A/N: This is all OC stuff, so sorry to anyone who's not into that. I did very little editing and also did not rewatch any episodes of the show to get a feel for Faragonda and Griffin's speech patterns, so feel free to drag me if I completely botched it.
Elodie's first visit to Alfea had been chaotic. She'd arrived with the other first years to a flurry of activity. New students were trying to find their way around and meet new friends, returning students were there to help or mess with the new students, and the staff had been trying desperately to keep everything moving. It had been overwhelming, but exciting.
This visit was the opposite. The new year wouldn't start for another few weeks, so the school was empty. No chatter, no shouting, no sound at all other than her footsteps echoing through the halls. And certainly no excitement. Elodie felt uneasy, a heavy knot in the pit of her stomach, as she walked towards the Headmistress's office to discuss what would happen to her.
The results of her first year had been mixed, to say the least. Elodie had excelled in theoretical classes — history of magic, technical incantations, and magic invocations all came easily to her, and her potions professor had even let her sit in on a few upper year lectures — but the applied classes? Her performance in the simulation chamber and her field exercises had been lackluster. Elodie hadn't failed any of her courses (she didn't think anyone ever failed an Alfea course on paper), but she also couldn't say for certain that she had deserved to pass. Neither could Headmistress Faragonda. The Headmistress had spent the summer considering her situation and their meeting today was to determine if Elodie would be starting her second year or a second first year. Elodie knew which one she wanted, but wasn't sure which she would get.
When she reached the door to the Headmistress's office, Elodie paused and took a deep breath. There was no point in worrying anymore. Whatever her fate was, it was already sealed. That didn't stop her from worrying. She pulled out her phone to check the time. Just before nine in the morning. She was right on time for her meeting and out of time to indulge her anxiety. With a shaking hand, Elodie knocked twice on the door.
"Please come in, Elodie," Faragonda said.
No going back now.
Elodie pushed open the door and was immediately taken aback. She had been expecting to speak with Headmistress Faragonda and, potentially, Assistant Headmistress Griselda. She had not at all been expecting to see Headmistress Griffin of Cloud Tower. Trying to hide her surprise, Elodie entered the office and let the door swing shut behind her.
"I hope you don't mind me being here," Griffin said.
"Oh, no, it's fine," Elodie replied. It seemed she hadn't hidden her surprise well enough.
"Please, have a seat," Faragonda said, gesturing to the chair opposite her own.
Elodie sat down and stared expectantly at Faragonda who sat behind her desk. Griffin stood behind her, one hand resting on the back of her chair, and made no move to sit down herself. Elodie suspected that the witch's presence would have unnerved her more if her nerves weren't already frayed to their limit.
"Have you been enjoying your summer?" Faragonda asked.
"I think we should get to the point." Griffin spoke before Elodie had a chance to.
Faragonda cleared her throat and made eye contact with Elodie. Elodie looked away. "Very well," Faragonda said. "We all know why you're here. Academically, Elodie, you are incredibly gifted. Your instructors have nothing but good things to say about you, and your test scores put you near the top of your year."
Elodie couldn't help but blush at the praise, though she still knew what was coming next.
"However," Faragonda continued, "Your performance in the simulation chamber has been concerning." Elodie grimaced as the memory of her losing control of her magic and damaging the chamber came flooding back. Concerning certainly was one way to put it. "It was barely passable for a first year, but I am not sure you have the skills to excel in the second year course. I cannot in good faith allow you to move forward when I am not sure you will succeed."
Elodie's face fell. "I understand," she said, forcing her voice to remain even.
"I also do not want to hold you back completely."
Elodie perked up.
"It will be a bit inconvenient from a scheduling perspective, but I believe the best thing for you will be to continue on to the second year theory courses while redoing the first year applied courses." Faragonda paused. "Does that sound acceptable to you?"
"Yes," Elodie said enthusiastically. "It really does." Ideally she would be able to move forward completely, but some sort of year one point five was, she suspected, the best she could realistically hope for.
Faragonda smiled. "Good." She paused again, looking up at Griffin who nodded back. "There is one more option we would like to discuss with you."
"What is it?" Elodie asked.
"Transferring to Cloud Tower," Griffin said.
"What?" Elodie didn't even try to hide her surprise.
"It seems to me that your problems begin when you transform," Griffin said. "You have no trouble with incantations and invocations in the classroom, nor with using magic to aid in tasks such as potion making. It's only when you use your fairy form that you both proverbially and literally crash and burn."
"Griffin," Faragonda chided.
"So what?" Elodie bristled.
"So eliminate that problem," Griffin said. "Give up your wings and train as a witch."
"No." Her reply was immediate and firm.
"Now, Elodie," Faragonda said. "I know there is a certain amount of rivalry between fairies and witches, but being a witch is not a bad thing. You shouldn't dismiss it out of hand."
