Minwu Ornitier walked between groups of students in dull grey robes, each of whom sat upon the floor, eyes closed, faces serene. She walked with careful grace, examining each student in turn. Though her magic was less reliable than her emotions since her pregnancy, she could still feel the magic in others, could still feel the mana stirring, waiting to be shaped by a patient mind.
Except for one.
Jayce Belar didn't even have his eyes closed. He sat slumped, playing with the hem of his grey apprentice robes. Minwu cleared her throat meaningfully. Jayce looked up at her as though surprised she'd noticed he wasn't meditating, as though they hadn't done this twice this week already.
Jayce straightened up and closed his eyes.
Minwu shook her head as she moved on. Jayce had started class by sitting next to Lilli, a girl who had made it clear she wasn't interested in his attention, and chatting to her through the start of Minwu's guided meditation. She'd have to deal with him again. She'd rather let the Dean of Students deal with the errant boy, but the dean preferred teachers handle their own discipline problems when possible.
Minwu looked at the clock and sighed when she realized there was only seven minutes left. The babies were wrestling in her womb, and she was ready for a break.
Most of the students were human, but Dor recognized some of the non-human races she'd seen at the military camp her first time to Ivalice. There were three moogles, short and white-furred; and a group of viera, slim with long, tall ears; and even a baanga, a broad, lizard-like person, all in grey robes.
Dor stayed hidden in a row of bookshelves, looking into the classroom through the open door lining up almost perfectly with her row. She was excited to see Minuw, but didn't want to disrupt class. Minwu looked good. At the military camp, the white mage had always seemed tight, concerned. Here she looked round, soft, and happy. She wore a pristine white robe with the repeating red triangle pattern along its hem and cuffs. Her pink hair was long and shiny. Her belly was swollen with pregnancy.
"All right," said Minwu. "I think that's enough for today. Thank you, all." The students blinked from their meditation and began to make their way from the classroom into the library proper, where Dor lurked. Dor pretended to be interested in the books where she hid, in case anyone looked her way.
"Jayce, stay a moment," Minwu's voice carried through the classroom. A human boy, no older than Dor, winced, but approached Minwu, who stood at a desk at the head of the classroom.
Dor waited at the end of the row of bookshelves.
"I'm sorry, Madam Ornitier," the boy said.
"I'm sure you are, Jayce," Minwu replied. "This is the third time this week you've been distracted during meditation. It's one thing to disrupt your own learning, but now you're disrupting that of your classmates. I may have to speak to Dean Undine about your behavior."
The boy gasped. "No, please, I…"
Minwu sighed. "Very well. But this cannot continue. Bend over the desk."
From her position, Dor had a perfect view as the boy bent over the far end of the desk. If he'd looked straight ahead, he'd have seen Dor staring. As it was, he put his forehead on the desk and squeezed his eyes shut. Minwu stood behind him, put a hand on his back to brace herself, then smacked his backside, five times, over his robes. The boy squirmed and whimpered.
Well that's hardly fair, Dor thought. He didn't even have to raise his skirts.
When she was done, the boy stood and rubbed his bottom tearfully. Minwu patted his shoulder.
"Get going, Jayce. I'm sure you don't want to be late for your next class."
"Thank you, Madam Ornitier."
Dor waited for the boy to leave before she approached the classroom entryway. Minwu was gathering together a sheaf of papers into a leather scrip. One of the papers slipped from the stack and swayed through the air to settle under the desk. Minwu groaned. She braced a hand on the desk, preparing to kneel. With her belly as swollen as it was, Dor was certain the normally simple task would be arduous.
"I'll get it," said Dor. She went down on her hands and knees by the desk and fished the piece of paper out from under it. She stood and handed it to Minwu.
Minwu had her eyes closed and was breathing evenly. "Thank you," she said, tone strained. And when she opened her eyes, they quickly went wide. "Dorothy?"
Dor smiled, tears coming unbidden. "Hello. You look well."
Minwu's face contorted and for a moment, Dor thought she'd be sick. Then the woman began crying. She grabbed Dor and pulled her into a tight hug, awkward over her swollen belly. Dor hugged her back and, spurred by Minwu's tears, let her own fall.
