Tauria wasn't in the dining hall during the attack, a fact both me and Laelia are happy for, so we go searching her from other places she might be. It turns out to be surprisingly easy, because he happen to run into her in the hallway on our way to her room. She's sitting on a bench in a corner and reading a book. She looks up when she hears our footsteps approaching. Her face brightens when she sees us and she stands up.
"Hey!" she says happily to me and hugs me carefully, "You're back already."
I have a hard time being as happy about being back as she is, since I know I can't help her now. I didn't find the scales, I didn't find help for her. She can see it on my face and the smile fades off hers.
"What is it?" she asks.
"I'm back already, because I didn't find the scales," I say grimly and pause, trying to figure out what to tell her, "Something came up on the road and I had to turn back before I got far enough to find any. And I couldn't get my hands on any on the way back either."
She seems thoughtful about that for a moment.
"I think that's ok," she finally says.
"Its not ok," I say, "I left so I could help you, so you could get your life back. And I returned with nothing."
"It's ok," she repeats, "I'd like to remember, of course. But I think I'm fine not remembering too. I can always get to know everyone again. And everyone's been so nice to be about it. It's confusing, but I think I'm used to it by now, not really remembering anyone. And I guess it's a little like... because I don't remember anyone, I don't remember I should feel bad for not remembering anyone. If that makes sense."
It does make sense in a certain way, but I still stare at her for a moment, not sure what to say.
"And I know I have close friends, who care. That makes a big difference," she adds, "I'm happy you're back, even if you didn't find anything that might help with the memory."
I hug her again, and this time she's more sure about it too.
"So how have you been?" I ask as we sit down on the bench she was sitting on.
"Well, you've only been gone for a week," she says, thinking, "Not all that much has changed."
I glance at Laelia, and she returns my gaze.
"I mean, some weird stuff has been going on," Tauria continues, "But mostly I've just been trying to catch up with the studies I missed when I was in the hospital. A lot of time in the library," she pauses, thinking, "Though there's been an odd feeling in the library too. I don't know what that's all about. Or maybe it's me imagining, not exactly remembering the places properly."
I look at Laelia. She shrugs. Apparently she doesn't know anything about what's been going on in the library either, if anything. Though it seems unlikely she doesn't remember places, since what ever Arren used to poison her did only affect her memory of people. Something might well have been going on there. We'll need to look into it later.
"What are you studying now?" I ask, turning to look at the book Tauria put down on the bench when she got up.
"Oh," she says, like she had already forgotten she was reading something, "It's for the anomalogy class. We have to do presentations in the end of term about insects. So I chose to do one about bees."
"Bees?" I ask, picking up the book.
"Yes, they're quite intelligent creatures actually," Tauria tells me, "Or, well, maybe not intelligent as themselves, but their social system is pretty smart. It's simple, and everything works, and everyone takes care of everyone else."
I nod. That does sound like a good way to live.
"Except for the drones," she adds, "But their only job is to fertilise the queen. And after that they're free to do what ever they please and not be bound to the society," she puts on a thoughtful face again, "Which I guess isn't all too good if you're a bee."
I turn the book around and give the back cover a brief look before handing the book back to Tauria.
"The bees are really quite invaluable to the society, you know. They're the ones who work so hard and are really the reason the world works at all, and they're hardly noticed for their effort," she muses.
We sit quietly for a moment, just enjoying being back together.
"You know, there's someone else I need to go find too now that I'm back. My swords partner, I'm not sure you've met him? Oz?" I tell Tauria and stand up. Laelia stands up too.
"Oz? Yeah, I did meet him. Also after lost my memory," she says, "He's really nice."
"Why did you meet him after?" I ask.
"He came to see me in the hospital," she says, like it's obvious, "He's a friend.. Apparently."
I blink in confusion, but then realise that even though I didn't think Oz would have a reason to go visit Tauria in the hospital, judging from Omega's letters he might, and since they're the same person... I sigh in my head.
"Sure," I say, "Have you seen him?"
"I think we were in the same history class earlier today, with the mess in the classes not that professor Cole isn't around... But no, not since then," she says, regret in her voice, even though I hadn't expected her to know, "But I can come find him with you if you like," she adds more brightly.
So we head off. Finding Oz turns out to be a lot more difficult than finding Tauria. What makes it more difficult is that we don't really know him, so it's impossible to know where he would usually be. We go check the blown-up dining hall, but there's obviously no one there. He's also not in the library, and we can't find him outside anywhere, though that doesn't really mean he's not there. Finally we by chance walk past the stables and Tauria asks the stable workers if they've seen him. They tell he left in a group, and they took some horses. But that they really seemed like they'd be back soon. So we go and sit and wait where we know they'll walk past once they, whoever exactly they are, get back to the campus.
