Lucky Rabbit

The third bedroom was a treasure trove of broken items, including a shattered mirror whose pieces had been swept under the sheet covering it. With what she harvested from that and the other two empty rooms, Pandy was easily able to finish fixing Isidor’s room, as well as the hall itself, which she realized was almost as important. It wouldn’t do for the kids to get splinters walking through their own house.

She found herself stymied on the bathroom, which required ‘8 Porcelain’ to fix. Where was she supposed to get…? Ah, the kitchen! Though first she popped over to the sitting room off the master bedroom and cleaned up the broken murder-teapot by passing the book over the pieces. This made her a bit nervous, because she was afraid the book might grab the floorboards as well, but apparently there was some level of intention behind it, because the shards of the pot vanished, leaving behind slightly singed but otherwise intact boards.

Dropping back into the bathroom told her she now needed only seven units of porcelain, so one teapot was actually pretty effective. Down the stairs she went, making her way into the kitchen, then the pantry, and finally the servants’ quarters, disappearing anything that looked useful. In went old, rusted pots, a broken sink, and several burst barrels of beans and barley – which she only recognized because of the labels, because all that was left was moldy, insect-infested dust.

The best find, however, was a barrel that someone had used as a trashcan at some point. Besides the wood and metal of the barrel itself, inside were bent utensils, broken dishes, and all kinds of things she didn’t want to look at too closely. The book refused to take some of the organic parts of that, including what were definitely bones – nonhuman, she thought, and she was going to continue thinking that no matter what she saw to the contrary – but when she went back upstairs, she was able to repair the bathroom without difficulty.

Of course, when she turned on the faucet, her freshly-repaired wall immediately grew wet and then cracked beneath the force of the water coming from a broken pipe, at which point she was offered the opportunity to repair the house’s plumbing for the low, low price of one hundred and eighty-three Metal. They’d have to bring water in from outside the house until she could find the material she needed, though. At least they had plumbing in this world, because she didn’t even want to think about having to deal with children and chamber-pots for the rest of her unlife.

She took a quick look at what was technically ‘her’ room, the master bedroom, and discovered that it was in almost as good a condition as the office, no repairs needed. There was a master bath off of it – from whence the watery horrors had emerged – but other than a quick peek through her fingers, Pandy didn’t enter. It didn’t look too bad, but there was a curtain drawn around the bathtub, and nothing was going to make her pull that aside. Not today, anyway.

Downstairs, she managed to fix up the kitchen after unearthing some broken statuary from the yard to fulfill the demand for five Marble. At first she’d thought it literally meant marbles, as in the round glass objects people were always claiming she’d lost, which felt a bit like a personal attack, but fortunately she figured it out, and there were a few headless stone ladies lurking in the back.

That took care of the bare minimum, and she still had about fourteen hundred gold left. Presumably, she also had some extra wood and maybe metal as well, but she couldn’t find an Inventory or Storage function in the book, so she had no idea what she might have left over after her debris-clearing spree. Still, she ducked into all of the downstairs rooms she could easily reach and put anything ‘extra’ into the book. That made the place look far less cluttered, and also reduced the risk that she was going to give tetanus to the princess of the realm.

Since the water wasn’t working yet, Pandy didn’t bother fixing the two downstairs bathrooms – three if you counted the tiny one in the servants’ quarters – and instead yielded to temptation and ventured into the atrium. It was… not what she’d hoped, but also not what she’d been afraid of. It had become another repository for trash, so she was able to send more materials into the book, and none of the windows were broken, other than a long crack in a pane with a tree branch pressed directly against it. The branch bent up and away from the pane, wood yielding almost entirely to glass, rather than the other way around, which once again raised the question of what people in this world used to make window panes.

Tapping the page on the book displaying the atrium, Pandy said, “All right, what do you want to fix this?”

ATRIUM – Enchantments x2 [Shelter, Calm]

Physical condition: 61%

Cost to repair: 288 G/12 Wood/6 Metal/5 Vitrine

Magical Condition: 52% 

Cost to Repair: 96 LF/384 Mana/192 CP

Pandy grimaced at the numbers, but she probably had a name for the nifty all-but-unbreakable material used for the windows now. Vitrine could refer to something else, but this was the first room with damaged glass, and also the first time she’d run into the word, so she was willing to tentatively conclude that the two were related.

