Chapter 209: Tough Talks

“You’re going to take Isabel and Todd away?” Lee asked, her expression crumpling.

“I was going to,” Silvertide said with a frown. “They refused my offer. Said they liked their current teacher well enough. Guess they never really did know me, I very rarely visited and I suppose I wasn’t a topic of conversation in the family, but I was still surprised. That’s why I came. Just doing my due diligence and making sure that they chose you of their own volition.”

Noah wasn’t sure what to say. He still didn’t exactly know who Silvertide was, but the man was strong and well known. Isabel and Todd probably could have gotten some incredible tutelage from him – better than anything Noah could have done with his limited knowledge and resources.

“That expression on your face is exactly what I felt,” Silvertide said, a tiny note of petulance entering his voice. He shook his head and chuckled. “Unfortunately, my feelings weren’t part of the conversation. I should mention that they did accept my offer for training during the vacation, but I won’t be keeping them.”

Wait. If he’s actually this well known, he’s got to be rich, right?

“If you’re training Todd, then maybe you can help him in a more important way. I’d imagine you’ve got access to some powerful resources. Todd got some bad nerve damage a little while back and it doesn’t look like it can be fixed without a very expensive procedure. Is there something you could do about that?”

Silvertide’s brow furrowed. “Was it in his neck? That would explain his stance, actually. But… a healing potion didn’t fix it? It should have.”

“The healing potion didn’t properly heal him,” Moxie said.

“Any wound severe enough for a healing potion to fail to take is incredibly serious. And for it to be nerve damage in that location–” Silvertide’s features grew stormy and his eyes went cold. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees and the hair on the back of Noah’s neck stood on end. “Who broke his neck?”

“Nobody you can take revenge on,” Noah said. “He’s already dead. I killed him.”

The room returned to its former feeling and Noah’s chair creaked as Silvertide released his iron grip on it. He’d left small grooves in the wood. His grip was so strong that he’d nearly squished it between his fingers.

“I see,” Silvertide said. “I will look into this and see what I am capable of doing. Severe damage like that, in a location as integral as the neck, is not always a solution that is so simple as money.”

“If there’s anything you can do to help Todd at all, it could change everything for him. He’s been working double just to keep up with Isabel, and I haven’t been able to figure out any ways to help him beyond earning enough money to find a way to cure him.”

Silvertide grunted. “How was his neck broken in the first place? That isn’t a training injury.”

Now that’s a minefield of a question.

“Assassins,” Noah said finally. “Ones going for me, not him. We were on the road and got attacked unexpectedly.”

“And the one who sent them?”

“Alive, but no longer trying to kill me, as far as I know. He’s too powerful for me to go after directly right now, but he’ll get what’s coming to him.”

Silvertide rubbed his brow and shook his head. “Politics. It’s always politics. This is why I became a Soldier. The reason this damn kingdom can’t keep a Rank 7 is probably because we’re all killing each other for scraps of power. I won’t press on this matter – not yet, at least. It isn’t my place.”

That’s… surprisingly understanding, actually. I fully expected him to try to figure out who sent the assassins and get furious at me for putting Todd in harm’s way.

Heaving a sigh, Silvertide raised from the chair and adjusted his cloak. “I’ve spent enough time terrorizing your room. I’ll be leaving with Isabel and Todd tomorrow, and we’ll be out for exactly two months. They’ve reached Rank 2 already, which speaks volumes for your training style, as I suspect it wasn’t through monster baths that they grew strong. I will be focusing on other things, so don’t fear. They will return alive. I will not allow harm to befall them.”

“Thank you,” Noah said. He didn’t have to hide the relief. Silvertide felt reliable, and knowing that the kids would have someone powerful accompanying them over the summer took a large weight off his shoulders that he hadn’t even realized was there.

“Why?” Lee asked abruptly. Silvertide and Noah glanced over to her.

“Why what?” Silvertide asked.

“Why are you helping them? What do you get out of it?” Lee’s forehead was scrunched in confusion. “Are you trying to make friends with Isabel and Todd?”

Silvertide chuckled. “Because I loved their parents. The noble houses betrayed their families. Isabel and Todd can’t even say their parents names anymore because of the Blacklist, and that infuriates me. They were incredible mages and even better people. They deserved to live free, not have their names stricken from the Arbalest Empire. Unfortunately, I was too late to save their parents, so I’ll just do what I can to help them instead.”

