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Farah Dowling had learned, over the years, that there were very few sentences beginning with Queen Luna has requested that ended with anything she particularly wanted. This one was proving no exception.
“She'll be joining Alfea at the beginning of the next term.”
Farah remained perfectly still behind her desk, the letter resting between her fingers. She had read it twice already, not because anything about Luna's instructions was unclear, but because she had been giving herself the opportunity to become less irritated before responding.
“Joining,” she repeated.
Ben, seated opposite her, had the good sense not to smile. “That's what it says.”
“Yes, I can read.”
“I know.”
Farah gave him a look before returning her attention to the letter. The name written there was familiar, it would have been difficult for it not to be.
Even without following her work particularly closely, Farah knew of her, most people moving between academic, political and magical circles did. She had worked with researchers across several kingdoms, consulted on matters that had extended well beyond the jurisdiction of any one of them and published enough over the years that her name had become one of those occasionally encountered in journals, conferences and conversations between people who assumed everyone in the room already knew who they were discussing. She was, by every account Farah had encountered, exceptionally good at what she did.
That wasn't the problem, the problem was that Farah hadn't hired her.
“Apparently Luna has been trying to convince her for some time,” Ben said.
“So she mentions.”
“And succeeded.”
“So she repeatedly mentions.”
Alfea was not unfamiliar with royal involvement. Pretending otherwise would have been both naïve and historically inaccurate. There was, however, a considerable difference between accepting the realities of Solarian influence and appreciating having a member of staff deposited neatly into her school by royal decree...Particularly when Luna had anticipated every possible objection.
Experience? Considerable. Academic credentials? Impeccable. Research? Extensive. Teaching experience? Enough that Farah couldn't even object on the perfectly reasonable grounds that an accomplished researcher did not necessarily belong in a classroom.
Even her magic was noteworthy, a Light Fairy, and by all available accounts a remarkably accomplished one, Luna had effectively presented Farah with an extraordinarily qualified woman and then dared her to find a professional reason to say no.
Farah disliked being cornered almost as much as Luna enjoyed doing it.
“She may be perfectly competent,” Farah said, folding the letter, “but I would still prefer to choose the people working in my own school.”
“Of course.”
“And I will not have her treated differently simply because Luna has taken a personal interest in bringing her here.”
“Of course.”
Farah's eyes narrowed. “You can stop agreeing with me.”
“I could.”
She decided not to dignify that with an answer. There was little point in protesting further anyway, the decision had been made, arrangements were already underway and Farah had no intention of directing her irritation toward someone whose only apparent crime was accepting an offer made by the Queen of Solaria.
She could be professional, she was always professional. That conviction lasted remarkably well until the woman herself arrived at Alfea.
Farah had expected confidence, someone with that sort of career rarely survived without it, she had perhaps expected a certain amount of arrogance too, although she had been determined not to judge her for it prematurely.
What she hadn't expected was warmth.
The woman standing in her office smiled when Farah greeted her, offered her hand without the slightest trace of nervousness and somehow managed to carry herself with complete assurance without turning it into a performance.
“Headmistress Dowling.”
“Professor.”
“I'm beginning to think you can use my name...Unless Luna has neglected to tell you that as well.”
Farah paused. Then, despite herself, smiled.
Their first conversation lasted considerably longer than Farah had intended.
She discovered quickly that Luna's letter had somehow managed to be both excessively self-congratulatory and annoyingly accurate. The woman knew her field and more importantly, she knew where its limits were, when Farah questioned her about the balance between her research and teaching responsibilities she didn't promise an impossible workload merely to impress her, when they discussed Alfea's facilities she had questions rather than demands and when Farah challenged one of her proposed research directions, she considered the objection instead of defending herself reflexively.
By the time she left the office, Farah had acquired an entirely new reason to be annoyed with Luna...She had been right and the following weeks did very little to improve matters.
The students responded to their new professor almost immediately. Farah saw enough during brief visits and the occasional walk past an open classroom to understand why, she was confident without being rigid, demanding without seeming interested in intimidation and perhaps most importantly, genuinely interested in what happened when a student disagreed with her. Farah once heard a student challenge one of her conclusions and instead of correcting him, she leaned against the edge of her desk and smirked.
“Then prove me wrong.”
