She rested her head on her knees, and listened with half an ear as Scales caught her teacher up on the whole story.

Scales swings her arms in excited arcs as she exclaims “--and then the Emperor sent us on a super important mission back to Gelicost to to end this entire war before it starts!” She grins in excitement. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Both of you?” Teach interjects. “Oh yeah, definitely,” Scales lies cheerfully, “Gotta send someone from Threeneer back with her, of course.”  

Idun lifts and tilts her head towards Scales, raising an eyebrow. Scales pointedly keeps eye contact with her schoolteacher.

“Scales, you’re way too young to be an ambassador to a potentially hostile foreign nation! And it’s the middle of the school year!” Teach sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What would your fathers think?” 

Scales huffs in exasperation. “I’m not gonna tell them everything, obviously! Then they’d be worried, and try to send a chaperon with me or something.” 

She pauses a second.     “Hey, I’d bet they’d let me go if I told them had a responsible adult making sure I didn’t get into trouble. Like a teacher?”

“No, I am not signing off on this! Besides,” Teach scrambled for reasons good enough to stop a teenager from something exciting, new, and potentially very dangerous, “I bet a trained, deadly warrior wouldn’t want some fifteen-year old kid tagging along after them!” 

“C’mon, Teach,” Scales begged, “I’ve never even gone to another city!”

Idun looked up blearily. “You’re fifteen?”     “Hah, see!” Teach responded, walking over to Idun. “Tell her why she shouldn’t go with you!” 

“Back in Gelicost most squires start by twelve. Fifteen’s considered the best age to go on your first quest though. If you haven’t been questing already, it’ll be a good first adventure.” She drops her head back down, shutting her eyes again.

“TwElVe!!??”

“Great, all good then. C’mon, Idun, let’s go!”

“Okay, okay, hold on there one moment.” Teach pinches his already pinched nose-bridge, deeply missing the full night of sleep he just lost to running around city streets all night looking for these two.        “IF the Emperor allows it, and IF your parents think it’s safe for you to go, and most importantly IF you wait until the end the semester AND get in the top ten in my class, then I suppose I’ll accompany you on this miss.” 

Scales bounced on her feet, deliberating. “Eh, suppose that’s the best deal I’ll get. How bout you Blue?”     “mhm?”     “Mind waiting an extra month to head back home?” 

“Mhn. Having the time to gather more intel will be useful to Gelicost in future relations, anyways.”  Idun replies, looking across the street where a small gray cat is watching her from the shade of the alleyway. 

“Great! We’re all good then”, Scales says, then “Guess you guys never got a full introduction!” “Teach, meet Blue! She’s this knight or assassin I something from Gelicost. Blue, meet Teach! He’s my favorite teacher cause he gets a lot of the fun electives, plus he chaperones field trips like this one.”

The two so-nicknamed adults meet each others’ eyes. “Nice to meet you, I’m Marcellus, Marc for short.” “Idun. Well met.”