The Misfits of Al'Magi Academy: Sharzin Thistlewillow

Sharzin didn’t understand why everyone was so upset about the summer. So, what if the professor almost died? He was ultimately brought back to life. And if they failed a few classes, they’d simply retake them. Or, if Rionriv hadn’t been so stuck up, she could have let Sharzin sneak into the archives to change the grades. That’s what she was good at after all.

But Rionriv didn’t like that Sharzin hid in the shadows. Meanwhile, Aesandoral just assumed that she was typically somewhere nearby. But to be fair, she did try to keep within earshot of the others most of the time, just in case of sudden combat. After all, she had spent her whole life trying to remain in the shadows, out of sight and mind, why should she be expected to suddenly change?

She prided herself on being invisible. Afterall, it meant fewer problems for everyone around her.

That was why she didn’t understand Rionriv being so furious over the summer project. In Sharzin’s mind, she was doing her job in the shadows, looking for bandits in the direction Rionriv had informed her they would come from. Aesandoral missed the frangulnoa already hiding within the perimeter on the initial examination, and then Rionriv decided to use her lightning instead of a potion to heal Skirrtlegirt.

No one was wrong, yet everyone was. She thought to herself as she watched Rionriv muttering angrily from her perch on the ship.

But Sharzin would never tell Rionriv that. That would just make lightning bolts shoot from her sapphire eyes, and she didn’t think she could hide from those.

Plus, she couldn’t bring it up now, as she had already snuck aboard the rowboat heading to shore ahead of the ship.

Maybe we’ll talk later. Or maybe not.

As the boat came ashore, Sharzin slipped out from under the pile of rope that had been heaped at the center of the craft. At the right moment, she disembarked unseen and took up position in the only shaded alleyway next to the docks.

Catching a glance of herself in a nearby window, she looked at her pale cheeks and clear eyes. She stared for a moment, unhappy with what she saw, before tucking the loose strands of black hair behind her ear and flipping her hood up.

From there, she used her ability to read lips to watch the brief but tense interaction between Rionriv and Aesandoral. Rionriv then did her typical thing and blasted off in a huff to “think,” and after a few minutes of fiddling with her ears, Aesandoral did what she did—started talking to Sharzin.

“Hey, Sharzin.” Her lips moved silently from a hundred feet away. “I don’t know if you’re around, but I’m going to get a haircut. If you want to join, we can go together.”

Tracing a rune in the air, Sharzin whispered a brief incantation and threw her voice to Aesandoral’s shoulder. “No, I’m okay, thank you. I have my own things.”

“Where are you?”

“Down here.”

Aesandoral looked over the edge of the boat, eventually catching Sharzin’s eyes. She gave a smile and a wave before ducking back into the alley and disappearing.

Sharzin moved through the streets of Dwindlefyre quickly. This was her comfort zone, after all. She had spent a whole year exploring this port. The nooks and crannies of the alleys were like another home, but better. Even in the high noon sun, she could find a shaded corner to lurk.

But today she just wanted to retreat to her crappy dorm room in peace, a goal that quickly ceased to exist as she ascended the secret stormwater drainage that came down from the campus.

Emerging from a loosened grate, she ducked behind a nearby shrub for cover and, from her hiding spot, she watched as a curious interaction unfolded before her.

A sun-blessed child of white hair was on his knees, crying. Above, a ruminantfolk girl was trying to console him before, suddenly, he jumped up and made a hasty exit.

Intrigued by the odd boy, Sharzin did her best to stalk him. A task that wasn’t easy, as he was fast and she had short legs. But, after losing him briefly, she caught back up and watched long enough to observe him stumbling into a fairly common vermin trap.

She debated intervening several times and was even ready to jump in if things got too harrowing. But he gave it a good show until his strength gave out.

That was when Rionriv showed up, audibly cursing to herself as she stomped towards the boy.

“He really gave it his all.” Sharzin muttered as she emerged from the shadows.

“Ahh—gah!” Rionriv jumped back, grabbing at her chest. Electricity arced between the strands of her flowing red hair. “Damn it, Sharzin, you’re going to give me a heart attack. And, I wouldn’t know, just got here.”

Sharzin approached the boy’s neck and touched it in search of a pulse.

“He’s stable, just unconscious. Seems to have exhausted himself.”

“Makes sense, I saw him get pummeled in the square earlier.” Rionriv said as she crossed her arms and looked down at the pinned kid before giving the rat a kick.

“Ah, that makes sense. Must be why I saw him crying at the top of the switch.”

“Well, let’s get this thing off of him and take him to the nearest arcanomedicus station.” Rionriv finished as she and Sharzin removed the vermin before hauling the boy away.

Sometime after that, Sharzin had skipped her Arcano-Statistics course after growing tired of listening to the teacher babble on. Instead, she had decided to wait at a nearby automatic band station for Aesandoral to finish class so they could meet up for food.

“This song sucks.” A cocky First Year mocked the clockwork contraptions.

