9th of Winter, 519
The morning dawned bright and cold in Lhavit. In Madeira Craven's classroom high atop the Dusk Tower the windows were pulled tight against the onslaught, and the fireplace and every scones burned bright and high, but still the cold seeped in. Madeira herself sat at her desk with her heaviest fur cloak pulled tight around her body and a strange cat lying across her lap. She was scratching him behind his cranial bone plate to his thunderous purring approval as she gazed out at the wash of howling white that had become her view from atop the Tower.
She didn't consider herself to be a logical person. A lifetime in Alvadas had severely affected her ability to anticipate patterns, her sense of special awareness, and redefined her perception of impossible. But as she stared out into the storm she was caught up in a deep sense of wrongness about it. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, but she was sure this winter wasn't natural. Perhaps it was just knowing that a member of the Inverted, Ionu's cult of illusionists and tricksters, was out there somewhere that made her suspect that nothing was as it seemed.
She wanted to send for Sapphire and ask her what the petch was going on and if she had anything to do with it. But she didn't want to risk Bird, the pigeon that was her only method of contacting her. Bird might be magical, but he was still a bird. He wouldn't get far in this storm.
She was still lost in thought when there came a soft rapt at the door, and the first of her students filed in.
"Good morning", Madeira stood and smiled as she hefted thirty pounds of bleary eyed cat off of her lap and on to her desk. Six bedraggled men and woman, ranging in age from hale thirties to frail seventies, shuffled in mumbling words of greeting. All but one was caked in snow and four layers of winter wear. Aldgare Dusk, who lived in the Tower sanctum and had no reason to step foot outside this early in the morning, was looking fresh in his pristine robes and was the only one to answer her.
"Good morrow, professor. Can I speak with you a moment while everyone settles in?"
It was a question, but he was not asking. Madeira was Aldgare's professor, but he was her boss. "Yes, sir. Class, please take your seats and take out your notes. Leave your coats on the stand by the fireplace if you can bear to part with them, you're dripping water everywhere. We'll be talking about a class of monster called Undead today. While I'm gone please consider what is a monster, and what the classification means." She waited for a chorus of wet and grumpy yes's before she stepped out into the hall where Aldgare was waiting for her.
WC: 484
