Breakout the Cake

Zelnard had a small room he shared with Jabar. It had a window that looked directly out onto the vast Solean Sea; occasionally as on this moment he would spy a sea raptal launching itself from the rocks but as they were not common in Karaz it was a rare sight. “They are so free to do whatever they want” He said to Jabar who had been his roommate since he was brought to the Monastery some 5 years ago.”I wish I were that free, to swim all night, go where I please, eat what I want!” 

“You would have to catch something first”, Jabar reminded him. “Freedom means no food and maybe no bed.”

“Well at least I wouldn't have to have any more seaweed cheese,” Zelnard complained as he paced back and forth in his small, candlelit room within the Zouken Monastery, frustration bubbling just beneath the surface. It was his 11th birthday, and not a single cake or treat had been in sight for the last 10 years. The Mage elders, with all their wisdom, had somehow overlooked this most important of celebrations as they had done since, well he had never seen a celebration for a birthday as most of the boys of Zouken didn’t know when they were born.

“Can you believe it, Jabar?” Zelnard muttered to his best friend, who was lounging on the stained and thinly topped wooden bed, idly flipping through an ancient tome on water magic.

Jabar, ever the more relaxed of the two, smirked. “It’s a monastery, Z. I don’t think cake is high on their list of priorities.”

Zelnard’s fiery temper flared, but just as quickly, it simmered down into a mischievous grin. “Then let’s make it our priority. We’re sneaking out. The night markets in Crystal Quay are in full swing, and I bet we can find the best cake there!”

Jabar’s eyes lit up. “Now you’re talking! But we’ll have to be careful. If old Ferson finds out…”

Zelnard’s fiery temper flared, but just as quickly, it simmered down into a mischievous grin. “Then let’s make it our priority. We’re sneaking out. The night markets in Crystal Quay are in full swing, and I bet we can find the best cake there!”

Jabar’s eyes lit up. “Now you’re talking! But we’ll have to be careful. If old Ferson finds out…”

“They won’t,” Zelnard interrupted, his rebellious spirit fully awakened. “We’ll be back before dawn. Ferson won’t even know we were gone.” Just then without so much as a knock or by your leave Dunstor pushed open their wooden door which doesn’t latch “for your own protection”. 

“What’s this Jabby? Going somewhere?” Dunstor asked with a stare and a curled lip.

Why is Zelnard willing to risk sneaking out of the monastery for cake, and what does this reveal about his personality? Answer this in Thy Quests to move forward..

E10 Q1 Dunstor