Spirits of the Earth

(@Eckhart_Von_Musel @emeraldknight @SilverDragonsBlood. I don't think we need a formal posting order as of yet. I suppose I passed the ball to Taig to respond first? Though characters can interject as they see fit for now I suppose.)

It was mid-autumn and not a day for drills or sparring. The wind was brisk so you had to wear a coat, and the sun hot and orange enough to make you sweat. Still, Wyrdwood's courtyard was packed with underclassmen. The young apprentice stood in pairs, some erecting magical barriers and others aiming to break them down. One boy stood triumphant behind a shimmering barrier of antimagic, only to yelp in pain as his partner conjured an ordinary rock atop his head. Meanwhile Meanwhile a tiny girl sat smugly within a sphere of darkness. The wall of shadow had, so far, eaten everything three baffled students could throw at it. Maergath paced up and down the rows of students, barking insults.

"Listen before I banish your ears you sniveling, mouth-breathing, afterbirths! A proper ward gusts outward, banishing bad air and anything on your skin. If you're too stupid to fear death and humiliation, you should be trying to get a moment's rest from the shitstink wafting off you!"

"Killed myself ten Mordecai before they shattered my knee. I drowned a White Lily in quicksand after. And none of you can't find your way past a little girl's shadow trick?!"

"Mephiportala," the old warmage growled. And suddenly, the girl wreathed in shadow began to shriek and sputter. Her shield collapsed, leaving a wretching apprentice and panicked skunk...

***

The two-headed boy lurched across the courtyard, unable to bend their knees because of a petrification spell that had yet to expire. "We're supposed to figure out how to use magic on people unaffected by it normally. You know, be creative?" Liam, on the left, grumbled.

"Whose gonna expect a punch in a wizard duel? If you'd help put your- our weight into that punch we could have broken it down I bet!" Kana grinned, flexing an arm.

"That's your solution to everything."

Beneath an archway on the far side of the courtyard sat three students, slumped against the wall, and nursing various bruises. "...hey," they chirped in unison, slumping down besides Susie.

Kana was not deterred by the somber mood. "Hey Taig! You wanna have a bout? Think I figured out how to do that thing you do where your hand turns all stony!"

Liam rolled his eyes. "All of us have gotten kicked around the whole afternoon. And we're going to get marked off for not doing wards if you two just wrestle around."

Maergath was brutal. The students were meant to be conjuring barriers and finding ways to get around them. Taig, his magic being what it was, couldn't come close to successfully doing this. "If he would just let me reflect each spell individually..."

Eventually, the student got tired of being beaten, so he headed off to the edge of the courtyard and prayed Maergath wouldn't find him. It seemed that he wasn't the only one with that idea. Soon, Kaliam joined them, and Kana asked for a duel, though, to Taig's annoyance, Liam wouldn't allow it.

"Oh, come on, Liam, just one quick match!"

That's what sucked about Kaliam. If they had a disagreement, nothing could be done until one gave in. And when Taig was ready to take on any challenger, Liam not wanting a fight was just disappointing. He couldn't just start attacking anyway, it was Liam's body too. "You two should really... Nevermind"

"Anyway, if anyone would create a barrier here, I'd love to see Kana's version of the Earthen Fist technique!"

"Will you three be quiet? I'm trying to study!"

Susie Rainfeather sat curled up against the wall, face buried in a copy of Eldritch Emulsification: Banishing Dirt, Grease, Oil, and other Residuum through the Awesome Power of the Arcane. This class was utterly impossible for her- dust did not make an effective shield, nor was it capable of breaking through them. She had given up entirely after a terramancer hit in the face with a rock, and she was currently nursing a nasty black eye. "They can't flunk me if I literally can't do the magic, right? Because I've decided wards are too- huh?"


Turning the page of her book, Susie blinked in confusion as a slip of paper fell out of is. "A receipt?" she murmured, gingerly picking it up and unfolding it. She squinted at the text, scratching her head. "What is this?"

