It took around five minutes of waiting for Lady Sar to show up with a man at her side. He was dressed in a mint green robe, and appeared to be some sort of stout dwarf with incredibly beautiful eyes the color of an opal. His skin was a darker, dusty tan, and he had a neatly trimmed brown beard upon his face, as well as long brown hair in somewhat unkempt fashion framing his features.

Lady Sar bowed her head politely at Col and offered him a sweetened smile, “Apologies for the wait. I hear you may have some more information concerning this egg find. This is Mr. Keer. He’s a competent researcher whom I trust.”

Col nodded once.

Mr. Keer huffed out a breath and filled the silence with his gruff, deep voice, “You said you want to give the books to the egg?”

Col nodded again, “Yes. I do.”

“Why?”

“I think the hatchling will find them useful, so it’s the least I could do,” Col replied, with the longest sentence he had said thus far.

Lady Sar and Mr. Keer shared an exasperated look. The high elf interjected politely, “How thoughtful of you. Good sir, if you are a fae, you need to be registered as such on school grounds. It limits trouble, as I’m sure you understand.”

He laughed softly, “I’m no fae.”

“I’m both relieved to hear that, and somewhat more perplexed,” she sighed, “Apologies for my rudeness, then. Your request was such an odd one that I figured you must have been a fae. Beyond that, you seem to be a man of few words. An odd situation all around.”

Mr. Keer nodded and motioned for Col to follow him, “No point in standing around wondering about it. Whatever you are, with comments like that you’re either not a Drow at all, or a really flipping old one. Either way, I don’t rightly care about it. I doubt you’d answer any questions about yourself, so my focus is on the egg.”

Col tilted his head and turned down the corners of his mouth with a shrug as a “sturgeon face” of mildly impressed amusement, “I can appreciate that.”

…

After hours of being stuck like this, Lukas had come to the only conclusion he could think of - he was in another world. He had been isekai’d. He was pretty familiar with the idea, even though that was more Aeva’s thing, but especially when she was a teen he’d watched tons of anime with her, and tried to find good stories in his downtime to share with her.

Lukas wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, terrified for Aeva and furious that he was torn away from her so horribly… but if she was here with him she’d be absolutely elated. He was pretty good at keeping a grip on her, but Lukas didn’t know if even he would be able to manage the chaos beast she’d become by himself.

Speaking of Aeva and being here, Lukas couldn’t help but consider how and why exactly he was brought here. For why, it was almost certainly his intelligence and social prowess; not to toot his own horn, but he was always top of his class, from elementary school smartass to college valedictorian, and he had social prowess to match. He’d broken up many fights, just as many hearts, and made more than one straight man reconsider… possibly the morning after. Lukas was not one to deny his positive traits, but nor was he so arrogant as to think he could honestly guess the reasoning behind whatever it was that brought him here, or maybe even the person calling the shots for them. The muscle and the brain for kidnapping rings were rarely the same people, though this wasn’t quite exactly the same thing.

He was brought here individually, obviously, but was he the only one? Lukas tried to dig fiercely through his memories for missing persons cases in his area, but he never paid very much attention in that regard. He packed heat fit for taking down animals far bigger than thugs, and that was enough for him news wise. But... was there a chance Aeva WAS here? He didn’t know if he wanted that or not… it would be a dream come true for her to be sure, but she’d no doubt run off and get herself eaten by the first pretty looking carnivorous plant or deceptively powerful Rodent of Unusual Size she came across if she didn’t get proper guidance, and that was one titanic job. Especially if there’s extensive magic or something...

But hey, what were the odds of that, right? As much as he loved his sister, she didn’t share his tendency towards academic and social excellence, getting her success more through persistence, willpower, and sheer, overwhelming force of personality. Shit, she chose to livestream instead of being a vtuber or working through an avatar because she knew that she was more expressive than an avatar could be without looking stupid. He still didn’t know what the motives of these body snatchers were, but if it was for the factors he hypothesized, LIGHTLY hypothesized, then they wouldn’t seek her out.

Shit… He needed to stop while he was ahead. Lukas was beginning to make guesses based on guesses. No controls. No sense to it. Nothing solid. He’d just go back to counting elements again… or maybe go through the compounds he knew? God, he was bored.

There had been no movement in hours. He had no idea how long it was exactly, but it definitely wasn’t fun.

…

“No, I didn’t see anyone on the egg,” Col stated, smirking at Mr. Keer, “So how could I possibly know who the parents were?”

The dwarf sighed deeply for the seventh time thus far, “Yes. But did you see anything in the area? Did you encounter something you think could have been the parents?” They were in an office, the three sitting at a table as Mr. Keer scribbled in a notebook. Col was being difficult and clearly enjoying himself. Lady Sar had the patience of a noblewoman, so she didn’t seem to care too much, but Mr. Keer was much more verbal with his displeasure.

“I’m not sure you’d call them parents,” Col mused, lifting his left arm up to rest his head on his hand.

“Well what would you call them, then?”

“Well… There was only one individual doing anything remotely parental.”

Mr. Keer grumbled a little under his breath and stared at the drow, “That wasn’t an answer.”

“I’d say… a single parent,” Col said, grinning at the grumblings. Lady Sar was sitting with one leg over the other, just watching the interaction. Of all the people here, she was one of the highest ranking - purple robe with golden trim. It meant her magical power was over 500 and she had passed their last test. Along with that, the purple meant she was a noble. Unfortunately for her, dealing with difficult people was part of her job.

“Well… what species were they?” he asked. Lady Sar already knew they weren’t going to get any decent answers out of this man. She wasn’t going to stop the conversation for it, but it didn’t exactly give her high hopes.

“Not sure. Old. Old things transcend species sometimes, you know?”

“So… what, then? A fae? A god? A nixis?” Mr. Keer started to tap his pen in abject annoyance.

“Oh, I doubt a god,” he teased, that damned grin ever-present.

“You’re beating around the bush.”

“Even if I knew, wouldn’t it be better, as a school, to find out for yourselves?”

“So, you know… but you don’t want to say,” Mr. Keer’s tapping turned into a grimace.

“Oh, I didn’t say that.”

“Hardly have to, with that attitude. So what are you willing to say?”

Col considered that question for a long pause, rubbing his chin, “They are intelligent. Extremely so. I wish you lot to treat them with care. I do believe they’ll be an omnivore. Let’s see… what else? They’ll be interested in alchemy, I think. Magic, too.”

“That… sounds like an outsider, sir,” Lady Sar piped up, brow furrowed with concern. Outsiders were powerful allies. Hell, Oubern, the country Msavii Academy was in, was founded by an outsider. Oubern was at this point a super-power in the world, with islands under their domain all over and being formed in a strategic position that had been warred over for as long as people have claimed land as their own. It was not the only country built by an outsider.

“Perhaps.”

Lady Sar let go of a slow breath, thinking of the possibilities and what would come next, “That’s a great boon for the school… but I’ve got all the more questions about your nature now… sir.”

“Well, you’re welcome for your new gift, then. I hope they are taught well,” Col stood up from the desk with a mild yawn, stretching one arm over the other, and then back the other way.

She stood as well, nodding, “A great boon indeed… Pardon my rudeness, but… what are you, Mister Col?”