Looking on from outside, one would have thought that the latest event signaled the start of another conundrum in Michael’s life. Another plot, another mystery to be unveiled or fought against or just worried for.

But no.

Later that night, Michael received a |Message| Spell from Sinestra stating that everything was alright and that she was deeply sorry for the incident she caused. She said she had just gotten a minor panic attack. He contacted her, believing it to be a lie and asked for more details. After which the gorgon sent him a vocal message telling him that she had experienced a feminine problem and if Michael doesn’t know what that is he should document himself more on anatomy.

Michael… felt to embarrassed to continue the discussion. True, it still maybe felt like a lie, but what did he know about gorgon periods? Maybe it was because she was becoming more like her ancestors? The gorgons of old.

Even if not, she’s entitled to her secrets. I just hope she’s ok.

Which she seemed to be. Sunday came along and Michael saw Sinestra wander along the halls of Gnosis, just like any other time. She seemed a little under the weather, but that could mean… a number of things.

Be that as it may, he had the sense that just maybe this was something he should look into. And by ‘had the sense’, it meant that Gnosis literally blew a gust of wind, toppling him towards Sinestra.

Right, got it. Not the most subtle academy, are you?

Cursing his lack of concealment Spells, he turned to his friends for help in his investigation. And given that they were his friends, most of them weren’t of any help. None of them knew any Spells like that and only Alex knew of a few that existed, but hadn’t bothered to learn any.

I need to make more friends from my own faction.

He was considering approaching Mihli or Laen when Micah came to the rescue.

“What’s this?”

“Shadowdust. Sprinkle this on top of you and light’s gonna bend around you. Make you harder to see.”

“Right. And won’t a shadowy shape alarm people, when they see it roaming around the hallways?”

“Uhm, no?” Micah laughed. “Honestly, how many weird things you see on an hourly basis?”

There were around three mages trying to be stealthy in the very corridor they were discussing at that given time, so Michael had to agree his friend was right. One of them even looked like a human-shaped chameleon.

“Wait, why do you have this?” he asked, suspiciously.

“What? Can’t a lycan be concerned about his intimacy?”

“I’m more worried about the intimacy of others.”

Micah tried to be serious, but burst out in laughter.

“Fine, fine. I’m seeing this lycan girl from the second year. But people get antsy when they see lycans together, so we use this.”

“Really? Who? Spill!”

“Nope.”

“But I told you about Erea. More than I should have, because if she finds out she’ll kill both of us.”

“I don’t think she’d care. Not every species is as closeted as humans.”

“Says the lycan that won’t tell his friend any details.”

“Don’t you have a mission to do?”

“Fine, but this discussion isn’t finished.”

“Sure it isn’t.” Micah smiled.

Michael laughed and waved him away. And waited for the lycan to get to the end of hallways, before he shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Go get her, tiger!”

He could feel Micah’s embarrassment from forty feet away, especially in the complete silence that followed. Was it juvenile? Yes. But was it good to get one over Micah? Oh, yes.

Fun ended, Michael used the sprinkled shadow and noticed that it did make him hard to see. If someone wasn’t standing right next to him, they wouldn’t have known it was him. They would have only seen a darkened shape roaming around the academy. Which, like Micah pointed out, wasn’t anything unusual.

Michael spent the rest of his day tailing Sinestra. And for the better part of it, he didn’t find anything that he didn’t already know. The gorgon was chatty, spending a massive amount of time talking with high-mages, mages, students and even some of the more aware golems. The gorgon was lazy, Sinestra spending more than two hours for a single lunch. Not just eating either, though she ate excruciatingly slow. No, she also allowed her lunch to settle by napping on one of the nearby sofas for another hour or so. Michael though his day was a bust when he suddenly saw the gorgon flinch, while walking through a random hallway.

She cheques her surroundings, but Michael was already hidden behind a suit of armor. Which was gently trying to push him away, but that was neither here nor there. The gorgon, seeming satisfied, turned left and knocked and on the wall. Which didn’t seem as crazy at it seemed a second ago, because the wall opened and Kelunad stepped out.

He was too far away to listen in and they probably had privacy wards regardless, but Michel saw Sinestra energetically talk Kelunad’s ears off. At which point the tall orc placed a hand on her shoulder, smiled at her and gave her a ring.

…what?

Sinestra smiled and put in on her finger, at which point she seemed to be more mollified.

The orc gestured and asked something which seemed lime a question, at which the gorgon smiled even more and slithered in. With a final look around, the orc closed the door, the wall once more becoming nothing more than a wall.

I spent all day snooping around only to find a love tryst?

To compound shame to misery, the suit of armor finally got fed up with his antics and shoved him away.

***

Michael woke up on Monday to find one of his |Communication| Scrolls filled with news. It never contained anything like pertinent information, since secrets always cost something in Gnosis, but it did occasionally contain an interesting tidbit of information.

You see, Gnosis didn’t have an official gossip faction or if it did Michael didn’t know it, but it did have something of a loose guild, formed by a lot of informed loose-lipped mages. In which Micah was a prodigy, which is why Michael had actually got the chance to buy such an interesting minor artifact.

And it was now full of messages all speaking of the same subject.

Sinestra’s boning Kelunad. Confirmed!

Don’t say ‘confirmed’ unless you got actual proof.

We have five confirmed sightings, by four different mages, all tested under truth-bell. Is that ‘confirmed’ enough for you?

Yeah, I saw them too. I had Class with her this morning and she’s glowing.

And grinning.

No, I meant really glowing. She gave her jewelry.

What, really?

