tammydrabbles Prompt 33 (17 November) – The Morning After
Title: Stranger Things
Words: 256
Characters: Arram Draper, Lindhall Reed
"Remind me never to do that again," Arram groans, dropping into his usual chair in Professor Reed's workroom. "I feel abysmal. Worse than the time I went pint for pint against Tristan. Worse than—"
"Nonsense!" his teacher's bracing rejoinder, delivered with offensive cheerfulness, strikes his ears like the sword of Mithros himself. "It was marvellous. A tremendous feat. Even after seeing it, I can hardly believe you actually managed to do it."
Arram can't deny that this assessment does make him feel marginally better. It was rather impressive, certainly; none of the other students in his year, as far as he knows, has ever managed a full shape-shift, even for such a short time. He does feel almost fatally hung over, true, but – now that he thinks about it seriously – Lindhall was really very impressed; if he could make such an impact on his friends – on Varice Kingsford – it would be almost worth it.
Almost.
Being a (sort of) hawk isn't all that useful, after all.
"You should practise that working," Lindhall is saying now. "Work up to sustaining it for several hours, and build up your flying strength. A trick like that could save your life in battle one day, you know."
This draws a snort of laughter. "I'm not a battle mage," Arram reminds his teacher. "I'm not going to be a battle mage. The closest I'll ever be to a battlefield is … is …" He can't, in fact, think of anything.
"Still, you never know," Lindhall replies. "Stranger things have happened."
A/N: Obviously this scene presumes that Arram/Numair learned to shapeshift before fleeing Carthak. I have no idea whether this is true ...