Idyllic Tutor (DragonSong)

[Pips]

@DragonSong

It had been a month since the semester started and Sainav already had something the school wanted him to do: tutor Laeni, a newcomer whose talents also had something to do with Healing. For once, it was not that bad; he liked helping people, and they had some classes together, but they never had a chance - or a reason - to talk to each other. Now they would have plenty.

He was just on his way to his after class studies, searching for a good place to sit in the school's library, when she saw her sitting alone in one of the tables, fitting perfectly the description the cook-student received: "outstandingly innocuous, with a side of shy but a sprinkle of attractiveness". Not in these exact words, but close enough.

He approached her table, trying not to startle the girl. "It's not often you get someone wanting to talk in a library", he thought. Once he was close enough, he tapped the table twice, calling for her attention, and said, as quiet as he could:

- Excuse me, are you Laeni? - it was less a question than it was a statement - I'm Sainav Frage, assigned to be your peer tutor for now.

He offered his hand to her, expecting a handshake, but retracted after a few moments, embarrassed. It was automatic: meet a new person, shake their hand. However, he somehow felt it would do more harm than good, her being a shy person, him being a complete stranger.

[DragonSong]

Rey sensed the newcomer before she did, lifting his head from where he'd been dozing with it in her lap and swiveling his ears around toward the stranger. A hint of a warning growl rumbled in the strange cat's throat, but it subsided quickly. Evidently he didn't think the other student was a threat.

Laeni lifted her head just a moment after her familiar, quickly shutting the book she'd been skimming while she waited to meet her tutor.

She winced internally. Tutor. Barely here a month and already she was apparently so far behind that the staff thought she needed the extra help.

...No one had actually said that to her, of course, but she couldn't help thinking it.

"Oh, um, yes." She reached for his hand instinctively, but he was already pulling it back, leaving her blushing and floundering for a moment before she retracted her own hand. "I'm--I'm Laeni. It's nice to meet you, Sainav. Officially, I mean."

[Pips]

He observed her hand, failing to meet his own for a proper handshake. It was not in his intentions to make a fool of her, specially in such childish manner.


- Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... - he frowned, clearly regretting a choice he thought would be helpful. His voice then brightened slightly and his face was mostly his wide, sincere smile - Hah, I guess I owe you a handshake, then! Ask it anytime you want. Or need.


That animal on her lap, though... He had only seen such beautiful beings in his time studying in fae settlements, and even so most of what he had seen could hardly compete with Rey.


- Such beauty... - he muttered in rusty, mispronounced fey dialect, his eyes lost in the patterns that covered the animal's body. - Is her your sister?

[DragonSong]

Rey tilted his head at the stranger, evidently equally curious, though a bit more sedate and austere.

Laeni smiled, reaching down to stroke the animal's head and earning a soft, rumbling purr. "Rey is my...familiar. Sort of," she replied, glancing up at Sainav again. "He can be a little...aloof, but he's really very sweet," she enthused, some of her shyness seeming to fade away as she spoke about the large cat.

[Pips]

When Laeni started talking, Sainav's eyes blinked as if breaking free from a trance. He was not talking to her when he asked about their possible sibling status, and that made him feel bad for getting so easily lost with pretty creatures.

- It's okay to be shy, really. You're new here, so it's only natural for you two to be wary. - he smiled again, now looking at the right person. - Speaking of new... How's Wyrdwood treating you? I mean... I was appointed to be your tutor, but I don't actually know why.

[DragonSong]

"O-oh, um..." Laeni flushed a bit and ducked her eyes again. Her hand stroked rhythmically over Rey's back. "Well, it's...I mean, it's all very new, but I'm—I'm mostly doing alright?"

She hadn't meant for it to be a question, but it came out that way. She cleared her throat and shook her head. "To be perfectly honest I'm not entirely sure why you were picked to tutor me either," she confessed in a rush. "I assume there was a reason it was you, specifically, though."

[Pips]

Sainav didn't expect her to react the way she did, with the intensity she did. Of course there was a reason for him to be appointed her tutor. He knew she was new, he knew she had something to do with his preferred field. He didn't want to avoid the matter no longer, although not knowing why he did it in the first place.

- I hope you keep doing well! And... - he paused, carefully picking his words not to provoke any more uneasiness - Oh! My "area of expertise" is Healing. - his air quotes were exaggerated to the point of being comical - I suppose your abilities have something to do with that? I mean... They do, right? I didn't get the name wrong on my way here?

