Andrea did not know what to make of Aisling Ryan off-rip, but she was leaning towards liking her. Aisling was of average height, with deep blue eyes and freckles around a cute pug nose. Her face was heart shaped, and her eyebrows bushy, with ears that were sharp like an elf's. But her most distinctive feature was her auburn hair, which flowed, long and beautiful down her back. It was as if someone had captured autumn itself and weaved it into her scalp. Aisling's second most distinctive feature was her smile. She was as giving with her smile as a pastor is with their words.
Even though her teeth were a little crooked in place, Andrea had decided that she liked to see it.
"And here is where we'll be lining up for assembly in the morning," she said, her voice chipper and bubbly in a way that Andrea knew she would want her dead in the morning. They had met outside of Professor Mongold's office, and Andrea had not exactly been sure of what to expect. On the one hand, every magician she had ever met in some way, shape or form had told her that she was trash and weak and that she was going to die. On the other hand, they all seemed pretty cool and powerful, so there was that. Aisling was different though. She gave off the impression of someone Andrea would meet at a different school during a track meet. Someone tasked with showing students and parents around to ensure everyone knew where to go. She even dressed in the college's uniform, wearing a black skirt with a white jersey worn underneath a black blazer that had its cuffs and sleeves lined in gold and silver.
Her greeting, warm and bubbly as it was, was such a contrast to what Andrea had experienced in this Goddamn city that she actually did not know how to respond at first. But soon, Andrea was reminded of what it was like to speak to an actual human being.
"You're a first year too, huh?" Andrea asked, and Aisling nodded her head, her auburn curls bouncing as she did so, "Finally! I'm the last of my siblings to arrive, so I've been waiting years to finally say I am a first year."
Aisling looked her up and down in a way that was quick enough to be considered polite, "What about you, huh? You got any siblings that have been through the gates of Camelot?"
Andrea had put in some thought to her backstory, but Julian being a garbage waste of space made it difficult getting her story straight with the only other person who knew that she was lying. Well, outside of Professor Boniface…
"Nope," Andrea said, as the two walked down one of the two hallways on the first-year assembly foyer, "Just me."
The first year foyer was pretty big, with the heart of the foyer being a massive statue of boy reaching down to wrap his hands around the hilt of a sword stuck in stone. There were two towers in the foyer, both in the center of the northern and southern walls. Each tower had a doorway built into it that led to spiral stairways that led to the upper levels of the foyer. Between the two towers, beside the massive statue, was a football field in length and width. Each hallway ran along the eastern and western walls, and an upper and lower level; each with several classrooms numbered and lettered. The massive statue of King Arthur – well at least I think its Arthur – was where the Governor of their year stood during announcements.
"A wild sorcerer then," Aisling giggled. "You're the first I've ever met."
Andrea cocked her head, "By wild sorcerer, you mean someone not from a magician family, right? I'm the first? I'm sure there were a couple at the Entrance Exam, no?"
She shrugged, as they turned left to the hallway that joined to the northern wall, heading down towards an exit. "I didn't go to the Entrance Exam. I came on in through a recommendation, leaves me a bit scarlet to say. But its true."
Helena would hate you. They exited the first year section to continue down the hallway, the walls were made of glass that kept the water out as they moved through an aquarium.
"Whoa…" Andrea gasped, way to go Andy, showing how easily impressed you are. She probably thinks you're—
"I know right!" Aisling exclaimed, "It's savage to look at! Took my breath away the first time I ever laid eyes on it."
She smiled and raised an eyebrow, "For real? Bruh, you'd think someone growing up with magic wouldn't be shook by something like an aquarium."
Aisling laughed and shrugged, "If magic can kill the wonder of the world in your heart, then you don't damn well deserve it, I say!"
That seals it, Andrea thought, I like her.
The aquarium came and went as they entered the cafeteria, which was a hall with floorboards and four long tables with benches, each arranged in their own corner. In the middle, was a massive round table that Andrea reckoned would be filled with food during lunch.
The furthest wall from them had three doors each, which led to the fields outside, "For when the sun's out," Aisling said, beckoning her to follow. "Though that scarce happens in this damn city."
Even Andrea had noticed it, that even during midday, when the sun should have been at the peak of its powers, it still looked and felt like late afternoon.
"Yeah, I wondered about that. The day doesn't seem as bright, the night don't seem as dark. Its like this city is always hovering in between."
"Wow," Aisling gasped, "You sound like a poet!"
Andrea laughed as they continued their tour; exiting the hall to walk along its outside pathway towards a bell tower. She would steal glances towards Aisling as she went off on another endearing yapping spree, wondering if Aisling was just like Helena and Julian. Does she hate weakness too? Andrea wondered, but she felt silly for doing so. The Irish girl hopping around her, bursting with energy seemed like the furthest thing from a sorcerer-supremacist.
Fuck it, Andrea thought, as she turned to her tour guide. "Aisling," Andrea pulled off a monumental feat not cringing at the way she sounded. Like some little kid asking for a glass of milk before bed. "You seem like good people, so I want to know… am I weak?"
Aisling frowned and cocked her head, "From what I can tell? Very."
Jesus Christ…
"But so what," she said, surprising her by wrapping her arm around Andrea's. "Isn't that the point of coming to this school? If you were some all-powerful Herald, doubt you'd need to come all the way here from America."
