With still a lot of time left in the day after chasing down Kali's gang and wandering for a bit, Hannah made a decision between visiting Jean or visiting Linth next.

Jean Hargrave was an oddity. She was one of the few lecturers here who didn’t look like an overworked haggard scholar. Being Hannah's personal tutour, conversations between the two were usually quite friendly.

The city was being showered in a downpour of rain by the time we made it back to the Triolo. Even in this weather, the practice fields were still being used. Those with free time took shelter inside. For some, the day had ended with the morning lectures and so they were waiting for the weather to ease up.

Jean’s office was on the northside of the site. That wing of the campus was used to seeing visitors and the insides were decorated with a comfortable rustic appeal suiting of the region surrounding Kasper. The headmasters own office was in that wing along with most of the management.

Once we reached the campus I jumped out the satchel. I couldn’t stomach more time than was necessary in that swaying cramped shoulder bag. It still stung to walk but it wasn't unmanageable.

We approached Jean’s office. Peering through the clear glass inset on the door, Hannah raised a smile. Finally something was going right. She’d already asked whether she was here today but the baggy eyed professor she found wandering the halls didn't give answers that inspired much confidence. He didn’t seem to know whether it was day or night. Was this really normal? Haven’t they heard of unions?

Well it wasn't my problem if he worked himself to an early grave.

After Hannah gave a steady knock on the wooden door, we got permission to enter. I slipped through the gap into the spacious office after Hannah.

The room was spacious enough for quite a few people, however it seemed entirely reserved for Jean.

“Take a seat.” Jean glanced up from her desk work and gestured towards the unoccupied chair opposite her desk. “I’m just catching up on letters. Do you mind waiting a moment?” She gave an apologetic smile. On the centre of her desk was a thick wad of letters. Lining the walls were bookshelves and cabinets.

Hannah sat as instructed whilst jumped up onto the desk and settled near the edge out of the way. Jean looked neither surprised nor shocked at my presence. Whever Hannah went, there was a good chance I was somewhere nearby.

With little to do, Hannah just waited, looking around the office for anything new to study. Jean’s office looked by far more comfortable than it should be. The chairs were cushioned, the desk had a smooth polish, and everything was neatly organised and arranged. Even the Nurse's office which should have been been squeaky clean appeared grubby in comparison. The windows had curtains! Who had fine red looking curtains on their windows except important people? I felt a mysterious new urge to try and claw my way up them.

There was a sickly sweat smell in the air. I traced it back to a charm hanging up above the window. It may have been a good luck charm or something like a dream catcher. Jean didn't look the kind of person who slept in her office often but with that seat looking so comfy I couldn't blame her for indulging in a nap or two. Certain kinds of people had dream catchers and I didn't imagine Jean being one of those people.

“How’s your arms?” Jean began.

“Better.” Hannah hid her flinch well behind a stiff expression. “So you know about yesterday?”

“I caught the Nurse mumbling in his own little corner in the canteen yesterday.” She said with a sunny smile. “A little eavesdropping and voila, the rat’s out of the bag.” Her tone turned from playful to strict as she got to the point. “You need to learn when to call it quits. You could have- you did get seriously hurt.”

“My arms are fine.”

“I didn’t stop at eavesdropping Hannah. I spoke to the Nurse over breakfast. You can’t dismiss this.” Jean glared. “Geez, you sure are a handful. Spare a thought for your tutor when she hears you do crazy things like that. It's not often I've seen the Nurse so challenged by an injury. With injuries like that I'm surprised they didn't immediately bar you from further exams.” Jean’s eyes drifted along to me whilst Hannah deliberated on her reply. “Your one saving grace right now is bringing along this adorable little thing.”

She reached her hand out and I allowed her to pet me. I put up with it y’know? What was I suppose to do? She's big and scary and I couldn't escape even if I tried. I might as well whilst I'm here enjoy-ahem- I mean suffer this humiliation.

Yes, right there. Behind the ear. Oh just a little mo-

Hannah clicked her tongue in frustration a little too loudly. “Jerk.”

“What did you say?” My ears may have caught it but Jean’s clearly missed it.

“I didn’t come here for you to lecture me.” Hannah leant back in her chair, her arms crossed. She turned the other cheek as I felt like she was all too forcefully avoiding looking my way. Once again, I felt a foreboding feeling. “You know the Nurse goes around saying he doesn't have a medical licence?”

