Gaudol still had problems understanding how Pi’ve’s status menu worked, and how he was able to see what skills he had; how many “intelligence points” and how much he had left in his stamina pool. He was happy for him when he eventually showed him the skills though, as that was the only way for Gaudol to actually see them in action. Pi’ve showed Gaudol the water connectivity skill, and Gaudol was delighted that he had finally cracked the code. Gaudol was a water mage, in essence, mostly due to him being both born and raised in water. It would only be natural that he had a natural affinity to water. Pi’ve could now , as he liked to call it, an amount of water, lift it and change the shape of it. It was difficult to gauge what the actual practical purpose of it was at the moment, but he could figure that out later. Then Pi’ve told Gaudol about the impermeable mana skill, which was hard to explain, but he could not show him exactly how it was used, as mana was invisible for others. Yet, Gaudol did tell him that it sounded like what wizards called , which was used whenever some attack, or object, was coming their way.

  Pi’ve had theorised this of course, and Tiselle had showcased the effect of the skill when Murgun had turned an attack against him at The Grano. He wondered if this skill would work on living things too. If, say, an ox came rampaging towards him, and he made a shield of Impermeable Mana in front of him, would the ox then crash and stop, or would the mana barrier crack and let the ox through. If, Pi’ve thought, the mana barrier did crack, it would probably absorb some of the energy of the incoming ox, and possibly leave him time to jump away at least. That was a long way away, even if it was possible though, as an ox could weigh more than he could currently lift using his regular Corporeal Manipulation.

  During the next few weeks, Pi’ve had grown tired with constantly training with the water basin in Gaudol’s garden. His restlessness made him pick up the courage to ask Gaudol if he could install a larger pool there instead, which was promptly dismissed. Through his Water Connectivity skill Pi’ve could gather water from other places than the water basin, as there was water essentially everywhere— in the grass, in the air and in the soil— but it was tedious work as he had to do it every time that he wanted more water to work with. Every time he lost control of the water, it would splash onto the grass and vanish again, forcing him to draw the water out again. Although his control of the water, and the amount of water he could hold and manipulate at a time increased ever so slightly each time, he wanted to practice with a larger body of water more easily available at a moment’s notice.

  ’Well, if you are stuck, and you cannot progress any more in Tharthillion, then I suppose you could go back to Thergiam to see if that changes anything,’ Gaudol said as a mere suggestion. ’You are three years older than when you got here, and what you have done here is well and good— you have made progress faster than any other wizard I know— but you are not yet… or, I should say, you have not made enough progress in making that boy-brain of yours into a wizard brain.’

  ’And what should I do there? As far as I know— and you heard Magnol say it too— Murgun is free again, and I have no doubt that if he sees me he will spare me no mercy,’ Pi’ve said.

  ’I think if you surround yourself with other wizards, you will be safe,’ Gaudol said. He paused, as if some intuition came to him. ’Is he deserving of revenge?’

  Pi’ve squinted, almost flinched, at the sudden question. ’He is not,’ Pi’ve said slowly. ’I never did anything wrong. He was the one in the wrong.’

  ’From your perspective, yes—,’

  ’From virtually everyone’s perspective, he was the one who did wrong.’

  ’Well, taking in the full context, you broke wizard law first, and he exposed you. Which was fully in his right to do. You agree? And then, it could seem for Murgun that you following him, and exposing him, was revenge for what he had done to you. You see? You and him are in a circular, revenge cycle. If he takes revenge on you now, would you then retaliate?’

  ’I didn’t do it to retaliate against him. I had a job to do!’

  ’Please. Don’t raise your voice… He does not know that you had a job, so from his perspective, you came for him out of your own volition. Can you see that? Well, it does not matter. This is what I mean when I say that you still have a boy-brain, and not a wizards brain. Revenge is not the solution.’

  ’That is what I am saying,’ Pi’ve said. Gaudol shook his head, and it looked like he was about to say something, but he let it be. ’Either way, most people would side with me, don’t you think?’

  Gaudol shook his head. ’What else did Magnol say? Did he not say that there was a growing number of wizards who showed sympathy towards Murgun? What happens when the majority is on Murgun’s side, and you are in the minority? Is he then deserving of revenge? Are you then in the wrong?’

  ’No. It is not a minority-majority thing—’

  ’Oh, it is not?’ Gaudol said. ’Why did you bring up then?’

