Elf Mastery

by Bryant Reil

  It took the Dean a while to notice her, as she had said nothing while watching him. When he did see her he jumped and dropped a piece, which rolled under his desk.

  “Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't realize I had an appointment. How can I help you?”

  “Oh. Well, I haven't been able to find a class. I just wanted to see if somebody dropped out of earth magic or geology.”

  “Oh, no, I'm afraid not. Even so there are already waiting lists for both those courses.”

  Kyla's head dropped. The gnome gave her a pitying look.

  “Why don't you take an aptitude test?”

  Kyla perked up. “I'm listening.”

  “I'm done talking. Here's an aptitude test. Answer the questions and give it back to me.”

  Kyla found an empty spot of desk by the model human's feet and perused the paperwork. It looked easy enough: all the questions were about herself. Still, it seemed important so she wanted to approach it thoughtfully.

  “It's asking my name,” she said aloud. “Does that mean my first name, my last name, or both?”

  The gnome, who had resumed working on the model, answered without looking at her. “Both. You know, you can fill that out at home and bring it back when you're done.”

  “No.” Kyla tapped her pen on her chin. “No, my roommate's made of wind. She's great but it makes paperwork very challenging.”

  “Maybe the library? It's just that I need to be able to move around the desk to do this, and you're going to be in the way.”

  “Oh? Well, can I make some room on this shelf?”

  “I suppose.”

  “Thank you.”

  And that was one problem handled.

  ***

  Kyla, for once, was not eager for company so spent the next hour walking around campus. It was beautifully kept. She saw the Chief Groundskeeper working on a flower garden by the Dendoria Botanical Center, though luckily he didn't pay much attention to her. He did fine work. The flowers were beautifully arrayed and the trees all pruned. There were a few younger people working with him as well. A goblin was turning the soil in a flower bed, an elf girl was sweeping the walkway and some sort of nymph – Kyla supposed a naiad – was using water magic to splash the side of the building clean. The elf girl waved at Kyla but hurriedly resumed her work after a glance from the groundskeeper.

  There was a small bridge over a stream to the Chiron Science Building. In front was a large statue of a centaur. Kyla knew the tales of Chiron, of course, though he was more a doctor than a scientist in the stories. She circled the building looking at the various trees planted around it, wondering in which one Aspen spent her nights.

  Kyla fished in her pocket for the rock she had taken as a souvenir from her trip to the center of the earth. It was a bad memory, now, but she couldn't bring herself to discard it because she didn't want to forget it. She was determined that never again would she leave anyone in the lurch when they needed her help.

  Kyla came upon a long white building with a little park at the back and a small fish pond. The building looked more elegant than the others, and had a golden trim embossed with writing. It was written in several languages, though the only one she could read was the Elvish. It spoke of the might of words, which Kyla believed in very much, and the cutting and healing power of the tongue. Kyla drew a finger along the text, feeling the smooth edges, when a shadow cast across the part she was reading. She turned with a start.

  “Hello,” said a voice. It took a moment for Kyla to notice he was speaking to her in classical Elvish. It was the dialect of poets, and though Kyla understood it well enough she wasn't comfortable speaking it.

  “Hi,” she replied in the vulgar tongue. At first she thought it was Eunoe's professor addressing her; he was an elf, and about the same age, but had sharper features and longer points on his ears. His hair was jet black and had long streaks of silver. “I don't believe I've seen you before.”

  “No. I'm new.” She extended her arm. “Kyla Nim. From Aspengrove.”

  The elf did not grab her wrist but bowed slightly. “Elial Ciana. I'm Dean of Communications. This is my building.”

  Kyla drew her other hand back from the gold lettering. “Oh! I'm sorry.”

  He smiled. “That's fine. Are you one of my students? I dare say I've never seen you and I seldom forget a face.”

  “I'm Kyla. I haven't met you before.”

  “I'm sure I'd remember if I had. I don't see many elves with short hair, for one, and I must say it's a good look for you.”

