“And then I got pulled into a room filled with glowering professors and had to explain everything to them. Then they said they’d talk it over, led me here, and then you showed up.”
Arenya sat on the bench at the far end of the room, Daniel on the ground near the open door. Professor Kazurist sat outside out of sight - he simply nodded when Arenya mentioned she needed the door open if a man was inside with her for Follower rules, and promised he’d do his best not to listen in.
Still, the first few minutes were spent going over information Professor Kazurist likely had already heard, even though he wasn’t on the council. Daniel had insisted on knowing why she was under watch.
Daniel grinned, though it looked a bit forced. “Sounds like the kind of crap I would get into, except I really would have tried to mess with that creep Zander.”
Arenya sighed. “Why are you here, anyway?”
Daniel took the hint and changed the subject. “I was passing through the city because my clan needed me to do some stuff here. Your parents insisted I had to visit you - not that they had to, since I would have anyway.”
“You were talking to my parents?” Arenya wasn’t sure whether she should be concerned or just confused.
“They said they could use some help around the farm now that you were gone, and that normally they’d ask your older friends, uh… I can’t remember their names, but they were funny. Your parents said they called you Tagma or something like that. Anyway, they found me and offered to pay me a bit to tend the trees.”
Arenya groaned, eliciting a chuckle from Daniel. “Mom and Dad knew about the nicknames? The one thing I tried to hide from them. But yes, Bachshesmatz and Tzegas. Anyway, I’m surprised my parents weren’t worried about backlash from other Followers having a demon helping them out.”
“They knew a demon and Follower working together would look weird, but said that nobody they cared about would call them on it.”
“So how are the trees doing?”
Daniel shrugged. “Your parents say they’re doing well, but I don’t know what to look for. They gave me a bunch of apples to bring you, and a letter they made me promise not to read, but the school made me hand in my bag when I entered this building. Once they let you off the hook I can get them to you.”
“You think they’re going to let me off the hook?”
“Of course they are - you don’t do the kind of crap they’re accusing you of. And even if they don’t, what are they gonna do, expel you?”
“They might.” Arenya stared at the floor.
Daniel’s smile faded. “Oh.”
“Not for a first offense, they won’t,” boomed a voice from outside. “Disbarment from being a lab assistant is the worst they could do, and if they try to go that far, I’ll fight it.”
“Didn’t you say you weren’t listening? And are you allowed to tell me that?” Despite her slight annoyance, Arenya couldn’t help but smile at Professor Kazurist’s words.
“I wasn’t, until your friend said ‘expel’. And if I hadn’t been listening, how could I ever answer your second question? No, I am not supposed to tell students what their sentence will be, but this is an exceptional investigation. But since you asked, I will go back to ignoring your words.”
There weren’t many words to ignore for the next minute or two, though, as Arenya sat glumly worrying nonetheless.
“So what do you want me to tell your parents when I get back?”
Arenya started. “I hadn’t, uhh… I hadn’t thought about that. Just tell them I’m doing well in my classes, please. Don’t breathe a word about my getting in trouble or the heavy metal band or -”
The “what?” shouted Daniel.
Professor Kazurist coughed loudly outside - Arenya was pretty sure he’d not been making good on his promise not to listen and needed to mask his own surprise.
Arenya wished there was a mirror in the room, as she wasn’t sure if she’d just gone deathly pale or beet red. “It’s, uhh… Cartalis and I ended up stumbling into a handful of musical students on campus who are into some kind of music called that. I’d never heard of it before. We agreed to help them out with one of their shows and they helped test out my new martial focus in return. I’m not playing with them, of course.” The thought of playing an instrument in the background with them had begun to hold some slight appeal to Arenya, but she could tell that now was not the right time to own up to that.
Daniel sat there, hands covering his mouth. He started to quiver. It took Arenya a moment to realize what was happening.
Arenya bit back a retort and said, “It’s okay, you can laugh.”
“It’s not you, it’s just -” At that moment, Daniel lost it and sprawled on the floor in a fit of giggles. Arenya thanked The One Above that she didn’t need to hold anyone’s skirt down like the last time someone laughed this hard in front of her, though Daniel took a humiliatingly long time to compose himself.
At last, he managed to sit upright. “Just, you know, that’s our kind of music - demons’, I mean. I never in a million years would have thought a straight-laced Follower like you would have had anything to do with it.”
