Room 322, Wednesday Morning

[not_every_mage]

It had been more than a day since the children left, and Anders wasn't sure his head was entirely back to normal yet. It was funny how deeply you could miss someone you'd known for such a short time, and who quite likely wouldn't ever exist at all.

At least it seemed like Leo was headed back someplace where he was safe and loved. Carys, though ... that was another story. He still wasn't entirely certain he and Kathy had done the right thing by making her go home. Her parents had lots of friends, sure, and he liked the idea of palling around with a Champion (whatever that meant exactly) but ... he didn't want to raise a child in a world where her father was an apostate. It seemed likely to lead only to heartbreak for everyone.

He tried to set aside his worry for the girl as he scrounged through his books until he found one on the history of Thedas. Maybe it would at least give him some background on Kirkwall to put a bit of what Carys had said in context.

[OOC: Cracked door, open post.]

Comments

[seeks_truth]

All right, so Cassandra passing by Anders' door was not entirely accidental. In fact, she had started to find excuses to do so, if simply to see for herself that the mage had not yet fled.

She would have kept on walking, however, had she not spotted the book's cover from the corner of her eye.

Instead she paused. Frowned. Considered speaking up to ask him where he had found that book.

"Where did you find that book?"

And of course, did so, the moment the thought had passed her mind.

[not_every_mage]

"Library," Anders told her, glancing up over the cover of the book. He was only mildly surprised to see Cassandra; he'd noticed the checking in on him, but it hardly seemed worth fighting her on as long as it remained unobtrusive. "You can see it after me, if you want."

He considered the book in his hands for a moment, then: "It's not the best reference. Seems to have been written decades ago by an Antivan with a grudge."

[seeks_truth]

"Perhaps the library has some connection to Thedas, then," Cassandra mused. "I should question Face about this. He may know more, or point me to the librarian who stocked the tome."

She tilted her head. "Why are you looking at it?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders shrugged, answered the question with a question. "Do you know anything about Kirkwall?"

[seeks_truth]

"I have been there," Cassandra said. "It is not the most pleasant of the Free Marcher states. Why?"

[not_every_mage]

"I've never set foot in the place or heard a nice thing about it, but one of my children this weekend was growing up there," Anders explained. "Didn't sound as though she found it particularly pleasant either. I was trying to figure out if there was any possible reason I'd move there."

The book wasn't helping. It could not predict the Blight.

[seeks_truth]

So thoughtless of it, not to be able to predict the awakening of an ancient dragon god and the far-reaching effects of the Fifth Blight.

"It seems an unlikely place for you to go," Cassandra agreed, stepping into the room. "It has one of the strictest Circles in Thedas. You would find it far more unpleasant than I did."

[not_every_mage]

Really, what good was history if it didn't predict a flood of Fereldan refugees decades hence?

"I'm sure it made some kind of sense to me at the time," Anders decided, pressing his fingers into the bridge of his nose. "But from what Carys said, their Circle won't get any better. We get some kind of protection from their Champion, apparently. It was quite odd to hear about."

He gave Cassandra a speculative look. "Were there any little Seekers-in-training nipping at your heels for the weekend?"

[seeks_truth]

"No," Cassandra said.

She did a moderately decent job of looking like that didn't bother her. (It did.)

"So now you are attempting to inform yourself about Kirkwall?" she said. "I am not sure that will brighten your spirits any further."

[not_every_mage]

Anders suspected she was slightly more bothered about it than she wanted to let on, but he wasn't exactly in the habit of quizzing Cassandra on her feelings. Having a civil conversation with her was a large enough step. he nodded, vaguely sympathetic, and gestured to the desk chair if she wanted to sit.

"It's not terribly comforting," he admitted. "But the only other choice is trying to put it out of my head, and I'm not doing a good job with that. I may as well know a little more about what I'm worrying about."

[seeks_truth]

Cassandra eyed the chair, but she did not sit down. Instead she lingered near it, somewhat awkwardly, though her expression had returned to its old brand of stoically determined. "If you have questions, you may ask," she said, "Unless I choose not to answer."

[not_every_mage]

Anders bit back a smile at the stiffness. It wasn't funny, exactly, but it was interesting how some things didn't change.

He wasn't sure he had many questions so much as a lot of confusion, but one came to mind. "Do you know what Darktown would be?" he asked. "Apparently I set up a clinic there. The name alone sounds ... well, dark."

Hightown and Lowtown were self-explanatory. Darktown, not so much.

[seeks_truth]

"It was once a mine," Cassandra said. "But over the centuries, it became a refuge for criminals and the destitute. That is how they tell it in Kirkwall, at any rate."

She looked thoughtful. "I have never seen it for myself," she said, "But few had any good words to speak of it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"If I take another SAT prep-test today I am going to go stark, raving mad," Kathy declared from Anders' doorway. "Nobody needs to see that, so I am appointing you He Who Talks Kathy Down From Academic Ledges. Congratulations, your new position is a thankless one with no pay and minimal job satisfaction. If you were from Earth, it would be excellent preparation for the rest of your life."

