"You all meet in a tavern …" - Anonymous
Helga hadn't been sure who'd really come. She'd sent messages by owl messenger to them, of course, but that was just hopeful thinking, really. Their kind wasn't known for sharing, and gathering them into one place could be much like herding cats.
She'd managed to reach out to thirteen other magic users, wizards and witches alike, and convince them to meet at what might be considered neutral ground, though on the appointed day, no one had come. She sat at a table in a pub near her village, drinking wine from her goblet. It was special, because it was able to pull all the things needed for wine from the world around her. It wasn't good wine, but it was free.
It was nearing dusk and she'd finally decided to leave when there was a rush of air next to her and Rowena apperated into being.
"Sorry I'm late, I got caught up with an experiment. Did I miss the meet?" asked Rowena. She said this all very quickly. She took the seat across from Helga.
"No, you're the first one. Looks like it might just be you and I, though," began Helga, and then the door burst open and two wizards barged into the room.
Well, one wizard barged in, Godric, a huge man with a massive ginger beard. The other wizard, Salazar, came in quietly behind him, brushing himself off as he walked. Salazar was slight where Godric was large, dark haired and well kept where his counterpart was wild.
"I hate 'Get Help,' you know I do. Yet every time we're in a pinch, that's what you decide to pull out," said Salazar, glaring at Godric.
"I love it! It's a fun trick, and it gets them every time! You can't say you don't like it, even a little bit," said Godric, slapping Salazar on the back.
"I don't like being used as a weapon, much less being thrown about the room. There are far cleverer ways to avoid being caught out," said Salazar, drifting over to Helga's table and seating himself next to her.
"Duller ways, you mean," said Godric, grinning as he apperated into the seat across from his friend next to Rowena. "Sorry we're late. We had to … Get Help." Godric grinned at this and Salazar rolled his eyes.
"We lost track of the time. Goodness, it isn't just us four, is it?" said Salazar, looking about the empty pub as if another witch or wizard might spring out from the air, fiddling with the ring he wore on his right hand all the while.
"Looks that way, unless we get anyone else popping in at the last minute," said Helga, looking towards the door. "At least there's more than just two of us. That would make this rather difficult."
"Sorry, but make what difficult? You've been rather mysterious about you needing to speak with us all together," said Salazar, glancing at Rowena.
"Yes, why have you called us here? I mean, I like you, but it's not like I can afford to make social calls for no reason," said Rowena.
"I want us to start a school for magic," said Helga. She'd tried to think of a fine, delicate way to break this to them, but smooth words were for Salazar and clever ones for Rowena.
They didn't all laugh right away, which was a positive sign, though they didn't speak either.
"The way I look at it, we're probably the best chance of wizarding kind pooling our knowledge before it dies out again in our part of the world. I've had to travel long and hard to gather up what I could, and I'd rather the next generation not have to face the same kind of ordeal. What say you?"
"Are you out of your mind? Is this a joke?" said Godric, his face cracking into a grin. "Helga, I know you can be a bit of a joker, but this is ridiculous. How could we craft a school for wizards?"
"And witches," said Rowena, shooting a glare at Godric.
"And witches, yes, of course. We need great and mighty powers on hand to contain that much power. There's not a city in the world that would take the threat of a school for magical children without at least one god on hand willing to step in and intervene if necessary and our locals haven't exactly been welcoming on that front. At least, not to me. Maybe you've had better luck with them," said Godric, one hand moving down to his sword as if a god might spring out from the table.
"I've not had the honor of meeting one of the local gods myself, no, but I've always found the ones that I have met to be quite reasonable if given proper respect," said Helga, raising an eyebrow.
"See? This is what I'm talking about, thank you," said Salazar.
"I don't suggest building our school in a major city. I say we build it far from the world, as far as we can. That way no prying eyes will know what we're about, and any dangerous magic will be contained by the distance alone," said Helga, grinning. She was quite proud of this solution, as she'd not managed to contact the local gods no matter how she tried.
"That is the most absurd plan I've ever heard of," said Salazar with a frown.
"It's brilliant. Where did you have in mind?" said Rowena at the same time, giving Salazar a little glare before smiling at Helga.
"But if Rowena is behind it then I am as well," said Salazar quickly.
