48 Home Again (1/2)
Greyson knew that time was of the essence with his travels to the Idris Kingdom since he needed to visit the church again for a couple days. After he finished Genesis, he had started preparing for all the goodbyes. Although this goodbye was not going to be forever or permanent, Greyson knew that it would be awhile before he could see them again unless they had some reason to go to the Idris Kingdom. Slowly but surely, the day of his departure arrived. On this day, Greyson grabbed his packed bag and threw it over his shoulder and placed his parting gift to Lyle outside his roommate's door. He had not let his friend know that he was leaving today because out of everyone he felt saying goodbye to Lyle was the hardest. Lyle was his first real same-age friend and he was really sad to see that his rapid growth had left behind this friend. Similar to Claude, Greyson was starting to realize that these friends of his were not on the same path as him as their potential and talent differed too greatly. A feeling of desolation and loneliness crept its way into his heart, but it only renewed his hopes to go to the Idris Kingdom, because the higher and more powerful he climbed he knew he would be able to meet friends who could follow him along all of his journey. Thinking about his next destination and new rivals got him excited as he firmly stepped out of the dorm.
Greyson's next stop was Castiel's painting workshop. Without walking in, he placed a canvas pulled out of his spatial bag on the doorstep before swiftly flying off. He did not notice that right after he walked away, his quiet teacher came out and picked up the canvas. Castiel knew that his disciple was leaving today and had a feeling he would just leave like this. That child always looked cold, but on the inside he had a warm and caring heart which enabled him to create such wonderful paintings. Looking down, Castiel finally focused on the scene painted on the canvas. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw a painting of himself. It was a common everyday scene of Castiel sitting in the open room painting. The tranquil and warm atmosphere was all caught within the scene and the onlooker could tell the appreciation held for the painter in the picture. If Greyson had stayed behind, he would be shocked to see his always stoic teacher break into a warm and happy smile. Castiel then proceeded to hang the painting in the most obvious space in the workshop so he could look at it every now and then.
Greyson spent all day running around to his different teachers leaving them similar gifts. A song for Carlyle, a homemade chair for Old Man Thraec who always complained of the metal chairs in the workshop being too uncomfortable for his old back, and either a painting or useful magic tool for the Head Teachers. He had been planning this for a while so he had time to finish everything and put a lot of thought into each gift.
Summoning Zephyr and hopping onto his dragon's back, Greyson took one last look at Academy City while the memories of the past three years flashed past his eyes. Three years could be seen as a short time by some, but for the young Greyson it was more than a third of his life spent here. From an ignorant village boy knowing nothing, he took his first steps into the world of magicians and his occupations here. Everything had started here. Finally, he turned away and began to fly off while saying silent goodbyes to all his friends and teachers.
...
”Grey Grey is so bad! How could he just leave without saying anything...” Leilena cried.
”Hmph, what's the point of soppy goodbyes. It's better this way!” The gruff voice of Keenan remarked, but if one looked closely they could see the sadness and attachment in his eyes.
”Wow, our little disciple has really grown up... How sad... Comfort me, Vivienne!” Edwin feigned sadness before shamelessly looking towards Vivienne.
”Begone! You vile man! Stop pretending you are not sad when I know you're probably the saddest of us all. You just like to hide behind your disgusting exterior.” Vivienne coldly looked at the man. She has know the twins for the longest, so she knew that although Edwin acted playful that he was the one with softest heart out of all of them.
”This is not goodbye forever. We should be proud that our disciple is moving on to greater things.” Elendil quipped. His usual frozen exterior had cracked a little and one could see the hint of sadness mixed with pride in his expression. All the rest of the teachers then grew silent and prayed that things would go well.
...
”Hmph! Who wants your terrible music! I could write one a thousand times better... I... I...” One could hear the indignant shouts sounding from inside Carlyle's room which at some point switched to him blubbering and crying. All the people around couldn't help but roll their eyes at this musician's peculiar way of grieving, but they, too, would miss the cute little flute player.
...
”Ugh, I'm not so old that I need this chair. I still have a lot of youth left, just look at how spry I am. But... Hmmm... It is pretty comfortable... Well, I guess you have to look at who taught the boy. Of course he would be able to create such a comfortable chair. I guess I'll forgive him for just leaving me behind. Who's going to help this old bag of bones with all the hard labor now, though, how inconvenient...” A long monologue could be heard from inside Thraec's workshop as he tested out his disciple's going away present. One of the assistant's bringing the metal that the blacksmith asked for felt his lip twitching. Are you old or are you young?! What was with this old man?