“Yeah, maybe it needs to be tuned differently.” Another jeered, pulling a wand and flicking it towards the machines.

Sharzin watched as the automatons began to spark. The once-green crystals in the eye sockets turned red as the beautiful music transformed into a discordant cacophony of clanging instruments and screams.

Ohh, that’s not good. Sharzin thought, disappearing back into the shadows.

Looking to get some distance, she rushed down a side alley, away from the combat, before spotting something curious. With a double-take, she watched as the same white-haired boy returned once again for a beating.

Sharzin had noticed him regularly over the last week. Always training by himself and always very nearly dying. In fact, she had had to take him to the arcanomedicus office more times than she could count.

Actually, she had counted. It was six.

But that didn’t bother her. In fact, Sharzin found his dedication admirable and was actually rooting for him. She had no idea where the rest of his triop was, but he seemed to be putting the effort in, and it made her want to do the same—in her stealthiness.

Without hesitation, the boy engaged in combat with a group of creatures that were well outside of his capabilities. And, while Sharzin knew that, it was apparent that he didn’t. So, she readied herself to assist if he needed it, but that was before Aesandoral burst forward like a hero, changing everything.

If we’re going to help this kid, it would be best to use Rionriv’s Formation Three. Aesandoral lures counterclockwise while I go clockwise.

Sharzin started to make it happen, but that was when the kid went down, and Aesandoral broke formation.

Crap! Sharzin thought, taking up a position behind a box.

She watched as Aesandoral hunched over the kid, quickly reviving him with one of the triop’s potions. But what the archer didn’t see was the automaton approaching from her blind spot.

With a snap of her fingers, Sharzin’s short bow emerged from the shadows. But by the time she had nocked her own arrow, it was too late. Aesandoral fell limp as the musical machine landed a devastating blow to the back of her head.

“No!” Sharzin yelped, stepping from the shadows and releasing her arrow. “Aesandoral!”

That was when the musical machine that had been sneaking around the edge of the battlefield took its opportunity to pounce. Two heavy blows came from oversized drumsticks, knocking Sharzin to the ground.

Rolling to the side, she dodged two more strikes as it pounded against the cobblestone road.

Oh crap, too close. Too close!

Grabbing for a dagger from her belt, she thrust upward, but the blade was easily deflected. It flung from her hands as two more strikes came for her. The first she managed to dodge, but the second struck hard into her side, painfully cracking her ribs.

No, no, no. Got to get away.

Fear filled her as she rolled on the ground before jumping to her feet. Bracing herself for another strike, she readied to flee at a moment's notice.

Then, in an act of the Gods themselves, a radiant blast came forth and saved her. Looking in the direction of the magical force, she saw him. The boy she had seen so many times was looking at her with radiant energy glowing from his eyes and outreached hand.

“Th-Thank you!” Sharzin stammered awkwardly, stepping from the shadows now that the combat seemed to be over.

Moving quickly to Aesandoral, she gave her teammate a small tap on the hip before speaking up.

“This should have been a Formation Three.”

“Well, I didn’t know if you were with me, so I improvised, Sharzin.” She replied, slipping the bow onto her back.

They began to debate the proper formation in these situations, but before she knew it, the white-haired boy had slipped away.

“Who was that kid?” Aesandoral asked.

“I don’t know, but he doesn’t seem to give up.” Sharzin replied, placing a hand over her chest as she remembered the radiant energy that saved her.

Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump!

ooo

Later that afternoon, just before dusk, Sharzin and Aesandoral were eating in the Grand Central Library café, catching up on what had happened in class, when the towering library doors flung open. A gust of wind blew through the foyer as Rionriv entered with a low rumble of thunder following her wake.

“Oh great, Rionriv’s in a mood again,” Aesandoral whispered. “Here comes the thunder.”

“Ugh!” Rionriv huffed as she approached the table, pulling up a seat and perching atop it. “I’m frustrated.”

“Yeah, what about?” Aesandoral asked carefully.

“This stupid kid—” Rionriv turned to Sharzin. “That kid, Sharzin. From last week? He got himself petrified and broken by a basilisk.”

“What?!” Both Sharzin and Aesandoral gasped.

Rionriv looked at Aesandoral with a confused expression.

“You know him?”

“Yeah, he—erm,” Aesandoral blushed, and continued shyly. “We saved each other earlier.”

“We ran into him in the early afternoon,” Sharzin clarified. “And he saved both of us at one point and another—Wait, what happened?”

Rionriv explained how she had been meeting with a professor about extra, extra-credit to help guarantee they passed their additional classes this semester. Then she ran into a basilisk and had to make a quick escape. The kid jumped down after her to fight it and ended up getting turned to stone.

“I dealt with the basilisk and then dragged his pieces all the way to the nearest arcanomedicus station.”

“Poor kid, can’t catch a break,” Sharzin said as she shook her head. “But I’m sure he’ll be back up on his feet in a few days.”

“Well, maybe we should go check on him after those few days?” Aesandoral injected quickly, poking her fingers together shyly. “You know, to make sure he’s healing alright?”