It is now yet another Thursday, and as always, the morning classes easily breezed by just like any other weekday morning. And for Raveena, it meant one thing:

Lunch.

More specifically, lunch under that tree. With Aya, who had invited her using a charm-post yesterday evening to hang out again.

Ever since that rabbit first appeared outside her classroom to have lunch with her for the first time, the weird talk that had followed them had finally started to die down.

People still looked, still whispered now and then. But it wasn’t the full-buzz panic it had been that day. Raveena could walk the halls again without wondering who was plotting a matchmaking chart two classrooms over.

But just as she turned the corner to make her usual cut across the south gardens—

“Miss Vesper.”

Raveena stopped in her tracks, and she turned.

And there stood Professor Junna Vask.

A fairly tall eagle-folk woman, her ear-like feathers on the sides of her head twitching slightly with each movement. Her long silver braid cascading down her back. And soot stains, as always, looked like decorations of her reinforced leather apron like she was too lazy to wash them out.

“Can I have a word?” the professor asked with her low, serious voice. The kind of serious that could either mean you’re in trouble or you’re about to be handed a blueprint that could explode.

Raveena sighed internally.

"Great. Now they’re going to start talking again."

Because she could already hear the others start to think about it like:

"Did Raveena do something wrong?"

"Was she failing something? Is that why Vask pulled her aside?"

Right when all the fuss about Aya “picking her up for lunch” had started to cool off.

“...Yeah,” Raveena said with a small shrug, tucking her hands into her skirt pockets as she approached the professor. “Sure.”

“Hope she’s not already waiting, though,” Raveena thought, remembering Aya's invitation.

Because, as much as she didn’t want to admit it… she was kind of looking forward to that.

“Shame that it had to be bothered…”

Thinking that, Raveena’s steps slowed just a little, before it stopped altogether.

She looked to the side—toward the hallway window, then turned back to Professor Vask.

"Professor Vask?" she called out.

Then the eagle-folk professor turned. "What is it?"

“…Would it be alright, if I do something first?”

Professor Vask nodded. “Go ahead,” she said simply.

Raveena gave a small nod back. Then reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a folded square of soft parchment—charm-post paper. Along with a slim pen.

She walked over to the wall beside the window, using the surface to scribble and write something on the paper. Once done, then came the folds. And in seconds, the paper crane was complete.

Raveena held it in her hands for a moment, then closed her eyes to focus on a thought, before blowing on it softly.

Fwoosh— the charm-post crane blinked awake with a shimmer, then lifted from her palm and zipped toward the open pane—out into the air with a little flutter of sparkling wind.

And Professor Vask watched it go. “…Were you meeting someone?”

Raveena nodded.

“I can wait, if you want to reschedule,” she offered. “Or postpone, if it’s important.”

“No. It’s alright,” Raveena shook her head. “I’m sure… my friend will understand.”

“Okay then,” the professor smiled. “Thank you for your time.”

“It’s no problem,” Raveena replied as they continued their walk.

Eventually, Professor Vask led her through the halls, past the dim Arcane labs and other special classrooms, until they reached the faculty office.

The door creaked open, and Raveena was greeted by the mixed scents of either tea, coffee, papers, and some perfume.

Right at the corner of the faculty room, past the other professors' desks was where Professor Vask’s desk was.

True to her reputation, it had an organized chaos—a clutter of blueprint tubes, scratched notepads, and mechanical bits stacked in a sprawl. She sat down in her own chair with a sigh, then gestured toward the seat across from her.

Raveena stepped forward and sat down wordlessly.

As the professor started quietly sorting through the mess—moving away a wire coil, clearing off a half-eaten biscuit wrapper—she spoke. “…I forgot to ask earlier, but—have you eaten?”

“No. I was just about to, actually," Raveena replied.

Professor Vask looked up at her. “Need to go eat first?”

Raveena shook her head. “I’m fine. I can eat later.”

The professor’s hands paused briefly on a scattered pile of notes. “Well,” she said while tapping them into a straight line, “I’m giving you permission to skip the next class.”

“Sorry—what?”

“It’s my class,” Professor Vask added. “You’ll make it up. Eat after this.”

“…Thanks,” Raveena answered back.

"That was... generous," she thought.

When Professor Vask finished adjusting her desk into some semblance of functional space, she leaned back in her chair and relaxed completely.

“Am I in trouble?” Raveena couldn't help but ask amidst the professor's brief silence.

Professor Vask raised an eyebrow. “Did you do something worth being in trouble for?”

"Uhh... no?"

"Did you bite someone?"

"No, I didn't."

"Did you break something?"

"No...?"

Professor Vask actually chuckled at that. “Right, because I see no broken glass on the reports. And I did make you fix an oven.”

“Exactly,” Raveena replied flatly.

“Then no,” Professor Vask said, hands folding. “You’re not in trouble.”

Raveena’s ears flicked once. “Then… why am I here? If I may ask.”

“You’re here, because I didn’t expect a student to impress me twice in one month," the professor answered.

“…Huh?”

Professor Vask smiled a little, pulling something small from under a file stack—a folder.

“This is about that oven, actually,” she said. “Because when I inspected it the other day, I found something... odd. Impressively odd.”

Raveena leaned forward, interest piqued. "…What kind of odd?”

Professor Vask rested her elbow on the desk and steepled her fingers, eyes narrowing in a way that made most students shrink in their seats.

“When I asked you to fix that oven, you were supposed to address one problem.”