"I suspect her refusal has less to do with our unfriendly rivalry and more to do with the fact that her father was a fairy." Griffin looked Elodie in the eye. "Am I wrong?"
Elodie grit her teeth, her mind raced. "What do you know about my dad?"
"I know that he gave you his Shadow," Griffin said. And, for the first time, she moved from her spot behind Faragonda to stand next to the Headmistress. "And that he didn't do a very good job."
"Griffin," Faragonda chided, more strongly than before.
Griffin placed her hands on Faragonda's desk and leaned towards Elodie. "Show me your eye."
Elodie froze. She wondered, briefly, how Griffin knew about her Shadow and her eye, but then she saw guilt creep onto Faragonda's face. So that was it. Early on, when it first became apparent that Elodie was having difficulty using her magic, she had partially explained her situation to Faragonda — left vague exactly what her Shadow, her magic was, left out the more dangerous and personal family details, so how did Griffin manage to get those? She pulled her thoughts out of their spiral and took a deep breath. It hardly mattered. She knew. Elodie made eye contact with Griffin. Griffin's gaze didn't waver. Elodie complied with her request.
She normally let her dark hair cover the right side of her face, but now, Elodie pulled it back and tucked it behind her ear, revealing skin heavily damaged by burns. The hypertrophic scars covered the right side of her face and trailed down her neck to her shoulder, though those were mostly covered by her shirt. They had been caused by magic that burnt hotter than any flame. She also wore an adhesive eyepatch — she felt safer that way — which she removed. The eye was completely blind and the nerve endings under her scars dead, so wearing it didn't impact her vision and tearing it off didn't hurt.
Her right eye wasn't purple, like her left, it was blue; the same colour her dad's eyes had been. The pupil was no longer round, but had exploded into a jagged starburst. And it was… wrong. Her dad's face hadn't been covered in burns, his marked eye had still been his own, and he had been able to see out of it, despite the changed pupil. And he had been able to properly control and effectively use his magic when transformed. Griffin was right; something had gone very wrong when her dad gave his Shadow, his magic, to Elodie.
Griffin stared into Elodie's eyes for a moment before shaking her head. "You need to find a way to complete the transfer spell. That's the only way you'll ever be able to use your magic properly."
"What do you know about my magic or my dad?" Elodie demanded, her temper flaring. Controlling herself hardly seemed important when Griffin already knew so much. She let her hair fall back in front of her face. The eyepatch wouldn't stick now that she'd used it once, so she didn't bother to try putting it back.
"Norroux was my home too, little Princess," Griffin said.
Elodie bristled at being called a Princess, but that was, technically, correct, wasn't it? When her father gave her his Shadow, she became the head of what was left of their family and acquired a claim to the Nourraine throne. She had no intention of exercising that claim or returning to Norroux at all, but it was legitimate. A protest had half formed in her mind before the full weight of what Griffin had said sank in.
She was from Norroux.
But, well, Elodie was still alive, wasn't she? Still, her thoughts started to spiral once again. Her dad had been killed — with the private approval of the King — for many reasons, but it was undeniable that the Shadow Elodie now held was one of them. There were those who would want to see her killed for it too. The smell of smoke filled her nostrils as bile stung her throat.
When Griffin continued, she spoke more gently than she had before. "I haven't told anyone about you." She stepped back from the desk and returned to her spot behind Faragonda. "I have no interest in Nourraine politics with the state things are currently in."
That did help Elodie relax, but only a little. She was no longer in immediate danger of throwing up, but that was a low bar.
Faragonda cleared her throat. "I would have appreciated if you had told me."
"I had my suspicions, but wasn't certain until I saw her," Griffin said.
"How did you know?" Elodie asked. She needed to figure out what she'd done wrong.
"When Faragonda described your magic, it sounded familiar," Griffin replied. "I also met your father a few times. He made an impression, and now, meeting you, you're a lot like him. The sigil in your eye confirms it, of course."
"Of course," Elodie said, clenching her fists. So she hadn't done anything wrong except exist, and someone from home recognizing her could just as easily happen again. She knew that she looked like her father, but was she really so much like him? "Why were you talking about me anyways?"
"You're not the first student Alfea has had who might do better at Cloud Tower," Faragonda said. She had become tense while Griffin spoke, but seemed to relax now that she was back in control of the conversation. "And occasionally the opposite happens as well. Headmistress Griffin and I both want what is best for our students, so in these situations, we will discuss offering transfers."
"Oh, yes, that makes sense." And it really did, but there was still a part of Elodie that refused to be grounded. Her heart was no longer in her throat, but it was still pounding.
"Now, knowing that your father was a fairy, I can understand your strong feelings about remaining at Alfea," Faragonda continued. "I do still hope you will consider this offer carefully before making your final decision."
