calm in the face of the strangeness. The scholar's eyes traveled over the birds looking for something. His eye seemed to catch on one particular bird and he reached for a pouch. At first, I thought it might be a weapon, but instead his hand came back with a few nuts. Their shells cracked open with a series of crunching snapping sounds. The sound shouldn't have been heard over the noise of the birds, but they all mysteriously fell silent and stared at Peter with hungry eyes.

"(*Come on.*)" Peter offered his open palm out.

The largest of the birds on the branch that he was looking at flew down from its perch to land on the scholar's proffered arm. Wicked looking talons curled into the fabric of his sleeve. It made an odd chattering sound at Peter, fluffing up its feathers in a huff before snatching a nut. Peter made a hmm sound.

"Easy, easy." He cooed softly. "Take your time. I'll wait." Slowly feathers smoothed back down. The restlessness of the rest of the flock also eased now that we were holding still. "If only you all could speak. Alas, Grammalatur has cursed us to be deaf to you."

I snorted in disbelief. He was actually talking to a disgusting bird of carrion as if it was an intelligent creature. Peter heard my disbelieving sound and glanced my way. Whatever expression he was wearing it wasn't shame, or annoyance. In fact, it reminded of when my father had warned me off manipulating Dunkelfelger women.

"Forgive me my idle chatter, Lord Ferdianand. I believe these birds are trying to warn us of something unpleasant." Then he took a step toward me; the way we had planned to go. The response from not only the bird on his arm, but the whole flock was immediate. They flew into an uproarious squawking, flapping their wings, and clacking their beaks. Peter stopped and turned to go the other way and the birds ceased their noise as if they were trained dogs, not a flock of flesh-eating pests. The Dunkelfelger scholar tried to repeat this a couple times, the response being the same both times. Only the bird on his arm cuffed him over the head with its wing and snapped its beak close to his nose.

"Or they could be luring someone to us, on someone's orders." My attendants moved stand between me and Peter.

"Who would do that?"

I gave him a hard look.

Instead of being offended or trying to appeal to me Peter smiled. "You are smart not to trust me." He sighed before shooing the bird off his arms. "It's too bad there isn't a way to check the way forward without actually going." He shrugged. "Oh well."

I gave him a hard look knowing full well what he was getting at. Of my attendants Heidemarie was the one who was most adept with the technique, but she didn't have the mana to reach farther than the average room. I had the suspicion that Peter guessed that I was going to have to be the one to do that. Or I could send him to scout. No, too risky if he was part of the plan. He could very easily pass information to any potential ambush. Sending in my own retainers risked one of them being out of commission. Not something I could afford. I could disregard this nonsense, but I had a feeling that would be a very bad idea. Yet I was loath do what he was asking if for no other reason than he suggested just like 'she' would have. Perhaps, I could do the suggestion without him noticing. I certainly had enough mana to reach pretty far and I doubted anyone would notice. Then I could save face.

I huffed. "They are birds. I highly doubt they are telling us anything more than they want more food." All the while I spoke, I unspooled my mana into a hair-fine thread, and pushed it out ahead of us. "I know Dunkelfelger's heraldic animal is a hawk, but it seems your people are found of any kind of bird, so long as it sings the tune you like." Beside me Eckhart was having trouble keeping the smug grin off his face. Heidemarie also had very unnoble glee on her face. Lasfam managed to keep a straight face while Justus watched Peter. I noticed that my new scholar's expression was one of an adult that was listening to an especially amusing and precocious child.

Odd.

I was about to pull back the seeking tendril of magic when it brushed up against something with mana. Judging by the feel it was more than the average feybeast would contain. I yanked my mana back, but not before it was noticed. There was a surprised yelp from the direction we had been heading. The person was clearly trying to conceal themselves from where they were positioned in the brush. With my hearing enhanced, I could hear at least three other voices shushing the first.

"Something was here! I felt it."

My entourage's various expressions all became stoney. I was certain they recognized the voice that had yelped. A face swam in my memory, of a mednoble knight, but I was never properly introduced so I did not have a name to go with the face. Something I would remedy as soon as I was rid of Peter for the day. What little I did remember of the fourth-year boy was that his family were devoted Veronica followers. The boy in question was a particular loud-mouthed brat with no real talent for knighthood. Just another body of mana to throw around.

"Friends of yours, Lord Ferdinand?"