Raveena nodded. “Right. The thermocatalytic relay. You said it was the only thing causing the misfire.”

Professor Vask gave her a look that was just short of a smirk. “You did fix that. But you didn’t only fix that.”

“…What do you mean?”

Professor Vask reached for a paper tucked in the folder and laid it flat on the desk, it looked like a note.

“You made some adjustments, didn’t you?” she then asked. “Because that oven? According to Professor Barlowe here, it’s now the most preferred one in the Home Living Room.”

“…Preferred?”

“Students love it,” Professor Vask replied. “Apparently it bakes better, holds heat longer, and the temperature controls are more stable than any of the other ovens in the room. Which is odd, because all those ovens? Same exact old model.”

“…I didn’t do anything major,” Raveena said, stiffening slightly as she started to feel anxious about the professor's words. “Just… cleaned up the heat channeling, tightened the conduits, adjusted the ignitions… I think.”

“You think?” Professor Vask raised a brow.

Raveena frowned, crossing her arms. “I was talking to someone while working, alright? I wasn’t paying attention to the details—just running on instinct.”

At that, the professor gave a quiet, thoughtful hum. “Instinct, right.”

Raveena sighed then said. “…I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to do anything extra. If it’s a problem, I can go back later and figure out what I changed. Put it back to how it was.”

“You’ll do no such thing," Professor Vask replied sharply.

“…Huh? Why not? If it’s acting different than the others—if it’s not what the students were used to—”

Professor Vask rubbed her forehead with a sigh, the kind of sigh that suggested the gears in her brain were spinning just fast enough to be irritated.

“Why do you sound like you broke something?” she asked, exasperated. “You made it better, Vesper.”

Raveena shrugged half-heartedly. “I didn’t follow instructions?”

“That’s not the way I’m looking at it. And it shouldn’t be how you’re looking at it either.”

Raveena looked off to the side, awkward. “Oh.”

“You’re not used to praise, are you?”

“Not really,” Raveena mumbled. “Kinda got the opposite growing up.”

The professor groaned, muttering under her breath. “Stars above… at least try not to underestimate yourself while you’re sitting in front of me.”

“…I'll try?”

“Anyway. Yes—that oven was the only reason I pulled you in today. But I do have one more thing to ask, and I’ll offer you extra credit if you’re up for it.”

“I’ll do it as long as it doesn’t make me look like I’m sucking up to you," Raveena replied.

Professor Vask scoffed. “It’s well within the bounds of what’s fair for other students. You’re not being asked for favors. You’re being recognized.”

Raveena nodded slowly. “…Alright. So what is it?”

Professor Vask then folded her arms. “I want you to do the same thing to the rest of the ovens.”

At the request, Raveena couldn't help but wonder if she heard the professor right. “...Seriously?”

The professor nodded once.

“I mean,” Raveena leaned back as she added, “I can, but—shouldn't this be up to, I dunno, the staff who actually maintain Culinary’s equipment?”

“If they knew how to do what you did, I would’ve asked them already," Professor Vask responded.

Raveena scoffed under her breath. “Come on. It’s not like I invented ‘minor adjustments.’ Anyone with decent experience could’ve figured it out.”

The professor raised a brow. “For the record, the equipment maintenance staff handle everything—Culinary, Workshop, Herbology labs, student dorms, even the fountains when the Arcane pumps go weird.”

“So?”

“So they’re generalists. Handy, reliable, and spread very thin.”

Then she leaned forward slightly as she continued. “But you—you’re studying Arcane Tech exclusively. And you didn’t just follow a repair manual. You looked at that oven, mid-conversation, and made it function better than its factory baseline. You tuned it your own way. And now Barlowe's class is fighting over who gets to use it.”

Raveena’s tail twitched once before she looked away. “…Guess that did happen.”

“So unless you want your oven to be the only one that works better than it should, I’m offering you the go-ahead—with credit, and with recognition—to bring the rest up to standard.”

Raveena went quiet for a second, considering the task. “…How many ovens are we talking about, again?”

Professor Vask gave a small shrug. “Twelve.”

“Tch. Of course it’s twelve.”

“But you can space it out over a week or two. I’m not asking for miracles. Just… your hands. Doing what they already know how to do.”

Raveena sighed lightly before she answered. “I can do it later. After classes.”

“All twelve?” Professor Vask blinked, sounding genuinely surprised for once. "You can do that?"

Raveena gave a small shrug. “Yeah. I can kill some time after hours. It’s not like it’ll take days. Just a little repetitive. But… if it’s alright with you, I was thinking I could ask someone to help. Just for handing me tools. And carrying the parts, mostly. It’s murder on the back, slipping in and out, or bending over, reaching for things nonstop, it gets boring too. But I know someone who could probably help me.”

Professor Vask chuckled softly. “You can ask anyone, as long as you’re not forcing them. And make sure it doesn’t get in the way of their… well. Personal life.”

Raveena nodded. “Understood. I’ll go ask her then.”

“Then that’s settled,” Professor Vask said as she leaned back, folding one final stack of parchment into a drawer. “That’s all for today. You can use whatever tools you need from the main workshop. Just return them after. As for parts, you can ask Professor Barlowe, I think he can get you some, I got the ones I gave you from him."

"Got it."

"Once you're done, I’ll inspect the ovens the following morning,” the professor said lastly, smiling.

With that, Raveena stood from her chair and nodded again.

“Thanks, professor.”