“There you are, Tenser!” said the man with the angry glare in a tone to
match.
“Ah, Gleep,” Tenser said, “how was class yesterday?”
“You wouldn’t know because you weren’t there!” Gleep shouted as he
advanced across the lawn’s paved path to the main entrance. “You were
my research partner!” he continued to shout, advancing so menacingly
that Tenser and Ehlissa both began to back away from him. “Because you
weren’t there, I couldn’t complete our experiment. And because I
couldn’t complete it, I earned demerits. And if I earn enough demerits
because of you to cost me a spell in my spellbook, I’m going to cast a
magic missile right up your—“
Gleep had wanted to finish his threat, having already decided that it
would feel pretty good to say it. It was certainly not of Tenser’s
doing that Gleep stopped, as Tenser’s defense seemed to amount to no
more than silent defiance. Actually, Tenser did have a pretty good
retort in mind, along the lines of “Is that where you use your magic
missile on your roommate?” but had not yet decided if he would risk
using it or not. No, what made Gleep stop in his tracks was that
Ehlissa had stepped in between them. She was not even offering more
than her own silence defiance, with her mostly-flat chest puffed out and
her mouth clenched tight, yet their combined defiance seemed to ward
Gleep off. It was not Ehlissa’s gender at all that made him demure, but
the fact that he did not recognize her. While he had no compunctions
against hurting Tenser, he had no wish to antagonize someone who might
be a higher classman.
In another moment, it would have been over anyway. Gleep had made the
mistake of confronting Tenser too close to the entrance and the door
guard inside had overheard. Farin was a dwarf, long in the employ of
the university, who had never allowed an unauthorized wizard duel on the
college lawn on his watch. “Is there trouble here, young wizards?”
Farin asked, friendly-sounding, but with his hand on the axe hanging at
his side.
“There is no trouble,” Tenser said, “Is there Gleep?”
“No, no trouble here,” Gleep concurred. “We’ll talk of this again,
Tenser.” He kept that angry glare focused on Tenser until he and his
other classmate were inside and out of sight.
“Well!” Tenser exclaimed, exhaling a breath he had been holding. “I
imagine I should not show up in that classroom again for awhile.” Then,
while Ehlissa stood there dumbfounded and wondering what was going on,
he took off his gown right in front of her, revealing an outfit with a
blue-embroidered surcote. “Come on,” he said to her, “I owe you for
standing up with me just now. Maybe you’ll join me for a drink at the
Roc and Oliphant?” And, without waiting for an answer, he started to
walk away.
“Excuse me,” Ehlissa said, starting after him. “But how can you afford
to be missing cl*****?”
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