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"Miss Sura. The Dean wishes to speak with you"
Morning Prayer had not yet begun. Pali Sura had barely sat down when assistant dean Laurent came up to her. Her first response was momentary shock, typically these kind of summons were for egregious disciplinary reasons but Pali was nothing if not a model student so that instinct was quickly squelched. Pali continued metaphorically scratching her head as she left the cathedral with Miss Laurent. She thought to ask Miss Laurent what the situation was but was certain she would get no answer until it came from the Dean's lips. All the same, simply to break the thick silence between them Pali asked a question she was sure was rhetorical.
"Am I in trouble ma'am?"
"Do you have reason to be in trouble?" Miss Laurent turned her head to Pali as she walked.
"Not that I'm aware of."
"Then I wouldn't worry." Miss Laurent cracked a small smile. One wouldn't say that the students liked Assistant Dean Laurent but there was a definite unspoken preference towards dealing with her than with Dean Austerus. The Dean's reputation was that of a person whose praise all too often came off as impersonal and unsincere and whose concerns lay with the school and foundationist church in general rather than the students within. Pali had no problem with either. Then again she rarely dealt with either.
"This way Miss Sura" Miss Laurent opened the door and allowed Pali to go through first. Pali couldn't help but feel slightly nervous as she walked through the threshold. In addition to seeing Dean Austerus's piercing, assessing gage next to her from the other side of her oak desk then was a man in a chair to her left. He was older, likely in his 50s, with a halo of gray hair flanking his bald head, thin reading glasses, a short trimmed gray beard, a brown sweater vest and most disturbingly, CDD credentials.
Pali was no longer certain she wasn't in trouble.
"Hello Miss Sura, please sit down." The Dean rose from her seat and directed her to a chair directly across from her. She was smiling but the effect was different than when Miss Laurent smiled. Nonetheless the fact that she was smiling instead of scowling meant she probably wasn't in trouble.
Pali took her seat without a word. Miss Laurent remained in the room but remained standing.
"Now I'm sure you're wondering why we brought you here so early in the morning." Dean Austerus stood as she began her spiel "I assure you it is good news. Miss Pali Sura, for the year you have been here you have been an explempery student in every conceivable way, from your grades to your performance both in the school and as a holy warrior of the founder, to your attitude towards both your peers and this institution. So it is thereby the decision of myself and the institution of Founder's Blessing that you be awarded the title and responsibility of an exalted. Congratulations."
Pali felt a surge of pride within her. To be designed an exalted was one of the greatest honors that could be bestowed among a student of founders' blessing. The exalted were just that; students that were seen as being exemplery examples of everything it meant to be a student and a magical girl. However, being an exalted came with a catch...
"Thank you very much Dean Austerus." After the cursory and expected gratitude Sura immediately asked the question on her mind "So I assume I'm going to have a repentant."
"Yes...about that." The smile left the Dean's face as she sat back down. "Miss Sura I will be blunt. This repentant is an exceptional circumstance. So much so that you will not be obligated to accept your duties as an exalted and take her on. Of course unless you do we will not be able to officially designate you as an exalted regardless."
No pressure there..
"To start with Miss Sura please know; your repentant is guilty of the murder of two people."
Pali was shocked silent. Most repentants were delinquients mostly guilty of comparitively minor offences like thievery, vandalism or at worst, assault. An outright murderer was almost unheard of.
"Miss Sura, please hear the entire story of this girl before making a decision. Her crime is not what makes this an exceptional circumstance." Now was Miss Laurent's time to chime in. Unsurprisingly when the situation called for a personal touch Dean Austerus preferrs to defer.
"Murder though? What else is there to say?" Pali could not imagine how the conversation about a murderer didn't begin and end with that.
"Over a month ago now there was a breach in North Town where a woman and her husband were killed by monsters." Dean Austerus took over. "A magical girl coincidentally doing remote surveillence of the area happened upon the source of the breach. A young magical girl had somehow compromised the barrier herself using her powers and then fled the scene. The witness and her team were not able to arrive on the scene quickly enough to save the people inside but were able to apprehend the girl after a considerable struggle."
"Is a magical girl breaking the barrier herself even possible?" Pali asked.
"My coworkers tell me it's very rare but not unheard of" The man from the CDD spoke up as he stood up to extend a hand to Pali, which she gracefully shook while remaining seated. "Paul Demetrius, I work as a psychologist for the City Defense Department."
"It's nice to meet you Dr. Demetrius." Pali replied, being sure to include his title.
"Please. It is better if you simply call me Paul."
