This was driving her nuts. Her interest in the waiter was only getting worse, rather than better. It was driving her almost to distraction, though thankfully none of the kids had noticed it.
It was only when she spotted her quill and the paper next to it that an idea came to her.
Well, it wasn't like she had to worry about an overzealous house elf or a bored owl delivering it without her noticing here...
She put quill to paper and began to write. It wasn't much, just an admittance she found him interesting and would be open to an older form of correspondence that didn't involve technology beyond using a pen and paper.
A certain black cat, who had been observing the young woman for some time for his human partner, smirked when he realized what she was doing.
This could prove fairly entertaining, and from the looks of things she was unlikely to make the first proper move. His human friend hadn't had a proper girlfriend he could relate to in some time, not since that rather delightful young woman fifty years ago broke things off with him due to the fact he hadn't really aged and she was tired of the looks she kept getting on their dates.
It wasn't his fault he was semi-immortal and seemed permanently stuck in the body of a boy in his late teens.
He found it relatively easy to slip the letter out of her bag when she went to use the restroom.
"What have you got there, Arch?" asked Doux.
"It seems the young lady actually fancies you," said Arch amused. He handed Doux the letter. "Though I don't think she has the nerve just yet to actually leave this anywhere you could find it."
Arch might look like a relatively normal black cat, but he was in reality a draconic familiar who happened to prefer the form of a cat with a slightly odd marking on his chest. He also wore glasses due to his bad eye sight.
Doux raised an eyebrow for a moment.
"Why does this look like it was written with a quill rather than a pen?" he asked.
"Because it was. She was surprisingly adept at using a quill and ink bottle to write with. I've looked at her apartment from outside...there's very little actual technology there outside of a DVD player and a single laptop which she seems to have very little familiarity with," said Arch. "Though she has a rather impressive library."
"Not surprising," commented Doux. From the looks of things, the odd young woman who had been visiting his work places was incredibly shy and was unlikely to make the first proper move.
She was close to the current troll hunter, though Doux preferred not to get involved at the moment. From what he had seen, she was a strong positive influence on the kid and seemed to be trying to help rather than cause problems.
The thing that interested him most was the sheer amount of somewhat trained magic she had. It felt like she had training, but it wasn't the kind that would properly harness her full potential.
It had been some time since he had anything close to a relationship beyond friendship. And to be honest, he found this girl somewhat interesting.
Something about her called to him, and it wasn't the fact she felt like an old soul in a young body like him.
Which was why Doux took out his favorite pen and actually wrote back to the letter she had most likely written as a way to get her affections out.
The expression she had on her face when she realized he had written back, and in a letter that was full of polite charm, was amusing enough that it made his interest in her grow rather than abate. She was rather cute when she blushed like that.
Elanor looked up when she heard the door open, and kept her expression politely neutral when she saw who it was.
Stickler had returned and had taken the place of the principal, likely through magic.
"So, you're the one who took my place. I am..."
"I know who and what you are. What you do in this school is no concern of mine so long as you aren't actively trying to kill my students," she said flatly. "I also don't care to be part of any 'evil schemes' or other annoyances, and if you think it's funny to unleash another golem on school grounds you will find me considerably annoyed with you."
Stickler gave her an odd, and highly calculating look.
"I see."
"No, you don't see. If you sufficiently piss me off I won't hesitate to ward the entire school and other areas where the troll hunter or his friends frequent against you. And if that assassin you brought back makes any more attempts on school grounds he's going to face something far more efficient at taking down nuisances like him down," she said flatly, green eyes glowing with power. "And unlike trolls or changelings, I can strike anywhere, any time...and there will be no evidence of my involvement."
Wizards had been hiding for centuries, and any half-assed graduate of Hogwarts learned the bare basics of covering up their involvement before they even reached seventh year. Add in the fact she knew damn well how extensive cameras were these days, and how to short them out temporarily, and she could annihilate anyone who sufficiently pissed her off and leave zero evidence behind.
The golem was irritating, but not enough to register on her personal danger radar. If he had successfully killed Jim, she would have killed him and the assassin without hesitation.
Stickler took a good, long look at her eyes...and shivered from fear.
This wasn't some adolescent brat in over his head and gifted with powers beyond his comprehension. This was a being who had killed before and would not hesitate to do so again if sufficiently riled, and had claimed the boy under her personal protection. Someone who had faced true danger and death, and had come out on top.
To add even more fuel to that particular fire, he had no clue what manner of creature or being she was, which meant he had no way to counter her attack.
Her expression and demeanor said that she wasn't lying in the least about leaving no trace, which was one of the main reasons he hadn't killed the troll hunter himself.
This woman was a wild card and a bigger threat than the troll hunter himself...and they both knew it.
Which was why an unspoken agreement of neutrality was made. Stickler wouldn't target her directly or order Anger Rot to attack the school, and in exchange she would not interfere with his plans unless necessary to keep the troll hunter alive.
A few hours later, in the training arena...
"You let him go?" said Jim incredulous.
"Naturally."
"Why?"
"Because I would rather have a known enemy that I can sufficiently predict over a new headache later," said Elanor. "Blinky, which is more dangerous... a known adversary that has certain methods you can deal with, or a new one that may or may not have the morals to leave the bystanders who have no idea of what was going on out of it?"
"She is right, Master Jim. Stickler is indeed a formidable opponent, but he has the intelligence enough not to involve innocent people in his plans and so far has only made the hint of a potential threat against your mother. There are other enemies, like Gunmar, who wouldn't hesitate to involve anyone to get to you," said Blinky.
