Chapter 21 – Office Hours

  Olivia

  Olivia decided she really liked Woodpine University’s campus. It made her feel smart just being here! The belltower, the big buildings, all the arcanists holding fancy books; it was lovely, the kind of thing her mother might have pushed her towards if she knew about it. She climbed a hill on the eastern edge of campus toward Davin Manse, where a passing arcanist told her Jezza would be. Her belt-pouch hung heavy with the vial of magister’s ink – she’d decided it would make a good gift in exchange for the gnome’s help.

  The building at the top of the hill was a manor with four floors and faced west, looking over the campus. Like the other buildings, it had a sandy-stone fa?ade and a blue roof. Some of its myriad windows flickered with exotic colors of light, while others were opened to allow sun for the plants on their sills. There weren’t any arcanists up this way, but as she neared the front doors, they opened to reveal a bespectacled, grey-furred wolf-folk speaking with a human woman. Upon seeing Olivia, they stopped, giving her confused looks.

  “Hi sorry,” Olivia said, pushing down nerves. “Is uh, Miss Jezza here? I’m supposed to meet with her.”

  “Hmm,” the wolf-folk had such a stately voice. “We’re technically supposed to be wary of letting non-university folks into buildings, especially as Magister Jezza is having office hours – might I ask what this is about?”

  “My armor’s cursed,” Olivia blurted, “I can’t take it off.”

  “Oh, well I can just-” the wolf-folk reached for a wand tucked in his belt, but Olivia shook her head.

  “It’s fae,” Olivia added.

  The pair fixed her with deeply sympathetic looks now.

  “Third floor, toward the end of the west wing,” the wolf-folk responded, using his paw to guide her eyes to the western stairs climbing up from the main hall.

  Olivia thanked them and followed the stairs up, enjoying the nice portraits hung all along the way. There were also planters! And the rug was perfectly clean, too. Most of all, it was quiet. It felt like she was ruining the peace just by being here all armored up. Reaching the third floor, she traced the hall, passing doors that bore nameplates and other parchments stuck to their surfaces. She went to the end, finally stopping at a decorated door with a nameplate stating: Magister Jezza Belle-Birdsong-Puddlegum, Evoker.

  A crumpled piece of parchment was stuck next to the nameplate, reading evocationist in purple ink with loopy handwriting, and please stop covering your title in refined handwriting with black ink. There were also all kinds of drawings, pieces of numberwork, and poetry on the door, each one signed by a different arcanist. Many of the drawings seemed to depict someone interacting with the sunny-haired, friendly eyed gnome; and contained messages of gratitude.

  Thinking about fireballs, one of them read, beneath a lovingly-drawn depiction of Jezza looking pensive.

  Another one, much more primitive, showed the gnome surrounded by an outline of – was that a potato?

  Wow.

  It was possible to be this liked without being a famous adventurer?

  Olivia raised her paw to knock, but she heard a familiar gnomish voice down the hall. Jezza approached, dressed in a layered blue-purple robe and walking alongside another gnomish girl in an arcanist’s light-blue robe. Above Jezza, translucent, disembodied gloves carried a plate of food and pitcher, lazily following her as she made animated hand gestures toward the other gnome. Neither noticed Olivia as they drew near.

  “And, Varla,” Jezza told the other gnome, “it’s not like it’s carved into stone. If you aren’t liking the advanced evocation classes, it’s not hard to switch declarations over to transmutation.”

  “I know,” Varla responded, “I think I just wish all of evocation was like your classes.”

  Jezza looked a little touched by this, and replied: “well, progress on establishing the evocationist style is – uh – I think it’ll be a while until anyone considers it different from being an evoker. But if you wanna call yourself that- oh!”

  Jezza and Varla caught sight of Olivia. They both stopped and squeaked: “kitty!”

  Their combined friendly tones sent a nice flutter down Olivia’s chest, her anxiety disappearing for once.

  “Hello,” Olivia said, “I’m-”

  “Olivia!” Jezza interrupted, giving Olivia a wave before glancing at Varla. “Alright Varla, did that help?”

  Varla nodded with enthusiasm, thanking the professor before leaving back down the hallway. Once they were alone – save for the mage hands bearing food – Jezza opened her office door.