In reply, Jean cocked her head to the side. “An odd claim for the Nurse who fixed your arms to make, don't you think? I don't think he likes people very much.”

“You think? I was convinced that if if we spent any more time together he was either going to kill me, my cat, or himself. Possibly all of us! I mean he might as well already been trying with what he does to me every Friday.” Hannah descended into frustrated muttering.

I was now in a strange position where I was both curious and scared of what normally happens on fridays at the Triolo. Maybe next time, if my curiosity could last, I'd insist on going with her next Friday instead of letting her leave me behind.

Jean, understandably, just laughed off the sudden tension in the room nervously. “Back to the topic at hand, maybe? I can’t convince you to give up, and I can’t convince you to not do something stupid like that again. My best hope is that lightning really doesn’t strike the same place twice. I’ll do my best to point you in where you need to go to develop.” It was nice to know someone was sharing my pain. “Show me your practice scrolls.”

“They haven’t changed much since you last looked.”

“And I’m not exactly an expert in physical patent production.” Jean grinned in an attempt to reassure Hannah. “This stuff is a bit beyond me.”

“Then why am I handing them over?”

“Sh sh sh, just hand em over.” Jean theatrically hushed Hannah’s doubts. When she got a hand of some of the paper scrolls she looked pensively at each one as Hannah explained their purpose.

“So what were the trials they made you do?”

“Move an egg and crack an ice cube.”

Jean set the practice scrolls to one side. “They caught you out on the second trial. Hmm… Well they are pretty harsh. It means they found something they didn't like.” She let out a pained laugh. “This here is the force spell you used to roll the egg, right?”

Hannah nodded, “It's a copy of the one I used.” Even if Jean was not an expert, she was still more than likely more practised than Hannah.

“Reminds me of my youth.” Jean furrowed her brow. “It's modified, but not enough to disrupt the primed. You could probably still set a vector for this I see. On the whole, it looks a lot like what I was raised on. But these temperature scrolls… Wow, this is just...”

“The primer.”

“Yeah.” Jean looked a little concerned. “They have faulty primers. I’m not surprised either. Ordinarily the temperature practice scroll would just make your thumb feel a bit warm or cold. I can’t imagine you’ve properly experimented with your creations. I can see why this had such dramatic effects. It's a small wonder that it even 'worked' in this state.” the air about her turned sharply hostile. “So you want to die, do you?”

The glare was hard and cold. Hannah tensed up. “No, I didn’t ever plan on using them. I drew them up on theory alone and-”

“Then you shouldn’t have used them. You shouldn’t have even brought them along.” Jean didn't need to nor want to hear anymore of Hannah's resistance. Her voice calm and level, her reasoning rational, with both the professionalism that comes with years in the industry of magic and the end results of Hannah's misguided actions at her side, there was no argument that could be brooked against her. “Your a little too desperate if you think you have the technical know how to produce physical patents like this. I'm confiscating these.”

Hannah’s expression descended into a glower for a moment however she bit her tongue back from making hostile comments. “I need some books to help me research.”

Jean shook her head. “No can do. What you want to read is not available to students like you. And before you give me puppy eyes,” Hannah had no intention of doing such a thing, “I can’t borrow books for you either. The academy is strict about not losing the academic papers it has in its library. If they went missing or were damaged, they'd charge with destroying intellectual property. That's punished harshly in this kingdom.” Perhaps a feeling a little guilty over snapping earlier, she added. “Have you considered asking the help of Professor Riker? She teaches patent production.”

“Professor Riker has taken time off, right?”

“Yes, she has. I don’t know the details myself, but…”

“But?”

Jean's austere expression began to show cracks as concern leaked into her eyes. “Many of the scholars that arrive here have fallen behind in their respective industry or are still struggling to find a place for themselves in their niche of academia. To call this place a dumpyard for scholars wouldn't give the problem enough credit.”

It would explain the haggard and harassed look of many of the lecturers. Jean looked to be an exception. To the extent of my limited knowledge and interest, Jean didn’t teach topics on magic.