The boy stared at her.
“So I can?”
“If your argument survives the evidence.”
Farah continued walking before anyone noticed her standing outside, she was smiling. It was becoming inconvenient.
Some weeks after the new professor's arrival, Farah found herself seated beside her in a meeting room while a pale golden light gathered above the table. The magic belonged to the woman beside her.
With an almost absent movement of her fingers, the light sharpened, stretched and settled into the unmistakable figure of Queen Luna. Beside her, the Light Fairy lowered her hand and regarded the projection with considerably less ceremony.
“Your Majesty.” Luna's image smiled.
“I'm pleased to see Alfea hasn't frightened you away yet.”
The woman beside Farah smiled back.
“Give it time.”
Farah glanced at her and Luna began the meeting, the first twenty minutes were uneventful. Luna wanted an update on several ongoing projects, most of which Farah had already included in her reports but she answered anyway, occasionally passing a question to the woman beside her when it concerned one of the research programmes she had inherited.
Then Luna mentioned oversight.
That made Farah's attention sharpen.
“I want potentially sensitive findings submitted to the Crown before they're circulated outside Solaria.”
There it was, Farah drew a breath.
“No.”
The word came from beside her and she turned her head, Luna did too. For a moment, the room was very quiet.
“Excuse me?” Luna asked.
“If Alfea conducts the research independently, the Crown cannot be its sole authority for external publication.”
Luna's expression cooled. “We're discussing information that could have military applications.”
“Yes. Which is precisely why giving a single kingdom control over its distribution would be a mistake.”
Farah said nothing, she had been prepared to make almost exactly that argument.
Luna leaned back. “Solaria funds Alfea.”
“In part.”
“And protects it.”
“Also in part.”
There wasn't a trace of hesitation in her voice and suddenly Farah found herself watching her rather than Luna.
“The Eraklyon restrictions of twenty-seven years ago were introduced for the same reason,” she continued. “Three independent studies were withheld for nearly eighteen months. One had no military application whatsoever, but contradicted a position the Crown was defending at the time.”
“That was Eraklyon.”
“Yes.” The Light Fairy folded her hands on the table. “That's rather my point.”
Farah's mouth threatened to curve and Luna noticed, her eyes moved briefly toward Farah before returning to the woman beside her.
“And what would you suggest instead?”
“A review council. Alfea appoints one representative, Solaria another, and any research involving another kingdom requires an independent representative from outside both jurisdictions. No single party gets veto power.”
Luna considered her. “And if they disagree?”
“Then they provide evidence until they don't.”
That did it, Farah looked down, disguising her smile as an entirely unnecessary examination of the papers before her.
“I'll consider it,” Luna finally said.
“That's all I'm asking.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
A small smile appeared on the Light Fairy's face.
“You know me too well.”
The meeting ended several minutes later, the golden projection dissolved, scattering briefly across the table before disappearing into nothing and Farah remained seated. Beside her, the Light Fairy began gathering her notes.
“You were going to argue with her,” she said looking at Farah.
“I was.”
“Sorry.”
“Don't be.”
The woman stopped, their eyes met and something subtle changed in her expression. Not surprise, exactly...Recognition. Farah knew immediately that she'd been caught staring, what she hadn't expected was the slow, almost imperceptible flirty smile that followed.
The Light Fairy returned her attention to her notes, gathering the last of them into a neat pile, the smirk still on her lips, Farah did the same, although considerably less efficiently than she would have liked.
“You know, I was wondering if you'd have dinner with me.”
Farah glanced up. The invitation was unexpected, but hardly unusual after all, they had been working together for some weeks now, and there was certainly enough left unresolved after Luna's meeting to justify continuing the conversation elsewhere.
“Of course.” Farah slipped the last document into its folder. “There's a restaurant nearby that should be quiet enough, we could discuss the research council without Luna glaring at us from the middle of the table.”
The Ligh Fairy stopped what she was doing, raised and eyebrow and then laughed.
Farah's brow furrowed. “What?”
“No.”
“No?”
“I don't want to discuss the research council.”
Something in her tone made Farah reconsider the conversation and suddenly she felt...nervous.
“I see.”
The smile returned. “I don't think you do.”
“Then perhaps you'd better explain.”
“I was asking you to dinner, Farah.”
