Tea with the guys, Thoth and Albenion was a little bit awkward. The four of us were sitting on one side of the table downstairs while the two Pegasuses were on the other. Our guests had their backs to the stairs while we were by the tea-making side.
I made tea while they all settled in. I wasn't sure if it was on the list of things I was supposed to be doing, no one mentioned having to play hostess was part of my Representative duties, but seeing as I was technically in charge when Vivian wasn't around it kind of made me the responsible one.
Plus I didn't fully trust my towermates to not poison someone accidentally or on purpose. And while I wasn't one hundred percent certain on etiquette rules I was pretty sure that Albenion and Thoth counted as guests and thus having them serve and make tea would be considered rude.
I maybe should go over what etiquette and politeness looked like here with either Mom or Vivian. I would probably have better luck with Vivian.
The tea I was making was a green tea with lemon peels and mint leaves added in.
Nice and refreshing. Hopefully the others agreed.
"So how do we do this?" Jarec asked. I was still happy to let him lead the conversation as he had more experience with both of them. Probably. More than I did anyway. And really leaving anything up to my social skills was a bad idea.
"I'll ask questions and whoever feels like answering can. Albenion is here to take notes for me, as well as offer any insight seeing as he has classes with most of you." Thoth responded as he folded his hands and set them on the table.
Albenion snapped his fingers and with a puff of green smoke a stack of seemingly blank paper and a thick wooden pencil appeared in his hand.
I poured the six cups of tea for everyone.
"Let's start simple. How have you all found your time here since moving into Dragon Tower?" Thoth asked.
"It's been nice, I have no complaints so far." I told him. That was mostly true. I just hoped none of the others brought up the incident in the attic with the wraith. We didn't need that leaking out.
"I think the Echoes are charming," Jarec commented.
Thoth frowned, "Echoes?"
The four of us looked at each other. I suspected the guys were utilizing telepathy again.
"Serafina?" Fethris prompted.
I sighed, did they use that just to volunteer me for things without talking to me first? Rude. Stupid curse.
"Dragon Tower's…quirk is to record and display images and sounds from past events. If this goes on long enough you might see one. Previous inhabitants called them echoes of the past and we've taken to calling them Echoes," I explained.
Albenion, who had been writing all of this down with a speed that I greatly respected, though it might have been magically aided judging by the vague green tint on his pencil, stopped and looked up. "The Tower does what?"
Yeah, that's about the reaction I was expecting.
"Can you tell when this happens?" Thoth asked.
"Presumably it's doing it all the time," Jarec commented. "But only in the general spaces."
Both Pegasuses gave us nearly matching concerned looks.
"And you're just okay with this?" Thoth asked. He sounded genuinely alarmed.
I shrugged, "It is what it is."
"Welcome to Dragon Tower, we're a special bunch," Fethris commented.
Thoth blinked several times and then seemed to snap out of his reaction to the Echoes. "Okay. Let's get back on track. You are…"
"Fethris Nightcall."
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"Okay. Mr. Nightcall," Thoth glanced at Albenion.
Were they doing telepathic stuff?
Please be nothing to worry about.
Stupid curse now is not the time to start itching again.
"You were the one in Kelpie Tower, right?" Thoth asked.
"That's correct," Fethris nodded.
"I'm a little surprised you're not the one in the Representative position. I wouldn't have guess someone with enough Kelpie traits to land there, even if it was temporary, to be okay with an Aplos getting such an important position."
I paused in the middle of getting a drink of tea.
That's not the first time someone has called me that.
Fethris scoffed, "First thing, Serafina being representative was a near unanimous decision. She was the only one who didn't want her to do it out of the five of us. Second, being an Aplos does not make someone less qualified to do a job. Third, you should double check your sources because Serafina isn't even an Aplos."
I was sitting right there, and this was making the curse go from itching to hurting.
I set the cup down and decided I should probably intervene. "He's right. I'm not. My legal guardians are my biological parents. My last name comes from my father. If you have further questions about that I'm sitting right here and would be happy to answer them for you."
Albenion looked a little spooked. I glanced at Jarec and noticed he was glaring at Thoth with more anger than I had seen from him so far.
