At the moment, Griselda hoped that the door was locked. She didn't want to face what was inside, or more likely, what wasn't there.
Her thoughts ran wildly. What if all the things that had happened were just something of realistic dream? And now, if she stepped inside, would everything be the same as always?

Griselda lifted her hand of the door handle she had held for few minutes. She could wait until next day to find out.

"No," she hissed to herself in barely audible tone. "You get in right now."

Griselda remembered those several times when walking into the office had felt terrifying. When it had been her first day. When she had had to report about the assaults of Army of Darkness. When Faragonda had been missing and she had had to run the school. But this felt so much bigger.

The office itself hadn't changed, only a fresh layer of dust had appeared all over the furniture. However, the room lacked of the most important element.

The headmistress wasn't there.

Well, of course she wasn't.

Only a couple of hours earlier, Faragonda had retired.

"Took her long enough," some people would say. Griselda didn't even know how old Faragonda was; she never dared to ask. For a long time, she couldn't have even guessed.

Griselda had subconsciously kept count: fifteen years. Fifteen years had passed after the re-birth of Domino, and Faragonda hadn't aged a day. Griselda often found herself suspecting that the headmistress used a spell.

While she had mourned the wrinkles near the corners of her mouth, Faragonda's face had only had tiny wrinkles under the eyes. Never had she taken one hesitant or shaky step with her high heels. Never had she let her gaze drop to the floor, no, she had held her head up with dignity and greeted everyone with a graceful smile.

But in following two years, Faragonda had quite harshly confronted an inevitable fact: no one stays young forever, not even in Magix.

During those two years, the previous fifteen years had lurked behind her back and hit with full force. All of a sudden, high heels had changed to low-heeled pumps and wrinkles had gained their places al over her face. Faragonda still had her smile, although it was pained.

"It's nothing," Griselda had thought. "She's aging like any other people. It's nothing serious." That was until Faragonda's very own legs betrayed her. That moment would never leave Griselda's memory.

"Miss Faragonda?" Griselda breathed. "What happened?"

Faragonda was on her knees, eyes widened with shock. "Just help me up, please," she muttered absently.

Griselda offered her hand and the older woman staggered up. She gave her younger companion pained stare and stated in a monotonic voice, "I'm tired."

"It's has been a tough week. You should get some rest, we can do the paper work tomorrow."

Faragonda shook her head and whispered more to herself, "Soon there will be no tomorrow ahead for me."

Griselda felt a lump rising in her throat. She opened her mouth few times, but no words came out. Much for her luck, Faragonda continued, "Do you want to hear a secret? There is a reason behind my sudden… Change." She searched for support and ended up leaning against a wall. "To begin with the start," she sighed.

"Decades ago, I was a member of the Company of Light. But you already knew that. Anyway, since that 'job' was the most dangerous —only crazy people would have faced the Ancestral Witches in their golden times— all members, besides the royal couple, were granted a gift. A gift of youth. The Great Dragon itself, with its ageless glory, taught us a spell, which—"

"A spell?" Griselda blinked curiously. She soon realized how rude she had been and muttered, "I'm sorry. Please, continue."

Faragonda nodded weakly. "Yes. A spell, which would give its user fifteen years without aging, or any sign of it." At that point, Griselda had to bit her tongue to prevent shouting "I knew it!"

"It's like your time is stopped. If you had a deadly disease, you wouldn't die. You could use the spell in your deathbed and get to live longer. Of course, a dagger stabbed in your heart would kill you. But nothing in yourself could harm you. But as you can see-" Faragonda gestured briefly on herself. "It comes with a prize. I'm aging too quickly for my own health. This is why I at first decided to not to use the spell."

"Then why did you?"

"After Mandracora's attack, I felt my powers weakening. You know what that means. Your magic weakens at the same time with your life force. I was old back then, but not that old. I got somehow… Scared. I was afraid that I wouldn't see the glory of Domino again. So I used the spell and didn't regret it. Not until now."

Faragonda met Griselda's shocked gaze. "I'm tired, Griselda. Tired of this job, tired of struggling to drag myself up everyday, tired of all the responsibilities I have to carry, when my feet can barely carry me."

Griselda blinked rapidly as if to wake herself up and cleared her throat. "Miss, I'm very honoured that you told me all this… But I must ask, why did you?"

Faragonda smiled softly. "I thought you had the right to know. Especially, because you'll get a major promotion."

"Are you saying that—?"

"Yes, Griselda. Soon, you'll become the new headmistress."

New headmistress.

It was a week ago when they had that conversation. Faragonda's retirement announcement shocked everyone. Speeches were spoken, wistful goodbyes were said. And Faragonda kept her promise. Griselda was the new headmistress. She felt like she had stepped in too big shoes and couldn't walk with them. But the risk had to be taken. Maybe bigger size in shoes would do her good.

She felt so small when she sat on the principal's chair, even as a tall woman. It was far bigger and far more comfortable than the ones in teachers' workspace. She would get used to that.

"Headmistress Griselda," she said aloud. She would get used to that too.