30 - Attack of the Deskrunners
Watching the deskrunners approach as the students scattered around them, Arielle was the only one who remained calm.
Rava cursed and began shuffling around her body for her wand, and other first years ran to get help even as the ferocious desks growled, their wooden legs stomping the ground with enough force to generate dust.
Arielle was fascinated to hear them make animalistic sounds.
She was even more interested in the spell form around their bodies.
It wasn't similar to the one that Professor Woden had used. There were more Vacu double bonds and a strange signature at the end that Arielle had never seen, but it seemed to be Vacu orbs arranged to make an 'S'.
What did that mean? She hadn't seen it in any of her textbooks, and it was not a common spell form. A rune perhaps?
"Damn it, Arielle," Rava exclaimed as she finally held her wand. "Run!'
Arielle didn't run. Instead, she connected to the weakest of the Vacu bonds at the very end, ready to disintegrate the spell form in one movement.
She hesitated for a second, wondering if Woden would receive the backlash, but Woden was nowhere to be found, and it didn't look anything like his spell, so he probably had not cast it.
She was curious to see who would react to the backlash.
"Arielle, what are you standing there waiting for–"
Arielle visually tugged the orb away, and the spell broke.
She threw up an air shield as well, silently protecting them from the thunderclap that hit the air, shooting around and behind them but stopping just short of the treeline.
While at it, she'd simultaneously erected shields to protect the fleeing students and the lower walls of the buildings, although the backlash didn't really reach that far.
"What...what just happened?" Rava glanced around her, looking for the source of the spell, but there was none to be found.
Her gaze zeroed in on Arielle, who tried to look as innocent as possible. She had been practicing in front of a mirror and thought she'd gotten better at managing her expressions when she lied, but–
"Did you do something?"
Arielle's heart caught in her throat. What should she say now?
There had been a passage in How to Charm Kings about lying. It remarked that the most convincing way to lie was to introduce something called 'strategic avoidance', in which, instead of stating the lie, you made the opponent doubt their own assertions by poking holes in their logic.
"What would I do?" Arielle inquired. "I don't have my wand."
Rava glanced down at her hand as though to confirm, then back at Arielle's face.
"Yes, but..." She sighed. "Why did you just stand there? Why didn't you run? And why did you move your hand like that?"
Even though Arielle had erected the shield with her hand pointed more to the ground, it seemed Rava had noticed.
Arielle chose not to address that question.
"I didn't run because I didn't want to leave you behind," Ari said, which was the truth. With the way Rava had struggled to fish her wand from her robe, the deskrunners could have trampled on her before she could stop them.
Rava's face softened. "Oh, Arielle, you didn't have to do that. It's my job to protect the students, not the other way around. So the next time you see a monster coming, you run, and you don't look back."
Arielle wasn't sure she could abide by those rules, so she said nothing. After all, what was the point of having power if she couldn't help people when they needed it?
"What happened?" Rava and Arielle turned in tandem, witnessing Professor Woden running out of the main building. "I was just in a meeting with the Dean when some students told me that deskrunners are loose."
'"Yes," Rava straightened and pinned him with a look. "This has to stop, Woden. This is the third time your deskrunners have awakened without prompting and attacked someone. No more. You must cease animating them."
"I didn't..." Woden looked entirely confused as he shook his head. "This shouldn't have happened."
"You say that all the time."
"Yes, but the last few times the deskrunners went wild, it was because of excess manalings lingering in the classroom. But I've been very diligent about using the manaling detector to ensure they haven't been around. As a matter of fact, I thought my detector was broken because for the past two days, I barely sensed any manalings at all."
Rava's frown remained, although it dipped in ferocity. "We've had record low manaling exposure for the past weeks."
"Really?" he remarked. "Isn't that odd to you?"
Rava shrugged and sighed. "Woden, why not just ask students to move their desks manually?"
Woden's goggled eyes drifted away from Rava's, and he seemed a little like a child being castigated.
"It makes the class more exciting," he said. "Creatures and Clans is a mostly theoretical class that can be quite dull, thanks to most students not really being interested in the subject matter. I like to find ways to retain their interest."