There was enough emphasis on her name that clarification was becoming increasingly unnecessary. Still, Farah remained silent.
The woman watched her for a moment before her expression softened.
“Luna told you she spent months trying to convince me to come to Alfea, didn't she?”
“Repeatedly.”
“I thought so.” She shook her head, amused. “What she neglected to mention is that this wasn't the first position she offered me.”
That caught Farah's attention.
“I've turned her down before.”
“Why?”
“Because I had no reason to leave. I liked my work, I had access to the institutions I needed, enough freedom to move between kingdoms, and absolutely no desire to reorganize my life simply because Queen Luna had decided I would look good on Solaria's staff.”
Farah couldn't prevent the small smile that appeared.
“That does sound like Luna.”
“It does.”
“Then what changed?”
The question came easily, the answer did not.
“You.”
Farah went still and for perhaps the first time since she'd arrived at Alfea, the Light Fairy looked openly pleased with herself that made her narrow her eyes slightly.
“You seem to be enjoying this.”
“More than I expected.”
“I see.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I'm beginning to regret it.”
She laughed again, but when she spoke next, the teasing had softened.
“I knew who you were long before I came here. Your reputation isn't exactly confined to Alfea.”
Farah said nothing.
“I've encountered your work. I've heard about the things you've done, the decisions you've made. I've worked with people who know you and others who have very strong opinions about you.”
“I imagine they do.”
“They really do.” Her smile became even softer. “I was interested,” she continued. “Not enough to uproot my life based on a reputation, but enough that when Luna approached me again, Alfea suddenly seemed considerably more appealing than her castle.”
There was surprise written all over Farah's face and maybe a small blushing too.
“You accepted the position because you wanted to meet me?”
“You were one of the deciding factors.”
There was something almost worse about the precision of that answer and the tone the fairy was saying it. It wasn't flattery, she wasn't claiming to have crossed kingdoms for a woman she'd never met, she had simply been curious, interested, Farah Dowling had been interesting enough to tip the scales.
“And now you've met me,” Farah said.
“I have.”
Farah waited while the Light Fairy held her gaze.
“And?”
Another smile, it was absolutely flirty now, no doubts and Farah was beginning to suspect she would eventually learn to fear those.
“And I'd like to know you better.”
“You've been working with me for several weeks.”
“Professionally.”
Ah...There it was, the woman stepped closer to the table, resting her fingertips lightly against its edge and that made Farah's heart beat faster.
“I already know Headmistress Dowling considerably better than I did when I arrived. She's intelligent, stubborn, infuriatingly difficult to argue with and apparently enjoys watching me argue with queens.”
“I wasn't aware I was enjoying myself.”
The look she received made the lie entirely pointless, Farah conceded with the smallest tilt of her head.
“Perhaps a little.”
“I noticed.”
She inched closer to Farah and whispered.
“But I'm interested in Farah.”
And for once, Farah had no immediate response. The woman who had contradicted Queen Luna without hesitation only minutes earlier seemed perfectly content to let the silence remain.
“I'd like to have dinner with her,” she continued. “No research council, no programme proposals, no pretending we're continuing a meeting because that would be more professionally convenient.”
Farah found her voice...barely.
“You're asking me on a date?"
“I am.”
No hesitation, no convenient ambiguity and that...was getting to Farah in ways not even her expected, she regarded her for several seconds and then, slowly, she smiled.
“The restaurant I mentioned is still quite good.”
The Light Fairy's expression brightened.
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes.”
Farah stood, suddenly too focused on arraging the folders on the table and said without looking at the other fairy.
“And just so we're clear, I have no intention of discussing Luna over dinner.”
“Thank God.”
“Or the research council.”
“Even better.”
Only then she moved toward the door, but stopped when she realized the other woman hadn't followed. She was watching her, Farah raised an eyebrow.
“Something else?”
That same flirty smile appeared for the third time.
“No.” She picked up her notes and joined her. “I was just enjoying finally being the one who caught Farah Dowling off guard.”
Farah opened the door.
“Enjoy it while it lasts.”
The Light Fairy walked past her, still smiling.
“Oh, I intend to.”
Farah watched her go for exactly one second longer than was strictly necessary and then followed.
Dinner, apparently, had just become considerably more interesting.