I scoffed at Peter. "Someone seems to be gathering here. We will move on." My entourage was quick to begin moving out, but a glance over my shoulder and I noticed Peter messing with the bird again. After a second, he finished whatever he was doing, then scattered the pouch of nuts across the snow choked clearing. The birds descended on the food, essentially obliterating our tracks. He whispered something to the crow on his arm. It and several others flew off into the forest. Then he was walking behind us occasionally casting glances around while keeping his hands in his sleeves.

We kept to areas the were shaded so there wouldn't be obvious tracks, but every now and then I caught sight of the tail end to Peter casting a spell. Nothing seemed to happen so I decided to keep what I saw to myself. As it was, he murmured the spells in that strange language and with his head down the structure was hard to catch. Justus slowly hung back. My hidden scholar clearly very interested in what his Dunkelfelger counterpart was up. Peter smiled congenially and answered in vague terms.

"Lord Ferdinand," Peter gestured to a briar bush that was hidden in the shade of a low flowering tree. "I believe the fruits here can be used in potent medicine. If one can overcome the bitter taste."

Indeed, this was the same fruit we had been looking for. Justus and Lasfam carefully inspected it, checking for traps or poison. Once that was done Heidemarie quickly sketched out a diagram of the plant, taking samples; leaf, stem, root, and branch with fruit, for study later. Then, only after all that had been done, did I gather the fruit. I had ten in my pouch and was about to grab the last two when Peter interjected.

"Lord Ferdinand, if you collect all the fruit from the plant, you can end up limiting or shrinking the amount of fruit you may collect from the plant in the future. And new seeds will not be planted from the fruit."

I frowned at him. "Won't native creatures and feybeasts just eat what's left?"

"Most likely. Which will help proliferate the plant."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "How so? If they eat it, then it is gone."

Peter coughed and looked down as if trying to figure out how best to say something that could be considered rude. "Most beasts' bodies don't break down the seeds, just the flesh of the fruit. Which are then left where ever the creature… drops them."

What? If they ate it, how would they drop- Oh! Well, that makes sense. I tapped two fingers to my forehead. Unlike humans which have ways to manage their waste, beasts just drop theirs where ever they happen to be standing. I glanced back at the plant suddenly wanting to waschen the whole thing. Peter chuckled softly.

"No fears my Lord. This plant is at least four years away from that. There should be nothing left from however it got here."

I tilted my head and wanted to ask how he could be so sure on the time frame. But set that aside. I could not be too eager for information and risk getting faulty information or giving away my own desires. No matter how helpful Peter was. My new temporary scholar pointed out several other plants that might be needed even some behankraut for Lasfam. Peter also found a small gathering of schallaub herb; which as I recalled, were used to make ordonnanzes.

"Need to make a lot of reports? I hope Ordoschnell sends sweet melodies to your lady." Justus teased the other boy.

Peter chuckled. "No. This is for a project I am working, but the results will likely go to Lady Minerva if I can get it to work that way, I want it to."

My ears perked up at that. It would be interesting to see what tools Peter created, especially since I was certain a lot of the charms she wore, were his creations.

"Oh, what might that be?" I sub-consciously moved closer when Justus asked.

Peter's expression seemed to become… sad? It was gone in a blink of an eye. "I wanted to make something that could preserve memories. Allow a person to view them later."

Interesting, was my first thought, but for what purpose? Such a tool would be worthless. Besides, who actually wanted to look back on their memories repeatedly. If someone wanted to record something, they could write it out on boards or have painting made. Why waste mana? Besides something similar already existed.

Peter shrugged, "It's just a (*pet*) project."

"Pet?" Justus repeated the strange word.

"Ah, a personal project. More for the fun of seeing if I can create something."

For that he would waste valuable materials?

"Something wrong, Lord Ferdinand?" Those orange eyes seem to bore into me as if they could tell exactly what I had been thinking.

I shook my head. "Seems the subordinate is like their pillar."

He chuckled. "Perhaps."

The rest of the gathering was done in a much more relaxed atmosphere. My entourage spoke of interesting things they had gathered and Peter shared information about materials that could only be found in Dunkelfelger. Heidemarie was especially interested in the plants. It wasn't until Justus checked his bell watch; a magic tool that told him told him what bell was closest, that he signaled it was time to go.

For Peter's sake he said aloud, "Lord Ferdinand, if we do not head back soon, we will be late for your training with Dunkelfelger knights." I grimaced at the reminder. Out of the corner of my I saw Peter cover his mouth with his sleeve as if to hide his smile.