"You disappeared so suddenly," Minwu said. "I understand why you did it, but you could have come to me for help. I could have protected you. Oh, I should spank you so hard, Dorothy, do you know that? I'm so happy to see you're all right." Despite how hard Minwu's squeezed her, Dor didn't pull away. Minwu kissed the top of her forehead. After some time more, Minwu pushed Dor to arm's length.
"You look… confident."
Dor smiled. "You look beautiful." She reached a hand to Minuw's belly, then hesitated. "May I?"
Minwu beamed. "Of course."
Dor rested her hand on Minwu's belly. It was firm though her white mage robes. "How far along are you?"
"About eight and a half months. I'm having twins."
Dor smiled, then frowned in confusion. "How long as it been since I left?" She'd spent two weeks with Kya in Republic City and three and a half months with the Hufflepuffs at Hogwarts. It wouldn't surprise her if time flowed differently between planes of existence, but it would provide quite the headache.
"Only about four months," said Minwu. "I thought the stress of military life was why I missed my moondays, but apparently the one time I let my passions get the better of me…" She blushed. "I was nearly four months pregnant when you arrived and didn't even know it."
Dor grinned. "So. Who…"
Minwu blushed harder. She cleared her throat. "Why don't we go back to my apartment to catch up?"
Minwu lead Dor through the library, past classrooms, to a set of stairs. The library was massive but cramped, with hardwood floors, straight backed chairs, and tall, meticulous book shelves.
"Where are we?" Dor asked as they climbed the stone steps.
"This is the mage school at Mysidia," Minwu said. "How did you find me here if you didn't know where here was?"
"I searched for you though the library in my mind. I've gotten much better at planeswalking. So long as I can focus on a person who's in or near a library, I seem to be able to travel directly to the library. It's only when I'm reaching blindly that I end up somewhere I've never been."
"Curious," Minwu said.
On the third floor was a set of apartments for teachers who didn't have quarters off-campus. Minwu was winded at the top of the stairs. Dor offered her arm and Minwu took it gratefully. She leaned on Dor as they made their way to the end of the hallway. The apartment was small and neat, everything in its place, just as Dor expected. There was a bed in one corner piled with quilts and pillows, all neatly folded and stacked. A three-drawer dresser stood at its foot. There was a space for sitting with two bookshelves and two thickly cushioned chairs. A thick rug covered most of the wooden floor and an attached water closet.
Next to the bed was a doubled-sized wooden bassinet, at the ready.
Minwu went to the window at the far end of the room, near the bed, and opened it a crack. "Sorry, Dorothy, I'm always too hot lately."
"It's fine," said Dor. "Is there something I can do for you?"
Minwu shook her head, then said, "Actually, can you help me out of these robes?"
Dor loosed the ties at Minwu's back and pulled it all over her head, then did the same with her undershift, leaving the white mage in a camisole, drawers, and stockings. Minwu sat on the bed and Dor pulled off her stockings. Minwu sighed with relief. Dor folded the clothes neatly and set them atop the dresser. With Dor's help, Minwu stood and together they crossed the small apartment to the reading corner. Minwu sat with another sigh and cradled her belly.
"Thank you for understanding, Dorothy. All those layers are stifling."
"Of course," said Dor. She sat in other chair and tucked her feet under her.
"So. To answer your question, yes, Li is the father. He and I… it was a while before you arrived in camp. Li and I have known each other for several years. I needed companionship and he provided. I didn't realize until later that we'd gotten pregnant. And once the commander found out, well, apparently expecting mothers aren't allowed to serve on the front lines."
"That seems sensible," said Dor.
Minwu shot her a glare. "And what of expecting fathers?"
Dor squirmed uncomfortably. "Li's not here?"
"He visits once every two weeks, but he's still serving the commander as a bodyguard."
"Sorry."
Minwu closed her eyes and shook her head. "It's not your fault." She looked at Dor and smiled, a few tears tracking down her cheeks. "I'm very glad you came to visit me." She wiped at her cheeks with a small growl of frustration. "I hope you'll forgive the crying too. I can't control that anymore."
"Of course."
