A stack of folders landed from Hane’s hands onto the Magister’s desk with a clap, expelling air from underneath it and into his face. His eyes stopped their run along the lines of a document. Eyes closed, he let the air course into his nostrils and out of the mouth. Bracing himself, he opened his eyes.

“Please tell me that is the last of it.”

“That is the last of it.”

Another puff of air escaped his lungs, which felt like it carried the weariness he had accumulated throughout the day with it.

“…for today.”

He turned to give her a disapproving look as she walked to her desk, only for it to be met with a smirk.

The next half an hour went by in silence, disturbed only by the occasional rustling of paper.

The Magister’s concentration was broken by a clanking sound resonating from a floor clock as it stroke twelve, followed by a ringing that filled the corridors outside. This sound was perceived as a signal for his body to relax.

With a screeching sound of a chair scratching the floor, the Magister approached a table by a window. On top of it, a metal self-boiling kettle flashed with blinding radiance as soon as he pulled up a curtain.

A long match scratched the surface of a box and ignited a piece of charcoal in a chamber at the bottom of the boiler. The scent of burning wood filled the air around the table as it escaped through small openings into the window.

As the last drop of tea fell into a cup, the Magister popped open a box, the sound of which acted as a trigger, distracting Hane from her work. Her face expressed a high degree of distaste as she observed the Magister pour two spoons of sugar into the cup.

“If you want to clean the drains, there are better solutions.”

“Don’t be so judgemental about other people’s tastes.”

“Taste is what you are killing by mixing this abhorrent substance with tea.”

“I add it only to black tea. It just adds some substance to it.”

“I haven’t seen you drink anything other than black tea, and…”

As she observed the Magister return to his desk and start unwrapping a sandwich covered in paper, her expression changed from distaste to pitying concern.

“…you would not need substance in your tea were you eating properly.”

“I know what it looks like, but I just can’t digest food in large quantities. It causes a feeling of heaviness in my stomach.”

After several bites, a quick glance at the clock, which showed a quarter past twelve, prompted him to stuff the remaining chunk of the sandwich into his mouth, washing it down with tea.

Straightening up, his fingers intertwined, he fixed his eyes on the door.

Five minutes later, he was still waiting, yet a doubt that he would see anyone walk in started poking his cheek. Five minutes more and the doubt was looking him straight in the eyes, demanding attention.

“Hane, you did relay invitation to Aeri, right?”

His aide only frowned in response, seeing this as an insult to her professional duties.

“I know, I know. It just bothers me that she didn’t show up on time.”

“If at all.”

“I can only imagine what she must be going though. A counselling session must be the least of her concerns right now.”

“I don’t think that’s the reason.”

“Then what?”

Hane, in her usual manner, responded non-verbally, frowning a little and raising a brow.

“Come now, I know you have some… prejudice towards aspiring witches, but even you couldn’t possibly believe they’re all unruly.”

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“Oh, no. Definitely not her. You’ve witnessed it first-hand.”

“We don’t know the whole picture. I am sure that was just a misunderstanding.”

After giving his chin a few rubs, immersed deep in his thoughts, his eyes jumped to a metal bookcase in a corner of the room.

“Maybe it was wrong to arrange a session so soon after the incident and in a formal manner. Maybe I should try another approach.”

His eyes fixed on the bookcase, he walked up to it and skimmed his fingers over folders tightly stacked on metal shelves. From the sixth shelve down to the fourth and then a sharp turn going across until his hand stopped at the “K” section. The search there yielded only confusion, making him go over each folder one by one from the very beginning. His confusion became only stronger when he found his object of search, a folder labelled “Kol of Omniscience”, in the “O” section. Comparing it against the other folders both provided an answer and brought up a new one, as the label had “kol” in it before the actual name, not after.

Inside he found four smaller folders, each bearing the name of a kol’s member.

So there are four of them in their kol. I wonder how the other girl is doing. Probably should check on her later.

He pulled the one with Aeri’s name and inspected the line that listed her address.

She lives at the dormitories. This complicates things. Don’t think Magistern visit dormitories often.

Whilst inspecting the main page, a few pages peeping behind it drew his attention.

“Oh, there is her extended reference. I bet she—”

The very first line read how she had started a fight even prior to being enrolled, on the day she had gone to submit papers to the academy.

“Oh…”

The next one hadn’t taken long, having occurred during her first month after admission.

“Ooohhh…”

The list just went on.

“Correct. I admit it. She might be a bit emotional and impulsive. Might require some more work than I expected.”

“I envy your confidence believing you can fix what those before you could not.”

“Speaking of which…”

He skipped past the records covering her prominent life at the academy to the page that reflected the counselling sessions conducted in the aftermath of each incident. To his disappointment, they turned out to be less than informative, each reading “Counselling session conducted following incident that had occurred on…”. The only variables that would change from line to line were the name of the Magister who conducted a session and the corresponding date.

“They didn’t put much effort into making these records.”

This left him with some things to think over as well as half-an-hour of time on his hands due to an unexpected cancellation of the session. Although it should have been spent tending to the documents, the stack of papers on his desk would start draining his sanity the moment it entered his line of sight. Taking a break to restore his mental strength seemed like a more appealing use of the time.

His legs carried him to the most suitable place to have a rest: the inner square. For the most part, it represented a large open space on the second floor of the academy, surrounded by walls on three sides, whilst the farthest side transitioned into veranda. The floor was paved with six-sided stone tiles, blue with clusters of white, as if imitating the sky. Along the perimeter a corridor ran, its roof supported by pillars on the inside. Four passages connected the corners of the square with a small fountain-crowned garden at the centre.

Cool breeze swirling around, the resonating sound of running water, and lively casual chatting of academy students walking around had positive effect on his mind. He quickly forgot why he had come here or rather what had run away from. That is until he noticed the reason he had spare time in the first place: Aeri.

Standoffish, unlike everyone else, it seemed she had come here for the same reason the Magister had: to escape from her troubles. She stood there leaning against a pillar, her arms folded, blankly staring at a spot on the floor. By the looks of it, this place didn’t appear to have the same refreshing effect on her. Her mind being elsewhere, she didn’t even notice the Magister approach her.

“Aeri?”

Lifting her head, she turned to look in his direction, her stare still blank. The more her eyes focused on him, the more visibly discontent she became.

“Oh, it’s you.”

Her addressing the Magister felt as if he had been someone or even something annoying.

“We were supposed to have a counselling session right now.”

“Maybe we were, so what?”

“So that means you were expected to show up.”

“I have nothing to discuss with you, traitor.”

“Mind your language, young lady. And I don’t recall doing anything to deserve this title.”

“Then you have very short memory. But I don’t. I damn well remember how you sided with that Sorceress witch.”

“It appears you have a misconception of both the hearings process and—”

“I don’t care.”

She bent down to pick up her weapon, tossing its belt over the shoulder, before showing her back to the Magister.

“Aeri, you can’t just leave. This is a serious matter.”

“Watch me. Tch! Can’t even have a moment of rest. What an ass…”

She continued marching towards the exit, leaving a trail of grumpy noises behind.

“It seems I will have to try a different approach after all.”