I, on the other hand, stayed and thought about all of this and much more. Right now, right now, the pact between Delacour and me had been made, but only in words. For many in this world, a word is worth as much as a piece of paper, but no fewer people can be held by the same piece of paper, like a chain to a dog. But at the beginning of civilizations (I say "civilizations" because there were at least three of them, and perhaps more) there were no papers, there was only the word.
Nothing but the word could seal the deal. I am not talking about the exchange of hostages or the taking of a spouse to seal a marriage, I am talking about later times when even such measures had no particular value.
One could give and take one's word, and later various oaths, vows, contracts were invented. But it was the word that started it all, because it was the word that first gave birth to human magic: a reasonable person, perhaps praying, perhaps cursing, gathered emotions in a vector and wished, and magic was performed.
It was fixed somewhere in the "spheres", maybe in the noosphere, maybe somewhere else, I don't know exactly, but I know that magic is not a reasonable entity formation, but it is something like a program, which is programmed by the magicians themselves with the help of various rites, rituals and so on. In general, I'm leading to the fact that to give the word "for nothing" is allowed only to Muggles, in the sense of without consequences "from above", but the gifted, giving the word, confirm a certain contract, and in case of violation can not do without consequences.
What will be the consequences — is decided by the mechanism of magic, I do not know how, and I can not even assume, because, I repeat, wizards program magic, that's reasonable, and you and I do not have a "single standard", in the sense of situations are different, as well as people who make any decisions and participate in them.
And all this is recorded "out there", memorized, and then this information-example can be used in the same situation as a specific example or instruction. Yes, it sounds a bit delusional, but the "system" is not intelligent (and thank the spirits!), it cannot decide for itself, it only performs, figuratively speaking, the function of an automaton controller. Nothing more, nothing less.
That is why it is so difficult to fool it. That's why it's possible to deceive it, because people are very creative, and I fully admit that one day someone will invent something that has never been invented before, and simply "write down" a new rule, if it doesn't threaten the "system", of course... in short, it's all very complicated, you can't understand it without half a liter of alcohol.
What I wanted to say is that, despite everything, the majority of the "enlightened world" lives according to the rules of their society, and only a few people know the laws of the world.
Therefore, I am not very surprised that the Dunois, contrary to their own word, have chosen some advantage for themselves. The Delacours are in a similar position now, because they have information that many would be willing to pay a lot of money for, but on the other hand they gave me their word.
We'll see what they choose: their word, honor and truth, or short-term gain. By the way, about the fact that the word is not a sparrow, that is, the magician can get, and will get "on the hat", in a sense, I have not told anyone, and the Europeans had time to blow just mountains of ancient knowledge, so they do not know this nuance.
So the Delacour test will be a good one. I just don't want to find out in a few years how exactly I can be betrayed while staying clean, so it's better to deal with this issue in advance. As they say, once a cheater, always a cheater.
Still, I feel sorry for the Dunois kids. I feel sorry for the fact that none of them is really responsible for their parents' affairs, because some of them just didn't know, and those who knew couldn't do anything, because the head of the family is called that for a reason.
Now, for the violation of the Word (and not just one), they are all waiting for the "backlash" and it only depends on them how strong it will be.
Well, it's time to return to the world of the living, because the ladies are coming and I'm still in the clouds.
***
POV Fleur Delacour
Fleur was worried. Very worried. The thing was, this was actually the first time she would be doing serious magic under Sora, but not the kind of magic she was already familiar with or trained in. It was magic that was very difficult for the girl to handle and hardly under her control. If it hadn't been for her mother's help, Fleur wouldn't have been able to work with mental magic at all, but she would have been able to burn out people's minds.
Now she had the opportunity to practice, not on a mad Muggle taken from an asylum, but on a full-fledged (physical) wizard. If the situation had been different, the girl would have been happy, but now she was nervous, afraid of appearing inept in the eyes of a Japanese man. Her mother, on the other hand, smiled mischievously at her daughter, but said nothing.
The door slid aside (the girl liked this design very much, and she even thought of doing something like this at home), and mother and daughter entered the spacious room.
The first thing Fleur saw was Sora looking out of the window with a strange expression on her face. She rarely saw Sora like that, but she always knew when he could be pulled away from his thoughts and when it was better to wait.
This was the first time, and he didn't even need to be pulled away — he turned around as soon as she took the first step inside. Then Fleur looked at the unconscious woman, a brunette with short-cropped curly hair. She seemed vaguely familiar, but the girl still couldn't remember her name.
— Can we get started? — Her mother asked, and Fleur kept her ears open, for no one in the house had ever mentioned this woman.
— Of course. — Sora shrugged and sat down in a light wicker chair in the corner. — But, Appolin, please be careful: there's no telling what you might find, — the boy nodded his head towards the unconscious woman. — You see. I don't want Fleur to get a psychological trauma or worse. — For some reason, the girl immediately realized that this was no joke, and it sent a shiver down her spine and gave her goosebumps.
— My daughter is a Vayla, and we have a very strong psyche, but it, like many things, needs to be trained. So a little shaking, or even a shock, would only do Fleur good.
— What the hell is going on in her head? — The girl exclaimed, but only to herself; outwardly she remained tense, but did not show any nervousness.
— Well, that's your business, and I'm not going to tell you what to do and how to do it. Here you go. — The man said the last words, leaned back and fell silent.
— Thank you. — Appolyn replied. — I would like to create a magic circle of stabilization. Is that possible?
— Of course it is. — Sora shrugged, took several strips of paper — talismans — from his inner pocket, threw them into the air, clapped his hands, and the papers flew in different directions, hanging in the air at equal distances from each other. The six talismans glowed with a soft blue light. — The circle will work for one hour. If it needs to be extended, let me know.
Appolin nodded to the boy, took out her wand and began to apply the primary enchantments of the Mental Penetration Complex. Fleur, on the other hand, was still reeling from what she had just seen.
What Sora had done in literally seconds usually took anywhere from twenty minutes (for pros) to an hour or two for beginners like herself. The girl even envied Sora's magic: how much easier life is when even drawing a circle and the signs inside it can be done with a few strokes, instead of crawling on the floor, dirtying clothes and hands.
Fleur was distracted from these thoughts by a sharp sting in her lower back. Surprised, the girl even shrieked, grabbed the "injured" spot, and then immediately turned to her mother, ready to burst into an angry tirade about the insult, but she immediately calmed down.
Her mother was focused, serious, and not prone to jokes, so she should be thankful that it was a simple sting and not something more serious. Nodding to her frowning mother, the girl went about her business.
Fleur wasn't exactly experienced in mental magic, but she wasn't inept either. To begin with, this part of magic had its own theory, and her mother made her memorize it, so that sometimes Fleur cried at night in despair, from the fact that one had to learn more and more each time, and the end was not seen.
But time passed, the girl got used to the strain, and now a young Vayla is quite adjusted. So, without prompting or reminders, Fleur checked the cascade her mother had imposed, making sure it was a standard scanning complex of spells and charms. Then she wove her own spells, not as complex and energy consuming as her mother's, just to be aware of the "patient's" condition.
Yes, that was what Appolyn Delacour had learned to call those she worked with. Once, it had been the sick, the mentally ill, taken from Muggle asylums, who had begun her training. On the one hand, the more truthful term "test subject" or "training material" would be more accurate, but it is extremely inaccurate for many reasons, so they call such Muggles "patients".
By the way, there are officially recorded cases where such Muggles have been cured one way or another in the course of Mentalist training.
But let's get back to the point. You can't show yourself to be incompetent in the eyes of the groom. You have to pull yourself together, ignore your surroundings and concentrate on your goal...