Briallen Bevin and the Clocktower Guard

Chapter 10: Joining the Hunt

The first year girl waved her wand at the candle and when its wick didn't light on fire, she burst into tears. She waved her wand again, harder this time, but the candle merely swayed and remained unlit. She cried harder. The kids around her didn't notice, however, as they were all having just as difficult a time as she was at lighting their own candles, and because she wasn't the only one crying.

Briallen released an exasperated sigh as she looked around the room. She blamed the weather - it was always the weather now, whenever someone was overly emotional. Ever since her aunt Oka had come to visit during that weird fog and spent the whole time fighting with Meda Bevin. Briallen was sick of putting up with it, and with being one of the few who didn't seem to be affected. Noisily, Briallen slide a chair in front of the teacher's desk, grabbed a candle, and stood on top of the chair and shouted, "Everybody! Attention, please!"

Professor Conleth had only left the room a few minutes ago. There was a strange pounding noise coming from the room above them and since that room was supposed to be empty she had gone to investigate and left Briallen in charge. Briallen was only supposed to make sure the first years didn't set anything other than their candles on fire (they weren't even supposed to be casting spells yet anyway; Professor Conleth just didn't feel like teaching theory that day), but as Briallen watched them fail again and again she decided she had to do something.

She put two fingers to her mouth and whistled sharply. Everybody paused and looked up at her. "Okay, listen carefully: you are all being incredibly stupid." The first years stared at her in shock, but a few snickered and others sniffled. Briallen ignored them and held up a candle in one hand and her wand in the other. "You can't just say the spell, wave your wand, and expect the candle to light on fire. You have to picture the flame, in your mind. Will it to appear. If you just wave your wand and shout the spell, you might set anything on fire - like your pants."

A boy sitting in the third row, and who had scorch marks and holes in his pants, blushed deeply and dropped his head.

"Briallen is right," said Professor Conleth from the doorway. "Now everyone try to picture the flame in your mind as you cast the spell... Briallen, may I speak with you in the hall for a moment?"

Briallen hopped off the chair, dropped the candle in the box on her desk, and went to meet Professor Conleth in the hallway. Briallen thought she looked angry, though she wasn't sure why (but suspecting the weather once again).

"Do you know why I want to speak with you in private?" Professor Conleth asked softly. Briallen shook her head, honestly clueless as to what she did wrong. The professor sighed. "You can't just tell the students they're being stupid, Briallen. That's not a good way to teach someone something. A good teacher teaches with positive encouragement."

I wonder if she's ever actually met Professor Stalkes, thought Briallen with an immediately suppressed snicker, as Professor Conleth went into a lecture about how to be a good teacher. I think he needs to hear this! I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times he's called me stupid or ignorant or Squibly in front of the whole class. At least I didn't single anyone out... except for poor Paul, but he really sort of deserved it for being stupid enough to set his pants on fire!

"I'll remember that," said Briallen as serious a tone as could muster just then, once her Elemental Magic professor had ended her rant.

A loud bang suddenly sounded above them. Professor Conleth frowned. "Why don't you go see if you can find the source of that noise. I suspect students preparing for Halloween... or maybe we have another poltergeist. Either way, if you find out what it is, or who it is, come find me, please - and then I'll take care of it, alright?"

Briallen nodded obediently. Ever since she'd gotten her first detention of her second year all of her teachers, including Professor Conleth, had been dropping not so subtle hints for her to stay out of trouble. Once Professor Conleth returned to her classroom, Briallen took the opportunity to roll her eyes. She'd only been trying to help the kids cast the spell correctly.

But maybe I was just a little too blunt...

After all, she'd experienced the very same problem they had, and had been unable to cast hardly any spells right her first few months at Bergamot. Aside from the ones that could get her in trouble.

She looked out the windows into the courtyard while she ambled leisurely down the hallway. There were only a few students outside, some studying, and others playing catch with a BowderBall. She laughed as the BowderBall spun circles around one of the catchers, and hit him repeatedly in the chest and shoulders, until he finally managed to catch it in his BowderBall mitt-net and send it towards the other catcher. BowderBall was a brand new toy, and Briallen wanted desperately to play with it, especially after Toby told her he'd bought a kit during a trip to The Village last weekend - a trip she'd missed because of Quodpot practice and homework.

