Gandalf drew his breath to speak… to her! "Well, that's quite a fall. I don't think I've been ran into that hard since my Hobbit-friends were young," laughed the old wizard.
"I'm so sorry, sir! I wasn't looking where I was going…"
"It's not a problem, my dear. Were you thinking about your book?" he asked, gesturing to the Magic book she had with her.
All eyes turned towards the cover of the book. Tsanra noticed that Aragorn's eyebrows raised ever so slightly, and that the others looked at each other as though the Magic book was something that should be noted. Tsanra decided that a little white lie might be in store.
"What, this old thing? No, I couldn't understand this! I'm still a beginner at Magic and I don't have enough power to make light or heat, let alone whatever this is. My teacher wanted me to bring it to her from the library."
"This early in the morning?" asked Gandalf skeptically.
"Well, she told me to do it last night, but I'd forgotten. I had hoped to put it outside her classroom door before she came and unlocked it."
"Ah," replied the wizard. "May I accompany you? I believe the Beginning Magic teacher here is Elerand, an old friend of mine. I wanted to see her anyway, but I'm afraid my memory isn't what it was…"
Legolas smothered a laugh, and Gimli hit him.
Gandalf looked helplessly at Tsanra, the perfect image of a guileless old man. If his two friends hadn't started laughing, she might have believed his lie. But she had no choice now but to agree to help him.
Tsanra reached down to help the wizard to his feet. When her hand touched his, she felt a sharp zinging feeling in her head. She squeaked; it hurt! Gandalf gave her an odd look, smiled at her, and said "Shall we go?"
Tsanra lead him silently through the quiet, empty corridors wondering how to explain herself to the Basic Magic teacher when she turned up at her door with the most famous wizard of recent times and a book that the teacher had not asked for. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry: Gandalf gripped her arm, stopping Tsanra. "I know that book isn't for your teacher, and I certainly don't need help finding my old friend's teaching hall. Can you perform the tasks set out in this book?"
Tsanra didn't know what to say, so she decided to tell the truth. "I don't know. I found it on a shelf in a corner of the library that no one ever seems to go in. At first I only read it to see if I understood it at all, and because it looked interesting, but I think I could do some of the things they say here… I don't know. I haven't tried."
The wizard gave her a long, hard look from under his bushy white brows. He fumbled a stone out of his pocket and squeezed it slightly; it glowed white. Gandalf nodded slowly, then returned it to the folds of his cloak. "All right, I believe you." Then, randomly, he asked her "What do you know about your parents? Have you enjoyed living here?"
Another good time for honesty, especially when he has a truth-stone, thought Tsanra. "I don't really know much about them, except that my mother was of the Race of Man, and I don't know who my father was. I have good friends I trust, and I don't ever remember being badly mistreated at all, if that's what you mean. The girls here see me as a sort of outcast, but I like that. They concern themselves with clothes and boys, and I really could care less about either. I'm happy."
Gandalf gave her another one of his hard looks, but didn't take out the stone. "All right, I'm glad," he replied after a moment or two.
"Did you want to say anything else to me?" Tsanra asked anxiously.
"Do you know who my companions are?"
"Of course. Who wouldn't?"
Gandalf smiled wryly. "You'd be surprised. Do you know why we're here?"
"No."
"Come serve dinner tonight in the Upper Tea Room, and listen carefully."
"But I don't have serving duty tonight. I have…"
"Never mind. I will arrange it," Gandalf said, collecting his cloak and striding down the hall away from Tsanra.
"Oh," he added, not stopping, "Don't try anything with that book and the dragon bones. The spirit of the dragon is still… lingering. It might not take kindly to your stealing its gold." Gandalf turned the corner and left, leaving Tsanra stunned. She hurried to tell Kiilj and Laenas what had happened. If they weren't awake, damn it, she'd wake them up herself, no matter what protests they made.
SilwythKinoth: I hope it's worth the wait, I think it should be. Keep up the feedback, and send me any good ideas you think might work.