"But perhaps a change of topic would be more appropriate?" I suggested. "You did come here to ask about Dragon Tower, not pry into our lives."
"Okay. I can take a hint. Sensitive topic. I'll take your suggestion under advisement Nightcall," Thoth held up his hands as if to show he meant peace.
What a farce.
Thoth turned to Russel, "I suppose that makes you Kingsley, the almost Salamander."
"And?" Russel prompted.
"Nothing. Just making sure I have my facts right. Since apparently my information has already failed me once today." Thoth's tone grated on me.
"Oh, so now you fact check," I mumbled under my breath.
I think Albenion heard me because he looked a little embarrassed and seemed to be only looking at the paper he was writing down on.
"Alright then, how about another more general question? How do you feel about Vivian Hearth being your Tower head?"
"She's been a great help. With all of us being so new to this school we don't have the chance to learn the usual rhythms of how a Tower should run. She's been patient with questions and concerns," I told him.
This was a much easier line of inquiry to deal with.
"I admit, it was a bit of a surprise. I wasn't expecting my grandmother to be my Tower head," Jarec said calmly and we maybe should have talked about this earlier.
Thoth didn't look shocked though. Did he know about that already? Wait, was Jarec being a member of the Hearth coven something that was well known? How many people already knew that?
This being the last to know business was awful. Another thing to work on I suppose.
"How did she react upon hearing you were chosen by Dragon Tower?" Thoth asked.
"I'm not sure actually. She was a little busy and got swept up in the whole reopening Dragon Tower thing. But if she did have concerns or something she'd have voiced them by now," Jarec waved his hand in a dismissive manner. Whether it was a show or it genuinely didn't bother him I couldn't tell.
Thoth didn't look so smug though. Perhaps this whole thing could be salvaged after all. "Albenion, why don't you ask a question or two, I'll be right back." He got and entered the bathroom.
There was an awkward moment of silence.
"Right. So…How are we all feeling about the Fall Harvest Celebration?" Albenion asked despite looking like he kind of wanted to run away.
"Is that your way of asking if I'm still single?" Jarec teased.
Gods not again.
"Really?" Fethris asked. He was quickly becoming my favorite towermate.
"What? It's fair that we get a couple of questions," Jarec was smirking again and I rolled my eyes.
Albenion was quickly becoming red, "I-I mean…are you?"
"Yes. And no I don't have a date to the celebration yet." There was a feeling in the back of my mind that wondered if perhaps this was something he had planned or wanted from the start.
I didn't understand why Jarec didn't just ask Albenion himself if this is what he wanted.
For once I was certain my sudden onset headache had nothing to do with my curse.
But of course things in Dragon Tower were never that simple.
It started with pounding on the guy's bathroom door. Fethris got out of his seat and went over to the door.
More pounding and some muffled noise. "It's locked," Fethris announced.
What? Why?
Albenion spun around in his chair, "What do you mean locked?"
Not again.
Then it was footsteps coming from the stairs. Rapid and uneven. Running?
That's when she came into view. Red overcoat still obscuring her fully from sight and hood covering her face. She nearly fell as she landed on the last step.
Something unseen growled.
She was leaning against the wall and holding her side. A streak of visible red stains followed her movements as she made her way forward. She was limping and feeling the wall with her right hand.
It clenched into a fist and knocked on the wall once before it and the rest of Red and the blood stains vanished.
There was several seconds of silence.
"What…what was that?!" Albenion shouted.
I sighed, "That was an Echo. They're not usually like that I promise."
He didn't need to know about the rest of Red's quirks. But I could only hope that the others were on the same page as me.
Albenion turned back around to look me in the eyes properly since this excursion began. "Your ghost…."
"Yep." Whether or not he pieced together that what he just saw was the same entity I had seen that first day was irrelevant. But the phenomena was the same regardless.
And hey, if the Pegasus did what his Tower is infamous for and told everyone about this later, well what harm would it do now?
There was a loud click and the guy's bathroom door opened and Thoth nearly fell out and landed on his face.
Somehow, that alone made all of this worth it.
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