Suddenly disgruntled, Briallen hopped the stairs to the fourth floor two at a time, and then pulled out her wand. She could hear the mysterious thumping again. With her back against the wall, Briallen glanced around the corner to sneak a peek at the cause of the noise.

She turned away and snorted in disbelief of what she'd seen.

This particular wing of the fourth floor contained all the music related rooms, such as the band practice room, rooms for individual music study, and an instrument rental station. Because regular classes were currently in session though the music wing should have been empty.

But it wasn't.

Today, Melanie Swinton and Grace Daniels adorned the music wing, and Briallen knew that neither of the Platt Princesses played an instrument. She turned her head around the corner again, to get a better idea of what they were up to. They both had their wands out and were aiming at a ledge above them, where the curved roof met the high wall. Several gargoyles, each playing some sort of instrument, lined the ledge. Grace and Melanie were aiming at one such gargoyle, which looked like it was playing a recorder.

"This is retarded," complained Melanie, dropping her wand at her side. "I don't want to play the stupid game this badly!"

"The creepy guard-guy said we just need to bring him a 'musical monster,' and we could play the game. We're the last to collect our entrance piece and it took me and Rex forever to figure out what he meant by 'musical monster,' and now that we have, we're going to get it, and we're going to play his stupid little game, and we're going to win the grand prize," Grace told Melanie icily, waving her finger in the air the whole time.

"It's stuck to the stupid wall, Grace, and every time we try to get it down it just puts itself back - and it makes a loud noise too! That teacher almost caught us..."

While Melanie and Grace portrayed themselves to the school as an equally venomous team, it was clearly Grace who was really in charge. With one scathing look and the words, "Fine, I'll find a new partner," Melanie caved against her surprisingly better judgment.

"Now, Rex asked the music teacher about these stupid gargoyles and the teacher said that they're taken down for a, like, scrubbing once a month, so they have to come down somehow," explained Grace calmly. She smoothed back her crow-black hair and then placed her hand on her bony hip in thought.

Melanie, with a groan, pointed her wand at the gargoyle and cried sarcastically, "Come down here you little monster and we'll clean you!"

Surprising both of them, and Briallen, the gargoyle began to tip back and forth, and then it suddenly tumbled out of its spot on the ledge and landed neatly, head up, on the floor. The two girls looked at each, shrugged, and then cast a spell to make it light enough for one of them to carry, wrapped up in a set of outer robes.

Briallen waited until they were gone and then went back downstairs. That was the second time she heard a pair of people mention a 'game' - and both games seemed to require sneaking about the castle. This intrigued Briallen greatly and she decided to tell Professor Conleth she didn't find anything, even though she would have loved to get Grace and Melanie into trouble.

The Platt Princesses had done nothing directly with the threat they made against her the year before, but she frequently overheard them saying nasty things about her and her friends, especially her friends on the Quodpot team. They'd just recently made Kishori Kusagra cry, when after her recovery from Dragon Pox they spread rumors around the school that the girl's green and spotty complexion was the result of her growing into her father's troll genes. While no one truly believed the rumor, they all teased Kishori about it. Conall had been extra hard on Rex that week, and Briallen believed it was meant to be a punishment for Rex's girlfriend being so mean to Kishori.

Briallen decided then and there that she was going to find out what this mysterious game was, and that she was going to play it, beat Grace and Melanie at it, and show them that just because they were seventh years they weren't better than her. She returned to the classroom and explained the non-situation to Professor Conleth and then did nothing for the rest of the block period. At the end of class, Professor Conleth asked Briallen to not show up for the rest of the week - a mandatory break, in which the professor asked Briallen to get some sleep and improve her attitude.

Angry and offended by her professor's demand, Briallen stomped her way down to the dining hall for lunch. For the first time that month, she was actually eating lunch, in the dining hall, with her friends, but only because she wanted to complain to somebody about Professor Conleth, and to tell Toby how she'd seen Grace and Melanie playing a game similar to the one they caught Ricky and Rudy playing.

Breaking tradition, Marisol and Toby both sat at the Wenlock table instead of the Withers table. Across from them was Hayden, who was staring inattentively at his salad while Toby and Marisol laughed and joked about something that had happened to them earlier that day. They quieted when they saw Briallen coming towards them, and Hayden woke up out of his daze and broke into a smile that reached both ears.

