WoW – Summer

Summer shifted her pose as a cloaked man neared her. “Hey sugar, wanna go have some fun?” she teased once he was close enough to hear.

“I’m not here for that.”

Despite his words, he drew closer. That voice – she knew that voice. She peered into the darkness under his hood, noticing one orange-red curl hanging loose over his face. She knew that hair as well, though it had been quite some time since she had last seen it. He was close enough now that she was sure enough, “Firewind? Is that you?”

“Yeah, pretend you’re still trying to get me to go somewhere with you. You’re still with what’s-his-face?”

“Vanric, yeah he’s around somewhere watching. He’s still mad at you.” She did her best to keep her seductive body language from giving away that she knew who she was talking to.

“Do you still want to get away from him?”

“I, um, yes, but I don’t want to get the crap beat out of me again because some hair-brained plan of yours didn’t work.” He wasn’t making it easy to keep looking natural for Vanric. She turned her head in hopes that Firewind wouldn’t make a comment about the bruise on her chin. Trying to get away wasn’t the only reason Vanric used as an excuse to hit her. She was always messing up something according to him.

“You don’t need magic ability at all for this plan. Do you want to get away or not?”

“I do, bu-”

“Hey, what seems to be the problem here?”

Vanric’s here. Shit. It was all she had time to think before the world shimmered around her. A moment later, she tumbled to the ground. Firewind had seemed to be able to catch himself in the fall and held out a hand to help her up. She pushed his hand aside and got up on her own, taking a moment to look around. Paintings lined the walls, nice furniture lined the large room, and a fancy rug led into the hallway out the only door she saw. Windows covered two of the walls, and the amount of space in the room could hold at least two, maybe even three of the tiny apartment she had to share with Vanric.

She looked at Firewind. “You brought me to a museum?”

“This is Fairsong Academy. We’re in the ballroom right now. It’s usually empty during the summer.”

“Academy of what?”

“Magic.”

She rolled her eyes. “Great. You know, last time you tried something like this we found out that I don’t have an ounce of magical ability, and then you were too busy chasing after some guy to help me out, and I wound up back in the Row. Just take me back now. Maybe he won’t be so mad if I’m not gone as long.”

Firewind paused a moment before answering. “I was trying to get the money to help you, but I also needed to pay my own tuition.”

“And chase after a guy.”

“Okay, yes, I was chasing after a guy, but this is different. First of all, I’m married, so there won’t be any guy chasing to distract me. I’m going to make sure this works out for you.”

She wanted to interrupt at this point, and there were so many topics she could interrupt with. He was married? Who marries a whore? And what exactly is ‘this’ and how is it going to work out if Vanric finds her? She hoped her questions would be answered by letting him continue.

“Secondly, you don’t need magical ability to work at a school. I wanted to fully explain this before bringing you here, but when Vanric came out of hiding, I kind of panicked and brought you here. I’d have missed my chance to make up for what happened before if he had reached us. I hope you’ll forgive me for not fully explaining ahead of time. Anyway, as I said, this is a magic school. It’s located in the Ghostlands. There are wards in place, so you are safe from Vanric here. The headmaster here is looking for more employees to help with the gardening, cooking, and cleaning. I figure cleaning would be nicer than doing what Vanric says to do. Room and board are provided for free and you get paid on top of that.”

Summer shook her head. “No one gives you free room and board and pays you. They take it out of the pay.”

“The headmaster doesn’t take it out of your pay. He wants his employees to want to work here and to want to do a good job. It’s not easy to get people out in the Ghostlands.” Firewind paused again to look her up and down. “Um, you can’t leave the ballroom looking like this. Hold on.” He took off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders. “Just hold it closed. I’ll take you to see the headmaster.”

“What? Right now? I don’t even look like a cleaning lady. I look like a whore in a cloak.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. He’ll probably offer to buy clothes for you too. Come on.”

She followed, but only because she didn’t really feel she had any other choice. The Ghostlands? She couldn’t just run. Hell, she wasn’t even sure where the front door was. They passed a few other people as they walked through the halls and rooms of what seemed to be a huge building. They all seemed to stare at her or maybe it was her imagination. Finally, Firewind stopped in front of a door and knocked.

“Come in!” a voice called out.

Firewind held the door open as Summer stepped into the room. It wasn’t a large room. There was a bookcase against one wall, a couple chairs and a desk sat in the middle of the room. A thin elven man sat at the other side of the desk, he got up as they entered. “Hello. I’m Hethurin Fairsong. I’m the headmaster here.”

Summer bit her lip. What if showing up in short shorts, a fancy black bra, and a cloak was wrong? Firewind could have messed this up before she even got to sit for the interview.

Hethurin spoke again, “Well, um, have a seat.”

She realized then she must have been expected to say something after he greeted her. She quickly took a seat in the chair across from him at the desk. Firewind remained standing.

Hethurin spoke again as he sat back down as well, “So, what’s your name?”

“Summer,” she answered more quietly than she had wanted to. She was finding the whole idea a little intimidating, and she had no time to prepare. She noticed now she was shaking. She crossed her arms in an attempt to get her hands under control or at least, hidden.

“How old are you?”

“About seventy.” She wasn’t sure. Her birthday had never been important to Vanric.

“Okay, and what are you good at?”

Firewind interrupted, “Um, maybe we should focus on what she can learn.”

“Oh, okay.” He rephrased his question, “What can you learn?”

“Um, cleaning, I think.” She looked at Firewind, half wanting to know if that was the right answer and half angry at him for having the question rephrased in the first place.

“That’s great. We have a cleaning position open.” He looked at Firewind, “Maybe you could take her to see Tik now about when he needs her to work?”

Firewind responded, “Sure.” He went to the door and held it open.

Hethurin nodded at Summer. “Tik will go over the scheduling with you and show you to your room after.”

“Thank you.” Was that it? Did she have the job? She got up and headed out the door before he had time to change his mind.

Firewind started closing the door behind her, when Hethurin’s voice called out, “Aeramin?”

Firewind stuck his head back in the room as Summer turned to wait for him. She wasn’t sure where to go to find this Tik person. She could just barely make out what Hethurin said.

“Does she have other clothes?”

She pulled the cloak tighter around herself.

Firewind replied, “No, I’ll explain later.”

“Perhaps you can make sure Tik’s aware she needs full wardrobe then, and maybe make sure he gives her a couple of days to get used to things before starting work.”

Firewind nodded. “I’ll talk to him.”

He closed the door the rest of the way and turned back to Summer, “Come on. Tik’s probably in the kitchen.”