Now that introductions were out of the way Pali had another question.
"A considerable struggle? Were any of those girls hurt?"
"Of the 4, 3 suffered considerable laceration wounds." The Dean replied.
"So she's a murderer who is powerful enough to break the barrier and injure 3 magical girls who she assaulted."
"This is where the story gets interesting." Paul took the floor. "When she was taken into custody she had no identifying papers. She was unregistered and did not even have a Citizen Identification Number. She gave us her name, we assumed it was fake when there was no record of her in the city census. When we interviewed her we asked her several questions to assess her mental state. Simple questions. The gaps in her knowledge were disturbing. She knew almost nothing about the city and little about civics. So did not know her own address or phone number or the names of her parents, whom she simply called 'mater' and 'fater'. We thought she was being uncooperative so we kept her under custody while we investigated the house."
"how could she know almost nothing about the city? And isn't everybody on the census? Did she come...from outside."
"Don't be ridiculous..." the Dean spoke up.
"Don't be so hard on her, the situation is unbelievable." Paul continued. "But no, she's not from outside. In fact, until she became a magical girl she had never been allowed outside of her house. You see, when we investigated her house we found an overwhelming amount of evidence in the form of journals, planners and other paperwork that she was the victim of abuse. Her mother was a religious zealot who believe she could turn her daughter into the second coming of the founder by completely isolating her from all human contact, save for her parents and her doctor, and depriving her of any knowledge not related to Foundationist dogma."
"In the interest of full disclosure it was decided you should know more about who her parents were." The Dean continued. "Sheila Smith, formerly Sheila Godot, was a magical girl and orphaned ward of Founder's Blessing from...some years ago. Our records indicate that she was also seen as an exemplary student. She was briefly an Exalted herself, however she was relieved of the position soon after accidentally injuring her repentant."
"An interview with somebody who knew her said that it was intentional." Miss Laurent interjected.
"Miss Grizzled jumped to her own conclusions." The Dean replied, seemingly upset at the accusation of an exalted doing something like that intentionally. "We were not able to find many people who knew her, and those who did painted her as an asocial sort. Regardless, she vanished from the school at the age of 17. Apparently her goal was to transfer her power to an offspring. At least according to the CDC findings."
"At some point she got married to Reginald Goodchild, son of Antigone Goodchild, a former magical girl of considerable renown. " Paul continued. "Somehow she convinced him and his mother to not only go along with her plan, but to provide the resources that allowed her to be her daughter's 24/7 caretaker. Apparently her doctor was a friend of the Goodchild household who agreed to do housecalls 'under the table' so that her existence would remain a secret from the city."
"Why was keeping her a secret so important?" Pali asked.
"We're not sure. We think it's so the city wouldn't interfere in her upbringing but mandating that she go to school or anything like that." Paul replied. "Anyway, Sheila's notes on how to prepare her daughter to become the, her words, 'vessel for the Founder's power' were chilling to say the least."
"And insane." Dean Austerus interjected. "Again I assure the CDD that the beliefs of Sheila Godot in no way reflect the beliefs of this school or the Foundationist church."
"We know. Nobody's blaming the school for what she did." Paul assured the Dean.
"Are you telling me all this so that I won't judge her for being a murderer?" Pali's voice betrayed a hint of anger. Even with the situation being what it is, it didn't justify a magical girl violating their duty to the city and using monsters to end people's lives.
"Somewhat." Paul continued. "But really it's to let you know what kind of person Miss Omnipotence is."
"Miss who?" Pali was uncertain if what she heard was a name.
"Oh yes we never gave you her name." Paul continued "Her name is Omnipotence Smith. Among other things, Sheila Smith believed that the powers a magical girl receives are related to the name they are given. Sheila...swung for the fences for lack of a better term. And rather than taking on the name Goodchild or keeping the name Godot both parents became Smith, maybe reflecting on the fact that they saw themselves as making a weapon."
"That's ridiculous." Pali replied.
"So with that out of the way we now bring you to the real issue ahead." The Dean plowed on. "Given the incredible abuse Miss Omnipotence suffered combined with her stunted mental and emotional state there was considerable discussion about what should be done with her. Imprisonment seemed injust to the deciding parties. Exonerating her for all crimes was explored but it was implied that if she got away with this scot-free then she would see violence as an acceptable answer to her problems. Also in that case she would be free to choose her school. Given her negative experiences with Foundationism she would almost certainly choose Future's Promise who would certainly do an insufficient job socializing her."
