Chapter 11 #2
“I’m so not kidding. I will compliment that man until words pour out of his ears.”
“Do it,” Baldewin encouraged. “And next time you’re lost, call him. I’ll of course come to your rescue too, but he likes to help you.”
Cameron really didn’t like the idea of making a bad impression but…well, it was true that an easy way to connect to someone was by either helping them or accepting help. Maybe Baldewin had a good point there. “Yeah…yeah, okay. In the meantime, lunch?”
“Certainly.” Baldewin led him through a doorway, into a hallway showcasing more wood carvings than white walls, and pointed to a doorway at the far end. “Dining hall is through that door. See? I told you, you were close.”
“Okay, that’s just embarrassing.” Cameron growled in disgust. “I was literally two hallways away.”
“While we eat, I’ll try to draw up a quick map for you,” Baldewin promised as he led the way.
“I’ll take it.” Cameron wasn’t too proud to ignore a map when offered.
He shook the melancholic thought off and went to a more immediate concern—namely his stomach.
The food was good here. Cameron recognized only some of it, but the smells were always enticing.
As he queued up at the buffet table, he glimpsed through the open door leading into the massive kitchen and saw a familiar face.
“Oh hey, Gisa, I didn’t know you were back there. ”
“My day to cook,” she called back to him as she carried a tray of freshly baked rolls out. “We all take turns here. Well, almost all. Gunter is absolutely not to be trusted in the kitchen.”
“Bad cook?” Cameron guessed.
“No, he’s excellent when he’s paying attention.
But he’ll often get an idea mid-process and abandon everything on the stove.
After he set off the fire alarms for the third time, we let him buy us dinner.
” Gisa pushed short blond hair out of her face, tucking it behind an ear and smiling at him. “How’re the magic lessons going?”
Gisa was one of his practice partners when Lisette taught him a spell.
She was one of the youngest mages in the castle (not including Cameron) although he hadn’t dared ask her age yet.
Much older than him, regardless. He answered her as he loaded up a plate with anything that looked delectable.
Which was pretty much everything. “Going good. You up for practicing more tonight?”
“Hmm, I actually have plans. But Carla made noises about helping you learn a few things.”
“Carla?” Cameron had no idea who that was. He’d met most of the mages in the clan so far, but not all. He was given to understand they had six in total; he’d just not met the others.
“I’ll introduce you to her,” Baldewin offered, snagging two of the rolls. “She’s sitting right over there. Let’s get some more names and phone numbers in that phone of yours, shall we?”
“Sounds great.”
Gisa shooed him on with a smile. “I’ll help you train tomorrow, though, okay?”
Remembering at the last second, he used one of those German-English crossover words. “Super.”
Gisa high-fived him for that.
“Hallo, Carla, Velten, can we join you?” Baldewin inquired as he strode for the nearest table.
“Sure, do. I haven’t had a chance to meet Cameron properly yet.”
Cameron took in the woman that had answered—Carla?—and gave her his best smile. “Yeah, I got brief names and faces and nothing really stuck. Hi.”
“Hi yourself.” The man waved him to the chair across the table from him. “I’m Velten. Wilkommen, young mage. We’re very happy to see you.”
“Dankeschon,” Cameron responded and was proud of himself for mostly saying that correctly. From what he could see, Velten was definitely dragon, and another one of those good-looking types. He stole a few glances as he set his plate down on the table and got situated in the padded chair.
“I’m Carla,” the mage introduced herself, with a nod of the head to him. Her dark hair swayed over her shoulder and she pushed it back, keeping it out of her food. “Nice to meet you, Cameron. Lisette mentioned you’re taking well to the lessons. Do you enjoy it?”
“Love every second of it.” Cameron tried not to sound like a giddy five-year-old with a new pony, but he was pretty sure he failed.
“It’s like this incredible puzzle where you can put all of these different pieces together and come out with different results.
I haven’t had this much fun since I was introduced to Legos. ”
Carla laughed outright, shaking with it.
“Oh my god, that is the best description. I need to use that. So often, you know, people assume we use magic because it’s necessary.
The books and movies always have us doing magic for some grand purpose.
But few of them convey that it is fun. The creation of anything with magic is wholly satisfying. ”
“Yes, exactly. I’m still reveling in it. Lisette mentioned each magical clan sort of had their own specialties? Can I ask what your clan’s specialty was?”
Baldewin cleared his throat and gave Cameron a pointed look. “I can see how you keep walking away from a conversation without getting anyone’s numbers.”
Oh. Ohhh yeah, that was the goal when sitting down with these two. “I would have remembered. Eventually.”
Baldewin shook his head and explained to the other two, “He’s meeting people slowly and trying to get contact information for everyone. Carla, you especially I think he should be able to contact.”
“Absolutely, I’d love to teach him what I know too.” Carla immediately pulled a phone out of her back pocket and opened it. “Cameron, give me your number first.”
Cameron quite happily did so.
* * *
With some smugness, Cameron went to the dining hall after his magic lesson that afternoon and didn’t get lost in the process, thank you very much. He could neither confirm nor deny needing Baldewin’s map once.
Dinner was easier this time as he recognized more faces, knew more names. People invited him to come and sit, and he was happy to do so. They talked more of game night, and asked how he was settling in, do you have anything you’re not sure about? Can we help with anything?
Cameron warmed to their obvious interest and concern. Their sincerity was clear, and he basked in it a little. People were just so welcoming here. And friendly. And cool. Cameron wanted to be friends with all of them.
While lingering over an after-dinner coffee, Dieter came and touched him lightly on the shoulder. “Cameron, may I have some of your time?”
