Making her way down the stairs slightly more gracefully than when she was in zombie mode before breakfast, she entered the common room again. There were more people now, and she looked around for Raph, seeing him talking to several of the student people at one of the tables. Smiling, she walked over and announced, “Let’s do this thang!” When one of the students backed up, startled by her outburst, and promptly bumped into her, she sat down heavily and muttered, “You threw off my groove.”
“Sorry, what was that?” The kid was peering guiltily at her while she rubbed her shin.
She shook her head, waving him off. “Don’t worry about it…” You wouldn’t understand even if I tried to tell you. My pop culture references are completely lost on you people. Raphael had stood up by this point, straightening his clothes.
“You’re finally ready?”
“No, I just announced I was as a joke,” she bit back sarcastically. He raised a brow and she sighed in exasperation. “Fine, let’s go already.” He considered her quizzically, and she couldn’t help but retort, “Just let it go.” It was getting increasingly harder for her to not burst into Disney songs. When she learned ice magic, she was going to have fun trying to recreate it. Maybe she’d be an actress?
She had absently followed Raphael outside, smiling when he held the door open for her. Who said chivalry was dead? She did stop for a moment when she got outside to squint at the sparkling sunshine again. When was she going to get used to the light? Light? Was she forgetting something? “Hey, wait up!” She realized Raphael had already started off and she hurried to catch up, stilting quickly over behind him.
“Still not used to walking?”
She glared. “Still? It’s only day freaking two. I bet it took you at least two years to learn to walk! I’m miles ahead of you.”
He appeared confused at something she’d said, but she wasn’t sure what and he didn’t seem to be in the mood to elaborate. “Whatever. Can we just go? They were expecting us an hour ago.” She raised her brow and deliberately slowed down. He had started walking and only glanced back when he realized she wasn’t behind him anymore. “For heaven’s sake, can you just work with me here?” he muttered as he stomped back to her grumpily.
She crossed her arms and stopped altogether. “First off, you never gave me a time. Second, until you give me a watch, I’ll have no idea what time it is. Third, I’m not your subordinate, so stop trying to order me around. Fourth, I didn’t even want to do this today, so don’t get all snippy on me just because I’m not pumped to follow your little plan. I’m not a puppet to dance on your strings. If this is going to be an issue, then we can call the whole thing off right now and I’ll find somewhere else to stay. I’m sure a bunch of people would be happy to have a healer live with them.”
She was ranting, but he appeared dumbfounded. Running a hand through his hair, he defended himself quietly, trying not to draw any more attention than they were already, “Look. My job is to keep the students at The Green Dragon in line so they don’t get in trouble. I’ve been treating you like I treat any one of them.”
She glowered, but it made a little bit of sense. Still, she retorted, “Well I’m waiting until tomorrow to do this exam thing. I don’t even know that I want to join your little academy.”
He contemplated the sky as if he was silently asking for patience. “Please don’t call it a little academy in front of the examiners. Also, if you pass the examinations, you’ll get a pass to the library.” He had now resorted to bribery...and she admitted it was actually pretty tempting. She really wanted to rub her pass in that guy Lucas’s face. Although how he knew she wanted to visit the library was a mystery, until she reflected on it some more and realized he was the boss of The Green Dragon. The real question was how much of their conversations were Jessica and Kaylee reporting to him? Either way, she supposed she did want that library pass sooner than later.
“Fine.” She grudgingly gave in and he nodded gratefully, turning to walk again, glancing back every few seconds to make sure she was still tottering behind him. Surprise, surprise, he led her to the huge government building in Priom Square. Going inside, he greeted the dude at the desk and led her to the left. The dude was appraising her curiously, and she nodded politely to him.
They walked into a brightly lit room that seemed more like the fancy teachers’ lounges she’d seen in a couple of anime. She caught the tail end of what one of them was saying, “...finally here. We’ve been waiting over an hour…”
She glared at Raphael. She wasn’t about to explain herself. He greeted them first, having seen her look and seemingly wanting to cut off her normal caustic remarks. “Stephen, Eric, Jarom, this is Jade, the healer we were searching for. Sorry we’re late, I forgot to tell her that I’d made an appointment first thing this morning.” He was taking the blame for it, and rightfully so. However, due to the disdainful looks the three of them were giving both her and Raphael, she had a sinking feeling. Apparently Raphael wasn’t as high on the food chain as she thought. He also appeared a little younger than these guys, who appeared to be somewhere around their thirties.
“So this is the little healer? I can see why they called her a zombie…” The guy on the far right was the first to speak. With short brown hair, middling brown eyes, and a barely concealed body that felt like he’d escaped from Gladiator to support the massive amount of weapons openly displayed about his person atop his dark green tunic, she supposed if anyone was going to call her little, he was qualified. Still, she wasn’t happy about it.
She stepped forward, staring them down as she said simply, “I’m the healer, yes. Call me a zombie one more time, and I’ll shove my fist in your mouth.” Of course, that only happened in her head. Gritting her teeth, she managed to stop herself from spitting it out—barely. Raphael seemed worried at how she was going to respond too, but she wasn’t stupid. While she’d been pushing her boundaries with the people around her to see how far they stretched, messing with the upper echelons of society when she currently had no backing probably wasn’t the smartest idea ever, especially when they were huge and heavily armed.
Instead, she smiled sweetly. If you can’t beat them, and these guys looked like they could pretty much take anyone else she had seen so far in a fight, make them your underlings. She’d much rather be on good terms with the upper echelon of society so that she didn’t have to fend for herself. She was pretty sure she’d be fine, but why struggle pointlessly when they wanted to give her resources? Also, the library. She needed them so she could access the library. So she fought down her impulse to butt heads with them and smiled sweetly. “I’m Jade. It’s lovely to meet you.” She bobbed a small awkward curtsey.
Her smile and whole glossing-over-the-insult thing was a little outside their expectations, making it clear they’d expected or perhaps even wanted her to blow up so they could put her in her place. Concentrating, she moved slowly so that the motion would be smooth and glided over towards them, head held high. She took a seat primly, smiling serenely. I am as calm as a glassy lake. Nothing you throw at me will cause any ripples.
“I realize you’re probably very busy, so shall we get started? What information do you need from me?” Raphael was gawking a little bit, and Jade sent him a look, trying to tell him to get his act together and not ruin her moment.
He seemed to compose himself and muttered, “I’ll just wait outside.” He quickly made his escape, afraid that if he stayed, he was going to either blurt out something he shouldn’t or ruin whatever she was cooking up in her traveler's brain.
After he’d left, the three returned their gazes to her, sitting down as well. They seemed slightly impressed by the regal poise and bearing she was exuding. In all honesty, she was just trying to mimic how Lady Catherine had held herself. She was a detestable woman, but she had poise down if you ignored the indications that she perpetually had something rotten under her nose.