Once most of our food had been consumed, Dean Blackstone pulled from the air, a bell-shaped glass decanter, half-full with a deep amber liquid and raised it into the air.
"Since I so rarely have this many students around my dinner table, I would like to invite everyone here to have a small toast with me." He waved a hand and a small shot glass appeared in front of each of us.
"Um, Uncle Blackstone…" Connor indicated with his head at me and Simon. "You know, there are two underage teens sitting at the table with us, don't you?"
"Pshaw!" Blackstone wave a dismissive hand. "It's not school hours, and they aren't operating heavy machinery or riding the airwaves. Besides, the girl is only a couple of months away from being of age."
"She's still a minor." Corwin narrowed his eyes in contemplation.
Blackstone grinned. "Only for a few unimportant things such as the drinking of spirits and the inhalation of fumes. In mage society, seventeen is old enough to legally agree to marriage."
He sighed and smiled. "Ah! Such a beautiful time of life. Those were the heady intoxicating days of wine and roses."
He poured the decanter of liquid into the air in front of him.
The golden spirit blossomed into five liquid amber petals and flowed into the shot glasses with perfect symmetry.
He picked up the shot glass in front of him and indicated that we all do the same.
Without hesitation, we raised our glasses.
"To the future of the mage race!" Blackstone called out.
"Yô!" We all cheered with that ancient mage cry of oblation. Then we tossed the drink into our throats.
Immediately, I almost choked—it was so strong! But good manners dictated that I swallow the entire gulp down, so I did.
It coursed into my throat, killing every single living organism that ever lived between the back of my throat, all the way down into my esophagus.
The hot amber liquid continued its flow and reached my stomach. It was a testament to how strong the spirit was that I could feel its entire journey, all the way into my gut.
My stomach was burning.
I looked up with tears in my eyes. No one else seemed to be having any problems with the drink, and in deed, the twins were enjoying themselves, looking relaxed and far more comfortable with themselves and everyone else.
Even Simon was starting to come out of his stupefied frozen state, no doubt, brought on by his earlier escapade. He tasted the first sip with trepidation, but then found it quite tasty so he tossed down the drink like a pro.
Blackstone cackled and poured another flower of amber liquid.
Simon was a better drinker than I was. I ignored the drink this time. It was not sitting well with me and I held my breath, trying not to heave up the liquid.
I reached for my water goblet and tossed half the contents down.
"Dean Blackstone, what is this stuff?" I choked as the water tried to go down the wrong pipe.
"My dear, this is extremely precious aged VSOP cognac. I only take this out for very special occasions."
"What's the special occasion, Uncle Blackstone?" Connor asked.
"My dear nephew, look around you. I am here. You are here. Your brother is here. Your friend is here. And your woman is here." He indicated in my direction.
Connor laughed, blushing a bright red while Corwin looked away.
"In life, we may never get a second chance to sit together and drink to each other's health. The special occasion is that we have been given this one chance to be together. Even if tomorrow we never see each other again, at least we have tonight!"
"That sounds good. I'll drink to that!" Connor raised his glass."To my friends, my family, and my woman!" His eyes gleamed with merriment as he gazed at me.
"Yô!" They all cheered and tossed the drink down without inhibition.
I looked down in confusion. Since I could not force the second drink down, Dean Blackstone took my drink and swallowed it down for me. Then he poured again.
By the time the food was gone, we had toasted everything from hoverboards to the Demon book, and even to Professor Pomello's blonde beehive hairstyle.
The decanter never emptied. It remained half-full for the entire meal, no matter how many times Blackstone poured.
Dessert was peach cobbler over warm bread pudding.
We had barely begun to dig in when the butler reappeared by the dean's side. He lowered his head and whispered something into the dean's ear and then nodded as the dean spoke a few words in response.
Once the butler had exited the room, Dean Blackstone cleared his throat.
"Harumph," he snorted. "I was kind of hoping to have a nice, quiet, uninterrupted meal for once, but there are a few things more important than desert—not many!"