  “Thank you” was all she could say. But she felt better. For some reason it helped to have someone recognize that she needed cheering up, even a stranger.

  “This is my favorite building on campus. Not just because I run it. It was designed by my father.”

  Kyla nodded. “It's a beautiful building.”

  “I suppose I would think so even if it were a pile of mud and sticks. He was a great man. I don't mean that he was successful and brilliant, which he was. He was a loving, kind, honest man. A person doesn't need a great job to be great. Some of the greatest people have very humble places in life, but you can see their effect on the world by how they affect the people around them.”

  Kyla smiled. “My dad is a shoemaker. He's the greatest man I know.”

  “And I'm sure he must be very proud of you.”

  Kyla looked at her feet. “I don't think he'd be proud of me today,” she admitted.

  “You might be surprised. You look unhappy about something. It is none of my business, and I shan't press you about it. However, I think if you are willing to learn from a mistake he would be very proud.”

  Kyla smiled sheepishly. “I suppose.”

  “I must be going. Take care, Kyla! I imagine I'll be seeing you around!” Elial walked around the corner and was gone. Kyla looked behind her. The sun was starting to set and she hoped to get Eunoe, Aspen, and Aura to come with her to dinner.

  ***

  Kyla spent the evening with Eunoe and Aspen in their room. Aura was busy, or so she said. She was reclusive and had no other friends, and Kyla wondered if perhaps she didn't like people at all; yet she was always very kind and polite.

  Eunoe was working on a big project. Kyla hoped it wasn't the flying snake she had presented in class. It was, thankfully, a flying bunny instead. The first project involved everyone making a variation of a rabbit, and Eunoe seemed obsessed with giving everything wings. She sat on the bed knitting. It looked like an endlessly long spiral scarf, and Aspen sat on the floor and snapped pairs of colored beads along its length. There were four colors: red, black, green, and yellow. These were held in separate boxes marked A, C, G, and T. Kyla thought the whole assembly didn't much resemble a rabbit at all, but it was a first year course and Eunoe was likely to improve with practice.

  “So elves are just as gunky on the inside as humans?” Kyla asked.

  Eunoe peered up over the rim of her glasses. This was the first time Kyla had seen her in glasses, and she thought they made her look like a very attractive grandma.

  “Humans are designed after elves,” Eunoe pointed out. “You all look the same on the inside. So do dryads.” Aspen looked up. “So do alseids. We're all made from the same basic kit.”

  “I just imagined we'd be-you know-prettier in there. But it's just a garbled mess. You know what they say: 'We're all beautiful on the inside.' Well, it turns out we're not.”

  Eunoe raised an eyebrow. “That's not what they mean, and I'm sure you know that.”

  “But you could make it look nicer in there, right?”

  “Maybe. Why, though? It's all functional. No need to make it all pretty if no one's going to see it.”

  “You wouldn't want someone cutting you open just for the view,” Aspen added. She looked up at Eunoe. “You're out of adenine.”

  “There's more on top of the wardrobe. It doesn't matter anyway, Kyla. I'm sure your heart is beautiful, no matter how it's stuffed into your chest.”

  Kyla doubted
that. She related her experience at the center of the earth to Eunoe, and expected a reprimand, but Eunoe just listened as she vented.

  The evening flew along with talk about family, and where nymphs came from if they didn't have parents (they were built by hand), and Kyla told story after story about her experiences with her family. Eunoe and Aspen said they loved hearing these the most. Eunoe said she was always curious what it would be like to have a real family. Aspen already had more family in Eunoe than most dryads, as they were solitary creatures. And Kyla finally heard the full story of the connection between the two nymphs.

  “I don't remember my life before the fire.” Aspen looked at her feet. “I don't remember my mother tree at all.”

  “My Charm was in charge of the grove,” Eunoe added. “I didn't know Aspen then, so I don't even know what her name was, before. We didn't talk to the dryads much.”

  “Alseids are noisy. Dryads don't like them.”

