The courtyard was abuzz with talk, talk that Leon could now somewhat understand, it was like being blind and then having someone remove the cloth that bound your eyes.  It was a freeing sensation, he no longer felt so isolated.  

He couldn't understand every word, but more than three out of four was not bad after a week’s worth of work.  Unfortunately however it would seem that most of the conversations around the campus were about him and Lira, with some slandering remarks thrown in about Krya.

He was honestly getting pretty pissed, perhaps it would be better if he didn't know, it prevented him from feeling like he should wipe this school off of the face of the earth.

He tightened his fist, the rage boiling up in his veins.  Lira noticing what was going on with his emotions grabbed his clenched hand and held herself up against his arm.  He took a deep breath, it was calming to have her here.

Extremely calming.

They were about to sit down when they were approached, by none other than the headmistress herself.

“Lira,”  she said, looking over at them, “And Leon if I am not mistaken?”

“Yes, my name is Leon.”  He replied, casually sizing the woman up and down, The headmistress was a tall woman, looking to be in her forties, she had blonde hair pulled back into a bun that was held together by a single silver clip.  Even in her forties she was a good looking woman, with tight skin, and high cheekbones, but the most attractive feature about her was those eyes.

They were the clearest blue anyone had ever seen, like looking into the endless sky.

“I was under the impression that you spoke only in a language that no one besides Lira here understood.” she said, looking at leon with a surprised look, as she raised her eyebrows.

“I have been,”  he paused for a second, thinking of the word he needed. “I have been making an effort to learn this language.”  he said.

“And it would seem you are doing an excellent job.”  she nodded, “I however did not come by here to chat at you or discuss idle pleasantries, if you could meet me in my office in an hour.”

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“We, uh have classes in thirty minutes.”  Lira said in a small voice.

“You have already been excused from the class, I have talked with the professor before coming here.”  she looked over at Lira, who shut her mouth, and simply nodded. “I will see you then.”  the headmistress said, before turning crisply on her heels and walking back down the brick pathway.

Krya looked over at the two of them. “What was that?”

“I don't know, but we will find out soon enough.”  Lira sighed.

Leon and fluffy seemed to be the only two that were unaffected by the headmistress’s appearance.  Leon was too busy rubbing the unbelievably large wolf under the chin in search of the ever illusive scratching spot, every time he removed his hand the wolf would use his large cold nose to nudge his hand and get him to start petting again.

The time for the meeting came much sooner than she wanted.

The office was a large oval style room at the top of a rampart, it was furnished with many rugs and decorative pieces of artwork.  The only light that came into the room was from a huge window on the west side of the wall.  The head mistress was sitting behind the desk that dominated the room, with its large oak finish and rounded edges.

“Please come in, I have much to discuss with you two.”  she said, gesturing them over to a pair of chairs that seemed to be placed specifically for them.  “So let us get the small things out of the way shall we?”

“Yes ma’am,”  Lira nodded, there was a cold sweat dripping down her back.

“So, the two of you are being to noisy in the middle of the night, it is, causing many students to loose some sleep,”  Lira’s face turned a bright red.  “Normally in these cases we separate the two students, as such activities can lead to long lasting consequences and that is something this school would like to avoid, but your case is, different.”

“Ma’am I-”

“Let me finish Lira, I really don't care what you choose to do, and seeing as the two of you cannot be separated I have already set a few noise dampening spells on your room, they should cancel out all the sound unless you are screaming at the top of your lungs,” she narrowed her eyes at the two of them, “So my advice is to not scream at the top of your lungs.”

Lira felt like she was about to die from embarrassment.

“Good, now that we have that out of the way let us get to the real business at hand.” she pushed her glasses up on her nose. “There is an object I would like you to retrieve.”

“An object?”

“It is called a Lyruc Orb, they are extremely rare magic amplifying devices, and we know where one is located, and you will be going to retrieve it.”

“Wait, us? Why us? Wouldn't it be better to send a full mage or something?”

“Why indeed?”  she smiled, “to be honest it is not up to me,”  

“Not up to you? you are the headmistress aren't you?” Lira asked, looking at her.

She sighed, “Here at Grulik we attempt to be apolitical, I am sure you are aware of that?”

“Of course.”  Lira nodded.

“Well sometimes the real world doesn't work that way, and sometimes we have to pay back a favor, this is one of those cases, if it was up to me i would be sending a full mage squad, but it would seem that the, hmm, employer shall we say had other thoughts on what to do with those mages, and they specifically requested you two.”  she looked over at them. “But don't worry, I and two other teachers will be accompanying you,as if I would allow a student of mine to walk into potential danger without supervision.”  she scoffed. “We leave tomorrow, be packed by then, and please, try to get some rest, I don't want to have see the two of you exhausted from your, nightly activities.”  she said with a coy smile.