Confirmed, multiple minor artifacts. And a ring.

But how would they do it, anyways? Is anyone here a gorgon?

Micah here. I am completely condfident that Kelunad is capable of pounding that tail.

Lewd.

Don’t do jokes, junior, else the entire discussion turns to shit.

Sorry.

But really, anyone knows is this thing is romantic in nature or…?

Don’t know. Hey, whoever got Class with her this morning, does her scarf looked roughed up?

The messages continued in the same nature, but the only serious facts Michael got was that Sinestra was indeed sporting a series of new magical artifacts and that more than himself had noticed her meeting with Kelunad. From the looks of it, it wasn’t even a single event. There had been multiple spottings. Other than some maybe-real tidbits about inter-species intercourse, he learned nothing more noteworthy.

Huh. Maybe gorgons have a mating season? Oh well, good for her.

Sinestra was happy, Kelunad probably bit more than he could chew and Michael decided whatever it was, it was nothing he needed to worry too much about.

His Monday Class with her certainly reinforced that idea. They were currently being taught about how mana could permeate a physical or partially-physical object enough that it changed its entire nature to be magical. Either it became a reservoir of magic or it developed properties allowing it to interact with magic, which made some types of stone and soil useful as alchemical ingredients. And no one was listening to the lesson.

Everybody was instead peeping at their teacher. Rightfully so, since the Gorgon was all smiles. She looked, well, she looked more relieved than happy to Michael, but he doubted anyone else but him would have noticed that detail. Since most of the class was staring at her gifts. Bracelets, earrings, rings and a pendant. They all glowed with magical power, which made them even more attractive to look at. The gorgon certainly noticed the looks and she seemed to even be preening under them.

And no, her scarf didn’t look roughed up.

All of that lasted until the end of the Class when something happened. Because something always happens. A golem walked in the Class, one of the ceramic ones that were capable of primitive speech. Mages used them to run simple errands, since they could comprehend complex commands. This one seemed to have been used as a messenger.

“Delivery for Mage Sinestra.” Its quiet voice said, speaking without inflection.

“Oh. Thank you.” She said, sounding surprised. “Just place it on the desk.”

“Just place it on the desk.”

“Magical signature required for confirmation of delivery.”

“Magical signature? That’s such an old- Who sent this?”

“Package sent by Artificers faction.”

“Artificers? As in, as a whole?”

The golem just stared at her. It was smarter than most, but that… wasn’t saying much.

In any case, Michael knew the process. He saw Regitris and other traditionally-inclined mages use it. You touched the golem, channeled a bit of magic and ‘confirmed’ your identity. It didn’t look like it could be used for harm and the old elf had confirmed that, but Sinestra didn’t look like she wanted to do it.

“Well, just send it back. Have the sender give it to me in person if they want to be so old-fashioned.” She laughed.

The golem hesitated, but raised the package once more.

“Magical signature required for confirmation of delivery.”

“I got that.” She said slowly. “And I don’t want it. Send it back.”

“Magical signature required for confirmation of delivery.”

“Are these things broken again? You, girl, you’re an Artificer, right?”

“Yes, Mage Sinestra.” A bookish first-year said.

“Any malfunctions with the-“

“Magical signature required for confirmation of delivery.”

“-golems reported as of late?”

“Uhm, no Mage Sinestra. Not that I’ve heard.”

“Huh. Well, tell your faction that they need to do their maintenance checks more often.”

“Yes, Mage-“

“Magical signature required for confirmation of delivery.”

“Would you stop?”

The gorgon slithered closer to it, inspecting it, but the golem didn’t look tampered with or at all threatening. Just simply annoying.

Gnosis, any idea what this is?

The world wibbled around him as in a shrug.

“Magical signature required for confirmation of delivery.”

“I know you can understand this, kind of. So. Leave or I will blast you.” She said, with more force than Michael thought was necessary.

After all, the golem was only doing its job. And it seemed to understand the message, because it shifted uncertainly. But then it spoke again.

“Magical signature-“

“Shut up!”

Sinestra was furious. And… scared?

Why?

She didn’t reach for her wand, but one of her rings was glowing.

And then it happened. Whatever primitive mind guided the golem was faced with a conundrum. He needed to deliver the package, but for that he needed a touch. Yet the recipient was unwilling to provide said touch. Not delivering the package was a failure was failure was not an option. So what could the golem do, if the recipient was unwilling to provide magical signature?

If Melissa had been there, she would have told Michael that golems are ‘programmed’ to serve mages as best they can. And because most mages are lazy and unwilling to do even the simplest of tasks, golems are instructed to go ‘the extra mile’. Perhaps this golem thought Sinestra was simply lazy. Perhaps he thought the act of raising a hand to much of a burden for the mage. So that is what it did. He tried to help.

“No!” Sinestra screamed, haid going to clutch the pendant on her chest.

A shimmering orb of magic appeared around her, called into existence to protect her. But the golem had already touched her, a single of its fingers lightly laying on her shoulder. The orb of force appeared around its forearm, cracking it and a second later it cleaved it right off.

But by then it was already too late.

“Magical signature not found. Returning back to sender.”

With that, the golem turned around and carried the package out of the classroom, leaving half his arm on the floor. Sinestra’s shield winked out of existence and she turned only a single look of frightened surprise towards the students, before she dashed out of the classroom herself.

And was when the hubbub broke out. Everyone seemed to have an opinion on what just happened, but they were all converging along a single line of thought. One that Micah perfectly enunciated, as he leaned over and exclaimed in Michael’s ear.

“Dude! Kelunad must have boned the magic right out of her!”