Finally their party arrives and heads towards the entrance we're sitting next to. I stand up I'm surprised to see professor Cole among them. There's also a woman I don't recognise. They notice us too once they get a little closer.
"Knute, my boy! When did you get back?" Oz shouts at me as they arrive. He stops in front of me and smiles a wide smile. I cross my arms in annoyance. "I told you to stop calling me 'my boy', it's still patronizing," I say. He stares at me for a moment, clearly not having any idea what I'm talking about. Then realisation spreads across his face. "Oohhh. You, uh, you guys go ahead," he shoos the others that came along with him inside. "I get the feeling we're going to be having a long conversation." His sidekicks remain, but the others walk inside after eyeing each other for a moment, confused. "So!" he says, a little too brightly, considering the situation, "You know."
"Yeah. I do," I say, rising an eyebrow to him.
"Wasn’t especially difficult to figure it out," Laelia adds. Oz turns to her.
"Oh, so it was you, was it? Do tell, how exactly did you figure it out?" he asks, curious. Laelia lets out a small humph.
"Please," she says and waves the question away.
"Not important anyway. Why didn’t you tell me who you are? All those times in practise, and," I pause. I'm not sure what I'm asking. "And nothing? I can’t see why you would’ve had to hide it."
"Well, it might be hard to understand, but… I have a reputation," Oz explains.
"Yeah, nobles’ sons usually do. Even if they didn’t have a reputation of their own," I say, not impressed by his answer.
"No, no no, that’s not what I meant!" he rushes in to say, "I mean, I have a reputation of this… kind of annoying know-it-all wannabe detective. And I didn’t want people to judge you because of it. But I really needed your help. Or.. wanted… Now I really do need it."
Oh, he needs my help now? That seems to be becoming a trend. I exchange a look with Laelia. She rises an eyebrow to me slightly.
"Has something other than Arren attacking the dining hall happened that I don’t know about?" I ask, feeling like I'm missing something, "Laelia did fill me in pretty good."
"I assume you know about his secret meeting then," Oz says and tries to continue, but Laelia cuts him off.
"About that. You were there, right?" she asks.
"Yes, of course," he answers after a pause, "And if you were too, I suppose that means you have magic."
"You were there and you don’t have magic," Laelia points out, her voice sharp. She clearly doesn't like other people trying to analyse her. Especially if they do it well.
"No, but I had someone who does translate the poster," Oz says, "I know it could only be read if you have magic."
"You don’t know who I might know-" Laelia begins to argue, but I don't want the conversation to lapse into a useless argument.
"Guys. This isn’t productive," I say, shutting Laelia up. We need to know more. I turn back to Oz, "What don’t we know?"
"Okay, let’s see…" Oz says, thinking, "We know what his goal is, freeing magic, and we know he’s planning something and soon, though we don’t know what it is… We now know who he really is- wait, how did you know his real name?"
I hesitate. I don't know how much to tell him. Then again, we're wanting to know everything they know, so I suppose we should give them something back.
"He kind of tracked me down on the road and asked for my help," I say, settling for a half-truth.
"On the road? What was he doing on the road?" Oz asks, clearly talking more to himself than anyone else in particular, "Does that mean he was the one in Aldhill?"
"This was north from Aldhill," I tell him, "A couple of days north from Aldhill, actually."
"That’s… weird. I wonder what he was doing so north," Oz says, a wondering look on his face.
I shrug. Looking for me so he can have a one-on-one chat without the fear of getting caught?
"By the way, why were you just coming back with Cole?" Laelia changes the subject, "How did you get him out of prison? And what were you doing with them anyway?"
"I know more about what’s going on than anyone," he says, seeming a little surprised to have to explain himself, "I thought you knew, I’ve been investigating this thing since I started here. And right now things are getting serious, so we need all the backup we can get. Chief Wismuth was kind enough to let Cole out, once he realised he was way out of his depth."
"Yeah, you said you were investigating," I say a little irritated for the reminder of the mysterious letters, "That doesn’t explain why the teachers would come to you or even know you might be useful to come talk to. Also, what makes you think you’re not out of your depth?"
"Arrogance, mostly," Oz grins, "And I am out of my depth."
"Well, at least he knows it himself," Laelia mutters next to me.
"But I’m not alone," Oz continues, obviously not having heard Laelia. "If we want to have any chance at all to get through this everyone needs to do what they can."
"I’m sorry, and what exactly is it you can do?" Laelia asks, sounding, again unimpressed and suspicious, "I’d get the I-know-everything angle, but it seems to me someone knows everything you know by now."
"Perhaps," Oz admits, "But I know how to read people. And that is something of a vital skill in the situation."
"And what is it they can do?" Laelia asks, nodding towards Oz's friends, "Other than spread rumours about our professor. That was you, right? There are some great ones in the mix there."