"Yes, that would be a shame." Apparently, some of my displeasure leaked through into my tone because Justus was also smiling now. My attendant was very aware of the fact that I was not looking forward to being swarmed by those ditter obsessed knights. Yet, he seemed to deliberately and diligently make sure I showed up for the practices and even stayed late. Just thinking of Heisshitze was enough to make wonder if it was worth skipping. But then his greeting would be even more exuberant the next time I arrived. It was like he was an overactive wolfeniel come to greet its master. So, exasperating the lot of them.

"What do you wish to do?"

I glanced at Justus and then Heidemarie. I wasn't sure I wanted to send her back to the dorm alone. Not so soon after yet another failed ambush. While my entourage made no complaints, I knew full well they were likely receiving similar treatment as to me. But I was also unsure if it would be safe to bring Heidemarie to the Dunkelfelger training ground. Dimitri was still gone his people were still present. It was very difficult to keep an eye on everyone. I glanced at Peter wondering if he had something to add to the matter, but the scholar merely watched me. Not unlike the first time we met over the flower.

"We will head straight to Dunkelfelger training ground." Heidemarie could gather intelligence from the female knights. They had certainly seemed enthused to have another girl joining them and my female scholar had said they were a vast net of information on upper duchy ladies.

All of them began pulling out their highbeasts, even Peter. Justus chuckled at the sight of Peter's wolf. The fangs were exceptionally large for the beast. "I think you made the teeth on your high beast a little on the large side." I resisted to urge to tap my fingers on my temple. Justus should be the last person to mock another's high beast. "I'm sure we can find you an image of a wolf so you can do a proper comparison."

Rather than be offended by Justus' blunt ribbing, he smiled good naturedly. "You would be correct, if Fenrir was supposed to be based on a normal wolf. In truth he is based on a creature from myth who was foretold to be a harbinger of misfortune and ruin to the Gods and all they built."

Justus cocked his head. "Curious, I do not believe I have ever heard of such a myth."

"I'm sure there are many things in this world that have largely been forgotten. The longer Dregarnuhr spins, the more of Mestionora's blessings are lost."

My attendant considered his words carefully before asking, "Lady Minerva's high beast is also named, if I recall correctly."

"Indeed, it is, Jörmungandr."

"Is it too, from a forgotten tale."

Peter sighed, but a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. "Yes, Whispers, he is too. In fact, they are brothers. Both of them are children of Chaos, cast out from the higher realm for fear of what they would bring to the divine realm. Though, Jörmungandr has a distinctly gentler disposition than his brother, when push comes to shove, he is no less destructive in his rage."

"I understand why your lady would choose to name her high beast after such a creature."

Peter chuckled and took to flight. If I hadn't been looking at him, I would have missed the words he muttered under his breath. "No Whispers, I don't think you do." The wind whined as we flew over the forest, the royal academy spread before us like a massive glistening white gem in a gray velvet backdrop. As soon as the training ground came into view a noticed a strange brown structure wrapping half way around the training area.

"It looks like the builders have begun." Peter yelled over the wind.

"What is that?" Eckhart shouted back.

"A new way to train. They will probably finish in a week. That should give the scholars enough time to finish our end."

"It doesn't look like much." I noted.

"That's because, it is currently covered so the commoner craftsmen can work in the cold. Our people aren't used to the cold, and my lady would rather have our people safe rather than this finished immediately."

Odd that she would be so concerned over commoners. But then again, she had wanted even Lasfam's thoughts. Perhaps she just didn't have enough confidence in herself. I discarded that thought almost as soon as I thought it. There was another motive that vexing woman's antics, but now was not the time to ponder it. We landed and were almost instantly swarmed by knights. Heisshitze wasting no time challenging me to a ditter. I flatly refused. From there training went as usual. Drills followed by mock duels. Though Professor Rauffen had Lady Minerva and myself practice a sword dance. It was… enlightening. Unlike when dueling you weren't trying to 'win'. So, you had to learn to read and match your partner with ever increasing speed while maintaining your grace and poise. Lady Minerva had a good eye, I begrudgingly admitted.

After training I was aloud to leave without further harassment. Which was not unpleasant because I was hungry, but it was also exceedingly suspicious since Heisshitze usually pulled out all his tricks to delay my leaving. I dismissed Peter for the day only for him to stick to me like tree sap. Following us to the library and all the way to Hirschur's lab. It was only here that we managed to get away; I suspected because Peter did not want to be around our out of standard dorm supervisor.