You can see them later, Gabrielle kinda demands more attention

Leaving the academy even with your decision made doesn't stop you from looking at the dorms hoping that one of them would be there. None were so you kept on walking. The walk to the library is a lot busier than this morning. It was nearing lunch time and the smell of fresh bread and cooking meals was filling your mind with thoughts about how utter destitute you technically are. You've largely abandoned the idea of having a job, the only offer so far had been as an escort from Lucia's sponsor and that seemed like not the best idea. Asking one of your Hanun for an allowance is an option but that felt kinda weird.

Feeling your stomach grow you push on. The academy would have lunch you know that if you go back there all that will happen is someone will attract your attention. You'd already had one interruption to the incredibly important getting the other potential champion to like you, disappearing all day to have sex wouldn't help matters.

When you reach the library it is as quite as ever. You wonder if that is because not many people can read in the city, or down to the glare the woman at reception was giving to any and all she saw. Hurrying down the corridor towards where you hoped Clare and Gabrielle were, you heard the woman give a tsk at your presence. For running a library she was remarkable opposed to people visiting.

Opening the door to where you had left you gives you quite a sight. Gabrielle is sitting at the desk reading and making notes, your mothers letter sitting out of the way. Clare mean while seemed to be dying. She was laying on the floor spread arms and legs staring at the ceiling.

"Thank fuck." Clare said rolling onto her side and staring at you. "Tag." She stood and walked past you, taking the chance to slap her hand on your butt, "You're it." With that she left, closing the door behind her.

"Huh?" You asked looked at Gabrielle who hadn't moving from her position. "What was that about?" You asked taking a seat opposite her. She didn't respond, or acknowledge your presence in any way, shape or form. "Oh." you suppose that did answer your question in a form. You chuckled at your joke while Gabrielle kept making notes.

You waited for her to be ready to talk, but she just kept going. About a third of the book was finished but with all the note taking it could take her an hour to finish. With nothing better to do, and not wanting to interrupt her you stood up and grabbed one of the other books. You had agreed to help her get back to her world, should at least get some idea of how to do that, since your mother seemed to know it would happen. Opening the book titled, 'transmutation of transportation.' It sounded interesting though as you started reading you discovered it wasn't. Rather than discussing the practical reality of if teleporting was the travel of an object or the destruction then reconfiguration at said object it seemed more focused on the theory behind changing an object's components. Not turning lead into gold or anything like that, more make some green into something red.

You kept reading however. Honestly the theory was boring however you had a hope the writer would get to the good stuff. Sadly then rarely seemed to, lots of build up to a point but the point itself amounted to underwhelment. The hope that there would be at least a passing guess at how the change of colour affected the object remained. The dream would have been the writer did this experiment of a plant and noted how, one the now red leaves seemed to wilt and die, meaning the change of colour hadn't affected the base properties of chlorophyll, or the leaves remained meaning magic had fundamentally altered the plant.

"He does." Gabrielle said suddenly. You looked up to find her staring at you.

"Huh?" You ask closing the book with a note of personal relief.

"She never does anything interesting with her theory, the most she manages at the end is a bolt of white cloth she turns red and then turns back to white, and she doesn't make any comment on if she'd coloured it or just layered the colour over the top." Gabrielle put the now finished book she'd been working on down and blew on her note book to dry off the rest of the ink.

"Good point, I hadn't thought about if they were actually colouring or layering." You looked back at the book even more annoyed by it than you had been. "Read it before?"

"A while ago. When I thought I'd been transmuted here. For the first weeks I'd thought I was still on my world. Rebirth wasn't something my faith followed but." She trailed off.

"When I first got here I thought I was dead, that **** wasn't non-existence but continuing of consciousness without end." A small shudder went though you. You hadn't thought about it for a long time but you did die, like factually you were dead, just because Clare's sister grabbed your mind didn't mean **** didn't happen.

"How did you die?" She asked, quill back to notebook.

"A," you paused there was no word in any language on this planet that meant, truck, so you just used your original, "truck," hearing yourself using that word brought up yet more consideration of ****, "hit me, well I assume it was a truck, from the headlights, could have been a really big car."

"A what?" Her hand was hovering on her page.

"It ahhh," How do you even begin to explain that to someone in a language that didn't have any words for it, to someone from another world who also might not know what it is, "did you have, machines that burned, a liquid, to make explosions that pushed metal cylinders up and down to create energy?" It was the best you could do on the spot.

