The Exchange Teacher - Welcome to Dyntril Academy

The floor in one of the Tinkerer's second-floor rooms rattled with the baseline of the eccentric man's music. Downstairs, the Tinkerer continued to work in his workshop, his music providing auditory cover for Reianna's mage lessons just in case.

Symantha was busy cooking their dinner, and Natt was out in the fields checking the livestock for changes. Basque still hadn't talked to her since his sudden proposition; she'd not come to his class today, and they'd not spoken during the morning meeting.

Reianna sat across from Basque, looking at a silver dress that the fifth-year mage had given her. He wished she'd move on from the dress so they could talk about their strategy tomorrow morning.

"It's just the strangest thing," Reianna said for the third time.

"What makes it so strange?" Basque asked.

"Should I show you through my interface?"

"No. We don't know who could be watching."

"The curtains are closed."

Basque shook his head. "Still too risky."

"Okay." Reianna set the dress aside and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil from her inventory. "So, when I inspect the dress, I see something like this."

On the paper, she drew a rectangle, and inside the box, she wrote, "Reianna's Dress." Pointing at the drawing, she said, "This is what I normally see. But this…"

The normal pencil vanished into her inventory, and a red one appeared in its place. She drew a second rectangle on top of the first and "Teacup" on top of "Reianna's Dress."

As she made the red pencil vanish, she spun the paper around to Basque so that it was right side up for him. "It's like doubled over. The 'Reianna's Dress' is more distinct, almost like 'teacup' was only partially erased, but it's clearly there."

Basque rubbed his chin. As he wasn't a mage and couldn't inspect things like Reianna could, none of it made sense to him. His "mage lessons" with her were more of a self-study where he watched and would try to ask her questions to get her to think about her ability from multiple angles.

"That's very interesting, but it doesn't help us with tomorrow. The arches and Royal Mage will be able to convene. We're running out of time. Remember, Natt told us the Royal Mage can access anyone's interface."

Letting out a sigh, Reianna leaned back. "It's still crazy to me that Krill is stalling for me. I thought he would have been first in line with a scalpel."

Basque agreed with her assessment. Banca's father had demanded an immediate convergence, but at Basque's request, Krill delayed it for two days by referencing some ancient privacy law, which set off a chain reaction that ended up forcing them to call in the Royal Mage, who could access non-public interfaces. A thought that sent a shiver down Basque's spine.

"Well, we have to take advantage of the extra time Krill gave us and come up with a solid plan."

Picking up the dress and shaking it, Reianna said, "I feel like this is a clue. Miss Loushee showed me that she could edit her interface, well, the public-facing one at the least."

"We don't even know what her ability is. How are you sure that you can edit yours as well?"

Reianna slumped down like she hadn't considered that, then sat back up straight and shook her head. "No. It has to be possible."

Taking a deep breath, Basque leaned back and watched his talented student. He didn't know if she was saying that because she truly believed it or if it was because she was scared of the alternative. If it was possible, it wouldn't be something that he could do or figure out—only she could.

He watched her eyes flicker across the dress. Setting it aside, she picked up her empty teacup.

"Would you like some more?"

She shushed him and shook her head. Her eyes went from the teacup to the dress and back. Basque wished he knew what she was staring at so intently.

While Reianna worked on her problem, Basque contemplated his: Krill. The man's new attitude disturbed Basque. For someone who appeared to go out of his way to harm commoners, his sudden backing of Reianna was more than suspicious.

Krill was aiming one of his swords, but Basque wasn't sure where or at whom. Duke Jorellen was the most likely target, but Basque didn't know why. The only certainty was that Krill would strike someone or something down. The school's deputy headmaster more resembled Death than he did an educator.

However, for once, it seemed as if Krill wasn't aiming at Class E, but Basque couldn't let his guard down; he had no idea how the reverberations might affect his students.

Hianbrun politics were difficult for Basque to navigate, let alone the internal politics of Kruami. He hadn't even met any government officials. With the exception of a few outings, Dyntril was all Basque knew of the foreign country.

He wanted to talk to Natt about it, but she was avoiding him. Move in with me?! He didn't blame her. If he could avoid himself, he would have as well.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," Basque said.

Natt stuck her head in, and Basque's heart did a flip.

"Dinner's ready. How are things in here?"

