Celtine added to his explanation.While Celtine did her best to understand, Harriett stayed frozen in place, was it all that shocking? He followed his explanation for now.
"Then, yesterday at the tavern. The girl working there told me I might be able to find out why in the temple of Love. We went there and I was told I had two souls and it was because of them that my feelings weren"t working properly. I was coming here to have the old one removed and let the newest one grow into what it was supposed to be before they became too cramped and the pressure killed me."
"You mean to tell us that this whole time I thought you were just odd but you had two souls all along and it was that that made you odd?" Brenia asked.
Emp simply nodded. He wondered how many people he knew thought he was odd while the mage continued.
"This seems plausible, the two different souls would clash and inhibit one another, forcing a neutral state on most of his emotions, trapping them all inside. It was the final emotional storm observed in the parasite soul that knocked him out after all. The two souls must have been pent up and bloated by all those unreleased emotions."
"So he felt things but could not express them because of this whole two souls situation?" Ivar was clearly not following.
"Yes, even if he felt extremely angry, the two souls would compete to determine how to express it and in the end, nothing would be decided forcing his mind to take the decision instead of his emotion. From an outside perspective, he would seem emotionless or indifferent. Likewise, he could have felt love without realising it because neither souls could come out on top to act on it. Projecting himself in the future becomes just as hard because desires are driven by tastes and feels, both bottled up by the stalemate inside his soul domain. Do you have an idea of how long you possessed two souls?"
"How did you even have a second soul?" Questioned Brenia
"I was born with it." He answered to the both of them.
"That doesn"t make sense! How can one be born with two souls?"
"I do not know how to answer you without lying so I just won"t. Instead, I"d like to know about how kicking could be harder with a thumb in your nose. You said that yesterday but it just doesn"t make sense. How is it even related, the position of your thumb shouldn"t affect your ability to kick at all."
"I never said it was my own thumb." Brenia defended herself, taken aback by the unrelated question.
"Whose thumb then? Why would someone go up to you and put one of his fingers into your nose?"
"I don"t want to answer that!"
"Then that"s it, now we both have a question the other won"t answer."
There was another short silence.
"The new master is scary." Commented Harriett aloud, finally breaking her silence.
The morals teacher would freak out in front of the changes. He had just dodged a question and shot down any further conversation on the subject without even thinking about it or lying in any way.
The mage coughed once to bring back the attention on the subject at hand and followed his previous explanation.
"Since he was born with both, it is very likely that those emotions bottled up will resurface like a storm, eager to be expressed at last. He never felt any of them properly before so it"s safe to a.s.sume that he will have sudden bursts of emotions for a while and seemingly extreme behaviors while he learns to control his own desires and emotions. I would suggest notifying everyone he may get in contact with about this possibility before such an outburst upsets someone."
"So yer sayin he"s not goin back to how he were? He won"t go back to normal?"
The ancient question was the most important. They all wanted to know if they would get their old Emp back.
"No, if the soul split was done correctly than he will be the exact same as before. Only, now, he will be able to express himself properly. Following what he himself was saying, this is the normal him. The him you knew was a sick version of him. Asking to get the old him back is like asking to bring him back to the brink of soul death. For now he needs rest and time to practice interacting with others anew but eventually, he should go back being like he was before, albeit a more sensitive version of that. Character traits and talents he exhibited in the past should not disappear, in theory."
"So, if Zoran drinks too much again and fall over, you"d carry him around again?" Asked Ivar as a test.
"Well, yes, of course, I will not leave him there."
Ivar seemed satisfied with his answer even though it should have been obvious.
"Then he"s fine?"
"Like I said, I don"t know." The mage said, a bit annoyed to be asked the same question again.
"At least his soul seems calm now." Commented the tall grey man.
Emp started to feel like all this talk was going nowhere.
"Since there is no way to know and even if it worked properly you"re saying I will need some time to rest and feel everything for myself, can I just go to back to my room now? I know you"re all doing your best to help me but I"m tired."
"Yes, of course. I will just ask you to remain after our next cla.s.s so that I can conduct further tests on you."
"Hey hey, that one isn"t a test subject ye hear? He"s an important study."
"You mean to say student." Clarified one of the servants standing behind him.
"Aye, this be what I mean."
"Anyway, since we are done, I"m going too. I"ll see you both tomorrow." Brenia said to Ivar and him before she left.
The guy was alive, there was nothing to learn and they didn"t need her. It was best for her to leave then.
After that, Ivar followed suit, only the ancient remained behind to talk to Emp. Before Emp left with the ancient though, he had something else to do.
"Teacher, about the soul crystal." He asked.
"Mhn?"
"You said the soul you removed is kept inside that right?"
"Yes, souls can"t be seen but it is indeed inside of that crystal."
"Can I keep it then? I feel... Attached to it."
He did not know whose soul it was but it had lived inside of him for his whole life. Yes it had been a short one up to now but he would have felt bad to just abandon it now. He wanted to keep it company, or at least bring it back to where his creators had took it in the first place. Everyone said it had been crippling and dangerous to him but it had still been part of who he was until now.
