The tree finished the food and were served some apple crumble with custard for dessert. The canteen was full by then, and both Dorin and Johan had joined them by the counter.
"How do you like the food?" Dorin asked the professor.
"Very enjoyable!" replied Dupont.
[I liked the roast, medium rare] wrote Seb.
"The apple crumble was my favorite," said Mar.
"Oh, that was Johan," said Dorin. Johan merely frowned at them and continued eating.
"Don't tell Mrs. Cooper, but he's got this way of keeping the temperature of the old brick stove a certain level..."
"How did you find--" Johan blurted out, but cut off and returned to frowning at his plate.
"Don't worry, I don't plan to rat on you," said Dorin defensively, "I'm just amazed at the kind of control you have on the fire, back at home, I had to bind a spell on out brick oven to keep the temperature level and to time my cooking the way the cookbooks asked for," he added, "When ever I try to adjust the fire mentally, I always end up with cinders."
"Perhaps it's just that fire is not your element," said Mar.
"True, I could never quite control it."
"What is your best element then?" Dupont scraped the last of the apple crumble from his plate.
"Most probably air," Dorin answered, rubbing his chin. "Out of all 9 elements, it's what I can control the most."
[You mean 12.] Seb wrote.
"Eh? What 12?" asked Dorin
"Of the 9 elements, the basics are fire, wind and water," Professor Durant explained. "the secondary elements are earth from fire, lightning from wind and wood or plants from water."
"Metal, plasma and life elements make the third tier." supplied Mar. "They are particularly useful in the Military division"
[Fire and earth gives birth to metal; the bones of the earth.” wrote Seb, “Air and lightning produces plasma. Water produces wood, which ultimately leads to the control of life.]
"Yes, those are the 9 elements, right?" asked Dorin.
“Right, but then, at the start of the new century, scholars have added 3 more elements to the list.” said Mar.
“The catalistic elements,” Professor Dupont continued. “From the fires in the center of the earth comes gravity, from the control of life, anti-life, and from the air, a vacuum or black hole.”
"I haven't read about those before..." Dorin frowned. "Mother's books have only discussed about the 9 elements..."
"Perhaps the books are old editions?" asked Mar.
"I can lend you some textbooks if you want," offered the professor. "Just out of curiosity, exactly what books were you reading?"
"Well," Dorin answered with a frown, "My favorite book is Al Khami's 'Black Earth' --"
Dorin was distracted by Sebastian spitting the food in his mouth and choking on it. A jumble of words rush across his slate, but just as suddenly disappeared – it concerned 8 digit numbers.
"Are you okay?" Mar asked her friend with concern, patting him on the back.
Johan simply looked at them, annoyed. Professor Durant starts to laugh.
"It's the book!" he said between laughter, "Al Khami's books are the first ever written records about alchemy, he is known as the father of alchemy, and is the first arch mage who tried to explain magic using scientific methods,"
[Because of this he was branded as a blasphemer and his books were burned!] wrote Seb after regaining his composure. [He himself was cursed to write in a stone slab with the blood from his fingers until his limbs were worn off, but even after he lost both arms, he used his mouth to pen his last book which was a compilation of all his discoveries and teachings.]
"The book is called 'The Black Earth', derived from the deserts from which he have lived all his live..." said Durant.
[Al Khami was finally killed by the other mages for this, but not before he made 5 copies of the said book which was handed out to his 5 disciples.]
"Out of his 5 disciples, only 3 survived, and these 3 travelled north, far away from the other mages who were too caught up with their old ways," continued the professor in another lecture. "They came to a land green with life and created a new kingdom there. They are now known as the three leading families in the Empire..."
"Ravante of the Charming Moon, Alcione of the Red Rose, and Heilig of the Thunder Gods." said Johan. The rest look at him, surprised that he was actually listening.
"Correct!" said Durant proudly, "I see my lessons are giving fruit!" Johan blushes.
[Their ancestors were the three leading families in the kingdom. But currently only the Alcione family is left in the hierarchy.]
"Why?" Dorin asked, engrossed in the stories, "What happened to the other 2 families?"
"The Ravante family was almost rooted out 600 years ago when the mad king of Alcione decided he wanted a Silver Tongue for a bride, while the head of the Heilig family was killed in a bloody uprising just 13 years ago." Durant said matter of factly. "Many members of the Heilig royal family were either killed or imprisoned after the uprising, many more were lost after a part of the eastern forest was burned by the Emperor as retribution to the rebels' uprising..."
"It's all part of the Holy Alcione Empire's History now," Mar cuts in. "And the reason behind the continuous growth of the military prowess of our University!" she added proudly.
[After the uprising and death of so many magi, it's only natural that the Magic Division have less and less constituents every year.] Seb addressed Mar.
"Well, as they say, better to have soldiers with magical weapons fighting for the Empire..."
"Than human weapons fighting against it..." finished the professor. He had a sad smile on his face. "Be that as it may, a single arch wizard can easily fight against a hundred soldiers, magical weapons or not," he sighed, "just think how the odds might be if Afran – the kingdom of the black sands, decide to cross our borders once more?"
Mar went silent. Dorin looked at her, then at Seb and Johan who all had nothing to say.
"It is always important to have a balance of everything," Durant said after a while. "And now, I believe, it is about time we go back to our dorms and call it a night." He stood up and looked at his watch. "It's already a quarter past 8 and Lieutenant Gunnar still has a ways to go to get back to her dorm." The students stand up one by one, putting away their dishes.
"Ah, that's right, I always lost track of time since I lost my watch!" said Dorin dejectedly.
"Hmm?" Durant said absentmindedly, "Did you lose it in campus?"
"Ah, yes, he must have dropped it somewhere while we were looking around the campus!" Mar lied before Dorin could answer. "By the way, Seb, aren't you supposed to go to the clinic to get your arm checked?" she said, changing the subject.
[Will do, before I go back to the dorm] wrote Seb.
"I'll see you 2 tomorrow then." said Mar as she started to leave.
"Hey Dorin, shouldn't you see her back first?" said Johan, again surprising the 3 friends.
"It's okay," said Mar, "It's not like anything would happen to me in campus. No cause for worries."
"Yeah, what could possibly happen to Margarette?" asked Dorin, "She's a woman!"
Mar and the rest looked at Dorin to see if he was being sarcastic.
"A woman..." asked Mar slowly, "meaning?"
"No one in their right mind would want to cross a woman, everybody knows that!" he said.
"A woman, meaning, your mother?" Mar asked again.
"Well, yeah..."
Johan bursts out laughing. Dupont chuckled a little while Mar shook her head. Only Seb kept silent.
"Some day, I would love to meet your mother..." Dupont said smiling. "She seems to be a very interesting woman."