“You put on a suit?” Thalos wore a shocked expression when Cliff joined him in front of their dorm.

“Of course I did,” Cliff said, irritated. “Not only is she your auntie, she’s also the headmistress of the academy – I can’t very well make a bad impression, can I?”

“Quiet, Cliff,” he snapped, “or, at least wait until we’re not going to run into someone.”

“Right, right,” Cliff replied with a sigh, “My bad.” He wasn’t quite sure exactly why Thalos insisted on keeping his connection to the headmistress secret – maybe Thalos didn’t want the attention that would come along with it? Either way, he would keep his roommate’s secret for as long as he had to. They started walking and Cliff spoke again, in a lower voice. “Still, I was surprised when you invited me to this dinner. What’s the occasion?”

Thalos shrugged. “It wasn’t my idea. When Auntie – that is, Headmistress Esmer – whenever she asks me about what’s been happening with my classes, your name naturally comes up. I guess she decided she wanted to meet you last time I told her a story about you.”

Cliff hummed to himself. “I hope it was a story that made me look good, at least,” he said as he thought about the woman they were going to visit. Truth be told, Cliff knew little more than the fact that she ran the academy. He’d seen her at the opening ceremony, sure, but since then the only things he’d heard about the headmistress were stories from Thalos. He figured she had to be a pretty remarkable person to be in charge of a place like the Marifond Federal Academy of Magic, though. “What’s she like?”

“Auntie, she’s-” Thalos started. “She’s nice, I guess.” Cliff waited for him to continue, but Thalos said nothing.

“And?” Cliff asked, “That’s it? She’s nice?”

Thalos scratched at his head. “I don’t know – it’s hard to talk about people like that. Plus, I don’t even really know her that well. She was a close friend of my grandfather, yeah, but before enrolling here, I’d only talked to her once or twice.”

Cliff blinked. “The way you talk about her, I’d have thought you were closer.”

“She makes me call her auntie,” Thalos said defensively, “and, well – I guess she sort of thinks of herself as my guardian, since, you know-”

“Right,” Cliff said softly. Thalos didn’t have anyone else. As far as Cliff knew, which was not so far at all, Thalos’s parents were dead, and with the death of his grandpoppa shortly before enrolling at the academy, he’d been left alone. He eyed his roommate, realizing that he didn’t know all that much about the shorter, younger boy.

Noticing the look, Thalos scowled at him. “What?”

Cliff shook his head. “Nothing,” he said, reaching out and smacking his friend stiffly on the back. “Come on, let’s pick up the pace – you said she doesn’t like it when people are late, right? I put on this suit and everything. It’d be a shame if I wasted the effort by showing up late.”

***

“More corn, dear?”

“Ah – yes’m, thank you,” Cliff said, carefully holding his plate out while the headmistress spooned more of the corn onto it. The meal had proceeded mostly in awkward quiet – a stiff introduction and a few casual questions between mouthfuls of food that was delicious, if surprisingly rustic. Combined with the simple furnishings of the small dining room, a small table and four cushioned chairs, the dinner reminded him more of a meal his momma might make than one with the headmistress of the most prestigious academy in Marifond.

“Tell me, Cliff,” Esmer said, “Is everyone in your family as tall as you?” She smiled warmly at him, the very picture of a kindly old lady.

“No, ma’am,” he said, “Or, well – I’m the tallest, but not by much. My dad and brothers, none of them are short, I guess, but-”

“Not as tall as you,” she finished for him, smiling wider. The way her eyes pinched together as she smiled reminded him of an old farmwife, but the military garb she wore even as they ate was a reminder not to take her lightly.

She dabbed a napkin at her mouth, staring at him over bridged fingers. “Four siblings, is it?” Cliff blinked, and she quickly picked up on his surprise. “I looked over your file, dear – one of the perks of the job, you understand? Had to see what type of man Thalos had been stuck with.”

“Right,” Cliff said, nodding slowly, “Yeah, four siblings – two older brothers, an older sister, and my younger sister.”

