Evaluation

Evaluation
She had the letter high in the air where he could see the seal of the Alliance Council on it. Kevyn was just ahead of her, barely a few feet away from Leandros looking up with wide panicked eyes.

Leandros narrowed his eyes at the letter. 

“Please,” Minerva said. “Surely you can… at least read it?”

He crooked his hand in a beckoning otion as the letter floated towards him. Her eyes widened. He grabbed it and leaned back against the barrier, ignoring the frightened gasp that Kevyn and Minerva let out as he opened the letter. 

Dear Prince Leandros, 

We have received a request on your behalf to investigate the travel restriction Zarantia has placed on you and your case in accordance with the Zarantia-Alliance Treaty. Our preliminary investigation has revealed the need for a larger investigation in order to resolve the charges related to your part in the war and to process your application. As you filed your application before you were charged, your application will take precedence in how the Alliance Council will manage your case. 

As such, the Alliance Council will be negotiating your participation in the Sheild Trials in lieu of military service with Zarantia as well as any other alleviation of sentencing possible. Please retain for your records copies of any and all correspondence you receive from the Noble Council as evidence. However, your case has been formally escalated to the International Court, thus all of court dates will come to you through joint Imperial and Alliance Council correspondence. We highly suggest you procure a formal mail service through your vault in Helicon or a private missive box to ensure your privacy.

With regards to the discovery process and the issuance of your invitation, a formal evaluation will need to be completed. You need not do anything as a team of Alliance Council representatives will be arriving within the week to evaluate you. All results of your evaluation and the Alliance Council’s determination will remain a private record held by the Alliance Council during the investigation. 

Only information relevent to your outstanding Imperial case will be disclosed. Please direct any question you have have regarding the evaluation and the program to the Alliance Council representatives when they arrive. 

Again, thank you for volunteering to participate in on of our most prestigious and impactful positions.

He lifted his head as Ardas came gliding out behind Minerva. He stepped back and approached her carefully and met her gaze that seemed filled with anxiety and hope.

“Please,” Minerva said softly. “After… After so much death… Please.”

He lowered his gaze, feeling a bit shamed. Minerva had fought for him every year even if she had been overruled and silenced by Zarantia’s isolationism and ignorance, when she like the other tutors he’d learned from, could have simple returned to the Islands and leave Zarantia to its own civil issues.

“... sorry.”

Minerva hesitated, but eventually rested a hand on his shoulder. “I do not need nor want your apologies, Leandros…” He lifted his head in shock. It was the first time she’d ever called him by name. 

He met ger gaze and nodded stiffly before returning to the the school. He skipped dinner and the rest of his classes the next day, avoiding people as much as possible by hiding in the secret part of the library with the stacks of books with more information in them than he remembered ever being available to him before. The near endless streams of words on the pages were comforting, like meditation but less boring. 

Law, magical theory, culture of faraway places, and so many other things he had never had much interest in before. It was morning again before he decided to leave the library. 

As he entered the dining hall, Judan stormed, red faced and harsh, towards him. “Where have you been? Worried us—”

“Leandros!” Kevyn said, slamming into him and wrapping his arms around him. There was nothing malicious or self-servinf in Kevyn’s embrace as he sniffled into his shoulder. “D-Don’t…. Please don’t… I thought… Her… Penelope would….”

The sound of her name sent a twinge off pain through his heart. He pat Kevyn on the shoulder as he heard her voice at the back of his mind. 

“You’re not allowed to go without me.”

Go where? Where was she now? What was she doing?

“I’m sorry. I won’t. I promise.”

Kevyn nodded, shaking before drawing back. “O-Okay… Okay… C-Can you eat? You missed… I mean…”

He took Kevyn by the shoulders and steered him to the table. Leandros sat beside him and filled both of their plates with food. 

Maybe it wasn’t the most conventional, but it worked. He had the strangest craving for goat. Penelope’s brilliant smile flashed through his mind. He served himself a bowl of porridge, fruit and orange juice to go with it. It made him feel better. His head ached. Everyone began to head to class, and he walked with Kevyn to his first period in a bit of a daze. The new professor was nice enough, but he had no interest in the lesson on Zarantia’s history. It was bullshit and wholly inaccurate. He wished he’d thought to skip it through. His mind slipped in and out of consciousness, and it happened in every class all the way until lunch when Minerva approached him. 

“Leandros, the Alliance Council representatives are here.”

They’d arrived faster than he expected. Leandros followed Minerva to an office and found Ardas and a group of five people in formal-looking black robes, including Madame Pomfrey. 

“I am Headmaster and Leandros’ secondary magical guardian, I have the right to—”

“Per the Alliance Council and the Imperial records, you are the Headmaster, but you have never had he right to make formal decisions regarding Prince Leandros’ welfare. He is twenty as of last month. He has no need for a magical guardian on an international or imperial basis. You will leave Ardas, or be held in violation of the Treaty and arrested.” The woman glared at Ardas then turned to Leandros. “Prince Leandros, a pleasure and an honor to meet you, please make yourself comfortable while we secure the area.”

“I have treated Leandros—”

“An Ascelpius Healer is a part of this evaluation team,” the woman said. “While I am… sure you have treated Prince Leandros with the utmost care, an imperial doctor’s records are not admissible in Court.”

The woman shrunk back. 

“Leandros, I must insist that I be present for this evaluation as head of the Noble Council and just over your case,” Ardas said and a twinge of something went thorugh him. He pushed it back with a ruthless shove. 

It pushed again, and Leandros narrowed his eyes. “The same head of the Noble Council that sentenced me to ten years of service and called civil war a terrorist attack?”

His eyes widened at Leandros’s hissing tone as he pushed the feeling away again with a bit of glee. 

“You’re almost as bad as Naos having that messenger show up and announce my case at lunch.”

“I have no control over the day-to-day runnings—”

“Funny that you say you have no control over the Noble Council..."