Just a Walk

[Violet]

59 Ashan 716

It had been two trials since the very emotionally intense and awkward dinner at Malcolm’s new estate. There had been more people than she was generally comfortable with, many of them nobles she didn’t know, and she and Elyna had spent the entire dinner exchanging biting words when they weren’t outright ignoring each other’s presence. It was very clear there was a conflict between them and anyone who had any sense would know that it was over Malcolm. While Malcolm had never shown any interest in Violet other than as a friend, comrade, and student, she still made her efforts and that left Mal’s lover less than pleased.

Now that it was Ashan and the university had reopened it was time for Malcolm’s lectures to continue. There had already been a few this season, and Violet was also attending a few other classes that she could manage to squeeze in around her schedule at the barracks. She had risen before dawn and taken great care in dressing in a pair of black breeches that hugged the curves her hip and backside, along with a flowing crimson blouse. She had taken a bit of rosewood oil and mixed it in with her soap when she washed. She left her golden hair falling in soft waves around her shoulders, worn leather boots covering her feet.

She had made the trek to Malcom’s house in the city, knowing the path from just a few days prior. Her black boots were a bit dusty by the time she crossed the lawn and came to the door and rapped on it. When Malcolm answered, she greeted him with a smile. Her smiles to Malcolm were never ordinary, as they always reached her eyes and lit up her face. Violet was always pleased to see the familiar man’s face.

“I thought I might walk with you to university today?” Violet spared a careful glance through the doorway looking for any sign of his viper of a lover. Her toxic effect over Malcolm and his life was nauseating. “If you aren’t ready I would be more than happy to come in and wait.” She clutched the strap of a bag over her shoulder that contained papers and quill and an ink.

[Malcolm]

Flustered, Malcolm was searching around in his office for the right textbook when he heard the knock at the door. He stopped digging through the last crate of unpacked goods he had kept out of sight under his desk, and went to the door. He stood in a black pair of pants and socks, his long sleeved shirt left unbuttoned, holding a red apple in his hand which he had already taken a bite out of for breakfast.
“Violet,” Malcolm said, surprised. He hadn't expected her, though he had to admit it would be nice to accompany her to the university in order to talk about the upcoming mission.
“Wait right there,” he told her, not wanting to admit that she was barred from entering the house by order of Elyna. “I'll get my boots and be right down,” he said, leaving his apple on the kitchen table before storming up the stairs.
Malcolm did up his shirt and stood in front of the mirror situated on top of the dresser as he tucked it in. He fixed the collar and looked about the bedroom, sure he was forgetting something. “Papers,” he remembered, and went down stairs again after pulling his boots on, sure he had left the graded essays in his study along with the textbook be now remembered finding the day before.

[Violet]

Wait right there.

The words lingered in her mind for a moment as her stormy eyes roamed over his upper body that had mercilessly been exposed beneath an unbuttoned shirt. A light smattering of hair on his chest, the cut of his abs, all of it came together to a rather delicious image that she was certain was far tastier than even the bitten apple in his hand. The sight had briefly stunned her, leaving her completely wordless as he turned and walked away and disappeared back into the house.

Why wait here? It was unlike Malcolm to be what some might consider to be rude. For just a moment she listened and hear nothing else moving in the house but the sound of Malcolm rustling around. With little pause, she crossed the threshold and found her way into the kitchen she had only been in two trials prior. The apple with one bite missing was lonely on the counter. She picked it up and turned it in her hand a few times, hearing boots on the stairs. In a fluid motion, she pulled herself up onto the countertop, one leg crossed elegantly over the other.

As soon as he was within sight, she raised the crisp apple to plump lips and took a slow bite. A bit of juice spurted from the soft flesh and dribbled from her bottom lip and down her chin. Sitting the apple aside, she ran a finger along her chin to catch the juice and promptly sucked the finger clean. “I let myself in. Seemed rude to leave me on your doorstep.” She picked the apple up again and held it up as if inspecting the bites. “Why exactly was I supposed to wait outside anyway?” A poorly hidden smirk made its way to her lips.