“Me neither,” she admitted. “It was kind of an accident. Just, please don’t tell my parents. I don’t want them worrying I’ve gone apostate.” Arenya shuddered.
“You, apostate? Never.”
Arenya heard footsteps outside, followed by a knock on the doorframe. “Miss Azural, you are to be escorted to the council room for final determinations. Guests are not permitted in during the proceedings.”
Arenya felt immensely thankful that she was saved from explaining anything more to Daniel while Professor Kazurist was within earshot. “We should talk more when this is done,” she said as she stood and smoothed out her skirts. “You can tell me what your clan sent you here for, too.”
Daniel flinched at that. “It’s confidential. I’m not allowed to say any details.”
Arenya frowned. “I… see. Well, I look forward to seeing you when this is done.” If it ends well, she thought to herself as she and Daniel were each escorted in an opposite direction.
A few minutes of quiet hallways later, Arenya found herself back in front of the council. To her surprise, Cartalis and Zander were also there, though the distance between them was too great to talk without shouting. Zander seemed to be holding something, though it could not be seen at this distance. Arenya gave a half-hearted wave to each of them, and received one from Cartalis in return.
"Zander, you may present your evidence."
Zander stepped forward to a table that had been placed nearby. The item he held he gingerly placed upon the table. As he did, Arenya could finally make it out. It was the strange device he had been working on in the lab the day before.
Zander inspected it before flipping some switches. A faint whirring, humming noise resounded throughout the room.
"The device is now on, Sir Dean. Please cast a simple spell. Any will do."
The Dean nodded and muttered some words to himself. A faint ball of light appeared above the palm of his hand. The instant it appeared, the machine began rapidly beeping as faint displays of light appeared across it.
"The mana concentration at this location is... hmm, still calibrating... seventeen point three standard milliunits." Zander pushed the machine slightly to the side. "Seventeen point six here."
Arenya looked confused. Cartalis looked shocked. The Dean nodded, but was clearly impressed - and by the muttering of the other professors, he was not alone.
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Zander flipped another switch and the beeping ceased. He looked straight up at the Dean and said, "As you can see, my mana sensor is able to detect even extremely small perturbations of mana content in the air. Its precision is far better than anything that has been created to date." Arenya could actively hear the self-satisfied smirk in Zander's voice, even though he was facing away from her. "After those two left - " he pointed at Arenya and Cartalis behind himself with his thumb. " - I turned on the machine, and it went totally crazy. The wards in those labs are locked down tight, so I knew there was no way I was detecting something from outside. So I carried it around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, aaaaand, tripwire!"
The playful tone in Zander's voice vanished at once. "The burst of mana from tripping a wire with the device right next to it shorted out one of the main calibrators of the device. That's why it took so long to get the reading. I'll have to remake that part, with extra shielding this time. But hey, it taught me a weakness of the design, so maybe I should be thanking those two!" Zander burst out laughing.
A pit of dread settled in Arenya's stomach. The device was amazing - brilliant, even. Sensing standard milliunits? At that kind of range? Kazurist had gone on and on about how standard units were the standard because they were the only kind big enough to measure, even though most spells released much smaller bursts. While most people could sense when mana was present, machines being able to detect the presence of mana to that level of precision... Kazurist had referred to the idea of measuring highly precise amounts of ambient mana as nothing less than revolutionary.
And she and Cartalis, in a moment of anger, had almost destroyed it in their foolishness. They were the ones who almost committed research sabotage. Not Zander.
The Dean broke the silence after several agonizing moments. “Zander. You may step back. You may remain still while we confer."
The time the Dean and other professors spent conferring was the longest fifteen minutes of Arenya's life. At last, the Dean returned to his podium.
"We have reviewed the evidence. The situation proved to be somewhat multifaceted, leading to a decision to give the ruling to all involved in front of the others.”
The dean stood, followed by the rest of the council. “Cartalis Kelveth, Arenya Azural. The claims against you are found to partially hold. While lab equipment was damaged, there was no intent of such action. Nevertheless, your use of tripwires and other tracking spells for the use in a personal vendetta is a violation of school policy. You have been found guilty of Minor Animosity Towards a Fellow.