"Were you stomping?" Toby asked Briallen as she sat down next to Hayden, who instantly hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

Briallen acted as if Hayden weren't even there and responded grumpily, "Maybe. Professor Conleth told me I have to take a mandatory break to 'fix my attitude.' I don't have an attitude! I do everything she says!"

Hayden looked positively bursting with happiness at hearing Briallen's supposedly bad news. "And you're not doing your extra training with Ben Beauvais anymore either, which means the two of us can actually spend some time together this week - we can spend the weekend together!"

"All of us," said Toby pointedly, looking directly at Hayden. The other boy didn't notice, however, as he was too busy staring goofily at Briallen.

"Finally!" cried Marisol excitedly. "We haven't spent hardly any time together at all this semester... I miss hanging out with you! It's been so boring, and Dante and his friends won't leave us alone when you're not here."

Briallen groaned. "I'm missing you guys too - and that's not a good thing seeing as we go to the same school and have classes together!"

Marisol nodded hear head in enthusiastic agreement. "Exactly! Hey, do you want me to catch you up on everything?" asked Marisol as she leaned in towards Briallen, grinning. Briallen nodded while she helped herself to a piece of pita bread.

"Well, Shane and I are dating, not that he had much choice." Marisol paused to giggle and wink at Briallen as if they shared some secret about Shane. "And... oh! We found out that Cass is related to the Prices! They're something like third cousins once removed, or something. It was confusing. And speaking of the Price sisters - Lindsay is dating Amir, and Ben's dating Mindy, though I'm sure you already knew about those two. Honestly, I was a little bit hurt when I found out but I have Shane now so I've moved on."

"How about you tell her something other than who's dating who?" suggested Toby, rolling his eyes.

Hayden had now started trying to feed Briallen, loading her plate with everything that had been served for lunch that day. He brought a cucumber slice up to her mouth and poked her with it a few times before Briallen gave in and let him feed her the cucumber, but she shook her head irritably at him while she chewed. This time Toby rolled his eyes at Hayden.

"What's going on in this school that's more interesting or important than who's dating who?" asked Marisol dubiously.

Briallen opened her mouth to tell her friends about the mystery game she'd overheard Grace and Melanie talking about, but Toby spoke up before she could and said, "How about what we read in The Daily Prophet this morning..."

"That's not all that exciting," complained Marisol. "And it doesn't really have anything to do with us."

"What is it," Briallen mumbled. She was trying to keep her mouth shut now, what with Hayden trying to physically shove food in her mouth. This time it was a cherry tomato. Briallen bit hard into it, causing it to pop and squirt its juice on both her and Hayden. He blinked several times, got over it, and began to wipe both himself and Briallen off with a napkin, just as cheerful as before.

Marisol shrugged and began to eat her carrots, and so Toby explained, "They hired a famous wizard to teach a class at Hogwarts over in England or wherever. He's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts - a class I wish we had here!"

"I wish we had some handsome English teachers here! I'd love a gorgeous English boyfriend," whispered Marisol dreamily.

"You already have a boyfriend," Toby reminded her. Marisol started to respond to him but just then the clock-tower struck noon, and the noise drowned her out.

While waiting for the clock to finish chiming, the friends sat quietly and ate their lunch. None of them heard or noticed Lucan when he ran into the dining hall and to the Withers table.

He stopped and his eyes scanned the half-empty table, before turning his focus to the Wenlocks. His blatant frustration disappeared when he found Briallen with her friends. As inconspicuously as he could, he went over to greet her, just as the clock stopped chiming. "Briallen, um, hello, how are you?" he asked. He sounded scattered and out of breath, but he was still able to concentrate enough to glare at Toby and Hayden. "Could I speak to you? Privately?"

"What for?" Briallen asked nonchalantly. She had actually already decided she'd give in to his request, just so that she could get away from Hayden's coddling. But she didn't want Lucan to know she was so eager to leave her friends and so she pretended she wasn't interested.

"Just meet me in the entrance hall, will you?" Lucan didn't wait for a response before walking away.

"What was that all about?" asked Hayden jealously. Lucan was one of the few people Hayden paid attention to in Briallen's circle, though why was a mystery to her. She knew the Stones and the Van Vlerahs weren't exactly friends, but before she started dating Hayden, he dismissed Lucan without a second thought. Now he asked Briallen about Lucan constantly when they were together, always wanting to know if he was bothering her at all. "I thought that since you're free now, we could finally go to the one place..."

