A Blissful Semester Flies By Amidst the Tundra

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Razan sat in a quiet sleeper car of an enchanted wagon. The cart bucked on its rail; the flame djinn must have been raging against its fetters that day. Outside, the distant steeples and bell towers of Shiverfast peeked out over the karst, illuminated against a starry night. The mage’s college could be seen atop the largest hill.

His thoughts returned to the family reunion, and a conversation with his father out on a veranda.

“So, heading to Fellmire in a couple weeks?”

“Indeed. We already have the tickets.” Razan nodded.

“Know where you’re headed?”

“Been there before. Her family has a clan burrow in the eastern reaches.”

“Oh, that’s away from the port. Maybe a full day’s ride. Be careful out there.”

Back in the enchanted wagon, Razan sighed. He was a grown adult by the standards of every possible kingdom and fief he could name, but his family still gushed and fretted over his safety. Some of it was warranted, being the firstborn heir after all, but he was somewhat surprised they hadn’t sent one of the uncles out to Shiverfast to babysit him while he was at college.

The overnight wagon would be arriving right in Shiverfast’s town square right with the dawn. From there it was just a short jaunt up a hill to the college.

Already the skies were beginning to brighten through the far windows, stirring some of Razan’s fellow sleeping passengers out of slumber. The first sparse houses of the outer districts passed by in a blur, and by the time the tram passed through (well, over, on a magically imbued rail) the low-lying city wall, the landscape outside was nothing but charming row houses along winding streets and up squat slopes.

Still three days before the start of next semester, he thought. Came back a little early. But Razan was sure he’d find ways to preoccupy himself.

The tram came to a stop, and Razan was among the first ones out. The town’s famous night market was just packing up, a few enterprising stalls still trying to hawk some goods on clearance. With a rucksack containing his meagre possessions in tow, Razan took a stroll.

Shiverfast was a city in near-perpetual early winter. He’d packed a coat that went unused in his parents’ rather temperate holdings. Now, he wore it over his school robes against a wintry chill.

The night market was illuminated by baubles strung up above the tents. Part of a still-developing field of illumination magic. All the big cities had summoners place lights in public spaces these days. It was the way of the future.

Most of the students wouldn’t be coming into town for another day or so. He walked through the market all alone….

… alone, aside from a series of footsteps munching in the snow behind him. Razan turned, but there was no one there.

“This doesn’t work in the snow,” he said, bemused. “I can see your boot prints.”

An orphaned set of tracks rushed for him, dancing around him. Then, he felt something cover his eyes – but utterly fail to block his vision.

“Guess who?” came a cutesy sing-song voice

“Huh. The light bending spell even works when your hands are actively covering my eyes. I can still see everything clear as day.”

Razan felt the phantom hands leave his eyes.

“Clever, huh? If we weren’t out here in the frigid hinterlands this would be quite the effective stealth spell. Someone’s getting a SS grade in this semester’s practical illusions.”

With a wave of a hand, the illusion dissipated. Light wrapped around a figure thereabouts a head shorter than Razan, with sandy brunette hair atop a light green scalp. Cute ears ended in points angling out away from the cutest button nose. Her eyes were large and saucer-like with pupils of the deepest and most interesting hazel. And she wore a wool overcoat, the better to protect her sensitive constitution from the cold.

“Have fun with my future in-laws?” Domitia teased. “I presume you’ve told them about me? I’d be devastated if you had a different girl at every port, and just swapped between us like some sort of unknowing harem.”

“They’re… well, the family is… family,” Razan said with a sigh.

All stresses left over from the family reunion were forgotten in an instant. Razan stepped forward, as did Domitia, and the pair embraced.

“Missed you,” he said.

“Ah, so warm.” She hugged him tighter. “Sorely tempted to follow you down there just for the sun. I can barely photosynthesize up here. My skin’s going pallid.”

Domitia’s lovely green hue did seem a little lighter than typical here in the cold north.

“We’ll be in the sun before long, my dear,” Razan promised. “Just one last semester and we’re off to Fellmire.”

“Home again, home again.” Domitia smiled, showing off her fetching little fangs in place of incisors.

“I can’t wait to meet your family,” Razan smiled back.

Domitia’s fanged grin grew ever wider. “They’re goanna eat you alive.”

They shared a laugh, then made for the hill up to the college, fingers intertwined. Students at Shiverfast Mage’s College came from all over and dated all the time; couples walking here and there was a common sight once the semester was in full swing.