"I still say it's nonsense. How on Earth would anyone find it if it's not in a city? I don't want to worry about going out and about to seek out our students, if that's what you mean," said Godric, slumping back in his chair. He didn't get up.
"We'd go search them out. I have a plan for a spell that could cover at least Britain and Ireland both if we all work together," said Helga, smiling.
"And how do you intend to cast this spell? There's not a spell in existence potent enough to cover them both with one spell," said Salazar.
"I thought we could work together to cast it, starting from the site of the school, once we found it," said Helga, the smile still not leaving her face.
"Work together? How so? Pray to the gods? Wait, the gods aren't responding," said Salazar, glaring at Helga. "I came here because I thought you had an idea."
"And she does. Now we get to work together to bring it to life, because it's a good one," said Rowena, glaring at Salazar again.
"I think Scotland would be good. Lots of hills, good place to hide things away. What?" asked Godric, realizing that the eyes of the group were on him. "If we're going to go into the wild to build our school, we might as well hide it away from the world. Find a nice profane place that pulls the eyes of the gods away from us."
"Why would we want to pull their eyes away from us?" asked Helga.
"So they don't notice a school of young magic folk, that's why. Not sure how they'd feel about us doing this, but it can't be good," said Godric.
"Why would the gods mind, though?" asked Helga again, head tilted in a confused cat way.
"Because they can be picky about who has power and who doesn't, we've found," said Salazar, rubbing his arm like it was sore. "And they, unlike some others, are not fans of 'Get Help.'"
"The Thunderer liked it well enough," said Godric, grinning now. He did not dare to say the Thunderer's true name for risk of drawing the attention of his fellows, but they knew who he meant.
"The Thunderer has anger issues and enjoys smashing trolls and giants with a hammer for fun, so forgive me if his endorsement is not encouraging," said Salazar. "And the Trickster did not enjoy it."
"The Trickster was angry that he didn't think of it first, that's all," said Godric, waving his wand over his now empty glass and refilling it.
"Regardless! If we're to do this, we'd better have a protected location on hand if we don't want a good smiting," said Salazar, leaning back in his seat.
"We could find a profane place," said Rowena, taking a sip of her mead. "There's a few I know of up in Scotland."
"We want to teach how to control power, not dampen it entirely. What good would a profane location do for us?" said Salazar, though it was clear to Helga that the gears were already turning in his mind. "Unless we set up the spell so that it only drew those that it could detect through the school. Then we'd only be dealing with the best there were. Yes, that could work. Only the purest witches and wizards would learn magic."
"I don't think that would be very sporting. If we're really committing to a school for magic, I'll want to nurture every talent I can get hold of, not just the purest or whatever that means," said Godric.
"Yes, that's what I was thinking. None of this 'only the purest' nonsense. I want to teach magic to everyone I can get hold of," said Helga, glaring at Salazar.
Salazar glanced at Rowena, who shrugged. "I see where you're coming from, but I don't think only teaching a few students would help us all that much if we want this to last," said Rowena.
Salazar sighed. "Fine. To anyone, but they need to show real talent. I don't want to teach a student just because they think they have the gift because one of their parents had it," he said, and they all nodded in agreement.
"Talent can be grown, and not everyone springs into the world with magic at their fingertips, you know that. I didn't start throwing about magic until I was sixteen," said Helga, but she saw that her words had fallen on deaf ears.
Rowena nodded along with Salazar. "No, they need to show some basic aptitude early on, I agree there. Perhaps we should start early, maybe at …"
"Eleven. We start teaching them at eleven. It's a proper apprenticing age and it's enough time for them to have a basic grip on things," said Helga, crossing her arms.
"And they're old enough to start wanting to be their own person. A fine time," said Godric, grinning at Helga.
"Eleven it is, then," said Rowena.
Salazar grumbled a bit, muttering things Helga couldn't quite make out, but nodded along with Rowena in the end. "Eleven. No later, unless they show exceptional talent," said Salazar, glancing to Helga with a nod of his own. "No sense denying true talent."
"Splendid! Now, I think we should get some eating done. If we're going to talk shop like this, I want to have some real food in front of me," said Godric, clapping his hands.
Helga smiled. She'd hoped for a grander turnout, but even with four perhaps a school could be made to work after all.