She melted her heart with a goofy-ass smile and Andrea shrugged, "Yeah, you got me! I don't know shit about shit. But lucky for me, I know a pretty Irish girl who's gonna let me copy off her homework."
Aisling gasped, "You know another Irish girl?"
Andrea laughed, "I meant you, Leprechaun!"
She let go of Andrea and shook her head, "First of all, Andrea, that is racist. Secondly, why would I let you go and do that?"
She shrugged, "My undying friendship and access to my world-renowned humor."
Aisling pondered her proposition for a moment before shaking her head, "I'll take the undying friendship."
"And what about the humor?"
"What about it?" Andrea gasped and the two of them burst out into laughter.
They carried on the tour as they ascended the bell tower, "What kinda family you got?" Andrea asked, curious about what a magician family was like. In truth, she had been wondering this ever since she found out that she came from a sorcerer family. What was life growing up like for her mother, who apparently was in primary school whilst the Second World War was going on. She reckoned that it could not have been easy, being a black woman in mid-1940's America attending school down south. But then again, for all she knew, her mother actually grew up in a city or town like this, with magic and sorcerers and giant evil eyes staring at you from far off in the distance.
Andrea doubted it though; her mother's love for her community was too real not to have been a place she lived in for a while. And besides, the story of her grandfather helping out people from the community with their court cases said as much.
"Same as any Irish family," Aisling said, shrugging her shoulders. "Got a mam, aul fella still with her; several brothers, a sister, and more cousins than I know what to do with. Attend worship on Sundays; hang about the fields with some childhood friends when I'm back that side. A slow life it is, but easier than slow. What about you?"
"Just me and my mom," she said, sadly. Andrea had always been envious of those with big families.
"Oh? And where is she?"
Bedridden because she sold her soul to a spider, "Oh, you know, back home in America."
They reached the top of the bell tower and looked out at the rest of the college. It was massive, bigger than any school she'd ever been to, and maybe as big as a high school in Texas.
"I hope you don't mind me asking," Aisling said, pulling Andrea out of her own mind as they stared out at the next three years of their lives. "But why are you leaking?"
"I got a hole in me," Andrea grinned. "Can't board it up fast enough."
"I was right to take the undying friendship," Aisling teased. "But seriously, you don't know how to keep your aura in check?"
Andrea shook her head and her tour guide (and now friend?) frowned, "Oh? Well, it would do you some good hiding your aura. Magic folk aren't as nice as I am. You leaking is how I could tell that you're not very strong. Otherwise I'd have thought you were just especially talented at keeping yourself in check."
She had been called weak for two days straight now by everyone and their mother, but from Aisling, it sounded like a genuine warning. She remembered what Prof. Mongold warned her about and so was not going to go so far as show her the Grimoire. But Andrea did trust her enough to let her guard down and ask, "Can you show me how?"
Aisling seemed surprised for a moment before smiling, "Haven't told me a good joke but already you're asking me for help."
This time, Andrea did not laugh. "I know, and I'm sorry but… you're the only person I trust…"
This time the surprise stayed, "Stop acting the maggot, Andrea. You only just met me. For all you know, I could be a spooky cultist luring you in with my charming accent."
Could be, "Yeah well, my gut feeling tells me that you're good people. And my gut is always right, half the time anyway. And if I'm walking around leaking, and magicians are up to no good, then I'll be taken by a spooky cultist before long anyhow!"
Aisling snorted after a long silence, "That's true. Alrighty then. It's simple! Controlling your aura comes from the mind. Professor Mongold would've shown you the tethers, yeah?"
Andrea nodded her head, "Yeah, I remember. Okay…" she said, closing her eyes and focusing on her forehead where the carabiner had been.
"Good. Your aura comes directly from the body,"
"But I thought you said—"
"Shhh," Aisling said, "None of your complaining. I said that the mind controls your aura. Think of it like a tap, yeah. The water is the connection to the Source, your soul. The faucet is your body, and the taps are your mind. Right now, your taps are all the way opened."
Andrea could see the sink in her home kitchen, overflowing with water. She imagined a younger version of her, walking up to the sink to turn the handles, "Now we're sucking diesel." She heard Aisling say; finally closing the tap shut to the point that it was only dripping water now.
Andrea opened her eyes and smiled. She could feel it now, the lessening effect her acquiring the Grimoire had on the City sapping her energy was even more diminished now, and she even felt physically stronger. She had to focus on it still, like trying to hold a conversation whilst trying to remember an instruction she was given, but Andrea felt so much better that it was worth it in her mind.
"Now," Aisling said, a large grin on her pretty heart-shaped face. "Tell me a joke. Show us that world-renown humor of yours!"
Andrea laughed before tapping the bottom of her chin whilst pondering before snapping her fingers, "I got it! This one is for you and me, Bruh. Okay, so did you hear about the marriage between the girl from Dublin and the boy from New Orleans?"
"I did not hear about the marriage between the girl from Dublin and the boy from New Orleans!" Aisling beamed.
"Well, it was quite the O'Cajun…"
Aisling's gleeful smile slowly fell away before she sighed, "Welp, here's hoping that you're a very good friend."
Everyone's a critic…