The mood in the dining room during the morning meal was tense: rumor had it that three students had been expelled from the school for an unexplained infraction, possibly unauthorized sorcery outside of a classroom. Brigid saw that the three women were all a part of Soraya’s little group, albeit on the fringes of it: just on general principles she was certain that Soraya was the ultimate instigator of whatever infraction the women had committed, but she was also certain that Soraya had not been implicated in it, either.
Across the room, two women who Brigid had seen as friends of the expelled students began to argue in low tones. A loud interjection from one of them brought the eyes of everyone upon them as they continued to argue, growing louder and louder with each breath.
Glancing over at Soraya, Brigid could see her tracing an arcane pattern on the tabletop with her forefinger, using spilled juice as ink. The pattern disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Brigid could feel the spell’s passing like a rush of fetid air as it centered on the people around the two arguing women.
Suddenly one of the women angrily picked up a bowl of porridge and thrust it at the face of the other. The other arguing woman simply picked up a large fistful of porridge from her own bowl and ground it into the face of the first: she laughed at the sight until another woman dumped a bowl of porridge on her own head. In classic fashion, an old-style food fight was born.
Brigid raised her palms, beginning a simple spell, then hesitated a moment, as spellcasting outside of a classroom was as forbidden as acknowledging one’s titles, but such disorder was also forbidden. She shrugged and breathed between her palms; a gentle spell designed to quell angry tempers descended over the combatants, at the same time dispelling Soraya’s mischief. The combatants stood amidst the disarrayed tables, blinking in confusion and dripping with breakfast, as the wardens appeared, led by Carolan himself.
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