Rava's features softened even more. "I understand, but you must find a better way. Because once the Dean hears about this, I'm not sure he'll let you cast that spell anymore."
"Yes, he already told me." He ran his hand over his face, then stared at the collapsed desks. "I'm sorry. This is my fault."
Arielle shook her head. She didn't think it had been his fault. Someone else had activated the deskrunners and left a strange signature. But who, or what, had done it?
"What happened here?" Woden said. "How did you stop them?"
"I didn't," Rava said. "They simply stopped on their own."
"How?"
"I believe a spell failed. There was a release of backlash."
"But how would a spell fail if there were just manalings involved? It's not like someone was controlling the spell, the manalings had just mutated the desk form and caused it to react."
"I don't know," Rava said. "Perhaps the Dean can find out."
Professor Woden nodded, and his eyes skipped next to Rava. "Arielle."
"Yes?" she answered.
"Have you been here the whole time?"
"Yes. Why?" Why would he ask her that?
He shook his head. "I must be tired. I just noticed you. Anyway, ladies, I'm sorry about all this. Rest assured, I will not be using that spell again because I'm retiring the deskrunners for good."
Aw.
Arielle was disappointed. She liked the galloping desks when they weren't murderous, and Woden was right. The deskrunners did make the class livelier. She would miss them.
But she supposed that students being murdered by malevolent runaway furniture would put too much of a dent in the institution's reputation.
***
Arielle next saw Professor Woden on the day of their presentation. Woden's energy was quieter than usual, and he didn't crack jokes at the beginning of class, nor did he talk with his usual exuberance when he said, "Alright, today I believe it's Group A's turn to show us their preliminary presentation?"
"Yes," Lacey said, and they all got to their feet, heading to the front of the class.
Lacey did the majority of the talking, giving details of the contradictory stories they'd found. However, he got some facts wrong, so Arielle had to jump in here and there and correct him.
When they were done, Professor Woden asked Lacey, "Who actually did the lion's share of the research?"
Lacey glanced around the group before responding with a bashful laugh. "We all pitched in, Professor."
"Arielle," Professor Woden said. "Did you provide the majority of the information needed for today's presentation?"
Arielle was staring at the professor, so she completely missed the wide-eyed signal Lacey was throwing her.
"Yes, I would say so," she answered honestly, and someone snorted while Woden's frown deepened.
"That's not right, gentlemen. I don't care how you assign the tasks, but everyone must be pulling their own weight, and you all must be able to do the presentation individually, showing that every group member has retained the information. Otherwise, you will all bear the failure. Understand?"
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What?
Arielle's mood soured. What kind of grading system was that?
While she did understand the symmetry of knowledge Woden was going for, she didn't agree with his order. She didn't want someone else's knowledge of the material to be as responsible for her success as she was.
Especially someone who slept every single time they visited the library.
Woden's order meant that, in order to perform well, she had to take responsibility for all the boys and make sure they knew all the facts about the research.
That would be stressful.
Perhaps there's a spell that could help.
"I'm still waiting for an answer."
"Yes, professor." It was Lacey who responded. "We understand."
"Good. Now, Arielle, since you're the one who did the work, tell me. What do you plan to do now that you've found so much contradictory information about the Unmaker and his disciples?"
"Well," Arielle cleared her throat. "I planned on tracking down the origins of the story and talking to sources to ascertain whether or not they're lying."
Woden gave her a puzzled look. "Most of the sources are long dead."
Airelly paused and blinked. "Well, that's inconvenient."
For some reason, that made quite a few students in class laugh, and even Woden cracked a smile. Woden said that they would arrange a visit to one of the temples soon to look at the statues and perhaps even visit ancient sites. That was as close to the source as they could get.
After class, she wanted to approach Woden to ask him about Vacu, but he already scurried off while saying over his shoulder that she should meet him during his office hours.
Arielle ate lunch with the boys, and there was an unusual silence she did not notice at first, her mind too busy with other things.
At least until Cuthbert cleared his throat loudly.
"You didn't have to make us look bad, Arielle," Cuthbert said.