"All right. " Minwu took a big breath and cleared her throat. "Now, tell me what's happened since you left."
Dor gave her the whole story: Elmira, Quillon, Kya, Hogwarts, and her recent victory. She told her about the room in her mind and the grimoire and her wand. She told her about her studies of the multiverse and escaping the animated library.
"And then I was in a massive rose garden. I fell into a healing fountain. Then these women appeared, a giant woman with pink hair named Rose Quartz, and her bodyguard, a thin woman named Pearl. They were amazing, Minwu."
Minwu laughed. "You are amazing, Dorothy. I'm so proud of you."
Dor blushed. "I was only trying to protect myself. Not like you. You protect others."
Minwu shook her head. "I'm a teacher now. My magic's been a bit unreliable since the pregnancy got more… intense. And besides, you never gave up. You kept pushing, kept learning. I would dearly love to see your grimoire. I remember you describing it before, back in camp. I realize it only exists in your mind, but I've made a study of all kinds of magic. The way you describe magic is unlike anything I've seen before."
Dor considered. It was true her grimoire only existed in her mind, but she'd held Twilight's Blink in her hand on the roof of the orphanage. Perhaps she could bring the whole book into the real world.
Someone knocked at the door.
"By Ultima, what now?" Minwu said.
"I can answer it," said Dor, standing. "Do you want me to fetch you a quilt?"
Minwu smiled at her, looking tired. "Would you please?"
Dor took a quilt from the bed and draped it over the nearly nude white mage, then went to the door. It was a young woman in the same grey robes the students in Minwu's class had worn. She blinked at Dor uncertainly.
"I'm supposed to ask what Madam Ornitier wants for dinner."
Dor looked over her shoulder and Minwu nodded, so she let the girl in.
"Just the stew and bread, please, Ms. Jocie," Minwu said. "And some for my guest, please."
The girl nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
When she was gone, Dor closed the door.
"They deliver your food?"
"Only since it's gotten difficult for me to go up and down the stairs so often. Honestly, it's a bit irritating. I'm pregnant, not an invalid. And yet…" She sighed.
Dor took a breath, considering. She'd sat on the bench on Beach City's boardwalk, thinking a lot about where to go first, which of her friends to see. She'd chosen Minwu because of her pregnancy, but also…
"Were you serious earlier?" Dor asked.
"About what?"
"About, you know, spanking me?"
Minwu raised her eyebrows. "You mean for running away instead of telling me what was going on? Yes. But, you've been through so much now…"
"Oh," said Dor.
Minwu sat up straight, pushing the quilt down to her lap. "Dorothy? Is there something you want to say?"
Dor shrugged. "It's just… Your spankings made me feel safe. And I… I felt really awful about leaving you like that. I… I was pushed away from Twilight Sparkle and Jubilee, but I left you. I wanted to apologize and to…"
"Well, I'd take you over my lap, but…" Minwu gestured at her belly.
"I could bend over the bed," Dor said. She blushed. "Unless… If you're too tired…"
"You're serious about this?"
Dor nodded.
Minwu pushed herself to her feet and folded the quilt. "All right, young lady. Bare your bottom and bend over the bed. Your spanking is long overdue."
Dor looked at the door apprehensively. "What about dinner?"
"They won't be back for a few hours. We have time and privacy."
Dor took off her shoulder bag and set it on her chair. She undressed, folding each article meticulously and setting it on top of her bag. As she did, Minwu went to her dresser and opened the top drawer. When she was nude, Dor turned to the bed and found Minwu looking at her, arms crossed beneath her ample breasts, hairbrush in one hand.
Dor whimpered, but it was also a kind of sigh.
She went to the bed and bent, resting her forearms on the folded quilts, thrusting her pale, naked bottom high. She felt at once relaxed and nervous, certain Minwu would take good care of her. She tingled all over, a dancing power tickling at her skin. She was vulnerable and eager and when Minwu put a hand on her back, she tensed. Minwu put her wide, soft hip against Dor and Dor leaned into her. The white mage was warm, like hot chocolate on a winter day. Minwu rested the hairbrush back on Dor's bare bottom. She patted it gently several times, alternating cheeks.