He paused to raise his finger up, and then lowered it again as if in regret. "However, if I had to actually specify those few things, I would have to grudgingly admit that they are more important than dessert."
He rapped on the table with his knuckles and the pipe flew to his hand. Catching it with a deftness which belied his age, the wizard stuck the pointed end into his mouth and chewed on it,
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take care of something urgent that's waiting for me in the sitting room."
He rose from the table and walked to the hallway beyond the fireplace. As he passed by Simon's chair, he whacked the wooden back with his pipe, startling the boy from his reverie.
"You—once you're done chewing the cud, make sure you join me in the sitting room. The rest of you," he waved in our general direction, "can go back to your merry-gandering."
Once Blackstone left the dining room, it was as if the life of the party had departed. We half-heartedly ate our peach cobbler and decided to call it a night.
Simon bade me goodnight and trotted off to the sitting room where Blackstone was waiting for him.
Since the twins were pretty much roasted, Barnaby half-carried them into one of the guest rooms to let them sleep off their alcohol. Max followed the twins into their bedrooms and settled on the bed in between the sleeping twins.
I was not even buzzed, having had only the one drink at the start of the toasting, so I got my things ready and was in the foyer about to leave when the tall dark form of Barnaby tapped me on the shoulder.
I jumped with fright.
"And where will the Lady be going to, at this time of night?"
"Oh, it's just you." I breathed. "Thanks for dinner, Barnaby. I'm going to head on home."
"This is not such a good time to be out and about in the dark, m' Lady. Perhaps you'd like to stay the night here. I have prepared a room for you, at the Master's urging."
"It's ok. I'd rather go home."
"The Dean will be quite upset with me if he knew I allowed you to walk home alone in the dark. You must stay here tonight."
Since I did not want Barnaby to face the Dean's wrath, I followed him into another of Blackstone's guest rooms.
True to form, the bedroom was of the old-world, ostentatious sort, with plenty of heavy dark furniture set against the walls, and floor-to-ceiling beige brocade drapes so thick, they shut out every single ray of light possible.
The bed was a square behemoth with a massive canopy draped with pale cream silk curtains, and the puffy white comforter, so massive that it looked as if I could sink into its depths and never be able to get out.
On the opposite wall was a huge oil landscape of a rose garden that looked as if it could be a real place somewhere.
I was still standing there, gazing at the painting when Barnaby came back with a hair brush and a white nightgown which he placed on the bed for me.
"Do you like this bedroom? It used to be Madame Chloe Belladonna's room whenever she visited the Dean." He indicated at the nightgown.
"These are Madame Chloe Belladonna's personal effects. Since she is a close relative of yours, the Dean wanted you to have use of it while you are here."
He pointed to the bathroom across the hall. "That is your personal bath. Please use it without reservation. I have directed the twins to a different bathing area." With that, he bade me goodnight and left me to my own device.
I set my bag down onto the large mirrored dresser and grabbed the white nightgown and the brush. A hot bath sounded delicious. No sense in wasting his welcoming efforts.
By the time I returned to the bedroom, I was feeling much more relaxed. Perhaps this was not such a bad idea after all.
I got closer to the bed and realized that the mattresses were stacked up so high, the bed was almost four feet off the ground. It had to be the tallest bed I had ever seen.
Feeling like a little kid about to jump on her parents' bed, I placed my palms on top of the bed and jumped, scrambling with my knees to haul myself up. I struggled with the comforter for a moment and finally was able to get under the covers.
Immediately, I felt the softness of the mattress pulling me into its stifling depths and I felt as if I was sinking.
There was no way I could sleep on this thing.
I rolled off, landing on my feet with a thud and yanked the comforter off the bed. It pooled onto the floor in nice warm layers of down, inviting me to snuggle within its folds.
I grabbed my phone and set the alarm so I wouldn't oversleep, then, I rolled up into its warm softness and spent the rest of the night in comfort on the cool carpeted floor.