“Sure, what’s up?” Cameron turned in his chair, tilting his head up to face him better. He didn’t know Dieter well; he’d talked to him maybe three times, all in passing. But he knew Dieter to be Alric’s right hand and well respected.
“Alric and I want to go over your family line with you,” Dieter explained.
Oh right, Alric had mentioned that. Tracing Cameron’s family line might help them track down other mages not in his immediate branch of the family. Considering how vital that was, Cameron had no problem helping them. “Okay. Lead the way. It was nice chatting with you guys. See you at game night?”
“Game night,” the table chorused in agreement.
As Cameron kept in step with him, Dieter explained in his gravelly voice, “We have a genealogy room specifically for ancestry research. It’s right above Gunter’s research room, in fact.
Some of our records are so old there is no copy of them, although we’re attempting to rectify that by scanning them in digitally. ”
“Backing things up is never a bad idea,” Cameron observed.
“That’s part of our reason.” Dieter took the next hallway to the left and started leading them down.
“The other part is that we’re trying to share what information we have with the Ice Clan.
We’re not always on good terms with them, but in this, we have a shared passion.
We want to find the mages of this generation.
Tracing their families is one of the best ways we know to go about it. ”
“Fair enough. I’m surprised you didn’t look at my family before this.”
“We did, in fact. But I believe it was six, seven generations ago. No one was magically active then.”
“Huh. Does magic skip generations like that?”
“It can. It’s part of what makes this so frustrating. And why very little is guaranteed.”
Cameron ruminated on that for a moment, turning it over in his head as he went down a set of stairs and into yet another hallway that looked similar to the one he’d just left. “Alric mentioned once that because I was a twin, he was sure that Cassie had magic too. Is that a genetic rule?”
“It seems to be. Twins are always magical. It’s very, very rare for us to see a male mage who isn’t a twin. It does happen, but I think I’ve only seen it twice in my lifetime.”
“Duuuude.” Cameron let out a whistle. “That’s saying something. I can see why this search has been so frustrating for all of you, then.”
“In older times,” Dieter’s expression turned wistful, “it wasn’t so problematic. Magic was alive and recognized then. If you were magical, you had a clan to go to. Dragon clans at the very least. We didn’t have to hunt for mages like we do now. It was far easier.”
Cameron didn’t know how to respond to that. Except to say, “Well, maybe my family has more mages than I suspect.”
“We all hope for such to be the case.” Dieter flashed him a smile before he opened the door and ushered Cameron in. “Hoheit, we are here.”
“Excellent. Cameron, welcome. Do you have a little time to spare?”
Remembering what Baldewin had said before, Cameron made sure to use a compliment. “I always have time for a handsome man.”
Alric flushed a little. He sat at a polished wooden table, a laptop in front of him and a stack of very old books next to him.
Cameron’s compliment wasn’t baseless, as Alric did look yummy.
He wore a dark grey cable-knit sweater that did delectable things to his complexion and made Cameron’s fingers itch to card through his hair. Maybe he’d find a way do that.
“Then please, join me.” Alric indicated the chair next to his.
Cameron did so, but warned, “I don’t actually know that much genealogy off the top of my head. Halmeoni’s the one who keeps track of it for my family. If you really want to dive into this, it’s best to get her on the phone with us.”
“But isn’t it late, where she is?”
“Nah, it’s only early afternoon. She’s most likely watching TV.” Cameron leaned a little into Alric’s side so he could pull his phone out of his pocket. Why yes, he did do that deliberately. And Alric smelled amazing. “I like your cologne, by the way.”
A trace of color painted high on Alric’s cheeks, and he couldn’t seem to quite meet Cameron’s eyes. “I’m not wearing any.”
“Is that right?” Cameron wanted to pinch his cheeks, and ruffle his hair, and maybe squeeze him. How did this man stay adorable like this? It killed Cameron slowly that he couldn’t mess with him like he wanted to. They’d need to be a little closer, Cameron judged. “Then definitely don’t wear any.”
Alric turned a little redder.
Mindful that Dieter watched them—and the man’s eyebrows were in his hairline, eyes amused and a little wide-eyed—Cameron decided to let Alric off the hook. For now. Hopefully he’d gotten his point across that he liked what he saw. He pinged his grandmother via chat. Poke .
The response was in seconds. Poke. What’s up, favorite grandson ?
Dragons want to trace our family tree , Cameron typed back. Call ?
Halmeoni broke speed records, she called so quickly. Cameron bit back a chuckle as he accepted the call and Facetimed her. “Hey, Halmeoni. This is King Alric”—he panned the phone so she could see Alric—“and this is Dieter. Meet Noh Ha Na.”
“Lady Noh,” Dieter responded with a polite inclination of the head. “I’m honored. Is this a bad time to ask for your help? We can do this on a different day.”
“ No, no, I was just watching boring television. This is far more interesting. And important. Cameron mentioned to me the importance of genealogy when it comes to the magical clans. Just one moment, I’ll fetch my books. How far back do you need to trace ?”
“It’s not a matter of how far back,” Alric explained. He took the phone from Cameron so he could prop it up against the stacked books. “It’s the side-branches. We’ve looked at your family before, the main descendants, but no one showed any talent.”
“This was about six generations ago, Halmeoni,” Cameron tacked on. “And we’re not main, right? You told me that once.”
“ No, dear, we’re a side branch ,” her voice floated back to them. “ Hold on one moment, I’ve got this all in binders; I can fill in the gaps, I think .”
Yeah…this was going to take a while.