[Malcolm]

Upon finding Violet sat on the benchtop taking a bite out of his breakfast, Malcolm’s heart almost stopped. If Elyna saw her there he would never hear the end of it. She questioned as to why he had left her standing on the front doorstep, and though it wasn't quite the truth, he hadn't lied either.
“Running late,” Malcolm told her, and took up his apple again as he rounded the bench and disappeared once more into the office.
After collecting up the papers and finding the textbook he had been looking for, Malcolm summoned Violet with a wave and headed out of the house. He waited for her to follow, feeling a little hot under the collar as he imagined Elyna returning, and prayed to his immortal father she didn’t.
“Come on,” he gave her another hurry up, “I need some time to set up before the lesson starts.”
Malcolm finished his apple on the way up the street towards the crown, the papers and linguistics book tucked under his arm. He threw the core into a nearby garden, and checked the time on a sundial stationed in the middle of a flowerbed in front of the university building.
“I have a mission to Hunter’s Pass, and possibly Endor coming up in a couple of trials. I can give you the official letter after class, but I'd appreciate if you came along.” The more knights he could take along for the journey, the safer he would feel going by the mountain that had kept him captive so long.

Inside the classroom, a couple of students had already made their way in and were helping to open the long curtains that dropped from ceiling to floor along the far wall. Malcolm squinted as the dark room was flooded with natural light, grateful that he had been able to maintain his classroom on the ground floor, even after he had been reported dead.
He walked up to the blackboard after setting the papers down on his desk, and opened the textbook to the page he had bookmarked, with detailing some of the language examples he would be introducing during today’s lesson. He wrote the word Homophone on the blackboard with white chalk, and posed a few questions below that, hoping to invoke thought before the lesson began.

What is a homophone?
Write down three examples.
Use the words two, too and to in the same sentence.
Use the words ware, wear and where in the same sentence.
List three words that sound similar to ore.
List two words that sound similar to mete.

Malcolm took a seat at his desk, head bowed as he studied the final paper he hadn't been able to mark the day before. There were two rules in his classroom. Don't speak unless spoken to, and there is no such thing as a stupid question. Most of the students that started coming and and taking up seats sat down without any fuss and got straight to work, while others drummed their pencils, struggling with the challenge he had set for them.

[Violet]

“Running late? Right.”

Violet had to resist rolling her eyes at such a poor cover story. There was something going on, and she wanted to know what it was. Of course, Malcolm seemed less than interested in telling her what it was, which led her to believe that she might find the true answer to be offensive. This gave her a few ideas as to what it could possibly be, her mind’s eye drifting back to his little viper of a wife… or whatever she was to him. They were never very clear on that.

They hurried out of the house and set off down the street at a rather brisk pace. Silence hung in the air for a moment, but Violet quickly filled it with idle small talk about the content of his lessons in language and history. She was truly intrigued by Rynmere’s history and often would question him further about his lessons whenever she had the opportunity. She wondered if Elyna could hold such conversations with Malcolm. She didn’t seem the scholarly type.

They stopped to check a sundial in the university lawn that prompted Malcolm to tell her about a mission. It was to Hunter’s Pass, a place she knew to be very close to the Burning Mountains- the place he was held captive. Violet searched his eyes for something, but he was in such a hurry that she came up empty. “Of course. I would be happy to accompany you. Just… fill me in after class?” She smiled and adjusted her sack before hurrying after him towards the university.

Violet took a seat in the front row. She had shifted from her spot in the back when she became an official student. The bag was dropped unceremoniously on the hard floor next to her. She fished out a small stack of fresh paper along with her ink well and quill. Positioning everything the way she liked it, she glanced up to the drag of chalk on the board. Malcolm was finishing up a set of questions and exercises. Her eyes followed him as he sunk to his desk in the front, pouring over what was probably a student’s paper.

For a moment she studied the questions and then dipped her quill in the ink and started scratching out her responses.

A homophone is two or more words that sound the same but have different meanings.
Example: eight, ate.
Two girls were too tired to go to class.
I wear a tunic to town where I sell my wares.
Oar, or, o’er.
Meat, meet.

When she finished, she looked up to see several students still working, some of them truly challenged by the questions posed on the board. Violet combed her fingers through soft golden locks slowly and deliberately. She picked a strand and twirled it with a finger. She adjusted her blouse, tugging the fabric taut and exposing the rolling curve of the top of her breasts. When she finally settled, she glanced at her paper and then looked at Malcolm.

[Vaughn]

His father had invited him to the university and after a late night Vaughn had had to drag himself out of bed. He was so groggy he had no idea what time it was, only that it was early. He had plans to meet with Lei'lira later, so he hoped the old man wouldn't beg his presence for too long.

Vaughn yawned and rubbed his eyes. Pulling on clothes he headed outside, but not even the chill Ashan air could fully wake him.

He and Damon had gotten up to some mischief last night. The reevi he'd taken had been mixed with tobacco, so it hadn't been that potent. Still he hadn't smoked in a long time, and despite having brushed his teeth his mouth was dry and tasted funny. He couldn't remember how much of the drug he'd actually had, or how much he'd drank. An ale or two, that was all. Or three. Four? Surely only four? Had that been before Damon, or after? He was certain he'd had no more than that. He was not certain at all.

