Quincunx Ch. 08

Both Bemnie and Xentha reappeared within minutes of each other. Bemnie was first, dressed in street clothes, a patterned skirt and a warm woolly jumper. As I answered her question of 'Ready?' by closing my book and standing, Xentha opened her door to join us.

She was dressed in the same brown robe as I wore, the weight of its padded top hiding her mounds, and her lustrous hair hidden in the cowl. She carried a satchel weighted with books.

"Well, I might as well return them now. I won't use them again after this."

We made our way slowly, the sun now high enough to signal the start of a fine day. We were a little early and we sat and waited, Xentha fiddling with her books and Bemnie looking bored, glancing round at the other people as the lounge slowly filled.

Above the arched door was another of those old magic spells, just two symbols on either curve of the arch. Its translucence telling me it was an old spell, as were all I'd seen, I was beginning to add more things together.

A bell sounded high above us and seconds later the doors were thrown wide open. We stood and joined the mini-rush, hustling our way to the queue forming at the counter, then choosing from the array of waiting empty tables.

We ate mostly in silence, spending fifteen – twenty minutes munching away on the hot, thick, sweet porridge, me finishing first, then Xentha, who got up and bade us adieu. She took our wishes of good luck with her as she walked her tray to the soiled rack.

As Bemnie finished I stood with my tray.

"I'm off to my studies as well," I announced. "See you this evening."

She nodded to me even as she herself stood and collected her tray.

We parted at the door. She gave me directions to find Professor Heen'lls office.

I made my way down corridors and up stairs and knocked gently on the door when I came to it. The lack of an answer made me knock louder, and finally, after another short wait, try the handle to find it open.

There were a fresh couple of books on the chair I'd been sitting in. One was a book of basic spells, the other on enunciation, ideal fare for a budding magician. I settled in the chair to read, being interrupted after maybe half an hour by Heen'lls young acolyte, asking me if I needed anything.

I took him up on a pot of cofftea and had it on the desk along with a few nibbles within ten minutes. The cofftea was long finished by the time the mid-morn bell rang. I got up and stretched, wondering where Heen'll was, wondering if I dare use the bell rope to summon the acolyte for more cofftea.

I took a walk to the student refectory, thinking over the simple spells I'd read and practiced when reading about the pronouncing of spells. I was very tempted to try. There had to be somewhere safe to practice my first bit of real magic.

I again looked up at the spell over the arch as I found the toilets and grabbed a cofftea and an empty table. There were students young and old speckled amongst the Greys of the acolytes. I wondered how many of them it took to run this place.