Dor braced herself.
Minwu put her hand on Dor's waist and held her tight.
The back of that hairbrush stung. Dor's nates were lit afire in a matter of moments. The rhythmic crack of smooth wood on her bottom filled her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut but they were no barrier to the tears. Her shoulders ached with the weight of the spanking, but she held firm, refusing to collapse. She found she couldn't stop herself from wiggling, from swaying side to side as much as Minwu's firm hold would let her, unintentionally trying to escape the stinging hairbrush.
When it was done, Dor felt like the fire of the spanking had spread though her, but it felt good. Like she'd been cleansed or renewed. She had deserved the spanking for leaving Minwu, for not trusting her, or at least talking to her first. Now she felt absolved of that. But more, she felt comforted and loved in a way she never had back at the orphanage. Sister Mary Margaret and the others were the guardians of the orphans, but they had never been as motherly as Minwu. In Minwu, Dor had, not a mother exactly, but perhaps a big sister, someone she could approach with her guilt and come away feeling forgiven, whether though a frank discussion or a firm hug or a thorough spanking.
Minwu pulled a pair of soft, oversized nighties from her dresser. She pulled on one and gave Dor the other. They sat on the bed close together, Minwu's arm around Dor's shoulder, cuddling until Dor's tears went away, until the fire was a blessed warmth, until there was a knock at the door.
Minwu was about to get up, but Dor forestalled her.
"You don't have to wait on me," Minwu said.
Dor shook her head. "You've done a lot for me today. Let me do this for you." She kissed Minwu's cheek and got to her feet.
The same young, grey-clad mage was there with a lap tray bearing two large bowls filled with a thick, creamy vegetable stew and a pair of crusty brown rolls and a pitcher of water with a pair of mugs.
Dor let her in and the girl brought it to Minwu's bed.
Minwu and Dor ate dinner on the bed together. Despite the several doughnuts she'd eaten in Beach City, Dor found herself voracious. The stew was filling and satisfying. When they were finished, Dor set the dirty dishes on the lap tray outside the door at Minwu's direction.
Then Dor let Minwu brush out her hair with the same hairbrush she'd used to spank Dor's bottom. She hadn't done anything with it since her dunking in Rose's fountain and subsequent bath in the ocean, so it was tangled and salty, but Minwu was gentle. When her hair was brushed out, Minwu put it in two neat braids and tied them with a pair of spare white ribbons.
Minwu tried to insist Dor should take the bed and she'd sleep in one of the chairs, but Dor flatly refused. When Minwu persisted, Dor said, "Keep that up and I won't be the only one with a spanked bottom in this apartment."
Minwu looked at her surprised.
Dor took Minwu's hands and kissed them. "You aren't an invalid, but you are pregnant and there's no way I'm kicking you out of your bed."
Minwu chuckled. "You really have grown more confident."
With the chairs pushed together so the seats faced each other, Dor had a cushy if cramped bed. Compared to the standard of Princess Celestia's palace, or the four-posters in the Hufflepuff basement, it wasn't terribly comfortable, but she'd made due with worse for the first thirteen years of her life at St. Bridget's.
Dor sat in the room in her mind. She hadn't had a chance to examine it since defeating the book elemental. It was packed with books, more then there'd been before. Every bit of wall space was covered with bookshelves and every shelf was filled with books. Only a narrow doorway in one wall interrupted the flow of books.
Dor took her time examining them.
There were all the books she expected to be there: Wibbly Wobbly, Considering L-Space, Theories of the Multiverse, but there was also There and Back Again and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. There was Hogwarts, a History, which she'd only read a bit of in the Hogwarts library. And then there was a series of seven books proclaiming itself the Harry Potter series. Dor pulled the first: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. She opened it to the first page:
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.
It appeared to be the story of Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts School of Wizardry. The prime universe, Mr. Quillon had called it. Before she could get sucked into the tale, she reshelved it. She wanted to examine the rest. And there would be time for reading later.
In the way of dreams, her focus shifted, recentering on her grimoire, which sat upon the study table in the center of the room. Minwu had said she'd like to look at it. Dor thought it might be possible. If books she'd never read before, books describing planes of existence as fiction, could exist in the room in her mind, then why couldn't her grimoire exist outside her mind?