  “Welcome to the gnome zone, cat-friendly!” Jezza chimed.

  The cozy space was every bit what Olivia imagined a wizard’s room would look like. On the shelves built into the walls sat vial after vial of multicolored liquids, along with rolled scrolls and complex crystal formations. Paintings hung between the shelves; some had abstract geometric designs, others depicted pink-purple landscapes. Over the short-legged desk on the left side of the room hung a painting that stood out: a depiction of a prowling lioness with a faint moving shimmer around her neck suggesting a mane. To the right, on the far wall, another doorway led to a second room, where Olivia saw the foot of a bed.

  “Wow, they let you have a bed?” Olivia marveled, moving inside to the aroma of tasteful incense. The door gently closed itself, and the mage hands settled the food on Jezza’s desk, disappearing. The gnome stood next to her, snickering at her reaction.

  “Well, sure,” Jezza said. “Teachers live at school, right?”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that,” Olivia remarked. Then: “wait, one of my common school teachers laughed at me when I asked that!”

  “Ah, things are a little different at this level,” Jezza explained. “More of a lifestyle than a job, really. At least for me. But – let’s have a look at your armor, yeah?”

  Jezza picked up a lens off her desk like the one Syna had used, then paused.

  “Hey, you mind if I just use my third to save mana?” Jezza asked. “I promise I don’t mean anything weird with it.”

  Olivia reacted with an awkward sound. She knew gnomes had a third eye. She also knew it was considered a private part, though in what way she had no idea. Seeing the hesitation, Jezza added: “what you probably didn’t know about a gnome’s third is that it can see octarine naturally. These leyscopes need mana burn to emulate that.”

  Olivia made a surprised utterance at that information, then nodded. Jezza set the scope back down and cast her gaze on Olivia’s armor, brushing her sunny bangs back. Suddenly, the professor’s warmth vanished, replaced with a frankly scary kind of focus.

  Jezza’s forehead split apart horizontally between her eyes, then folded upward to reveal a third sky-blue eye with a star for a pupil.

  Guh, yeah, that looked weird, the three-eyed gnome staring at her like that. Especially since the third eye blinked a different rhythm than her other two, and every time it did so, the number of points on the pupil’s star changed. Still, it wasn’t like, bad – just a little unnerving and intense, more from the sudden seriousness than anything. Jezza closed it back, her forehead smoothing and fully hiding its presence once more.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Pff,” Jezza snorted. Her warmth instantly returned, a cheeky smirk came.

  “What?” Olivia asked, cheeks reddening.

  “That’s Ivy’s alright,” Jezza said. “Does she talk to you?”

  Now the cat-folk truly blushed.

  “Yeah, we – she, uh,” Olivia trailed off, put her fingers together, and looked away.

  “Nice,” Jezza elbowed her hip playfully.

  Heck. Olivia became so interested in this rug she was standing on.

  After a laugh, Jezza added: “hey, you’re in good company! I had one from her too, only cleared it a few months back actually.”

  Olivia’s rising embarrassment turned to curiousity.

  “Really?” Olivia asked. “What was yours?”

  “Erm,” Jezza cleared her throat, and it was the gnome’s turn to blush. “I hope we wind up friends; I might tell you! Anyway – the hardest part of clearing it was figuring out the right weavework to unveil the conditions plainly. Which means, since I am here in a state of having figured it out, the hard part’s done! So, can I cast it on you?”

  Olivia clapped her paws together in earnest, joy and relief flooding her senses.

  “Please, yes!” Olivia cried.

  Jezza brought Olivia to the center of the office before collecting a wooden staff from a low-hung wall display and holding it in a readied position. There were several moments of the gnome’s silence, where she mouthed words to herself and occasionally peeked her third open. Then, she nodded confidently.

  “Okay, just stay calm,” Jezza said. “Ivy’s probably gonna come out. Don’t worry, it’s part of it.”

  Olivia suddenly felt a spike of nerves. She was getting the sense that whatever Jezza was about to do was very hard.

  “Won’t she be mad?” Olivia gulped.

  “Furious,” Jezza confirmed, “please, quiet though.”