“So much for that,” she mumbled. “I guess I’ll have to order metal and ‘vitrine’ from whoever sells it.” She looked out the window as a sudden thought struck her. “Unless I can go gather it out there?”

Pandy pressed her face to the glass, looking down at what she could see of the yard, gate, and the street in front of the house. That yard definitely wasn’t interested in being a good neighbor, and she’d have to do something about that eventually, but for right now she was curious about how far away the book’s influence reached. It would be handy if she could take it to the lumberyards, or wherever wood was sold, and just feed material into the book directly, rather than paying for delivery. Somehow she didn’t think it was going to be that easy, but it was worth a shot.

Done for the moment, Pandy tried closing the book, curious if it would go poof the way it had when she dropped it. It stayed in her hand, however, as she carried it back to the office and sat at the desk. It had been a busy day already, and while she didn’t get tired, she could feel overwhelmed, and this day was definitely on the verge of overwhelming her. She was also pushing the amount of time she had to spend as a human, and she still needed to talk to the kids and maybe order some food, if that was a thing in this world.

As she laid the book down, she realized she’d forgotten one more thing in the rush of activity. Sitting on one of the chairs by the windows, where she’d absentmindedly placed it while examining the stained glass windows, was the box from Professor Beeswick. Somehow it didn’t seem like a good idea to let that wait any longer, so she went over and picked it up, returning to the desk and sitting down as she considered it. 

They didn’t seem to have cardboard in this world, so containers were made of wood or just wrapped paper or cloth. This was a lightweight wooden box, tied with a piece of twine that glittered as she tugged on it. Squinting, she realized there was a single fine golden wire running through the little rope. Was that a Dragon thing?

As soon as she removed the string, the lid popped off, tumbling to the floor. A cloth bag lay inside, with a folded piece of paper lying on top of it. Pandy plucked out the page and opened it.

Pandora,

Augustus has conveyed your interest in sponsoring Isidor through Kestrel and, presumably, Condor. An admirable impulse. A ruinously impractical one, of course, but admirable nonetheless. By coincidence, I find myself facing a dilemma of my own, and it occurs to me that our respective difficulties may be persuaded to cancel one another out.

Having met my protege, Hazel, I’m certain you noticed that she is quite spirited. Curious. Inclined toward enthusiasm where caution might be more advisable. She needs to spend time interacting with humans without being at risk of contracting one, and this necessitates a setting I am regrettably unable to provide. Your household, lacking any resident Air mages – a rarity among noble houses in Knightfell – presents a possible solution.

This is what I propose:  so long as Hazel resides under your roof and remains uncontracted, I shall assume responsibility for all fees and supplies required for Isidor’s education. Should Hazel decide she no longer wishes to remain with you, or should she choose to bind herself to an Air elementalist, our agreement will conclude.

Respectfully,

Elarion Beeswick

Beside the name was what looked like a circle of melted gold, with a bit of something dark burned into the center of it. Strangely, when Pandy gingerly touched the puddled metal, it still felt a bit warm, even though it must have been placed there hours ago.

Pandy let the folded top half of the sheet flop forward as she thought about it. On the one hand, it seemed almost too good to be true – she knew sending a child through the noble academies was expensive, simply because Clara’s family had so much difficulty doing so. It would be wonderful to know that Isidor’s education was taken care of, even if only until Pandy could find a better way to make money. She hadn’t told the Dragon and the chancellor absolutely every detail about Gacha Love, after all.

On the other hand, Hazel was a handful. The little elemental was dangerous enough with just her teeth and claws – though her size made it unlikely she could do serious harm to any of the children, at least not before their own elementals could act to protect them – but there was nothing quiet or inconspicuous about her. If people really were going to be popping by Pandy’s new home on any kind of regular basis, there’d be no way to hide her.

Pandy could understand why Professor Beeswick wanted Hazel as far from Air elementalists as possible, at least until she was old enough to choose a good person to form a contract with, but why here, and why now? The little Dragon had been with Beeswick for longer than Pandy had been alive, and now he wanted to send her off to the draconic version of boarding school?

Still, Pandy had promised she’d make sure Isidor could go to school, and she was determined to keep that promise. If she had to add another elemental to the rather eclectic group she’d already invited in order to do so, well… the more the merrier.

