MxM dA ff1 -- pt 2

"Are you feeling okay, Fern?" Merleawe asked, and he nodded.

"Yep. I'm all right." He said, then glanced out the window. "I was just doing my job. But what about you, Mel? I mean... I know, with the shadow spell and all... you're fine, but... it's just so hard to believe that something like that would happen."

"I know..."  Merleawe sighed, glancing down at her half-written report. "I mean, of course I can understand how people would be upset with my appointment -- I am the first female Master Wizard, after all -- but I can't imagine anyone would actually try to attack me, at least not before I had had more than a month to accomplish anything. And I guess the others are just as shocked."

"Really? I haven't seen them." Fern mused, leaning on Merleawe's desk. "I mean, doesn't Yue usually drop by by this time? And Glenn wasn't in the conference room this morning... though I did run into Vaith in the halls. He looked busy."

"That's probably because Yue's been running himself ragged, looking into what's happened. Though yes, it's not like him to not follow his schedule. And I saw Glenn earlier; he seemed pretty shaken up and worried about me, so he did his best to cheer me up. Speaking of, I still have some of the pastries he baked left over. After yesterday, you could probably use some comfort food."

"You sure there's no cinnamon in them?" Fern asked guardedly, narrowing his eyes, and Merleawe smiled, shaking her head.

"I'm sure, Fern. Glenn's not really a prankster, and I think he mentioned something about it being a good idea to give you some too."

"All right. Where are they? And what's up with Vaith? He's kind of full of himself and doesn't usually greet me anymore, but he was definitely avoiding me more than usual."

"I'm not sure what's up with Vaith. I didn't overhear too much of the conversation, but it seems he's been instructed to help increase the palace security, though Yue mentioned something about him having to be discreet about it, since I guess having soldiers doing rounds along with the regular guards would look bad..." Merleawe sighed, then remembered the other thing she had to tell Fern. "Also... Fern?"

"What's up?"

"I don't know... it could just be because I'm still a little shaken, but... after that happened yesterday... I guess... the magical presence of the shadow spell... it just seems strange, somehow." Fern stood up straighter, trying to hide some emotion  which Mel couldn't quite identify.

"You've noticed it too? I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me... or maybe still some imbalance from taking that spell."

"But this isn't your first time being someone's body double. I thought you'd have noticed--" Merleawe broke off, noticing that she's hit on a painful subject.

"I've only ever taken minor spells for Slyth before. So yeah, I have some idea what the "normal" feeling of the spell activating is, but I don't know... maybe it was the power of this one... or... I don't know. What was that spell, anyway? I didn't have much time to try to think about it." Fern sighed. "But yeah. Mel... I'm not sure this is the time or the place to talk about it. I mean, people could just be barging in at any time, you know?"

"The time or place to talk about what?" Someone asked, and Fern bristled, turning around to face Lecto.

"Gah! How did you get in here, stalker person?" Fern demanded, and Lecto sighed irritably.

"The door was unlocked, you know. Anyway... Mel, I was told to deliver this..." Lecto stepped forward, and handed a heavy stack of documents to Merleawe, who put them off to the side of her desk.

"Thanks, Lecto. But please, knock before entering next time!" Merleawe snapped, and Lecto looked away uncomfortably.

"I'll try to remember. A-all right. Well, I take my leave." He mumbled, then turned and left, just as quietly as he had entered.

"Talk about awkward...!" Fern grumbled. "But yeah. Mel, any idea what that spell was?"

"I'm not too sure. All I really know is that it was a non-elemental, medium-powered spell. There might have been some sort of curse or side effect attached to it; I'm not sure, but that would explain whatever's going on with the shadow spell. But are you sure you haven't heard of anything like this?"

"None of the instructors ever told me anything like this, or even the Elder. I mean, I guess that the Elder would know... since he's been alive a really long time and has seen pretty much everything that magic can do, but he's a week or so of travelling away, and as this is now, I really don't see any reason to put up with that hassle. But I guess if experience is what we're looking for, Yue may know something, since he is the oldest of our group. I mean, since I'm pretty sure he's never had a body double, he probably wouldn't know too much, but it's worth a shot."

"Yes, but in the wake of all this, are we sure we want to place any more burdens on our friends?"

"Yeah, you're probably right. He's probably stressed and cranky, anyway. Best to avoid him. We'll wait to see if this magical imbalance resolves itself."