Bet you never thought we'd see more of these two!

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Ayers and Nalin

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Nalin shifted the books he had laying out on the table, trying to find the reference one had made of the other. Skimming words, he flipped a few pages, his mind so lost in his work that he nearly fell out of his chair when the door to the tiny study room burst open.

A young Northern noble stepped into the room. He hesitated at the sight of the room's occupant, clearly not wishing to intrude. Running feet and shouting echoed among the stacks of books, and the newcomer bit his lip, looking indecisively at Nalin.

Bullies? Nalin wondered, because this young man looked like he could take care of himself. Meeting the strangers eyes, Nalin nodded faintly at him, and then flicked his gaze towards the empty 

space behind the door. The intruder gave him a doubtful look, but with the ruckus behind growing closer, he had no time left to find a better hiding spot, and had to take Nalin's unspoken advice.

Barely had the door closed when it swung open again, this time the doorway filled with several young men, the apparent leader of whom stepped into the room with Nalin.

"Where'd he go?" he sneered.

Nalin raised an eyebrow, keeping his cool as best he could. His mother always said he'd gotten his temper from his Northern blood, but since his arrival at the mage school, Nalin had proved his Southern cool repeatedly.

"He had to have come in here," the young noble insisted.

Nalin glanced around the room in a way that also allowed him to roll his eyes. Clearly there was no noble hiding there.

Demeaning himself enough to look under the table and behind the door, the leader growled and slammed his fist into the doorframe as he left, his cronies following him back into the shelves of books as they called out for their missing quarry.

"They didn't see me," Nalin's first guest said wonderingly as the door once more drifted closed.

Nalin smiled at him, reaching down to his side and pulling up a mage-wing for display.

The stranger whistled. "Blue? You're strong for being so young."

Nalin shrugged and looked down at his books. His father had been training him in magic from a very young age, and the fact that he was head-and-shoulders above the rest of the students in both power and control had left him as a bit of an outcast.

"I'm Ayers, by the way." Ayers held out a hand in one of those strange Northern customs. "Duke Ayers of Ellcastle, actually," he added when Nalin hesitantly accepted his hand.

"Nalin," Nalin said.

Ayers smiled. "You're the Southern Mage, aren't you?" he said. "Thanks for saving me."

"Why did you need saving?" Nalin asked, hating the way his Southern accent wouldn't allow him to pronounce the words correctly.

Ayers shrugged. "They think I'm weak because I don't go to training with them." He sighed. "I can't help it if I'm better than them and got placed in the superior classes." He smiled as saw the books open on the table. "Hey, what are you reading?" he asked. Inviting himself to pull over the books, Ayers read the title, offered an opinion and magically caused several hours to pass in the half-lit and dusty library.

As he climbed into his bed at the end of the day, Nalin looked back and knew it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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