  Oh, Olivia did not like the sound of that.

  “Faerum!” Jezza suddenly spoke with multiplied conviction. A pale light cast down above Olivia, now, bathing a tight circle of light around her. She glanced around, trying to stay calm as Jezza incanted the strange language of runes. This was loud, extremely jarring – Olivia’s ears flattened. The gnome then rose her staff higher and spoke another heavy phrase, and this one caused her armor to rattle once on her body. Ivy shot forth, redder than pink, and collided with the border of the pale light, bouncing backward as though it were solid.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Ivy sighed, hovering dejectedly in the air. “Is this jealousy, gnome? Hm? This kitten is much more fun than you.”

  Jezza, no longer working the weave, relaxed and looked at the angry sprite with a haughty expression.

  “I don’t believe you,” Jezza stuck her tongue out. “She doesn’t look like she could hold her own in a counterspell clash against you.”

  “That was – you took me by surprise, and you still lost it, if you remember,” Ivy grumbled. “Meanwhile, Olivia here is a perfectly well-behaved kitten already!”

  Olivia felt like sinking into the office floor. The conversation reminded her of hearing her parents talk about her to other people. She didn’t know what to say, but she needed to say something, so she meowed politely.

  “Ahem, sorry Olivia,” Jezza said. “Right – you know this works, Ivy. Gotta tell us.”

  The sprite extended her middle finger at Jezza, then sighed dramatically and crossed her arms.

  “This kitten needs to successfully complete an adventure,” Ivy pouted. “No participation certificate just for attempting. No surviving but failing the objective. She just has to get one done right.”

  The bottom fell from Olivia’s stomach.

  “That’s not fair!” Olivia cried before she could stop herself. “I quit trying to do field work! You scared me too much!”

  “That just means it’s a great curse,” Ivy looked down at her with an amused grin. “I’ll be with you as long as you’re a scaredy-cat!”

  Jezza tapped her staff on the floor to quiet them both.

  “Does it have to be an official adventure?” Jezza asked.

  “How much d’you think the fae care about your paperwork?” Ivy said with annoyance. “No, the contract is perfectly fair, we’ll use our own eyes to perceive the task.”

  Olivia shuffled in place, trying to subdue the feeling of doom. This caused the sprite to hover down and scratch her ears, which felt frustratingly nice.

  “Don’t let this wicked gnome ruin things,” Ivy cooed. “You should ask Jezza how fulfilling I can be.”

  “I wanna clean my fur again,” Olivia stammered, her heart fluttering unexpectedly.

  Jezza frowned and said: “okay go away now, terminatum.”

  All at once, the pale light vanished back into the armor, taking the sprite with it and leaving the pair alone. There were several moments where Jezza leaned on her staff, suddenly looking exhausted; and Olivia hugged herself, feeling overwhelmed. Finally, Jezza stood upright again, her usual warmth returning.

  “Well, that’s a simple one, um,” Jezza sounded sympathetic. “If you don’t want to do that, though, a pandispellus stone can break a fae curse too. I couldn’t get one from Aoife, so you’d have to check arcaneries.”

  Olivia frowned.

  “They sound rare,” Olivia said, “so, expensive.”

  Jezza’s confident gaze, somehow, kept Olivia from feeling truly out of luck.

  “So go to one of the seedy ones a few roads down from market,” Jezza offered. “Stolen stones still work and are a lot cheaper than ones honestly come by. You might even be able to work out a deal where you trade the armor for using up the stone; that’s called a win-win for someone holding hot property.”

  Wow. What in the world was this professor?

  “That’s a great idea,” Olivia said. “Thank you so much!”

  “No problem!” Jezza smiled, rightfully looking proud of herself. “Did you wanna talk about anything else?”

  “No, I-oh right,” Olivia mumbled, reaching into her belt-pouch to take out the vial of ink. She showed it to Jezza.

  “Here, I got this for you,” Olivia offered, “for helping me!”

  Jezza looked both amused and touched, she immediately said: “thank you so much!” Olivia lowered herself to hand it to the professor, who took it to the cabinet under the lioness painting. Jezza opened the cabinet to reveal an entire shelf of full vials exactly like it, dutifully adding it.