Arielle stared at him. "When did I do that?"
"By telling the professor that we didn't do any of the work."
"I didn't say that. He asked me if I did the majority of the research, and I told him the truth."
"Thereby making us look like lazy bums," Cedric said heatedly, his eyes sparking.
Arielle's eyebrow narrowed. She was getting frustrated because she couldn't understand how answering a question the professor asked had made them so offended.
Cuthbert opened his mouth to say something else.
"That's enough," Riorke stepped in, speaking around a mouthful of breadrolls.
"Yeah, it's not like she lied," Lacey added as he stirred his soup. "Although, Arielle, you could be a little more tactful next time."
Next time, what? What did she need tact for?
Arielle didn't know what to say. She was still feeling a little upset at the accusatory looks Cuthbert and Cedric were sending her. Godfrey continued to eat his food silently, but Arielle still felt uncomfortable, and she wanted to move.
Then she recalled what How To Charm Kings had said about resolving court conflict:
Sometimes, it's important to soothe without attributing blame, de-escalating, and acknowledging partial fault, while still adhering to your truth.
Arielle took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if you were hurt by my answer. It was not my intention to malign you or offend you."
"You don't have to apologize, Arielle," Lacey said, then he sent a glare at Cuthbert and Cedric, who began looking uncomfortable.
"It's okay," Cedric said. "You didn't lie anyway."
"We're sorry for being angry," Cuthbert concurred, though he grumbled under his breath while he did it.
"It's okay," she said and went back to her food, feeling triumphant that she'd been able to de-escalate that situation without saying something that would make everyone hate her.
Another crisis solved by the great writer of How to Charm Kings and Enchant the Court.
The book's advice seemed to work on most except Lyra.
Overall, Arielle was getting used to life on campus. It will probably take her some time to truly adjust and not feel distinctly uncomfortable with everything from the soft pillows to the lack of swamp air.
But she'd already established new routines that would help her feel more at home.
They had taken to giving her the same breakfast every morning, which was a nice bit of consistency to her day.
Her new business venture was off to a good start, too. She'd already made about ten silver alone in the last week, and if not for her placed essence limits, she would have doubled that. It seemed every day now, Maus was approaching her with someone else who wanted a charm, but Ari would always tell him she could only sell a few a week.
Maus had questioned her about the artificially imposed limit once, but when she'd responded with "I'd rather not say," he took that at face value.
"Why didn't they come to me directly?"Arielle wondered as she walked with Maus to her room. "The clients always go through you."
"They're too intimidated by you."
"Why?"
"Because you're very intimidating."
"Oh." She turned that over in her mind, wondering what to do with this information. "I wasn't aware."
Maus shrugged. "Well, now you are."
Arielle and Maus separated in the corridor, with him moving along and her heading into her room to drop the silver coins he'd just given her into her small savings box. Once she was done, she resealed the box with [Warden Seal] for safekeeping.
Then she went back to reading.
The consensus by the end of that week was that her charms were fantastic. Clients told Maus about how they felt like they could cast spells they hadn't cast before. The charm was active for about a day, and the effect lingered even afterward. Some wanted to buy two at a time, but Arielle refused. Only once a week for each person.
She was an honest, ethical businesswoman.
Her client base grew rapidly over the next week.
The next time, she was approached by second years. Once again, they didn't go to her directly; they went through Maus, turning him into a middleman. Arielle wondered if she should offer him a fee, but when she tried, he shook his head.
"Instead of that," he said as they walked across the lawn. "Can you train me?"
"You want me to train you?"
He nodded and looked down at his hands. "I thought...I didn't think there was any way I could make it past severance. I thought that would be it for me, but then, with your help, I feel more powerful and even beat Faulkey. I've been meditating more and trying to learn on my own, but it was a lot better when you trained me."
She thought about it. "I'm not sure I'll have time."
His face fell. "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" she asked.
"Because I assumed...I thought...I wasn't supposed to be thinking."
"What did you think?"
"Nothing."
He was about to walk away, but she said, "I don't like it when people aren't clear with me. It's extremely frustrating to have to figure out intent without being told explicitly. Just tell me what you mean."
