Chapter 3
“I kind of pushed her into a purple creeper patch during our wilderness survival class,” Fortov admitted. “Please, you have to help me! I'll find you a girlfriend if you do!” “I don't want a girlfriend!” snapped Zorian irritably. Least of all the kind of girlfriend Fortov would set him up with. “Look, why are you bothering me about this? Just go to the apothecary and buy some.” “It's Friday evening. All stores are closed in preparation for the celebration tomorrow.” ... “I'm tired,” Zorian said. “I'll make it tomorrow.” “Are you crazy!? Tomorrow is too late!” “Oh come on, it's not like she'll die of a goddamn rash!” said Zorian irritably. “Please, Zorian, I know you don't care about these kind of things but she's crushing on this boy and-“ Zorian groaned and tuned him out. That's pretty much all he needed to know about this 'emergency'. “-and if my friend's rash isn't fixed by then she won't be able to go and she'll never forgive me! Please, please, please-” “Stop it.” “-please, please, please, please-” “I said stop it! I'll do it, okay? I'll make the damn salve, but you owe me big time for this, you hear?” “Yup!” he said cheerfully. “How much time do you need?” “Meet me at the fountain in about three hours,” Zorian sighed.
Chapter 9
“Ibery…” he started hesitantly. “You wouldn't happen to go into the same class as my brother, would you?” She flinched back and looked away. He sighed heavily. Just great. “How did you know?” she asked after a second of silence. “Brother dearest came to me earlier today,” said Zorian. “Said he pushed a girl into a purple creeper patch and wanted me to make 'an anti-rash potion'. I wasn't in the mood so I kind of blew him off.” That was a lie, actually. He had discovered, during the last three reverts, that Fortov was either unable or unwilling to track him down if he failed to return to his room after class. That was actually the main reason why he spent the entire day in the library instead of inside his room. Still, due to his rather unique situation he knew what would have happened had he been present. “Oh,” she said quietly. “That…. That's alright.” “No,” disagreed Zorian. “No, it's not. If I had known he was talking about you, I would have helped him out. Well… helped you out. He can go die in a fire as far as I'm concerned.” He paused for a moment, considering things. “You know, there is no reason why I can't do it now. I'll just have to stop by my room to pick up the ingredients and-” “You don't have to do that,” Ibery quickly interrupted. “It's… not that important.” Zorian took in her appearance one more time. Yup, she had definitely been crying before coming here. Besides, her choice of words was conspicuous – she said that he didn't have to do it, not that he shouldn't, and that it wasn't that important, not that it wasn't. “It's not really a problem,” he assured her. “The main reason I refused in the first place is because it was Fortov who asked, not because it was so difficult to do. Just tell me where to find you when I'm done.” “Um, I'd like to come with you, if it's not a problem,” she said hesitantly. “I'd like to see how the cure is made. Just in case.” Zorian paused. That was... potentially problematic. After all, the alchemical workshop would be closed down this late in the evening, and he would have to employ some, uh, unorthodox methods of gaining access. But what the hell, it wasn't like she would remember this in the next restart. Thus they set off towards Zorian's apartment. Of course, having Ibery looking over his shoulder wasn't enough, so when he had finally reached his room he found another familiar person waiting for him. Specifically, Zach. ... Ibery watched their interaction in silence, but Zach was a fairly sociable person, so by the time Zorian returned from his room with a box of supplies the two of them were engaged in lively conversation. Mostly about Ibery's current condition. “Man, I didn't know your brother is such a jerk, Zorian,” Zach remarked. “No wonder you turned out to be such a… uh…” He trailed off when Zorian raised his eyebrow at him, daring him to finish that sentence. Ibery's reaction was more vocal. “He's not a jerk!” she protested. “He didn't mean for this to happen.” “He should have fixed it, though,” Zach insisted. “Intentionally or not, it was his fault. He shouldn't have dumped his responsibility on his little brother like this.” “Nobody forced Zorian to do anything,” Ibery said. “He's doing this out of his own free will. Right, Zorian?” “Right,” agreed Zorian. “I'm doing this because I want to.” He actually agreed with Zach, but chose not to say so. If he had learned anything about Ibery from spending an entire revert around her it was that she had a massive crush on Fortov. No good could come from bad mouthing him in front of her. Besides, if he was to be honest with himself, Zorian had to admit he was incapable of being objective about Fortov. There was too much bad blood between the two of them. ... Zorian watched Ibery as they filed out of the workshop and he used his magic trick to re-lock the door again. She seemed strangely subdued for someone who got what they wanted. “What's wrong?” he finally asked after a while. “Err, nothing's wrong,” she said. “Why do you ask?” “You don't seem very happy to be cured,” he noted. “I am!” she protested. “It's just…” “Yes?” he prompted. “I don't have anyone to go to the dance with,” she said. “The boy I was hoping to go with already has someone by now.” If her unnamed boy was Fortov (probably, considering her obvious crush on him), then yes, he most certainly did. In fact, he probably had one weeks in advance, so there was never much chance of her going with him in the first place, but he didn't feel the need to crush her dreams like that.