She tucked the brown leather bound book under her arm and went to that narrow door interrupting the bookshelves. She knew by the tingle in her shoulders that door led to the multiverse, through the Blind Eternities, to all manner of planes of existence, one of which included the war-torn land of Ivalice and the mage school at Mysidia and the apartment in which rested Minwu Ornitier.
Dor opened the door and stepped into the book-lined hallway of her mind, letting her fingers trail along the book spines and, just as before, several steps on, a corridor opened on her left.
This time, instead of stepping into the library proper, she stepped into Minwu's private collection, a pair of bookcases taking up one corner of the small apartment where she'd pushed a pair of chairs together to create a makeshift bed.
Dor stumbled coming out of the library in her mind and fell onto the chairs with a grunt and a squeak.
"Dor? Are you hurt?"
"No. Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
"I haven't fallen asleep yet. The babies are kicking. I thought you were asleep though. You were snoring."
Dor blushed. "I… uh… I snore?"
"Lightly. It's cute. Li snores like…" Minwu cleared her throat and sniffled
Dor looked at her grimoire in the faint light coming through the window. "I was dreaming. I think. I was in the room in my mind and… you said you wanted to see my grimoire, right?"
"Seriously?" Excitement was evident in Minwu's tone.
"I think so. Though I was dreaming…" She squeezed the book in her hands, convincing herself it was solid. "On the other hand, dreams have been instrumental in learning my spells. Remember when I set off Jubilee's Dazzler in our tent?"
Minwu snorted. "I certainly do." Dor heard Minwu struggle to sit up. And with a scrape and a clink, lit a lantern. The soft orange glow filled the room. "I can't sleep anyway," said Minwu. "Can we look at it now?"
Dor smiled. Minwu seemed positively giddy. "Absolutely."
The night had grown cool and Dor was happy for her borrowed nightgown, but Minwu was still too warm and had divested herself of her underwear. Even in pregnancy, or perhaps because of it, Dor thought Minwu was beautiful. Her wide hips and full breasts compared to Dor's own slim, boyish figure, made her blush. They sat together on Minwu's bed and Dor set the grimoire upon her lap.
It was precisely as it had been in her mind. A thick, brown leather cover enclosing pages of a smooth, transparent material. Each page was broken into pockets, three rows of three, and each pocket held a playing card. There were five white cards, two blue, and two red. Dor withdrew Minwu's Cura, the art for which showed the beautiful, pink-haired white mage limned with blue light, eyes closed, face serene.
It felt cool and heavy in her fingers, like it held a wealth of knowledge, years of training, hard experience. She handed it to Minwu who took it carefully.
"It feels like thick paper, but… I don't know how to describe it."
Dor nodded.
"And this script. I can read the title, Minwu's Cura," the white mage cleared her throat and Dor saw her blush. "But I don't know what the rest of this means. I think I recognize the words, but as soon I look at the next it's like I've forgotten it. And yet it feels like the spell I know… condensed."
She turned the card over and on the backside was a plain brown field, the same color as the cover of the book, and five colored spheres, each equidistant from the others, like they were points of a pentagon, white at the top and, in clockwise order, blue, black, red, and green.
"What does this mean?" Minwu asked.
Dor shook her head. "I'm not certain. So far everything I've learned has a colored border and I think," she touched the white sphere at the top, "this spell has an association with the white sphere. Likewise the blue with the blue sphere, and the red with the red. But I've never seen a black or green bordered card."
"Well you've only been at it for what, six months?"
Dor nodded. "Or thereabouts. It's been hard to keep track of time, especially with the seasons being inconsistent."
Mwinu handed back the card, and Dor slipped it into its pocket.
"What do you mean?"
"I told you about Hogwwarts? There, everyone's just gone on break for Christmas, a winter holiday. But in Beach City, it smelled like spring. Also, it's the year nineteen-o'eight back at the orphanage, but twenty-fifteen in New York City. So, time's become hard to keep track of."
"Fascinating," said Minwu. "And you're certain you're not a time traveler?"