Briallen was already grabbing her things, and doing her best job to look annoyed by Lucan's request. "Tomorrow, I promise," she told Hayden half-heartedly. She had made many such promises to him, but always found an excuse to break them.

"You've been saying that everyday for a week now."

"I mean it this time, really," said Briallen, walking away. She waved goodbye to her friends, who told her to come back soon, and went to meet Lucan in the entrance hall.

Except that Lucan wasn't in the entrance hall. She looked all around the large foyer: up the stairs, at the balconies on the second floor, behind the statues and the banners, down the many hallways that branched off of the main hall, but Lucan just wasn't there. She shook her hair back and growled slightly in anger, but took a seat on one of the benches near the grand front doors. She assured herself that he was probably just in the bathroom under the staircase, but after ten minutes had passed, she wrinkled her nose and hoped that wasn't true.

Kids and professors alike went in and out the front doors and the dining hall, and up and down the stairs as they took advantage of their afternoon break. Since she was sitting by the doors with the perfect view of everybody in the hall, Briallen decided to watch them. People watching was one of her and Marisol's favorite activities, which was why they liked sitting out on the bleachers by the pitch. They favorite game was making up overly dramatic reasons and stories for every person, no matter how bland they seemed to be. She and Marisol got good at picking up small, unusual things about the people they watched.

It was her acute observations that helped her notice that something strange was going on around her just then. Melanie and Grace had appeared at the top of the stairs and were conversing, surprisingly seriously, with Rudy and Ricky, who were both Almericks. They were definitely playing the same game, Briallen was sure of it now because normally the two Platt girls would never even acknowledge the two Almerick boys. Something was going on.

And she believed it didn't just involve the four she knew of - she had noticed Dante and Morana run out the front doors just minutes earlier, and Morana clutching something wrapped in her robes. Neither of them had even noticed her. They would willingly skip a class to prepare an attack on her and yet during their afternoon break they completely ignored her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," said Lucan, appearing by her side. She'd been so wrapped up in watching Grace and the others at the top of the stairs she hadn't even noticed Lucan approaching her. "I had to pick up something from my room, and I thought you'd take a little longer to join me."

Briallen may not have noticed him at first, but she did notice that he was up to something just like the others. "What on earth is going on around here? I feel like I've missed something."

Grace, Melanie, Rudy, and Ricky walked past them on their way out the front doors. None of them so much as looked twice at Lucan and Briallen. Lucan grabbed Briallen's elbow and as he dragged her outside he explained, "It's a game, but it's a secret game, so you really haven't missed anything. Six of us received invitations to play before the school year started. It asked that we chose a trust-worthy partner to play the game with, and then it gave each of us instructions to find something-"

"Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" interrupted Briallen. They were walking down the path to the greenhouses now, not far behind Ricky and Rudy. She looked over her shoulder and saw Amir and Lindsay following them. Her heart skipped a beat just then, thinking Amir, who was a prefect, was going to stop them but then she saw he also had something hidden in his robes.

"I tried to! But your friends kept showing up, or you ran off, or you were too busy. Anyway, I don't have to tell you everything I do, I'm not your boyfriend!"

Briallen shook her head but ignored the comment. "Alright, so you were saying you all had to find something - find what?"

"It was different for all us, and was either in the form of a riddle or an obscure reference. Mine said 'bring me something where happiness is always found,' so I tore out the page in the dictionary where 'happiness' is listed. The invitation said those who found their entrance piece would meet on Halloween, or if everyone found theirs early, on the day the last was found. It was written rather archaically, but it intrigued me... especially since it came from the Reynard, the clock-tower guard."

"The clock-tower guard?" asked Briallen, raising an eyebrow, just as the two of them stopped in front of the door to the octagonal Bergamot clock-tower. It sat between the green houses, and its stark, gothic architecture seemed out of place amongst the short, glass buildings.

Amir and Lindsay came up behind them. "We should go in, before it starts raining," said Amir, looking at the sky. It was cloudless, but it was a dark blue and the wind was picking up speed.

Lucan agreed and pulled open the oak and iron door to the stone tower.