"You see Pali, here's where the special circumstance comes in. Most girls who are repentants are such so they can learn to be good magical girls and good, reformed members of society." Miss Laurent spoke up once more. "In the case of Omnipotence Smith the job doesn't start at that. More than being a good, reformed member of society she needs to learn how to be a member of society at all. She has never had a sibling, a cousin or a friend and has never even spoken to somebody close to her own age."
"Everybody she has ever interacted with has had power over her." Paul continued. "I have been assured that the counselors at Founders' Blessing will work with her to help her acclimate to greater society. So you will have their assistance."
"You see Miss Sura." Miss Laurent continued. "Typically an exalted is expected to be a leader, a handler and a role model for a repentant. But in this case I'm afraid we are asking you to be much more. We want you to be, unfairly perhaps, both her handler, her peer and her friend. More than making sure she does what she's told and doesn't make trouble we have decided that in this instance it's more important to assure her that our school, Foundationism and the City as a whole is here to support, rather than control, punish or imprison her."
"We have been told that Miss Omnipotence displays tremendous knowledge of Foundationist scripture." Dean Austerus continued "albeit with some inexplicable misunderstandings and a sense of duty as a magical girl that borders on fanatical. Dr. Demetrius has implied to me that the only thing we need to do as a foundation to ensure her rehabilitation is to curtail her defiant streak."
Those were several things Pali did not want to hear. She decided to address the most important one.
"Defiant streak?"
"Miss Omnipotence is quite upset at us you see." Paul took the reins of the conversation. "She thinks it's unfair that she was punished so quickly while her mother was able to get away with what she did for so long. You can see her logic I suppose."
"She'll have to get over that notion very quickly if she wishes to get by here." The Dean interjected.
"We'll help her with that." Miss Laurent spoke up. Pali got the impression that the dean and the assistant dean were not quite on the same page as to how to handle the situation.
"More than that," Paul continued "In my psychological assessment of her I can conclude that much of her defiant attitude is masking for incredible confusion and anxiety. She knows very little about people, society or the city. She only knows she's in trouble. I was able to make some headway with her but I feel like somebody closer to her own age will be able to break through if they are gentle but persistent."
"This is all pretty overwhelming. I don't know if I can do it." Pali didn't want to admit her insecurities on the issue, but she couldn't keep it inside either.
"You are not obligated to." The Dean spoke up. "But know that we know this will be difficult and are prepared to assist and accommodate you. You will be given some leeway in terms of your classwork and your duties as a magical girl. It has been decided that acclimating Miss Omnipotence to her new surroundings is of utmost importance. Furthermore it has been decided by both this school and the CDD that you are the most suited of all the students in our school to do this."
"We did our homework." Paul continued. "The CDD wanted an exemplary student and a role model magical girl, ideally one with powers that work well with hers. What's more we needed somebody who..." Pali could see the Dean's face turn to Paul with displeasure. "is both close to her age and mentally flexible. Many among this school's 'exalted' don't have the social skills for this. They're too...pushy you could say."
Pali knew what he meant. Though devoted to the Founder and his teachings Pali was capable of thinking for herself and would sometimes challenge what was taught at FB and what's more the fervor in which it was pushed. She never got in trouble for it, but she suspected she was granted leeway on account of her being exemplary in all other regards. There were other students who just ate what they were fed and were sure to push it on others. Pali was never that kind of person.
"I see." Pali took a moment to ruminate on what Paul had said and the revelations about herself. He was right. If this girl was this messed up putting her with somebody who would try to lord over her and push her ideas onto her would be disastrous. Potentially for everybody. And Pali's pride swelled at the notion that she was hand-picked by both the church and the CDD for this role.
"When can I meet her?"
"Go to your first period class." Miss Laurent continued. "Paul will fetch you there afterwards. She's been set up in the dorm for about a week now but has not started classes. She is utterly incapable of participating in certain classes due to her stunted academic background and will likely require tutoring for quite some time on those subjects. Soon she'll start attending classes on a limited curriculum."
"You'll be meeting her in her dorm and will be excused from classes for the rest of the day." The Dean continued "You will be granted special permission to do so now and in the future. I assume I do not need to worry about you abusing this privilege?"
"No ma'am."
"Good then. You will have the say-so to decide when she starts patrol with you. Ideally sooner rather than later. Apparently her sense of duty has left her greatly agitated about not being able to do so."
"It would be a great way to gain her trust." Paul interjected.
"And with that this meeting is adjourned." The Dean said while standing up. "And Miss Sura? Thank you for your assistance." Pali was surprised. The Dean's show of thanks almost felt personal rather than a matter of decorum.
This must be really important if the Dean is that invested.