Why must university be so early in the damn morning?

He had a bit of trouble finding his father's classroom and, despite having just been outside, he hissed at the brightness inside the room when he finally found it, the curtains all pulled back. Weren't such dungeons supposed to be gloomy? Where were the chains to keep the students in their desks? Wasn't a lecture hall supposed to suck all the joy from a person and replace it with the need to study, constantly, forever? His father certainly was mercilous to the somnolent student. Vaughn wondered if he should have brought an apple to put on dear ol' dad's desk.

Then he wondered if he should have brought a bottle instead. Hair of the dog.

Without caring if he was interrupting he wandered through the classroom, grouchily peering at people's papers. He felt like his eyes were not yet entirely open. Where to sit? Or better yet, where to lie down? It was only when he had just about given up and was about to go outside and find a bench on which to take an after-sleep nap that Vaughn realized he knew someone else within the room.

He'd met her at the dinner last night, briefly. Violet Warrick. The one who wanted to jump his dad's bones. The man was four hundred arcs old but hey, to each her own.

She was at the front of the class, sitting with her work completed and oh-so-innocently twirling her hair, her chest on display. Vaughn without hesitation walked over and plopped into the chair next to her, slouching so much that his head nearly rested on the table. He put an arm under his ear like a pillow and smoothed his other hand through his hair, which still felt messy from bed.

"Why don't you just take off your shirt?" he asked her by way of greeting, and smiled to let her know he was poking fun. "I'm sure that would better get his attention."

She had to be a teacher's pet to be sitting at the very front of the class like this. He grinned sleepily. He had no doubt she wanted some heavy petting, though she would be hard pressed to get his father to oblige.

[Malcolm]

Vaughn wasn't late, and Malcolm made a mental note of his casual timing. It was so like his son to wander in, find a space and sit without any of the required equipment. The warden made a point of keeping his gaze averted, not wanting to highlight his son as anything more than another student. Too long he had hoped, coached and tried to coerce the man down the right path, now, he knew, it was time to step back and let his son make his own decisions, offering guidance only if he sought it.
As Malcolm's gaze roved the classroom, he couldn't help but notice Violet, watchful as ever. The look she gave him was disarming, and Malcolm shifted uncomfortably in his chair, quickly choosing another direction to look in.
Up from his seat, the knight strolled along the rows, taking time to look over some of the answers that had been jotted down on different papers. He stopped between Vaughn and Violet on his way back and glanced at the woman’s answers, amused by the sentences she had come up with.
“Good,” he pointed to the sentence regarding the words wear, where, and ware. “I like it.”
He took her quill, dipped it in the inkwell, ran the tip against the edge, and jotted down the words ore, or, oar, and awe.
“Close,” was his parting remark, before returning to the desk at the front of the room.
From there, he proceeded to explain what a homophone was, and wrote down the answers to his questions on the blackboard for students to choose to copy if they so wished.
“Forgive me, Ser,” a woman called from the back, her hand raised.
Malcolm turned to face her and nodded, “yes?”
“What does all of this have to do with Draketh, that is what we are studying this season, is it not?.
“I'm glad you asked.” Malcolm smiled, turned around, and wrote ar and ah on the blackboard before sitting on the edge of his desk and folding his arms. “Can anyone tell me what they mean?”
A young man near the front waved. “The sounds you make when pleasuring a woman, Ser?”
This saw some of the students laugh, and even Malcolm was forced to cracked a smile. “Wrong,” the warden said, stern, “they are the difference between life and death when speaking to a dragon.”
“Will you tell us which is which?”
“No, but chapter two in your textbook will,” Malcolm replied. “Which I expect you all to read before our next lesson in three trials.”
“We haven't started chapter one yet,” someone near the back called out.
“Then it's your lucky trial,” Malcolm told him, “you can all start chapter one now while I hand out your essays. Before you do that though, I want you to write down three facts you know about Draketh.”
He took up the essays then and set to work.

[Violet]

There was a soft disturbance in the class that had taken her attention away from Malcolm sat in the front of the room. Very low and quiet voices whispered in groups here and there trying to figure out who this newcomer was. A late entry to the beginning of university? A visitor? An observer? Of course Violet knew who the man was, because she had just seen him among the odd bunch of folks collected for dinner at Malcolm’s house. She wondered if her classmates would piece it together, because he looked so much like his father, just younger.