"Zander Sulnach. The claims against you are found to partially hold. While your research work was damaged by your peers' recklessness, they have nevertheless met the burden of proof that you have committed misconduct of your own. You greatly exaggerated the degree of the spell cast as well as the danger it posed, as well as insinuating that active malice and destructive intent was at play. There is no evidence that either of the two students were aware of your research, or that they could have had destructive intent. You have been found guilty of Minor Animosity Towards a Fellow."
Arenya covered her mouth, eyes widening. All of them?
“You shall each receive the same punishment: A reading of your offense to the others, and a sincere apology owed to the one you wronged.”
Then, the impossible happened: The Dean smiled. “This is not a typical punishment, but as this situation is highly unusual, we determined that this is appropriate."
Arenya covered her mouth again, but this time to stop from laughing in sheer disbelief.
The smile vanished as quickly as it arrived. "Here are the facts as we have them. Cartalis Kelveth, Arenya Azural, and Zander Sulnach were all permitted to be in the laboratory at the time of the incident. The two parties immediately behaved antagonistically towards each other, and repeatedly assumed the worst possible motivation for all behavior. Cartalis Kelveth and Arenya Azural conspired to place a magical tripwire to determine if Zander Sulnach was to sabotage their work.
“The tripwire was triggered by Zander Sulnach as he investigated the mana source, with no intention of sabotage.”
"Zander Sulnach then proceeded to report the incident to higher authorities. This was an appropriate action, but he grossly exaggerated the magnitude of the spell improperly cast, declaring it to be a banned spell that students may not cast on school grounds. He also accused both Cartalis Kelveth and Arenya Azural of violating policy of being in a disallowed laboratory, despite having been explicitly informed of the former’s granted exception and the latter’s role as assistant. This exaggeration led to a much more complicated investigation and holding of all three involved parties than was initially warranted.
“During our investigation, we found that both Cartalis Kelveth and Arenya Azural were strongly convinced of intent to sabotage, and repeatedly spoke antagonistically of Zander Sulnach. They both clearly assumed the worst justification for his behavior in the laboratory and failed to consider any alternative.”
The dean paused for a moment. One council member began to write notes on a sheet of paper. “Nobody has left this situation looking good, as you can see,” the Dean continued. “Each party shall now be called up. Cartalis Kelveth, please step forward.”
Cartalis was frowning, but Arenya could see the relief in the slight spring in her step as she walked closer to the council. “Accounted for.”
“You acted on suspicion of desire to sabotage without proof. You behaved antagonistically towards Zander Sulnach, and chose to try and resolve the situation yourself instead of through official channels. In so doing, you roped Arenya Azural into your scheme and damaged sensitive research equipment. Do you confess?”
Arenya could only see the back of Cartalis’ head from here, but she could still tell her eyes narowed.
“That was a prompt, not a question,” said The Dean.
“I confess.”
“Cartalis Kelveth, please step back. Arenya Azural, please step forward.”
Even though the worst of the danger was past, Arenya still felt a bit of sweat down her spine, her heart begin to beat faster, and her knees shake a bit as she took her first step forward. The slight smile Cartalis gave her when they locked eyes passing each other helped steady her. “A-accounted for.”
“You acted on suspicion of desire to sabotage without proof. You supported another’s intention to subvert our official channels and take the rules into your own hands. You acted antagonistically toward Zander Sulnach. Do you confess?”
“I confess.” Arenya dimly noted that the one council member had just finished writing, but held onto the note.
“Arenya Azural, please step back. Zander Sulnach, please step forward.”
Zander seemed the most confident of all of them. He strode to the front of the room with ease and seemed to be smiling as he and Arenya passed. “I’m here.”
“You behaved antagonistically towards Arenya Azural and Cartalis Kelveth. When reporting their rule violation, you greatly exaggerated the magnitude and invented the violation that they were not permitted in the labs, with the intention of worsening their punishment and sabotaging their position at Ba’al Cedric’s Academy of Adventurers. Do you confess?”
“Sure.”
“Cartalis Kelveth, Arenya Azural, please step forw-” The long note was finally passed to The Dean. “Hold.” He raised the letter. “One of us would like to say the following to Zander Sulnach: In addition to that which you are accused of here, you have also engaged in improper pursuits of the women standing here. Demanding dates from them, antagonistic behavior when refused, once leading to undesired physical contact that is barely not assault. The punishments for these would be severe, except that both Arenya and Cartalis have expressed no interest in trying you for them. These two are…” The Dean faltered in his reading, before putting the paper down. “Consider yourself fortunate.”