Lee’s gaze held only confusion. Silvertide took that as acceptance and strode to the door, pulling it open and pausing to look back over his shoulder.

“Vermil, was it?”

Noah nodded.

“Walk with me. I wish to discuss more in private.” Lee tensed. Silvertide’s eyes flicked to her and he gave her a small smile. “Your friend will return unharmed. I swear it.”

“It’s fine, Lee,” Noah said, taking his gourd and bag off and setting them on ground just in case. Whatever the Soldier had to say, Noah wanted to hear it. “I’ll be back soon.”

He followed Silvertide, pulling the door shut and leaving Lee and Moxie in the room behind him.

***

Lee stared at the door for several seconds.

“He’ll be fine,” Moxie said. “Silvertide is a lot of things, but I’ve never once heard a story of him lying. If he said that Noah will make it back safe, then he will.”

“That wasn’t what I was thinking about,” Lee said. “He’s a little too old, isn’t he?”

Moxie let out a choking snort of laughter. Lee blinked in confusion as Moxie composed herself and sent a baffled glance in her direction.

“What do you mean? He’s a Rank 6,” Moxie said. “Silvertide is an odd case. He was stuck at low Ranks for many years, even in spite of his very impressive accomplishments. But when he was around seventy, he suddenly jumped into even more prominence, going from a Rank 3 to a Rank 5 in just a year. He hit Rank 6 shortly afterward.”

“That’s not what I was talking about,” Lee said, shaking her head. “He’s too old to love Isabel and Todd. Also, aren’t you only supposed to love one person? He’s greedy, loving their parents and them. Is that allowed? That’s six people!”

Moxie burst into laughter. Lee’s befuddlement only grew as Moxie shook her head and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Lee, Silvertide didn’t mean he was romantically in love with Isabel and Todd. That would be incredibly disturbing. He probably wasn’t in

love with their parents either. He loved them as friends.”

Lee gave Moxie a blank stare. “You said the same thing twice.”

“No. It’s different,” Moxie said. She thought for a few moments, then rubbed the back of her neck. “Romantic love and platonic love are both love. Some people see it differently, but I’d say romantic love is something you feel toward a single person that you find… attractive, I guess. Romantically.”

Lee gave Moxie a deadpan stare. “That didn’t really define anything.”

“I’m trying, okay?” Moxie chewed the insides of her cheeks. “I never thought I’d be giving this talk to a demon. It’s when you like someone more than anyone else, to a level where you’d follow them anywhere and they’d do the same for you.”

“So it’s like super friendship?”

Moxie laughed. “No, I wouldn’t say it’s greater or worse than friendship. It’s different. I… oh, gods. Okay. Romantic love typically also involves wanting to get really close to someone. Physically. I don’t know how demons procreate, but–”

“There’s usually a fight, and then–”

“Nope!” Moxie held her hands up. “Sorry, that’s definitely not something I need to learn today. Maybe not how demons do it, then. Just imagine someone that you find so attractive that you want to spend all your time around them because you like looking at them. Something like that.”

Lee stared off into the distance for several seconds, then slowly nodded. “Okay. So what is plate love?”

“Platonic. It’s the love you have for your friends,” Moxie explained. “It’s the feeling of anger you get when someone you care about is threatened. The happiness you feel when they succeed. It’s different than romantic love, but it’s no better or worse.”

Lee’s eyes lit up. “Oh! I love you, then.”

There was a short pause as Moxie desperately tried to figure out what Lee meant by that particular line, but Lee saved her from having to think too hard.

“I also love Noah. And Isabel. And Todd. Emily too. Am I allowed to love that many people?”

Moxie burst into laughter. “Yeah, I think that’s fine. There’s no limit to how many friends you can have. They’re like family that you can choose.”

Lee opened her mouth, then closed it again, confusion passing back over her features. “Families also love each other?”

The smile fell away from Moxie’s face. “Now I’m definitely the wrong person to answer that question. Sometimes, it’s better to choose the people you love. Being born to someone doesn’t mean they love you.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Oh.”

They were both silent for a few seconds. Moxie tried not to look too satisfied. She’d somehow actually managed to answer Lee’s questions without butchering something. Lee looked at Moxie out of the corner of her eyes.

“Moxie?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you feel romantic love toward food?”

Moxie sighed.