Chapter 21.5:

  “Aria, it’s okay.” He said, and he was glad he did when she turned to look at him. The expression on her face was somewhat lost and overwhelmed. Her eyes glazed over with too many revelations and not enough processing time. “We will learn in time. There is no rush. You will be all caught up by the time we test for the academy.” That statement seemed to shock her out of her reverie. Her eyes refocused, brows scrunching together.

  “Me? At the academy?”

  “Yes. You and I at the academy. No- don give me that look. You never know, you may awaken your core during the testing. You never know.”

  Her voice was soft. “I don’t know.,” she shrugged. “My mother was unawakened and…” her voice trailed off, and Eli didn’t blame her.

  “Still.” He smiled faintly. “Awakened or no, this is good information. The economy is not magic like a mage weaves, but it is an invisible power that shapes the world.”

  He tapped the page. “The economy is something people made up to manage everything that comes along with living together. Think of this as the study of how people get and use what they need.” Eli moved back around to the side of the desk with seats, bringing Aria along with him.

  Both of them sat down, and as Eli began his explanation she leaned forward to hover over the large sheet as she listened. All complicated thoughts of academies and awakenings and magic got pushed to the sidelines of her mind as she immersed herself in the sound of her friend’s voice, it’s soothing cadence, and patient explanations.

  As the lesson continued, Aria and Calien found themselves being drawn into Eli’s pace,

  “What is something people need to live?” Eli asked.

  “Air,” Aria answered. “To breathe.”

  “Good. That is one thing. What else?”

  “Blood,” she said.

  “Okay, yes. Blood, but our bodies make that by themselves, what about things people need to get from the outside.” He said oversimplifying the process for the sake of the lesson.

  “Um, water?” She asked.

  “A question?” he said. It was one of the gentle reprimands Mme Okoro like to give.

  “No, water,” she repeated with more conviction.

  “Very good. No air you suffocate, no blood you exsanguinate, no water you dehydrate. That’s very good Aria.” As they spoke Eli had been having her write down her answers on a section of the draft sheet he had labeled ‘necessities’

  “So, water, people need it to live, yes?”

  “Yes,” Aria confirmed.

  “When someone from the town needs water, how do they get it?” He asked, moving to a section called ‘resource/material procurement.

  “I know some of the well-off families have runes for getting water in their home. They’re like the ones in the keep, but different maybe?”

  “Maybe, Eli conceded “But not all families can do that. Despite this he had her write down her answers before he continued. “What about the everyday people of Lira. How do they get their water?” He asked then he waited again for her answer. Nobody said anything for a long while, though Eli could see Cailean bursting to try and answer. He smiled at his attendant-in-training but didn’t call on him. Instead, he said nothing at all as he allowed Aria the space to think.

  “Some people get their water from the mountain stream, and some of the people have big rain containers, but most of the town gets their water from one of the wells,” she said. She had started off slowly, clearly giving the question a lot of thought, then she had continued with more conviction. When she was done she gave Eli an expectant look that he returned with an impressed nod and a smile.

  “That sounds about right,” he said. Before he moved entirely on, he turned to face Cailean. “Did you have anything you wanted to add?” He asked, then nodded when Cailean indicated he did not.

  “That sounds right to me young master.” The boy said.

  “You are both correct. Most of the town, outside of uptown and the keep, gets water from one of the many wells,” Eli said. “Now, do you know the answer to this question,” he challenged. “How does a town get its wells?” Then he tapped on a section the sheet he’d labeled ‘Procurement.”

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  “Someone digs them?” She asked. That seemed like a lot of work though. She’d seen some of the farmers and planters in town, and digging looked like very, very hard work.

  “The person, or people in charge could have someone dig the wells,” Eli agreed. “Or they could hire a mage or two. Usually, the town will call in Earth for digging, or water for drawing.”

  “Oh!” Aria smiled. “I didn’t know that.” Eli smiled back. It was clear from Cailean’s look that he hadn’t known that either.

  “So, now you have a mage, and you want them to dig up a well for you or your town. How do you get them to do that?” Eli asked. Cailean and Aria looked at each other. Both of them were stumped.

  “You’re the ruling family,” Cailean finally said. “Just make them.” Cailean said, but it was clear he was uncertain. Eli’s brows rose but he neither confirmed nor contradicted the words before he checked in with Aria. She shrugged, clearly thinking but not coming up with an answer.

