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Jayce stood in the lab, hovering over the crystal as he watched it twist and turn under a magnifier. It was still harnessed in the apparatus that allowed it to call on the runes that activated it, and its quiet thrumming could be heard in the silence that surrounded him. Viktor was not with him, as his time was divided between the Academy and HexTech. It gave Jayce more time to think and be alone with the project that had brought him both so much grief and joy in his life. It had been pleasant to find a companion who appreciated the marriage of science and magic, and who could speak the same language of engineering and mathematics, but he did not resent his acquaintance for his other duties.
Viktor had mentioned two weeks prior that he had a contact who also understood both magic and science, but he had not said who it was, or how he knew them. Jayce didn’t press the subject, but hoped he would eventually introduce them. Any help he could get was welcome.
He heard hurried footsteps from the hall behind him, and he raised a brow at the prospect of who it could have been – certainly not Viktor, and they were far too heavy for Heimerdinger’s quick gait.
“Viktor –” a woman’s voice called out and began speaking in a language Jayce did not know.
She emerged from the dark hallway, like a bright star – clothed in a half sheer white dress, with a glimmering veil down her long hair, she seemed to capture each facet of light as it shone through the windows that lined the ceiling. She was staring at a notebook, still speaking in a foreign language.
Jayce turned to greet her, and hopefully explain that Viktor was not there.
Anya stopped, feeling a large presence in front of her. She looked up from her book and followed the figure all the way to his face – he was tall, much taller than herself or Viktor, with tan skin and broad shoulders, and a boyish smile. She found herself both startled and embarrassed.
“Hi,” Jayce said with a wave. “If you’re looking for Viktor, he isn’t here.” He spoke slowly and enunciated. “Can I help you with something?” He pointed to himself.
Anya was almost amused at his effort to help her comprehend, but she also resented it. She stood taller and broadened her shoulders. “No, thank you,” she said. “Do you know where he is?”
“Oh,” Jayce cleared his throat, feeling somewhat of a fool. “He got a note from Heimerdinger and said he had to take care of something in his office.”
She nodded and closed her notebook, quickly turning around to exit through the hallway from whence she came, before the man had any questions to ask her.
“I’ll just – tell him you came by.” Jayce muttered and watched as the star disappeared as quickly as she arrived.
Anya found her way to her friend’s office, where the door was partially closed. She heard the quick scratching of a pen nib on paper, and when she peered inside, she saw Viktor writing a letter with great concentration. She debated on coming back, but decided to knock quietly.
As the last time she visited his office, Viktor was far too preoccupied in what he was writing that he did not hear her calling upon him.
“Viktor?” she beckoned, hoping not to startle him as she had last time. She gently pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The creak of the hinges was louder than her voice, and Viktor gasped at the soundless apparition that was conjured by his imagination at the sound of the door. His eyes flew up to the sight of Anya wincing, halfway through the threshold.
“Myška!” he let a breathy chuckle.
She bit her lips and entered his office, closing the door behind her. “I am sorry.”
“You are so silent, like a mouse,” he laughed. “This is the third time you have snuck up on me. From now on, I will call you Myška.”
She sat at his desk, a hand over her heart. “I hope I did not cause you too much strife.”
He shook his head, finally catching his breath as his hands ran down his face. “No, I was relieved it was you, not someone else. Something else,” he laughed again.
She chuckled and set her notebook in front of her. “I went to the lab, but it was not you who was there.”
“Yes – forgive me. Heimerdinger has delegated several letters for me to write.”
“He has you doing quite a bit,” she noted.
Viktor shrugged and leaned back in his chair, rolling his neck. “I am assistant to the Dean,” he motioned to the various stacks of paper and notes for Heimerdinger. “I am to be prepared for anything.”
Anya thought silently, feeling her friend was being overworked. She said nothing, not wanting to plant a seed of resentment in him for his mentor.
“What was it you wanted to discuss?” he asked.
She brushed the thought aside and opened her notebook. “I went to my temple today, I spoke with an elder of mine about magic. She said that she knew of nothing that could fortify or tame a primordial crystal. It would take an immense amount of energy and power to do so. I have been looking over the sketches of the runes you gave me; with your permission, I would like to show them to her.”
It took a moment for her words and their implications to register for Viktor, his mind was still transitioning from the letter he had been writing – and he could feel his pain reliever was beginning to wear off. His eyes narrowed as his mind rewound her words and played them over again, and then once more. A sudden and moving notion occurred to him: She had waited for his permission, she understood the proprietary nature of his work – she respected him. He found himself more emotional than he thought he’d be, and he sat up as he finally nodded.
“Yes – of course. I trust your judgment.” Anya always had a keen sense of people and their character, thus he found himself lucky to be kept within her presence. It meant she trusted him as well.
Anya’s face glittered with a happy smile to hear his faith in her. “I will show my elder when I see her next.” She watched as her friend sighed and ran his hands over his features again. Dark circles permeated his eyes, and she felt the grip of worry over her chest. “Are you alright?”