Quote from: UnknownTo all the little plebs of Wyrdwood,

You're young. So young. And terribly awkward and gawky. And you're getting the shit knocked out of you. Well never fear my dear. Pull up a chair, sit on a book so you can see over the table, and have a listen. There's one spell and one spell alone that sets proper war wizards apart from snot-nosed apprentices. And if you're not a half-wit, or spend your time licking shit off the headmistresses shoes, we want you to have it.

1. Old Tom sleeps in the kitchens. Bring him a mouse, a poem, and an answer to a riddle. He will show you the way down.

2. Don't forget candles.

3. Turn left then right then left. There will be a BIG store room. That shit doesn't matter.

4. Homonculi see through glamour. You'll spend the summer as a pawn if they catch you. If you don't know what that means just get out.

5. Follow the third tunnel from the right. The tunnel you came through doesn't count as one, obviously.

6. Find the brass door with two lions. If you can't get past you don't deserve to. Really.

7. WELCOME TO THE LYCEUM!!!

8. Grymyg's Grimoire page 100

Lovingly yours,

[The note is signed with a crude drawing of a little serpent, with a blue bow wrapped around its neck.]

Blinking, Susie nudged the girl sitting next to her. "Hey Ellie, what is this? It's not one of Jacob's pranks, is it?"

Ellie Klein was enjoying the nonexistent peace and the unquiet, but this class wasn't exactly her favorite. After all, she didn't feel it was fair to make a blind student participate in a class for dueling!

The girl hugged her knees to her chest, running her fingers along the grass. She found a little flower all alone. Circling her hand around the small plant, Ellie made three more pop up out of the ground. "Friends for you now," she whispered to the flower.

She stopped what she was doing at the mention of her name. That was odd: usually, she was left to do her own thing.

Ellie felt around twice, locating Susie and briefly ran her fingertips down the small paper. She scrunched her nose, shaking her blonde curls. "Jacob's pranks are more showy than this," she said. "Though I bet he'll be thrilled you're thinking about him, even if he doesn't deserve it."

The girl smirked, shifting to sit on her feet. "This kinda sounds fun. But why do adventures always have riddles?" She started mumbling. "I hate riddles..."

"You can do it Susie. You're just used to terramancy because you're a natural. You'll learn all sorts of other spells by Second Year."

Liam idly traced his finger through the air, forming a village of little illusory houses at the base of Ellie's flowers. She's blind stupid! Gods, why was he such a bore? And Taig was probably cross. It really wasn't Liam didn't enjoy sparring. It was just that Taig and Kana always got caught doing stupid things. Still, it would be nice to make a genuine friend instead of tagging after Kana's. "Alright! Alright! we can go!" he tried to force a smile.

"Knew you'd come around! Fighting's fun when you have the muscle for it! Right Taig?" Kana grinned. It was kind of eerie. Months ago he and Liam would have twitching when they couldn't agree on what each limb should do. Not anymore. Kaliam sprung to his heels and entered a fighting stance. Dust and grit swirled around his fists, forming gantlets of stone. Soon, Kaliam and Taig were circling one another and taking swipes. From the corner of his eye, however, Kana saw something interesting on Susie's paper. Books and note-taking were Liam's job, ordinarily, so he wasn't paying much attention. But what was that symbol? "Whoa! Hey! I think someone from your club made that! Look!" the Duhjari boy dropped his guard...

Thwack!

Taig saw the perfect opportunity when his opponent, distracted by who knows what, dropped his guard. Taig's own fist of rock collided with the body of the two-headed boy, probably a bit harder than necessary, and he fell to the ground.

"Sorry, what was that?" He looked around, trying to find what Kaliam had been looking at, until he saw the small piece of paper in Susie's hand. "Hey, what's that?"

Suddenly aware of everyone staring at her, Susie shrunk back into the wall. "Um... A shopping list?" she said nervously, clutching the paper tightly. "I- I don't know what it is! Something about a bringing a rat to the basement to open a door?"