Dor nodded but said, "Not entirely. I think so. The different versions feel different, have a different," she shrugged, "flavor."
"Well, so you know, this planet isn't called Earth, it's called Gaia."
"Which is the Greek word for Earth," said Dor. "On my world there's a lot of different languages and Gaia is what the Greeks called it."
Minwu was fascinated by the differences between planes, fascinated that everyone Dor had met on differing planes of existence spoke English, or as Minwu called it, the Common Tongue. Dor told her what Mr. Quillon had said about parallel worlds that had largely the same history versus alternate worlds which had vast differences. She told her about the idea of a Prime Universe and the parallels resultant came from less likey choices. She let Minwu examine each of her spells in turn, describing how it felt to bend water with movement, to organize her mind like a library, to disarm an opponent, to cast blinding sparks.
"I remember how that one felt," said Minwu with nudge.
Dor giggled. "You already spanked me for that."
She described how powerful it felt to hurl fire, though Elmira Gulch on the red spells in her mind made her uncomfortable.
"This is the girl who pursued you?" Minwu asked.
Dor nodded.
"There's always much to learn. Even from our foes. What happened to them?"
"The book elemental stuck Mr. Quillon into nonexistence. Ms. Sharpe, from the Time Bureau, said she rescued the other girls. Including Elmira." Dor sighed. "Mr. Quillon was awful. He did awful things to those girls and I'm sure he had awful things planned for me, but I still feel bad. I wish our conflict could have been resolved more gently.
"As for Elmira and the others. They're rescued, but I don't know what's happened to them since." She touched the red cards, they felt warm and eager though the pocket. "She was mean and angry," Dor said. "She hated me. But I hope she's all right."
Minwu kissed the top of her head.
Dor cleared her throat and turned the page. "And look at this." Gems' Fusion had a gold border but a pinstripe around the artwork faded from white to blue to red. Dor withdrew the card and handed it to Minwu.
"A combination of colors I suppose," said Minwu. "She closed her eyes. "I get a sense of this one. It's about joining together, both literally and figuratively, mentally and emotionally. This is a spell of friendship."
Dor's shoulders tingled gently.
"And what of these?" Minwu asked, turning the page.
The next nine-pocket page and the several after that were filled with the full art depictions of the myriad artifacts Mr. Quillon had stolen. They had no text but for their titles. After Dor explained, Minwu nodded thoughtfully.
"I suppose with your paradox summoning the book elemental and subsequent collapse of the mindcage, because the elemental followed you through your mind space, the one anchored to the other. That must have been enough to put his ill-gotten gains into your grimoire."
She tapped the card entitled Excalibur, the great blade of King Arthur resting upon a bed of samite.
"This is a holy object," she said. "May I?"
Dor nodded and Minwu withdrew the playing card form its pocket. The white mage hefted it.
"Do you know what this is?"
Dor nodded. "Where I come from, it's the sword of the legendary King Arthur, head of the Knights of the Round table. He earned it from the Lady of the Lake. It's a symbol of striking down evil and protecting the innocent. But it's not real, just a legend. Except Mr. Quillon said King Arthur really existed in some versions of Earth and he got this one from the Lady of the Lake after King Arthur's death."
"Fascinating," said Minwu. "There's an Ivalice legend of Excalibur as well. It was forged by the dwarves for the Warriors of Light and used to slay the Great Demon Chaos."
Dor sighed, dejected.
"What's wrong?"
"I hoped to return these artifacts to their proper places. But if there's a legend of Excalibur on Earth, and here on Gaia, how do I known which Excalibur this is?"
"The way you describe your magic, it's largely intuitive. Do you get a feeling from this card?"
Dor shook her head. She didn't get the same tingly feeling from the stolen artifacts she got from her spells.
"It's almost like I need to read the card's mind."
"Hmm… Telepathy is a rare skill on Ivalice. Do any of your extra-planar friends have access to telepathy?"
Dor immediately thought of Jean, the tall, calm, red-haired woman in the black uniform who, along with Scott, had saved her and Jubilee from the metal spiders. Jean had spoken directly into her mind. And though Dor hadn't gotten to know her well enough to call her a friend, perhaps Jubilee would put in a good word for her.
