:Sure!: And she comes by after dinner that evening.

Aala is wearing one of Ma'ar's old school uniforms that he's outgrown, since she doesn't have her own yet; it's still much too big for her, she's just as small and scrawny for her age as Ma'ar was. There's a bunk bed in their room now and she seems to have proudly claimed the top of it; she waves to Aza, happily, and greets her in hesitant and strongly accented Tantaran. "Hello, how are you?" 

"I'm fine, how are you?" She translates over Mindspeech.

"Thank you, I am - please?" Aala shakes her head, not that word. "Am...well." She looks very satisfied with herself. 

Ma'ar, curled up on the lower bunk with a textbook, looks very satisfied with her as well!

"Great! Want to learn to write some of those words? I don't know how to read the Predain language unfortunately, just Tantaran; you'll have to apply to Ma'ar or maybe your new friend about that."

"I've taught her the basic alphabet," Ma'ar explains. "She might not know all of the letters by heart yet, but she's got a good memory." 

"Want to!" Aala agrees, bobbing her head and smiling at Aza. She gestures at the bunk bed ladder. "I down? Or you up?" 

"You down, I'd fall."

Aala scrambles down, not clumsy at all, and squats on the floor by the window (ignoring the perfectly serviceable chair at the second desk that's been brought in as well.) She looks expectantly at Azabel. 

Aza takes the chair, and goes over the alphabet with her, and the numerals, and starts spelling some of the words Aala's already learned for her. If Aala will not sit at the desk this will involve rather more picking up and displaying her notebook than she'd imagined but it's not a big deal.

Ma'ar eventually gets up and explains to Aala what chairs are for. She has not, previously, encountered the concept; Ma'ar had at least seen plenty of furniture in use by the time he reached the Tower, but Aala had a much shorter and easier - and correspondingly less educational - journey. 

Aala seems dubious, and squirms around in the chair a lot, but can be coaxed to write on the desk. 

This is easier on Aza's workflow! She writes things and sounds them out and introduces punctuation once Aala has enough words to make sentences with.

Aala is very attentive and a quick study, and doesn't yell at all. 

(Ma'ar has explained to her that yelling is considered rude here and she is being SO careful about it.) 

Aza does not actually explicitly notice the lack but if she did she'd appreciate it! She'll stay a couple hours before begging off to go home and go to bed.

Ma'ar keeps her updated over the remaining days before the session starts, and invites her over once more to show Aala more reading and writing. Aala has uniforms now! She seems to be having a much easier transition to life at the Tower than Ma'ar did; she's nervous and shy, and practically glued to him every time they leave their room for the first several days, but she's nowhere near as jumpy as Ma'ar used to be. 

Well, she had a less harrowing journey and is also less inherently weird as a person. Aza's glad she's settling in.

And, it feels like very soon after, the next session is starting! Ma'ar and Azabel are embarking on their third year at the Tower, now; they have more advanced classes, on more durable long-lasting set-spells for warding and shielding, and on scrying, and on the theory behind permanent Gates. Ma'ar is also doing advanced combat magic. 

Aala is in the basic Mindspeech curriculum and also has her class on reading and writing and figuring, and she seems very content.

Aza signs up for scrying and permanent Gates and decides in a fit of enthusiasm to also sign up for another artificing class in the hopes that she'll be able to refine her battery idea; after all, the book is no longer eating much of her time.

The session gets off to a good start! The scrying teacher in particular is very good. Ma'ar still spends most of his time practicing magic, but sets aside some of it to help Aala with things, and to walk her around the Tower. Aala gets along very well with the hertasi and makes more friends as she learns more Tantaran. 

Azabel still has her patient sessions with Lionwind, two afternoons a week. 

"- I've got an interesting case that needs reassessing tomorrow," he tells her at the end of one of them. "If you're available to come in specially for it, I know you're not normally here that day." 

"Uh, it'll be tight after scrying but it doesn't technically overlap. I suppose I could Gate over, if you need me here punctually."

"That seems a little excessive! She is not my first patient of the afternoon so coming over whenever you are ready ought work fine, I think. But in that case I should probably give you the context now, if you have time to stay a little longer?" 

"Sure, I have time now."