"Thank you, darling, I do take great pride in my work," Alicia says.
"Gil and Alica are my heart and my soul," Oz says. Laelia rolls her eyes discreetly, "I trust them completely to have my back, whatever the situation may be."
"I think Gil was actually the one who punched Arren in the face back in the hall…" I say, thinking back. Laelia looks surprised at that.
"Someone punched him in the face? How did I miss this?" she asks, sounding sincerely disappointed that she didn't see it.
"Hell, yeah I did!" Gil speaks for the first time during the conversation, "If that prick thinks he can threaten my Oz and not have to face consequences he’s got another thing coming!" Oz pats him on the shoulder, "We might not have magic, but we will do absolutely whatever is necessary to help put a stop to this."
"I guess you’re not completely useless then," Laelia shrugs. For a moment Gil looks like he might be offended, but then he's distracted.
"Uh, if I could interrupt," comes a voice from behind us. Everyone turns to look at Tauria, who has been quiet for all this time. She steps forward shyly, "I’m not entirely sure what is happening, because apparently I’m the only one who hasn’t been told much. Maybe it’s because I just forgot everything about my life, or you just think I’m no use in all this. The reasons don’t matter. What matters is that it seems to me we’re not going to get anything sensible done like this," I nod. I was thinking the same, "So if we want to stop this crazy person terrorizing the Academia, we might want to stop arguing about who’s useful and who’s not, and instead make some kind of a plan?"
"I do love good plans, "Oz smiles, "The problem is, we don’t know, yet, what Viper’s plan is. We do know it’s big and it’s coming soon, and it’s likely to be on a national scale… However, we can’t work out any details until we find more about that. I’m on my way to the principal, actually, to see if he heard Viper talk about something before the whole being taken hostage thing."
I think about it for a moment. We need something that tells us something new about Arren. Something that might be useful.
"Would it be any help if we knew what he looks under that mask?" I say, uncertain, "I guess it’s easier to find a person if you know what the person looks like. Assuming we want to find him. I could go find him, and tell him I’ve reconsidered his words, and that I’d like to join him, and maybe that’s a start for a plan?"
"Don’t be an idiot. It’s not like he’s going to believe you," Laelia says.
"I really doubt that would help in this situation…" Gil adds, "He seemed pretty convinced he was going to do everything alone."
"And we do already know what he looks like, we did find out who he really is..." Oz points out.
"How did you do that anyway?" I ask curiously.
"Turns out there was someone who had known it for a while," Oz admits, "Percy Masters, one of the librarians, knew him before this whole mess started."
Percy? The quiet booky curly-head who seems to be in the library every single time I go there?
"Huh. Wouldn’t have guessed," I say, then shrug the surprise away, "Anyway. Could we come to talk with the principle with you? It seems smart to get everyone somehow involved in the same place to talk?"
"Makes sense to me. The more, the merrier!" Alica says brightly.
So we all start towards the medical wing. I'm only able to take a couple of apparently too-fast steps before the dizziness hits. My ears star buzzing and I have to lean heavily on the wall next to me to keep steady and lean over. A second later I feel someone's hand on my back.
"Knute?" a voice comes through the dizzying hum in my ear. I still recognise it. Tauria.
"What’s wrong? What’s happening?" the voices seem to be coming from far away. I bent over further and throw up. Someone yelps.
"Arren happened," as muffled as Laelia's voice is, I can still vaguely hear the irritation and anger in her voice, "He has a concussion, and then he’s been riding all the way from Aldhill and running around the Academia all day and having to watch an idiot blow up part of the dining hall today."
The dizziness and nausea hit even stronger. I'm vaguely aware someone says something about the hospital wing. I almost fall over and slide down the wall, my eyes closed. My head is spinning even on the ground. Someone lifts my arm and tries to pick me up from the ground from one side. A moment later someone else lifts me off the ground and then we're moving. Everything goes black behind my eyelids.
_______________________________________________________
You already knew how this ends, so I guess most of it wasn't too exciting for you. But I hope all the other person reading this likes the thickening plot. I have no idea how I'm going to get Knute well enough in time to do something useful in the end. Or maybe I won't, and he'll have to push through with what ever he's needed for next time with a not-so-well-working head.
For a moment I thought I should probably write a little further, but then I realised I can't really until I know what they talk with the principle.
Ohgod, I only have one more piece left. I'm seriously not sure this is going to end in time.
Either way. Your next topic is Trouble.
I will end this part with your words:
TUNE IN NEXT TIME TO FIND OUT THE THRILLING CONCLUSION TO KNUTE’S SUDDEN BLACKOUT AND THE REAL REASON GIL IS SO BUFF!!
~matu
PS. I have no idea why the text is tiny. If you know how to fix that, could you?
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