Inside the clock-tower was an unexpectedly cozy yet messy room with over-stuffed moss-colored sofas and ornate Spanish tiles covered sparsely and randomly with woven rugs. Everywhere there were piles of books and the walls were covered with maps of countries from around the world. Under the circular staircase there was a small black stove with two brassy tea-pots boiling on top, and through the grate Briallen could see red and gold embers. Because there were no windows, the light in the room was provided by a candelabra, which hung in the center of the ceiling and gave the room a dim yellow glow. Briallen felt like she'd stepped back in time, albeit into an indescribable and indeterminate era.

Eight other people were already in the room when they entered, including Melanie and Grace, Rudy and Ricky, and Dante and Morana, both of whom glared at Briallen as she and Lucan took a seat in a large chair near the door. She also recognized Julian 'fast as a hawk' Hawkins, from the train ride to Bergamot, and his game partner, whose name she didn't know but she recognized as a member of the Wenlock Quidditch team. In total there were twelve people, in six groups, and they were overwhelmingly Platts and Witherses. This struck Briallen as odd because she thought Wenlocks would be the most desirable players for a game involving riddles.

A shuffling noise came from the stairwell and all the eyes in the room turned towards it expectantly. A tall, gangly man in a tattered, dusty brown tailcoat and equally dusty brown hair came slowly down the stairs, holding a large wooden chest. He had unshaven stubble on his cheeks, and a slight uni-brow that protruded over his crooked nose, and he smelled as if he hadn't bathed in months.

But nobody teased him on his smell or appearance, and not even a sneer came from Grace or Dante's direction. Everybody seemed to be on their very best behavior and Briallen decided to mimic them, just in case there was a good reason they were all acting like angels.

Reynard used the wooden chest to push a pile of books off the coffee table next to the stairs, and then he dropped the chest unceremoniously on the table. Without even using his wand, he waved his hand and the chest clicked open. Briallen was amazed - her grandfather always went on about the importance of wands, and he always used his own, so to see someone so expertly cast a spell without his wand impressed her greatly.

"Alright lasses and lad-eys," he announced in a scratchy voice. Briallen thought he sounded a little like her grandfather, in that he had an English accent that was somewhat similar to Cal Bevin's. "I want the invitees to come up, one at a time, and put their entrance piece in the chest." He snapped his fingers and a scroll appeared in his hands. "The entrance piece is your signature. After you drop it in, say both your name and your partner's name clearly, so the scroll can record it. I'll give you your clue card then."

"What about the prize?" blurted Melanie. Everybody turned to stare at her, except Grace, who was scowling at her. Embarrassed, she pulled her long, dark hair over her eyes and shut her mouth.

"The prize, I assure you, will be worth a great deal, and tailored to the group who wins the game," explained Reynard slowly. "If you're uncomfortable with the contract, you don't have to play, pretty bird. Just know that if your partner pulls out, you can't play. This is for groups of two only. I'll explain the rules once I know who's playing - now, who wants to go first?"

Grace stood up confidently and walked over to Reynard, keeping eye contact with the clock-tower guard the whole time. She stood at his height, although she wore heels, and Briallen wondered if Reynard found her as intimidating as everybody else did. "We will be playing," she whispered in a tone that sounded more like a challenge than a statement.

From her robes she removed the recorder-playing gargoyle that Briallen had witnessed her and Melanie collect just before lunch, and dumped it into the chest. She turned to face the others and announced loudly, "Grace Daniels and Melanie Swinton are playing this game! And we're going to win." Her dark, black skin glimmered as if covered in diamonds under the light of the candelabra, overshadowed only by the white of her eyes as she glared haughtily at the other teams, silently daring them to contradict her declaration.

Julian was next. He was short and unassuming compared to Grace but he walked with a swagger that showed he believed otherwise. With a mischievous wink at Briallen, he threw an iron arrow into the chest and then turned to face everyone. "Julian Hawkins and Peter Yawberry."

This time Briallen noticed that the scroll glowed as it recorded their names. Rudy was already waiting by the chest, and had thrown in a black quill, while Julian announced he and his partner were playing the game. In almost a whisper, Rudy said, "Rudolf Brodzki and Godric Guffs." And just as quickly as he'd gone up to the chest, he returned to the sofa he shared with Ricky.

Dante took his turn next and put a what looked to Briallen like a tennis ball in the chest, and then announced loudly his and Morana's names. Following Dante was Amir. Amir was faster than Rudy. He threw a stuffed snail into the chest and said loudly his and Lindsay's names on his way back to his seat.