“Riker is one of the latter. Her knowledge of patents is peerless in the region and her niche is in patent theory rather than production thereof. She’s made a name of herself as the ‘Queen of sixteen lines.’ However, not to sound too disrespectful, Kasper certainly has a ways to go to catch up with the rest of the world. As talented as I'm sure my coworker is, her work would be merely above average in the capital. None the less, it's good we have such a great teacher on the subject at hand. Except she's not at hand at the moment so...”

Hannah sat back in her seat, digesting all of this quietly. “So what I’m hearing is this was the worst academy in the country to choose.”

“It is also the only academy which would be desperate enough to accept you. And, you're lucky the aforementioned academy had professor Riker.”

Waving away Jean’s comments with a wince, Hannah straightened herself in her chair. “You don’t have to tell me. But what about you, Jean? You’re not a scholar, but you're still a magic user, right? You could read my scrolls well enough.”

Jean laughed lightly. “You are right, I'm not a scholar. I'm a court magician. Every noble family and local court will depend on court magicians at some point for special advice. I am indeed a magic user, just not as adept as other practitioners. However other practitioners aren't qualified to give advice on how magic can be used in agriculture.” So she wasn't a scholar who wrote academic papers, but one who read them and helped apply the knowledge to fields of industry. “I guess you could call me an hydrosophist.”

“Water magic.”

“More humidity control.” Jean nodded. “But you’re more or less correct. The Hargrave family make the most reliable industry ready hydrosophists this country can offer.” Her smile exposed her pride. “My skill is still the shame of my family though. Would you like to see?”

“Sure why not.” Hannah's replied airily.

Jean looked put off by Hannah's lacklustre interest. “I’d actually hoped you’d maybe show just the slightest bit of excitement at this opportunity.”

“Sure rub in how brilliant your magic is and how good you are compared to me.” Hannah deadpanned.

“Ah right, I see.” Jean nevertheless lifted her hands, already committed. She joined her fingers making a hollow chamber. A set of small jeweled cufflinks on her sleeves faintly glowed as she closed her eyes and focused.

There was no incantation. This annoyed me more than it should. I couldn’t tell whether they were necessary or the people who used incantations were just adding them for flare. If it was the latter case, then that would just be embarrassing.

Beads of sweat began to form around her hand, slowly being dragged into the hollow chamber through the gaps in her interlocked fingers. On further study, it wasn't sweat. The air in the room began to feel drier and drier. Even my eyes felt like the moisture was being sucked from them.

A small ball of liquid hovered in Jean’s hands. She separated her fingers, slowly spread her hands further and further away from the ball. It hovered and grew to an inch in diameter.

“Watch.” Jean smiled a noticeably genuine smile as she made the ball spin, compressing it into a disk or the shape of a thin oval. And then she spread her arms out further, the water dispersed not into droplets but a nebulous vapour that hovered unnaturally above the desk, spinning slowly.

“Huh, neat.” Hannah without warning tried to part the vapour with her hand. “It feels normal. But it’s hovering. How?”

Jean grimaced, “Let’s just put it down to constant practice and failure.” She compressed the vapour smoothly and gently placed the ball of water down in an empty coffee stained mug on her desk. “I'm actually a little surprised. I made it look a lot easier than it really was.”

“Think I could turn it into a scroll?” Hannah asked.

The question caught Jean off guard. She shook her head, exasperated. “Yeah. I guess? Maybe Professor Riker could do it. I can’t. It’s an innate thing. I wouldn't know how to draw the patent.”

A little sourness crept into Hannah’s expression. “Yeah. I guess it’s like trying to explain to someone how to move your leg.”

Jean nodded. “How do you tell someone how to move their leg other than saying ‘just move it’?”

“Well this hasn’t been a total waste of time.” Hannah stood up.

Jean watched her get up with a quizzical look. “Done?”

“I need to hunt some handouts for the lecture I missed, If there were any. Besides, you’ve just told me you’re useless and it’s professor Riker that I actually need.”

“I uh… Yeah but you don’t need to put it so harshly.” I could very nearly see the heartbreak. “Has anyone ever made a point about how rude you are?” Jean raised a brow. “Nevermind. I’m not in on the weekend. I’m also away this tuesday.”

“See you on monday then.”

“What about your inj-”

Hannah closed the door behind her, leaving us both in the empty corridor. She looked down to me with an ambivalent expression. If I was any the wiser, I’d probably say I was on trial for something. However she dropped the stare and began walking away. Without much pause to think, I followed her to our next destination.