Gael sat in the main hall of the agricultural department. He was waiting for his appointment with the department headmaster, professor The Brún. Suzet had left him to continue her University duties. She had been so happy for him. Gael figured this was probably not how she expected her morning would go. In the main hall the agricultural department gathered for lunch. A lot of them wore dirty workman's clothes, but some of them were wearing their official uniforms. Gael could recognise students, researchers and professors. It looked like they got along with each other quite well. Gael knew that not all departments were like this. He smiled as he imagined himself standing in between them.

Then he saw Estelle. She was walking through the main hall looking around. Gael knew she was searching for him. To Gael’s amusement he saw her irritation growing as she could not find him. He decided to stand up and wave through which she finally noticed him.

  ‘Headmaster de Brún will see you now’, she said curt.

When the door opened the headmaster looked up from a file he was reading.

  ‘Welcome mister Linnwik’, he said with a clear voice, ‘You can sit down’. The headmaster was not a tall man, he was clean shaven but had messy dark grey hair. His face was weathered which proved he had spent much time outside working on the land. His small office was filled with drawer cabinets. Beneath the leather folder which the headmaster was reading Gael saw his enrolment documents. The headmaster saw Gael looking and closed the leather folder.

  'It is a request for the development of a plant which would ‘change the world'’, the headmaster said with a small grin.

  ‘Wil it?’, Gael asked surprised.

The headmaster chucked.

  ‘I get five requests like this a year', he said, ‘I understand this is your first visit of the University. What do you think?'

  ‘It is great! Especially the greenhouse.’

  ‘It is quite a marvel isn't it? It revolutionises cultivation of certain plants which can’t handle the weather here. The best project I signed the agreement for.’ the headmaster said smiling, and sat back in his chair. ‘So mister Linnwik, why do you wish to enrol?'

  ‘Well I have lived on a farm so I have worked with plants my whole life’, Gael said reciting the words he thought of when waiting for the headmaster.

  ‘Me and my mother would go and search for wild herbs and tried to domesticate them to grow them at home. I like to believe we got pretty good at it, but I have always wanted to expand my knowledge. I think we could discover many more uses or ways of growing plants if we just did more research and left behind superstition and old ways of thinking.’

Gael hesitantly added: ‘That is why I enrolled at Dorringer all those years ago.’

  ‘Yes. About that’, the headmaster said, ‘There are some problems with this enrolment and to go straight to the point, I can not enrol you for studying here.‘

Gael felt his stomach turn, but the headmaster continued as he picked up some of the documents:

  ‘First of, besides the age of the documents, there is the problem of the payment. At the university there is a higher enrolment fee. Now, of course, I could enrol you if you could pay the difference. But then you should have that kind of money laying around’.

The headmaster glanced up at Gael from the documents, who stayed quiet.

  ‘Second of all’, Nils dropped his papers and folded his hands, ‘I want to ask you to think real hard about if you really want this. This University is a demanding environment in a strange city. There are researchers and professors younger than you that have retired’.

Gael nervously plucked his beard. This was what he feared for. He should not have got his hopes up. But he quickly shook off those thoughts, he was not giving up so soon.

  ‘I do really want to do research here’, Gael said. ‘Can’t I study and work for the rest of the payment?'

  ‘I wouldn't agree to it, even if you were half your age’, the headmaster answered stoutly. He thought for a second and continued, but more careful: ‘However, I understand your wish. I could also sign you up for an internship.’

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Headmaster De Brún closed the enrolment documents and added: ‘Who knows where it can lead up to?’.|

An internship would be wonderful, just as Suzet had said. But now he was this close Gael was not eager to settle for less and asked boldly:

  ‘I have done research my entire life, doesn't that count for something?’.

  ‘As if we treat it as hiring an external expert?', The headmaster said surprised. ‘We don’t enrol them as student. We hire them if we have cases we can't solve ourselves or if their knowledge is an addition to the University. It would solve your, financial, problem. Do you have any published work? We’ll need to get that validated by a professor here’.

Gael had never published anything. Most his knowledge was in his head. He had written notes, but the thought that a University professor would be looking over his incoherent scribblings made Gael feel that he was running out of options. The cases. Gael figured involved some agricultural work, he was used to that.

  ‘And isn't it possible that I prove my worth by doing one of these cases?’

The headmaster sighed.

  ‘I don’t think they fit your knowledge’, he said.

  ‘But if one would, is that something which would change your mind?’

The headmaster was silent for a second, and stared at Gael. Gael knew he was pushing his luck. He just wasn't ready to give up just yet. Then the headmaster stood up and grabbed a few files from a drawer.

  ‘Let's see here’, the headmaster said as he searched the files. ‘Blacksmithing, husbandry, this one for an expert in parasites. ’

Then the professor stared at one file for a while, then looked at Gael.

  ‘Have you found something?’, Gael asked carefully. Nils didn't answer. He sat down, glanced at Gael again and read the title on the leather binding:

  ‘The little hindsblue’, he said. ‘It is an old case which no one wanted to do. I should have tossed it out’.

The headmaster opened the file.

  ‘The plant’s family, the well known little hindwhite, grows west of here. They only bloom once a year, at night, supposedly only when the full moon is full. The rare little hinddblue was believed to have strange properties none of its family has. So the story goes it was picked so much they have had it extinct. This case is about going out there and finding it. We have had clerks to search for it with no effect, and no professor thought it was important enough’.

  Gael froze as the case was not at all what he hoped for. It case sounded unfeasible and he expected to stay on the University. Before Gael could say something, the headmaster continued:

  ‘Now: I understand perfectly well that this case might suit you, and I doubt a flower can be picked to extinction, but the flower has not been seen. Then there is the fact that it only blooms once a year, and is indistinguishable from its family the rest of the year. And to top that all off this flower is linked to superstition.’

In thought the headmaster ran his hand though his hair, which explained Gael how it became so messy.

  ‘I am asking myself if I’m not sending you on a wild goose chase after some non-existent flower, just to have you leave my office.’, the headmaster said coldly, but then grabbed a document from the file and placed it before Gael.

  ‘With my concerns expressed: if you sign this Estelle will arrange a sleeping accommodation for you and minor compensation for the journey. The flower is supposed to blossom the second to last full moon, that is in about a fortnight. Which is a demanding timescale but should be manageable, you will have to depart in a few days. The rest of the details are in here’.

He handed Gael the case file. Going to search for this flower frightened Gael. The worst part was that the flower sounded like it came straight from a fairytale. Would he gamble his chance to work on the university on some superstition. But somehow the idea of the adventure made his fear lose it to his growing enthusiasm. Misfortune had made him unable to leave the farm his entire life. His luck seemed to have turned. He had kept his promise to his mother and left the farm. He took that promise to see the university where he always had wanted to do research, and now he had that chance.

  ‘If you solve the case you can consider yourself hired’, Nils said.

Gael signed.