Reianna didn't lift her head from the dress.

"Good, I guess?" Basque answered. "Reia, do you want to go eat now?"

Still, no reply came from the girl.

"Reia?"

More staring.

"Reianna!"

Her head jerked up. "Huh? What?"

Basque smiled at her. "Dinner's ready."

"Oh! I'm starving."

They stood up, and Rienna jumped back. "Oh! Miss Cormick, when did you get here?"

She laughed. "Go on down, Reianna. I need a second with Basque."

The silver-haired girl nodded, then snuck out underneath her teacher's arm.

Basque's heart sped up, pounding loudly in his ears. Can she hear it, too?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Taking a step into the room, Natt closed the door behind her. She didn't look at Basque, but rather stared at the dress Reianna had left behind. Am I getting rejected now? Natt hadn't actually answered him with words, so part of his heart was still hopeful.

"Have you two figured anything out yet?" she asked as she lifted her eyes to his.

When she started speaking, Basque flinched, then calmed himself as he realized she wasn't talking about his blunder. He shook his head.

"The time tomorrow's been set on."

"When?"

Natt was silent.

"How much time, Natt?"

Her eyes fell away again. "9 AM tomorrow," she whispered.

"9-Yani-AM?!"

Natt looked at the door, then back at him. She came closer, holding her hands out as she shushed him. "Not so loud."

In a harsh whisper, Basque repeated, "9 AM. Tomorrow. Yani. Morning?"

Natt nodded.

"I have no clue if she's close or not! Reianna thinks she can hide her extra option. She said Loushee did it."

Natt furrowed her brow. "Loushee's too unstable; it bothers me as it is that she knows about Reianna."

"Reianna said that she's never confirmed it. She's denied it every time Loushee's asked."

"That's good."

"She's also nervous about why Loushee is helping her."

Natt shook her head. "Do any of us understand why mages do any of the things that they do?"

Basqure snort-laughed. "Most mages back home seem stable enough."

"The ones here are all closer to Loushee and Daymein. I've only known two exceptions, Reianna and…"

She didn't have to finish her sentence; Basque knew who she was talking about.

His stomach was heavy. Sighing, Basque looked up at the ceiling. "I've lost my appetite."

A hand on his chest pulled his eyes downward. Slipping her fingers in the overlap of his robe, Natt ran her hand up and down his chest. "Stay strong for her."

Grabbing Natt's hand, he held it still. "I won't give her to them."

Natt's gaze shifted up to his. Her eye twinkled with moisture.

"Are you serious?"

"I don't know the purpose of this mission I'm on. I chased a girl here. I couldn't care less about the end goal. Our countries are half a year apart, and, no offense, your country can go to hell."

Natt's hand squeezed his. "None taken. Come on. Let's go." She pulled him out of the room and didn't let go of his hand until they got to the stairwell.

When they got to the kitchen, the other three were already sitting at the table. Tinkerer swiveled on his chair when Basque and Natt walked in. He waved a food-laden fork at them. "Hey! No funny business! We've got a young lady here." He shoved the fork in his mouth and bit the food off for emphasis.

"Thanks, Tink, but I lived in a loft above a bakery with my parents," Reianna said.

Symantha frowned. "Well, we'll have none of that talk at the dinner table. Now sit down, you two."

Walking over to the table, Basque sat on one side of Reianna, and Natt sat on the other.

"So," Symantha said, "Reianna here was just telling us about this lovely braid that she's added to her look."

Reianna put her fork down and ran her hand along the styling. "Loushee did it."

"That was nice of her," Symantha said with a smile.

"I…uhh…I can't undo it."

The clinking of silverware stopped as everyone focused their attention on Reianna.

"What do you mean you can't undo it?" Basque asked.

"I tried to take it out but…" Reianna pulled on the silver band that held the braid in place, sliding it over the tip of the braid. She held up her hand, showing off her empty palm. The band was still in her hair.

"Even if I do this…" Once more, she pulled the band down and kept her hand closed over the band and the tip of her braid. Without the band, Reianna was able to loosen the braid. The tight knots grew fatter, and it looked like the second she released the tip of the braid, it would fall apart on its own volition.

