I will admit, I found the process of following Geoffrey to their room distinctly uncomfortable. They were an archmage, and I had no idea what exactly they’d created. It wouldn’t be deliberately dangerous, Geoffrey and Xiu didn’t have it in them to hurt someone on purpose. But this was magic, it had every chance of going horrifically wrong without any active malice involved.
Still, we got there soon enough. And to my absolute shock, the room was mostly taken up by an absolutely massive dollhouse. Clearly one they’d built themselves from scratch, without any sort of kit.
After a few moments, I asked, “Is this what you wanted to show me?”
The kids nodded enthusiastically, “Yes misters Adley! But it’s the inside that’s coolest!”
Then they leaned down and opened the front door. Suddenly the both of them vanished into the dollhouse in a blur of motion. Oh, shit I need to go in and make sure they’re alright.
I followed suit, leaning down and…
The next thing I knew we were standing in the front room of a house. I looked back at the door, and it lead to a garden, rather than back to the school.
The worst-case scenario whirling through my mind, I turned to Geoffrey and asked, “Just to be clear, you have tested that you can leave this place, right?”
A little girl stepped out from behind Geoffrey. Ah, this must be Xiu.
“Yeah, the front gate to the garden lets you out to the hallway. But we don’t want to leave just yet, this is one of the only places we don’t have to be in the same body.”
I nodded. Most archmages had a private place they could split up for a bit and pursue their own individual hobbies. If figures that Geoffrey and Xiu would make one.
“Question, have you invited any of the other kids in here?”
Geoffrey answered, “Yes, but we couldn’t split up when they were watching for some reason. So we stopped letting them in so much.”
I couldn’t help but frown. That was definitely the non-disclosure agreement Geoffrey and Xiu had signed kicking in.
“Sad to say, but that’s our fault ultimately. We had you sign a magically binding non-disclosure agreement about revealing how archmages work for the safety of the world. The power we can wield isn’t the sort that should be easily acquired.”
Xiu frowned, “That doesn’t seem to have helped though? There’s still bad people around causing problems. I still remember when that vampire showed up.”
“You’re partially correct, Xiu. The thing is the sort of people who view hurting people to get their way as acceptable don’t stop. If they knew how to become an archmage they would do so in a moment, then use that power to hurt even more people then they already can. In fact they’d probably resort to mind-controlling their partners, just to get at that power without needing to cooperate.”
“If that knowledge got out any psychopath with a good grasp of Mancia could become a terrifyingly powerful villain, though still less powerful than an archmage with willing cooperation as the basis. It’s far better for the world that it stays a secret, even though it sucks for us archmages personally.”
Xiu’s frown said she clearly didn’t agree with me, but she didn’t actually say anything.
There were a few awkward minutes of silence, before Geoffrey asked a question.
“Want to see the garden? It’s one of our favorite parts of the whole thing.”
I smiled.
“I would very much enjoy seeing that, thank you.”
So the two children showed me through the door and lead me into a riotous space of green. These were plants I’d never seen before, and every last one of them was unique. The kids had definitely made these themselves.
As some fruit caught my eye, Geoffrey noted, “I managed to make sure the fruit was safe to eat with what I learned in Bionce class, but don’t eat any of the leaves or stems. I don’t know if they’re poison or not.”
Ah. Glad they’d thought that through.
I grabbed one of the softer looking fruits, and when I bit into it I discovered that it was basically a vanilla-flavored juice box with a pit floating inside. Much to the imagined dismay of my shirt as it was covered in sticky juice.
Geoffrey and Xiu’s giggling in the background only intensified the embarrassment. Still, the wide variety of fruit was both creative and interesting.
After a bit of fruit-tasting, I asked, “Would it be possible to persuade you to make another garden like this for the kitchen? It could do a lot to change up the menu.”
Xiu thought for a moment.
“Only if you do something to make being an archmage suck less. I’m a girl, that’s a boy body I’m stuck in outside of here. Being in there with Geoffrey is really uncomfortable, and making it worse all my friends back home think I’m dead!”
Oh. Hmmm.
After a moment, I noted, “I might be able to make some arrangements there. Geoffrey, are you at all willing to have your body altered?”
Geoffrey thought for a moment, “Kind of? I really don’t want to be a girl all the way, but I don’t think I need to be a boy all the way either?”
I nodded.
“Xiu, is that acceptable to you?”
Xiu took a while to think. “Probably. It’s certainly better than this.”
“Right, I’ll be right back. I just need to talk to someone.”
I exited the front gate of Blue’s pocket dimension, directly to the infirmary.
Franz suddenly snapped to attention. “Yes Adrian?”
I made sure no-one was listening in with a quick silencing spell, “Curiously, do you happen to know how archmages work already?”
