"Try not to get into too much trouble this time. Just try. Do you think you can manage that this time?"
They were the first words out of Professor Cain Syrrus's mouth as he and Pepper approached the gates of Airelos University, the elderly man sat atop his chestnut gelding while Pepper awkwardly rode atop an older tawny mare. She had learned to ride while traveling with Cain, but she was convinced it would never feel natural--and she was still scared to death of the blasted horse no matter how gentle Cain assured her she was. Somehow, though, she had survived the trip from Moonspear to Darken Vei.
Now she just had to survive their stay there.
She was still, technically, serving out a previous punishment in response to a much earlier offense at her own University back in Arca: work for Cain for a month doing boring menial work or whatever. She had served only a portion of her suspension before things had...gone to hell in a hand basket, to say the least. Trusting a wolf, nearly getting sold as a slave. She had been allowed to recover back at the University for a time, but they hadn't forgotten her sentence, much to her dismay.
She had hoped they would, but...here she was. Cain wanted to study and translate some dusty old scrolls the University had here, and she was to be his scribe. Ughhhh...
Pepper scoffed and adjusted her large, floppy hat, setting it at a jaunty angle. "Don't worry so much, old man," she said. "I toldja, I've changed. I'm better now. Wiser and stuff. Lessons learned an' all that." She rolled her shoulders back and grinned. "Ain't gotten in a fight in a whole month!"
Cain arched a bushy brow, and Pepper pulled the brim of her hat down over her eyes, the jaunty look gone. "Oh c'moooon, man. Pushin' Arianna don't count if she pushed me first, 'kay? Weren't MY fault she fell in horse shit. Not like I was aimin' fer it."
"You were."
"Not," Pepper shot back with a frown. Cain's Disappointed Dad look made her reconsider, shoulders hunching. "Okay, maybe just a little 'cause it was there. Stupid floozy deserved it."
"Pepper..."
"I'm kiddin', I'm kiddin'! Cross my heart, Cain, ya got nothin' to worry about. I'll be on my best behavior, promise."
—
They had arrived around dinner time, so Pepper was excused from work and allowed to settle. She was shown her room, given a rundown of the layout, and then she had the evening free to herself.
It had gone well at first.
Then came dinner in the mess hall.
Naturally, the students here were curious about a new student who spoke and dressed differently from them. Pepper always preferred baggy robes that hid her figure and she spoke like an uneducated urchin, so she was used to being a tempting target, especially for the privileged, insecure sorts that were all obsessed with hierarchy.
What these sorts never expected was a target that was fully prepared to fight back and fight dirty.
She didn't start it. She had been eating her stew peacefully by herself, brooding over all the boring busy work she just knew was waiting for her tomorrow, when some idiot boy came up and knocked her hat off her head.
"Hey!"
Pepper bristled, twisting in her seat and glaring daggers up at the too-pretty fop smirking down at her. Right. Best behavior. With a huff, Pepper reached down to pick it back up, but the guy stepped on it before she could. "I'm doing you a favor, dummy," he said, "No one's worn that style in like ten years. Leave it."
"Don't care," Pepper grit out, and tugged at it. "Step off."
"Like I said, I'm doing you a favor. You stand out enough as it is, newbie. You're only making yourself a target. Besides, you look better without it."
"Don't care," Pepper repeated, but stopped tugging because she didn't want to tear it. "Move."
"You'd look even prettier with a smile," he added, and Pepper felt her blood rush to her cheeks—not in a flustered blush, but an angry one. Her glare hardened and she bared her teeth in a grimace, the closest thing to a smile he was getting. "Aw, c'mon, don't be like that, honey. You know, I'm kind of a big deal around here—" He ground his boot into her hat as he spoke. "—so it's best you learn your place early, see. Now, why don't you give me a smile—"
He had started to touch her face. The instant his fingers brushed her chin, all bets were off.
"Don't fuckin' touch me!" She kicked him. Hard. Right between the legs. With a howl he went down as she bolted from her chair, but she didn't get far. He grabbed her ankle and she toppled with a yelp.
Everything after that was a bit of a blur.
She didn't mean to get into a fight on her first day there, and yet somehow she found herself rolling on the ground with that asshole, nose and lip bloody where he'd punched her, but his eye was already swollen shut and darkening fast from her own blow. At first, with his nuts no doubt aching, it had seemed she had the upper hand—but then he got her beneath him and straddled her, and punched her in the face, and she thought, okay, maybe she had escalated things a little too quickly.
Well. Shit.
Cain was gonna kill her for sure if this guy didn't.