"Oh Kia, they're all looking at me! Do I look bad? I forgot to wash my face today, do they notice? What if after this they all start to laugh at me? What if rumors start?"

Susie paled, and shoved the paper into Ellie's hand. "H-here! You read it to them!"

Ellie smirked, holding the paper. She ran her fingertips along the paper, furrowing her brows. "Blank?" She mumbled to herself. "But I was..." A smirk appeared on her lips, and she felt her cheeks flush. "It's backwards."

Running her fingers along the words on the proper side of the paper, Ellie read the note to the others, pausing a few times and having to repeat a line here or there after losing her place.

"Hey, if this is real, I wonder if Clarissa and Bren know about the spell?" Ellie pondered aloud. "If it's for 'proper war wizards', they'd probably know it, right? Kia knows I don't wanna go to Maergath."

Kaliam fell to the dirt, yelping in unison. "Sorry... I thought you had our legs..." a sheepish Liam mumbled. Kana grinned and the pair sprung to their feet to listen, nursing the gut punch just a little bit.

"It sounds like a treasure map," Liam offered the nervous first year a reassuring smile. "Do you think they would really tell us though? Looks like it's meant to be a secret."

"Clarissa's not going to tell us what some forbidden spell does. And you know how Bren is. He acts all like he's a teacher keeping us out of trouble! They'll probably just take the map away." Of course the older boy did do underclassmen tutorials. So he kind of was a teacher. "It's got a Blue Ribbon sign on it. Got any idea, Taig? I'd sure like to get my hands on it! Both of us should be kicking ass at this stupid battle magic class."

Liam's fist punched their right breast to correct that last gaffe. "All five..."

"Well, I know I'd love a go at it. Even if I have no idea what it is!" He shadow-boxed, punching through shadows energetically. "Masters of magic, forces of woe! Maergath will be speechless!" Getting more and more excited, Taig began bouncing back and forth, delivering various combinations of punches and kicks to the autumnal winds. "When do we go? You're all going, right? Of course you want the spell, right?" He turned to the students, shaking with excitement, and beamed.

Susie's shoulders tensed. "Uhmmm..." she began, looking nervously at the other children. "Are- are you guys sure? What if it's against the rules? What if we get in trouble? Last time I was in trouble, Professor Fen-Breath gave me bug eyes for three whole days!" The girl hugged her knees to her chest, which was now heaving. "Wh-what if this dangerous and we get hurt? What if Liam dies and Kana has to drag around a dead body for the rest of his life? What if we're expelled?"

Susie swallowed nervously. "It- it's too risky! We shouldn't do it..."

"You're just a scaredy-cat," Ellie chirped at Susie. "Of course it'll be dangerous! That's why it's fun, after all." The girl listened to the events going on in the field. "And by the way, you're more morbid - morbidder? - more morbid than I thought. No one's going to die."

She smirked, gesturing in the general direction of the noises. There was no way she could've seen her, but Ellie knew that the violet-clad woman was always there with her snake during Maergath's dueling. "Neo could always patch us up, if we do get hurt. I know she definitely won't tell. Come on, Susie! It'll be an adventure!"

"I think if I die so does Kana. And we're not stuck together forever... I don't think." Liam mumbled. But were they? No one had ever mentioned unsticking them. His right half was always so insistent it would be risky, and already made plans for them to be wizards-errant or something.

"What if we're meant to find it? Kind of like a secret test? I think if something was really dangerous or could get us expelled it would be better protected. I say we do it. I mean, its not like there's an endless supply of mages." For once he wanted to do something fun or crazy, like Kana would do, only make it his choice. Maybe it would be good for Susie. He sort of used to be like her, before everything. "If we are caught at least we'd look clever."

