Prelude Chapter 4: Conspectus
Moongrum I
Moongrum walked alongside Renna, her soft footsteps a stark contrast to his own heavier tread. They moved in a contemptuous silence through the academy's corridors, the echo of their steps mingling with the distant hum of scholarly debate nearby. Moongrum stole a glance at Renna, Her eyes were closed, a content smile curving her lips, her black hair dancing across her shoulders gracefully with each step, Abruptly, she spun to face him, her expression playfully expectant as she walked backward in front of him.
"Moongrum…" she began, drawing out his name in a half-whine that suggested boredom. Moongrum paused, giving her his full attention, a silent invitation to continue. Instead, she just held his gaze, her vivid cyan eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Yes, Lady Renna?"
"What do you think will happen here, at the academy, with this conflict?" she asked, her tone light, the subject anything but.
"I believe we will prevail, Renna. And even if we do not, we will protect our students," he assured her, feeling a firm conviction in his words.
Renna hummed thoughtfully, then shrugged. "I suppose I don't really like my students," she admitted with blandness, as if discussing the weather.
"Surely you jest," Moongrum countered, unable to mask his surprise.
"Well, they're young and rambunctious, full of charm in their own way. Perhaps I just need a break from teaching," Renna mused, tapping her lips thoughtfully with a finger. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "What this witch needs is a good quarrel!" With a flourish, she brandished her staff—a sleek white branch laced with blue streaks of glintstone embedded within it—and playfully jabbed it against Moongrums chestpiece.
Catching her staff gently, Moongrum held it between them. "Lady Renna," he began.
"as peers, there's no need for titles between us." her smile faded slightly.
"Very well… Renna," he agreed, feeling the odd rightness of her name on his tongue even after just speaking it. Renna's smile returned, bright and warm like the first thaw of spring, and she linked her arm with his, forcefully guiding him down an unfamiliar corridor.
"Not so troubling, is it?" she teased, her closeness an unfamiliar comfort.
"No," he admitted, a smile tugging at my own lips. "Not troubling at all."
Suddenly he found himself being led down the corridor as Renna guided him alongside her, and as she giggled, and without an apparent choice Moongrum followed his fellow professor. "Come Moongrum, I have something to show thee." Her eyes glistened with excitement as she began to skip down the hall to her study beside the debate parlor, dragging the knight alongside her. They eventually reached the door to Renna's quarters which lay coincidentally directly beneath Rennala's study above.
Within a few moments and Renna's fumbling with the enchantment that sealed her quarters, the door opened, and they stepped inside Renna's downtrodden and disorganized study. On the bed her spare robes lay, the floor which matched the carpentry of the rest of the academy was strewn with books of Renna's studies making traversing the room hard, and even spare paper and ungraded assignments hovered above in the airspace as it seemed that Renna had ran out of space on the ground for her clutter, and had resorted to using her magic to extend the mess into the air itself. Looking around Moongrum found Renna nowhere in sight, only when his eyes saw her standing on a stack of books to gain height to gather something on top of her dresser which looked comically large compared to her small form.
"Renna, it may be in your self-interest to…clean once in a while, you are a professor." Moongrum commented, but yet it was met with a disinterested puff of air from the Snow Witch as she hopped from the pile of books onto the ground, holding a basket, and inside the basket were two round stones. Renna slightly tilted the stones to catch the light from a nearby window, one of the stones a piercing pale white reflected the light directly into Moongrum's unwitting eye causing him to step back. His peril was met by a giggle from Renna as she approached, her magic swirling around them, tidying the study almost in an instant.
"Cleaning is much of a hassle," Renna cocked her head and flashed a smile "Magic is the answer to all questions, my dearest knight."
Moongrum felt a heat overtake his face as he looked upon her. "Wise words from a simpleton should not be trusted." The corners of his mouth threatened to upturn as words he could return to Renna came few and far between, Renna's lip quivered in mock offense, a familiar dance between the two teachers.
"It seems my elder sister has taught you to wield words sharper than any sword. A Carian Knight's best weapon is now his tongue." she teased, amusement sparkling in her eyes.
Observing Renna over the cycles, Moongrum had come to recognize the layers beneath her effervescent exterior. To others, she was the epitome of gaiety, yet in solitude, her light dimmed, revealing a reflective, almost somber side. Which was the real Renna? Even now, he remains enamored but unsure.