“And you get along well?”

“Auntie!” Thalos cut in, “don’t pester him about his home life.” He frowned at the old woman.

“Ah-” Cliff said, “No, Thalos, it’s fine.” Esmer watched him expectantly. “I would say we get along well enough – we fought occasionally, growing up, but, well-” He shrugged. “They’re family.”

“They’re family,” the headmistress echoed with a nod. She took another bite of the meal before continuing. “I’m a bit jealous of large families. One of the first things you learn in the military is that there is strength in numbers, and it’s my experience that the same is true for families.” She stabbed her fork into a neatly cut slice of pork, raising it to her mouth. “Not all families, of course,” she added, “but there seems to be some unique bond that large families build with each other, a shared experience of growing up in the chaos of a full household.”

Cliff nodded with a smile. “I know what you mean.” There were times when the chaos was overwhelming – when they were going on trips or particularly behind on work. But, all said and done, they pulled each other through and came out stronger together. “You don’t have a big family, then?”

She shook her head, her voice turning wistful. “I have a sister, a year younger than me. Our parents liked to pit us against each other, and that’s something we never quite outgrew, even in our old age.”

“That’s a shame,” Cliff said with a frown, “seems like it’d be lonely, living like that.” He blinked, realizing what he’d said. “Ah – begging your pardon, of course.”

Esmer chuckled. “It’s quite all right, Cliff. It is lonely – or it was, until I grew to accept it. I started working here thirty years ago, and I’d say that our good academy has grown to become my family.” She paused for a moment of silent consideration before she continued. “But here I am, rambling about my past – I’m much more curious about you. Tell me, are you the only one in your family with a Gift?”

“Yeah,” Cliff said, shrugging a shoulder, “Gifts aren’t so common out in the countryside of Minton.”

“How fascinating,” she said.

“Auntie,” Thalos’s voice was tense.

“Come now, Thalos, you can’t blame me for being curious, can you? I’ve heard so much about his Gift, I’m just so eager for a demonstration.” Her tone had taken a mischievous edge.

“A demonstration?” Cliff asked, suddenly interested.

Thalos winced. “When I told her about your Gift she didn’t believe it was real.” Cliff clenched his jaw, and his roommate raised a hand, placating. “Don’t worry, Cliff, I convinced her soon enough – but now, since then, she’s just wanted to test you.” He eyed the old woman with irritation. “I’m starting to think this was the real reason she made me invite you to dinner.”

“Just a part of the reason, I assure you,” Esmer said with a small smile, “but not a small part.”

“I didn’t bring Cliff to satisfy your curiosity, Auntie,” Thalos said.

“Oh, Cliff doesn’t seem like the type to take offense at a little innocent questioning.” She turned to Cliff. “Are you?”

Cliff shook his head. “Not at all, but-” He looked around the room. “I’m not sure how I could demonstrate my Gift here.” There wasn’t much in the way of Magetools in the room, nor was there anything that really tickled at his Gift.

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“Thalos told me once that your Gift is magical intuition – would that be an accurate summary?”

Cliff nodded slowly. “More or less,” he said, “I always explain it by saying that if you show me a step, I’ll be able to explain the whole process. It’s not exactly easy to explain, but, put simply, I get a good grip on how stuff works as soon as I see it happen.”

“Fascinating,” Esmer said again, “Then that’s why Roose trusts you to build your own PMT nodes?”

Cliff blinked, surprised again by how much she knew. “I suppose so, though you’d have to ask the man himself.”

“I did,” she said with a smirk, “when he presented me with the request to allow you extraordinary permissions. Quite extraordinary, in fact. We hardly let any students build their own nodes, and certainly not first year, first term students who haven’t even finished the introductory engineering course.”

Cliff’s eyes widened. Because he never saw her around, he figured she didn’t have much hand in the day-to-day running of the school. He especially didn’t think that she’d be involved in the solutions to his problems. But then, perhaps he was underestimating her because of her appearance as a kindly old woman.

“You know, Thalos once said that your Gift works even on other Gifts.”

