Thanks to FlyingPurplePony for my first review and to you other folk still reading! Okay, here comes chapter two! Enjoy!
(Ps, the name Ozymandias is given to the golden monkey in the radio series of Northern Lights, but not used in the book as the monkey is never named.)
"What do you think they want from us Ozymandias?" The girl and dæmon were sitting on their bed in the large dormitory, she holding a silver-backed hand-mirror while he did her hair.
"I don't know any more than you do Marisa, but it can't be a cup of tea and cake. D'you know, a zeppelin landed last night." Marisa sat up straighter, and looked around sharply, jerking her hair out of her dæmon's dainty hands. He was currently a graceful, light-brown monkey with quick, nimble hands so as to brush her hair for her.
"Ow Oz! But you saw? How?" she asked, rubbing the sore spot on her scalp.
"Freddie's dæmon saw it land; they were playing outside, and she was a sparrow and saw. She's a gossiping little thing, she told me." Marisa nodded; it was true, and she wouldn't have paid much attention to Ozymandias's conversation with Freddie's dæmon.
"Well, whoever it was in that zeppelin must've been important, 'cos there was a big commotion in the kitchens last night, and it must've been about that."
A head popped round the door, and said
"Marisa? Lord Bosworth will see you now."
Marisa leapt to her feet, straightening out her skirt nervously, and Ozymandias fluttered to her shoulder in the form of a robin, then became an ermine and wound himself around her neck, before becoming a innocent, obedient puppy and trotting along beside her.
The nurse led them along a richly carpeted corridor, with plush red velvet curtains on full length windows, and Ozymandias became a small monkey just to go over and touch the soft fabric. The pair of them gazed about them in wonder, taking in every detail.
"I didn't know you could have this much velvet Oz..." murmured Marisa softly.
The nurse stopped beside an oak door set a little back for privacy, and her Labrador dæmon stood respectfully aside to let them pass.
"Knock" commanded the Nurse, and Marisa did so, tapping nervously on the door twice before standing back as the door swung open from the inside.
Lord Bosworth was a gentle man, but many years working for the Magesterium had given him a reputation, and a somewhat fierce look about him which his tall, bearded form did nothing to diminish. His raven dæmon was perched on his shoulder, and she regarded Marisa and Ozymandias with beetle black eyes which made them feel like shrinking into the velvet carpet.
"Well you'd better come in child" he said gently, and Marisa, after a nod from the nurse, stepped into the study, pulling the door softly shut behind her.
"Sit down, sit down" urged Lord Bosworth, leading her over to the desk and indicating the seat. He himself sat down in the other chair, facing Marisa, and began pouring out Tokay.
"A drink my dear?" he asked. Marisa shook her head. "But no, you're too young to appreciate adult tastes. Would you like some juice?" Marisa shook her head again mutely, and he laughed.
"You're a quiet one, aren't you my dear? No matter, no matter, things will proceed as planned" he murmured, almost to himself. "This is Sir Coulter, child, here from the University of St George in Oxford" he said, and for the first time Marisa noticed the man standing by the fireplace. He was tall, with an air of impatience about him that was re-enforced by his dark blue, almost black eyes and tall, imposing figure. He was not a man you would have liked to meet down a dark London alleyway at night, and as he came forward to shake her hand, Marisa felt shivers run down her spine that the elder girls in the dormitory said happened when someone walked over your grave.
"Pleased to meet you sir" she said timidly, and looked up into those eyes to find them staring directly back into hers.
"Sir Coulter here has just arrived from Oxford last night, with an extraordinary proposition" said Lord Bosworth, breaking into her thoughts. "Can you guess what it is?" Another head shake.
"He has offered to take one child to Oxford with him when he leaves, as a sort of... assistant, or ward, to aid him in his work. It will be rather dull, I'm afraid, just taking notes and running errand and such like, but I have volunteered you as a candidate Marisa. Nurse Talia tells me that you are able in sewing and housework, and your tutors agree that you can read and write fairly well in both English and a little Latin. We have taught you children well, haven't we?" he said fondly, with the air of one congratulating ones self on a job well done. Marisa said nothing, but Ozymandias became a small bird and fluttered nervously around her head, betraying her emotions. Neither men took any notice.
"So you will be leaving tomorrow Marisa, and taking the morning Zeppelin to Oxford" said Lord Bosworth, and Marisa was shocked into speaking.
"Tomorrow? But Sir, my things, my school work..?"
"Never fear child" he laughed, "you're belongings will be packed for you, and after all, you will be getting new clothes when you are there, for I daresay your current school clothes are a little small for you now.
"You will be getting new, smart clothes when we arrive at Oxford, and an education the like of which no child has ever seen before" said Sir Coulter, and Marisa realised that it was the first time she had heard him speak. His voice was much lighter than his stature would have suggested, and Marisa took a moment to realise that it was he who had spoken.
"You will be educated in one of the greatest Universities of the day" he continued "and have other... supplements... which your peers will not. I hope that you will not abuse the privilege."
"I won't Sir, I swear it" promised Marisa, and Lord Bosworth laughed and told her that she was a good girl, and, after a painfully slow half an hour in which she was peppered with questions about her life, her school work and her friends, which she answered almost monosyllabically, she was whisked off by the nurse with the Labrador dæmon for a bath and dinner, amid much threatening, cajoling and reminding about what would happen in Oxford if she put one toe out of line.
By the time she and Ozymandias finally collapsed onto their bed that evening, she was ready to drop, and she was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. She did not know that her future husband snuck back into her dorm when she was asleep, and spent another evening gazing at the little girl who tossed and turned in her sleep, dreaming about mysterious gentlemen with fox-shaped dæmons, while the real one sat at her bed side, deep in thought.