"Not all of your credits will transfer, so you will be in more first year classes at Cloud Tower, but I believe you'll be more successful overall," Griffin said. She thought for a moment before adding: "Even less second year credits will transfer, so you're only setting yourself further back by delaying. If you fail out of Alfea this year, you'll be taking first year classes while most witches your age are preparing to graduate."
Elodie's gaze snapped to Faragonda."Fail out?" She tried to hide the new panic rising in her voice, but wasn't sure she succeeded. This conversation was just too much for her and she wanted it to be over. No new twists or surprises.
"Griffin." Faragonda's chiding had turned to a hiss. Griffin was unphased. Faragonda composed herself before addressing Elodie. "If we see little or no improvement in your performance this year, then I will have no choice but to insist on your transfer to Cloud Tower. I will not set you up for failure by allowing you to continuously attempt something you simply are not capable of."
"And you don't think I'm capable of passing?" Elodie asked Griffin.
"Find a way to complete the transfer spell and then we'll see," Griffin said. She frowned and shook her head. "Honestly I'm not sure why you haven't started looking into it already. I don't know how much your father had a chance to teach you about the Shadows before his death, but it must be more than I've been able to find out. You have to know that what you're experiencing isn't normal."
Elodie flushed. She knew. She didn't know exactly what her normal should be, but she knew it wasn't this. She didn't even know exactly what this was, let alone how to fix it. And neither did her uncle, her only friendly source of Nourraine knowledge. The inner workings of the Shadows were a closely guarded secret, known only to their holders, past, present, and, once they were old and wise enough to begin learning, future. A feeling of inadequacy, of failure — she should know something, be able to do something — started creeping in; the first thing successful in edging out Elodie's panic. A small, rational, part of her said that she had done things, they just hadn't been effective, but that part wasn't speaking loud enough to be fully heard.
"I suppose the why doesn't matter," Griffin said with a sigh. "The important thing is that you start doing something now." She stepped forward again, this time walking around Faragonda's desk towards the door. "The offer to transfer to Cloud Tower will be open to you until classes start if you change your mind. Just contact the school and I'll make it happen. The Cloud Tower library will be open to you even if you decide to remain at Alfea."
"The library?" Elodie asked, turning in her chair to face Griffin.
"The Shadows of Norroux and their transfer spells are dark magic," Griffin explained. "Alfea's library is impressive, but lacking in certain areas. If anywhere on Magix has the information you need, it will be Cloud Tower."
"Oh, uh, thank you," Elodie said.
"It's nothing," Griffin said. She nodded at Faragonda. "Thank you for inviting me to this meeting. It was quite interesting. And you." She fixed her gaze on Elodie once more. "Don't let that Chapdelaine stubbornness and pride convince you that this is something you can brute force or fix alone. I know even less about the inner workings of the Shadows than you do, but the knowledge is out there. You have resources at your disposal to help find it."
She didn't wait for a reply from either of them before turning towards the door. As Griffin left the room, so did some of the tension. Only some of it. Faragonda leaned back in her chair and sighed.
"Apologies, Elodie," Faragonda said. "I did not expect our meeting to go this way."
"Me neither," Elodie said, turning to face Faragonda again. She was fondly remembering earlier that morning when her biggest worry had been being held back a grade. Her cheeks were still flushed, her heart still racing, but she had started to calm down. "And, um, thank you."
"For what?" Faragonda raised an eyebrow.
"For not holding me back completely."
"As I said, I believe that is the best option for you," Faragonda said. "Although I do still hope you will consider Cloud Tower. I will respect your decision either way, but studying as a witch might be good for you."
"I'll think about it," Elodie said, not at all intending to think about it.
They sat in silence for a minute. Elodie was waiting to be dismissed by Faragonda, who looked as though she wasn't quite finished. She was sure that Faragonda had questions about her magic, but wasn't sure if she would be up for answering them.
"Thank you for coming in today," Faragonda finally said. "Please contact me if you change your mind and enjoy the rest of your summer. I am also here if you would like to talk."
"Thanks," Elodie said, shooting to her feet, wanting nothing more than to do anything other than talking. "I'll keep that in mind." She made a beeline for the door and briefly turned back to Faragonda. "Have a great day." The pleasantry rolled right off her tongue.
"You as well," Faragonda replied with a smile.
Elodie had hoped that she would feel better after leaving the office, but she didn't. The rest of the tension followed her into the hall rather than staying inside. Her shoulders remained stiff and the knot in the pit of her stomach didn't budge.
She pulled out her phone to check the time. Just after nine thirty in the morning. The meeting hadn't been nearly as long as it felt. Elodie forced herself to start walking down the halls on unsteady legs, away from the office and the school. She already needed a nap.