Rise of the Archmage Alister

More family was picked up at the large city of Tulia, distant cousins and uncles and aunts. A handful of kids who he still wanted little to nothing to do with. More servants. It really felt like a whole parade of people by this point to him. It was annoying. It was so much better when there was quiet in the cabins. Wisteria was enjoying herself, though. She had people around her age for once to chat with and play with, and very few of them were mean to her about her commoner status - Alister’s mother had made sure of that very early on.

But now the train car was full of chatter. Kids, guards, servants. All he wanted was to focus on his books and enjoy the peaceful ocean scenery. Books weren’t a thing back then! Writing was barely a thing - certainly not something many knew how to do. They were disturbing his curious indulgence in the modern world!

He snapped his book closed. There was only one stop between here and the duchy’s capital, Rythwith, and that was a town named Sarin. Surprisingly small given its location, but growing quickly from what he had heard. It would take too long to get there.

“I’m taking a walk,” he stated to a nearby guard, “I don’t want a trail of people to follow me. I’d like only two of you to come with me. If any.”

They hesitated but nodded and obliged, setting down the cards they had been playing with a look to the other guards, who just seemed entertained that they got the short end of the stick. The knights were a kind group, but athletes through and through, were rambunctious and raucous. The two, both young men, humans, said little once they were following Alister, going back into “work mode” effortlessly.

“Lord Alister,” one muttered, voice strained between duty and instructions, “We are supposed to stay in the noble cars.”

“I want to see the difference,” Alister stated plainly in return.

“...yes sir,” the knight responded, defeated. He couldn’t argue, but he knew they were going to get a talking to later because of it.

Alister didn’t even bother to tell Wisteria what he was doing before he walked to the back of the cabin and slid open the door. There would be a few cars in between here and the commoners, other noble cabins. Though his family had sequestered most of them, a few were still available for other nobles.

It got a fair few looks from other noble passengers headed to the duchy’s capital or beyond as he meandered past with knights in tow.

“Lord Alister,” one of the knights muttered softly as they walked, “You have yet to debut, sir. You’re going to have gossip.”

Alister smirked, “I know. It’s fine. I’m not too worried about it. After all, acting like a curious child is hardly something to besmirch. Arising the interest of other nobles and whatnot will only make my eventual debut more interesting.” In the Kingdom of Mare, debuts happened with both men and women somewhat equally, though for women it was usually to show they were eligible for marriage, and for men it was to show how capable they were. It would be quite a few years before he’d normally have a debut, but it wouldn’t surprise him if his mother and father decided to have it early to calm interest.

“As you say, sir.”

He moved through cabins and into the commoner area, each car getting less fancy as he went. They were still nice, with leather seats and velvet backing, but they had less magical amenities. Then, the commoner cabins had cloth seats and simple wood for seat backings. All eyes turned to him. They weren’t poor commoners by any means, this was still an expensive means of travel - it would be far cheaper to buy a trip in a wagon that was heading the same way. There were no magical amenities, no cooling or heating, so they had the windows open for the breeze. Even so, it was stuffy. There were three times as many people in the cabin as were in the noble cars.

Alister had no thoughts about what he wanted to do when he got here, just that he was curious about what it looked like.

The servicer for the car cautiously walked up to him and bowed his head, “Young Lord… to… to what do we owe the pleasure?”

His knights took a step forward as a matter of course, making certain to keep the distance, protective of their charge. Alister gave them a look with a small sigh, before smiling up at the man, “Hello sir! I was intrigued by these other cars. I’ve never been on a train before, you see, and I wanted to know how different the commoner trains looked.”

The man looked relieved. He could deal with childish curiosity. He smiled at him, customer service persona turning on, “Of course! How kind of the young lord to be interested in the commoners.”

“That’s a noble kid? He looks well dressed.”

“I heard the duke was traveling to the capital for the funeral.”

“You don’t think that could be his kid, do you?”

“He hasn’t had his debut.”

“He’s so small!”

“Why’s he talking like that? So proper.”

“Nobles are a different breed.”

“Is he just here to poke fun at us? Not everyone can afford to ride in those fancy cabins.”

“He’s adorable! Look at that tiny cloak!”

“What’s he expect to do here, stare at us?”

Quiet chatter filled the cabin as Alister glanced around. Their confusion was understandable, but he wasn’t concerned about it. He held a hand out, “I’m not allowed to manipulate the train itself as I don’t have an understanding of it yet and father would be upset if I broke something, but at the least, I can do a temporary spell for the area.”

Mana surrounded his hand and turned a crisp light blue, layering soft frost on his fingertips. He thought better than to silently cast, not wanting to cause alarm, and knelt down, pressing his hand to the floor. He built a circle and widened it to encompass the whole of the cabin, quietly speaking his spell, “Let the air chill, and snow fall. Let heat and warmth drain from my domain and let all freeze upon my call. Domain of Frost.”

The circle glowed to life with that icy mana, illuminating the car with blue light before dimming and disappearing into the floor and walls. It was noticeably cooler, a frigid breeze flowing through the cabin, pulling away the stuffiness. He could’ve cast it much stronger and much faster, but this weak version would do for an application like this.

“There. A parting gift. I apologize for being a spectacle, sir. I’ll take my leave.”

Alister turned back out the door he came from, a swift hand motion the only indication he had done the same for the second commoner car. There was a stunned, confused silence after he left that was swiftly filled with curious muttering.

“What was that?”

“Did he just cast a spell?”

“How old is he?!”

“What happened? Why is it cooler in here suddenly?”

“The duke’s kid is already a spellcaster?”