Franz hesitantly nodded, “Yes actually. My great aunt Priscilla made a few while experimenting on the deeper workings of the mind.”
Figures.
“Right, Geoffrey Blue needs some edits to their body for mutual comfort.”
Franz blinked, “Wouldn’t be the first transition I’ve done for a student… Or myself. Can you get them in to talk with me?”
About five minutes later the eight year old archmage in question was in the infirmary talking to Franz, and I’d been kicked out for reasons of medical confidentiality. Figuring that they’d be busy in there for a while, I went to check in with Jethro.
It had been a long time since I visited the custodial office, and when I got there it was a lot different from how the place had been set up before hand. Not only was it absolutely spotless, there was a dedicated maintenance space set aside for the hazmag equipment and a small break table for custodians who were off duty. There were also framed photographs of the custodians who’d died in the vampire attack.
Jethro looked up from his paperwork.
“Hello Adrian. What brings you to the custodial office today?”
I shrugged.
“Had some spare time and figured I’d check up on you.”
Jethro frowned.
“Not going to lie, it’s… It’s been really hard moving on from what happened. I’m still not fully over it. I’m starting to handle the grief easier at least.”
Figured as much.
“How’s work been?”
“About the same as ever, though it’s a lot easier to handle the truly dangerous messes now that the new security system is in place. We haven’t had a serious injury since it was turned on; been having to run the team through extra exercises to keep from getting sloppy. That said, I have some spare time if you’re up for bowling?”
“That sounds wonderful; I’ll pay for the first string.”
Jethro stood up, a genuine smile on his face for the first time in months.
“You have a deal.”
One train ride to Skanaport later, we were back at Helen’s Bowlorama. Lawrence and Reese had opted to come along too. Still no sign of Helen herself at her eponymous venue.
As we were all getting our bowling shoes on, Jethro asked a very obvious question.
“So, who’s up first?”
Lawrence shrugged, “Personally I think it should be alphabetical, going by surname.”
I objected, “You just want to blatantly show me up after I miss half the pins, don’t you?”
A smug smile appeared on their face, “Got it in one Adrian.”
There was no fighting it, the order ended up me, Demouls, Jethro Rug, and finally Reese Tonsa.
Fortunately, I did remember what Jethro told me last time about the oil on the bowling lane. I’d therefore added a special scanning mode to my glasses for just this occasion, so I’d know what parts of the lane were more or less slippery. I pulled back, twisted my wrist slightly as I threw the ball underhand… and got a nasty-ass split.
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Still, with my second ball I managed to knock down all but one of the pins.
Lawrence took one look at what had happened and remarked, “Well then, I do believe I can do better than that.”
Yeah no, they used way too little, then way too much spin and sent both their balls right into the gutter.
A look of consternation on their face, Demouls asked, “I… what happened?”
I grinned, “Relax, no-one’s good at bowling when they just start. Plus they oil the lane, and it’s more slippery at different parts. Really hard to get the ball to curve how you want if you don’t account for that.”
“Now you tell me, after I’ve already completely botched a frame.”
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to make me look like an incompetent.”
The rest of the afternoon at Helen’s went well. We played a total of three strings, with everyone except Jethro chipping in for one of them. At the end of it we returned our shoes and took the train back to Red Point.
Fortunately there hadn’t been any incidents while we were away this time, and I figured Franz would be done working on Blue by now. So I wandered over to the infirmary and gently knocked on the door.
“Anne, it’s Adrian. Can I come in?”
I heard Franz answer, “They’re fully closed up, dressed, and getting used to their new parts now. Come in!”
So I opened the door, and yep, Blue definitely had a different body shape now.
“Ah, I see you’re all done?”
Franz smiled, “Yes, I’ve altered their body to their specifications. It should serve them well for the foreseeable future.”
I turned to the kids.
“So. Do you like how Anne reworked your body?”
Geoffrey spoke first, “Honestly it’s… fine I guess? It’s comfortable enough, it’s just going to take some getting used to.”
As for Xiu, “This is so much better! I can dress us up in girl clothes without it seeming weird now! And I have my own voice again without needing to strain!”
I smiled, “Glad to hear you two are comfortable enough. So… about that fruit garden for the kitchen?”
They smiled, “We’ll get right on it! Just need to be introduced to the chef so we know what kinds of fruit and vegetables he’ll be needing.”
Ah, that was easy enough to arrange.
When he heard the plan, Chef Renard answered, “While we’re cooking? Absolutely not. I don’t want a child possibly getting injured in here or accidentally contaminating the food. The kitchen is very busy when we’re getting meals ready, and it’s all too plausible for someone to get hurt if they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Blue asked, “What about when you’re not cooking though? Also it’s not like I have to put the entrance to the garden inside the kitchen.”
