ㅤ
Professor Halden looked at the two of us, then at the empty chair beside his desk.
ㅤ
“Sit.”
ㅤ
I sat.
ㅤ
Evelyn remained standing long enough to close the door.
ㅤ
Halden noticed.
ㅤ
“Should I be concerned?”
ㅤ
“Not immediately,” I said.
ㅤ
“That isn't reassuring.”
ㅤ
“I've been told I'm poor at reassurance.”
ㅤ
“By whom?”
ㅤ
Halden put his pen aside. His marking could wait.
ㅤ
“Very well. What have you brought me?”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
We'd agreed on the walk over that Evelyn would explain the magical questions and I'd explain why they mattered.
ㅤ
It seemed sensible until she opened her notebook. “We're investigating a transport event involving a child.”
ㅤ
Halden looked at me.
ㅤ
“Your daughter?”
ㅤ
“Yes.”
ㅤ
“Is she injured?”
ㅤ
“No. She's safe.”
ㅤ
“Then start there next time.”
ㅤ
Evelyn continued. “We have reason to believe the formation was unusually complex. The child recalls red light across the floor, a large circle, and a room reached by stairs. We also have a damaged document that may contain a warning about returning through the same route.”
ㅤ
“Reason to believe,” Halden repeated. “Not proof.”
ㅤ
“Correct.”
ㅤ
“Have you examined the child for residual mana?”
ㅤ
“No,” I said. “And we haven't asked her to recreate the event.”
ㅤ
“Good.”
ㅤ
I hadn't expected that.
ㅤ
Halden folded his hands.
ㅤ
“Now tell me what you're leaving out.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
I'd prepared for that question, but hesitated.
ㅤ
“Some of the circumstances surrounding her arrival are private. They involve another person's identity, and I don't have permission to disclose everything.”
ㅤ
Halden's expression remained unchanged.
ㅤ
“You're asking me to advise on a magical event while withholding information that might be relevant.”
ㅤ
“Yes.”
ㅤ
“Why should I agree?”
ㅤ
“Because I trust you to tell us what can be investigated safely. And because I'd rather admit there are things I can't explain than invent an explanation you'll discover is wrong.”
ㅤ
He studied me.
ㅤ
“That's a better answer than I expected.”
ㅤ
“I'll try not to be offended.”
ㅤ
“Don't make promises you can't keep.”
ㅤ
He reached for Evelyn's notebook.
ㅤ
“Show me the formation references.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
Halden spent twenty minutes asking questions we couldn't answer.
ㅤ
Had Mira crossed a threshold? Had she arrived inside an existing circle or outside it? Had the formation been anchored to a physical object? Had the destination been prepared in advance?
ㅤ
Evelyn recorded each question.
ㅤ
I was glad we hadn't questioned Mira again. His questions required distinctions she might not understand even if she remembered everything.
ㅤ
When he reached the report about the damaged transit anchors, he frowned.
ㅤ
“This case isn't comparable.”
ㅤ
“We thought it might establish a possible failure mode,” Evelyn said.
ㅤ
“It does. But not every damaged formation becomes dangerous in the same way. You're working backward from a warning whose final words you can't read.”
ㅤ
“Then what would you recommend?”
ㅤ
“Begin with what you can verify. The document's material, the mana exposure, and the location where the child appeared. Leave the imagined formation alone.”
ㅤ
He tapped the page.
ㅤ
“And don't take her into an experimental chamber to see whether something feels familiar.”
ㅤ
“We weren't planning to,” I said.
ㅤ
“Good. I dislike having to say obvious things.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
Halden agreed to review the preservation copy under the same conditions we'd established with Miss Vale: no destructive testing, no circulation of the document, and no attempt to identify Mira through academy records.
ㅤ
His discretion had limits.
ㅤ
“If I find evidence of an immediate danger to the child, I'll act on it,” he said. “You should understand that before you give me anything.”
ㅤ
I looked at Evelyn.
ㅤ
She nodded once.
ㅤ
“That seems reasonable,” I said.
ㅤ
Halden took the copy.
ㅤ
“Then I'll examine this when I have time. I make no promises about finding an answer.”
ㅤ
“Understood.”
ㅤ
“Now, is that everything?”
ㅤ
Evelyn and I exchanged another look.
