The Proposal

Thebine was running late.

Her meeting with the Arch Mage Professor Arin Igivar was scheduled for noon, which was usually the time Thebine woke up. But there was no pushing it back, so Thebine pushed onward, through her pounding headache and bleary eyes.

She stumbled hurriedly through the winding halls of the Academy, passing classrooms and offices until she reached that of Professor Igavir, who taught her class on thaumaturgical history. Thebine gave a soft knock on the heavy wooden door, wary of her headache. She then moved to knock louder, cursing the Professor's aged ears, but his throaty voice chastened her.

"Come in!" Igavir called to her. She entered.

The walls were lined with shelves, nearly spilling over with ancient texts and bound scrolls. Professor Igavir sat at his desk in dark, stately robes, but his white hair stuck out like dandelion fluff. At least Thebine wasn't the only one who hadn't bothered with a comb today.

"Sit, sit," Igavir commanded with a wave of his liver-spotted hand. She obeyed, trying to mask her breathlessness from all the running.

"I do hope your proposal is a good one," said the Professor, one finger holding the yellowed pages of a tome, like he wasn't planning on looking away from his reading for too long. "With all the time you've had to work on it."

"Thank you again, for seeing me today," she replied, giving him a weak smile. Thebine was supposed to propose her research topic to him two days ago, but she had been ill (read: hungover) and had to beg Igavir to reschedule her appointment with him. "I think you will like my idea."

That wasn't a lie, so much as a belief not well explored.

Thebine began to explain to the professor her interest in a project of the highly-celebrated mage Eureka Hammerstone. He perked up at the name. Eureka was one of few women to achieve notoriety in mage academia, thanks to a drastic change in political beliefs to some views that better suited her male colleagues. But the project Thebine wanted to research was earlier than that. It took place in Eureka's place of birth, a financially poor, but magically rich village called Midgar, which was surrounded by an enchanted forest.

At the time, Midgar was home to a decent population of druids. Industrialists from a neighboring city had migrated to the village with promises of economic growth, if they agreed to give the industrialists access to the forests. Hands were shaken, and, as anyone who knew anything about the nature of industrialists would guess, they took advantage of this agreement. The forest was used as a magical power supply for other unwelcome developments.

The druids of Midgar fought back, with the assistance of a faction of the Mage Society, which Eureka was the head of. She led a group of (mostly female!) mages to battle alongside the druids. Alas, magically animated vines and branches would eventually succumb to the industrialist war machines, but the Midgar locals had still put up a valiant fight.

Thebine paused her explanation to take a breath. The professor's brow furrowed so deeply that it began to overtake his dark eyes, but he said nothing.

Thebine had set about working on her proposal on the day of her initial appointment, after excusing herself. She had started on the rum to combat the headache from the previous night's drinking, and was drunk by the time she decided it was a very funny idea to propose a research paper on a revolt aided by a since de-radicalized colleague of her stuffy old professor. Now, sitting in front of said stuffy old professor, flushed and exhausted, Thebine was no longer laughing.

She took Igavir's silence as a cue to continue, moving on to her list of potential sources. Her list had only one item, but Thebine didn't really think that was her fault. She had sobered up by the time she made it to the library, it was just that little was written on the Society of Mages' involvement with the revolt. Censorship and historical revisionism, Thebine labeled it.

There was, however, one book on the subject that mentioned Eureka Hammerstone, and Thebine brought it up to the professor. Then, flying by the seat of her robes, she suggested that Igavir get her in touch with Hammerstone for an interview.

The professor sighed. Thebine had been rambling on for a good while, and Igavir had been tapping his finger impatiently on the open page of his tome the whole time, like he might get back to it. He finally shut it.

"No, no." The professor stood, straightening his robes. "I believe the good Ms. Hammerstone would decline to have that interview."

Thebine did not respond, only sat very still as Igavir hobbled over to one of the overflowing bookshelves. He pulled out a text.

"I understand why, as a woman, you would take interest in Eureka," said the professor, like he was humoring something unreasonable with his "understanding". Thebine clenched her fists. "But I think you would do better by the point of the class if you instead wrote about her take on the history of invocation. The focus on perspectives of famous and well-read mages was noted in the syllabus, after all."

Thebine had read the syllabus, had seen that part of the course description. Unoriginal regurgitation, she had labeled it. And Thebine still thought that, but shame roiled in her stomach all the same.

"Sure," Thebine voice was soft and trembling as she accepted the book. "I think I will do that."

Thebine left the office, her dreams of writing a spiteful, academically revolutionary essay dashed. She walked back out into the early afternoon air, and threw up in the bushes.