  “Okay, so we could force people into labor, but the empire actually has laws about that. There is such as thing as indenture, and emergency conscription, but we cannot just drag over a mage and make them do what we want. That is called ‘extortion’ and ‘abuse of authority’, but we will learn more about that when we do lessons in law and governance,” Eli said. Cailean winced in remembered misery, while Aria just looked a little lost. She knew what a law was, but governance? She just trusted that Eli would help her again when it came time to learn.

  “Milord?” Cailean said, trying unsubtly to change the subject back to economics. “If you can’t just order mages about, how do you make them work, then?” He asked, and Aria nodded along.

  “Okay, so we cannot force them, but we still need the well to get built. Aria, if someone wanted Mr. Cleaver to butcher an animal for them, how might they get him to do it?”

  “Well, they could ask him. Sometimes they bring in the animal themselves, sometimes not.”

  “Alright, so there is an animal, and they ask him to butcher it, what happens next?” Eli prompted.

  “He might give them a quote, and they might haggle for a bit, and then-” He could actually see the moment the spark lit behind her eyes. “Then they would give him money. They would have to pay him,” she exclaimed, looking at him with such obvious pride he couldn’t help but mirror the expression.

  “That’s great Aria,” he said, tapping another section of the paper before he continued. “Now, how do you pay them?”

  “With money,” she said.

  “Okay, and where do you get money?” He continued.

  “Um, you have to work. You work, and you are paid, and then you use that money to pay for other things.” Aria said. The answer was technically correct, if incomplete. However, Eli was not going to get into tax law, compound interest and land ownership today, so he accepted the simple answer for now to help her understand the fundamentals.

  “Okay, so you work, and that gets you money, and you use that money to pay for a well,” Eli said, as Cailean, Aria, and even Angela nodded along. “How do you get the job?”

  “What?” Cailean asked.

  “The job, to make the money, to get the well. How do you get the job.” Eli was grinning now.

  “I… don’t know,” Aria said. The words were honest. It was like she was discovering this gap in her knowledge for the first time, and it surprised her.

  “It is okay if you do not know. Sometimes the answer is not so clear. Economics is how we ask and answer these kinds of questions. Figuring out how to make sure everyone has what they need is part of it too.

  “A big part of my father’s job, my mother’s job, and someday mine is to make sure people can get work, earn money, and pay for what they need. To make sure even those who cannot still get cared for. That means knowing how money flows, where it goes, and how to get more when it is needed. Well knowing at least that much and being able to figure it out when the answer is not so clear.”

  Aria’s eyes widened. “That is” she paused, “a lot.”

  Eli nodded. “Today’s lesson was about industry in the region. What each town produces, where it fits. How it gets places and where it goes. That is what Madame Okoro was drilling us on. She is intense like this because it is important. Very important. No water, no life, you understand?”

  She nodded slowly, beginning to piece it together. Eli, Aria, and occasionally Cailean continued to go over some of the ‘simpler’ economic concepts while Angela listened from the background but did not participate. Aria was forced to admit to herself that Eli was right: economics was much more interesting when she understood what was going on, even just a little.

  The study session went on until the small group was interrupted.

  The door opened, and one if his father’s stewards stepped in. “Cailean, your training continues.”

  The boy straightened, cast a last glance at Eli, and followed him out. In the corridor, the steward chuckled. “The young master is bright. Brighter than most twice his age.”

  Cailean exhaled. “Too clever by far.”

  The steward laughed again. “Always has been. It runs in the family. Did you know his mother was top of her year, and she wasn’t born noble.”

  Cailean gaped as they walked away, the sound of their footsteps fading as they left.

  Back inside, Eli smiled, his enhanced senses had helped him to pick up his servant’s conversation far outside of the range a mundane person would have been able to hear. Once they had left, Eli refocused on what was in front of him.

  Aria perched on the edge of the chair, paying close attention as Eli explained concepts that Mme Okoro had touched upon during the earlier lessons, but that had gone completely over her head the first time. His words flowed smoothly. She found that he was direct but engaging when he explained concepts to her and simplified what had felt so overwhelming in the classroom just a few scant hours before. She listened intently, nodding along, taking notes when appropriate, and asking questions and receiving patient answers instead of the reprimands or scorn she was used to her curiosity eliciting. As Eli continued to teach, Aria began to see the edges of the vast world he seemed to traverse so easily and carry so effortlessly on his shoulders.

  For the first time, she began to think that his world had room for her too.