I Will Not Help You

"Please."

Darius regards his apprentice as Rowan stands before him, soaked from the magic-induced storm raging outside the hollow.

"You have to do something," Rowan begs, his fear for his family making his voice waver.

"I wish I could," Darius says quietly, but Rowan only shakes his head again.

"You can talk to him; you can convince him that he's wrong--"

"I can't."

"Why?" Rowan demands, his eyes glowing green and his entire body trembling with overflowing emotion and magic.

Darius' eyes fix directly on the boy, his expression hardening. "Because you and I both know there is nothing I can say or do that will change the prince's mind." He lets out a sigh as he brings a hand to his face, closing his eyes and rubbing at the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Freyr and Acacia are closer to Renkuda than I am," he says, looking back up. "Out of all the councilmembers, why did you come to me?"

Rowan went quiet at that, averting his gaze to avoid eye contact. Darius' brow furrows as he stares intently at the younger viscet, a sneaking suspicion crawling its way into his mind as he puts two and two together.

"You came to me because of Xenophus, didn't you?"

No response.

"Didn't you?" Darius repeats, seeing as Rowan's shoulders stiffen at the sound of his mentor's tone suddenly shifting.

"I just thought--"

"Oh, did you?" Darius snaps back at him immediately, cutting him off as the elder stands up abruptly, shifting the desk and startling his apprentice. "You 'thought'? Thought that I would tell you anything after I explicitly told you never to speak to me about it again?

"You told me his abilities were dangerous, but what if they could help this time? What if he could stop the floods?"

"Don't you dare," Darius hisses. "Don't you dare even think about going to him."

"If I do nothing, my home will be destroyed! If I just--"

"No."

"Then tell me what I'm supposed to do!"

"Not this!" Darius roars, slamming a hand down on the table with enough force to scatter the scraps of parchment he had been so carefully assembling. His jaw clenches as he feels his chest rise and fall, his breathing heavy. "Look at me, Rowan," he demands, and the two lock eyes. "I have been down this road, and I have seen where it will lead. Do not make the same mistake I did." The snarl in his voice was enough to make Rowan flinch. "If you choose to follow this path, I will not help you."

For several long seconds, both fall silent. The only sound in the air is the violent drum of the rain as they stare at each other, unblinking in an unspoken battle. Darius could see so much happening behind Rowan's eyes; he could see the fear, the anger, and the uncertainty that was no doubt tearing his young apprentice apart internally. These feelings were not foreign to him. He shared his apprentice's frustration, but the fiery intensity in Rowan's glare was something different, something dangerous that was far too close to what Darius had seen in himself all those years ago. It wasn't just anger. It was hatred, and that scared him more than anything else.

"...Fine." Rowan breaks the silence with a single word, his eyes flashing green with magic and his face contorting in rage as he spits it out. He steps back, pausing as if he expected Darius to move after him, but the elder did nothing.

No words were spoken between them as Rowan rips through the hollow, ruining the meticulous arrangement of ingredients and supplies on the shelves and tables, finding and taking what meager belongings he had scattered around the room and shoving them into the satchel hanging from his shoulder. Darius only watches as his apprentice flings open the door, not sparing a glance as Rowan turns his back to him and stalks away. It only takes seconds for Darius to lose sight of him as he vanishes into the storm, leaving nothing behind but a cold sense of dread that lingers in the air.

Nothing good would ever come of this.