ㅤ
“There is one more thing,” she said.
ㅤ
Halden sighed.
ㅤ
“Of course there is.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
The exhibition proposal went considerably better.
ㅤ
Halden was interested in our three-channel barrier configuration, particularly the tradeoff between initial strength and sustained stability. He wanted a demonstration first-years could understand without exhausting Evelyn.
ㅤ
“I wasn't planning to collapse,” she said.
ㅤ
“An excellent start.”
ㅤ
He suggested a comparison between two configurations using identical mana limits. If the results were consistent, we could present the findings as a practical study rather than a display of raw power.
ㅤ
“Submit a written proposal by the end of the week,” he said.
ㅤ
“Both of us?” I asked.
ㅤ
“Unless one of you intends to do all the work.”
ㅤ
“No,” Evelyn said.
ㅤ
“That was quick.”
ㅤ
“I've seen your diagrams.”
ㅤ
Halden returned to his examination papers.
ㅤ
“Dismissed.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
Outside, I stopped beneath the corridor window.
ㅤ
“That went better than I expected.”
ㅤ
“He didn't agree to everything.”
ㅤ
“I didn't expect him to.”
ㅤ
“Do you regret telling him?”
ㅤ
“No. But I'm glad we decided what to say beforehand.”
ㅤ
“So am I.”
ㅤ
Students passed us on their way to afternoon lectures. Two first-years argued about whether a shield could stop a spell already inside its boundary. Neither volunteered to test it.
ㅤ
“Adrian,” Evelyn said, “if Halden finds something that contradicts what Mira remembers, we shouldn't treat her as unreliable.”
ㅤ
“I know.”
ㅤ
“She was six when it happened.”
ㅤ
“She's still six.”
ㅤ
Evelyn looked at me.
ㅤ
The correction came out sharper than I'd intended. Evelyn didn't flinch.
ㅤ
“Yes,” she said. “She is.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
My second session with Tomas began with a surprise.
ㅤ
He crossed the practice room while maintaining his barrier.
ㅤ
It held for seven steps.
ㅤ
Then he turned around and immediately lost it.
ㅤ
“I was doing well,” he said.
ㅤ
“You were. What changed?”
ㅤ
“I turned.”
ㅤ
“An excellent observation.”
ㅤ
He gave me a look I'd previously received from Evelyn.
ㅤ
We practiced turning. Tomas wanted to repeat the successful attempt until he could do it without thinking. I made him stop between trials and describe where he'd directed his mana.
ㅤ
“Why?”
ㅤ
“Because doing something correctly once isn't the same as knowing how to do it again.”
ㅤ
He considered it.
ㅤ
“Is that how you passed Halden's practical?”
ㅤ
“Eventually.”
ㅤ
“Did he make you explain every mistake?”
ㅤ
“Only the interesting ones.”
ㅤ
Tomas looked toward the chalk lines.
ㅤ
“I think I'd rather have the boring mistakes.”
ㅤ
“Then let's make them boring.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
When I collected Mira, Mrs. Fenwick had a small problem to report.
ㅤ
“She asked whether the academy can take children away.”
ㅤ
Mira was winding thread around a wooden spool. She didn't look up.
ㅤ
“Did she say why?”
ㅤ
“Another child mentioned a cousin sent to live with relatives. Mira connected it to the welfare office, I think.”
ㅤ
I crouched beside her.
ㅤ
“Mira?”
ㅤ
She kept turning the spool.
ㅤ
“Do I have to go somewhere else?”
ㅤ
“Not because of the appointment.”
ㅤ
“Are you sure?”
ㅤ
“The welfare office is checking that you're being cared for. We have a home, and Mrs. Fenwick helps while I'm in class. That's what I'm going to tell them.”
ㅤ
“What if they don't believe you?”
ㅤ
“Then I'll answer their questions and show them what we've arranged. If there's a problem, I'll work on it. I won't disappear without telling you.”
ㅤ
She put down the spool.
ㅤ
“Mommy can come?”
ㅤ
“I can ask whether she'd be willing to speak with them if they need another adult who knows you.”
ㅤ
Mira nodded, though the worry hadn't entirely left her face.
ㅤ
I couldn't promise nothing would change. I could promise not to vanish.
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
We walked home by the market. Mira chose two carrots and a small bunch of herbs, then asked whether the marigolds were still there.
