Lucky Rabbit

The next day was better than the first. Thaniel’s homeroom worked on the ‘respect’ assignment Augustus had given them, so they were all starting from the beginning with that. Predictably, several of the children complained that they hadn’t done anything, and therefore didn’t deserve to be punished, to which Mr. Rowe replied that it never hurt anyone to think about how to be respectful to others, and had the complainers do twenty pushups. There were no more protests after that.

All of the other classes built on what they’d worked on the day before, and Thaniel showed small but noticeable improvements in all of them. He was even all right with being the Minister of Public Welfare once he found out he actually got to investigate any outbreak of illness, tracking down anyone who might be exposed and making sure they couldn’t spread the disease. It was a Mystery, and he was invested.

At last, however, they came to Small Groups, and since it was another cool but lovely autumn day, they met outside. Lady Frances sat in the same spot she had the day before, straight-backed and perfectly composed. Her sharp brown eyes immediately caught on Isidor, who walked with the others, rather than forging ahead alone. He hadn’t returned to his usual self – not that he was ever a paragon of eloquence and charm – but he wasn’t closed into an Isolation Bubble of his own making, either.

Once again, Lady Frances sent the children off to run three laps around the common area, waiting for them to return while sipping from her gently-steaming teacup. Then, nodding to Abbington and Geraldine, she said, “You may continue practicing with your companions while I speak to Thaniel and Isidor.” The two glanced at each other curiously, but sat down on a nearby bench with Miss Cupcakes and Brook.

Focusing on the two remaining boys, Lady Frances said, “What have you come up with?”

Isidor looked startled to be included, but shrugged and held out a hand. A small, audibly crackling ball of electricity formed in the air, sending up bright sparks that arced to his hair and clothes, making the hair stand up and his clothing cling. He rolled his hand over, and the ball followed the gesture, ending up beneath his palm until it sent a particularly bright zinger that popped off his jacket button, and he shook it loose with a grimace. The ball hung in the air for a few more seconds, then faded away, leaving only the faint scent of ozone.

“Well done,” Lady Frances said, her brows parked firmly next to her hairline. “That was far more control than I would expect of a child your age.”

So she doesn’t know everything, Pandy thought as Isidor flushed.

“I had a good teacher,” he mumbled, and Lady Frances nodded, the eyebrows returning to their designated positions.

“Excellent tutors are sent by Ismara,” she said with great approval. “Most focus on readying their charges to enter school, not to excel in school, much less the life beyond. It is simple laziness, and laziness is the one thing I simply cannot abide.”

Uh oh. It was probably good that she wasn’t going to continue as their teacher, then. While Thaniel wasn’t lazy, he rarely put much energy into anything he wasn’t motivated to do by interest or need. Pandy could already tell that he was going to struggle to do homework or even focus in class when the subject was one he didn’t care about.

Turning to Thaniel, Lady Frances looked expectant, and the boy looked down at Pandy, who was sitting by his feet. “I can’t do anything myself,” he mumbled, clearly still unhappy at the complete lack of Fire in their plans. Pandy could at least have made it look like he’d created a Spark, but there was no way her jumping fifteen feet straight up in the air was anything but… well, her.

Lady Frances just nodded, and Thaniel said, “Bunny, Hop, then Bite.”

They’d already planned this out, and Thaniel stood directly beneath a nice, sturdy tree branch for just this purpose. He stiffened his arm beneath her – the first time they tried this, he wasn’t ready, and Pandy ended up doing an over-powered cartwheel in midair – and Pandy thought,

She hurtled straight up, passing the branch she was aiming for, but managed to get her paws on it as she came back down. Then, opening her jaws as wide as she could, she chomped down on the wood, which splintered and sprayed from the side of her mouth. Fresh sap was surprisingly non-sticky, and tasted a lot like dirty water.

The branch on which she stood let out a loud crack, and Pandy suddenly realized that there were a few things they hadn’t taken into consideration. First, Pandy had terrible luck. Second, the magic was still trying to kill Thaniel, though it didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic about it as it used to be. Third, Thaniel was standing directly beneath a large, now-broken branch.

Lunging toward the partially-severed part of the branch, Pandy buried her teeth into it at the same time she pulled backwards with all of her Strength. Unfortunately, she still only weighed about four pounds, and she wasn’t actually attached to anything. The branch dragged her downward, toward Thaniel, dry leaves poofing into the air.

Isidor yanked Thaniel out of the way, turning to cover the smaller boy with his own body. The branch struck the ground, the hollow sound of wood against stone drawing the attention of everyone within gaping distance. Pandy hit right beside it, then bounced away, tumbling bonelessly until she thunked against the trunk of the tree she’d just mutilated.

-9 LF

-4 LF

-12 LF

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

Pandy thought blearily, ignoring the System’s snarky response. She’d taken a blow to the head at least one of the times she hit, and whatever currently functioned as her brain was Not Happy about it. She cast Minor Heal on herself, then added,

Minor Heal successful.

Thaniel healed for 3 HP.

Minor Heal successful.

Isidor healed for 7 HP.

Minor Heal successful.

Lady Francess Brewer healed for 2 HP.

Well, that was good. Apparently no one else had taken any serious injury from Pandy’s screw-up. Pandy sat up, shaking her head vigorously. She couldn’t see much, since a large branch lay shattered on the walkway directly ahead of her, with clumps of drying leaves still clinging to it, filling in the gaps.

Someone gingerly pushed aside a chunk of fallen foliage. “Well, that was unexpected,” Lady Frances said rather dryly. “Is everyone all right?”

