Lionwind holds up a hand. "- I am sorry, that was - quite a lot of things. One moment... I have very many questions, but - yes to the last thing, there is a trick to doing it without invading privacy any more than that, and - we do not advertise this since there are not nearly enough of us to advise the Guard and the courts on criminal investigations let alone adjudicate schoolyard brawls, but I know it. What happened?" 

"It was two of the same boys who got in trouble over the thing that happened when my mage-gift awakened, and another one," she says, and she recites the whole story.

"Oh no. ...Poor boy. Ma'ar, I mean. I think it is very likely it was sabotage, though - probably it was not intended to be harmful to her, just embarrassing. I imagine most mage-students cannot tell just by looking what alteration will have which effect, and Ma'ar - has more reason than most to have acquired that skill." 

"Yeah. And then the teacher wanted to know why he was so twitchy and I said that was a personal question and I didn't know what Ma'ar'd want me to say and he could ask himself... I don't know if he'll bother."

Nod. “What an unfortunate situation. I will offer my lie detection services since this is important to you, while making it clear I am not generally available for all student disciplinary disputes, and... Should we talk more about Ma’ar? This - seems unfair to him, but also that level of flinchiness is actually a safety issue in a class of that level.”

"I did tell the teacher I wouldn't make a fuss if he were kicked out for being flinchy, that would make sense. He hasn't wanted me to do anything about it, at least so far."

Nod.

"It's kind of dumb that he can get in trouble for fighting but can't get rewarded for saving her life."

"I agree. I - am not sure what sort of reward could be offered, though, aside from presumably this girl's gratitude, and - the teacher will not forget it, I am sure, it showed courage and fast reflexes and those are both important for higher-level magic research."

She nods. "I think I don't have any other stuff I should be doing about this for right now. I'll go see how Ma'ar's doing, I guess. I wanna learn the lie detecting thing later though."

"Of course. It is an unusual application of Mindhealing and takes some time to get the knack, but once you have it it is not complicated. You know, it is actually something I learned of from the Haighlei Empire, my very well-traveled teacher visited their southernmost city once. They ban all Mind-Gifts except for this application, and given the number of 'Truthsayers' they have available, she suspects they have found a way to train people with any mind-Gift including Thoughtsensing or Empathy to do this. I have no idea how, though."

"Huh, that's cool! I mean, also kind of tragic, but cool."

"Mmm." Lionwind looks with a sigh at his now-cold lunch. "...Anyway I had better finish up these notes and go offer my lie detection services to the school before my next patient shows up. I hope Ma'ar makes a speedy recovery."

"Thank you."

And she hikes back to Healers' to check in on that.

The same Healer as before greets her. "He's asleep again right now, but - he'd probably like you there, if you aren't too busy. D'you know if he normally has bad nightmares?"

"I know he sometimes does, yeah."

Sigh. "Never ideal to get mage-patients who do, but we stuck him in the shielded room for that reason and so far he hasn't set anything on fire."

Maybe when he wakes up she'll ask if he wants some help with that.

She sits by his bed, goes over her notes.

When Ma’ar wakes up a candlemark later, he does so very suddenly, going from fast asleep to eyes open and scanning the room as he checks the wards in under a second. He doesn’t seem incredibly distressed, at least. 

“Aza?”

"I'm here."

He inches his way into a sitting position, slowly and carefully. "- Did you go talk to the teacher? What happened?"

"I talked to Illa first, and brought her with me, I think that helped. The teacher agrees she's not sloppy and he didn't know some of the boys had disciplinary records but he's going to look at their student files. Also Lionwind knows how to detect lies."

Ma'ar nods. Looks like he maybe wants to ask a question, but doesn't.

"Healer said you were having nightmares."

Another minimal-movement shrug. “Sometimes that happens.”