"WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER MY NAME?" The girl screamed loudly, so loud even Wizgiz could hear it although he couldn't understand what she said from this far away. He decided to stay put though, if palladium needed him, he'd know or get called over by his colleague directly.
Palladium jumped back a little at the sudden outburst, albeit an understandable one. "Hey it's ok, you just came to and it's been a long day for you with everything that happened" he said in a soothing tone. She looked at him and somehow him being mostly calm about it made her feel better about it as well. "How is it ok?" She asked with a tremble in her voice and tears forming in her eyes "I can't even remember my name, I can't remember anything now that I think about it" she said putting a strong emphasis on that word. He put his hand on her shoulder without thinking, but she didn't jump back or blast him with magic this time so that's an improvement, that could've been a mistake otherwise.
"my colleague and I can surely use a spell or potion to jog your memory" he said looking into her eyes, she knew he was genuine "he truly does want to help me, him and that colleague he keeps mentioning" she thought to herself as she studied the look in his eyes, one of comfort and determination. "Alright, I'll trust you, you both I guess" she said taking a hold of the hand still on her shoulder. He nodded at her and said "all right, he's waiting at the door you entered the library from and there's a pixie pet around too, don't let it startle you, it's quite eh exited to have been helping us". They walked towards the door "eh ok, if you say so" she said.
Wizgiz heard them approaching, the panda had returned earlier and was resting on his hat. He was used to it, all kinds of animals were around him a lot, a mouse called Phil living in his jacket most of the time. They turned the corner Palladium's arm around the girl's shoulder, hoping to give her some comfort. Wizgiz smiled warmly at the girl "hello, nice to finally meet you, officially that is" he said with a chuckle extended his hand to her "I'm professor Wizgiz, teacher of Metamorphosymbiosis" he said proudly while they shook hands. "I'm sorry of what?" She asked not sure he even said a word. "Oh excuse me, I got a bit excited, eh it's a more formal word for transformation magic" he apologized as Palladium was shaking his head at him from behind the girl. "Alright let us get you back to the medical wing and see what we can do about those memories" Palladium said before Wizgiz could even ask the girl for her name. The panda pet woke up as Wizgiz turned around, having slept through the conversation somehow but being disturbed by the sudden movement. Palladium noticed and gestured it to stay calm, it looked at him and the girl and happily went back to sleep, having completed its mission of finding this strange fairy him and his friends discovered in the forest ignoring the fact that Palladium found her, he helped after all leading them to the library.
They walked back in silence, Palladium offering his arm to the girl as they walked down the stairs giving her some stability. "What did he mean by 'do about those memories'? Palladium obviously prevented him from asking more questions by suggesting they go back" Well it isn't far away he'll tell him soon Wizgiz thought as they descended the final pair of the double stairs.
They led her to the examination bed in the potions room picking up the blanket that fell on the floor, it felt so long ago to her even though it has only been a couple hours. Wizgiz cast a cleaning spell on the blanket and handed it to her. She happily took it and wrapped herself in it only her face peaking out, she was kinda cold from being as tired as she was. Palladium laughed internally only a slight smile showing on his face, she looked very funny like that. "Let us get you something to eat and perhaps some tea-" "always him and his tea" Palladium thought "you can have a rest and we can discuss what to do next" Wizgiz said to her. She nodded and yawned "alright perhaps a quick rest" she said laying down in her cocoon. The panda flew over and landed on the top of her cocoon showing a faint glow as her face relaxed seemingly from its presence. She quickly drifted off as the professors left the room not casting the barrier spell this time, they'll be back momentarily anyway. Wizgiz really wanted a moment alone with his colleague, wanting to know what he meant earlier when he hurried them all back down here.
They went to Palladium's study, a room with a desk and his many books connected to his private quarters, he also used this room as his office to discuss things with students, colleagues and other more official conversations. Wizgiz sat down as Palladium started to search the many shelves filled with books of many kinds. "So what did you figure out talking to her?" The Leprechaun asked his colleague. Palladium paused his search for a moment to answer "well, we didn't discuss much, I found her asleep hiding under a desk and woke her up as gently I could. I told her she was safe, introduced myself and managed to make her feel safe enough to come out from under the desk, but when I asked for her name she freaked out, saying she couldn't remember -" "oh is that what I heard?" Wizgiz interrupted him "eh yes that's what you heard" Palladium quickly answered "can I keep going?" "Forgive me, please do continue" Wizgiz said chuckling.