Each of the children circled around the still-trembling twigs. Abbington and Geraldine were entirely unscathed, having been seated too far away for the branch to reach them. Thaniel was pale, but his eyes were shining in a way Pandy recognized. Thaniel had an adventurous streak a mile wide, and as long as he came out of a situation relatively unharmed, he seemed to view it as nothing more than another exciting experience.

Isidor was the one who looked the most disturbed. The boy’s lips were pinched tight, and he frowned as he looked at Thaniel, who only had a few leaves and twigs tangled in his hair. The back of Isidor’s jacket and shirt were torn, however, and a red stain on the exposed edges of the white shirt told Pandy that was where the seven points of healing had gone.

Several more teachers were headed their way by now, along with their Small Groups, all of whom were whispering amongst themselves. Pandy darted into a gap beneath the tree branch and flattened herself against the ground. There was no need to draw attention to herself at the moment. None at all.

Fortunately, Lady Frances took charge, briskly explaining that one of the students had lost control of a spell, but everyone was fine. The teachers looked dubiously at the first-years, who weren’t supposed to be able to do anything that could chop off five-inch-thick branches, then seemed to realize exactly which first-years these were. They nodded and returned to their own students, while Lady Frances had Thaniel and the others move to a different set of benches.

It was as they were doing this that Thaniel realized Pandy wasn’t with him. He halted, digging in his heels as the teacher urged him to come along, and Pandy reluctantly emerged from her hiding place. She’d screwed up, again, and she wouldn’t blame Thaniel if he-

“That was amazing!” Thaniel cried, holding out his arms as he grinned. Pandy Hopped, and he caught her, snuggling her close. Geraldine peered over his shoulder.

“I didn’t know she could do that,” the girl said admiringly. “What else can she bite through?”

Thaniel shrugged, but his eyes sparkled proudly. “I bet she could bite through anything,” he told his friends.

Geraldine giggled. “Carrots, for sure. What about rocks?” She eyed a nearby stone speculatively.

Pandy shook her head at Thaniel. She was certain she could eat rocks, and she’d certainly bitten into worse things, but she didn’t want to. Thaniel gave her a terribly exaggerated wink as he said, “I think that might be too hard. Besides, she’s tired.”

Geraldine’s step hitched, and when she hurried to catch up, she was nodding. “What’d you have to promise her?” she whispered. “I told Miss Cupcakes she could have all of my fish forever and ever.” She shuddered and lowered her voice even further. “Which is fine, because I don’t actually like fish. I just can’t stand how they stare at you.” 

The aforementioned kitten was trotting along just ahead of them, but at this, she gave a Very Satisfied Meow, lifting her head and tail until she was prancing along as gaily as any Merry-go-round horse.

Then, just as they all began to settle onto their new benches, a Dragon attacked. It dove from the sky, brilliant yellow scales glittering in the oblique sunlight, a stream of terrible fire blazing from its gaping maw. Above those flames, its eyes burned red, and silver claws that narrowed to deadly points tipped each toe. Flames, eyes, and claws were all focused on Pandy, where she lay in Thaniel’s arms.

Geraldine screamed, falling to the ground where she huddled with her arms over her head and a furious kitten standing on her back, red flames glimmering from ashen fur, spitting sparks. Abbington raised his arm in the way Sir Harriet had taught him, even though he had no shield. Brook watched, imperturbable as ever, and Lady Frances showed little more reaction, lifting her brows and the fresh teacup she’d removed from her skirts as soon as she sat down.

“Hazel!” a voice snapped, and the Dragon veered off, hissing like a frustrated teapot. It was no more than eighteen inches from nose to tail-tip, but every one of those inches was filled with angry dissatisfaction as it whirled around and winged back to the speaker.

Four children, two elementals, a teacher, and Pandy turned to stare at Professor Beeswick, who was striding down the stony path so quickly that his belted robe billowed out around him. His wings were half-spread, and when he glared at the tiny Dragon, he looked so much like a peeved parent that Pandy would have giggled if she could.

The Dragon – it was definitely a Dragon, not a Skyril, and comparing the two was like comparing a delicate porcelain teacup to a rough clay bowl – settled onto Professor Beeswick’s shoulder. It let out a series of hissing, clicking complaints that caused him to shake his head in disapproval.

“You must still ask politely, dear one,” he told her. Turning to the small group facing him, he bowed slightly and said, “This one asks if any of you have come across a duck. About so big, made of wood.” He measured out its dimensions with his hands. Hazel nodded its head vigorously, then hissed something else, and he sighed. “Yes, and it smells like gold.”

Pandy tilted her head. Why did that sound so familiar? Well, not the smelling like gold part, because what did gold smell like? But hadn’t she seen a wooden duck… Oh! She’d tripped over it, then picked it up, intending to give it to Augustus, but she’d completely forgotten about it in the whirl of events since then.

What was she supposed to do, though? A quick check told her it was in her Inventory, since it had been in her pants pocket when she changed forms, but she couldn’t just produce it from thin air with so many eyes on them.

Seeing that the librarian’s eyes were resting on her, she gave an embarrassed bob of her head, and his shoulders actually slumped in relief, wings settling into a more relaxed pose. Turning to Thaniel, Professor Beeswick held out his hands and said, “Thaniel, may I borrow your rabbit?”

Thaniel looked at Pandy, who nodded, and the boy gave a small sigh as he handed her over. “Have her back in time for dinner, please.”

The two Dragons inclined their heads in agreement, the movements startlingly similar in spite of their wildly different appearances, and Professor Beeswick solemnly accepted Pandy into his embrace.