Jel-nor:

What an excellent day! I was walking through the Preserve here on Leafsong University with a group of ‘potential’ friends and while I listened to complaints by the other examinees, I reflected on how the entrance exams were all going quite well for me. Really, the only challenge was Superior Professor Worli Ro-den’s insane standards in the Lab section for Enchantment Theory and Practicum. It was supposed to be an easy prerequisite for my Major. My Academic Advisor had even said the Lab credit would be a grade point average booster. She clearly had not accounted for the professor’s eccentricities.

Did Leafsong’s Administration really approve of astronomic standards and the crass language he used?! I didn’t even know some of those….well, uh…body ‘actions’…were possible…it must mostly be hyperbole. Though, his threats to curse our legs with the joints of a Giveck and so we could shove them….*cough*…I mean, I suppose I could imagine that with the Griveck lab assistant there as a living example. But Holy Mother! It was a shocking start to our university careers.

The one bright spot of that class was the classmate a few tables down from mine. It is Stu-ar’th! The Primary’s son!!! He’s soooo cute! And smart…and...just so Knightly! My temporary roommate, Kar-en’th, and I invited him and a few other classmates to the Student Dining Hall. All the other males were drooling over my roommate. I mean, she’s gorgeous and well connected politically, so it is obvious why they favor her so. But Stu-ar’th sat next to ME! And our hands almost touched when we both reached for the wevvi pitcher. I offered my luck to a call from across the universes recently, so maybe this (and my ease with exams) is my luck being returned to me.

The Summoning Assistive Device that I had produced in the Lab exam was a stroke of good luck. Professor Ro-den had even complimented my work saying that it had more potential for summoning a powerful beast than any of the other pieces made by fellow examinees. It had secured my passing mark but also earned an invitation for extra instruction. I tried not to smirk at Kar-en’th’s jealousy over that. She might have the attention of all the boys and all the right connections, but she barely passed the exam. For a few moments, it had even looked like the red coat Ryeh-b’t was going to grab her project. He had stared intently at her workspace while a compound was refusing to meld to her device.

My attention snapped back to the group chatter when I heard my name called.

“Right, Jel-nor?” Kar-en’th asked expectantly.

“What’s right?” I asked, noticing a slightly mischievous glint in her left eye.

“Oh, well I was just telling Stu-ar’th here…and everyone else…how modest you were last night when we girls were discussing your triumph over Ro-den’s exam,” she boasted. “It was far too challenging of a task, but you passed with flying colors.”

Another boy in the group, one who was on scholarship and another who barely passed, met Kar-en’th’s eyes and added, “Right. Stu-ar’th, you and Jel-nor were both invited back by the professor.”

Stu-ar’th straightened and eagerly confirmed, “Yes. We were. It was an honor to receive Superior Professor Ro-den’s additional instruction…with Jel-nor and the three others, of course.”

“An honor, sure,” the other boy echoed with an edge of sarcasm.

“We were hoping you could give a demonstration of just how powerful of a summoning you could cast with your device from,” Kar-en’th simpered in a sugary sweet tone.

Another guy from the back of the group pushed forwarded and goaded, “Yes, Jel-nor. Surely an adept enchanter like yourself can summon forth a polvick or gilrecht...”

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“Nay, even a Mishnan,” Scholarship Boy chimed in with vicious glee.

So far through this exchange, Stu-ar’th had been watching me during this exchange with…I daresay admiration, but his expression turned to once of concern as he asked, “Is that creature not listed among the Restricted Species?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” dismissed the other guy. “The list is more of guideline. I think Jel-nor is more than capable of controlling a beasty like that. Come on, then…Let’s see you do it.”

Stu-ar’th tried protesting again but was shushed by Kar-en’th. I flushed, perfectly cognizant of her and the others’ scheming here to exact some sort of petty revenge. Stu-ar’th, dear that he was, clearly missed these social cues and was bravely trying to fit in, so he was no help at this point. I tried deflecting by reminding everyone that a Mishnan needed a body of water to be summoned, but someone so helpfully pointed out that a pond lay just a few turns ahead in the trail.

A few moments later, we were gathered by the water’s edge. I nervously stroked the Auriad weaved around my hair tie and tried to block out the ‘encouragement’ of these so-called friends. Stu-ar’th glanced over at me nervously and offered to walk into the shallows with me for the summoning.

I exhaled a deep breath and nodded, then we stepped into the water. As long as the Mishnan that I summoned was not hungry, it would be just fine…even it was…I just needed to confidently assert my authority over the beast and all would be well.

I readied the Summoning Assistive Device and chanted the spell while completely the proper gestures, feeling the magic build. My device glittered with magic and as I made the final twist of my wrist and the last spell syllable passed through my lips, an iridescent portal appeared just below the surface about three paces in front of us. I cast the magic imbued lasso section of the device into the portal. I gripped the bracelet segment on my right wrist with my opposite hand and tugged when I felt a pull. A brown, fleshy body ensnared in the device popped through the portal.

“Oh shit!” Someone exclaimed from behind Stu-ar’th and me.

There was a flurry of other shouts like “can’t believe it” and “she really did it.”

I gulped and rejoiced silently, but I knew the hard part was yet to come. Now, I needed to subdue the creature. The Mishnan started the thrash in the water, yanking against the device. I was halfway through the subjugation incantation when the Mishnan’s authority lashing strongly against mine.

“Oh no. I am going to lose this battle,” I thought in a panic. I tried to force more of my will, but the connection was fraying and with a metaphysical snap the Mishnan broke free. Perhaps the magic had overloaded the woven animal skin section of the Summoning Assistive Device, because it was too damaged to hold up against the creature’s strength and broke away from the bracelet as the Mishnan shook itself a final time.

The cheers behind me turned to jeers and shouts of warning. There was no time to react. The beast paused only a moment and then attacked. Unfortunately, the little monster must have been very hungry because it went straight for Stu-ar’th. His pedigree making him a very tasty meal for a creature with a most discerning diet.

He had tensed…to jump out of the way or push me out of harm’s way…I don’t know. Either way, the creature struck hard and fast. There was a scream, maybe that was me, and then a plume of blood in the water where Stu-ar’th’s foot was submerged.

Then…then…Oh Mother!

It was gone…it was just gone….and….

Stu-ar’th collapsed backwards, his legs still in the water and his torso on the lip of the shore.

Everyone was screaming now.

I stared in horror. Oh Mother! What had I done. I was so dead…I was so expelled. The Primary’s going to kill me himself…then the Secondary will come kill me, too.

Suddenly, Kar-en’th was in my face, shoving a tablet at me.

“Call for help!” She shouted.

“No!” Scholarship boy shouted back, even as he helped a few others drag Stu-ar’th further onto land. “We’ll be ruined if University officials find out!”

“He’s right!” another voice interjected. “We can reattach the foot if we get the Mishnan.”

“But,” I tried to object, “It digests extremely quickly…we would need to…” I stopped when a vision of a lab assistant with a preservation skill came to mind. I started typing furiously into the tablet.

“What?! What do we need?” Scholarship boy asked, desperation coloring his voice.

“It’s going to be alright,” I tried to assert a confidence that I did not feel.

Do you wish to complete Emergency Summons of Alden Ryeh-b’t ?

Yes/No

I slammed my finger down on the affirmative and pronounced, “A Rescue Ryeh-b’t is on the way.”