Chapter 6

The week passed quickly. The snide remarks slowed, with the exception of Missy and the group that had formed around her, a dozen people, a mixture of both men and women. Other than that? Classes.

Theory, dueling and combat, mana control, history, and research methods.

In-between? Mock fights and sparring. Lots and lots of it.

I earned two points in Mana Control without any levels to earn skill points, just hard work. I also, with the help of Fel, got my room cleaned. Fel insisted more than a few times to take the small room, but to me, it was a luxury. I had a bed large enough I could lay down on my back and not hang off the sides. My head and feet didn't touch the ends. I had my own trunk, and a window that overlooked the courtyard.

I didn't need a desk in there, I didn't need somewhere to hang my clothing. I had a door I could close. It was weird, though, having my own room. For years and years, I'd bunked with a hundred others. Bathed in public. To have privacy now? I was surprised and happy with it. Fel and I had somewhat become good friends. I doubted, if circumstances had been different, it would have happened, but it happened.

"Isn't your date happening soon?" Fel asked me.

"I mean, what bell was it last?" I asked her.

"Four and a half in the evening," she said.

"Oh crap!"

"Yes, holy shit. You're a grown up, Morgan, you're allowed to swear.

What are you doing? You stink, and you're not even dressed."

Like I said, we'd become friends.

"I'll heat the water," she said with a smirk. "Find an outfit."

"I... don't have much," I told her.

"Where are you going again?" she asked.

"The Ragged Flagon," I muttered.

"Ok, for sure, you have to dress up for that place."

I cursed. "You're not kidding?"

"Does this look like my kidding face? You know what, let me go find Gavin, and see if he at least has a button up shirt you can borrow."

"I don't want him to know—" "Go wash up!"

I ran to our bathroom, stripped, and then started pumping the hand pump into a large bucket. I had no time to heat the water, so this was going to suck. I pulled the bucket to the big shower stall thing, and set it down at the edge. I'd gotten a stoneware pitcher from somewhere, and used that to start pouring the water over myself. I shivered at being doused with cold water. I used a rough cloth and some lye soap to wash up, then I used a liquid version of a softer oil soap to wash out my hair.

It was getting too long, but I washed it anyways. Having the ability to bathe whenever I wanted? In this world? Luxury. Did I mention my outlook on life had suddenly changed?

"Ok, come on out when you're ready, but Gavin came too. So, like, don't flash us, ok?"

"Fine," I grumbled as I picked up the bucket, and just dumped the rest of it over my head.

I shivered as I toweled off, and then put my dirty clothing in my bag of holding. I got some clean underwear out and put those on, then wrapped myself in a towel, walking out.

"Dude, not bad for a skeletor man, dude bro," Gavin said.

Apparently Gavin wasn't alone. Seery and Myra were with him too. I suddenly felt... uncomfortable, as four of them looked me over.

"The blue one?" Seery asked.

"I'm thinking he might be able to pull off the off white one too," Myra said.

They were his girlfriends. I honestly had thought the guy batted for the other team, but oh man. I had been wrong.

"I'm sort of leaning toward the blue one too," Fel said.

"Ok, fine. First things... here," Gavin said, handing me a pair of leather pants.

I held them up. I'd never seen him wearing anything like this. They weren't shiny at all, more like a matte black finish. Actually sort of low key.

"Fine," I said, and dropped the towel.

Gavin and Fel suddenly looked away as I pulled the pants on.

"Did he really just...?" Gav asked.

"Yup," Fel answered.

"He's wearing his small clothes, you babies," Seery said in a mocking tone.

"Oh, he is?"

"Really?" both of the yahoos asked, looking back my way as I tied the pants closed in the front.

"Yes," three of us chorused.

"Although your friend might be giving you a run for his money... who is the dame, anyways? Why are we doing the whole makeover?" Myra asked.

"He's shy about telling people," Fel said.

"So she's either shy herself, a known entity, or he's embarrassed he's going out on a date with her... I'm guessing she's known. Am I right, bro?

She's totally somebody in our academy, right?"

I just grinned as Myra pulled a light blue shirt out of her bag of holding, handing it to me. I let them speculate as I put it on.

"Ok, for real, how does this look?" I asked them.

"It needs two more things," Seery said. "Cough it up, Gav."

"It's like, my favorite vest though." Gavin sounded petulant.

"It's for a good cause, trust me," Seery chided.