“Read the rest, Ben!” The voice that echoed there was the same as the one who insisted The Dean let Arenya continue during the interrogation.
The Dean breathed in sharply. “For Sultis’ sake, Doris, you can’t really expect me to say that!”
“Then I will.” The owner of the mysterious voice - Doris - took a step forward. She had a stern expression, a strong aquiline nose, and eyes so dark there was scarcely a difference between her pupils and her irises, at least that Arenya could make out from this distance. She was tall, and looked ageless and imposing. “Zander, these two are letting you off the hook for your trying to forcefully drag them on dates. You’re a damn lucky son of a bitch.”
Arenya decided she liked this woman.
About half of the council burst out laughing, while the other half gasped. The Dean alone stood stoic… For a few seconds, before cracking a smile that he spent the next few moments trying and failing to wipe off his face. “Order, order. Cartalis Kelveth, Arenya Azural, please step forward and join Zander Sulnach.”
It was much easier to approach the second time now that the tension was broken. Cartalis was hiding a grin, while Zander sported an annoyed frown.
“Each of you shall apologize to the other party for the offenses committed. There is no prescribed order.”
“Zander,” said Cartalis. “I apologize for assuming poor behavior of you when you had no intention of such. I further apologize for my setting alarms to act on those unjustified suspicions, and I apologize for assuming that simply because you’d detected the tripwire, that meant my suspicions were correct.” Her voice was deadpan. Arenya had no idea if she meant it or was just going along with what was asked.
Zander forced a grin onto his face and extended his arm. “I accept your apology. Shake on it?”
“Do you promise this will be the only physical contact you attempt for the foreseeable future?”
Arenya could feel The Dean flinch. Zander looked like he was about to say something stupid, but to his credit, he kept his composure. “Yes.”
They shook hands.
Arenya took a deep breath. “Zander, I’m sorry I signed off on the tripwire idea. I’m also sorry I got so angry at you just for being in the lab when you were just trying to do your own work. I'm sorry we damaged your research device, and I'm glad it was just one part that isn't too hard to remake. And I’m sorry for saying I thought you’d sabotaged it just because you found out what we did.”
Zander’s grin looked a little more genuine this time. “Accepted. Handshake?”
Arenya shook her head. “Follower rules. I can’t.”
“Oh come on, can’t you-” Zander cut himself off mid-sentence. “Fine. Arenya, Cartalis, I’m sorry I grabbed some of your stuff in the lab to use, and I’m sorry I told a professor that you were casting improper spells when you weren’t and that you weren’t allowed to be in the lab when you were. How’s that?”
Arenya and Cartalis exchanged a glance. Arenya thought she detected a hint of sarcasm and annoyance in the tone of his voice, but if today had taught her anything, it was that she shouldn’t be assuming the worst like that…
Cartalis nodded. “I accept your apology.”
Arenya added, “I do too.”
“Good,” said Zander.
They stood there in an awkward silence for a few seconds. Eventually The Dean spoke up. “Zander Sulnach, shall you issuing apologies for any other misbehavior?”
“Don’t,” said Arenya, at the same instant Cartalis said “He needn’t”.
“Do you want an apology?” asked Arenya.
“His agreement not to continue is enough for me. You?”
Arenya shook her head.
The awkward silence stretched on some time longer. Eventually, The Dean said, “In that case, we may consider this case adjourned. You may leave without escort.”
Arenya was so relieved she could cry. Cartalis nearly ran out of the room, forcing Arenya to take large steps to catch up. “Do you think Zander was telling the truth? Were you?”
Cartalis shrugged. “As to your second question, as much as I hate to admit it, the criticism was accurate. While I do find Zander something of a fop, to suggest he’d sabotage our work was a step farther than I’ve ever seen him before. I shall endeavor to be kinder, and see if he deserves it. He's certainly much more brilliant than I had realized, if he was able to create an experimental device like that. As to whether he was telling the truth about lightening his pursuits? I suppose time will tell. Now let’s hurry. We need to see how the experiments went.”
“Can we take a bit before we go?” Arenya hid a smile. “I need a few minutes to decompress. Plus, I have a few apples from home I’m interested in trying, a letter to read, and someone from home for you to meet…”
