"Fine. But it wasn't your fault. Come here."

He walks over to Onmund and leans down closer when he gestures.

"Stop me if you don't like this," he says, then puts a hand behind Ruby's head and pulls him in for a kiss.

!!!!!

Oh yeah this is. Nice. Much nicer than before.

Then he pulls away and says, "Wanted to do that yesterday. And now I want to wipe out the memory of that creep with this. You're okay?"

"...yeah. I, um, I'm still not..."

"Yeah, yeah, we've only just met, it's nothing serious, I know. But you are the first boy to show interest in me in that way and I wanted to kiss you. Nothing more than that."

"Nothing more than that, huh?" he says, looking down between Onmund's legs.

"Nothing more than that," he repeats, rolling his eyes. "Now shoo, I am not a prodigy and do want to get purple fire."

"Yes, sir."

The next morning's practical is... Conjuration with Phinis Gestor.

Eugh.

Brelyna mentions she wants to go to at least one class per teacher but she's probably not going to keep going to these because she's not very interested in Conjuration. J'zargo says he is going to go to all classes until they stop being useful because he is going to be the most powerful wizard. Ruby doesn't say anything and Onmund gives him a sort of concerned look but also doesn't.

Gestor does not act like anything remarkable happened, though. He walks into the practice hall five minutes late and does not comment on this either.

"Good morning, Apprentices, I am Phinis Gestor and will be your Conjuration Instructor. Should you have any questions or requests about the subject or, really, anything else, I will be at your disposal. Does anyone want to talk about anything or ask any questions before we begin, today?"

Headshakes all around.

(Ruby feels... less bad than he would've expected? Mostly kind of awkward. Also the monster dong has stopped being as mesmerising as it was before.)

"Very well. Now, let's see, the khajiit, what's your name?"

"This one is called J'zargo."

"J'zargo, can you tell me what the three main subdisciplines of Conjuration are?"

"Necromancy, summoning, and aetherial construction," he says with the airs of someone who is being asked a question too basic to be worth his time.

"Excellent! What's different between them? You, your name is...?"

"Brelyna Maryon, sir. They are completely different types of magic; Necromancy involves animating an existing corpse, summoning is about pulling beings that already exist but are elsewhere to you, and aetherial construction involves creating temporary objects out of magicka that will dissipate and disappear later."

"Also correct. So why are they all lumped into a single school of magic, Mr....?"

"Onmund. Uh, my guess is it's because they all involve a similar technique of causing something to exist and act in the physical world that didn't, before? Sort of going against their nature which would have them be elsewhere, or not exist at all?"

"Indeed. 'Conjuration' is a bit of a misnomer. This school of magic is more about imposing your will on things that are resisting you by their very nature. In this way it is similar to what other school of magic, Ruby?"

How is he so blasé.

"Illusion, I'd guess?"

"Correct! Really, all of magic is about imposing your will on things that would be otherwise, but some schools do this more blatantly than others. Illusion focuses on pitting your will against others' wills; Conjuration focuses on pitting your will against the irresistible pull of nature itself."

"Sir, I do have a question now, actually," says Brelyna. "I thought human kingdoms didn't permit necromancy? I was surprised by you bringing it up."