It was close to afternoon when Andreas turned ten.
He had spent the day like any other magic theory with Barderossa in the morning, training with Kaela until his arms stopped cooperating, a brief tour of the territory with Arden before lunch. His birthday had not been mentioned by anyone and he had not thought to mention it himself. It was simply a day, and he moved through it as he moved through all of them.
He was preparing to head back into the city when Arden appeared at his door.
"Young Master, this is Arden. May I come in?"
"Come in, Arden."
Arden entered with steps that carried something heavier than usual, a quality Andreas noticed without being able to name it.
"Young Master, I have come by order of the lord. He wishes to meet with you."
Andreas's chest tightened slightly. He didn't know why.
"M-meet me?"
"Yes. He has asked that you come as soon as possible."
Andreas took a slow breath and organized his thoughts. The lord of Valekor. His father. Wanted to meet him. He turned that over several times and found nothing useful on any side of it. There was nothing to think through. There was only compliance.
"Let's go then."
His voice, by the time he said it, was calm.
Arden watched him compose himself and said nothing.
They moved through the palace corridors and passed Peruguis near the eastern wing, the knight captain having apparently returned from his expedition sometime in the past few days. He looked road-worn but solid, the same immovable presence he always was.
"Hello, Peruguis. So you finally came back."
"Yes, young Master. I was away for some time under the lord's orders, but I have returned. How has your training been under Kaela?"
'It was hell.'
"It was great."
"I am very pleased to hear it."
Peruguis gave Arden a slight bow as they parted ways and continued on. Further along the corridor a small group of healing mages came from the opposite direction, offered their bows, and went about their business. Andreas noted, as he had been noting for some time now, that there seemed to be more of them every time he passed through this part of the palace.
They reached the lord's office.
Arden knocked precisely.
"My lord, it is Arden. I have brought young Master Andreas."
A pause. Then a voice came from the other side of the door, a deep and heavy voice.
"Come."
Andreas was trembling slightly. He hadn't expected that. He had seen his father before, glimpses in corridors, a distant figure at the head of formal gatherings, but those had always been accidents of proximity, brief and unintentional. This was different. This was his father having chosen to see him, and the distinction was doing something to his chest that he couldn't fully account for.
He stepped inside.
Khalid Valekor sat behind his desk like something carved rather than born. He was a Grandmaster of the spear, stronger than Peruguis by a margin Andreas had heard described but couldn't fully conceptualize, and a mage of considerable power in his own right, an archdemon in the complete sense of the word, everything the title implied made flesh and sitting ten feet away. He was the strongest being Andreas had ever been in a room with and the room felt it.
He had the same ebony black hair as Andreas, worn long, longer than most of the maids Andreas saw in the palace corridors, falling with a kind of deliberate weight around him. But where Andreas had red eyes and blood-red tipped horns, Khalid's were full black, eyes and horns both, dark all the way through, giving nothing away.
His clothes looked as though they had been made from stone, so rigid and precise was their cut, and the overall impression he gave was of something that did not shift, did not bend, did not accommodate.
"Sit."
There was one other chair in the room. Andreas sat in it, which placed him directly across from his father with nothing between them but the desk and several decades of silence.
Khalid looked at him for a moment without speaking. Then he spoke.
"From this point forward you will begin successor training. I will observe your progress directly from time to time, and I will personally instruct you in the history of our family. Do you understand?"
Andreas had heard enough about successor training from Arden to understand why he had been summoned. The confirmation settled something, at least. This was administrative. This was about the territory and the title and the line of succession. This was not something else.
"Y-yes."
The stammer surprised him. He had meant to answer cleanly.
Khalid's expression did not change.
"You will come to my office every three days. Now go."
"Yes."
Andreas left.
The door closed behind him and he stood in the corridor for a moment, Arden a quiet presence at his side, the city visit already abandoned for the day. He did not examine what he felt about what had just happened. He straightened his clothes, which did not need straightening, and began walking b
ack toward his room.
It seemed today he would not be going to the city after all.