Love, watching form elsewhere, was very happy of this result. This was the first thing he truly wanted, not for someone else, not because it was asked of him, just because he desired to keep it. She and Luck where satisfied with this result and laughed together.
The mage agreed to his request with a small sigh.
"Sure, this is more than extremely valuable to a scholar like me but I suppose it does belong to you after all. And since the stone was used to save your life, the school will compensate me as it should, isn"t that right my lord duke?"
The mage ended his sentence by looking toward the ancient sharply, making him flinch.
"Sure, of course, I"ll pay for tha crystal. No problem fer us."
The mage nodded in a mix of satisfaction from the promise of money and dissatisfaction at the loss of a filled soul crystal.
After that, Emp got off the table and wobbled a second before gripping the perch he just left. The two girls extended their hands to help him but he didn"t really need them. He stayed like that for a short moment while the dizziness subsided. Finally, he thanked him properly with a bow just like miss Blackbull thought him.
"You have my deepest grat.i.tude for giving me this but much more importantly, for saving me and my soul."
"It is merely my job small master Muracier." He answered politely while Emp made a sour face from the name.
"Don"t call me like that please." He then turned his attention to the grey man.
"You helped me too yes?"
"He did, Fonao here used his trait as a fwan to see your soul and drag the parasite one out, without him you would be dead."
"Then you too have my deepest grat.i.tude Fonao. I will not forget this." The fwan didn"t seem to offer any reaction to his thanks and merely gave a flat answer.
"I am undeserving of your praise."
Emp felt very confused by his answer but since everyone else seemed to accept it, he let go of it for now. He put Celtine back up on his shoulders and left the room with Harriett and the ancient.
"Did yer father know about tha second soul?" He asked once they were outside.
"No, even I didn"t before this afternoon."
His creators put it there, how could Chinui have known?
"This be a strange situation indeed. Were they tryin to enracinate the general son without bein detected?" (1)
"You mean a.s.sa.s.sinate." The usual servant clarified.
"Yes of course, ye all know what I be meanin! In any case, be careful. Send someone to get me immediately if anything else happens."
Emp knew it wasn"t anything of the sort but he could hardly tell the old man that a G.o.d put a second soul in him to stabilize him for a while. He pointed Harrietts way.
"Yes, I will send Harriett to you if anything happens in the future."
"Aye, you bunch of wamen who be followin me, remember tha face of that one, you are to let her in if she comes."
"Yes of course sir. Her visage is engraved in our memories." Said the closest servant.
"Good, then have a sleep for now lad. Ye don"t be needin to go to cla.s.s tomorrow. Take the time ye need to rejuvenate."
"You mean to say recuperate."
"Girl, this be enough for tonight." He said, displeased.
"Understood master."
She said that but she was smiling. Apparently, the old man wasn"t harsh with his servants. They seemed to like to tease him. Emp could easily imagine them all giggling at every mistakes he made.
Emp left him to his mischievous cohort and went back towards his own room. The girl on his shoulder felt warm somehow. Was she holding on to him harder than usual?
Neither of the girls had said much, so to speak, since he had woken up. He wondered what they were thinking about, how they felt. He hoped he had not upset them somehow. The moment they were all back in his room, he asked them the many things that were on his mind.
He sat down with them at the table, around the cake. He looked closely at them, neither seemed to expect what would happen. They seemed nervous, not as much as when he first met them but similarly.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Master?"
"I"m just asking what you want me to say. You both seem really nervous. Did I scare you? Did I upset you? What can I say to make it better?"
"It"s not like that at all master!" Denied Harriett while shaking her hands in front of her. "When you collapsed, I was really afraid all three of us would die. I was panicking. After that, I was so relieved when they said you would be fine, I could not have been happier."
"Then why do you seem so downhearted?"
"I do not know how to express it properly master."
Celtine was more to the point, she wrote down the answer he requested.
"So you are just nervous about if I really am the same Emp?"
The two nodded. Emp could see, no, could feel their apprehension. He had never been in such a situation before so he could hardly relate. But, he understood how this might be scary for them. Emp really didn"t feel any different but that fact wouldn"t really rea.s.sure them.
He pondered on what to do for a moment before getting up from his chair and walking up to them.
"Master? Ah!"
Both of the girls were surprised when he hugged them without warning. He had never done this before, making it even more surprising. They both tensed up at this unbelievable situation.
Emp wasn"t sure but he believed that hugs were meant for that kind of situation. If even that could not calm them then, he really wouldn"t know what to do. He was even extra careful to not hurt Celtine.
"I do not feel like I am different." He told them while keeping an arm around each. "Both Love and Heinrich told us that if this thing was done right, I would be the exact same aside from being better at handling emotions. I don"t know if it worked correctly or not but at least I know that you are both important to me, I told you so earlier didn"t I? Even if a change did occur somehow, it doesn"t have to be a bad change, it could be good too, we don"t know yet. I won"t say you two are worrying over nothing but don"t accept the worst outcome as the most likely so easily."