  Pi’ve let out an exasperated gasp. ’I mean… it is moral, and moral is absolute,’ Pi’ve said.

  ’No, morality comes and goes like the tides. At one time in history, slavery was looked upon as good, or at least normal, because they served the people who ruled. Now, slavery is looked upon as bad, because we know that it oppresses the people being enslaved.’

  ’Slavery was always bad.’ Pi’ve said adamantly.

  ’ see it through the lens of a time where slavery is bad. Of course you would say it is bad. Even wizards at the time had slaves. Do not fool yourself with thinking that you would be the outlier, preaching for what you know now is good, because had you been born at that time, then I would bet you would too believe that slavery was normal and would not bat an eye— had you not been a slave yourself, that is,’ Gaudol said. Pi’ve was unsure how the conversation had turned onto this topic so quickly, yet he knew inside of him that Gaudol was wrong, and he felt quite agitated about it.

  ’When was this?’

  ’When was what?’

  ’When was slavery seen as good. I suppose that Thergiam had slaves back then,’ Pi’ve said.

  ’The era of slavery ended about 1300 years ago, but that was in Vesen County, where Vesen City, Or and Fram is. In Thergiam, I think, 800 years ago.’

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Pi’ve’s eyes widened. All in all, that was not too long ago. But he thought about it, and he knew wizards who were alive back then. The majority was not alive back then, but he knew at least three, maybe four which he could remember, which was older than that.

  ’Did you have slaves?’ Pi’ve asked, concerned about the answer he would get.

  ’I am not old enough to have had them, and indeed, merpeople never had slaves once we moved underwater again. We lived on land for a time, as I have told you. Merpeople were slaves, had slaves, opposed slavery… but I am not foolish enough to assume that I would have opposed slavery had I lived in that era,’ Gaudol said.

  ’You know what... I need to ask Barna about this. He, I bet, never had slaves,’ Pi’ve said.

  ’I will call for transport to Thergiam,’ Gaudol said, and rose from his chair. He placed the book he was reading on the table next to his chair, and walked over to the wall of his home. He placed his hand on the wall. ’There. You can pack the stuff you need, and the transport will be here in about fifteen minutes.’

  Pi’ve was looking at Gaudol with his brows furrowed. It had occurred to him the instant he saw the small, almost invisible smile on Gaudol’s face.

  ’You manipulated me to leave Tharthillion!’

  ’Pi’ve… I have known you for some years now. I know how to push your buttons. You are still naive to the world. And no, I did not manipulate you to leave Tharthillion. I merely planted a seed, which made you want to venture out to Thergiam again to gather some wisdom. There are still ideas you will not yet accept had I tried to give them to you, so I want you to go out there and experience that the world is not divided into rights and wrongs, deserving and undeserving, revenge and forgiveness… Had you accepted my word as truth if I said that you should let go of your wish to kill that crab as revenge on your father?’

  ’What? Are you comparing Murgun wanting to take revenge on me to me wanting to take revenge on that crab?’ Pi’ve said dumbfounded.

  ’I am.’

  ’Well, that’s ridiculous.’

  ’Why? Will it help Murgun to have his revenge on you? Will it help you to avenge your father?’

  Pi’ve’s head spun. Gaudol had riled him up. Pi’ve did have an answer ready for him, but it would not be the answer he was looking for, so Pi’ve kept quiet. Gaudol left his home, and Pi’ve did not meet him again before the merman who was to transport him to Thergiam came. A glass-like bubble had been made, and Pi’ve placed himself inside it, and waited for the Merman to begin the journey.

  While being dragged in the bubble up to the docks of Thergiam, Pi’ve had the time to ruminate on his arrival back to his home city, and who he would meet there. There would obviously be a chance for him to meet Murgun, but at this moment, Pi’ve did not feel the anxiety he maybe should. Murgun had tried to maim him, or kill even, when Pi’ve had exposed him to the wizards in The Grano, but Pi’ve hoped that Murgun’s time in prison, or wherever he had spent it, would have set him right, made him see the wrongs of his actions, and not blame Pi’ve.

