Memory Bonds

When Harmoni woke up, she could feel something warm on her head. It seemed like something was being knit back together up there. She’d compare it to getting stitches, but she’d never had that before, and she was pretty sure they hurt more than this. Then again, her own awareness was a bit muffled. Maybe if her senses were sharper, she’d be in more pain.

Harmoni’s gaze slid around. She could see shoes to the side of her head, and a loose pair of pants. They looked familiar.

Harmoni slowly raised her gaze. Sure enough, Tolith was standing there. She thought so. Most people here wore robes that covered their legs, even the human potions teacher. Tolith was one of the few adults who had visible pants, though each leg was so wide, you might not be able to immediately tell.

He had a crystal ball in one hand, and had pressed his other to her forehead.

She could see Fleck standing behind Tolith, peering around him and getting very into his personal space as he tried to get a better look at her. But, as she sensed his emotions, she felt him go from worry to relief.

Because Harmoni was alright.

Tolith had made Fleck stand back so he could concentrate, and for a few other reasons? He was pretty sure? But Fleck probably wouldn’t have listened if Tolith wasn’t a rider himself. He had some understanding of the situation, and was still asking that.

As soon as Fleck had sensed Harmoni falling, he’d gone back to Asplenium, who instantly sent the knowledge to Tolith. Then both Tolith and Fleck had gotten here as quickly as possible.

Fleck was just glad the one with healing magic was also the one with a dragon. It saved precious time.

“You should be more careful,” Tolith said, all be it in a gentle tone. “Those stairs are designed to be hard to fall down, but it’s a bit of a drop if you do.”

‘I noticed,’ Harmoni thought. But that wasn’t the problem. “I didn’t fall. I was pushed.” Tolith removed his hand and raised an eyebrow. Since he was apparently done, Harmoni slowly moved herself to a sitting position. “I felt someone push me.”

She could still easily recall the feeling of palms against her shoulder blades. And that was ignoring the blur of a figure she’d seen.

“Who could’ve done that? You’re the only one in your dorm this morning, yes?”

Fleck thought it smelled strongly of Daphon, for a guy who hadn’t been there. Not that he needed the scent to think of Daphon.

Neither did Harmoni. She relayed the message.

Tolith chewed his lip, two teeth just barely visible. “Are you sure?” Tolith asked. “He lives in Edinar. He doesn’t have any reason to be in the dorms at all, much less right now.”

Harmoni and Fleck exchanged glances.

The headmaster and Ava had made it clear they didn’t believe her about such things, but Tolith might not know about that. She hadn’t seen him very often since she got here. He was the healer. He healed students who got sick or injured, and worked with an older one who also had healing magic. As Harmoni wasn’t either of those, until now, she'd just see him around sometimes, by coincidence. But she didn’t have a great track record with these teachers.

Maybe not, but the question did seem genuine. He wasn’t shooting her down like sometimes happened.

'You're just biased because you like Asplenium.'

But maybe Harmoni was also biased, because she took a deep breath and tried again.

“But there’s nothing stopping him from entering the tower, right?” Harmoni asked. “The dorm rooms themselves have locks, but not the tower itself?”

“I suppose. . .” Tolith reluctantly agreed.

“I mean, it might not be Daphon for sure,” Harmoni quickly back peddled.

Fleck would’ve face palmed if he was a rider species. As it was, he didn’t truly have palms.

“But someone pushed me,” Harmoni said. “And Fleck’s not usually wrong with his sense of smell.” She looked down and muttered the next part. “And Daphon and I have never really gotten along.”

“I’m well aware of how good a dragon’s sense of smell is,” Tolith said, voice fonder than before. “I’ll mention this to the headmaster.”

Harmoni sagged a bit. Not much. It was just, well, the headmaster didn’t have the best track record. But, Tolith wasn’t done.

“And I’ll talk to Ava about adding some more precautions to the tower. She’s most suited to handle that. She should at least be able to cushion the bottom of the stairwells with magic, in case we get any more tumbles. How does that sound?”

It would sound better if Daphon was expelled.

Harmoni wouldn’t mind that herself right now. But it felt like an overreaction even if he was behind this. What Tolith was offering was more than usual. She smiled up at him with genuine gratitude. “Yes. That sounds good.”

Tolith sighed softly. Relief. “Good. I should get on that. And you should get some rest.”

Harmoni’s eyes popped a little wider. Rest? Oh no. There was a reason she wasn’t doing that.

“No. I have class now.” Harmoni stumbled to her feet. “I should go. I’ve probably missed the start, but-”

Tolith put a hand to her chest. Not particularly hard, but enough to stop her from going anywhere.

“Everyone takes a rest after being sick or injured, even if they get healing for it.” He paused, sighed in defeat, and continued. “If you really want to be active the rest of the day, you can. But not your first class, which you’ll have missed about half of by the time you get there anyway. I’ll explain to Ava when I go there.”

Fleck was also telling Harmoni to rest, with a lot more aggression.

Harmoni was feeling a bit of defeat herself. She didn’t feel hurt any more, just a bit out of it. Her mind was processing things a bit slower than normal, and only if she focused on them. Alright. It seemed she’d be getting more rest.

~~~

As it turned out, Harmoni did rest most of the day. She fell back to sleep when she got back to the dorm room, missing the start of potions class as well.

Since it was now pointless, she wasn’t in a hurry to get up. She was bored though. Fleck had to get her a book from the school library, and she had to open the dorm’s door to let him back in.

She read for most of the day after that, sometimes stopping because reading words off the page for too long made her sleepy, or just because she’d been doing the same thing for so long. Being on a planet with so little technology certainly made passing the time different.

It was getting dark. Harmoni lowered her book, looked at the time. Yes. It might be a good idea to get dinner.

Fleck sat up from where he was curled up, along the side of the bed. Yes, that sounded good. He’d join her in the cafeteria, and then get some food of his own.

They went to the bottom of the tower, and headed to the cafeteria. It was mostly uneventful, except for a run in with Wesles. He was standing in the hall, leaning towards the door to the potions room, holding something in the lock above the knob. His ear was angled towards the knob, and twitched a time or two. Which might explain why he didn’t sound surprised when Harmoni spoke up.

“Wesles? What are you doing?” she asked.

“What’sit look like? Breaking into the potions room.” Wesles answered quietly, without looking away from the lock he was jiggling. “Likehell amI waiting while theteacher coddles us. Iknow I’m goodat potions. AndIcan be better with a bit more practice.”

The lock clicked, and the door popped open a crack.

Wesles finally turned to them. “Why? Areyoutwo going totell onme?”

He seemed oddly OK with that possibility.

Harmoni bit her lip. “It’s just, isn’t that dangerous?”

Wesles shrugged. “No more dangerous than when the teacher’s withus.” He must’ve seen she wasn’t convinced, because he pressed on. “I’mnot stupid. I’m not goingto put myself indanger onpurpose. I’m just goingto learnmore on myown. That’s normally a good thing.”

It was true. Having your own initiative was usually considered a good thing. At least on Xentron it was. It seemed a bit less smiled on here. And this felt a little different. But she didn’t want him to get in trouble.

Harmoni sighed. “I’ll leave you to it. But, be careful. Both with making potions, and with getting caught.”

“Of cooourse,” Wesles dragged out. “I’mnot anidiot.”