Osmond speaks up to say, "Hmph, I sincerely doubt that. What reason would any of us have to collude with a notorious thief?"

(A certain secretary doesn't react to this, but is smirking so hard on the inside.)

Colbert, on the other hand, really wants to know, "What was it like? The legends are grandiose but not at all specific."

He ignores Colbert. "Do you have any other ideas for how she might have known?"

Osmond doesn't. And neither does anyone else.

Henrietta wraps things up. "So. Scyelen dispelled the water cage, freeing me, but Fouquet used that to defeat the protections on the Vault. Raafi caught me, and then Fouquet fled with her prize."

"We tried to chase her," Kirche adds. "She was so fast, though! That was not an ordinary levitation spell. It wasn't even whatever Raafi does to play with Sylphid."

Henrietta nods. "Does anyone else have anything to add?"

Raafi doesn't.

"Very well."

Henrietta gives Osmond his chair back. She goes to give Scyelen a firm hug, collects a written copy of their recounting from Miss Vaux, and then gives Scyelen another firm hug.

"My scouts should be returning by now. I will need to report this to the palace in person, as soon as possible. I thank you deeply for your hospitality," she says to the room at at large, and, "I hope I'll be able to visit again soon," to Scyelen in particular.

The princess departs.

"Hmph. We shall have to continue to investigate ourselves as well, of course. This is a matter of institutional honor. Miss Vaux, please alert all of the instructors that we shall be holding a council immediately."

He turns to Kirche, Tabitha, Scyelen and Raafi. "Thank you for your time, students, you may run along now."

Raafi accompanies Scyelen out and back toward their rooms. "I'll see you in - half an hour sound good?"

Scyelen is a little lost in thoughts about Henrietta. She just nods. "There shouldn't be anything else we have to deal with today... I hope."

"That was more than enough excitement," he nods, and gives her a hug and disappears into his room, giving her a little more than half an hour before he taps on her door again.

Scyelen fully intends to spend that half hour doing something besides pacing a groove in her floor with nervous energy, but she ends up spending the entire half-hour indecisively pacing a groove in her floor.

She lets Raafi in with a small, "Hi."

"Hey. How're you doing?"

Scyelen doesn't know how to answer that question and just sighs.

"I dunno."

He goes in and sits on her bed. "Want to talk about it?"

"I dunno that either," Scyelen says, plopping down next to him and fidgeting. "A... lot. Happened today. Things... that should be good or bad but aren't because of other things that should be bad or good but aren't."

Hug. "That happens sometimes, yeah."

Scyelen holds out her hand, forming a little swirl of air over her palm.

"Is it wrong to still be glad about this?"

Squeeze. "I don't think so. This afternoon wasn't great, but everyone else gets to have magic and not worry about it."

Small, brief smile.

He seems... relaxed. Her mind automatically conjures up all manner of lewd explanations for that, which she immediately discards with the ease of long practice.

She groans, the muscles in her legs tightening. "It's not fair. I finally have... normal magic. Like I was always supposed to. But it. How can I not hate myself for being happy, after everything? It was... Henrietta was covering for me, you heard her, right?"

"I'm pretty sure she was just happy for you, sweetheart."

Scyelen doesn't believe him at all, but it's a nice thought, so she lets herself indulge in it a little.

She leans on him and falls quiet.

Hug.

"Sweetheart, you're sixteen, and still in school, and you didn't ask for any of this to happen. I've known professional adventurers who wouldn't have done any better in this sort of situation. It's not your fault that you were stuck with no good options."

"I'd feel better if I'd done it on purpose," Scyelen mumbles.

"Yeah. It'll probably help to go over what you want to do if something like this happens again - it's not the same but it's close enough, in a lot of ways, and it might come in handy, too."

"I. I mean, I obviously would've sacrificed the Vault to save Henrietta?"

"Mmhmm." Squeeze. "But it's good to think about, like - when would you have given up on getting both? What could you have tried instead, what do you want to learn or have for next time?"