Shadowcast

Dinner: Part 2

"Holy Hiessa, I think that was the best meal I've ever had," Liza said as she waddled into Room 667. The lock on the door clicked open when her hand touched the knob. Interesting. Wren and Wendy entered after her, equally stuffed. Before her was a small sitting room with a coffee table, a couple comfortable chairs, a well-used couch, several false windows on the wooden walls that projected an illusion of a post-sunset sky into the room, and a fireplace. Ever curious, Liza stuck her hand in the fireplace and found that the fire inside wasn't real. It gave off the heat and light of real fire, but it didn't burn. Two doors led to side rooms. Probably the bedrooms.

"Someone already lit the lamps," Wendy noted, pointing to the small glowing orbs hovering inside small, lantern-like cages. She twirled her fingers and brought up some protection glyphs, just in case.

Liza, however, continued to explore. Right next to the fireplace was a bookshelf. That can't be up to code, Liza thought. She pulled out a book at random and read the title.

"Smith's Guild of Besnior Official Construction Code Handbook," Liza read aloud. In the short time she had known herself, she figured out she was a big ner. And right now, her nerd senses were tingling. "Hold on a second."

How to do magic, she forcefully wondered. The next book she picked out was titled Magic Initiate: A Hobbyist's Guide to the Arcane Arts. Liza buried her nose in the first page as she wandered into the next room. She didn't even pay attention to her surroundings.

"Wendy, this one's ours," she declared, throwing herself onto the first bed she saw.

"Okay," Wendy said timidly, "Why?"

"I'm not from around here. Do you guys separate by gender in Besnior?"

"No, not really."

Wren poked his head in. "But if it makes you feel more comfortable, I'm sure Wendy would be happy to join you. Right, Wendy?"

"Oh yeah, sure," Wendy said, scratching behind her ears, "Us l-ladies have to stick together."

Liza put on a roguish grin and looked up from her book. "Yeah, no boys allow- whaaaa...?" The bedroom, while simply decorated to anyone else, took Liza's breath away. She laid on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed. Both bunks had an opaque curtain that she could close to hide from the world. That would come in handy, Liza figured. Beside the bed was a short table with drawers and a wardrobe. Over on the other side of the room, underneath another inward-facing window that still inexplicably showed a starry night sky, was a cute little desk with two sharpened pencils already placed neatly at the far edge. A chunk of amber hung unmoving in the air above the desk. Liza tapped it, and it exuded a warm glow. One more tap turned it off. There was a small gust of wind as Wendy leapt up to the top bunk.

"This is the adorable cottagecore bedroom I didn't know I needed," she told Wendy.

"Cute, pretty," Wendy said, "I mean, pretty cute. The room. I like it, too."

"I'm gonna check out the other one, see if it's like this one. You wanna come on an adventure with me?"

"No, th-that's alright." Wendy shook her head. "I need to practice some object conjuration before classes start tomorrow." She brought up one of her glyphs and sprouted a pink flower from thin air.

Liza nodded. "Cool cool." She walked out of the bedroom, making sure to close the door behind her, and crossed the delightful little sitting room toward the opposite chamber. Wren sat in one of the well-used armchairs, gazing into a flickering flame in the palm of his hand. "Everything alright?"

Wren took a second to snap out of his trance. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just trying to get my flame spells down before class. You?"

"I'm fine. I still need to process some things, but that's something I'll have to do on my own time. Brain stuff, y'know?"

Liza opened up the door to the other room to find Alusius sitting at the desk in the far corner of the room, fiddling with his magic crossbow. "Oh heyyy!" Liza bounded over to Alusius and pulled up a chair next to him. "I heard something about magnesis runes before dinner. You know, I'm something of a rune-user myself. That sounded really cool. How does it work, exactly?"

Alusius was silent.

"Okay. Why are you in here?"

Alusius raised his hand and wordlessly passed his paper slip to Liza. Opening the slip and reading it, she felt a lot of conflicting emotions.

"Room 667... Transmutation wing," she said, "Welcome to the second coolest room in Sigilspear!"

Still nothing.

"It's the second coolest because Mako and Alistair and that creepy necromancer girl have Room 69." Alusius carefully drove a screwdriver into a hole in the wooden stock of his crossbow. Liza reached into her satchel and produced a plate of food from dinner, pristinely packaged in a brown paper bag. "I didn't know if you ate anything, so I got you some food from the table in case I ran into you again."

Alusius buried his face in his hands and let out a deep, groaning sigh.

"Aw," Liza said, placing her hand on Alusius's shoulder, "What's up, Lucy?"

"Don't call me that!" Alusius shouted. Liza recoiled like she'd been slapped. "Do not call me by that name."

"Okay, okay!" Liza put her hands up in surrender. "I just thought nicknames would make us a tighter group. And you're the only one with a three-syllable name, so I figured I'd start with you."

Liza could see the mental debate going on in his head. Without warning, Alusius jumped to his feet, knocking over his chair and nearly toppling Liza off hers. "Why are you even here?"

Liza looked up at the lanky dark elf, his sharp features made intimidating by the fake moonlight pouring in through the window. "What do you mean?"

"I have been working my entire life for the smallest of chances at attending Sigilspear! Years of training day and night, perfecting my magic. And then you waltz in. Zero spells! Zero training! Zero magic ability! A human, no less! And you pass the test on your first try? It is absurd! Inconceivable! You're no wizard. You're a fraud, human. And I will not rest until your artifice is exposed."

In the pale glow, she saw the reflective backs of Alusius's wide eyes. "You got one thing right," Liza said after a moment of deliberation, "I'm no wizard. At least, not yet. But I found a way of casting spells that works for me." She took out a piece of spell paper inscribed with a light rune and crumpled it into a ball. A mote of light drifted up into the air between them. "And I'm working hard to earn my place here. Back where I come from, I wasn't important. I was a problem that needed fixing. But here, I matter. People like me! The things that made me weird and unwelcome in my hometown helped me survive here. And now I think I might finally be able to do something worthwhile with my life." She stood up to try and meet Alusius's height. "Now, can I give you a nickname?"

"Fine," he said, "Alright. Just as long as it's not... Lucy."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't understand, human."

It was only a small verbal slap to the face, but it was a slap too far. Liza wouldn't let this twinkish elf-boy walk all over her like that. "My name is Liza. If we can't like each other, we can at least be civil, Alusius Ruzicka." She turned her back to Alusius and briskly walked out the door.

____________________________

Moments later, Wren appeared in the doorway.

"Did it go well?" he asked.

"I confirmed that she can't do real magic. I'm still suspicious of her story, though."

Wren glanced away and awkwardly crawled into his bed, never making eye contact with Alusius.

"Goodnight, Wren," Alusius said, his tone hopeful.

"Goodnight, you handsome devil," Wren replied.

"Aren't you the half-devil?"

"That's not important."

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Author's Note:

And thus ends the "hook" of the story. Or I guess you could call this the first arc. However you want to label it. What are your thoughts so far?