  “We travel in groups, and a lot of alseids are rather raucous.” Eunoe looked at Aspen. “But most of the noise is the satyrs!” She looked back at Kyla. “They never leave us alone. Anyway we don't know how the fire started, but it blazed up very quickly. We had to hurry to get as many animals out as we could. Dryads – I mean, you know. They can't travel far from their trees, and they die when the tree dies. There's nothing we could do for them. These things happen, and our job is the wildlife. Sometimes we have to save the plants, if they're rare enough. So a lot of dryads died.” Eunoe looked very sad as she said this. “Our Doyenne, Eunoste – the leader of our Charm – ordered us out when the blaze approached. Some of the others had carved a firebreak and we were to get all the creatures we could to the other side. We lost a lot of those, too.” She smiled and held up her knitting. “Won't be such a problem when they can all fly!” Kyla still didn't see the connection between the scarf and flying bunnies. “Then I saw Aspen crawling across the firebreak. She was almost gone, and she was coming right for me. Slowly.”

  Kyla could see Eunoe's eyes were tearing up, and she sat next to her and put an arm around her.

  “I couldn't leave her. Not with her looking at me like that. What could I do? Eunoste glared at me like I knew what I needed to do. The others were shouting at me to get to the other side of the break but I was frozen. She could have ordered me to leave Aspen, but then she saw her, too. How could you not just fall in love with that face? We couldn't let her die. We dragged her to safety but she started wailing. I don't know if we pulled her too far from her tree, or if it was burning, but she was going to die. But Eunoste had magic that I'd never seen. She found the – it's like a string, I don't know what it's called – it connects the dryad to her tree. Like an umbilical cord, but it's invisible and ghostly. She cut it and tied it to me. She fused Aspen's soul to mine. I kept her alive. I suppose I'm no substitute for a tree—” Aspen smiled at this “—but now Aspen is free to travel, as long as I go with her. A rare opportunity for a dryad. She's free as long as I am. And as long as I don't die, of course.”

  Aspen gave Eunoe a concerned look.

  “How far away can she go?” Kyla asked. “I'm sorry – I hope that isn't a rude question.”

  “Not at all. Aspen?”

  “About a mile.”

  “Do you ever get tired of each other?” Kyla asked. She loved Bit but there were definitely times she wanted more than a mile of space between them.

  “Sometimes,” Aspen said without looking up from her beads. Kyla thought this might offend Eunoe, but the alseid only smiled.

  “I can be hard to bear. I don't really get tired of Aspen, though. To be honest she was my only friend back home.” Eunoe grimaced as she said this.

  Aspen had a bitter expression as well. “The others just want to party with the satyrs.”

  “Except Eunoste.”

  Aspen nodded. “Except Eunoste. She did all the work. Well, Eunoe, too.”

  “So we're basically sisters, now. I'm the older, bossier one, of course.”

  “Yes,” Aspen agreed, though there was no resentment in her voice. “Though I don't know how old I am.”

  “We couldn't even find a dryad that knew her before the fire. I suppose they all died.”

  The room got quiet, and Kyla sat awhile and listened to the clack-clack of Eunoe's knitting and the click-click of Aspen's beads.

  Chapter Six

  An Unexpected Journey

  Communications.

  At first, Kyla was excited. She had been tested and shown aptitude for something. No longer was she drifting aimlessly into her future. At first she imagined herself as a journalist or a motivational speaker, but for now she found herself in front of the bathrooms handing out flyers for the Fall Ball.

  The uniform looked pretty sharp, at least. It was brown, which wasn't her favorite color, but was crisply ironed and came with a badge and a hat. Half her day would be spent doing mundane tasks, and the other half would be spent in class. She didn't know what a class teaching flyer-handing-out would cover. Preventing paper cuts, maybe? She had gotten three before she found gloves tucked in the jacket pocket.

