Second Head Professor

Professor Whitaker was calling me to his office more and more frequently over the months. Now, barely two weeks before the the Test of Waning, he had called me again.

I've come to like him, actually, despite my still ongoing distrust. Honestly, though, I didn't have much trust to give. I just barely gave my trust to Albert and Joren, although I knew I couldn't tell them of any of my secrets and woes. After all, they were children. Regina and Farseer I could trust with my life, but they were so wholly different from me and from regular people that I could hardly confide in them. Janmira... Well, she was Janmira. Of course, Zepherin was as secretive as she was once talkative, and I hardly knew her in the most blunt of truths. My brothers were royalty. Prince Charles was even a worse kind of royalty, so...

I sighed, and knocked at the door evenly.

"Come in." The professor's voice sounded muffled, but to my trained ears, it was clear as day. I quickly turned the knob and came in.

He looked up at me through his reading glasses. "Do you always just barge in after knocking, boy?"

I furrowed my brows at him. "You just told me to come in."

His eyes widened for a miniscule second before turning back to his strict face. "Apologies, I did. Come, sit here."

Like always, his room was in its same pristine condition. Already feeling at ease, I sat down comfortably on the chair and picked up a roll of parchment out from the table. I admired the clean work, thinking about whether the royal documents used in the Kingdom had paper as well-made as these.

"... I see you are as curious as ever, but of the most mundane of things," the gray eyed man observed.

Looking up, I asked, "What do you mean?"

"You rubbed and tinkered at the material of the parchment, but never glanced at the written contents," he explained.

I shrugged. "I didn't receive your permission to read it, so of course I wouldn't read it. I was simply admiring the quality of the paper. The Academy definitely has a lot of funds if she can afford to give such quality products to her staff members."

The man chuckled. "Dear boy, if all the members of the staff were to be given even a single roll of Punowan parchment, then the Academy would be bankrupt twice over."

I blinked up at him. "Is the Academy short of funds, sir?"

He unexpectedly snorted. "On the contrary, she is filled to the brim with treasure and gold."

"Then..." My hands started to shake as I stared down at the paper on my hands. It really was so smooth and clean and white... "Is this really so expensive?!"

Scared to even touch it anymore, I began to roll it back into it place, careful in all my handling. The man laughed at my predicament. "It was only a fib, my dear boy."

I was pushing it back to its place when my mind quickly registered his words. I inched up to look at him. "... You lied? But now I'm actually curious about what's written there..."

He smiled at me evenly, and carefully removed the paper from below my outstretched hands before I could try to sneak a peak at its words. He too stroked at the pristine material as he said, "Though not completely a lie, of course. This is indeed Punowan parchment, and only very few could gain access to its secretive traders and actually afford to pay, but the Academy won't ever be bankrupt from buying whole boxes of these papers. As I've told you, I only lied a little bit."

My left eye twitched, but decided to let my annoyance disperse into the wind. "I've only come to realize it, but you really do seem to have a childish side to you, Professor Whitaker."

He shrugged, although his smile was gone. "One must adjust to the company he keeps."

"... Are you suggesting I am a child who only knows to lie?" I muttered half-heartedly, expecting him to become flustered.

"No, of course not," he replied immediately. Then he rested his chin upon his palm. "A renowned teacher shouldn't call his students with such terms."

I blinked at him. "That wasn't a denial."

He smiled. "Who ever said it was?"

I let out a huff, but I wasn't exactly outraged or hurt by his words. In fact, I found myself feeling amused. Well, that's because I really was a liar, and we both knew it, but he didn't look like he was angry or disappointed at me. He simply stated it out as a fact. I couldn't really rebut that.

So, I smiled at him. "But perhaps it is the other side who started the act first?"

It was his turn to blink wordlessly at me. Then, he closed his eyes after taking a breath, leaning back on his chair. He muttered after a while, "You counter well, boy. I was taken by surprise."

"Oh, what ever are you talking about, Professor Whitaker?" I asked innocently before standing up from my seat. I had visited enough times to know where his tea pot was, and I quickly began to make a fresh brew. My throat was getting dry after all that playing around.

With my back still facing him, I heard him mumble quietly, "You surprise me so."

"Why is that?" I asked without even turning my head from the gradually heating pot.

He coughed. "For one thing, did you know I was whispering in a manner that even I found it difficult to hear myself?"

I laughed, sticking the tips of my pinky down to the water, just the way commoners would do to test the temperature. I smiled when I deemed it ready. I procured a small glass jar with crushed tea leaves of some unknown, but sweet variety. Mixing it carefully with practiced movements, I arranged the tray with my free hand. Before long, I had an aesthetic arrangement of teapot, a pair of dainty cups, and a jar of sugar and mint. I was humming as I placed the tray carefully onto the table.

I was pouring the second cup by the time I noticed how intently the professor was studying me. Placing the teapot back down, I asked him directly, "What?"

"You have a pair of amazing ears," he stated, to which I rolled my eyes to. "It would be one thing if you had only done it this once. But are you aware that I had been testing you for weeks? I lessened my volume every time you knocked at my door, and every time I would decide that this would finally be the day when you wouldn't hear my voice, and... no. Each time, you open the door right after the moment I tell you to come in."

"Isn't that only natural?" I countered back after sipping quietly at my tea.

"Not only that, but you move with the grace of nobility-"

"Why, thank you."

"-but have the tongue of a wily commoner," he finished with a sigh. "You intrigue me so, Eleftherion of Saule."

My heart skipped a beat, finding his name-calling too similar to my actual royal name. People did sometimes refer to themselves by their place of origin, but when a royal introduces herself, she refers not to the name of the nation, but the very royal house she belonged in. That might be why it was a foreign, yet not too foreign name. Eleftherion of Saule...

That should have been the name of my parents' first-born... If she had only survived, and if she had only been born a boy.

I shook my head, forcing it to clear from all my dreary memories.

Besides, I had no time being lost in thought. I was currently in a dangerous position, and if I acted oddly now, this man could grow even more suspicious of me. Fortunately, the man didn't notice my moment of weakness.

"So," I started. "Is this the reason why you call me so often to your room? Because I'm intriguing?"

He chuckled. "Hardly, although that does seem to be a valid point."

I stared at him as I waited in impatience, my tea already left in its lonesome on the table. I had counted to twenty by the time he answered, "As I've told you. I'm supposed to watch over you."

I sneered at him. "Because of my intriguing token? But I hardly think that's enough of a reason."

He laughed wearily before finally saying, "Teach. I'm supposed to try and teach you."

I pouted in disappointment. "You've taught me nothing but where to sit and what sort of papers you proudly own."

He sighed, although he did so with a smile. "It wasn't supposed to be this fast, although I see you are more than capable to take it, both mentally and physically. I've been sizing you up in the past few weeks, and it does seem like you might be ready for it. Although... it really does seem too early."

I looked at him with a face laden with suspicion. "What are you supposed to teach me that I shouldn't be taught yet?"

"Well," he said, and then leaned over the table to me. "Do you know of Dark Magic?"