Cliff nodded. “It should – or it has in the past. Usually I can pick things apart pretty easily.”

“Then let’s start there,” she said. There was a sudden energy in her voice and expression, and for a moment she lost the look of an elderly woman, as if she was decades younger. “I’ll use my Gift, and you tell me what it does.”

Thalos let out a small sigh, and before Cliff could say anything, reality shifted. His perception warred with logic – the table, once a simple square, seemed to grow to a great size. He looked down, and though he remained as he always was, his silverware was distorted, his plate, fork, and even food stretched at the edges to absurd proportions. He grabbed at the oversized fork, marveling at how it felt in his hand. His Gift sent a jolt of energy down his back, the wheels turning in his mind as he struggled to comprehend. He looked around the room, now cavernous. Esmer looked at him with the spry grin of a young woman. By comparison, Thalos looked bored. His Gift stumbled there – though the rest of the room was pulled apart, the space around Thalos was unaffected. Before he had time to think about it, the room collapsed and they were suddenly huddled together. Was it an illusion? Or were things truly changing. He reached out and grabbed the opposite edge of the table, just in front of Esmer. The grain of the wood felt odd under his fingers, unnaturally rough. From in front of him he snatched up the miniaturized plate, the remnants of his dinner twisting chaotically as he dragged his fingers through the food.

A moment later, it was over, and he was left with loose corn in his hand and a tenuous grasp on his perceptions. They sat a moment in silence before Esmer spoke up. “Well?”

“That was the most mind-bending thing I’ve ever experienced,” Cliff said, wiping his fingers off on a napkin.

“Naturally,” Esmer replied, “Though, live as long as I have and you’ll experience some truly mystifying things, especially if you are in the business of magic.” He eyed the woman in front of him. She looked old again, her face heavy with age. For a moment, he wondered whether her sudden youthfulness had been a part of her Gift, but he dismissed the thought almost immediately. He assumed it was an illusion of her sudden enthusiasm more than anything – it was often said that Naturals were most alive when using their Gifts. He certainly never felt better than when things clicked together in his brain.

“What would my momma say if she saw what I just did?” he said with a shake of his head.

Esmer answered with a question of her own. “How does my Gift function?”

Cliff clicked his tongue, letting the explanation flow as his thoughts assembled themselves. “At its most basic, it seems to stretch and shrink space. You can manipulate objects, too, but only the space they occupy. Certain things, like weight, for example, seem unaffected, and I don’t believe you can affect living things either.” He, certainly, had not felt stretched, and Thalos had remained uanffected by Esmer’s Gift, though he had a feeling that was something else entirely. “It’s not a trick of perception or illusion, but an actual, physical change.” If it were an illusion, he wouldn’t have been so easily able to reach across the table when things were compressed.

“What limitations does it have?” She asked.

Cliff frowned, not expecting her to press further. “Besides the fact that you can’t change weight, I would imagine you’re unable to shrink or grow things past a certain point.” He glanced around the room – everything was normal again. “I’d also reckon that you affect the space, not the object. That is to say, you didn’t so much grow the table and the chairs as the room we’re sitting in. Beyond that, the changes are maintained by your Gift. It’s not a permanent change.”

“And how might you use my Gift in a fight?”

He paused to think, replaying the scene of the shifting space in his mind. “May I ask a question?”

“Of course.”

“If you compress a space and then pass an object into that space, would it be affected?”

Her smile widened slightly. “No.”

Cliff nodded to himself. “I’m no strategist, but I’d say an easy enough approach would be to use spacial distortions to wreak havoc on a battlefield.” He thought to himself for a moment before shuddering. “It’s certainly not a Gift I’d want to fight against. It’s hard enough keeping track of enemies and teammates when the world isn’t twisting itself up around you.”

Esmer studied him for a long while, smiling but saying nothing.

“Are you satisfied now, Auntie?” Thalos said dryly, “we came here for dinner, remember.”

