“...And now with the strength of the Will of the Wind,
An end to all evil, corruption, and sin!
The great wizard Sylpho was victorious at last,
and so peace for the Capitol soon came to pass!”
The bard finishes his song. He doesn’t expect any applause from the vacant and distracted crowd of the Inn, but he gets it from an odd little seven-year-old Verling, named Ferro.
Sylpho’s tale was like nothing Ferro had heard before. The adventure, the heroism, and most of all the magic! From that point on, Ferro knew that they wanted to be a Wizard when they grew up. And they told their parents as much, and their response was, well…
“What do you mean Ferro, dear… you mean an Artificer or an Inventor, right? There aren’t any Wizards in the Iron Tide.” Their Mom asked Ferro.
“No, I want to go to Escada and be an adventurer Wizard like Sylpho!” Ferro was beaming happy, and full of dreams.
“Now honey, maybe this desire isn’t the worst thing for our son…” Ferro’s father added. This was long before Ferro took gender neutral pronouns, not that their father cares. “Wizards are supposed to be smart, right? Maybe we could get the boy to study.”
Ferro’s studies seemed to be all their dad cared about back then. They remember when they told him they were having trouble making friends. Their dad just told them that if they were smarter, people would like them more.
Ferro didn’t mind being manipulated like this though, as long as they were able to pursue their dreams, they were happy. Their parents got them a tutor for both mundane and magical academia. Ferro did very well in their magical training, being able to operate simple magical instruments like a natural. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the part their parents cared about.
“I pay you nearly two pounds of silver a month, and I haven’t seen any improvements in Ferro’s grades!” Ferro’s father was yelling at their tutor.
“Ahh Muntz, you see, well Ferro... While I think he might have a gift for magic. I’m beginning to worry he might be different… let me show you...” The tutor waved Ferro over and handed them a card with a simple sentence and a picture, “Please read this aloud for us...”
Ferro read slowly, stumbling over words. “T-the fell ball on a f-floor...”
“You read them in the wrong order again, Ferro” The tutor said, and their dad just looked at them.
Ferro felt like they were disappointing him. “Sorry, they just get mixed up in my head...”
“It’s called Autocipher, it’s a learning disorder. Your son is an Anomaly, Muntz. He may never be able to read, but perhaps he could focus on his magical studies and-” Ferro’s Furious father interrupted the tutor.
“Shut up! Everyone knows it’s a waste trying to teach Anomalies, they’ll never be capable like normal people! You just want to take more of my money!” Ferro’s dad yelled and yelled.
“Ferro might still be capable of some things magically, sir I-”
“How do you think he’ll become an Artificer if he can’t write, huh? I’m not gonna pay you to teach my son to use weapons and become one of those savage Escadian barbarians! I’m not going bankrupt on the behalf of an Anomaly, get out of my house, you’re fired!”
The sentiment that Escadians were unrefined barbarians, wasn’t uncommon in the Iron Tide. Their dad was wrong about that though, like he was wrong about a lot of things. Regardless, that was the last time Ferro ever saw their tutor again…
Ferro was sitting on the stairs, crying like they’ve never cried before. Snotty tears dripping from their face. Their sinuses burned as they choked on the tears that ran down their throat. In the kitchen, Ferro’s dad yelled at their mother. “You know this is your fault right, you and your stupid Anomaly sister!”
Ferro knows now that their father was wrong about aunt Tawny. Tawny had Foolsblight, a different disorder than Ferro, but an Anomaly still. She wasn’t stupid at all, she just thought differently from other people. But when you are that young, your parents are your entire world. They had to be right…
Mother walked out of the house to escape the blame. Father stomped by Ferro to get to his room.
“Do you hate me now, dad?” Ferro asks, stopping their father for a few moments before he responds.
“...No Ferro, we still love you. And we’ll take care of you for as long as you need, Anomalies usually can’t leave their parent’s care. It’s just… unfortunate, that this is what fate had in store for me.” Ferro’s father responds.
“What’s ‘fate’, dad?” Ferro didn’t know the word back then.
“It’s what’s meant to be, and who you were meant to be I guess. It’s like that one thing you like to say, how did it go? The direction the wind blows or something?”
Ferro laughed. It was the first of many times they would laugh at themselves, laugh at how pathetic and powerless they were over their own life. “It’s the Will of the Wind, dad...”
