Chapter 739 — The Imperial Academy
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 4
Eleven paused, seeming to guess at something; he looked at Felm, still wholly bewildered, then back at Fendir. "Then this gentleman is...?"
"My traveling companion. We met aboard the Highlander — the Highlander is an arcanomechanical ship, do you know it? It's—"
"I know mechanical ships; I've ridden one on the Whitewater River," Eleven said with a helpless shake of his head. "So. You haven't told this companion of yours who you are?"
"I didn't want to spoil this rare journey," Fendir said with a bitter smile, turning to Felm. "I'm sorry, Felm. I never meant to hide it from you. I simply didn't want the title of heir to the Northern Duke to come between us — making a friend outside the castle is no easy thing."
"Heir to the Northern Duke..." The blond young man from Balen finally confirmed the words he had heard, and the sheer shock left him almost breathless. "Gods above... so your full name is..."
"Fendirveld," Fendir said, then pointed to Eleven beside him. "And this is Marquis Eleven Franklin, son of the Western Duke. Ah, on an occasion like this I ought to introduce his title and all his many honors in full, but that would be far too much trouble, so we'll skip that step.
"Eleven, the gentleman before you is Mr. Felm of Balen, creator of the Magic Shadow Play, an outstanding playwright... at least, that is my opinion of him."
Felm's gaze bounced once more between the two ducal heirs; a man who had set his heart on becoming an outstanding playwright, he found himself at this moment somewhat doubting his own gift for writing scripts.
Set against a reality so thoroughly dramatic, his imagination as a playwright had suddenly come up a little short.