“A passing grade,” Esmer finally said, and Cliff sighed. He was not sure what would have happened if he hadn’t passed her test – probably nothing, but he was glad he had. The headmistress looked down at the table, noticing that both Thalos and Cliff were finished eating. “Would you boys like dessert?” she asked. “I made cookies.”

***

“No,” Thalos said with a shake of his head, “Just – no, I can’t believe it. I won’t believe it.”

Cliff stifled a laugh as Esmer poured his roommate another glass of wine. “He really was a very sweet man.”

“I just can’t imagine – my grandfather got you flowers for your birthday?”

“Gave them to me in front of the whole battalion, made a fool of himself, and about embarrassed me half to death,” Esmer said with a fond smile. “More wine, Cliff?”

“Ah, no ma’am, I’m quite fine, thank you,” Cliff said around a giggle. Dessert had ended soon enough, and the headmistress had pulled out a bottle of the finest wine Cliff had ever had the pleasure of drinking. Meanwhile, she’d regaled them with a twenty year tale of her and Thalos’s grandfather elaborately embarrassing each other. It was apparently a side of his grandfather Thalos had never seen.

“What started it?” Cliff asked, “the war of embarrassment, I mean.”

“To call it a war is an exaggeration,” Esmer said with a wave of her hand, “this was just two friends making fools of each other whenever we got the chance. What started it, though…” She paused to think, smiling nostalgically when she spoke again. “He had a crush on a friend of mine, and asked me for help in wooing her. Well, my mother once told me that she fell in love with my father when he embarrassed himself in front of her and he was able to laugh at himself.”

“Does that work?” Cliff asked.

“Of course! Or, at least, it did for my father. Thalos’s grandfather, though – I forgot to tell him that most crucial part, being able to laugh at yourself.” Her smile turned evil.

“But you still embarrassed him in front of his crush?” Cliff could see how this story ended, even before Esmer explained.

“Of course – pulled his trousers down when he was trying to ask her out to dinner. I may have pulled one too many layers down, but its his own fault for forgetting to laugh, you understand?”

Thalos buried his face in his hands. “Please stop – for the sake of his memory, please stop.”

“Fine, Thalos,” Cliff said, draining the last bit of his wine – it really was delightful. “How would you tell it, then? What kind of man was your grandpoppa, the way you saw him?”

His roommate sighed, sitting back in his chair, a thoughtful look coming to his face. He dragged a finger around the rim of his wine glass. “He was, well, old.” He shook his head quickly. “Not in a frail way, but like an old boulder, scarred after centuries of being buffeted by the wind. And he was-” He smirked to himself. “A generous person would say principled, but everyone else would say stubborn.”

“That stubbornness served him well, though,” Esmer added, “it was a large component of his brilliance.” She smiled. “The man knew more about magic and Gifts than any three other people I’ve met in my life.”

Thalos nodded. “Everywhere we went, people vied for his time and his attention. He was dedicated to his work to an almost frightening degree. Of course, that’s what eventually did him in.”

“The Sickness,” Cliff said softly. He shook his head. “I’m just sad I never got to meet him. It seems like he was a mountain of a man.”

“In many ways he was,” Esmer agreed, “Though he always had a soft spot for family.” Cliff looked over at Thalos. His roommate seemed tired and very, very alone.

A moment passed in silence and Esmer stifled a yawn. “You’ll forgive me in my age, but I don’t believe I can do late nights anymore.”

“Right,” Cliff said, “come on Thalos, we ought to get going and let your Auntie get her sleep.”

“Hm?” Thalos said, shaking himself from his memories, “ah – yes, right, it’s late.” They left the table and empty glasses behind, Esmer escorting them to her home’s door.

“It was an absolute pleasure to meet you, Cliff,” she said, wrapping him in a delicate hug. “Let’s do this again soon – perhaps with the rest of your team as well.” Cliff smiled and nodded, though silently he worried the jovial mood of the meal might be ruined with Loria’s stuffiness. “And next time, don’t bother with the suit,” she added. “It just makes it seem like you’re trying too hard.”