Chapter 10
He did find it interesting that Benisek was present in the cafeteria at this time, since that wasn't his usual behavior in the restarts Zorian experienced so far. These kind of unexplained divergences happened all the time, which was to be expected – there were at least two time travelers wandering around the time loop, changing things both inconsequential and crucial – but it was surprising to see a change this soon into the time loop. It had only been a day since he arrived in Cyoria. Usually it took at least a week until everything went off the rails, and even then a lot of things repeated themselves. Most teachers followed some kind of a fixed teaching plan, for example, and rarely deviated from it. As far as he knew, Fortov always came looking for him for help with the purple creeper salve, even though his accident with Ibery only happened near the very end of the time loop. Which, now that he thought about it, suggested the accident wasn't so accidental after all. Kind of suspicious for an accident to be so insensitive to changes…
Chapter 71
“Okay, I admit I haven't been very fair to our little sister. I guess I kind of deserved such a chilly reception from her,” Daimen said. “What about Fortov, then? What's his deal?” “How would I know?” Zorian protested. “Do you honestly think I speak to Fortov about you?” Daimen gave him an annoyed huff. “Yes, I get it, I get it – you never talk about me to anyone if you can help it. But surely you have some inkling about how Fortov thinks and what bothers him. You've been interacting with him for six years now.“ Zorian made a weird face, momentarily struck speechless by this statement. “What?” Zorian laughed. “Whatever gave you that idea? Why would I be interacting with Fortov?” “Are… Are you serious?” Daimen asked incredulously. Zorian stared at him. “He's your brother. You live in the same city. You can visit him anytime you want.” “So?” Zorian asked, inclining his head uncomprehendingly. “Are you honestly tell me that in all these years, you haven't seriously talked to our brother even once?” Daimen asked. His tone was pleading, as if begging Zorian to tell him he's wrong. “That's what I'm saying, yes,” Zorian nodded. Why would Daimen expect anything else from him? “Doesn't the restart end in a massive invasion?” Daimen frowned. Zorian nodded again. “What does Fortov do during the invasion?“ “Presumably he reaches the academy shelters and spends the night there, along with the other students,” Zorian shrugged. Admittedly, the shelters hadn't been very safe during the one occasion he had actually experienced them, but that was when Red Robe had actively been helping the invaders by feeding them information. Without his help, the shelters were actually pretty safe. “Presumably? You never checked?” Daimen asked. Zorian shook his head in denial. “Zorian, for heaven's sake…” “I don't see why you're so surprised by this,” Zorian told him honestly. “Fortov is my second least-favorite person in the whole family, right after Father. Of course I never bothered to check up on him.“ Daimen opened his mouth, as if he wanted to continue that argument, but then just shook his head and gave up. “Nevermind,” Daimen sighed. “Did you have any interactions with him during all these time?” “Actually, yes,” Zorian said. “He pushes this one girl into a purple creeper patch near the end of every restart and then comes to me to beg for a healing salve. I used to just avoid being home whenever he comes, but these days it's not even necessary. He never comes to find me if I stay at Imaya's place.“ “He pushes this girl into a purple creeper patch regardless of what you change in a restart?” Daimen said, frowning. “As far as I can tell, yes,” Zorian confirmed. “The girl has a huge crush on him, if that means anything to you.” Daimen made a thoughtful hum. “It's better than nothing, I guess. But really Zorian, must you be so petty and callous? I know you and Fortov didn't get along as kids, bit this sort of attitude is a little too much. You nurse your grudges way too deeply.”
Chapter 75
“Well… alright,” Zorian sighed. “Though if you have been pestering him these past few days, he might decide to deviate from his usual pattern. It's amazing as it is that he always ends up pushing Ibery into that purple creeper patch. That has got to be a deliberate move on his part…“ ... “You pushed her into that purple creeper patch deliberately, didn't you,” Zorian said, not really asking so much as making an observation. “It's not that simple, okay?” Fortov said defensively. “You don't know what she's like. I know she looks quiet and all, but she was being really aggressive and wouldn't take no for an answer and she kept trying to kiss me and… I guess I went a little overboard.” “And a purple creeper patch just happened to be nearby?” Zorian asked. Fortov's explanation was great and all, but how did that explain Ibery ending up in in that bush every single time? “I deliberately took the purple creeper related task when they were distributing class assignments, because people usually avoid them like a plague. But that didn't deter her this time. I guess in retrospect it would have been smarter to take something where lots of other people would be nearby. At least that would stop her from trying to get physical with me…” Zorian was going to inquire more about this, but this was the moment that Daimen finally showed up to crash the meeting. Strange… he actually kind of wished Daimen had taken longer to arrive. The story was just getting interesting…