[not_every_mage]

"Don't jump, Kathy, we need you," Anders said, grinning at her. "Does taking on this peculiarly thankless job get me out of buying you lunch, or should I order a pizza?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I suppose since you've agreed to not let me drop out of school to become a hobo, I can probably spring for pizza," she said with mock-reluctance.

Especially since Kathy was able to eat a whole large pizza by herself without even trying.

[not_every_mage]

"You are a great lady indeed," Anders told her. "I'm glad I've kept you from wasting it being a hobo."

He passed her his phone, pizza place number already on the screen. "I was just going to get pepperoni, but I like anything but jalapenos."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I might even thank you for it," Kathy said, hitting the dial button. "Assuming I survive until mid-June. June 7th, mark it on your calendar. If I have lived until then and am not a gibbering wreck under a bridge somewhere, we'll go out and I'll have my very first drink to celebrate."

And not just her first drink. Kathy was giving serious thought to making that her very first time getting sloppy drunk, too. It would be grand.

After putting in an order for three large pepperoni-and-tomato pizzas, Kathy handed the phone back over to Anders and slumped over on his bed. This was her bed now, Anders. Find another. She had claimed it in the name of 'It had no SAT prep materials on it.'

[not_every_mage]

"What, your very first?" That was a surprise. "How did I manage not to talk you into it before now?"

He leaned back against his bed, obediently ceding the seat atop it to Kathy. "What exactly is this test, anyhow?" he wondered lazily. "Or would you rather talk about something else?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"You never did," Kathy said, giving him a reproachful look. "And now it's too late, because if I start now, I will never stop."

It would be glorious, other than the complete ruination of her future.

"And, no, I'd be glad to complain about it, if you don't mind a rant. As newly-designated savior, you should probably understand what it is you're saving me from."

Since Kathy really did want to rant about it, she just launched into the explanation. "The SATs, or Scholastic Aptitude Test, is a long exam that's pretty much required to get into any college. At all. I have to show up, pay $50 for the privilege of wracking my brains for four hours. More than half of students have to take this test twice in order to get a score good enough to be sent to the universities of their choice, and that's not even counting the eight SAT II Subject tests I'm taking and my four Advanced Placement exams. Six of the SAT II's and all four AP exams are all taking place in early May." She groaned and thudded her head against the pillow. "Why did I ever think this was a good idea?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders ...was just going to stare in horror for a moment. Was that normal here? 13 tests just to be able to go to more school? It seemed excessive, if not bloody insane.

"Probably because you want to be the best at everything," he suggested. "Or gremlin bite. That's a good excuse."

[spin_kick_snap]

Don't you worry, Anders. It was excessive and possibly insane.

"There is some method to my madness," Kathy said, sounding completely unsure of that. "If I do well on my AP exams, I can get college credit for them. And depending on my SAT II scores, sometimes it's possible to get certain low-level classes waived because I've proven I have enough knowledge to skip them. And I'm just taking the Korean language one because I can." She shrugged. "It seemed stupid not to. I speak it like English."

[not_every_mage]

"So you're taking a bunch of tests now so you don't have to take classes later?" Anders said, hoping he had that part right. "And then one test ... just because you'll pass it?"

It didn't make much sense, still, but he figured Kathy knew what she was doing. He smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring. "Try to keep breathing and I know you'll get through them all alright."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Pretty much," Kathy said, confirming the American school system was all kinds of special. "When you go to college, you have a whole bunch of general education requirements you have to fulfill before you can graduate, so they know you're leaving with some basic knowledge outside of your major. Everyone has to take, like, an art, a history, a math, a science, a composition class, that kinda thing. With these scores, they can say that I've already proven my knowledge of that stuff to their satisfaction and move on to the courses that I want to take. More importantly, this can save me up to a whole year of coursework and tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and fees."

Even with the money she was making being part of Barry's Ethics Committee, paying for college was still an important consideration.

"A year at Stanford costs fifty-eight thousand dollars," she said softly, drawing her knees up. "Just one year. I can't afford that. My family can't afford that. I'm trusting to loans and scholarships. Anything I can do to shorten that just makes sense. And that's assuming I get in, which is the other reason I'm taking so many tests--so they look at me and think I'm worth giving a spot to, instead of any of the other applicants. They get over forty-thousand applications a year--and choose a little over two thousand. The odds are kinda stacked against me, here."

[not_every_mage]

Anders did some quick mental math to figure out how long he'd need to work at the Magic Box to get $58,000, and came up with a figure that required he spend all his waking hours at work for several months.

So he could see the crisis.

"I didn't know it was a money thing," he said. "Not so different from home, I suppose. The rich always get the best opportunities and the rest of us scrabble around. If I had the money so you didn't need to worry I'd give it to you."