It was a short stroll from the alchemy lab so by the time we reached the dining hall it was around 6:30 AM.
The dining hall was yet another four-story stucco structure with red tile roof and black wrought iron balustrades around the balconies hanging off the building's face.
At this time of the morning, it was open for the first of the early birds. These were mostly workers and various faculty coming and going with their hot steaming cups of coffee and the occasional donut or two.
At the entrance, there was a queue where the mages were checking themselves in.
We slotted ourselves into the line with Simon at the lead. Within minutes we had reached the entrance. The Bouncer Ball hovered in midair, spinning lazily in a counter-clockwise rotation.
As we passed the ball, we all took turns passing our hand across its crystal surface and gained approval to enter through the solid marble wall. Although I was a very weak mage, I still had enough trace energies that the ball could track and it let me in.
The solid wall façade was quite convincing but was completely illusory—for the right mage, of course. Any mage that the Bouncer Ball deemed to be unworthy of entry would find the marble wall to be completely solid, and his nose would be smashed in.
Once we crossed the marble threshold, the dining hall opened up like a grand cathedral.
The walls and ceiling and took up the entire four-stories, with rafters made of graceful arched hardwood. Huge crystal chandeliers dropped halfway down the ceiling, illuminating the hall with bright cheerful light.
There were four aisles, with ten large wooden tables running the length of each aisle. Each table could accommodate ten people, four per side with one at each end. This early in the morning, most of the seats were still empty and there was no line at the buffet table.
The scent of fresh ground coffee filled the air, intermingled with the aroma of toast, bacon, sausages and eggs—basic breakfast staples for the hard working mage.
We grabbed plates and silverware and went through the buffet, pointing at whatever caught our fancy. The buffet was handled by a full staff of Kitchen Primates, wearing spotless clean white shirts and caps, with clear-gloved hands and covered faces.
One of them snickered and winked at me as he peeked from behind the service bar.
Tarzan!
I grinned and signaled Tarzan with my right hand. In response to my manual communication, he shoved a slice of fruit tart onto my tray, taking care to pick the one that didn't have any blueberries, as he knew that I didn't much like blueberries.
I blew a grateful kiss at him making him jump up and down with joy, banging his serving spoon on the buffet counter. He was making a racket that he brought in the lone human staff to 'intervene on my behalf'.
The Overlord was a young nervous-looking cartoonish hulk of a guy with massive shoulders and a tiny waistline. His beady little brown eyes peered out from under a shock of white-blonde hair that stuck out in every direction from his large bulbous head.
He wore the ubiquitous black Overlord bodysuit with the orange and brown private first class insignia on his shoulder.
Another newbie.
He was such a new cadet that he didn't even know how to handle the Mage Staff properly. I winced at the way he held it. This boy had probably been using it as a cudgel all this time.
Instead of coming around and asking me what the situation was so it could be solved in the easiest manner, he did the one thing he knew how to do. He brought a silver whistle up to his pursed lips and blew with all his might.
I could not hear anything because this was the same type of whistle that I normally used to call the bats, but I knew it must have been loud. All around me, the primates grimaced and placed their hands over their ears.
What a bully!
I reached out and slapped the whistle from his mouth.
"Stop that! You're making my ears ring."
"Yeah and what are you gonna do about that, huh?" He sneered as he looked at my Overlord outfit.
Since Professor Morton had yanked the Sergeant First Class insignia off my shoulder, it must have looked to him as if I was a new recruit who hadn't even received my private insignia yet.
I laughed. "You see those two redheads over there?" I pointed at Corwin and Connor.
They were looking at me with quizzed expressions. "If you want to fight me, I'll sic my men on you."
The young Overlord blanched and backed away.
I held out my hand. "I'm confiscating your whistle. Hand it over."
He fumbled with the whistle and somehow managed to pull it from his neck. I grabbed it from his hand and turned away.
'If he gives you any more trouble Tarzan, just let me know.'
Tarzan grinned and gave me a thumbs up signal.
I smiled at Tarzan and made good my exit.
This Overlord boy was too far gone for me to teach anything new—and besides, I didn't have the time. I had the twins and Simon to deal with.
Leaving the buffet line, I found the guys at a nearby table, already digging in and making short order of the mound of food they had loaded onto their cafeteria trays. I found a spot next to them and settled down.
Connor laughed. "What were you saying to that Overlord that made him look at us as if he was ready to pee in his pants?"
I whirled the bat whistle around my finger. "He was bullying the Primate Cooks with this thing so I took his whistle away."
"But we saw you and that Overlord kid looking right at us." Connor grinned mischievously.
I pursed my lips. "I told him he better not mess with me, 'cause I was with two ripped guys over here…"
Connor laughed with glee, banging his fist on the table. Even Corwin cracked a smile.
Simon took a bite of his melted cheese sandwich. "The Primate Cooks really love you Nana."
"Yeah." Corwin taunted, his eyes mocking me. "I think that orangutan's in love with you."
"Jealous?" Simon interjected as he smirked at Corwin. "Well, you have red hair too so you still have a chance."