When the sun rose, Dor yawned finally feeling tired.
"Help me up, would you?" said Minwu. "I have to pee and get ready for the day."
"Oh, you have to teach don't you? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to keep you up all night."
Dor helped haul Minwu to her feet.
"That's not your fault. The babies have kept me up all night more than once. Besides, I've only got meditation classes this sememster."
"Still," said Dor. "I should have…"
Minwu waved her off. "If you feel that bad, you can help me get ready for the day."
After Minwu's turn in the water closet, Dor took one, then she brushed Minwu's hair and helped her get dressed before opening the laundry bag and selecting her own clothes. She chose the yellow hufflepuff panties, black skirt, and white button up. Though it wasn't Hogwarts, it was still a school, so Dor decided a bit more formality was in order and put on the black and yellow striped Hufflepuff tie. Finally, she belted on her holster and slid her wand into place snugly.
"That's fetching," said Minwu.
"It the Hogwarts uniform. Yellow and black is for House Hufflepuff."
They were about to make their way down to the mess hall when a solid knock sounded at the door. Dor looked at Minwu who shrugged, so Dor answered it. There stood Li. He wore a dark blue vest and pants cinched with a black belt. His clothes were frayed, worn, and mud-stained. He looked travel weary, but his expression was bright. He bore a lap tray with large, steaming kettle and three ceramic mugs each full of coffee. The aroma perked Dor up.
He smiled at Dor. "When they told me Minwu had a guest, I was hoping it'd be you. It's good to see you, Dorothy."
"Good to see you too, papa-to-be."
Li's smiled turned to a goofy grin.
"I brought coffee," he said.
"By all means," said Dor, stepping aside. She looked at Minwu, expecting her friend to be thrilled, instead she had her arms crossed firmly beneath her breasts, expression firm.
Dor looked from Minwu to Li, whose expression faded, back to Minwu.
"Here," said Dor, taking the lap tray from Li. "Let me…"
Li came into the room, arms almost outstretched then stopped then put his hands at his side awkwardly. Dor stepped aside, setting the lap tray on one of the chairs. She picked up a mug of coffee and breathed it in.
Neither Li nor Minwu looked ready for coffee, so Dor tried to stay out of the way. There had been coffee at Hogwarts, but it'd been a morning or two since she'd had any, and just the smell was enough to make her shoulders relax. She took a sip and let the warm drink tingle at her taste buds before swallowing. She felt the faint hint of a buzz tease about the base of her skull.
"It's good to see you," Li see.
"It's been nearly three weeks," said Minwu.
"Yes. I'm sorry. I was going to send a letter, but… Things came up."
"Things that put you in danger?"
"You know I can't talk about that," said Li, tone half pleading, half apologetic.
"If I were there, I could at least protect you. Or heal you. These babies need you," Minuw said, putting a hand on top of her belly.
"Yes," said Li. He reached into his vest. "That's why—"
"I need you," said Minwu. "I need you here. With me."
"I know. I…"
"You say that, but you've been gone. I know you think Lord Hillary fights for a righteous cause. I know you think the War of the Lions is important. But it's not more important than your family."
Li looked about to say something else, then clamped his jaw and withdrew a folded piece of paper from his vest. "The commander gave me this. She insisted, in fact. It's a letter or discharge."
Minwu took a breath as though to respond, but her breath was shaky and tears spilled down her cheeks. Within moments, she was crying uncontrollably. Li went to her and she hugged him fiercely, making fists in the back of his vest. Li wrapped his arms gently around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.
Quietly as she could, Dor left the apartment, went down the hall and sat at the top of the stairs where she drank her coffee.
They ate breakfast together in the mess hall. Though Minwu had obviously been crying, she practically glowed. She and Li sat very close together.
The magic school at Mysidia was offering Li a teaching position, training those mages who expected to find themselves on the front lines in the rudiments of physical self-defense. Today he would move the both of them into one of the school's family accommodations, a cozy cottage on campus, but not in the library itself. All of this Li told them with unbridled enthusiasm.