Stormy eyes watched him carefully as he stalked around the room, giving the appearance that he was in a very surly mood. When she looked away, she heard the shift of the seat next to her and realized that he had sat down. She gave him a sideways glance, her hands moving from the bottom of her shirt to rest on the desk, fingers idly drumming. The way he greeted her was a shock, and, she was sure, meant to embarrass her. Unfortunately for Vaughn, Violet was not easily embarrassed or dissuaded.

“I think I might have to,” she quipped back with an exasperated sigh. “He does a very good job at ignoring the subtle things. I guess who couldn’t really ignore me if I was completely nude.” She smirked, her head already running through the distinct possibilities of times when she would be able to accomplish this.

Malcolm finally stood and walked through the class, observing different papers. He lingered near Violet and Vaughn, eyes on the paper Violet had marked on. She tensed and could almost feel a shudder of desire run through her spine when he leaned over and took her quill. He marked on her paper and commented a few things, though it was hardly noticed by Violet who thought goose flesh might break out on her skin. Sadly he went away and back to the front where he explained the relation to Draketh and assigned some reading.

She glanced at Vaughn as she stood up with the other students, packing away her supplies in her bag. She shouldered the strap and remained by her desk, leaning against it. When all of the students had filtered out of the classroom, she was finally able to say something. “So, Hunter’s Pass? What’s the purpose?”

[Vaughn]

Three facts about Draketh (his mind filled in the blanks):

One, it was spoken by certain members of the Iron Hand, including Malcolm
Two, it was the language of dragons and
Three, it could be used to sweet-talk a jacadon out of boiling and eating two terrified men... though perhaps only if they had something to offer the beast.

Now, what was this about a textbook? He looked around at all the poor schmucks in the classroom who were, in his eyes, miserably shuffling to the right page.

Had he misunderstood something? Did higher academia even use textbooks? Weren't textbooks for children? Didn't higher education focus more on lectures, debate, calculations, experimentation, individual research, and theory? Rather than words on a page? What was the point in coming to this damn class if only to sit and read?

Mystified and his head hurting now from thinking about it so hard, Vaughn closed his eyes.

Only to remember that Violet had spoken to him.

"I think naked would work," he said, keeping his eyes closed and nestling his head further into his arm. The desk wasn't comfortable but the position was. "But my father likes what he likes." The implication being that if the mortalborn hadn't given attention to Violet before, he just might not be interested. Currently his father liked Elyna. Vaughn yawned. "He's very devoted."

He must have dozed off then because he woke to the sound of chairs scraping back and people shuffling papers and putting books into bags. He dragged his face from the desk and checked for drool. All was well. His mouth was so dry there could not possibly be any spit. Yawning again but by this time feeling much better, he got up out of his chair and stretched some, all the way up onto his tiptoes, arms overhead.

Violet had gone up to speak to his father and everyone else had skedaddled so Vaughn lazily inspected the rest of the room, keeping one pointed ear on the others' conversation. Hunter's Pass? Wasn't that in the Burning Mountains? He couldn't help but frown. He reached out and fiddled with some knickknacks on a shelf, the usual professor bullshit, and picked through some of the books. One or two looked interesting, the rest seemed rather plain.

When Violet was done speaking he meandered over. His father looked displeased about something, probably about Vaughn himself, and so the younger man smiled at Malcolm, rocking back on his heels with his arms crossed.

[Malcolm]

After the reading, the class had discussed the chapter, and Malcolm had challenged a few of the ideas, as he usually did. By the end of the debate, half of the class were asking why they had even had to read it at all, if the professor was so hellbent on making them think something else.
“Merely broadening your horizons.” he had smiled. “It's good to question things.”
After a round of questions and answers, Malcolm had dismissed the class, hardly surprised to find that his son had managed to sleep through it. He dusted the blackboard and turned around to find that Violet had come up to his desk to discuss the upcoming mission.
Malcolm replied with a nod. “Scouts have reported prisoners being broken out of the Endor Mines. We are hoping to cut them off near Hunter’s Pass, then continue onto Endor if the weather permits. I've promised our smith I would bring back some ore for a little project I have in mind. If you're happy to join us, as I said, the official letter will go out tonight, look for it in your mail.”
Again he smiled, though this was short lived as Vaughn moved to the front to rock on his heels and grin as if he were nervous perhaps? “I'm so glad you made it this morning,” Malcolm remarked, and leaned back in his chair. “Maybe next time you'll be able to stay awake?”
The warden folded his arms and stared at the man. “Do you need a textbook?” Malcolm had an extra copy on his desk, one he would like to think Vaughn would take care of; did he hope for too much?