ㅤ
“They were this morning.”
ㅤ
“Flowers can go away.”
ㅤ
“They can.”
ㅤ
“Do ours?”
ㅤ
“They belong to the courtyard. We'll ask Mr. Pell how to care for them.”
ㅤ
At the apartment, she went straight to the window. The marigolds were still leaning toward the wall.
ㅤ
“Good,” she said.
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
That evening, Marcus stopped by to return a book he'd borrowed. He found me among grading papers and an exhibition proposal with three rejected titles.
ㅤ
“Busy?”
ㅤ
“No. I'm decorating.”
ㅤ
He picked up one of the rejected headings.
ㅤ
“Comparative Stability Under Constrained Mana Allocation.”
ㅤ
“Put that down.”
ㅤ
“Sounds romantic.”
ㅤ
“Marcus.”
ㅤ
“Is Evelyn helping?”
ㅤ
“Yes.”
ㅤ
“Then perhaps it is.”
ㅤ
Mira emerged from the bedroom carrying Sir Flopsy.
ㅤ
“Uncle Marcus, do you know how to fix a flower?”
ㅤ
Marcus blinked.
ㅤ
“What happened to it?”
ㅤ
“Nothing yet.”
ㅤ
“I'm afraid to ask.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
After Mira went to bed, Marcus helped me move the remaining books away from the window. He noticed the welfare folder on the table.
ㅤ
“Everything all right?”
ㅤ
“There's a review next week. Mira heard something that frightened her.”
ㅤ
“Do you need me there?”
ㅤ
“I don't know. Bellamy asked for the childcare arrangements and proof of address. Mrs. Fenwick can confirm her schedule.”
ㅤ
“I can confirm you spend half your time worrying about that kid.”
ㅤ
“I'm not sure that's an official category.”
ㅤ
“It should be.”
ㅤ
“She asked if Evelyn could come.”
ㅤ
“Could she?”
ㅤ
“Probably. I haven't asked.”
ㅤ
Marcus didn't make a joke.
ㅤ
“Then ask. Not because you need someone important standing beside you. Because Mira trusts her.”
ㅤ
That helped more than his jokes.
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
I found Evelyn the next morning outside the library.
ㅤ
She'd already corrected the first page of our exhibition proposal. Her annotations filled the margin.
ㅤ
“I have a question,” I said.
ㅤ
“About the proposal?”
ㅤ
“About Mira.”
ㅤ
She closed the folder.
ㅤ
I explained what Mrs. Fenwick had told me and what Mira had asked. Evelyn listened without interrupting.
ㅤ
“Bellamy may not need you at the review,” I said. “I don't want to involve you simply because of your family name.”
ㅤ
“Then don't.”
ㅤ
Evelyn continued, “Ask whether I can attend as someone who knows Mira and has spent time with her. If Bellamy says it's appropriate, I'll come.”
ㅤ
“You don't have to.”
ㅤ
“I know.”
ㅤ
She didn't hesitate.
ㅤ
“You've made a habit of being helpful.”
ㅤ
“You've made a habit of noticing.”
ㅤ
“I wasn't always good at it.”
ㅤ
“I've noticed that too.”
ㅤ
“Now. Your second paragraph makes a claim your measurements don't support.”
ㅤ
“Good morning to you too.”
ㅤ
***
ㅤ
That afternoon, I sent Bellamy a note asking whether Evelyn could attend part of the review as an additional adult familiar with Mira's circumstances. I gave her name without mentioning her title.
ㅤ
I also wrote to Mrs. Fenwick, confirming the date and asking whether she'd be comfortable providing a statement about the childcare arrangement.
ㅤ
At home, Mira was drawing the courtyard again. This time, she'd added a second planter beside the marigolds.
ㅤ
“What's going in that one?” I asked.
ㅤ
“Something that grows slowly.”
ㅤ
“Why?”
ㅤ
“So we can watch.”
ㅤ
“That sounds nice.”
ㅤ
“You draw the pot. Mine looks like a shoe.”
ㅤ
I drew a pot that looked only slightly less like a shoe.
ㅤ
Mira inspected it.
ㅤ
“We can practice.”
ㅤ
“I've been told that before.”
ㅤ
She moved her drawing closer to mine, and we tried again.