"Besides, I made it clear the school was off limits and that if he gets on my bad side I will not hesitate to kill him and his partners. He's smart enough to recognize a genuine threat against him personally and register that I am not someone he wants on their bad side."
Jim clearly didn't like that one bit.
"Jim, have you ever wondered why I have never involved myself directly in your adventures?"
He blinked.
"Not really," he admitted.
"It's because I know all too well the sort of bonds that can be forged from the fires of combat, mystery and adventure. The sort of bonds that will last you a lifetime and most people only dream of having when the world itself seems to be against you," said Elanor. "Which is why I made it clear that the school was established neutral territory. If Stickler brings his new 'friend' and disrupts the school I will deal with them personally."
Gatto's keep was interesting, but not as amusing as the gyre that the trolls used to get around unseen. Poor Toby and Aaarrrgghh didn't fair nearly as well after that ride, but she had cackled with glee and made a note to ask Blinky how to operate the device later.
That being said, she was not climbing that many stairs.
"See you at the top, everyone!" she chirped while taking off on her broom.
"Is anyone else jealous that she doesn't have to climb all these stairs, or is it just me?" asked Toby.
"It's not you, but where did she hide that broom and why is it flying?" said Claire.
Elanor's presence put Gatto in a much better mood, considering. Apparently she had a love of riddles and was more than happy to challenge the strange volcano-based troll to a proper game without asking for anything in return.
One that Gatto, evidently, was losing. He was downright pouty, and more than happy to take it out on the teens who wanted Gunmar's birthstone.
Elanor was howling, rather than cringing, at the way Toby and Blinky came out of Gatto's keep (which was apparently his stomach). She felt some iota of pity for Gatto for having to endure those tacos though.
"Dear gods, my sides. Whatever possessed you to throw those tacos into his stomach like that?" said Elanor, howling.
"I've eaten Master Toby's special tacos before...I know what those do to a troll's stomach," said Blinky flatly.
Elanor laughed harder.
"How were you flying like that?" asked Claire.
"I am a witch, and brooms are downright common where I come from. Besides, we train eleven year olds on how to properly fly before they're even allowed to bring them to school," said Elanor dismissively. "Those bludgers I've been using to train Jim with are part of a sport involving brooms and the odd moving ball."
Though to be fair the only one that didn't move on it's own power was the quaffle.
(To be fair to Jim, she put Claire and Toby on a much lower setting when it came to "Bludger training" once they got proper weapons. At least Jim had someone to commiserate with in regards to those insane cannonballs.)
Doux looked up when he heard Arch return. Only instead of a letter, the familiar had an odd book in his mouth radiating a low-level magic.
"What is that?"
Arch deposited the book to Doux.
"She told me that you need to write in it to activate it properly," said Arch. "She has a second one to this, which makes me believe this is a paired artifact of some sort."
Doux opened up the book, and there was a cheerful note saying to write in it. It didn't matter what, but there had to be ink on the page.
He took out a pen from his bag and wrote a tentative "hello". You could imagine his surprise when there was an immediate reply back, in her handwriting.
This is a two-way diary. It's similar to texting, but without that annoying autocorrect to deal with.
Doux grinned. He had suspected for some time that the girl...Elanor Black...wasn't that good at technology. She was acceptable, but she didn't really enjoy being on it at all hours of the day like most. The most Arch had seen her use with any frequency was the radio, and possibly the DVD player.
This was practically the magical version of texting, which made him wonder where she got her hands on it. It was a useful bit of magic and it was actually rather relaxing to simply write instead of fiddling with the buttons all the time.
Arch had to admit, this woman was potentially good for Doux. He was of the belief that this one wouldn't leave his human partner behind because Doux was unable to age due to his magical saturation and considering her association with the current troll hunter was more like to stick around and actually help in regards to keeping the general nuisances that Doux dealt with regularly from causing problems.
Doux became more animated and cheerful whenever Arch brought up Elanor, and the two hadn't even properly meet yet, much less gone out on a date.
He planned to rectify that very soon, if Doux didn't act first. Elanor was apparently too shy to do so herself.
A week later...
While Jim and his group were out trying to get the second Triumbric stone, Elanor was grading papers. Just because she was a witch didn't mean she planned to slack on her actual day job.
So you could imagine her surprise when she heard a knock on the door.
Opening it revealed a small bouquet of flowers, and a note.
Curious, she picked it up to read it. And grinned.
Well, if he wanted to play a little game for their first proper meeting, she was all for it! She just finished the stack anyway, though she had to wonder how he knew that.
Outside the window, a certain 'cat' was watching smugly. He had been correct in guessing she would enjoy a little scavenger hunt of sorts, if only to distract her from the fact that she would be meeting the boy she fancied.
He wondered if she would catch on to the other reason Doux was using flowers...he had picked specific ones for each location, and at the end was a message if she knew how to read it.
By the end of the 'hunt', Elanor was blushing madly while staring at a smiling Doux.
"I take it you know Victorian flower language then," he said.
She nodded mutely, surprised he was romantic enough to use such an obscure way of saying he had affection for her and discreetly asking her out at the same time.
Doux did a rather polite bow he knew and was rather open with his intent.
"My lady, would you do me the great honor of allowing me to court you?"
"Yes," she replied without any hesitation.
Doux was already leagues above any of the other idiots she had dated, and if this was his usual way of planning dates then she had a lot to look forward to.
