Once Drax had finished his report – and it was definitely a report it seems the boys training in the Imperial Army had left an indelible mark on him – Viktor turned to the EART and spoke to its leader.

“Captain Samis, your presence is not needed here. Please take your team back to the Academy and revoke Conithia’s right to call on a full company. Demote her Call-Stones to a squad level.”

The Captain saluted his Elder and he and his men disappeared in a clap of displaced air.

Conithia attempted to interject, but Viktor glared at her and a single comment from him sealed her mouth shut.

“Do not speak until I give you leave to, student.”

Viktor than rummaged around in his Bag of Holding (Authors Note – Yeah I could call it all sorts of things, but everybody knows what a Bag of Holding is, so I do not have to explain it) and found a small blue stone that he pulled out. Speaking into the stone quietly so that no one could hear, resulted in an explosive shout of “WHAT!” coming from the little stone. And within a few seconds a second teleport clap was heard as two figures appeared in the courtyard.

Viktor simply gestured at Conithia and the two elves turned to look at her. They were middle aged for elves, the woman was nearing a thousand years of age, and the man was about twelve-hundred. They both bore a striking resemblance to Conithia, but whereas her face seemed haughty and reserved, the both of them had laugh lines and an aura of happiness. At the moment however, both elves seemed sad – no, not sad, disappointed.

Conithia looked at them in open astonishment. Her expression showing everyone that might look that of all the people that might appear, she had never imagined that it would be these two. She stepped forward and reached out to them, but stopped in shock and confusion when the woman stepped forward and slapped her left cheek.

Toric looked away uncomfortably, as did most of the rest of those gathered. They could not however help but hear what the woman said after she slapped Conithia.

“Daughter, whatever gave you the idea that Elves are above other mortal races? All mortal races upon our world are equal. We were crafted in the images of different gods, but simply because we have diverse skills and traits do not mean any one race are better than any others. If any race might be able to claim they are above others it would be the Dragons, but even they do not encourage such arrogance among themselves. Your father and I had thought that acquiescing to your request that you become Head of the House so that you could chart your own path would teach you some humility, but apparently we were wrong. As of this moment you are no longer Head of House Trolbane. Your father will take his position back as the commander of our military and I will return to run the House. You are once again the heir. In addition I am invoking House Rights to push your coming of age forward ten years, and for the next thirteen years your father and I will see to the continuation of your education personally. Now go apologize to whoever it was you attempted to bind, and understand fully that we will be discussing your attempt to soul-bind a person very, very thoroughly.”

Before Conithia could say anything, Toric stepped forward and spoke.

“Lady and Lord Trolbane, pardon me I do not know your names. My name is Toric Fatesblood. Please, while I understand that your daughter made an error, I ask that you not be too hard on her. She has suffered a great deal of humiliation just now in this public dressing down. If you could explain to her, her error, then that is enough. I will not say more, she is your daughter. I just want to say that no harm was done, and I hold her no ill will for her narrow worldview.”

Conithia’s mother turned to speak to Toric, but her face went white as she saw him and she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood when she heard his family name. Conithia’s father was able to recover his senses first and responded to Toric’s comment.

“My name is Tav Havor and this is my wife Leli Havor. It is our pleasure to meet you Toric. I fought in the war with your father, and each day I pray for his safe return. I apologize for my daughter, and while you may have forgiven her, it still seems she has some strange ideas about the world that must be corrected. However, do not worry too much, she is still our daughter and we will always love her. Please excuse my wife, she; and I, I must admit; are shocked that you are a Walker. I thank whatever reason it was that the binding spell failed. I do not think my daughter fully understands how horribly she would have died if your soul had actually felt threatened. It has become apparent to me that there are serious gaps in her education if she feels that elves are the supreme race. Not to mention the fact that all mages should be able to recognize the signs that a person before them is a Veil-Walker.”

Toric sighed and looked at the ground.

“My armor is enchanted to resist a lot of different effects, but I did not notice that it was a soul-bind. I am an Ignis Element, and if she had touched Veil-Fire through her spell it would have been, as you said, horrifying. I am glad that such a thing did not happen. And I regret that I provoked her at all. I know a lot of things, centuries of memories are buried in my skull, and every time I sleep I train with Veil-Walkers of the past within a soul-space. However, I am only fifteen years old, and while I may know much and have terrible power, sometimes I speak without thinking. None of this would have happened had I simply ignored her petty words. Instead I let her get to me, and became angered because of her worldview. I have much to learn, and I hope one day she can forgive me for my rash words.”

Tav smiled and shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it too much Toric. It shows good character that you apologize for something you feel was your error, but in the end each person is only responsible for their own actions. You were not in the wrong here, words can be retracted, but attacks cannot. Now if you will excuse us, it is time that we take our daughter home.”

Toric bowed his head shortly and offered an apologetic smile to Conithia. The poor girl still seemed to be in shock from everything that was happening around her and did not even seem to notice his look. Once again the soft clapping sound of displaced air was the only sound heard as Leli Havor teleported herself and the rest of her family away.

Toric turned to face the last of the recent arrivals, and before he could ask the old elf introduced himself.

“Greetings Toric, I am Viktor Munadarlaus, Arch-Mage of Void, Headmaster of the Elven Academy, Sixth Elder of the Elven Council, and Lord of House Orfano. I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the actions of my student, as well as for her lacking education. Her father was absolutely correct; there is no excuse for her not being able to recognize what you are. The Walkers suffer under their duties, and all mages owe them respect, no matter what their race, creed, or code.”

Toric’s eyes widened at all of the old elf’s titles and then he listened patiently to what he said. He smiled as he replied.

“I have not been a Walker for very long, but I do understand that it is a terrible responsibility. I do not blame you for your student Lord Orfano. I do not even blame your student. Education can lack many things, and gaps are to be expected. Now if you could please excuse me, there are still quite a few things I need to discuss with Drax’s family before I head back to the capital. Most especially I need to apologize for this rather unsightly interruption.”

Viktor laughed at the last few words from Toric and reached into his bag, pulling out a small silver token that he passed to Toric.

“I will take my leave, but first take this. Anytime you want to talk, or if you ever need help from an old man, grip this with a bare hand, say Viktor Orfano to activate it, and we will be able to speak through it. Fare you well Walker Fatesblood.”

Toric admired the token and then he admired the fact that Viktor had teleported away while he was looking at the token. There had not been even the normal clap of displaced air. It was the smoothest teleport he had ever seen, including in his genetic memories. Shaking out of his reverie, he turned on his heel and drug Drax with him back toward the porch to continue the conversation with the Tellis family.