"I- You-" Dryth slowly let out an aggravated breath. "You don't warn people that you're about to teleport them? Or that they might throw up at the end?"

  "No, of course not." The man waved his hand to brush off the thought. "Then they argue with me like they know better than I do." He waved a hand for Dryth to follow him as he stepped out the door. "I have to deal with enough people trying to tell me I'm wrong about things I know better than them when I'm called in for idiotic projects by the Association, I don't need it from people I' graciously inviting into my home." He looked over his shoulder at Dryth failing not to gape at him. "What?"

  "Who are you?"

  The man turned back with a frown. "You don't-? No, what am I saying, of course you don't. My apologies," He held out his hand, "I am Ewan Eohmen. Yes my name is fairly alliterative and yes it's fun. I'm a Contractor like yourself, although a much more experience one, obviously, and I'll be your mentor until you no longer need one. Pleasure to meet you, please call me Ewan."

  With his brain several steps behind Dryth's body was operating on the basic principles instilled into it, including being polite and shaking people's hands. "Ah.. Right. I'm Dryth of-"

  "Yes, yes! Dryth of some smaller homestead, town, or village in the area." Ewan interrupted him, "A wonderful place, I'm sure. Now that introductions are done, follow me, quickly now." He whipped around and started walking off.

  Dryth was fairly tall for a young man his age, at least here on this world, standing a decent five nine. The newly introduced Ewan was at least six three, had much longer legs, and was moving deceptively fast for how few steps he seemed to be taking. Dryth had to jog to keep up with him.

  "Good!" Ewan exclaimed when Dryth caught up. "We're on a tight schedule, so make sure you're paying attention. We'll waste time if I have to repeat things."

  "Why are we on a tight schedule?"

  "Because the faster we do things the faster I learn whether or not you're interesting!"

  Dryth stumbled and almost fell on his face. "What?"

  "Ewan ignored the stumble and kept leading Dryth through a long hallway with a plush carpet and impressive wooden trim along the walls. "I'm an impressive Contractor, you see, and I've gained quite a bit of power." He stopped at the first intersection where the hallway they were in intersected with another identical one and pivoted smoothly to the left. "That's increased my lifespan by a decent amount, and I've found myself an old man." He stopped at a closed door, opened it and stepped inside. When Dryth followed into the small, barely lit closet behind the door Ewan closed it, then promptly opened another one on the opposite side that hadn't been there a moment before. He grabbed Dryth by the arm and dragged him back into another identical hallway and started walking along. "Do you know the biggest problem with having a significantly longer lifespan than the rest of your species?" He glanced over his shoulder, his hand still holding Dryth's arm. He obviously expected an answer.

  Still off balance from the deluge of information and events hitting him Dryth didn't have a lot of brainpower to spare to answer inane sounding questions, but he did his best. "Watching your loved ones age and die?"

  "A good answer! And that's a part of it, but not the whole picture. The main problem with living far longer than you biologically should have is ennui." Ewan stuck out his tongue like he'd tasted something nasty. "Horrible business. Turns perfectly good people into depressed mopes. Nothing against the people that end up like that," He added, "But it's a waste whenever someone that could be living any kind of life and finding joy in it becomes despondent and pitiable." The carpeted hallway became cobbled stone floors that led to a spiral staircase going both directions. Ewan pulled Dryth down the stairs without ceasing speaking. "So I do my best to fight off any ennui and deal with anything that causes it. Each moment I live is a gift, and I refuse to waste perfectly good gifts. Now, what do you think is the best thing to avoid ennui?"

  Dryth was focusing more on making sure his feet landed safely on the blocky gray stone steps than he was on Ewan's chattering, but based on the pieces he was pulling from what the older man was saying he had a good idea of the answer. "Is it making sure you stay entertained?" He asked, with too much sarcasm in his voice to call them "traces".

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  Ewan turned to give him a small smile as they kept descending. "Close once again! But not quite. The answer is of course building and maintaining positive relationships. No thinking being is an island! Excepting of course the completely solitary beings that exist out there. That's why I actually pay attention when the Association sends me mentorship requests, because there might be someone worth actually taking on instead of solving their problems and leaving. A relationship between a mentor and their student is a worthy one, if built properly."