  “Erm, sorry, I thought it was rare,” Olivia felt foolish.

  “Rare when there aren’t wizards around,” Jezza said, “I feel kinda bad just taking it, um – hey, how about this?”

  The gnome opened another cabinet, its shelves laden with trail food. She rifled through it, then pulled out a thick salami wrapped in fancy wax.

  “Cats can have this, right?” Jezza motioned with the salami.

  Olivia felt her mouth water despite herself, joined with a hunger pang. She’d skipped lunch for this.

  “Yeah, oh, and it’s Bavolian,” Olivia said. “My dad would always give me a little after ballet, as a treat.”

  “Well then, here,” Jezza offered her the salami. The cat-folk didn’t argue, instead settling it into her pouch. This magister was so damn nice! Olivia felt like lingering a moment. Her eyes went to the painting of the lioness with her shimmering pseudo-mane.

  “Is that a special painting?” Olivia asked. Jezza turned to regard her painting with a wistful gaze.

  “That’s Silvermane,” Jezza said, “can you see her mane?”

  Olivia neither knew of Silvermane, or how to answer the question simply.

  “I see – shimmers?” Olivia hoped that was enough.

  “Mhm, now look at it through the leyscope,” Jezza said.

  Olivia picked it up and looked at the painting again, now seeing it in shades of gray. Still nothing special, though the shimmers were gone.

  “Still no mane,” Olivia reported.

  “Scope’s coming on,” Jezza responded. The gnome pointed at the scope, and Olivia felt it vibrate lightly, humming with energy.

  Then, the most resplendent mane of octarine came into being around the lioness’s proud features. Each ephemeral tuft moved with that rainbow light color, swaying in unfelt wind. The lioness’s tail also gathered this aura, and her fur had taken on a luminous silver quality. It was gorgeous in a way she’d never seen before.

  “Who is Silvermane?” Olivia asked, happy to stare at the display.

  “She hunts me, I hunt her, we hunt together,” Jezza said, sounding suddenly mystical. “We’re playing, but we take it seriously anyway. We prowl for answers to our questions, seek new territories of thought, stalk ideas until the time is right to pounce.”

  The cat-folk felt a certain kind of power in herself, as Jezza spoke. She lowered the scope, taking it in.

  “Of course,” Jezza said, losing the wistfulness. “Silvermane’s just my long-running metaphor for Mistral, the goddess of the weave. I write poetry about her sometimes, and a friend in the fine arts department decided to commission that painting for me one year.”

  Olivia wished she had a better question to ask than: “are there lionesses with manes?”

  “Yes,” Jezza chuckled. “That’s part of it too. I saw one myself during my travels, freed her from a Bavolian circus. Wasn’t magic or anything, she just had one, and there must be others too if that’s the case. If something doesn’t fit the model, the model must be updated. Really heady stuff. It’s where I got the idea for Silvermane, though.”

  “That’s so cool,” Olivia marveled. This gnome freed a kin animal from captivity and did all that about it? She had to gush: “no wonder everyone likes you so much! You don’t have to be a famous kind of adventurer!”

  Jezza looked stunned, then highly bashful. She looked away, even started mumbling: “erm, I’m just a teacher – uh, hah, thank you.”

  Olivia wondered why the gnome looked like she was struggling to believe that.

  “I mean, just look at your door!” Olivia chimed. “They like you! I like you a whole lot, I kind of want to just find reasons to hang out around here! You’re way too cool to be acting like me.”

  Jezza straightened back up and said: “you wanna come back? There’s lots of places around campus where folks can just come and chatter. You might even see me around!”

  “I will!” Olivia said. “Thanks again, miss Jezz-magister Jezza! I’ll let you get back to your food.”

  The gnome laughed and said: “please, just Jezza. And stop tensing up so much when you misspeak! It calls attention to it. You said you did ballet – think about your poise!”

  Olivia nodded, smiled, and hurried to leave, perhaps a certain new daintiness to her step. Lunch could wait; she was going to get this armor off now. The seedy arcaneries off market, was it?

  “I’m always thinking about my paws!” Olivia called, well on her way to an unarmored afternoon.