He tried his best to transpire confidence, but a more keen eye would perceive hints of agitation. It was hard to talk to people when neither side needed something immediately and the subject was not cooking related.

[DragonSong]

"Oh! Well, ah...yes?" She cleared her throat. "I mean, yes. Yes, it is."

Her cheeks were flushed again, and she was seemingly unable to meet his eyes. She hated talking about her magic--if that was really even the right word for it. No one had told her otherwise since she'd gotten here, but she couldn't help feeling like her "abilities" were just...just something darker.

So she gave the bare minimum: "My, ah, my academic adviser says that I have a natural aptitude for chi manipulation," she told him as though reciting by rote--which she was, really.

[Pips]

Pauses. Hesitation. Flushed cheeks. Sainav could almost taste her anxiety as she answered his question. The only one he would allow to be nervous in this situation was himself, so a small trick he learned with the Fey and applied to his food would be also useful now.

His left index finger, before idly resting on the desk, started moving slowly, and by tracking its movements one could figure a sigil that symbolized a campfire, the drawing finished as the girl stopped talking.

- Does talking about your talents make you nervous? - he speaked not as a tutor, but more as someone you would sit with every so often to hear fairytales from - You need not be. Every magic has its hindrances and oddities. - a smell, the feeling of home, came from the now slightly green-lit sigil - I invite you to be at ease, an invite you can accept or decline.

As the last word came out of his mouth, so too came into fruition his spell: "Comfort". The fact that it was magic, it was Glamour, and it wanted to make her feel a bit more comfortable were clear by the signature of the spell, its effects limited by the invite he made. He didn't want any more information she wouldn't otherwise share, but he also didn't want her chair to be harder on her back than usual. His hands were sweaty and muscles tense, as if he had just carried an entire section of spellbooks across the building in a hurry.

[DragonSong]

Laeni stiffened slightly and at her side Ray began to growl low in his throat, the colorful feathers along his ruff fluffing out to make him look larger.

But then the young woman allowed the magic to wash over her, relaxing her slightly, and her companion subsided easily enough, laying his head in her lap once again and narrowing his eyes to contented slits. Though it hadn't been entirely conscious, Laeni was good at recognizing magic that affected one's physiology in the way an emotional Glamour would, and as it wasn't precisely dangerous she hadn't felt the need to fight it.

"That was...odd," she noted slowly, looking up at Sainav with something new in her eyes. Something very like a strange, wary sort of admiration.

[Pips]

Sainav coughed three times, covering his mouth with the inside of his elbow, while the girl reacted to his magic. His lungs were much better than when he first started, but in the last month he had only cast spells in class, so no doubt he would react that adversely to it.

- I'm sorry for doing that... - he looked at where the spell sigil was, now only normal wood, then returning his gaze to Laeni's face - It was just a trick I learned a while ago, and as you may have noticed it drains my body directly. This is what "hindrances and oddities" referred to.

[DragonSong]

"Oh!" Seemingly ignoring his apology, Laeni got to her feet and moved around the table toward him as he coughed. "Here, you should sit," she urged quietly, instinctively reaching out toward him as though to brace his arm.

and she froze. Her hand hovered in the air for a moment, then her fingers curled in tight toward her palm and she dropped her hand back toward her side. Evidently changing her course of action, she pulled out the other chair and gestured toward it with her other hand, eyes downcast again.

"I...appreciate the apology," she murmured after a moment. "I'm not necessarily adverse to a little help easing my mind, but ah...maybe a little warning, next time?" She tried for a small smile.

Behind her, Rey jumped up onto the chair she had vacated, placing his paws on the table and purring away happily.

[Pips]

Laeni was now standing, and Sainav realized he hadn't sat down to speak to her. Her eagerness to help him, barely more than a stranger, brought a wide smile to his face, even after she cancelled one of her actions.

He slowly got down to sitting on the designated chair, letting out an almost silent "thank you", carefully hushed not to interrupt her words. He couldn't help but chuckle as she asked for a warning next time.

- Careful with what you eat then, I am part of this school's kitchen staff! - his expression and tone changed, as playful as he could hope to be in that situation - You can almost always find me there, if you ever need to.

[DragonSong]

"Oh,  um...alright. Thanks." Laeni tried for another smile, even as she attempted to shoo her familiar down off the chair with as much grace as possible.

She wasn't doing a particularly good job of it.

Giving up with a huff of breath, she folded her arms and leaned her hip against the edge of the table instead of futile trying to reclaim her seat. "So, ah...what exactly happens now?" She'd only been told to meet with a peer tutor--instruction beyond that had been vague at best.