  “Flyers! Get your flyers here!” she called out. No one listened, but if she was going to be ignored she might as well be ignored with gusto. She held out a flyer to a passing dwarf who glanced at it before tossing it into the trash. That was actually a step forward. Discarded flyers now littered the square. This had earned her some nasty glares from the Chief Groundskeeper, but he never confronted her about it. Her uniform was like a shield. He might not like what she was doing, but she was entitled to do it. This gave her some small satisfaction.

  Time dragged and Kyla's fake smile wore down. She preferred to use a real one, of course, but didn't have any to spare at the moment. The monotony broke when an officious-looking fairy, decked in a blue and gold uniform much fancier than the one Kyla was wearing, suddenly appeared with a zap. He was holding a rolled-up parchment bound in a red ribbon and wax seal. He saw Kyla and flew over to her. She didn't know whether to be frightened or excited, as she had no idea why a fairy in a uniform would have any interest in her. Perhaps people in uniforms just liked to stick together. That was exciting. It was like a big club.

  “You are with Communications?” the fairy asked. She nodded. “I have an urgent message for Elial Ciana. Please see that you take it to him immediately.” The fairy handed her the parchment, which she accepted cautiously.

  “What is it?”

  “Classified.”

  Kyla took a deep breath and tried to maintain her composure. A classified document! How exciting! “I shall deliver it right away, Sir!”

  “See that you do.” And the fairy vanished with another zap.

  Curious. Kyla looked at the seal, but didn't recognize it. There was an inscription along the side that read 'Denzig: VS1109B'. Was that some sort of code? That just made it more exciting. Kyla hung her bag of flyers on a tree branch so any passers-by could help themselves and ran for the Communications building.

  ***

  The door was open but Kyla gave it a light tap with her knuckles before stepping inside. Professor Ciana smiled and stood to greet her.

  “Good morning!” He walked around his desk and clasped Kyla's extended wrist. “You never mentioned you were in my department. I see you have something for me.”

  “Oh, I'm sorry, Sir. I just found out this morning.” Kyla felt it appropriate to call him 'Sir' while she was in uniform. She held out the message with professional stoicism. Professor Ciana grabbed the parchment and read the inscription along the side. His smile turned to a frown. “Another one?” he muttered to himself. He looked back at her. “How would you like to take a little break from whatever it is they have you doing?”

  She nodded with as much composure as she could maintain, though on the inside she was leaping with joy. Her first day and she had already worked her way up from flyer-handing-out duty. Professor Ciana handed her the parchment and continued.

  “This needs to go to Ventilation
Site 1109-B in Mount Thoma. That's a volcano in the mountains to the northwest. There's a gentleman who works there by the name of Denzig for whom this letter is addressed.”

  “Yes, thank you, sir! I'll get it to him right away!” Kyla was so excited she ran out of the room before she could hear what Professor Ciana told her next.

  ***

  It took a little investigation to find a map to Mount Thoma, but Kyla now had an armful of maps from the library, deciding that if she were to take on more such assignments she needed to be prepared. She stood at the edge of campus and plotted her route. It was going to be a journey, she could see, but this made the task feel all the more important and exciting. She packed a lunch and supplies, and left a note for Aura and Eunoe so no one would worry when she didn't show up for dinner. Kyla wondered about classes but assumed Professor Ciana would handle things as he had given her the assignment. She should have gone back to ask, she knew, but she didn't want him to think she couldn't handle delivering a simple message on her own. She wrapped her goods tightly in a blanket and strapped it to her back in the Elvish style, and headed out.

  Kyla had spent her life running about and playing in the woods and wasn't fazed at the idea of making such a long journey on her own. In fact, walking to the mountain felt to her more relaxing than her time on campus, as there was no bustle of people walking about and she could hear birds chirping. She imagined if this were to be her future career, just walking around to hand out parchments, she would be well satisfied. However, if the profession leaned more heavily towards flyers, she just might have to give marrying rich a try.

  Kyla guessed the journey would take her three or four days. She had never walked so far in one go, but her father did occasional business trips on foot, and that while carrying a bag of shoes and supplies. And he was an old man. Kyla was certain she would have no problem.