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Not allowed! A contravention of the rules! Our institution does not allow— At that point, the Leveilleur twins stopped listening. Their professors were scolding them for challenging their classmates in a duel. Alisaie was almost certain that duels weren’t banned in the rule books, but could guess that from now on they explicitly would be. Alphinaud knew that what they had done was not very diplomatic of them, but their opponents had deserved it.
The crime? Insulting their grandfather.
Their grandfather who had died only a year ago. Who had saved Eorzea. Who had only ever wanted Sharlayan to use its knowledge for good and to help those they could yet save. Louisoix Leveilleur was an Archon and led his own organization; he deserved respect, and their classmates had been mean.
(They were only twelve, and sometimes they thought like normal twelve year olds. Whenever they did, it usually took people by surprise, which was frustrating for the twins.)
It started when one young man called Archon Louisoix a foolish man who had died foolishly.
“How dare you!” Alisaie squealed, banging a hand on her desk. “Our grandfather saved Sharlayan just as much as he did Eorzea, and you call him a fool!”
“I wouldn’t call it saved,” sneered a different person. “The Calamity still hit, did it not? Thousands of people lost their lives and Louisoix did nothing.”
“Many more at Carteneau and beyond would have died from the Calamity if our grandfather hadn’t called upon the Twelve,” Alphinaud insisted. “He left home to save our star from destruction!”
A third person sighed. “For how much of geniuses you two are, you’re just as stupid if you think anything out there has anything to do with us. Your grandfather died for nothing.”
In a fit of pique, the Leveilleur twins slammed their hands on their summoning tomes, calling forth carbuncles. “Fight us,” Alisaie growled, “and put your money where your mouth is!”
“Or are you too cowardly?” Alphinaud suggested, already preparing the order to attack.
That was when their professors caught them and they were restrained. Their parents were notified and then they received a lecture. “What do you have to say for yourselves?” demanded their teacher, apparently at the end of the lecture.
“Our grandfather died only a year ago!” Alisaie cried, and began sobbing into her hands. Now that they were in trouble, her anger had given way to her grief.
“They were insulting his memory, and we were defending it,” Alphinaud insisted, clutching his sister. “There is nothing in the rules stating we cannot use force to debate a point, only to be respectful and considerate of other opinions.” Not that their classmates had been very considerate when mocking their grandfather. To their faces, even! Had they no manners?
“Challenging a duel is very much against the rules, Master Leveilleur!” snapped one professor.
“I do not recall either of us challenging those three to a duel,” the boy replied neutrally.
“The words ‘fight us’ were said, with carbuncles in attack position,” said the other coolly. “You two are in trouble.”
A knock rang at the door, which then opened to reveal Lord and Lady Leveilleur. Both immediately rushed to their children, especially Alisaie who was still crying. “What happened? We were told you two started a fight!” exclaimed their father.
Alisaie buried her face in his chest. “Father! They insulted Grandfather and then they called us stupid!”
Their mother’s hand covered her mouth in shock. Then she turned to the professors and asked, smiling, “I see, so the perpetrators are being disciplined? After all, to needle grieving children is not the attitude a scholar should have.”
“They shall receive due punishment,” promised the first professor, much to Alphinaud’s surprise. He hadn’t expected their classmates to get so much as a scolding.
“Yes, but these two also need to understand that whipping out their carbuncles at the slightest provocation will have them removed from this institution,” warned the other.
Lord Fourchenault stared at them. “While I agree that they should not have done so, my son and daughter are still grieving their grandfather, and had their own intelligence attacked. I wouldn’t call that the ‘slightest provocation.’”
Lady Ameliance added, “Give them appropriate punishment for trying to use force, but understand it was out of grief. I hate to think how other parents would take the idea of punishing grieving.”
The other adults gulped and nodded. “That will be taken into consideration, of course.”
“Perhaps they should go home for the rest of the day, so you may grieve again as a family.”
“An excellent idea,” Lord Fourchenault agreed, and hurried the twins out of the office and back home.
Alphinaud and Alisaie were both comforted and scolded in turns by their parents. They were right to defend their grandfather’s name, and even throwing the gauntlet hadn’t been so bad, but losing their tempers like that wasn’t so good. Nearly attacking classmates before they could defend themselves was not something they should ever do. Once they were certain the message had been received, the Leveilleur parents then spent the rest of the evening sharing memories of Louisoix, so that their grief could become less painful and that one day, it wouldn’t hurt hardly at all to remember.
After that day, Alphinaud became utterly ruthless in debate, while Alisaie retreated even further away from their classmates, each deeply affected by the event.