"What is it you ponder so deeply, Moongrum?" Her voice snapped him back to the present, her proximity closer than he'd realized, the basket still cradled in her arms.
"I am pondering how you of all mages came into the possession of dragon eggs." The two eggs shone brilliantly, the larger was a deep hue of purple, and the slightly smaller was a pale white, the larger egg seemed to absorb sunlight, whereas the smaller seemingly reflected light, causing the room to be filled with much more light than what he would prefer.
"Rennala gifted them to me." Renna carried a tone of smug pride.
"Indeed, why?" Moongrum queried, his skepticism barely veiled. It was hard to imagine Rennala bestowing such potent artifacts to Renna without significant reason.
Renna's eyes twinkled with secrets yet to be told, hinting at depths of inner thoughts Moongrum had yet to fully understand. "Perhaps to see what chaos I can conjure with the power of creation at my fingertips."
"Chaos, verily," he murmured, half in admiration, half in disquietude. Renna's capacity for surprise was unparalleled, yet her frivolity in moments of potential peril often veiled the calculated thoughts that lay beneath. Again did he glance at the eggs, their latent power undeniable, now resting in the seemingly whimsical hands of his counterpart. "Renna, whatever do you plan to do with these eggs if they hatch?"
Renna slightly laughs, revealing his suspicion that she had no clue what to do if these eggs hatched. "Indeed, if they hatch I will raise them as my own," Renna paused, readying her next words with a mischievous grin on her face "And you, will help me Moongrum."
"I shall not partake in the raising of two fire spewing tots." Moongrum firmly stood his ground hoping that her earlier comment was no more than one of her usual jests, but to his surprise her expression saddened, not out of feign like usual, but an actual sense of disappointment flashes across her face for a second. Renna quickly recovers putting up her usual facade. "Renna, I-"
"Give me a good reason and I shall not make you help me." Renna crossed her arms and looked him square in the eye, the witch remained as stubborn as a boulder despite the shortness of stature.
"Newborns of any race tend to dislike me, as you know, the younger students avoid me." he stumbles a half-hearted reply.
"Nonsense, the younger students idolize you" Renna's response is swift, her voice carrying a note of firmness that belies her playful exterior. "They may fear your stern demeanor at first, Moongrum, but soon enough, they see the strength and protection it offers. I think these dragonlings will do the same."
Her confidence in Moongrum's potential paternal abilities does little to sway his apprehension. "Dragons are not like students, Renna. They are creatures of ancient power and wild instinct. How do you propose we manage such beings?"
"Ah, but that is where your skills and mine complement each other well," she declared, a glint of excitement in her blue eyes. "Thy discipline and my creativity—why, we shall make an excellent team in guiding these young ones."
He could not help but feel entrapped by the logic closing around him. Despite his reservations, Renna's enthusiasm was infectious, and part of him wondered what role he could indeed play in nurturing such extraordinary creatures alongside her.
"Very well," he conceded, albeit reluctantly. "Should these eggs hatch, I shall assist you in their upbringing. But I do so under protest."
Renna's face lit up with a victorious smile. "Agreed! And fear not, Moongrum. Thou ought more nurturing than you allow yourself to admit." Renna placed the basket on her desk, humming as she did.
Renna, still buzzing with the thrill of the agreement, turned to Moongrum and approached, her eyes sparkling with unbound imagination as she strode uncomfortably close to him and looked up directly into his eyes. "Think of it, Moongrum," she mused aloud, her voice tinged with a mix of wonder and resolve. "We shall teach the hatchlings the ancient arts, even how to assume human forms. It shall be a sight to behold, their education under our guidance."
Her enthusiasm paints a vivid picture, one that both excites and unnerves Moongrum. The possibility of dragons walking among the students of the academy, cloaked in human guise, brings with it a myriad of challenges and wonders. "A formidable task indeed," he acknowledged, the weight of the undertaking settling in. "But if any can teach such complexities of magic and mastery, it is thee, Renna."
The two stand in the once cluttered quarters for what seems like forever simply looking at each other, in his mind he felt no thoughts form, only a sense of contempt, as for Renna, her thoughts eluded him, but in her face and in her eyes he saw a sense of comfort, perhaps because she will not be burdened with the lonesome troubles of raising two scaled fledglings by herself.
"Well, Renna, it seems you've found something to protect in these coming days of conflict."
"Indeed I have Moongrum, Indeed I have" The witch spoke softly resting her hand upon his breastplate.