Amy's return resulted in extreme fanfare. Everyone who knows her at school have reacted wildly to the point that her social manners and energy have worn out very quickly despite her early excitement. There are so many questions about her trip, primarily ones where souvenirs and stories are involved, most of this she hid of course.
After that day at the palace, Alabaster is busy making preparations for his expedition and repairs/upgrades to the ship so that they can go retrieve another one of the demon weapons. She will not see him for a while in the meantime. Boris is awfully busy too, so they won't be able to communicate much this year if at all.
As for Amy herself, she is not taking many classes this year compared to other fifth years, so she has much more free time.
Finally in her room during a free period, she carefully starts carving tiny runes on a scale-shaped piece of metal through a magnifying glass. They are barely noticeable to see with the naked eye.
She prepared the metal back in Arcus, handed it to the elves and started carving it with a special pen and change it to a different one when working on a separate rune. She repeated this same action over multiple pieces of shaped metals countless times and she is still not finished. It will probably take her a couple more months to a year to finish so she intends to use as much time as she can making these.
"What's this?" the boy said eagerly, nearly breaking her concentration.
Amy stifled a groan and stared at Rufus and Leon who are going through her things. Leon excitedly pulled out a black lacquer box with mother-of-pearl inlay.
"It's called a Raden." she replied after turning her attention back to her work. "Be careful with that. I made it during my visit to the Shila Island. If you break that then I will have to remake it and I promise you that you will not get any favors from me anymore." she warned.
Leon held back a mock retort but can see how serious she is.
"Your craftsmanship has improved a lot." Rufus says with admiration then turn his attention to her, "What are you making anyway?"
Without looking, she replied, "It's something for myself."
"Yeah, but what is it?" he exasperated.
"It's a secret." she replied flatly.
Leon dramatically groaned before returning to the pile, "Why did you call us here? I know you didn't call for me just to show off your stuff." He says while still rummaging for items.
"Actually, I asked for Leon, not Rufus." She said after putting the finishing touches on the scale.
"Oooh, secrets~" Leon gleefully says.
"Whatever," she irritably comments, "I guess it wouldn't hurt for him to hear anyway," She cleans up her area while speaking, "What exactly do you know about your father, the King?"
Leon's nonchalant look began to twitch which didn't go unnoticed. Rufus on the other hand, seems unconcerned.
"Well, he's a quiet son of a bitch." he commented with his hands behind his head while lying on the ground.
Ignoring the fact that he called the King that, she listened without reprimand.
"He does everything on a whim and doesn't keep a consistent schedule at all. He stays in his own little world and doesn't even go out much from what I can remember." he says "You already know that my parents don't go along especially after killing his deposed queen, who I heard is a nice lady by the staff."
Amy didn't think much of the history. All she knew is that the previous queen is a villain made in her family's making after becoming the most venerable woman in Solin. No one alive after her era knows much about her, not even her name, because of a taboo that state that no one talks about her.
"I never question it. Royal families are all like this. They either want to kill each other or they just want to undermine everyone else." He says then his lifts his head to the desk, "Why do you want to know?"
Amy puts away the equipment, "I met your father before I came back here. He told me that he is a mind reader."
Leon didn't seem surprised to hear that. "Mother told me he summoned you. I could see he wants to recruit you. This is usually his tactic to gain close allies."
Amy shook her head calmly, "Royals are supposed to keep their abilities a secret from the public for their own safety so I understand why you didn't tell us. But I didn't take account of the King feeling threatened."
"Threatened?" Leon scoffed in disbelief, "He's King. No one can threaten him. Not even me."
Amy heard him speak very little about his father and while the comments aren't negative, they aren't positive either. The was no indication of Leon's relationship or feeling towards his parents in the story since they weren't alive, but he was a lonely kid that grew up with the power and the responsibility that comes with it. He didn't ask for it, but he is probably the best example of a person making best of his situation.
"He has no interest in politics, and he has little to no opposition. Why would he be threatened?" Rufus asked.
"Could be because of the Seers. Old man is superstitious."
Amy stared at the blank scales. To be honest, Solin goes through a series of disasters in the future. As King, Seers are required by law to relay the news to the King first before any other person and keep every prophecy confidential if commanded. That has to be the only explanation. Leon never trusted the sages when he was King except Saoirse and her prophecies while not visible clear, she is quick to understand them by context and solve them hence her prophecies are considered accurate.
"Is there a prophecy that made him feel this way?"
Both boys stared at her. "Those old men tell a bunch of bullshit prophecies of disasters. None of them came true of course."
Amy glared at Leon's nonchalance after so many things have happened.
Noticing that look, Leon laughed, "Don't give me that look. None of them had any solutions or have actually done anything about it. We solved our own problems after all. I mean, face it. Those guys are the most useless people in the world. You agree, don't you?"
Rufus expressed his agreement and even Amy can't help but smirk. "The feeling is mutual."