  One other thing he had time to contemplate was where to put his 14 free points. He had already placed a fair few on strength, but now it felt like his strength was good enough for the abilities he had, while some other stats were lacking. He went over his stats, and saw that his Toughness and Endurance was low, and should soon be evened out, yet, he thought that the time was not now. He did not even know what toughness did. Maybe it was something defensive. Maybe his health points would be worth more. Either way, all his other stats were fairly equal, except for wisdom where he had 56 points, 14 points over his next highest, which was Intelligence. While he had surmised that Intelligence had something to do with the rate of replenishing, or quality of his stamina points, he had another stat which he had not yet checked out fully.

  He had once noticed that his vision had become keener once he increased his points in Perception, but he wondered what the next evolution of the stat was. Pi’ve wanted to be attentive, and with eyes which could see all, he could become aware of things before anyone else. He could avoid danger, spot things others have overlooked, or maybe see into the distance as far as the elves. Had he not felt that something was amiss when he had been in that Inn with Ask? He had, and he had thought that Murgun was there, even before he knew that Murgun could turn invisible. Maybe that was his perception making him aware. He placed all his points into perception, and now had 55 points there.

  Before he could check out his upgraded Perception stat, the bubble he was travelling in emerged up to the surface of the water. The merman cut a hole in the bubble, and Pi’ve thanked him and climbed the ladder up to the docks. It looked calm. There were few ships and boats to see, meaning that most of the fishers were out on the sea. It was not windy at all, and the sky was blue. Pi’ve then noticed that it must be in the middle of the summer, judging by the warm weather, which got him thinking that he had no feeling for time down in Tharthillion. He thought it would be winter when he emerged. The sun shone brightly on the heavenly canvas, and his skin prickled with glee. The smell too was intoxicating.

  Climbing out of the bubble had made his robes wet, but he had some clean and dry ones at home, so Pi’ve started the short walk home. As he looked at the sun’s position, he saw that he did not have that much time before it would become dark. He wanted to be quick, so that he could hopefully make the time to visit Barna in the wizarding square.

  As he walked along the docks, he became very aware about the fact that somewhere in the city, Murgun was roaming free. Although Pi’ve believed that Murgun had every right to do so, it did feel like Thergiam had just become an arena which he had to be vary of. He was not sure if Murgun wanted revenge, but to take the chance of meeting him alone in the open was nothing he wanted to do right now.

  As he passed the carpenter he had bought the casket for the king, his insides turned, and he felt his stomach clench. Just around the corner— even if he had heard nothing and seen nothing— he knew that someone was there. Someone he did not want to meet, or that he wanted to avoid for now at least.

  Pi’ve stepped back, turned the corner on the other side of the shop, and hid inside the hollow indent of the door frame that was there. He heard six feet tramp in an uneven rhythm, but as they passed, he did not dare to peak forth to have a look at who it was. When the unease in his stomach had vanished, he stepped out again, and continued to walk along the dock. Had his perception stat just warned him? As he turned the corner to walk down the remaining way to his home, he had a premonition. Something was amiss, yet he could not pinpoint what exactly it was.

  Coming closer to the stairs going up to his home, he saw a broken vase on the brick road. It reminded him of his vase, which were under the tarp behind his home which he had hid away. Going to have a look, he saw the tarp had been pulled away, and that all the items that he had left there was scattered all over the alley. Some of it was destroyed. That did not bother him; it was items he did not need, and that he had taken out of his home to throw it away eventually anyway, but it did make him suspect if his home was as safe as he had thought.

  Taking out his key, he tried putting it in the keyhole in his door, but as he pushed the key into the keyhole, the door slid open. The locking mechanism had been blown out, as if someone had hit the door to break it open. As the door swung open, he saw what he had feared by his premonition. The carpets on the floor were burned and irreversibly damaged, and the doors to the bedrooms going along the corridor was ripped off the hinges. In the kitchen, the table, and the chairs belonging to it had been smashed, along with the vase with his mother’s favourite plant. The plant had been dead a long time ago, but the vase had been a symbol.

  Inside his room he found every piece of paper torn and burned, and his bed was broken. The only thing that remained unbroken in his home was a knife on the kitchen counter, which had also been ravaged by the flames. The knife had belonged to his father; a gift from the previous ship captain when he retired.

  Pi’ve suddenly thought back to the three people on the dock, and he could now see clearly one of their faces. Murgun. Murgun and his goons. Ask, maybe, and Redrig? No, not Redrig. It was someone else.

  Some of his fear of meeting Murgun vanished, now that he had seen what Murgun had done against him. He knew that it was him. If he wanted revenge, then Pi’ve would be here, and he would make sure that someone saw what person he was.