“I am fine,” he reassured her and made from a drawer in his desk a pill box. It was discreet, painted with a fine stork pattern in different hues of blue, but Anya had been around medicine long enough to know precisely what it was. “Tired. With the approval of the HexTech project, I have been busier than usual.”
Anya remained silent as she watched him take two pills and swallow them dry. A thought crossed her mind, but she hesitated in how to ask. “Do you like working at the Academy?”
He winced as the last pill slid down his throat and he nodded. “I do. Despite its faults – like Derek,” they exchanged a knowing look, “it is rewarding to me.”
“It is not for the money?”
He chuckled and cocked his head, shuffling around his papers. “That is rewarding to me, too.”
“You do not have a patron,” it was not a question, but an acknowledgement.
He shook his head. “No, I do not.” He began to feel suspicious of her intrigue. “Why?”
“I would like to be your patron.”
Viktor nearly dropped a file into his lap. “What?”
“I do not like to see you so tired.”
“Anya, I am always tired.”
“You should be free to complete the projects you want to, not worried about what letters to scribe, and which files go where. You are a scientist, not a secretary.”
Viktor sighed and leaned on his desk. “I am not certain they would allow it.”
“Why not? It is my money – I do with it what I choose. No one gets to decide that for me.”
He glanced at her, knowing the feral feeling of wanting to control one’s finances after being set free from the bonds of poverty. He was not now impoverished as he had been as a child, but neither was he well-off like Jayce, or Heimerdinger, or certainly any member of the Council. He had a modest apartment inside the Academy near the laboratory, he had food, clothing, clean water – he always made a point to have clean water. He did honest work, and made an honest wage. The idea of a patron was odd, though tempting. But to take from Anya felt like a sin.
“You do not have to give me an answer now,” she said. “But I want you to think about it.” Anya stood to leave, and she caressed his jaw with the warmth of her hand. She started to laugh. “I want to share my cheese with you.”
He puzzled as he looked up at her.
“Myška. If I am a mouse, then let me share my food with you.”
He scoffed a breath and cast his eyes downward, away from her. The feeling of her hand as it pulled from his face left a disparity of warmth, and he did not realize his face followed her if only for a moment.
Another two hours went by, as Viktor sat in his office filing and writing, checking tasks off of his to-do list. It was tedious, but it was something he could busy himself while he pondered Anya’s offer. He knew she would never ask for anything in return, but that was part of what gave him pause. Her generosity was striking, and he felt that he would be taking advantage of her in some way if accepted. Whether that was true, or whether it was the consequence of financial trauma and the despair of growing up in Zaun, he was not aware. All he knew was that he did not want to look back on himself and find that he had become the picture of privilege he so despised. He found it an unlikely outcome, but to trust oneself unerringly was unwise.
Viktor arrived at the lab after he completed his list of tasks, and found Jayce was already engrossed in work on the crystal and the runes that went with it.
“Good afternoon,” he greeted his partner.
“Hm? Oh hey,” Jayce looked up and saw Viktor take his place at the other end of the workbench. “A woman came by to see you.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you. We spoke in my office.”
“Who is she? She’s beautiful.”
“Her name is Anya,” Viktor said and began to lay out notes he’d made the previous night of the runes and their meanings. “She is a potential donor to the Academy.” She was also the one who helped him with the notes in front of him, but he kept her magic to himself.
“Do you think she’ll come by again?”
“Most likely. I am her liaison, we have been in ongoing contact.”
“Since the Academy is funding HexTech, she might need someone to explain it to her,” Jayce hoped to coax him into introducing them.
“Yes, I have apprised her of the Academy’s involvement in HexTech,” Viktor said, without looking up.
Viktor wasn’t getting the hint. Then again, he never seemed to get many hints of any kind. He rolled his eyes and laid it out flat: “Can you introduce me to her?”
Viktor looked up and saw Jayce with an expectant expression. “If it is appropriate, yes. I will.”
Jayce returned to his work, seemingly satisfied with his response.
It had not occurred to Viktor that others sought her company for their unadulterated pleasure. He felt simple for the thought having not occurred to him before. Derek had been lustful of both her and her money, of what she could do for him – not only for his physical desires, but the status she could bring him if he had been able to solidify her as a recurring donor. Viktor did not know Jayce for as long as he had known Derek, though both had been his coworkers. Jayce seemed to have more integrity and decorum than Derek, with an affinity for beautiful and powerful women. Though he still believed that much like Derek, Jayce would not understand Anya’s culture; he feared that she would feel pestered by Jayce’s potential advances, and that Jayce would feel disappointed by her lack of reciprocation.
The thought occurred to him that she may reciprocate. However unlikely, it was still a possible outcome.
Something felt disquiet inside of him, and he settled himself to ignore it as he returned to his work.
She needed no protection, neither any guardian, nor any guide. But Viktor still felt a muted ferocity inside of him, that he should care for the person who had offered him lenity and refuge many years long past. He had nothing to give her in return for her gifts – both old and those she newly offered. He had nothing for her but his fealty and his worry.
Myška – It was he who was the mouse.