He flinched as though she'd slapped him, sealing his lips even tighter.
She wondered if he needed space, but decided that she wanted honesty more.
"Fine. Then I will tell you what I think, and you will tell me if it's accurate. You're upset, correct?"
"I'm not upset," he responded, even though his face reddened and his expression was tight.
Arielle silently activated [Empath Sense], and it showed a weeping visage superimposed on Maus' face.
"You're extremely upset," she said. "Don't bother lying to me because I'll know."
"I'm not upset," he said measuredly. "I'm just disappointed."
"Why?"
"Because I foolishly...I assumed we were friends."
"Hmm." Arielle thought about it. She hadn't thought of them as friends, merely business partners.
But if that was the thing that was making him upset...
"Do you want to be friends?"'
His super-imposed face stopped crying, showing confusion. "What?
"If you simply want to be friends, you should have just asked me instead of being upset," she said. "I didn't think you would want to be friends with me."
"Why wouldn't I want to be friends with you?"
"Because I'm strange," Arielle said, "And I make people uncomfortable and upset without knowing."
He nodded. "That is true." Then he seemed to immediately catch himself and said, "No, I mean–"
"It's alright," Arielle said, "You don't have to lie to me, I'm perfectly capable of handling honesty. In fact, I prefer it if we're perfectly honest with each other, since we're running a business now."
"Okay," he swallowed. "In that case, I want you to train me. Please."
She shifted some things together in her mind, seeing how much she could give. She'd slowed down on her spell casting lately, and she needed to craft new spells by next week to show Valeria.
But that would only take her a few hours at a time. "Fine. One hour every Sunday. That's all I can give."
He beamed like she'd offered him gold. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," she said perfunctorily.
The business continued in that vein until, at the end of the week, Arielle was approached by a second-year student and one other boy on her way to the dining hall.
"Arielle Blacksoil," he said
She stopped. "Yes."
"I want to talk to you."
"Okay, but I'm running behind schedule, so if you could make it quick..."
He narrowed his eyes, and she added, "Please."
That only placated him a little bit. "Where did you get those counterfeit charms from?"
"They're not counterfeit, and I got them from Khor Market."
"Vendor name."
"I cannot tell you. He wishes to remain anonymous."
"So it's a man?"
"I cannot confirm or deny that."
She didn't need [Empath Sense] to read the indignation on his face as he loomed over her.
"Arielle, you might not know who I am, but I assure you that I'm one of the last people on this campus that you want to mess with."
"I'm not messing with you."
"Yes, you are, by selling those counterfeit charms."
"They're not counterfeit."
"We'll see about that. I got my hands on one and sent it to the Winthromes. They're having it analyzed right now."
"Okay," Arielle said. She attempted to sidestep him, but he stepped back in her path.
Annoyance pricked her brain. She had so much to do today, she didn't have time for his mockery, or whatever he thought he was doing.
"What do you want from me?" she asked.
"Frankly, I want to teach you a lesson. I find you very disrespectful and arrogant."
"I find you rude." Only rude people blocked the way and then called someone they didn't know disrespectful and arrogant.
He gave what Ari would describe as an angry smile.
"Arielle Blacksoil, I'm not Fiodor Antigones. I'm an adept mage who knows real attack spells. Do you really want a duel?"
"An adept? In Cohort Two?"
"Yes. So that should tell you something."
It did. Actually, now that she knew he was an adept, she was more interested in duelling him.
Arielle used Elric's spell to silently call forth his preliminary stats.
Creature Type: Human Mage
Level: 102
Oh, so barely an adept. Still, he was the most technically skilled person she'd been challenged by so far. She wanted to try out some new spells.
"Is it allowed for us to duel?" she asked.
"As long as I don't seriously injure you," he said. "And believe me, I have too much honor to do that, but if you keep provoking me, I will teach you a lesson that–"
"Fine, you've convinced me." She didn't have time for any long speeches. "Let's go."
"Go where?"
"To the duelling hall. You wanted a duel, right?"
She read his confusion. "Are you crazy?"
"No. I'm very busy, but I can give you two, maybe three minutes."