She blinked at you. "What?"

"Yeah fair enough." You pushed your seat back and focused. You could make a convincing real, if small, dragon using your magic, why not a combustion engine, or a truck, yeah trucks easier. On the table between the two of you a generic truck appeared. "Truck." You said pointing at it.

Gabrielle stared at it as her hand worked on the book, creating an impressive sketch of it while she looked. "And that killed you? How?"

"Yep." You answered as the memory of those lights remained in your mind. On the table before you your magic too some initiative, a tiny you appeared that the truck ran into causing the tiny you to go skidding backwards. Well that was deeply horrifying, the truck and the mini you disappeared while your stomach made threatening noise. You were glad you hadn't eaten now.

"Was it quick?" She asked, her own **** had come without her noticing based on what she'd said.

"I think so, all I remember is the lights. Sorry can we talk about something else?" You discomfort on this topic was getting worrying. You'd not thought about dying all that much since you were kid, bringing it up now when you have a lot more invested in this life wasn't giving you the warm fuzzes.

"What have you done with your life?" She asked still taking notes. You looked at her for a moment until she finished writing. "You don't need to wait for me to catch up, I'll remember everything you say." That hadn't been why you were looking at her but you guess this is one way to bond.

"Well, I did everything I could to learn about this world and magic, training myself and my magic as much as I could. My dad invited teachers and tutors to the house for me over the years. Everyone only ever told me I was average or below average so I kept on working to try and impress someone. I even created a steam engine and some decently advanced mathematics." She was still taking notes and you wondered if this is how it feels to dictate an autobiography.

"When I turned sixteen my dad arranged my debutante ball," she didn't say anything but her aura quirked up in question, "it's a party where you are introduced to the local noble ladies so they can pick if you are husband material." Saying that out loud made it seem creepier that your dad sent you to it than intended it too, he'd never even mentioned it until like the day before it. "While I was there I met Edin, he was the first friend I made in this world, and met Anastasia. She found my lack of aura interesting and offered to sponsor myself and Edin at the Royal Academy." Wait a minute ... did you mum tell him to send you to it in a letter he only found the day or so before hand? "After that I spent two years exchanging letters with the two of them and learning how to fight. Oh, ah there was a bully at the ball who I was scared of fighting since I thought I was just average and I figured knowing how to defend myself was smart." You'd forgotten about, whatever his name was, wonder if he ever got the marriage proposal he wanted.

"When I turned eighteen Edin, Anastasia and her younger sister Isabelle came for the party. I got very drunk, had some things go over my head," reflecting on that made you want to applogise to Edin, "and we all took a carriage to the city. Edin and I got a room together." You kinda wish there was some water here for you, all you'd had recently was Aurora's tea. "That was about, oh wow like five weeks ago." So much had happened in the last few weeks you scarcely believe you made it through all of them, a bit of pride grew in your chest that you'd toughed out so much.

"What happened in them?" Gabrielle didn't look up to ask as her quill kept scratching at her notebook.

"Ah, a lot, you sure you want to hear all that?" It's not that you aren't willing to share it's more that you don't expect her to just sit there and listen to you ramble.

"Yes. If your mother tends to leave messages like this one you may have encountered something that will only make sense now." Gabrielle said as she finished writing.

"Good point." As you finished your stomach grumbled, unhappy at the idea of you talking for who knows how long without something to eat. she must be feeling the same, though given her visible indifference to herself maybe not. "Why don't I see if there is anything to eat and drink first." Gabrielle thought for a moment before nodding and going back to writing in her notebook.

Leaving the room you headed for the woman at the front, surely this being the Royal Library there would be some level of food and water available, hopefully for free. You're going to ask someone for an allowance when you see them tonight, awkwardness be damned.

When you asked the women at the front for food and something to drink she glared at you then reached beneath her desk and rang a bell. A man appeared from a door behind her. "Hello dear need something?" He asked walking over and kissing the dower woman.

"His Lord wants food and water for himself and the lady he is accompanying." She spoke very professionally but her aura was very affectionately stroking the mans.

"Of course." He bowed to you, "I bring have refreshments to the room." He planted another kiss on the woman's cheek and left.

"Is there anything else?" She asked, her glare totally unaffected by all of that.

"N-no that's all. Thank you." You hurried back to the room and resumed your seat. "Some food and water will be brought here."

"Good," she put her quill to a fresh page and looked at you, "your first week."