There were affirmations of various strengths from around the table. As Nava had guessed, Darius Miller and Leland Harlow were the least happy with the situation. Courtney looked a little conflicted and Nava was not entirely sure why that was. Mitsuko was going to be in for an interesting ride, that was for sure.
~~~
The principal of SAS2 got to his feet and rounded his desk as Mitsuko entered the room just behind Nava. If you had that kind of mindset, it was something of a comical sight watching them shake hands. Nava did not have that mindset, especially since the humour stemmed from an issue she could empathise with.
Auberon Ewart Orlando was not a tall man. He was, in fact, some two centimetres shorter than Nava. That put him at a little under seventeen centimetres shorter than Mitsuko without adding her fifteen-centimetre heels. A man of his stature had clearly had nothing to do with the uniform regulations. What he lacked in height, he made up for in personality. He was a slim man expanding a little in the stomach, the result of lack of exercise, no doubt. Dark hair was trimmed to fall almost to his shoulders in a slightly wavy curtain. His eyes were a bright blue and sparkled with wit and intelligence. He had exceptionally pale skin which added to his somewhat odd appearance. Unlike the rest of the faculty, Auberon Ewart wore a business suit. A pale-grey business suit with a pink pinstripe. His tie was an almost incandescent shade of baby pink and he had pink spats on his dress shoes. His smile had the odd characteristic of appearing to be far too wide for his face, and he smiled a great deal. School rumour suggested that he was gay – not that anyone would care about that – or asexual or that he kept a large collection of anthropomorphic animal droids in his private residence. His magical speciality was illusion, but he was a very skilled, very creative sorcerer and those who took him at face value tended to regret it.
‘Principal,’ Mitsuko said, returning the smile, if not quite as brightly.
‘President,’ Auberon said in reply. ‘Now that that’s over with, you’ll call me Auberon when we’re in private.’
‘If you’ll call me Mitsuko.’
‘Just so. And this young lady is Vice Principal Joslyn Harris Daison.’ Auberon turned slightly to indicate the woman waiting beside his desk. Of course, Nava and Mitsuko both knew who Joslyn was, but there were formalities to handle.
One talent that Auberon lacked was skill in administration. He had Joslyn to make up for that. She was a slim, attractive woman with tanned skin, brown hair and eyes, and sufficient bust to make the uniform dress look good. She kept her hair short and carefully groomed. She liked things to be just so and was known to be a stickler for the rules. She was smart, of course. You would have to be smart to keep up – or put up – with Auberon.
Stepping forward, she took Mitsuko’s hand. ‘President.’
‘Vice Principal.’
‘In private, you may call me Joslyn.’ She did not look especially happy about that; she was probably going along with it since Auberon insisted in the informality. Joslyn’s eyes shifted to Nava, now positioned by the door to the principal’s office, not exactly at attention, but certainly appearing to be watching everything. ‘And this, I believe, is Nava Ward.’
‘Ah!’ Auberon exclaimed. ‘Nava Ward. You gave us something of a headache at the start of term.’
‘I’m sorry about that, sir,’ Nava replied.
‘No! It was a rather good kind of headache. We did have to deal with the Girard Sonkeis, but that was just a matter of telling them to review the duel report. Expelling the man would have been exceptionally difficult but shipping him out in a coffin was a lot easier.’
‘Auberon…’ Joslyn said in the kind of weary way that suggested this was hardly the first time he had said something he should not have.
‘Yes, yes. The death of a child is a terrible thing. Even if he was almost certainly a psychopath. Now, let’s settle down and Mitsuko can tell us all about what she has planned for the coming year.’
~~~
‘And what did you think of the principal?’
Nava considered her answer briefly. They were walking back to Mitsuko’s apartment from the administration block where the principal’s office was. Then they had nothing to do until the evening meal when they would be meeting up with Melissa and Rochester, no doubt.
‘I believe the term would be eccentric,’ Nava replied. ‘His office doesn’t fit his character. All that dark wood. And it’s a huge space that I think he rattles around in. I’m sure he would have liked more pastels. I’m not sure how he got the job, but I believe he’s a good principal. That said, he’s exceptionally intelligent and that makes him dangerous. Don’t get on his wrong side.’
‘Mm. And the VP?’
‘Stiff. Unmoving. Very loyal to the principal. So long as you don’t break the rules, she won’t be a problem.’
‘I think I should kick Darius out and make you my VP.’
‘I’d decline. I have no interest in doing something like that.’
Mitsuko sighed. ‘I know. Want to take a shower with me when we get home?’
‘That is something that I do have an interest in.’
‘I guess I’ll have to make do with that then.’
235/3/2.
Courtney unlocked the front door of one of the better apartment buildings on campus with her ketcom. The Student Security Force had the authority to get into more or less any building on campus, though their use of such authority was logged, and
