[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190120/b458a81531631a6916fa9413063c5f80.png[/img][/center][right][sub]Interacting with: [@Hero] [@Achronum][/sub][/right]
Aaron stiffened when Salem approached; he’d known he was coming down to speak to Varis, but that didn’t make him any more comfortable kneeling beneath the pair of them, talked over like a piece of furniture. His ears burned as the pair of them spoke, but he kept his eyes trained almost angrily on the floor, reluctant to put a muscle out of place and doing his best to push his embarrassment from his mind. But soon enough, Salem was gone (Aaron making a mental note to speak to him about his interest in the Sinnenodels later) and there was a pause before Varis spoke again, addressing the celebrity in the Sinnenodel seat.

While Aaron wasn’t exactly thrilled to be introduced to Eris-freaking-Samael on his knees, he was rather more concerned with what Varis said next. He was his mage [i]until[/i] the end of his time at the Academy? What on earth? As far as Aaron knew, mage transfers from family to family were most often permanent, especially between noble families transferring mages from high-profile lines. Aaron had thought - and taken comfort in the idea - that the Noilas giving him to Varis was some kind of diplomatic gesture, but now apparently the Count had no plans of keeping him. What then, had he been transferred to Varis for re-training? Aaron had never heard of such a thing happening to anyone else in his family, and he would have thought that someone might have told him if that were the case. Or was he truly so disappointing that he’d be passed around from family to family until someone decided he was worth keeping? 

A pit formed in his stomach at the thought. Families like his had a word for mages like that, but it wasn’t exactly appropriate for polite company. 

After what felt like an eternity, he was allowed to stand - Varis didn’t seem annoyed with him, at least - and Aaron rose gratefully, pushing those thoughts aside to be fretted over later. The Count introduced Eris as a friend, more or less, and Aaron acknowledged with a dip of the head to Varis and a more proper bow to Eris, as he would for someone of a Count’s station. [color=f0d705]“An honour, sir,”[/color] he told Eris, painting on a polite, well-practiced smile even as the stone in his stomach refused to disappear.