"Yeah, we should totally do it!" Kana simply nodded, watching atching Taig intently, waiting for his friend to turn around. Trying to keep quiet Kaliam rose to their feet and crept toward the battle-mage. When the coast was clear they tackled, struggling to pin their friend. "Gotchya!" It wasn't like there was hard feelings toward Taig. Roughhousing and one upmanship was just what the two (three) of them did. It seldom ended well. This month alone Magistrix Fen-Breath had shrunk them to the size of toddlers, and then Professor Hale made the trio mop his class-room for three hours (Kana was sure the man had kept conjuring more dirt and filth each time he checked).

Liam had finally gotten used to his limbs not really being his. It still weird the way they'd just be moving, but by now he knew Kana well enough to make predictions. Just as they made a grab for Taig, Liam uttered a simple oakflesh ward. It might absorb a hit or two. And it was part of the lesson!

"Woah!" Taig was completely taken by the prospect of a spell hunt, so much so that he hadn't noticed Kaliam sneaking up on him, and he hit the ground. Even with this advantage, grabbing Taig full-on probably wasn't the best idea. Flailing around in a struggle for control, he began to be overwhelmed by the weight of the boys. "Another advantage to having two heads: They're heavy!"

Being in close quarters did give Taig some room for defense, though, and he generated a weak field of electricity around his body, hoping to jolt them a bit and get them to loosen up. Just a second after doing this, however, the smile was wiped clean off his face as the shock came right back at him, jolting him a bit more powerfully than expected. "I guess I made it a bit too powerful"

"Okay, I submit, I submit!", he cried. Exhilarated by the adrenaline (And the shock), Taig laughed, tapping his fingers on the ground. In the rush of the attack, he had failed to notice Kaliam's ward, although it was obvious now. "Of course, that damn ward!" It seemed as though the wood had conducted the shock from Taig's electricity, and sent it back through the point where he was grabbed. Really, the second part would've probably happened anyway, but Taig wasn't thinking things through very well when he was being tackled to the ground.

"I-I'm not a scaredy cat!" Susie stuttered, eyes like dinner plates. "I-I'm totally c-coming with you guys!" The girl watched the two boys roughhouse each other, rocking back and forth. "I-I'm brave too! I'll sh-show you!"

Susie's shadow seemed to ripple slightly, then grew still once more...


"You smell like an unwashed cunt, Beatrix."

On the other side of the yard. Beatrix Evans sat cross legged on the ground. She had her eyes shut tightly, and her fingers were interlocked. Aahva Chatterjee stood above her, his arms crossed. "What are you even doing? You look retarded."

"Aahva, hush!" the girl hissed in reply. "I'm trying to concentrate!" Beatrix grit her teeth, allowing her mind to drift through the nearby shadows. "Cellar... Dangerous... Hidden spell..." she muttered under her breath. A smug grin slowly spread across her face. "Ohh... I'm gonna get them in so much trouble!"

"Couldn't resist, sorry..." Kana released Taig from the hold, and offered a hand.

"And you almost got through it anyway." Liam suppressed a little smirk of pride as they let Taig up, shaking off the bits of singed treebark singed by Taig's spell. "And it'll be okay, Susie. Who wants to do the peom? And, uh, draw straws for the mouse?" We'll meet near the kitchens at ten."

***

They drew straws to find out who would get the mouse. Kana and Liam were made to draw twice, which seemed unfair, and got the short one. They did deserve it since Kana wouldn't stop laughing when Taig volunteered to find a poem for Old Tom.