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The pair waltzed hand-in-hand to their abode here in the fridgid north: a simple apartment just off-campus. Razan had not been lying to his family about how expensive rents were for aspiring mages slumming it well away from their family’s holdings, but it was manageable when split in half. Being a spare dwelling from some of Domitia’s family holdings provided yet further discounts, ensuring the pair had plenty of spare cash after lodging, tuition, and food for ample dates.

They had a two-bedroom apartment for the purposes of plausible deniability, should they ever require it. But alas, there was only one bed. The other room was used as a work and hobby space for school work and their mutual writing habit.

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“Ah, dear, I’ve got a new idea for our next alternate system’s rules,” Domitia said. “What if all the lights in the sky are other worlds, and a sufficiently advanced enchanted tram could go and visit them all?”

“All the lights in the sky?”

“… were stars, yeah.” Domitia nodded.

“Other stars, rather than tears in the aetherial plane.” Razan stroked at his chin. “I only fear that this may stretch credulity with the readers.”

Domitia gave his shoulder a playful whack. “Oh, you. That’s the whole point of the alternate systems genre. To explore new, impossible things!”

The pair retired to their bedroom.

“Watch this.” Domitia smiled.

She clasped her hands together, whispered a little something… and myriad constellations of pinprick-sized orange lights flooded the room. They naturally floated to the ceiling.

“Lemme close the blinds.” Domitia did so, and they had their own night sky to gawk at even as the sun rapidly arose outside.

Razan looked up, admiring the spell his dear girlfriend had been perfecting in his absence. Only, he noticed after a time that he was the only one watching the light show.

“As perceptive as a blind dire-rabbit,” Domitia said.

“Do… do they have those in Fellmire?”

The pair gazed into each other’s eyes, Domitia’s hazel pupils aglow in the low light.

“I didn’t shut the blinds or set up this mood lighting so we could gawk at the ceiling,” she teased.

Domitia grabbed her beau by the hem of his robes and pushed him onto their plush double-bed.

“Welcome home, Razan.”

And the rest of the morning (and afternoon. Maybe even the evening) was spent doing things not appropriate for this story’s rating.

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Shiverfast Mages College commenced its next semester with little fanfare. Razan and Domitia awoke one day, donned the mage robes that served as their school uniform, and walked up the hill and began another spate of classes.

They actually had more classes together than not. Neither would complain. Their schedules looked like this…

Razan’s Classes

Domitia’s Classes

POT2774 - Alchemy Essentials

POT2774 - Alchemy Essentials

HIS2092 - Nonhuman Folkways

HIS2411 - History of Human Magecraft

SPL2111 - Combat Spellcasting

SPL2111 – Combat Spellcasting

BIO2567 – On Mana Storing Organs

BIO2567 – On Mana Storing Organs

MSC1011 – Dungeons, Dragons, and 3 Credit Hours

MAT3889 - Trigonometry

A busy schedule, but it would leave them graduating a semester or two early. It also meant they were by each other’s side for the majority of any given day. Wherever they went, the pair was recognizable by their SMC robes in the school colors – white and blue, and of course their winter gear. Razan was hardly acclimatized for even a light dusting of snow, and Domitia was quite well-known for detesting the constantly dreary skies.

Razan helped Domitia with history readthroughs (by far her worse subject) while she hard-carried him through Potions class and tried (and largely failed) to prep him for additional math classes in the next two years.

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Crafting new spells or adapting existing ones was a common mode of study, if not one with its own track at SMC. The happy couple had a perfect opportunity to tinker in SPL2111.

Combat Spellcasting did not necessarily necessitate dueling, but it was a good way of testing out new techniques and blocking mechanics. So, the pair borrowed the university gymnasium on the off hours for sparring practice.

“It’s not like we can keep our spell tinkering a secret from each other in the apartment,” Domitia said.

“Not much of an element of surprise,” Razan admitted. “Still, instructions just say we need to customize one offensive projectile spell and one form of barrier…”

“Already beat ya to it,” Domitia smiled toothily. “Ready?”

Razan held a catalyst up in one hand, pointing in Domitia’s direction at an off angle, the better to reinforce his deflection barrier.

“Sure thing.”

