The next morning, Linnie arose with a brutal hunger. His stomach wasn't any more empty than any other morning, but the thought of the delicious food of the palace that awaited amplified the feeling more than ever. There were few things that were better than good food.
He quickly threw on his robes—well, as quickly as was possible with the tricky outfit—and dashed out of his room and into the halls. He made it to the dining hall, and pushed open the door.
Unexpectedly, the room was nearly empty. He had thought he would see Liora, Aliza, Marielle, The Prince, and maybe even Duke Saivelle and Alwyn, too. But not a single one of them was there. In fact, the only person who was sitting at the table was a man he had never met.
"Pardon? Oh, you must be one of Alwyn's students. Don't mind me, sit down! The chef made a lot of food... I don't really know why, since I told him I was going to be the only one eating. But, you showed up!"
"Aha... yeah, it worked out then!"
'I want to leave.'
Linnie took a seat and started making himself a plate.
He wasn't sure why, but he felt kind of uncomfortable with the man. He didn't look shady or anything, but who was he? He was large in build—in an impressive way, not a fat way—and had brilliant, combed golden hair. His outfit, too, was quite brilliant. A pale white jacket with golden and purple accents.
In fact, his eyes, too, looked purple.
'Purple... where have I seen purple eyes before?'
"A prince... you're a prince, aren't you?"
"I am! How'd you know?"
"You look like the other one," Linnie explained, taking a bite of toast.
Now that he figured out why the man gave him a strange feeling, he was no longer uncomfortable. It was simply the air of royalty, and that was nothing Linnie was afraid of.
"My brother, Sylven. So, you've become acquainted with each other?"
"In a way. He's a little hard to—uh, I mean, he's quiet."
"He is, isn't he? It's difficult for him to make friends, so I hope you guys get along. With Marielle, too, although I know she can be a hassle. My brother, on the other hand... any troubles he causes aren't on purpose, I promise. He's got a kind soul."
"Okaaaay. Can you pass the salt?"
The crown prince laughed as he handed the salt to Linnie.
"The eggs are kind of plain, aren't they? I'm Odrick, by the way."
"Uh, nice to meet you."
"And you?"
"And me, what?"
"Your name."
"Oh, I'm Lin."
. . .
"You're a funny little guy, aren't you?" he laughed.
Linnie scowled, his mouth full of food.
"I'm really not that little. Haven't you considered that you're just really damn big?"
"No, no... you're definitely pretty small. How old are you, anyway? Eleven? Twelve?"
"I'm fourteen," he growled. "Almost fifteen."
"...Huh. Ahhh, there was that thing, if I remember. I guess that makes sense. Don't worry, kid, you'll definitely grow pretty soon!"
"What thing?"
Linnie was now very curious. What had this prince heard? How did it relate to him being so... underdeveloped?
"You know," Odrick spoke, food still in his mouth. It wasn't very prince-like, but the man was so glorious that even speaking with a full mouth seemed impressive. "That recent study. Theory, whatever. I'm not that big an intellectual, myself. The effects of mana on the adolescent body something, something."
"I've never heard of anything like that. Do I look like an 'intellectual'?"
"Aha, I'm not in the habit of deciding whether others are intellectuals or not. Who says a kid like you can't be well-studied?"
"I've never read a book in my life."
"I could tell," he laughed.
It was an insult, but it was kind. Linnie was a little confused, though, since he certainly wasn't friendly enough with the man to be throwing insults around in a joking manner. Also, it was one of the most famous people in the world he was talking to.
"I would've thought you'd have already covered it in your material by now. You've been with Alwyn for, what, a few months now, right?"
"Alwyn doesn't teach me crap, and definitely not out of some book. Tell me about the... uh, what did you call it? The theory?"
"Hmmm, well, take my words with a grain of salt, since I don't really know what I'm talking about, but some wizard from the tower, about two years ago, started a study after he realized that the younger students in the tower took a lot longer reaching maturity than those that had their cores awakened later, or never at all. They found that the flow of mana throughout the body reduces the aging processes of the wizard, directly proportionate to the size of the core. This also proposes an official theory for why powerful wizards live so much longer than normal people."
"Hmm, interesting."
"You weren't listening at all, were you?"
"Naw, I was, I was. Mana... age prospects, something and whatever. So basically I'm gonna be short forever?"
"You'll be fine. Look at your teacher, Alwyn. He's got loads of mana, but he looks his age, doesn't he?"
"Huh... you're right. So, the study's wrong, and I'm just short for no reason. That's great," Linnie said flatly.
"Nope. I've actually known your teacher for a while—and trust me, he wasn't always so tall. In fact, one year, I saw him in passing on a visit to the tower, and I thought he was years younger than me. The next year—no, even less, actually, only a few months later—he was already taller than me. We're about the same age, you see. Spontaneous growth. That's what happens when wizards meet maturity, and then their age processes slow down for the rest of their life. Magic's really wild, isn't it?"
'Magic really is hard to understand... my brain hurts! Wait—'
"Alwyn was a runt!?"
Odrick burst into a fit of hearty laughter.
"You could call him that, though almost no one would've dared to say that to his face back then. Even amongst his peers he was small—just like you. That's because the both of you have seriously large amounts of mana."
"...How'd you know I have a lot of mana?