Kaliam and Taig bunked in one of the highest rooms of the Attic. It offered a lovely view, but was terribly drafty and it took a good fifteen minutes to reach the Great Hall for breakfast. Once they caught a mouse, the two-headed boy found a comfortable spot in some forgotten corner of the Clearwater Library. They waited for nearly two hours. Liam enjoyed the quiet as a chance to read, at least until Kana got fidgety and wanted to read an adventure book for kids instead of Kiara's Kishahn. It wasn't that bad, but the Duhjari boy read at an agonizing pace. Wyrdwood had an nine o' clock curfew for underclassmen. Fourths and fifths, usually, could pass for being a bit older and go hell-raising in the village. Wyrdwood's younger pupils, when caught out and about, were shooed back to their quarters with extreme prejudice. Usually it was upperclassmen who turned in any brazen or stupid enough to really be caught. Cats and homonculi simply have better things to do. When they clocks struck nine and the library cleared, the boys and their caged mouse sprung to action. Liam used a muffling charm to hide their footfalls and Kana promised to shut up.

The corridors of Wyrdwood were a strange thing at night. Without packs of chattering students, it seemed impossibly vast. Their journey from the library to the kitchens marked by tapestries, portraits, and reliefs immortalizing centuries of history and noteworthy donors. A regal, pointy-faced fae seemed to glower at them from behind a frame; nearby a sheepskin was inked to show an old woman engulfing the moon in darkness; a skull wreathed in an ouroboros was carved into the very stone. Above them candelabras bobbed merrily along, enchanted to light the halls at all hours.

The two-headed boy was the first to arrive at the kitchen door, found in an alcove near the Great Hall. "Do you think its true? About the candles being ghosts of kids who couldn't make it?"

"So instead of expelling failures they kill them and make their ghosts carry candles so old teachers don't trip when they piss at night?" Liam rolled his eyes. "Come on. And as long as you're stuck to me you're going to pass."

Finding a poem was a difficult task. At first, Taig had opted to just write one himself, but many scrunched-up balls of paper later, he gave up and went to the library. It wasn't like it said the poem needed to be good, just that he didn't want everyone to know how terrible his poetry was. Walking up to the library, he readied himself and slipped through the doors, attempting to make himself as small as possible as he speed-walked past the desk.

"I haven't seen you here in a while, Taig".
"Crap!"

Glinda Fare, the head librarian of Wyrdwood, had spoken from behind a bookshelf, initially out of Taig's view. "Why haven't you been around lately? Oooooh, that's right, I banned you from coming back until you reimbursed me for those books you burned up. Get out!" That sickeningly sweet tone pissed him off to no end, as did the trail of glittery magic that forced him out rather painfully. "It's not like I destroyed those books on purpose!"

The only other option Taig could think of was raiding some dorms. Entering an empty room at random, he saw that it belonged to Brandon. "Weird kids are always poets". Sure enough, a poem was crumpled up in a drawer, although it was signed with a name that he didn't recognize: "Cathartix". "Probably a quill name". The poem read as follows:

QuoteReality is fickle at its best,
An ever-changing mess when at its worst.
A single spoken word at one's behest,
May leave the fabric of our world dispersed.

What world to live in, magic all around;
The universe like putty in our hands.
We break, we sculpt, we tear, we mold, we pound
Made easy by our power, we demand.

But though our fickle world bends to and fro,
Creation or destruction held aside,
One truth will stand apart of this, aglow,
That in the end, all life will come to die.

No matter what decisions we may make,
No thing is ever "More" or "Less" at stake.

It seemed profound enough. Taig dipped a quill in ink to blot out the name at the bottom and replace it with his own, but then decided against it. "I can tell them I just couldn't be bothered to write one myself."

After curfew passed, Taig hurried to the kitchen to meet the others, poem in hand. After reading it again, he found that he actually rather liked it, even if he wasn't quite sure what "Fickle" meant. Magically padding his feet with rubber to block the noise, he dashed between corridors, being careful not to be seen. Eventually, he found Kaliam waiting. "Hey, I got a poem!", he called out, a fair bit too loudly.

The rest of Susie's classes seemed to blur into each other as the day went on. By dinner, the girl's mind was a panicked haze of what-ifs.

"What if the cook is in the kitchen cleaning up?"

"What if an upperclassman sees us and tells a teacher?"

"What if there's a ward outside our dorms that turns us into hamsters if we try to break curfew?"