  "What happened to being bored all the time and only looking for interesting things to do?" Dryth managed to ask as they skidded to a stop on one of the many landings connected to the stairs.

  "Oh, I was embellishing things, for the most part." Ewan replied as he watched a large clock above an archway on the landing tick away, a satisfied grin on his face. "You can't trust a collection of mages and the like to not have someone listening in on you, no matter how benevolent they claim to be. Or actually are in many cases." The clock let out a small chime and Ewan's grip on Dryth's arm tightened. As soon as the chime ended the older mage was off again, dragging Dryth back up the stairs. "I am generally bored on a day-to-day basis and I am always looking for interesting things to entertain myself with, but I'm not nearly as bad off as I'd like the Association to think."

  "Why is that?"

  "Eh," He brushed the questions off with his free hand. "Not important right now. Now, like I just said I'm not as close to ending up in a downward spiral of boredom mixed with highs of trying to do something to alleviate the boredom, I do try and keep myself entertained. You, young man, have the delightful opportunity to both form a relationship with me as my student, but also to entertain me! Rejoice!" He pulled them off the stairs onto a landing they'd already passed on the way down, two floors up from where they'd paused. "And here we are!" Ewan pushed open the single door on the landing and pulled Dryth into the room beyond.

  The room looked surprisingly like the laboratory of a mage that Dryth's class had toured a few years ago, with a couple of desks sitting against one wall, a large chalkboard occupying the adjacent wall, and a large rack holding a variety of materials in different suspended containers. Unlike the laboratory he'd seen before, half the floor of this one was made up of a separate material, some kind of slate or equally smooth stone.

  "Welcome to your first laboratory, my new mentee! This is where we'll be doing your classroom learning and lab work during the early part of our new relationship." Ewan held his hands up like a stage magician making the grand reveal during his finale.

  Dryth stared at the room before slowly dragging his gaze over to Ewan. "What if I don't want you as my mentor?"

  "Well, I'd take you back to the Association and you'd have to hope you get anyone willing to spend time helping you deal with your issues, but you can tell me no if you want to." He dropped his hands and shrugged. "I can't see why you would though, I'm quite the resource and a good teacher to boot, if I do say so myself."

  "I think having a mentor who's main intention is for me to entertain them isn't a good idea."

  "Ah, no, you're wrong there!" Ewan raised a finger into the air and pointed upward dramatically. "My main intent actually goes right along with what you want. The most entertaining thing you can do is become wildly successful, so I'll be doing everything I can to make that happen!"

  "... I don't get it."

  "What's the most entertaining thing in the world?"

  "... Babies being cute?"

  "No! Well, that is up there but it isn't the answer I was looking for. The answer I was looking for is 'people living up to their potential'! Seeing people rise to the challenge of their existence and become amazing is the best thing to watch!" Ewan spun around, his smile reaching the very edges of his face and his eyes gleaming almost maniacally. "You are a wonderfully blank canvas with the potential to paint a glorious image on yourself, and I'm going to give you every tool possible to do that." He stopped smiling suddenly and coughed into a fist. "Or I'm willing to do that. Like I said, I won't force you into anything."

  Dryth stared at the man, doing his best to catch up to everything that was happening. The old, if he was older than he looked and was thinking about combating ennui then he had to be at least a hundred, mage was the most mercurial person Dryth had met in either of his lives and was likely some level of insane, but his stated goals did intersect neatly with what Dryth wanted.

  "If I say yes right now and change my mind later, will you let me leave?"

  "Of course." Ewan replied seriously. "I want to build and maintain healthy relationships, and people are much less interesting if they're painted with desperation or hatred or any of those other negative emotions that come with that kind of nonsense.'

  "Alright. I'll try you on and see if we fit, or if this is a terrible idea and I should run away."

  "Wonderful!" Ewan stepped forward, his hand out for a handshake of a different purpose than introduction, "According to my friends and other students I have had, under my tutelage you'll reach heights of success and achievement no other teacher or mentor could."

  "Well that sounds promi-"

  "Of course, if you believe them you'll also come to regret this many times and wish me bodily harm on the regular while planning numerous ways to get revenge on me. Bit of a mixed bag on reviews, but none of my students have ever died, or been left permanently injured so I don't know what they complain about."