Corwin cuffed him over the head with a quick left-handed maneuver, eliciting a yowl of protest.
"Settle down, ladies." Connor said, and slapped Corwin's wrist with the back of his spoon.
In response, Corwin flicked a finger, levitating a cherry tomato from his plate and plopped it into Connor's ice tea.
I laughed at the antics from the guys. They seemed to be more relaxed around each other, and with me.
Around us, the dining hall was starting to fill with students who were trying to grab breakfast before classes began.
A couple of younger female students walked past us and giggled when they came near, giving Simon furtive glances. He reddened and looked away, pretending interest in the dark blueberry splotches on his muffin.
I chortled. What a sly dog. Here he was, projecting an image of the cool, collected alchemy guru, but it seemed, he could also be ruffled by the pretty female students.
The dining hall began to get noisier with the background sounds of muted conversations and the clinking of silverware on dishes.
Several professors were standing near the juice fountain, chatting to each other in low hushed tones. They seemed distracted and worried.
"Excuse me." I said to the guys and got up. "I seem to have a thirst that only an ice tea lemonade is going to quench."
The guys barely looked up at me as they continued their animated discussion about the merits of magikally-transmuted transparency as opposed to the utilization of a light-bending invisible cloak.
I rolled my eyes and walked away. I could barely wait to hear which one was going to win out—high magik or high tech.
As I came closer, I could hear the excited high-pitched squeaks of the stick thin, elvish-looking Professor Jonesbarry and the rather portly, rotund Professor Farley, the levikinesis teacher.
Normally, I would expect humorous off-colored jokes to be flying from their mouths, as the two had a reputation of resident clowns to uphold, but today, their faces could numb the pain from a tooth extraction.
"…watch out for the transformers. If the power goes out, we are toast. Get people to cover the pyramid." I heard Professor Jonesbarry whispering.
"I'm sure Blackstone has something lined up. We can't afford to pull Borlik and his guys out of the front lines." Farley mumbled as he mixed some clear liquid from a small bottle into his orange juice.
I held my breath as I realized he was talking about Borlik Jaynami, head of House Jaynami.
It was the only House that had a martial arts requirement. Each member had to agree to undergo rigorous training in the physical form of combat before they were admitted.
If they had already been deployed, then it meant skirmishes at the front lines were already starting.
Unaware that I was eavesdropping, Jonesbarry continued his discussions with Professor Farley.
"We don't have enough mages from the Jaynami House to cover everything. Can we pull from Osiris and Monteceto Houses?" Jonesbarry asked.
"I don't know…how many do we need? Two of the Osiris boys are over there." Farley indicated with his thumb over at the twins.
"Can't use them. They've been assigned a Priority One Assignment. I have no idea what it is, but Blackstone was adamant we can't pull the twins away for absolutely any reason."
"Well, we do still have the Bainsworth mages. Don't underestimate them. They're the best Alchemists I've ever met…" and the two of them walked away from the juice fountain, continuing their discussion.
Since I did not want to be so obvious that I was eavesdropping, I took my lemonade iced tea and went back to the mages, who were still discussing the vagaries and importance of invisible technology versus magikal machinations.
I was about to tell them what I had heard when a commotion started near the entrance of the dining area.
Across the dining area, more mages were piling in through the doorway. The new arrivals were not the usual breed of academes, either students or faculty.
They were the same mages in the crisp dark suits and dark sunglasses that I had seen outside the Esplanade the day before.
They had looked unusual then, standing in a group by themselves among the various color vestments of the Council of the Mages, but at least, they were with the adults.
Here, in the school dining room, they looked even more out of place, like a plate of hamachi nigiri right next to a tuna fish sandwich.
They were just about as smelly too.
The mages in black suits filed in an orderly single file, going through the buffet line, picking up their breakfast. Their eyes took note of everything, from the type of food being served to the number of primates in the service line.
It only took a few seconds for me to spot Marcus Mocchus standing among the dark suits. He was dressed exactly the same as the other dark suits. His long blue hair was tied back in a neat ponytail.
At the same moment, Marcus also caught sight of me from across the room. He paused for a moment, sliding his dark glasses up from his face and resting them on top of his head.
Without taking his eyes from my face, he muttered something to one of the black suited Mage Elites next to him. Then he broke rank from the dark suits and moved towards me.
In a few seconds, he was by my side.
"What are you doing here?" He said under his breath.
"Eating breakfast. Isn't that what everyone does here?"
"You shouldn't even be here. Go home. Stay with your parents for the next few days." He began dragging me towards the entrance.
"Wait, what are you doing? Let go of me." I protested.
"You have to go now."
"Why? Let go!"
Within seconds, the twins were at my side.
"You heard the lady. Let her go or you will be missing some arms." Corwin said as he and Connor slid between me and Marcus.
Marcus held up both hands. "I don't have time to deal with the two of you right now, but next time we meet it will be a different scenario and I will not hold back."
He turned away, but then turned his head back to look at the twins. "Take good care of that woman for me."
Marcus slid his glasses back over his eyes and rejoined his group. He muttered a few more things to the black suits and within minutes they had filed out of the dining room.