With a flick of her wrist, Domitia summoned forth a miniature sun in the middle of the gymnasium. The plasma ball advanced at a crawl at first… then accelerated exponentially. Razan scarcely had time to swish his deflector active. The light ball screamed at him, hit the barrier, and dissipated in a whiff of ozone and a blinding glare.

Razan wound up on the floor, perfectly safe beyond a bit of singe around the hem of his robes.

“All that, even with the school’s limiters on this loaner catalyst.” Domitia knelt over Razan, with a worried look on her face. “I am so, so sorry, Razan. Are you okay?”

“Would you get mad if I said this near-death experience kind of got me hot and bothered?”

Domitia shot her beau a piteous look.

“No flirting in the gymnasium, mister.” Her frown turned into a sly grin. “Too much of that and we could get ourselves in trouble.”

Razan chuckled.

“I mean it. It’d be awkward if someone on the faculty alumni list got disciplined for… uncouth activities in the gym.”

“I’m sure.”

Domitia helped Razan up.

“Someone’s getting a SSS rank on the final exam,” Razan managed, dusting himself off. “That thing was huge. Could’ve taken the city wall down.”

“Hey, that was quite the barrier. Worth at least S rank.” Domitia said. “If that fireball is impressive, the barrier that dispelled it where it stood has to be mighty as well.”

Razan dusted himself all, self-satisfied grin on his face. “I suppose so.”

“Activating it with a waving gesture seems a little… inefficient. Requires a twitch catalyst hand and perfect timing.”

“Eh, it’s flashier than a boring old barrier. And it dispels anything it hits.”

“I suppose it did.” All of a sudden, Domitia let out a sigh. “Whew. Didn’t expect to get winded during basic spell testing. Let’s go get some grub.”

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It had not quite been love at first sight.

They’d met in the college library, as Razan had told his family. And they had started talking about their shared passion of alternate systems literature. She’d seemed nice. But then she’d invited him to a jousting club tourney. Razan had gotten one look at her atop one of the university’s pride tourney horses, her squat statue bulked up in full plate armor and whoooo, boy. That got the old mana circuits flowing.

After that, he’d met up with her after the tourney was done, they’d gotten to talking again… and thought it only felt like they’d spoken for an hour or so, they were both surprised to discover the sun peaking out over the tundra, a whole night having passed.

That was a month into their first semester. Razan moved into Domitia’s off-campus apartment a few weeks later, and now they were approaching anniversary number one before midterms.

“Whatcha looking at?” Domitia angled her head off to the right.

“Nothing. Just reminiscing.”

Razan smiled, which made Domitia smile back. Her ears twitched, a sign of bashfulness.

“You’re bad at keeping secrets.” Domitia giggled to herself.

“Well, you see, I know it’s a few weeks away, but…” Razan dissipated a minor cloaking spell, revealing that he’d already placed a bouquet on the cafeteria table.

Three ruby-red roses poked out the top. And surrounding them, a series of thorny fell peonys. Off-season on this continent, but…

Domitia’s hazel eyes went wide. “Oh, Razan. These are just like home.”

She grabbed the bouquet and gently sniffed each flower. “Mmmm. There are actually guide pheromones in each peony. Subtle locational details. Probably not something you’d be able to recognize. But…”

“Was it to your liking?”

“They’re from not far from the burrow,” she declared. “Not bad at all. How did you..,?”

Razan nodded, expecting the question. “I heard from your family; they told me where to source them.”

“I knew it.” She gazed at the flowers with a warm grin.

“Um, did I do good?”

“You did excellent.” Domitia took his hand. “I do hope my family wasn’t too overbearing.”

“We communicated by letter. They seemed amenable.”

Domitia looked out the window of the mage college cafeteria. A light sprinkling of snow had descended over the wintery town.

“At least they know you’re coming. Wouldn’t want to surprise them with a strange new boy.” Domitia stuck her tongue out.

“Guess not.” Razan glanced away, feeling awkward.

“I wasn’t kidding about them eating you alive,” Domitia said. “At least, not my younger brothers. When I was their age, I was running around biting everything in sight.”

Razan’s smirk turned more neutral. “Really?”

“Pfft. No. By the time your adult fangs come in you’re usually old enough to resist that urge. Usually.” She took a chunk out of her meal, winter snow hare, a university staple. “Guess we ought to pack soon. It’ll be finals, then we’re out the door.”

Too late to back out now. Razan gulped down some diet sweet-mead. It was time to meet the parents – or the clan, rather. They didn’t bite – Domitia promised!

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