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The sparrows looked especially pleased with themselves, as far as sparrows could look. Kel eyed them warily, but she fed them as usual before she went about her morning glaive practice and then made her way to the mess hall.
Joren was late to breakfast. The other pages began to grumble as Wyldon kept them standing, and Kel began to wonder if that was somehow related to the sparrow’s smugness that morning. After a few minutes, she heard the sound of running feet in the hall, followed by-- was that honking?
Joren burst through the mess hall doors, looking more disheveled than Kel had ever seen him. He wasn’t in uniform-- it looked like he hadn’t changed out of his sleeping things, his hair stuck up in odd clumps, and there were several marks on his face and arms. Running after him was a goose.
The hall exploded into chaos. Garvey and Vinson both surged forward, trying to grab the goose. Vinson got what looked like a very painful bite to his hand for his trouble. Garvey then went at it with his dagger, but the goose seemed to escape each strike with no harm other than the occasional feather fluttering to the floor.
“Queenscove, fetch the Wildmage!” Wyldon ordered, and Neal sprinted out of the hall, looking relieved to have the excuse. Joren dived for cover behind the row of pages, throwing himself into the spot Neal had abandoned and shoving Kel towards the goose.
Kel caught herself on the ground and bounced up, bracing herself as the goose barrelled towards her, arms raised to protect her face. The goose, however, dodged neatly around her, seemingly focused entirely on Joren. He let out another whimpered scream and dived across the table. The goose leapt to follow and flapped its wings, hissing, as it vaulted. Wyldon made to grab it out of the air, but it slipped through his hands, continuing in its apparent vendetta.
Several minutes, three overturned tables, and a half-dozen more bites later, the goose was halted in its tracks by a stream of bronze magic. Daine hurried up to it, and the two stared at each other for a long time.
Kel watched curiously as Daine’s face flitted from confusion to anger to amusement to stubbornness. Eventually she let the magic drop, and the goose was still at her side, looking grumpy but docile.
“He says he will leave the horrible page alone for now,” she said, her lips twitching, “but if he continues to chase others ragged and attack them for no reason, he will be reminded again why that is an unpleasant thing to do.”
“You dare,” Joren began, lunging towards Daine.
Wyldon had been staring calculatingly at Joren as Daine spoke, and he cleared his throat now. “I believe, Joren of Stone Mountain, that the Wildmage was simply translating the bird’s message,” he said dryly. “But I am, of course, not one to deny you your noble rights and privilege if you would like to demand a duel from the goose.”
Joren whirled on him, fury etched all over his face. “This is an outrage,” he declared. “Clearly the Wildmage is responsible, or--” he turned towards Kel, who kept her face carefully blank.
“You may return to your rooms to clean up and then report to my office after breakfast,” Wyldon said, the dismissal clear in his voice.
Joren glared at him for another moment and then turned and stomped out of the hall. The goose’s gaze followed him closely, but it did not move from Daine’s side.
Wyldon rubbed his temples. “Dear Mithros, we ask for blessings on this food and peace from unexpected threats, and character for all who study here. So mote it be.”
“So mote it be,” the hall echoed.
“Restore the room to order and then you may eat,” Wyldon said, gesturing around at the disheveled room before nearly collapsing into his seat at the head table.
“You don’t seem surprised,” Neal remarked as he and Kel turned a bench together. “Not that you ever do, but…”
Kel shrugged. “The sparrows seemed like they were up to something,” she admitted, “but I didn’t know what.”
Neal stared at her, the stack of plates he’d retrieved from the floor frozen a few inches above the table. Kel sighed and took them from him to set them down. “Get a move on,” she said, giving him a gentle shove towards the closest pile of things that still needed to be picked up. “I’m hungry.”
