Of The Line Of Estelondo: Percival's Tale.

Chapter Seventeen/XVII: On Weary Feet

Faramaureä slowly walked to the nearest window, but she did not see or hear anyone there. Looking back at her students, she said, "All of you wait here for a moment." She opened the window slowly and climbed out of it.

Once she had landed, she adjusted her dress and vest, then she looked toward the tree line to her left. Despite the rustling of the branches, she knew it was just the breeze. Looking back up at the window, she saw two Changeling children pop their heads out of the window after her. "What happened to: 'wait here for a moment?'" she teased, though she doubted they understood the satirical humour. Then she had an idea. "And make sure you all sign your artwork." That will show me their names.

Priding herself on what she perceived as cleverness, Faramaureä wandered toward the treeline, away from the walls of the city. As she did, she noticed areas of depression in the grass. Footprints, she thought to herself.

Following the trail, she wandered down through the trees, leaving her students unattended. The gentle breeze through the trees made the stroll more relaxing, but she could not completely relax, certainly without knowing who was nearby. Whom she had sensed.

She closed her eyes to see if she could still sense them, but whoever it was had gone by some means different than walking; alas they were no longer there. She turned and began walking back to her class but the thought never strayed far from her mind. I recognized that presence. I have felt it before.

. . .

The rest of the school day was uneventful, all in all. Well, except for the student who had thrown up in the recess due to eating an orange mushroom. "General rule of thumb:" Percival had told the child while Faramaureä cleaned up the mess. "If you do not know what the random plant is; do not eat said random plant."

The kid had nodded, but the level of attentiveness he showed to what Percival was saying made Faramaureä think that she would probably be cleaning up throw up tomorrow as well. Later, when she approached Percival, as he was smoking a pipe, she noticed an awful smell in the smoke. "What are you doing?"

"Smoking, clearly."

She looked at him like he was a moron. "When did you take up that bad habit?"

"Bad habit?" He answered in mock horror. "Our grandfather always said, 'Never trust someone who does not partake of the pipe; they are trying to hide something.'" He took a hit off of the pipe and started coughing voraciously.

She took the pipe and threw it out the window, but he was coughing too hard to yell at her. "What in the Thirteen Kingdoms are you smoking, Percival?"

Percival finally calmed down enough to spit out: "I have no idea, I just picked a couple of leaves off of a couple of trees and started smoking it in a pipe I found in my desk. I figured at least one of the trees had to be safe."

Faramaureä looked at him as though he was a moron again. I am beginning to think that might become a habit. "There are so many incredibly stupid things in what just came out of your mouth that I cannot even imagine as to where I should begin." Wiping her hand down her face in exasperation, she said, "How about I begin with the fact that we just dealt with a student getting sick from eating random plants, and you decided to smoke random plants. Are you kidding me, Percival?"

"In my defence, smoking and eating are entirely—"

"That was rhetorical. Second, you found the pipe in your desk?" He nodded, so she continued "Did you at least think to clean it before you put it in your mouth."

The abashed look on Percival's face was answer enough for her. "I am utterly unwilling to even touch on that any further than I already have. Thirdly, It only takes one poisonous leaf to kill you. The other fifteen could be perfectly safe but if you were to place Hemlock in there, it could kill you in an instant."