That is utterly terrifying, but... "H-How?"

"I'd need to know what I'm working with, first, I think - not that I can't just run through the whole collection if it turns out to be ambiguous, but some of them are expensive to cast. The spells themselves are - pretty simple? If they fix what's wrong they'll do that and if not they won't do anything."

"...could you maybe tell me what each spell, does? I mean, what it... changes?"

"I don't actually know all of them off the top of my head; if I need something I'm not already aware of I can ask for it and see what happens. But I have a list of the common ones, hold on -" he takes a little notebook out of his belt and pages through it.

"Okay - this one cures pain, this one temporarily suppresses fear, this one removes addictions, this one temporarily calms emotions, these will fix it if there's something making you - stupider, more or less, there's some technical terms that don't translate well - this one breaks enchantments and curses - this one handles a lot of different things but notably insanity - and it looks like that's it among the common spells."

Suppressing fear sounds nice but it would do the opposite of help.

"None of those... sound quite right," Scyelen says, disappointed but also relieved. "What kinds of things does the last one do?"

"The same kinds of stupidity as the other two, a few kinds of disorientation, and exhaustion. Plus some physical problems." Squeeze. "You don't have to tell me what's going on if you don't want to, but it'd help. And I bet I've heard worse, I've been a cleric for a long time."

"I, um, I can't... I don't..."

Scyelen takes a shaky breath, and forces out some vague and hedging words.

"I'm... not afraid," this is a severe understatement, but, "of a bunch of things girls are supposed to be afraid of. And I am afraid of a bunch of things girls are supposed to want."

"Sounds complicated, and not really the kind of thing I'd have magic for. I can say - whatever it is it's probably not going to bother me? If you want to talk about it or just - if I'm going to be around, I might find out, I expect that to be fine. It seems like people here have some pretty strict ideas about how things are supposed to be, and I don't, really. It's part of my calling not to."

Scyelen relaxes a little, part relieved, part disappointed. He doesn't understand. If he understood he'd stop hugging her.

She should probably stop taking advantage of him like that. Any time now.

Reluctantly, she pulls away from the hug and stands up. She goes to her wardrobe, but freezes as she reaches for it. Her... night-time habits. What if he thinks... no. No. That much, that much she has to impose on his tolerance. Or she might as well announce that she has no intention of sleeping at all, and that would be entirely unproductive.

"I should get to bed. Um. I'm... going to try to behave around you in private as though I'm alone. I am absolutely going to fail, but I'm still going to try, because that is... the standard by which our bond is measured. Please, um, accommodate yourself however you like."

He pales a little. "I'll go for a walk, how about. I'll be back in - twenty minutes?" It's not really a question; he's already headed for the door.

Wow. She is really bad at this.

Scyelen sighs.

While out and about in the mostly-empty moonlit corridors, Raafi runs across a pair of students. A boy with blonde hair and a foppish air appears to be flirting floridly with a short girl in a second-year uniform.

Twenty minutes later, Scyelen is a lump under the blankets on the far side of her four-poster bed, up against the wall.

It's closer to an hour before she hears the gentle pop of him teleporting in, followed by a soft incantation to clear the rest of the straw from the corner of the room and the rustling of him setting up his sleeping bag there.

"Goodnight."

"You... can use the bed, if you want. I... would've got a second bed, if I'd known."

She is, in fact, taking up maybe ten percent of the available mattress space. It's a big bed and she is a petite girl.

There is no way in any number of hells.

"I'm all right. Thank you though."

Scyelen tries not to read into that.

Mostly fails.

Closes her eyes.

It takes her a long while to actually fall asleep.

He's quiet, after that, and probably manages not to wake her as he leaves for his devotions an hour before dawn.

If he did wake her, she gives no sign.

He'll walk the grounds, then, making his way around the perimeter inside, then out, and then going to look at the nearest stand of trees and see if he recognizes any of the local wildlife.

The trees are pretty mundane. There isn't much wildlife around. But there does appear to be a small blue dragon circling overhead. With a small blue-haired girl riding on its back.

His spells for the day come in as the sun peeks over the horizon, and he heads back; if there's any foot traffic yet he'll follow it in hopes of finding the kitchen and some fruit to bring back to the room.

It's too early for foot traffic... unless you count this maid. She is clearly a morning person.

Also, Raafi knows her. Its the same maid he startled yesterday.

"Oh, good morning. Sorry about yesterday, I was in a bit of a panic. Is the kitchen open yet, do you know?"

"Oh, it was no trouble, sir. The kitchen is preparing to serve breakfast. Would you like me to show you the way?"