"Who trained you?" Miraaz asked. Floating there, arms crossed.
Dorian sat across from her. Arm over the back of the chair. Hoodie ripped at the sleeve, pants scratched up, dust all over his white hair. Looked like shit.
"Nobody."
"Nobody." she said back.
"Learned instinctively."
She raised an eyebrow. "Instinctively."
"Yeah. Spatial magic just showed up one day. Didn't study it or anything."
Not a lie. Before the regression that's how it went. Woke up and could bend space with a snap of his fingers. Took years to get good at it, but now he could skip all that.
Miraaz kept looking at him. Shook her head.
"That's even worse. Raw talent with zero control."
She hopped on the desk, legs dangling. "Your mana is forty seven. And you did all that today." nodded at the window. "So either spatial magic costs almost nothing... or you're using something else. Which is it?"
Dorian didn't say shit.
She waited. Tapped her fingers on her knee.
Thought about lying. Nah.
"Lifeforce."
"Lifeforce?" she said.
"Lifeforce."
Miraaz dropped to the floor. Like, actually dropped. Feet flat on the ground. First time since they came in.
"How much."
"Ten years. Give or take."
Quiet.
"TEN YEARS?!" she went straight up. Hit the ceiling almost. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
"It wasn't—"
"TEN YEARS! DURING A SCHOOL EXAM! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Came back down. Grabbed his shoulders. "You know what that does? Organs shut down. Body thinks you're dying. Mages have died from half that."
Pulled back. Hands over her face.
"Wasn't planned." Dorian said. His hands were shaking. Gripped the armrest to stop it.
"Yeah no shit." muffled through her palms.
She dragged her hands down her face slow. Took a breath.
"Keep doing that and your body just quits on you one day."
"So what n—"
"I'll teach you." Already moving. Floated to the bookshelf, started pulling books out, chucking them on the desk. Thud. Thud. Thud. "Mondays. Wednesdays. Fridays. After class. My office."
Dorian blinked.
"Mana control first. Then elements. Then combat." she was going through shelves fast, not even reading spines. "Oh and I need to check your lifeforce capacity. Got a device for that... somewhere." yanked a drawer open. Shoved it closed. Tried the next one.
"Whoa whoa whoa." Dorian put his hands up. "What if I say no?"
'What the fuck is wrong with this woman.'
She stopped. Turned around slowly. Tilted her head like she heard something weird.
"Why would you say no?"
"Cuz I didn't agree to this?"
"You almost killed dozens of people today." floated toward him, wrapping a strand of pink hair around her finger. "I gotta watch you cuz..." lazy wave. "Eh. You get it."
"That doesn't mean—"
"Your mana is forty seven." chin on her palm, looking at him with her head tilted. "You're burning lifeforce to cover for it. That's paying for food with blood."
"I know—"
"And your mutation shows up once every few hundred years. Maybe thousands. Nobody's training you." she drifted down, walked up, poked his chest. "Crime."
"You're forcing me."
She shrugged, twisting her ponytail. "Train with me or you don't get in." Smiled. "Pick one."
"That's blackmail."
"Nope."
"That's literally blackmail."
"Opportunity." she put her chin in her hand, looked at him lazy, half smiling. "Free training from the strongest mage here. People would beg for this."
"I didn't—"
"Most people also didn't try to kill thirty students on day one." twirling her hair again. "So you need it more. That's just math."
'Is she recruiting me or asking me to prom.' Dorian thought.
She went back to the shelf. More books. Eight now. Nine. Humming something, swaying in the air while sorting through them. Dorian watched her pull out a book thicker than his arm, flip it over, squint at the cover, toss it over her shoulder. It crashed behind the desk.
"Did you decide all this in the last thirty seconds?"
"Twelve." she looked back over her shoulder. Grinned. Flipped her hair. "I'm fast."
Dorian rubbed his face. Looked at the ceiling. Looked back at her. She was organizing books by color now.
'This can't be real.'
"Fine."
"Fine?" she spun around in the air, whole face bright.
"Fine."
"GREAT." clapped, flew up, spun once. Dropped back down. Fixed her hair. Cleared her throat.
"I mean. Good. Professional."
"Is this how a three hundred year old hag should act?" flat face.
Miraaz landed. Hard.
Room went cold. Books on the shelf shook. One dropped.
"What'd you call me?" Quiet voice. She wasn't yelling and that was scarier.
"Grandma."
Crack under her feet. The floor split a little. She was smiling but it wasn't the fun kind.
"Say it again."
Dorian's mouth closed on its own.
"...nah I'm good."
"Mhm."
She went back up. Slow. Crossed her arms.
"We start by increasing your overall mana. Body can take more than forty seven. Nobody taught you how."
"Yeah."
"Then actual magic. Not whatever you did out there."
"Got it."
"And..." she stopped for a second. Face changed. Less playful. "Immortality magic. I can teach you."
Dorian went still. Last life he never got to learn that.
"Only using it when I'm older." he said. "Twenty five. Maybe thirty."
Miraaz turned toward the window. Stood there looking out.
"Why?" Quiet.
"Don't wanna be stuck as a kid forever."
Nothing from her for a while.
Could see her face in the glass. Couldn't tell what it looked like.
"Smart choice." Didn't sound like her.
Felt like he said something wrong. Whatever.
"Go home." she said. Hadn't moved from the window.
"No more exams?"
Turned around. Winked. "Meh. Formality. Come sign papers tomorrow."
His neck went cold. Same feeling Miraaz had when Ezekiel was being weird at her.
Got up. Legs heavy. Headed for the door. Caught his reflection in the glass cabinet on the way out. White hair messy, golden eyes dull, looked like shit.
Closed it behind him.
Stood in the hallway. Rubbed the back of his neck. Long exhale.
'Fucking teenagers.'
Shoved his hands in his pockets and left.