Ehlissa's Story (a Castle Greyhawk Prologue) - p. 21

Bastro Felgosh was a slight man with large, bulging eyes, thin lips,
and a short, dark beard that jutted almost horizontally from his chin
through the gap in his high collar. He wore a conical hat as most
senior guildmembers did, but much bulkier robes than the previous man.
Bastro seemed almost lost in all of that fine, black and red linen.
He looked Ehlissa up and down with those bulging eyes and asked in a
friendly voice if he could help her.

Bastro nodded to his colleague solemnly as the elder man walked behind
and Ehlissa and down the hall. Bastro said to Ehlissa without really
looking at her, "I am sorry, but I am much too busy right now. The
magic mouth on the door will schedule you an appointment after I
leave."

"But, please, it's not about class," Ehlissa pleaded, feeling she was
too close now to give up the chase. "I'm looking for a private tutor.
Someone who had helped Hertha."

Bastro finally looked at Ehlissa. In fact, he seemed to be examining
her rather critically, but silently until his colleague left the hall.
"In rare cases, for gifted but underadvantaged students, I have done
private tutoring in the past. If you come back later tonight after
the last of the evening classes, perhaps we can talk more about it."
That was all he seemed intent on saying, as he quickly brushed past
her and made his way down the hall.

Ehlissa had no other business in this end of the guildhall and had no
choice but to follow Bastro out at a respectful distance. She watched
him enter a door in the main hall that was only for senior member use
and thought she caught him smiling back at her before he went through
it. It was most encouraging, so much so that Ehlissa smiled back and
smiled all the way to the library. She sat with a few of her friends
and heard them whispering to each other, but she paid no heed to them.
She smiled and looked at her study notes without reading anything and
imagined the spells Bastro might teach her that would let her slay
goblin barbarians while back-to-back with Tenser. Tenser would be so
appreciative that he would profess his undyng love and--

"Ehlissa," her friend Eura was saying, "don't you hear the bells?
It's time for class!"

Ehlissa had earned the rebuke that Eura administered as they walked to
class. This was, as Eura reminded her, to be an exciting class for
them both, as the training for the unseen servant spell had finally
begun. Class was overseen by the usual rotation of mid-level
guildsmen, all bored with having to teach a class on domestic magic,
but today's instructor was assisted by two younger, journeymen
magic-users, one of whom was a woman. Both of the journeymen seemed
to show more enthusiasm than the main instructor, but the woman – a
short, round-faced woman with ruddy cheeks – seemed to be glowing with
pride. They performed the somatic components of the spell repeatedly,
never finishing the spell so it would not vanish from their minds.
Ehlissa and the other students watched and busily sketched the hand
positions on their note scrolls with charcoal sticks, to be inked over
later. As Ehlissa worked, she wondered about the pride on that
woman's face. Had she discovered some secret, special use for the
unseen servant spell? Or had she simply made a better trophy wife of
herself by knowing it and was happy because she pleased her husband?

Ehlissa had half a mind to corner the woman and ask her after class,
but feared hearing the second answer. Besides, she already had an
appointment with Bastro and was looking forward to learning spells
like Hertha had learned from him.

"Don't go," Johydee said later, after Ehlissa told her the latest news
in the privacy of her bedroom. They were both sitting on Ehlissa's
bed.

"How many times have I heard you say 'don't' to me in the last few
weeks?" Ehlissa asked.

"Why are you not saying it to yourself?" Johydee had shot back. "You
don't need to be reckless. You don't need to go to your guild for a
secret meeting."

Ehlissa gave a sigh of frustration that ended in more of an angry
growl. "Why are you always against me?"

Johydee jumped up and grabbed her sister's hands. "I am not against
you! I just hate what you're doing? Why are you so obsessed? You
haven't even seen Tenser in days!"

"Because this isn't just about Tenser!" Ehlissa shot back, letting go
of her sister's hands. "This is about me and what I need to…to be the
person I want to be."

"All right," Johydee sighed. "I'll be supportive again. But you make
sure you keep telling me everything."

Ehlissa promised she would, but inwardly she knew that she could not
take any more of Johydee's lecturing.

Ehlissa returned later to the hall where Bastro's office was located.
The hall was as quiet and unnerving as before. Perhaps there was some
enchantment on the hall that made junior guildsmen wish to leave,
perhaps it was some sense of foreboding on her part, or perhaps
Johydee had warned her so much recently that it was starting to affect
her.

Bastro opened the door and those huge eyes of his instantly settled on
her face. "Come in," he said, still staring at her. It sounded more
like a command than a request.

Ehlissa had felt fine around him earlier when he barely looked at her,
but now that he would not take his eyes off her, it was unnerving.
She kept her eyes to the floor as often as she could and just hoped
his eyes were elsewhere.

"I won't ask why it's so important to you to have this spell," Bastro
said. "But I do have to know how important it is to you."

Ehlissa sighed. So now she had to explain herself to him too, as well
as to her own sister?