Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«Why, Taiven, are you suggesting that House Reid has something to do with organized crime?» Zorian asked with a small smile. «That’s quite a serious accusation, you know. Nothing was ever proven, after all.»

«Whatever. The bottom point is that I’m not going anywhere near the gangster princess. Anyone else?»

Zorian scanned the crowd again. To be honest, he always found Kopriva to be a pleasant enough person to talk to, at least in the small number of times they actually interacted. She was a bit blunt and had a habit of swearing like a sailor when things didn’t go her way, but she never did anything… well, gangster-y. A small group of girls glancing his way suddenly caught his eye.

«See that group of five girls over there?» he said to Taiven. «That would be Jade, Neolu, Maya, Kiana and Elsie.»

«They look… giggly,» said Taiven with a sour expression. «Pass.»

«Oh it’s too late for that,» said Zorian. «See how they’re glancing in our direction? They’ve already noticed us and are debating how best to approach and interrogate us.»

«Zorian, don’t tempt fate,» Taiven warned him.

«It’s not tempting fate, it’s knowing your enemy. They just saw one of their classmates walking around with a girl they know nothing about — there is no way those five would let that go without investigating,» said Zorian, even as the group of girls he spoke of shared a nod and marched over in their direction. «See, what did I tell you? They’re already coming this way.»

Taiven gave him a quiet groan, but then quickly schooled her face into a pleasant façade as the girls approached. Zorian understood her perfectly — he wasn’t particularly looking forward to the upcoming conversation, but he knew it was coming the moment he had entered the room so he was prepared for it. And, while he didn’t really think any of those 5 was the third time traveler, he had promised to himself he wouldn’t skip over any candidates without giving them at least a cursory scrutiny.

This was going to be a long evening.

True to his prediction, once the introductions were done and the actual dancing had started, Taiven found herself some tall, handsome older student and left him to find someone else on his own. Whatever, he didn’t like dancing anyway. He promptly used his expert skills at avoiding attention to retreat to the periphery of the dancing throng, seeking some out of the way corner where no one would bother him. He quickly noticed he wasn’t the only one who had that idea. Tinami Aope seemed to have already found one such corner and was… looking pretty awkward, actually. Ho-hum. Somehow he doubted she really wanted to be left alone, with a face like that.

«Hello, Tinami,» he greeted, causing her to jerk in shock at being addressed.

«Um…» she fumbled. «Zorian, right?»

«That’s me,» confirmed Zorian. «Care for a dance?»

«Oh. Oh! But didn’t you already come with a girlfriend? Won’t she mind?» Tinami asked.

Zorian pointed towards the spot where Taiven was dancing with her partner. «Also, Taiven is just a friend, not a girlfriend.»

«Ah,» she said, fidgeting uncomfortably. Zorian wordlessly offered his hand to her. «Um, okay then…» she said, grabbing Zorian’s offered hand with surprising forcefulness and dutifully following him onto the dance floor.

In the next 30 minutes, Zorian tried to engage Tinami in conversation with only mild success, and he suspected it was only because of these highly specific circumstances she was willing to open up even a little to him. She really was a very shy girl, and he somehow doubted she was secretly the third time traveler pretending. Her awkwardness seemed quite real, and surely a time traveler as old as Zach would have grown out of that by now?

«So as a hobby, you raise… spiders?» asked Zorian curiously.

«Tarantulas,» she corrected insistently. «But, um, I kind of like spiders of all sorts. I know it’s weird, but…»

«Nonsense,» countered Zorian good-naturally. What could possibly be weird about a shy, delicate-looking girl breeding big, hairy arachnids the size of a human hand? «Spiders are really quite amazing creatures. Though I prefer jumping spiders myself — those two giant eyes at the front somehow make them more human-like and relatable for me.»

Tinami gave him an incredulous look before frowning. «You’re making fun of me,» she accused.

«Nope,» Zorian countered with an easy smile. «In fact, there is a particularly large colony of jumping spiders that I visit on a regular basis. It’s amazing what you can learn by observing the natural world.»