"We're gonna get caught. I just know we're gonna get caught."

Finally, after hours of stress, the time had come. Tapping Ellie on the shoulder, the two girls stepped out of their dorm and 8nto the empty hallways...

After what seemed to be an eternity of Ellie dragging Susie by the hand, the two reached the kitchen. "N-nobody saw any of you guys, right?" The redhead said nervously. "Please say yes, I don't wanna get caught!"

"She's been shaking this entire time," Ellie said, rather exasperated about the whole situation.

The girl folded her arms, not even facing the right direction of the others. She furrowed her brows, listening for a moment, then turning to Susie with a slight sneer. "Is that your heartbeat? Never mind. Did you guys get what we needed?"

Liam opened his mouth to shush Taig, but thought better of it. Being an unwanted third wheel did kind of suck. Instead the boy held up the cage, giving the manic creature within a guilty look. "We got it."

"So did you write it yourself, Taig? Are you gonna do magic-knitting next?" Kana gave Taig a wicked grin. "And come on Susie. It will be okay. Remember when we pantsed Aahva? We're still here!" Saying 'we' just felt good. It was really Liam's idea, though Kana had worked up the courage to go and do it. It didn't put much of a stop to Aahva.

"Well, yes, but Aahva..." Liam mumbled, not wanting to be a kill-joy. There was something odd about the Aahva situation. Even Maergath, who hated Thanati and liked to boast about rearranging and then beating to death a degenerate flesh-sculptor, let it slide. Being kicked in their balls and getting a week's detention wasn't quite worth the small victory.

The two headed boy nudged the door to the kitchen. Thank the gods it wasn't locked. The door gave way to Wyrdwood's vast kitchens, still cramped due to a maze of cast iron pots and bunches of herbs dangling from the ceiling. Ena, a local woman, had ran Wyrdwood's kitchens as long as anyone could remember. She despised magical cooking, and took it as a point of pride to feed several hundred students in its absence. She was also swift with a wooden spoon, but had a soft-spot for lonely first-years. One after the other, Taig at the lead, they crept onward. "He's supposed to be at the larder, right?" Liam hissed nervously. He was kind of worried Eleanor might get lost in the dark or trip. It would be kind of weird to take her hand so he decided against it. What if they were caught and expelled and he was stuck to Kana forever?

"My, my. Sneaking out after dark? Do you want what it is that I think you want?" came a smooth voice, oozing with condescension. A black shape with yellow eyes slinked from behind a massive oven, curling into a dignified pose.

"Uh, yeah?" Kanaliam set the cage down, with some hesitation. Poor mouse.

"Go on then. Open the door will you? I do for it for sport, mostly, to keep sharp. Much better quarry than you young Prowlers. I mean, really, not even a simple light-eating hex?" Old Tom scoffed. "I take it you know the rest of my price too? There's some decorum to it."

Taig found Old Tom to be very unsettling. The way he skulked around, black as the night, tail flicking and twitching. He just didn't like cats at all, actually. Still, Old Tom made him distinctly uncomfortable with that voice and his weird gift of speech. When asked for the poem, Taig quickly crouched down and nearly dropped it to the ground, wishing to get as far away from the cat as he could. It wasn't that he was scared, but more that he was distrustful."Will this be good enough?", he asked. "Hey Susie, that was all it said to bring, right?"

"Ummm..."

Susie fumbled through her robe pockets, looking for the slip of paper that had gotten them here. After a few seconds, she began to hyperventilate. "Oh no! I couldn't have forgotten it! It's the most important thing we- oh."

Susie's cheeks flushed as she realised she was literally holding the paper in her hand. "Oh gosh, did they notice? What if they all laugh at me?" 

Clearing her throat in a poor attempt to sound professional, the girl looked over the list. "It says we need the answer to a riddle..." She looked around worriedly. "Wait, were we supposed to have a riddle already? Did you guys bring one so we could answer it? Please say yes, we would've snuck out for nothing..."