When it was time for Minwu's first class, Li went upstairs to move her things to their new cottage. Dor went with Minwu to class where she was introduced as Minwu's apprentice from a foreign magic school. This garnered Dor a lot of curious looks, but no one bothered to speak to her. She sat with them and meditated at Minwu's direction. She found she could sit in silent darkness, feeling the presence of the room in her mind, with comforting ease.
During Minwu's third class, Dor was joined by a boy. It was Jayce, the same boy she'd seen spanked yesterday. He smiled at her in a friendly way that reminded her of her fellow Hufflepuffs. It wasn't that the other students in Minwu's meditation classes had been unfriendly, rather cautiously standoffish. This boy had no such reservations.
"Hi. I'm Jayce." He stuck out his hand.
Dor shook firmly and saw him wince slightly. Though she was sure he couldn't be younger than her, he seemed very childlike. Dor had just turned thirteen the month before all this started, but she found she'd never felt much like a child.
"Dor. Nice to meet you."
"So, you're Madam Ornitier's apprentice?"
Dor nodded. At the head of the room, Minwu began leading them through meditation. Dor closed her eyes, feeling the peace of the last two periods settling about her shoulders.
"Were you with her in the War of the Lions?"
Dor opened one eye to find Jayce looking at her with unabashed curiosity. "Yes."
"Wow. I'm going to serve on the front lines one day."
Dor frowned. Her experience in that military camp had been brief, but the little she'd seen had convinced her she wasn't excited by war. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"What's it like at your school?"
Dor snapped her eyes open. "Young man, if you don't want to find yourself with a spanked bottom, I suggest you begin your meditation." Jayce blushed and hunched his shoulders. Dor bit her tongue. On the one hand, he was annoying and she didn't feel like she owed him anything. On the other, she could see her comment had stung. "Look. You want to be a mage in the War of the Lions? Meditation is the first step."
"But it's so boring."
Jayce's tone held an edge of whining, and it was all Dor could do not to spank him herself.
"The very basics of magic are about concentration, focus, imagination and metaphor. If you can't even manage that, you'll never be able to cast Cura." As she said the word, the white-bordered card flickered in her mind.
"I don't—"
Dor held up a hand. "Focus, Jayce."
"On what? The blackness behind my eyelids? A bowl of water?"
"How about a room?"
"What?" He sounded curious.
"Imagine a room in your mind. It's your room. Only you can go there and it can be anything you want." Jayce took a breath, but Dor continued to forestall him. "Imagine you're sitting in the middle of that room. Imagine it has everything you need to be comfortable."
"My books?" Jayce's voice was quieter, calmer.
"Yes. Tell me about the books."
"My grandpa's old war journals. His theorems on black magic. Mom's book of sword forms. The tales of Bartz the Adventurer…"
"Can you see them?" Dor asked. "Are they on a shelf in the room in your mind?"
"Yeah. Okay. I can see them."
"Excellent. I want you to imagine them in minute detail. Every crease. Every wrinkle. What do they smell like? What do they sound like when you flip through the pages? And when you've got them firm in your mind, look at the bookshelf. Is it made of wood? What kind? What color?"
Dor paused and took a breath. She took another, waiting, and when she took a third and Jayce didn't speak, she opened an eye to look at him. He sat up straight, eyes closed, breath even.
Dor smiled.
At the end of the day, Dor sat with Minwu and Li in their new little cottage. Li had brought everything of Minwu's into the cottage from the apartment, which was mostly the clothes and books. Dor noticed the bassinet had been brought and stood next to a bed big enough for the two of them. All through dinner, Dor couldn't help but notice all the little looks and touches passing between the two.
When the meal was done, Dor pushed back from the table and stood.
"You're not going, are you?" Minwu asked, tears immediately at her eyes.
"I'll visit, I promise," said Dor. "But I need to start figuring out how to return all those stolen artifacts."
Minwu stood and came around the table to give Dor a hug. "I'm going to be very cross if 'soon' turns out to be more than a week. I'm serious. I'll worry if you're gone too long."
Dor nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
Li gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head.
Dor turned to the bookshelves on the far end of the room, still only half full, and felt a tingle along her shoulders. She walked toward them and a corridor opened in her mind. She stepped through and slipped between.