Renard thought for a moment.
“We’re busy with cooking most hours of the day, making three full meals per day for roughly eight hundred people is far from a trivial task. Especially when we actually try for some level of quality in the food.”
Before Blue could ask, Renard noted
“And truth be told I still don’t want you working in here when we aren’t cooking. That’s supposed to be my time off and I don’t want to spend it supervising children.”
I asked, “What about putting it in just outside the kitchen? Easily accessible, but none of the safety issues you’re worried about.”
Renard visible mulled it over. “Well, the pantry does also have a door leading directly to the train station; makes bringing in the ingredients from the train much easier. It could quite possibly work as a location for the entry point. That said, I do have some requests.”
Blue asked “What exactly did you have in mind?”
“Make it as automatic as possible in terms of both cultivation and harvesting; my cooks are already working incredibly hard just to make things on time with pre-prepared ingredients. I don’t want to increase their total workload.”
Renard caught his breath before continuing
“Also please just use standard pre-existing fruits and vegetables? If you get creative with them, there’s no guarantee of them having the nutritional requirements we have to meet according to the regulations.”
I looked to Blue, a smile on their face “Can do, chef Renard! I’ll get started on that right away.”
As the chef showed Blue to the pantry and they started getting to work on the pocket dimension, I found myself wandering back to my office.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Indeed, so did the majority of winter break.
On the last day before classes were scheduled to resume, I found myself in the snow-covered courtyard with Mr. Demouls as we talked about what might happen. Privacy spells at full power, of course.
“So. Vallium’s almost certainly going to try again. Blue is still the most vulnerable Archmage to kidnapping, despite their rapidly growing skill.”
Mr. Demouls nodded sadly.
“Fortunately the new security system means he’ll have a much harder time of things, at least.”
I shrugged.
“Vallium’s not stupid enough to just walk in here and get himself caught by it though. We can expect scouting, attempts to figure out how it works, that sort of thing. He’s only going to strike when he spots a vulnerability he can exploit.”
Demouls raised an eyebrow.
“Considering he’s gone out of his way to antagonize every archmage on the continent, I’d argue that he very much is stupid. That said, he always works through proxies or at a safe distance; if he did anything directly he’d get splattered and he knows it.”
I sighed,
“Just means he’ll find some new proxy to act through. Considering how things went last time, he’s capable of finding some extremely dangerous proxies to get his dirty work done.”
“Well, I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see, then.”
The conversation drifted to other topics, before eventually sputtering out. Afterwards I went to get food; the first crop of vegetables had come in, and Chef Renard had quickly put them to use in Xinjiang-style stir fry.
At supper I wound up sitting across from Franz, the school’s doctor enjoying his fried rice with significant enthusiasm.
Still, he did pause to greet me, “Hello Adrian.” when I sat down.
I couldn’t help but smile “Nice to see you too, Anne. How’s the infirmary been?”
Franz shrugged, “It’s been rather quiet since the new security system went in; the injury rate went through the floor when it was turned on. While I suppose that’s a good thing, it also means I haven’t had much to do aside from regular checkups, dealing with a minor influenza outbreak, and the rare elective surgery. It’s kind of boring honestly.”
Ah. Right, you only transcended a skill if you genuinely enjoyed doing it for its own sake, and Franz was a transcendent doctor with a particular emphasis on surgery. So this meant Franz wasn’t getting the sort of activities he craved.
I chewed my food as I thought about this; Franz was right about the injury rate going through the floor thanks to the new security system, that was one of the main benefits to having it. Wasn’t about to undo that, since for everyone else it was a major step up. Opening the school as a medical practice was a no-go thanks to Franz’ family and generally being a nonsensical idea.
“Sorry Anne, but nothing’s coming to mind in that regard.”
Franz shrugged, “I’m not about to go around experimenting on people without their consent; it would violate my doctor’s oaths. I made sure to take a magically binding version, so...”
The fact that Franz felt the need to mention that spoke volumes about how he’d been raised.
The rest of supper passed quietly, before something occurred to me. “Come to think of it, maybe part of the drop in injuries is due to winter break? There aren’t classes at the moment, so there’s less going on that could lead to injuries in the first place.”
Franz considered that for a moment, “It’s a possibility I suppose? I did have to treat a couple students who got themselves nasty chemical burns during their alchemy exam after all. Also someone who broke his arm in the Craft shop.”
And bullying attempts these days just ended with the offender in an immobilization field very far away from their would-be victim. Thus meaning that particular source of injuries was no longer a factor.
Injuries happening were definitely a bad thing no matter how you considered it, but at the very least Franz wasn’t about to leave for another place of work. No way was I letting a doctor that effective go without damn good reason, and this was probably the safest place for him.
“Adrian, are you feeling alright? You spaced out on me for a bit there.”
