"My goodness, woman, do you ever stop eating?"
Helga looked up from the spoonful of stew she was about to put in her mouth.
"We've worked very hard today," she said as an apology. She gestured at the walls around them. Where there had once been ruins, walls had been rebuild and they now sat in an area that bore resemblance to the throne room in her father's castle. It was large, with tall, high windows. It had cost them a lot of trouble, and a lot of gold, to cover every window with tapestries to keep out the cold. Close to where they were seated, a fire burned in an immense fireplace.
Salazar sighed. "Yes, we have. But there is still more work to do. You should come, Rowena and Godric are in some argument again."
Helga stifled a laugh. Those two… They'd be perfect for each other, if only they could put aside their differences. She cast one regretting look on the stew, but then rose to her feet. Together, they walked the short distance to the upper floor, where they were sure to find the other two.
The voices of Godric and Rowena could be heard from afar, and Helga quickened her pace. Beside her, Salazar did the same. They found the two hot-headed and angrily glaring at one another.
"Well, what is the matter this time?" Salazar asked in his booming baritone.
"He wants his students to reside in the top tower!"
"I see. And you don't agree with that, I presume?"
"Of course not. I'll be the teacher on all things concerning the sky, the students I selected will all be apt astronomers I should think, and it seems only fitting that they would be the ones residing in the top tower."
"What if," Helga interrupted, "we use the top tower to teach our pupils about the science of the moon and stars?"
She could see that that idea caught on with Rowena, as she thought it would have.
"We're not done rebuilding yet. We could add another tower, so both of your pupils have one of the two smaller towers to reside in."
They needed to think about this.
"I think that's a great idea," Rowena said eventually. "I'm willing to let go of the top tower as a residence if I can have it as a teaching facility."
"Fine," Godric grumbled. "You can have the top tower for your lessons. But the two towers of residence will both have to be of equal height."
Salazar shot her an appraising look. Helga had always been the most level-headed of the four of them.
"Just out of curiosity, where will your students reside?" Rowena asked.
"Now, I don't want you to laugh…" Helga started and shuffled her feet. "But I was thinking it ought to be close to the kitchen, so they could always get a midnight something when they're hungry…"
The other three looked at each other and then started to laugh. "Oh Helga, only you could think of that," Godric said. "Your clan shield suits you well, I should think. You and the badger both like to stock your food for dire times."
He sounded amused, rather than hurtful, but she couldn't resist the urge to retaliate. "Broccs are fiercely loyal creatures, if you must know. They protect their young and they are well known for working together."
"Yes, we all know that, dear." Salazar hadn't said much since his first questioning of Godric and Rowena, but now he broke in. "Let it go, he's only teasing you."
"I'm sorry, Helga," Godric apologised. "But it's so easy to set you off at times…"
She huffed. "Well, if everything is settled here again, I guess I'll be off."
"I'll go with you," Salazar said. "I've some things to tend to, after all.
Together, they walked in an amiable silence down the stairs.
"Can I see the place where your students will reside?" he asked, all of a sudden.
She was a bit surprised at his interest, but saw no harm in it. "Of course."
She preceded him towards the kitchen and then continued to an adjacent room. "This," she gestured, "is where they'll sit in the evening, sharing stories and enjoying the warmth of a fire. I was thinking of adding some tunnels, so that the boys and the girls could both have their separate space to sleep. We don't want anything indecent happening, now do we?"
Salazar chuckled. "They'll be eleven years of age, darling."
"They won't always be eleven, and besides, you know as well as I do that in the farming communities, children get married around that age, starting families of their own to harvest the land. They don't have a family heirloom or a bridal waiting for them when they grow up. I meant what I said about badgers protecting their young, but that doesn't mean that I intend to have any infants running around the castle while their parents ought to concentrate on their study. Otherwise, this entire Academia would be for naught!"
She took a deep breath, surprised to see herself defend her choices so fiercely for the second time that day.
Salazar remained silent. At last, when she thought she could bear the silence no longer, he said: "I think there is a lot of wisdom in your words. I think all four of us would do well to heed them."
Helga swell of pride. She didn't exactly know why Salazar's praise meant so much to her, but it did.
"If the pupils you picked are anything like you, I'm sure they will love their residence. Let Rowena and Godric have their towers, you and I both know that our pupils are safest below the grounds. The dungeons are the perfect temperature to store potions' ingredients, and I find it best to stay in the vicinity of my pupils," he explained when he saw the look of surprise on her face.
She smiled.
"Salazar, do you think this will be a success? This castle, the Academia Hochwairtha?"
"We can only tell in the years to come. It'll be hard work, yes, and we'll probably question our own sanity a thousand times over for starting this, but in the end, I think it'll matter. We'll leave the lasting impression we wanted, and in due time, our children will take over when we're no longer capable of teaching."
"Our children?" Helga's voice quavered slightly as her heart skipped a beat, but either Salazar didn't notice it, or he did and was too polite to bring it up.
"Don't look so surprised, dear! If we had stayed with our families, we'd be married and with a family of our own for years now. But just because we chose a different path, doesn't mean that it can never happen. The wizarding community isn't very big, you've noticed that while we were travelling north, and if we want to have further generations of wizards and witches, arrangements will need to be made." All of a sudden, his tone changed and he said casually "I'll just leave you to it then. Great location for your pupil's residence, but if you want to construct these tunnels before the Harvest, you'd better start working. I'll be in the dungeons if you need me."
He left with his cloak billowing around him and Helga could only stare at his disappearing figure with regret. She knew that Salazar hadn't meant their children and that the 'we' he had used was only in a generic fashion, yet, his words had stirred her. She wondered when she'd finally muster up the courage to tell him how she felt.