"Alright so she freaked out, questioning why she couldn't remember, I tried to stay calm and reassure her it was gonna be alright, she didn't feel quite sure about it just yet saying she couldn't remember anything at all now that she took a moment to think about it, I reassured her again that we could figure it out with her, there has to be a spell or potion we can use to make her remember something ANYTHING, right?"he ended the sentence with a question to Wizgiz directly. "Hmm" His colleague took a moment to think, closing his eyes and holding his chin. "Well there are potions that could help obviously, but we don't know why she can't remember anything. So we wouldn't know what potion to use" Wizgiz started "a spell could work, but we would see her memories as well, it would need to be her choice if she wants us to. But that depends if her memories were locked, taken away or simply repressed because of some sort of trauma" he concluded.
Palladium thought about it for a second and agreed "right, it would be better to wait for Miss Faragonda to arrive, no matter the reason or solution to this memory problem she would either know what to do or be better at figuring it out" Palladium said as he started his search of the bookshelves again. "I agree, even with our combined knowledge I'd appreciate her wisdom in the matter" Wizgig agreed. "What are you looking for? Need any assistance?" Wizgiz added. "I remember reading something about halflings, it was a while ago but the book should he here somewhere, it was an older binding" Palladium said with a concentrated look on his face. "Alright I'll go make us some lunch, I think we'd better let the girl sleep till about dinner time and make her something to eat then" Wizgiz said as he got up. "Alright thank you" Palladium said with appreciation as he watched his friend leave his office. He turned around and went back to it "it should he here somewhere" He thought as he moved on to another shelf.
Wizgiz returned about half an hour later with an assortment of sandwiches and some fresh juice. "Alright I forgot to ask if you wanted anything specific so I just made a few different sandwiches for us to share" he said as he put a platter down.
"Perfect timing I found the book a little bit ago and it seems to have some of the information we are looking for" Palladium said. "Some?" Wizgiz responded. "Yes some, I'll sum up what information it does have" Palladium said while he turned back to the page the information was on. "From what this says halflings are quite common, born from either a fairy and an elf or a wizard and an elf, it also mentions witches but they are counted to be the same as a fairy since a magical being can pick and change which one she wants to be, the child can have physical features of either species (longer hair, pointed ears, special colored eyes etc.) but will only have one of the magic types, the child is either a fairy/wizard depending on their gender or an elf which can obviously be either male or female." Palladium started. "Ok but we have concluded she has both" Wizgiz said.
"Yes, so I kept reading and found only some information on that, and I quote" he looked down and read a passage from the book " 'a long time ago, long forgotten and lost to history, it was said halflings were born possessing both elven magic and the magic of a fairy/wizard they were said to only be born to the most powerful of fairies/wizards and elven parents and only when both parents met these criteria not much else is known only that they were more powerful than the common member of either species and that they all died non natural deaths: hunted down because of fear or jealousy, dying in combat or not being able to control their immense power due to lack of proper training or trying to keep their power hidden and dying because it became too much to control are but a few known exampls. Such halflings haven't been seen in long time and it has been the topic of many debates if they ever even existed at all'" Palladium looked up as he finished reading the passage out loud,. slightly frustrated by the lack of knowledge.
His friend had a concentrated look on his face as he said "but that barely tells us anything, it doesn't even specify how long ago, we're both quite old and we have never heard of them possessing both magic types so it's safe to assume it was hundreds of years before either of us was even born." He said looking up at his friend. "Personally I'm more concerned with the part about them dying non natural deaths" Palladium responded. "She was hurt and tired and blasted me into a wall without even trying, I wasn't truly hurt but still" he added.
"Yes we do need to figure out the part about them needing to train to control their immense power" Wizgiz started his sentence. "It seems quite impor-" "Am I interrupting?" A voice said from the door, They hadn't heard the door being opened or seen the figure enter the room so they both jumped up and looked at the source of the voice.
"Miss Faragonda" Wizgiz said with a smile "I'm glad you got my message and arrived so shortly of me requesting your presence" he added. "By the intent looks on Palladium's face as I entered the room, I have a feeling it's gonna be a long afternoon of you two explaining the situation" the headmistress said with a smile. "That's an understatement Miss Faragonda" Palladium said with a sigh. "Let's go to my office then and you can explain whatever has gotten you so worked up" the headmistress said. "I also send a message to Griselda, perhaps it's easier if we wait for her and explain it to you both at the same time?" Wizgiz suggested. "Alright, knowing her it surprises me she isn't already here" Faragonda responded to him. "I'll wait in my office, I'll let you know when she arrives and you can explain what's so important then" she said as she left the office. Palladium and Wizgiz kept looking through the many books to find something anything that could help them understand more, waiting for their colleague to arrive which luckily wouldn't take too long.