As an answer, Celtine decided to hug him back. The tension was released and his s.h.i.+rt became wet with tears of relief. She had kept all her stress and fear inside for the whole evening since she had to make sure he would be fine but now that it was all over, she couldn"t help but let it all out. For once, she had not lost something.
Harriett too gave him back the hug, although much more awkwardly than Celtine. A master shouldn"t hug his salves, even her own father never did. She didn"t know how to respond honestly while staying respectful to her important master. They stayed like that for a moment before Harriett spoke again.
"I"m sorry master. I worry too much. Master is right, I do not deal well with problems. When something unplanned happens, I start to panic. I should be more like Celtine when something dangerous happens."
"What do you mean?"
"Celtine was a true hero today master. When master collapsed, I panicked and started wailing. I had lost all reason. It was Celtine how took care of everything. She wrote down what the teacher had to do and forced me to go get him. Then, she got mister Longhorn and miss Harmaton to carry you to the teachers room and watched over the whole process of the other soul removal while we waited outside. I am ashamed to say that I even fainted while master needed my help but Celtine stood up straight the whole time. Without her, I do not know what would have happened."
"Really? I"ll have to thank you properly later then."
The hug was finally released and Celtine sniffled before wiping her eyes with her forearm and writing down her answer.
"But I want to reward you. I"ll think about it properly and find something you would appreciate. Also, let"s eat that cake now, I feel like we all deserved it after what happened today. Harriett, could you please cut us three equally big pieces of cake."
"Yes of course master."
After that, he asked about what happened while he was unconscious in detail. Celtine told him all about the spell and Harriett explained why Ivar and Brenia where there. She even had an explanation for the ancient.
A servant came asking what was happening and Ivar told her, she proceeded to report it to the duke who rushed there immediately. Ivar got in his way and told him he could not enter but was shoved aside violently and was instantly defeated. It was Brenia who stalled him for the rest of the spell. If apparently the old man didn"t mind knocking out one of his students, he had his reserves against doing the same to a teenage girl.
Emp needed to remember to thank them properly as well the next time they met. Who knew what could have happened if they had not been there to carry him or to stop the old man.
As for the cake, it was a different experience than last time. Harriett was hesitant to eat part of her master"s cake but once she took a bite of it, she couldn"t resist and ate it all greedily but slowly to let the taste linger. Celtine just munched on her own piece happily.
"I"m still not sure about which is the best cake but I"m glad I"m eating it with you two. I think it tastes better that way."
"Really?"
"Yes, I think there is too much maple syrup and it detracts from the fruits inside but somehow, I like it more than last time."
Scribbled Celtine while keeping the spoon in her mouth."Then it"s an improvement?"
Harriett and Celtine both approved.
"I think so."
"How about you two then, what do you think about the cake?
"I love it master. I had the chance to taste a cake only once before." Harriett told them. "The cook of my previous master failed the baking of the base so he couldn"t serve it to my father and his family. He did not waste any other ingredient on it but instead of letting it go to waste, it was us all who ate the burnt cake. There was not much flavor since it was just the base and it was overcooked but I always had a fond memory of it. This one taste much better and it"s softer too. I love it, I"m glad I could share it with you master."
Celtine wrote her a small sentence and Harriett"s face became red instantly as she read it.
"Don"t say that, you"re going to make my heart burst!" (2)
Celtine laughed in silence and threw the message into the fire, stopping him from seeing it.
Later, he recalled the other him and gained the memory of him getting hugged strongly by Marcy. She had been very upset too about his collapse. Now that he had both sides of the story, he guessed it was probably what she told him that pushed him over the limit. He"d have to tell her what had happened tomorrow to stop her from worrying too much.
Like he had thought, she was much more motherly than his "mother". Love told him what was wrong but did nothing to help and even wasted his time by asking him to buy some paper. Marcy was ready to come all the way to Artefine hoping she could somehow help in any way. Maybe he should do something for her as well, what would she like?
He had lived in her house for a long time now and he felt that he hadn"t paid enough attention to her until now. He only listened to her lessons, not herself. It was while thinking about her, his slaves and many more people that he fell asleep.
The next day, he didn"t go to cla.s.s. In fact, he felt well and fine but since the ancient had told him to take a break to rest, he stayed in his room instead, trying to figure out what the new him was like.
The conclusion of this experimental day was underwhelming. He still didn"t feel any different. The girls a.s.sured him that conversations with him felt more fluid and that he seemed to pay more attention but he didn"t notice anything.
***
(1) I know enracinate isn"t a word, its a weird merge from the french enraciné meaning "something that is taking root" and a.s.sa.s.sinate which is what he meant to say. Enraciné was chosen for the miss-used word because as you know, the dead of the empire take root.
(2) I"m sure you are all curious of what the message said. She wrote: It"s even better eating it with master"s spoon. Did she write that just to have Harriett panic or was it her real thoughts? Who knows.