With a sigh, she folded the paper back up and pulled out one of the desk drawers, preparing to tuck it away. As she did, she saw a few more words written rather less neatly across the back.

P.S. Give her food and the duck.

Duck? Pandy looked down at the other object in the box. It was wrapped in white fabric that Pandy recognized now that she was examining it more closely. It was definitely Aetherbane – the stiff, woven material that Augustus said could disrupt magic. Pandy laid the letter on the desk and ignored the tingling in her fingers as she opened the bundle, revealing a darker fabric on the inside of the Aetherbane, and, as she’d expected, a small, wooden duck with toothmarks all along its wings.

As soon as the duck was exposed to the air, Pandy felt a shiver run down her back. If she was in her rabbit form, she suspected her whiskers would be quivering. A sharp crack came from the office windows, and Pandy spun around, jumping up from the chair to dash over so she could peer out through the clear section of glass. She scrabbled at the latch holding one of the bottom panels closed, and managed to push the pane upwards just in time to prevent Hazel from running into it again. The miniature Dragon was a bit wobbly as she flew over to the desk, landing with more of a plop than a glide. She shook her yellow-scaled head and lurched for the duck.

“No!” Pandy cried, and lunged back across the room, yanking the box away just before the tiny toes touched it. Hazel hissed furiously at her, and Pandy pushed the Aetherbane out of the way so she could remove the duck from its packaging. What had the older Dragon been doing when he used something so dangerous to conceal Hazel’s favorite toy? Though to be fair, Pandy suspected she’d been meant to open the box at least a few hours ago, so Hazel had probably been working herself up for quite a while.

“Here,” Pandy said to the dragonling, proffering the duck. Hazel snatched it away, and Pandy quickly replaced the lid on the box and shoved it into the open drawer. She’d have to tuck it away in one of the hidden spaces in Avington House, if only so no one else accidentally touched it.

Hazel wrapped her long, sinuous body around the duck, already gnawing at a wing, though she was as careful as ever not to do any real damage to her precious toy. Pandy watched for a moment, bemused more than anything, before the door was flung open with such enthusiasm that it banged against the wall.

Nox stood there, though he was barely recognizable as the stiff and proper butler. Instead, he was a black shadow in grayscale clothing, eyes and mouth more pits of darkness than actual orifices. “Whoooo?” he demanded. “Whoooo daaares-”

His eyepits landed on Hazel, who had her wings spread and teeth bared as she glared back at the Apparition. Nox’s mouth stretched into an impossibly long ‘O’, though Pandy wasn’t sure if the expression was driven by shock or fury. She stepped between the two elementals, only realizing that that might not have been a good choice when she felt little needles sink into the flesh of her back, scaling her like a tree. Hazel perched on her shoulder, hissing at Nox.

Wincing, Pandy said, “This is Hazel. She’s going to be staying with us for a while.” Quite a while, if Pandy had anything to say about it, because the idea of Professor Beeswick paying for Isidor’s tuition was growing on her more with every trickle of blood flowing down her back. Not that Pandy would turn Hazel against the older Dragon, but she could teach her a few bad habits that would definitely make Beeswick regret his life choices.

Nox’s face solidified into something almost human, though he still had craters in place of eyes and mouth. Those pools of pitch darkness turned to look at the open window. “Youuuu let her iiiinnnn?”

Pandy nodded. “I did. Was that… wrong?”

Even the butler’s teeth were black, and he bared them as he said, “Avington House is saaaafe, even now, unless you inviiite in the danger.”

Huh. Did that mean the house was like Falconet, and no elementals could get in unless they were allowed? But Pandy herself was technically an elemental, as were Tempest and Lord Winston. She supposed they had all been invited, however – Pandy by M. Piers, and the others by Pandy.

Drawing herself up, Pandy said, “Well, Hazel’s not dangerous,” for some definition of danger, “and she’s part of the family for the foreseeable future.”

Something shifted. A ripple, a breeze that went through the room, then shook the whole house. Hazel and Nox both stiffened, though the Dragon seemed confused, like a cat who’d just been squirted with water, while Nox’s incorporeal shoulders sagged.

“So be it,” he said, and Pandy wondered what had just happened and how it would come back to bite her later.