"Wait, you figured it out!" Gavin said, pulling a leather vest out of his own bag of holding.

"Yeah, almost a week back," Myra said with a chuckle.

"I'm so lost, man. This will not stand, you hear me?" Gavin said.

His slow drawl, his stoner voice. His Hollywood good looks and... holy crap. I almost started spouting quotes from what had been one of my favorite movies before I'd moved to this world.

"We'll tell you later. First, let him get it on."

"Fine," Gavin said, handing it over.

I put it on.

"Now your belt. Knives and potions. It shows you're practical, careful, yet deadly," Fel muttered.

"Really?" I asked.

"Really," Myra replied for her.

I did as they said.

"Ok, now his hair," Gavin said.

"You should," Fel told him.

"Alright. Listen bro, you're going to owe me. So I totally want on your team if you bed this babe you're primping for. Got me?"

"Oh my God," I muttered.

I sat in a kitchen chair as Gavin, hairdresser to the rich and shameless, healer, man with two girlfriends, and all-round good guy, cut my hair.

Honestly, without mirrors being common, I only got my reflection from buckets of water or reflections from a dark window when I could. I was surprised when Seery gave me a small mirror to hold when they were done.

"Thank you," I told Gavin as they pulled the towel off of me, shaking the hair out on the floor.

Then... the bells started ringing.

"Oh shit," I said, shooting to my feet.

"Easy killer, I lied about the time," Fel said with a smirk.

"What?"

"You have thirty more minutes to meet her downstairs," Fel told me.

"Wait, so it is somebody from here! Dude!" Gavin said with a playful punch to my shoulder.

"Why would you lie about the time?" I asked Fel.

"Because I had the three of them meet me here, and I needed you to clean up. You were dragging your feet."

"You know what? You four are awesome. You're literally my favorite people in this room right now."

"Hey!" Myra blurted out loud before playfully pouting.

"Ok. My favorite people tonight. Except maybe my date. We'll see," I told them.

"So, like, if it works, her place or yours? And like... do you have like...

an enchantment?" Gavin asked.

"A wha...? I don't. I thought the girls took care of that... and her place.

I'm in the dorms here. Shit. No way would I bring her back to this place.

Everybody would know."

"Wait, she has her own place, not in the dorms? But she's from here.

Interesting. I'm pretty sure I got this dialed in, broski. Staffer! So like, one more thing, my man..."

He pulled something out of his bag, it almost looked like an ink stamp you'd see at the post office. I held still as he pulled my left sleeve up and pressed the stamp to the inside of my elbow. The glyph it left behind flashed, then settled in with a slight burning feeling.

"What was that?" I asked him.

"Male birth control, my man. Better to be safe, unless you want bambinos, you know what I mean? You can wash it off with intent, and it'll break the enchantment."

"Thank you guys," I said.

"Go, shoo," Seery said.

I was already moving to the doorway.

HER JAW literally dropped when she saw me. That lit a fire in me, and my confidence just went apeshit through the roof. No lie. I took her arm in mine at the front gates of the academy, seeing that more than a few people had noticed, but all I saw was her smile, or that was all I was paying attention to.

She knew the way better than I did, so I let her gently lead me through the city. I kept sneaking glances her way, and noticed her doing the same with me. Holy crap. This wasn't me just overthinking things, this was an actual legit date. I had worried that this was another in a long line of pranks that I'd had to suffer through in the last couple of years. But she wouldn't.

She couldn't. It took us nearly half an hour to make it to the line waiting to get inside.

The crowd was a mixture of mostly human and elves, but there were a couple of halflings, a cambion, which was rare for this area, and a succubus that my date was eyeballing. I almost asked her if she was a friend, or somebody dangerous, but my name was called. We headed to the front of the line.

"Morgan Lovecraft," I told him as he held his clipboard up.

"Ah, yes. It's good to have you and Samantha join us this evening.

Thank you for not only adhering to our dress code, but doing it in smashing style. Girl, keep this one close. He's got potential."

Samantha just chuckled. "That's the plan for now, Chuck."

I grinned as we followed the maître d' inside. The place was... it was a very fancy Fabled Glory. I hated to compare it to the inn that I'd fallen in love with, both their beer and food, but this was laid out the same way. We were seated at a small table near the windows, and I sat back and admired Samantha.

"What's that smirk for?" she asked me.