[Pips]

"What happens now?" was a good question to someone who did not know clearly what his job was. Sainav knew what a tutor was. How they operated? Not so much. After a few seconds in silence, he grabbed a nearby piece of paper and charcoal stick, probably forgotten by a more careless student, and started writing a list of questions.

- This... - his tongue stuck out of his mouth, his hands stressed by the magic from before and from the effort of making something readable - Should be similar to the questionnaire you had to answer when you entered here, it includes some questions about your general magical knowledge, beliefs on magic and...

He went on describing the questions and how they would be useful for the learning experience and such things. The list covered the front and back of the paper sheet, counting around ten of them, none of them too personal - ...and of course your favorite food. You don't need to answer them now, just... Sometime this week? Where and when exactly is on you, the first years are very busy, I know.

[DragonSong]

Laeni blinked at the paper, then looked up at him, then back down at the sheet again. "Right. Um...right. Thank you. I'll make sure I do this."

She fidgeted in her chair, earning a low, sleepy growl from her familiar as she did. "So is that...all? I'm sorry, I'm not sure really... I don't know what's expected of me?"

Her voice was more of a squeak than anything else, eyes still downcast.

[Pips]

- Well... - he slowly pushed the chair back so he could get up, wincing as the sound of the chair sliding along the floor was too loud to his liking. - We all need to start off somewhere.

He paused, his lips forming a smile as if trying to mimic the spell effect from before without using magical energy. It's hard to know what's expected of you in Wyrdwood, with unclear evaluation methods to fit every way of tapping into the arcane so no student is set back for their unique, innate ways.

- Sometimes not even the one who expects something knows what they're expecting. - his eyes pointed towards Rey, not really knowing where to look. - And we do have a practical class together sometime this week, don't we? It's not like we'll be wasting tutoring time while you fill this paper, so don't worry.

[DragonSong]

"Ah, right. Yes, I think we do..."

She trailed off again, still feeling awkward. Her fingers fiddled with the edge of the paper as she shifted to try to get more onto the seat. Rey didn't budge, and she resigned herself to perching on the edge with a small sigh.

She glanced up at her tutor again, biting her lip. "So, um...you want me to give this back to you in class?"

[Pips]

Sainav looked up, doing some mental calculations on if there would be enough time to fill in the questions he provided. It would be plenty, as there would be two days before they were together again.

- Yes, it would be great, Laeni. - he looked back at her, his voice firm but not in a professorial way, but as if he was certain she would surpass his expectations of her. Or her own expectations of herself. - But now, we should go. It's almost time for dinner!

They waved their goodbyes and went through the rest of the day, living their life as usual. Two days later, they found themselves in the same room yet again, for their "Body Part Healing" class - specializing healing for anatomical efficiency. The teacher, a tall, olive skinned man wearing an azure and white robe exposed a small wood golem, humanoid in form, its left arm colored red and glowing softly.

- You see, students, this will be our subject for your healing capabilities. - the voice was deep, yet calm. Like a lake on a moonless night. - It has a sore arm, and with your knowledge you should be able to fix it. You, you there. Go first. - he pointed to the students, in a general direction.

Sainav scanned the room, searching for the "lucky" chosen, and met eyes with her tutee. He waited for an opportunity to signal her to go, and with a brighter smile than usual, he nonverbally was telling her "Go, you can do it!". The golem would probably react well with her innate capabilities, being one of the bizarre Broken Seal experiments. Not that anyone other than the Magisters and the Broken Seal themselves knew that.

[DragonSong]

Laeni instinctively sank deeper into her seat when the instructor called on her, and she couldn't stop the brief flash of panic that surged through her.

It was surprisingly nice to glance up as she stood and notice Sainav smiling at her encouragingly. She tried to smile back, one hand--as always--resting on Rey's head. She approached the golem warily, glancing from the professor to the magical construct and back again.

It's not a human. It doesn't have the same living energy. This is fine. You'll be fine.

Somehow, repeating it didn't seem to make it true.

Releasing a breath, Laeni knelt in front of the golem and reached out to lay her hand on the "injured" limb. Instantly she felt that power rising up in her chest, leaping to draw in the lifeforce of whatever it came into contact with--

She snapped her hand back and stood jerkily, pale and panting. "I--I'm sorry, I, um...I h-have to go."

Still far too pale, she fled from the classroom, desperately trying to ignore the sound of students whispering and the instructor's voice snapping after her about marks off for absence from class.