I blinked.
“Sorry Anne, got lost in thought.”
The rest of the meal wrapped up without much more conversation, and I subsequently went to bed.
As soon as I was asleep, I once again found myself sitting across a table from other me.
“Hello, other me. So. Classes start back up tomorrow.”
I responded.
“Yes, that’s correct. Do you think we’re ready for things? Is there something we might have forgotten?”
My counterpart thought for a moment.
“I don’t think so? But if we’ve forgotten something we probably don’t remember it.”
There was a brief pause before he asked
“Anything you’re worried about in particular? Aside from general class stuff, I mean.”
“Vallium. He’s going to try again I just know it, My thoughts are whirling with ways he might try getting around the new security system and I can’t figure out what he’s going to do.”
My other self shrugged.
“True I suppose, but it’s also not something to keep stressing ourselves out over. Like you said we can’t accurately predict what Vallium is going to do. But we’ve prepared as well as we realistically can. It’s not going to be easy for him now that a direct frontal assault is no longer an option.”
“I just can’t help but feel like there’s some weird edge case we didn’t think to cover that’s going to come back to bite us somehow. But I just can’t figure out what it might be and it’s really bugging me.”
Ah… I’m being hugged. Thank you other me, I guess?
“l know this is anxiety-inducing for you, I’m anxious too. We’ve done the best we can with the resources available. Like mom used to say, the show must go on. We have no choice but to let tomorrow come.”
I couldn’t help but wince; someone trying to avoid that is exactly what lead to us meeting. It hadn’t been a pleasant experience.
“No, I don’t suppose we do have a choice in the matter.”
The next morning, it was officially the first day of classes for the spring term. We got out of bed, put on our trousers, donned a shirt, jammed our feet into our boots, and threw on our long coat. Next order of business, breakfast.
As I approached the cafeteria, I couldn’t help but notice an overwhelming scent of syrup. Upon arrival, it was easy to see why. There was a massive stack of pancakes ready to go, with sausage or bacon as the protein options and a choice between apple or peach as your fruit. Butter and syrup were also being provided in ample amounts.
After waiting my turn to get food, I noticed something: this syrup wasn’t the cheap concentrated sugar stuff. No, it was genuine maple. That stuff was pricy. I guess Renard’s making the most of the savings from the garden?
Making a note to ask chef Renard about it later, I loaded up with pancakes, sausage, and peach slices. Shortly afterwards I noticed Rou waving for me to come over, and I obligingly sat across from the alchemy teacher in question.
As I drizzled syrup all over my delicious pancakes, I asked, “So, why’d you wave me over anyway?”
Rou smiled, “Well, this is my first term in quite a while that I’ll be able to run a full lab course. Even after the audits restored my materials budget there wasn’t much for it but to finish the term with the lesson plan I already had going.”
I gestured for her to continue, even as I started chewing my first bite of pancake.
“Well first I wanted to thank you for finally getting things set up so I could run a proper lab course. I also was wondering if…”
I raised an eyebrow as I swallowed, “If what?”
“Could we go out together some time?”
I blinked, “What.”
Rou seemed confused, “I’ve been flirting with you for a good three months and you still haven’t noticed? I’m not sure how this is supposed to be a surprise.”
I sighed, “Even aside from getting caught up in my administrative work and the fact that I just cannot pick up on that sort of thing, I’m just not wired for romance. If you want to go bowling I’m up for it any time, but I’m just incompatible with one on one intimacy.”
I took a bite of my sausage as Rou processed what I said. It took her a few moments to parse, before she answered. Well, responded might be a more accurate word.
“Eh?”
After a few moments of Rou staring blankly at me, I waved my hand in front of her face to check she was still conscious.
“Rou, are you alright?”
She blinked.
“I’m doing alright, I’m just having an issue understanding what you said. Could you please try again, but using different words?”
Alright then.
“I’m just not cut out for romance; the few times I’ve been roped into a relationship the other person got pissed at me for just treating them like a friend after a while. Can’t help myself, that’s just how I am. And the ‘bedroom activities’ have always been incredibly uncomfortable for me, regardless of who they’re with.”
Comprehension dawned on Rou’s face. Sad, disappointed comprehension.
“Oh. I’ll just… get back to work then.”
I took another bite of sausage.
“Like I said, if you want to join me for bowling there’s a spot open.”
Rou frowned, “It’s not quite the same, but maybe.”
There were a few moments of silence before Rou spoke again.
“Anyway, later today I’m getting the lab materials in on the train. It’s multiple shipping pallets worth of solvents, reagents, and other such things. Going to need to get them safely stored and test them for purity before they can be used for the lab course.”
I nodded.
“I hope that goes well for you; having a proper lab course for alchemy is important.”
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