Yellow eyes flickered toward Taig's poem with disdain. "A poem is the price, but a reading with theatrical flair would be appreciated. You don't want me sending you down the garbage chute, do you? I don't think the maw of Uuvuuduum bothers to sort living meat from dead meat. It would be useful to know if he did eat lost students, however."

Liam grinned widely, trying his best to hide a laugh at Susie's remarks. He didn't want to be mean. It was just that this was typical Susie. "I think we're supposed to-" Their right arm punched him in the chest. "-ow! I think we're meant to answer one he asks, Susie." Kana gave her a reassuring smile.

"Yes. Its just the answer you need, not the riddle. Though I suppose if you brought a riddle and an answer that would suffice? You really should have considered that." Old Tom purred with delight. "Now then,


As the cat spoke Kanaliam traced their fingers in the air, conjuring forth spectral parchment to record the puzzle. Liam stared at it in consternation. Before the boy could open his mouth Kana grinned. "The Adelan lives in the straw cottage cuz they're too dumb to know their dragons will burn it. The Connlaothian lives in a glass house so Ansar-or-whoever can watch 'em do it without magic. The Essryni lives in a stone house because, uh, deserts. And the Duhjari lives in the wood house because we've got big-" with a muffled cry Kana's and Liam's mouths simply vanished.

"Ah, not quite."

Liam, mouthless, stamped his foot in anger, glowering at the cat.

"One answer per student. And I do believe Kaliam has already had his turn. Perhaps the rest of you would like to consider it more carefully?"

After an awkward pause, it was Taig who stepped forward. "I really hope I don't get my mouth sealed up!" Watching Old Tom carefully, he spoke with as much confidence as he could. "I'll give you your dramatic reading, but I'll need that paper to do it. I can't remember it off the top of my head". He knelt down and gently moved his hand towards the page, stopping short to wait for the cat's permission. He turned his head back to the students and mouthed, "Anyone got a quill?"

Susie squeaked in terror as her friends mouths disappeared. She rocked back and forth, running the riddle through her head. "The answer... the guy from Adela has gotta be in the straw house, right? Which means the Duhjari is in the stone house... the the Connlaothian lives in a glass house because duh, obviously... and that leaves the wood house for the Essyrni guy... That's gotta be it, right?"

Susie opened her mouth to say this, but no words came out. "But what if I'm wrong? What if I lose my mouth forever and I starve? What if I never get to tell Kana that-

Taig's voice inturuppted her thoughts. "Um, uh..." Susie mumbled, digging around her robes for a quill. "N-no, I don't have one..."

Ellie, not aware that her friends' mouths had literally vanished, sneered at Susie for her lack of effort. If Taig and Susie weren't going to take care of it, the girl knew that she would have to step up. I'm pretty sure I already said I hate riddles, she thought to herself, the left corner of her lips tugging downward.

"The Connlaothian is first and lives in a glass cottage. The Adelan is second in a straw cottage. The Duhjari is third in a stone cottage, and the Essyrni is last in a wood cottage."

The girl huffed, crossing her arms and pouting slightly. Just because she hated riddles didn't mean she couldn't figure them out. Unfortunately, she couldn't just summon a quill for Taig out of thin air.

"Correct, miss Klein!" The cat almost sounded cheerful, impressed. "Though you were cutting it fine, I think. If you're to be a magician you must be more daring little Susie. You'll need to be slinging spells left and right, up and down, and at a moment's notice," yellow eyes narrowed at the stammering girl. "You should not hesitate."

There came a sudden gasp for air as Kaliam's mouths returned. "I solved it you know!" Liam, red-faced, had to tell everyone.

"Nah! We got it wrong!" Kana corrected. Liam couldn't help but hide a little smirk. It was nice, being a we, at times. "You can show off later. I wanna see Taig perform." The Duhjari boy grinned wolfishly at their friend, extending Liam's astral quill with a mock flouorish. It would be funny to see him doing girly-stuff like singing and poetry, Kana decided. He could swear his surly friend sometimes sang to himself...