Taking the bottom loop, she pushed her hair down to untie it. The second that she let go of the tip of the braid, the whole thing was back to how Loushee made it. It wasn't like it retied itself, it just went from loose to neatly styled.

No one said anything.

"That's umm…" Basque said.

"Mighty fancy!" the Tinkerer finished for him.

Everyone looked at him.

"What? I think it's great! It looks really good on you, and you never have to redo it!" He ran his hands through his flame-colored hair. Since it stood up, defying gravity, the color wasn't the only thing that made it resemble fire. "I wish I could do something with this!"

Symantha ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

The Tinkerer blushed and pushed her away.

"Anyway," Symantha said, turning her attention back to Reianna. "You can always go back and ask Miss Loushee to undo it, can't you?"

"Yeah," Reianna said.

Basque knew she had no intention of doing that. She'd been light on the details regarding her meeting with Loushee and had only explained about the contents of their conversation. Basque knew her well enough to know that she was only agreeing with Symantha to end the conversation.

"So," Basque said, wanting to change the subject, "You guys know Kruamian politics, right? What's Krill's angle?"

Natt pushed food around on her plate. "I've been wondering the same thing. After Krill helped in my fall, he stayed an earl rather than jumping up and claiming the march Zoemas left when she became a Duchess. So, I don't really think he's angling for a higher rank. There could be someone else he's trying to get into the Duchy, but since my fall, I've not really paid that much attention to inner-court politics."

Basque stared at Natt. The calm, matter-of-fact way that she dropped that bomb about her betrayal made him raise an eyebrow. That was a story he wanted to hear, but wouldn't push her to give.

Symantha waved her hand. "Tink and I've been seconders our whole lives. We've got no interest in fightin' Yani and other nobles. Your guess would be just as good as ours."

"So," Basque said and leaned back in his chair. "We basically have no idea what Krill is planning."

The other adults looked at their plates.

"I'll ask around, see if I can find anything out," Natt said.

Basque looked at her.

"What? I still have friends. I was able to hide Reianna's parents, wasn't I?"

"I never doubted you, I'm just…"

"Just what, Basque?"

He shrugged. "I'm just worried about you. Asking around might get you caught up in whatever he's doing."

She fell silent, and her face was stony.

Silverware clattered as Reianna put her fork and knife on her plate. Everyone's eyes fell on her.

"Reia?" Basque asked.

"Thank you for the meal, Miss Symantha."

"It's always a pleasure having you out here, dear."

Reainna turned to Basque. "Honestly, I don't care what Krill's motivations are. He's helping. That's all that matters to me. We'll face whatever happens when it happens. Just like we always have."

The chair scraped as she backed away from the table. To keep it from making another noise, she picked her chair up and pushed it back in. Holding the edges of the seat's back, she looked at Basque and said, "I'm going to head up. I have some ideas that I would like to try."

Basque nodded. "I'll be up once I'm done."

Once they heard Reianna's footsteps in the hallway above them, Symantha leaned forward and whispered, "What are you going to do if you can't find a way?"

Chewing his food, Basque locked his eyes onto Symanta. "Something," he answered. If he needed to rush Reianna out, he didn't want the Tinkerers to know. It wasn't that he didn't trust them; he didn't want them to be accused of being accomplices after the fact.

"Thank you for the meal, Sym," Basque said, imitating Reianna's politeness. "I'm going to go on up and…watch Reianna try and do something."

"You go on and do that, Biscuit," the small woman said. "Don't worry about the dishes, Natt and I will get them done."

"Thank you."

"Hey!" the Tinkerer called after him. "I'm bored! When're you giving me my next thingamabob to build?"

"Next time I need something."

"Well, hurry up and need it!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Basque answered. As his archery contest with Natt had proved, Kruami's target dummies were far inferior to Hainbrun dummies, but he didn't feel the need to replace them. Basque had wanted a core machine built because Kruami didn't have an equivalent.

Teaching the Tinkerer how to make a better target dummy would just give the Kruamians a technological boost for no reason. Basque might be bad at most aspects of the ambassadorial job, but he wasn't that stupid.

Before Basque even made it out of the kitchen, the bang of the door upstairs resounded through the house. It was followed by Reianna's rapid steps thumping through the hallway, then echoing down the stairs.

She crashed through the kitchen door, panting from that short run. "I did it! I figured it out!"