"Professor Braylee, I'm just... Wow, you're beautiful."

She blushed, twirling a strand of hair.

"Not worried that I'm staff?" she asked.

"I mean, we're both adults, and this isn't Earth," I reminded her.

"Yes, their norms there are a bit different, I hear." She grinned. "Listen, this place... I got the tab tonight. This place is a bit out of the price range for students, even the Blackman girl."

I opened my mouth to argue, but she leaned over and put a kiss on my lips. Stars exploded, harps played. Rage against the Machine announced a new concert... it was that epic. I leaned forward, cupping the back of her head, and kissed her back. She moaned, her hand finding my arm.

"Excuse me a moment," a woman's voice said.

We broke the kiss and I turned to see a pair of green-skinned, buff, giant women. Half troll, nearly seven feet tall!

"Sorry," I said, feeling out of breath.

"Samantha, you never bring guests, and when Chuck said you had... I'm sorry. What can I get you started with?" the one on the left in a white outfit said.

Samantha was red faced. "The platter, and a bottle of my favorite."

"We can do that," the other sister said, who was wearing a black outfit, like a western styled corset top thing.

"Then your usual?" the first one asked.

"We'll see. It depends on... our appetite," she said, looking at me.

"Oh snap," the second one said, "we need that bottle. I've never seen her—" The one in white held her hand over her mouth and pulled her sister away, still trying to say things quietly.

"I'm sorry, I get the impression you're a known entity here," I told her with a smile.

"Perhaps. This is the first time though, that..."

"You don't bring dates here?" I asked her.

"I don't date," she said, looking away from me, her cheeks flushed.

"Part of it is my age, and what I used to do for the Duchy during the war years... It seemed like it'd be better to stay single."

"So, uh... I've been wondering..." What I was wondering flew right out of my mind at her words.

I became tongue tied, but was saved as Chuck came back out with a carafe of wine he was still pouring a bottle into. When he had it emptied, he handed the bottle off to a passing waiter. I watched as he swirled it in the carafe, then poured it into glasses for us.

"I'll be personally handling things tonight, Miss Braylee."

"Who's covering the door?" she asked, confusion in her tone.

"Oh, I handed that off," he said with a causal swipe in the air.

She blushed, again. Instead of continuing my question, I took a sip. I wasn't big into drinking, but had had wine enough times to know that this was amazing. Samantha took a sip herself, giving me a nod.

"I'll leave this with you here. Your platter will be out momentarily. The sisters themselves are preparing it."

"Thank you," Samantha told him.

He took the hint and took off. I turned to her, my glass in my hand.

"Cheers," I said softly as we clinked them together.

I DON'T THINK I've ever had time fly the way it was as we talked, laughed, and slowly devoured the platter of meats, cheeses, and fry bread. The wine went straight to my head, and as we were finishing the platter, I knew I was going to take my shot. She was wiping my chin as I did hers. She'd drank as much, if not slightly more than me, and she hadn't stopped staring into my eyes.

"My age truly doesn't bother you?" she asked.

"You're likely to live a lot longer than I am," I admitted. "Plus, I've been here a while, and numbers aren't really a thing that scares me."

She grinned at the sort of compliment. She was over 120 years older than I was. That had startled me for half a moment, until I realized with her levels and race, she'd literally live three of my lifetimes and she was...

beautiful. Fierce. Dangerous... And to most people she was totally unapproachable for their own reasons. So, it'd literally been decades since somebody had looked at her the way I was and...

She felt the same thing I had.

"Sorry to interrupt, Professor Braylee," a man said from beside me.

I turned and almost fell out of my chair when I realized the Captain of the Guard in plain clothes had snuck up behind me. I'd met him once, at the orphanage a year back.

"It's fine, Captain. How may we serve the Duchy?" she asked.

"We need the boy, you see," he said.

"What did you do?" Samantha asked, turning to me.

"Nothing...?" I said, turning back to the captain.

"Professor Pangborn has indicated you can speak with the... dead?" the last word was whispered.

"Yes, it's a spell I recently learned. I have a short timeframe with them though, and sometimes I don't get anything, because it takes too long to get them to talk."

"We have a murder, a very recent one. Normally we would do more traditional investigation, but the Duke has indicated he wants this matter expedited. You, of course, will be paid for your services for assisting us with this."

That sobered me up. Did that mean what I think it meant?

"We'll follow you, Captain."