"Ah yes, go on then." Old Tom gingerly nudged the poem scrap toward Taig, as if trying to conceal his lack of opposable thumbs.

"You think familiars can read?" Liam mumbled in the faintest of whispers that only Kana could hear. They'd gotten good at that. It was due as much to hearing as it was simply feeling his other head. Kana hushed him with a smirk.

"Oh, crap, why?" Taig was not happy about this. Poetry recitals were just so... Un-manly! Thinking of all the cool magic that could await him below, he took a slow step forward and grabbed the poem. "Uh..." He could practically feel Kaliam's smile. Pressing his face to his forehead and deciding to just get things done with, he began to read. At first he shocked even himself with how boldly he read, and quickly hushed down to a nigh-incomprehensible mumble. Eventually, at the urging of his own mind (And the fear of having to do it again if he wasn't good enough), Taig began to enunciate more clearly, delivering each line with as much purpose and involvement as he could muster.

As he finished, he wiped his brow. It wasn't really so bad, though the feeling of being judged was certainly uncomfortable. In hindsight, he supposed it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Imagine if he'd had to dance, or maybe even to read it in front of the school! Just the notion made him go a bit red.

"So... That was good enough, right?"

Susie watched with wide eyes as Taig read, awestruck by the boy's prose. As he finished, the girl began to clap softly. "Wow Taig!" she said, grinning. "That was really good! Did you write it yourself?"

Taig didn't know whether to be flattered or embarrassed by Susie's comment. "No, I borrowed it". He refused to say any more on the matter. "So, what happens next?"

"We break, we sculpt, we tear, we mold, we pound," Liam enunciated, nuging Taig playfully. "You sure you didn't write it?"

"It was amazing!" Kana cheered. He didn't really know much about poetry. But it was cool how the words like a song and didn't really make perfect sense but made you feel stuff. And Taig said it and Taig was his friend.

Old Tom stared up at Taig appraisingly. "A curious verse and one I've not heard. "Refreshing it doesn't all end on a rhyme. Pleasing. Its so tedious when it does. And the conceit is a touch gloomy don't you think? But there is some truth to it. For all you can do with magic are you ever really turning the tide against entropy and the End? Hm." The cat nodded for the quartet, or quintet, to follow. They wound through the maze of rusty old pots and barrels of spice until they came upon a door.

Old Tom sat beside it expectantly, waiting until Liam pushed it open. He refused to acknowledge the rather paltry limitation of no thumbs. That opened into a washroom which lead into a room full of musty old aprons, coated in various stains. And in the very corner of that old laundry room a rickety old staircase spiraled down into darkness. The wood was old and bare and some of the slats were missing. "Its not so far as it looks. We used to bring meals through here to some battle mages quartered below. This was when Hogor the Horned was stomping about the Terrin. Its mostly fallen out of use, aside from my amusements. You can use it to get up then down well enough. But do you know where you're going? I don't fancy dead pupils. But our little deal is complete."

"Is there anything we need to-?"

Before Liam could finish Kana rushed them to the edge and peered at the well of darkness. "Aw man! That goes down forever!" he pulled a coin from their pocket it and flicked into the air. "How deep is it?!"

"Its just dark, really. You did bring candles, didn't you?"

Taig paused. "Candles?" The poem hadn't mentioned candles! "So, anyone have an alternative?"

They- they didn't bring candles? But it's so dark... Susie peered down the staircase, shivering.  "G-guys?" she stammered. "I c-changed my mind, I d-don't wanna do this..." The girl backed away, eyes watering. "I'm sorry! I-I promise I wont rat you out!"

With that, the girl would hurry out of the kitchen and back to her dorm, tears flowing down her face. "Kia, I'm such a wuss! They'll never let me live this down!"