After dinner I managed to slip out of the room to go on my super secret mission. I had plans and the team were going to be amazed when they saw them. Or at least I hoped that they would. Luckily I had hung onto my map from my welcome packet and with it I was able to find my way through the maze of corridors to the cozy little sitting room where I had last seen Madame Nines. I knocked gently on the door. It was a bit late and I didn’t want to disturb her if she didn’t want me to. I shouldn’t have worried though because she immediately opened the door with a big smile on her face and pulled me into her arms. I hadn’t realised how stressful the last few weeks had been until she did and I instantly felt the stress melt out of my shoulders as I hugged her back. After a few moments she released me and held me at arms length giving me a look over before nodding and inviting me inside. When I entered I saw the coffee table set up with tea and biscuits just like last time. “I’ve been waiting for you, my dear.” She said sitting down of the edge of the arm chair where she had sat before. She quickly fussed over pouring us both a cup of tea and passed me the plate of biscuits. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that the plate was full of Viennese whirls which I had loved last time.
“Now,” she said sitting back into her chair and balancing her cup of tea on her knee. “Tell me everything.” And I did. I shouldn’t have been surprised. She seemed to have this effect on me. It was almost cleansing. I told her everything that had happened from my walking out of her door last time to coming back in it now. Minus a few of the more embarrassing parts but she gave me a knowing smile nonetheless. “Events are moving quickly. I had hoped that you would get a period of time to adjust and settle in but I suppose fate has its own timeline for all of us.”
“Do you know what’s going to happen?” I asked her wearily. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know at this point. Was it to much to ask for just an easy life?
“No, not for sure. I have seen possibilities but nothing clear enough to have an idea of the course of the future. Just glimpses of what could be. Foresight is not really my talent I’m afraid. But what I can see is that you are going to be very important in what has to come.” She said looking at me almost sadly. If that wasn’t enough to set me on edge, I didn’t know what was. “Anyway, back to the reason why you came tonight. What can I help you with dear?”
“Don’t you already know?” I joked.
She smiled at me with the genuine smile that always graced her lips. “Sometimes it’s nice to just hear the words. Having an insight into things does get rather boring after a while. Takes all the magic out of the unpredictability of life. It’s life’s surprises, after all, that makes everything worth living.” For a moment I felt sorrow for her. What must it be like to be able to glimpse the possibilities of what were to come? To always be aware of the worst case scenario with such clarity. “Oh don’t look at me like that dear. Like I said foresight is really not my speciality and there are still a few things that can take me by surprise.”
“Sorry.” I said realising that I was probably looking at her in the way that I hated people looking at me. I quickly brushed past and went back to my original reason for being there. “As I said earlier, I have a team that I am training for the competition and I really wanted to be able to surprise them with something. I was hoping to sort out a set of fighting leathers for them all. Something that they can easily move around in.”
“I think I know exactly what you mean. I can of course procure these for you dear. Black, I’m assuming.” She asked sitting forwards and placing her now empty teacup on the table.
“Yeah, I think so. Do you think that you would be able to get them before Friday?” I asked which only caused her to burst into the most ladylike laughter I had ever seen. She really was my favourite person.
“Oh, I do love what a breath of fresh air you are, dear.” She pushed a box out from down the side of her chair into my eyeline and opened the lid before pulling out a set of fighting leathers and passing them across to me. They were absolutely perfect. The leather was soft and supple and jet black. It was almost matt and it looked to have reinforced patches over some areas of the shoulders and arms. There was a pair of trousers, a fitted sleeveless vest and a jacket. “There’s also boots in there for each of them. I added a set for you as well dear.”
“Thank you. They’re perfect.” I folded the set she passed me carefully and passed them back to her to put back in the box.
“There’s another box down her as well.” She said sliding it out to join the other. “I hope that they serve you all well. I only wish that there was more that I could do to assist in what is to come.” She seemed distracted for a moment before she smiled at me again. “Now, I’m guessing that these are going to be a surprise so shall I have Caleb come and pick them up to store in his office at the gymnasium for you?”
“That’s actually a really good idea. Do you think that he would mind?” I didn’t want to put Caleb out. He was actually proving to be really supportive with everything going on and I think that if he hadn’t have allowed me to have the outlet of my training group, I may have gone mad by now. He had given me a purpose and a group of potential friends. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had known that all along.
“Of course he won’t. Now, back to the serious issue at hand.” She said giving me a stern look that lasted all of two seconds before she slipping into
her usual smile. “You haven’t been back to the headmaster to see how his enquiries into your magic are going?”
“Wow, you just went straight there without any kind of warm up.” I laughed.
“What do you think this was?” She smiled pointed at one of the boxes with her foot.
I slumped back into my seat with a huff. “Is it weird that I just, kind of, don’t really want to know?” I asked.
“Of course not.” She leaned forward and patted my hand. “You’ve been through so much change in such a short period of time that it is only understandable that you want to just take a moment to breath. But sooner, rather that later, you will need to have that talk with him. If you don’t know what you are capable of, I worry that you won’t have the necessary knowledge to protect yourself from whatever does come next.”
She turned away from me, as if to give me time to digest what she had just told me, while she busied herself making more tea for us. When she turned back and passed me the plate of biscuits back to me. We slipped into an easy conversation about school work and she discussed some of the areas which I was having trouble with. She knew so much. I wasn’t going to be rude enough to ask her how old she was but some of what she spoke about it, it was almost as if she had been there when it had happened.
