Ghost's Stories, part six

"So," said an unfamiliar voice, "you and Elyssa."

Chris turned, and found himself looking up at a magus who was standing directly behind him. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with high cheekbones and a firm chin to balance them. His hair was blond and his eyes were the blue of an autumn sky just fading into dusk. Chris frowned. "Do I know you?" 

The magus grinned and extended a hand, a study in false friendliness. "Julius Thornblade," he said, and then added, "Magus," as if that weren't obvious already. 

"Oh," said Chris, then stood and shook his hand, keeping his grip firm but not aggressive. "Elyssa's partner. I'd heard she was working with a Thornblade. Quite an honor."

Julius blinked, surprised and not quite quick enough to hide it, and shook Chris' hand as well: firm, but not strong enough to cause discomfort. "Yes, well, I just wanted to make sure that she would be okay with you. I wouldn't want my partner to become unreliable because someone decided to break up with her." 

He was good at hiding the words and movements, Chris noted, good enough to fool an RO who wasn't familiar with the magespeech. But his throat still moved, and the Words still emerged as mutters, and the traces of the Grey still swept over him, digging in, trying to command...

Chris shrugged them off. "No," he said. "It's early days yet, but I like what I've seen of her so far. And even if things don't work out, I doubt that would affect her ability to work with you."

Julius frowned, ever so slightly, but he settled back. "All right. I just wanted to see how things stood."

"Well, it's an honor to meet you," Chris said. "You're a Thornblade, so everybody expects good things from you. I'm honestly a little jealous that Elyssa was assigned to you and I wasn't." It wasn't jealousy, exactly, but it was true enough that he didn't mind admitting it. If Chris had been assigned to Julius, things might be very different. 

Julius looked him over again, then nodded. "Well," he said, "we all rise to our level. I'm sure I'll see you around."

"I look forward to it." He kept his tone neutral, and Julius frowned just slightly, but he turned and walked away without looking back. 

Apparently letting Elyssa stay in my room set the fox among the chickens. Chris turned back to his meal and frowned to himself. He hadn't expected Julius to feel so challenged that he had to come and confront Chris directly; that might cause problems too, depending on how things worked out. Still... 

Whatever's going to happen, let it happen. It was a line from a song he barely remembered, but it was also just about the only sensible choice he had right now. He finished eating, and went on to the instruction he dreaded most: Driver's Education.