The only person left now was Lucan. He looked to Briallen to confirm she wanted to play. She knew nothing of magical contracts however (and so didn't understand everybody's hesitance about playing the game), and so she nodded her head. She wanted to play Reynard's game very much. Lucan walked timidly to the chest and carefully put a folded piece of paper inside before he turned to Reynard.

Through the his straggly hair, and under his thick brow, Reynard's eyes found Lucan's and didn't let go. Unblinking and unmoving, Lucan declared, "Lucan Stone and Briallen Bevin!"

If Reynard hadn't noticed Briallen before, he certainly did now and for the first time they all witnessed a crack in his stoic exterior. His nostrils flamed and he grit his teeth at the sound of her name. "She wasn't invited!" he screeched.

But it was too late, the contact had recorded her name.

Lucan fell back onto the floor, startled by the frightening man's strange outburst, while everyone else, including Briallen, were taken aback. Lucan recovered quickly and bounced back up to his feet. "You didn't state that in your rules! You said we could chose anyone, and she is my choice!"

Reynard regained his composure and stared icily at Briallen for what felt to her like ages, but was only seconds. "That's just fine, lass," he muttered, as if he hadn't reacted at all out of the ordinary. "Now the rules. I gave each of you invitees a blank, white card. Tomorrow morning, you'll find your first clue on it. There are four clues in all, and they'll be the same ones for each of you."

Several of the teams grumbled but no one spoke out. Melanie bit her lip and glared at the floor. She was clearly the one most unhappy with this news. Reynard continued. "You won't see the next clue on your card until one of you finds the answer to the previous clue."

Melanie was puffing up and turning pink. She couldn't hold her question any longer. "They how do we win... this game isn't fair!"

"The team to collect the last clue piece wins the game," said Reynard with a crooked smile that made Briallen uneasy. "This last bit is important tykes: when you collect a clue piece, bring it to me immediately! And tell no one of this game."

Lindsay tentatively raised her hand, unwilling to blurt out her question like Melanie. With a low growl, Reynard nodded to her. "What about other rules, like no casting spells on other teams, or no stealing another team's clue card?"

"No rules," he replied slyly, drawing out the last word to the point where he sounded like he were hissing. "Is that a problem pretty, little badger?"

Lindsay shook her head almost imperceptibly. He slammed his trunk shut, and they all jumped slightly at the loud noise. "Now get out of my clock-tower!" he growled at them all before disappearing back up the stairs he had first come down.

None of the teams said anything to each other as they left the clock-tower. It had stormed while they were inside and there were now large puddle of muddy water everywhere. Grace and Melanie began complaining instantly about the mud, and their hair, and their shoes, as if they hadn't just taken part in a weird ceremony with the scary clock-tower guard.

Next to greenhouse two stood Professor Stalkes, still as a statue, not even his hair moving in the wind. His eyes followed them all but he said not a word. Briallen had quickly gathered that this game they were playing with Reynard was most likely against the rules and with Professor Stalkes watching her, she was worried that he somehow might know what they were up to.

"Did you notice I'm the only Summerbee?" mumbled Lindsay. They were walking against the wind and it had made tears form in her eyes, and for a moment Briallen thought the Price girl was actually crying.

"Peter and I are the only Wenlocks," added Amir. "You'd think he'd invite more Wenlocks - I don't normally hold for stereotypes, but we do have the most clever students than any other house. Instead, there's a bunch of Platts and Withers, and they're mostly all bad eggs."

"You heard him, though: no rules," said Briallen, before Lucan could begin an argument with the Wenlock prefect. "I think he was looking for people who were smart, but who would also do whatever's necessary to win the game."

"But Amir and Julian are prefects," argued Lindsay as they entered the great hall and were greeted with a burst of warm air.

"But we're also both highly competitive." Amir and Lindsay continued up the stairs with their conversation, leaving Briallen and Lucan at the dining hall doors. Inside the dining hall, Briallen could see Toby, Marisol, and Hayden were still at the Wenlock table.

"We can meet tomorrow in the library, at around lunch time," suggested Lucan, glancing behind Briallen and at her friends.

"Yeah, I'll see you then," agreed Briallen. With a nod, Lucan wandered off. Briallen put on a smile and returned to her friends, already prepared with a boring story to tell them in place of her real adventure.