Intro Mira, prt 2

        The two friends and coworkers, with the attentive aid of their cabbie, chose a quiet pub in the merchant district. It was a typical affair for Strouton, plain wood planks, tarred shingles and a couple of brick smokestacks. The interior, however, was cool and inviting to private conversations.

        “The mansion has more space than we will need for years,” Arminius began having ordered his meal. “There are a few rooms that I don’t think were even touched when the manor was converted. Not only that, the grounds cover half a square mile, all of it enclosed by the fence.”

        “It sounds lovely, it really does. Are you sure you won’t tell me how you got the job?” Mira said, voicing again the question she had been holding in the back of her mind.

        “I told you, politicking, and making deals with the right people. The details are something you shouldn’t know.” Answerd Arminius, taking a sip of Stroutons famed apple and pear cider.

        “Why, would I be killed for such knowledge?” Mira said full of her normal good humor.

        “Perhaps, most probably by me” Arminius chortled.

        They talked about this and about that, from rising duelists to the deadlines for lesson plans. The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their smoked trout, a savory favorite of Cornell. Talking quickly resumed and before long the food was a thing of the past and Strouton’s wizards were once again back at Ithalreal, talking away in the magically clean sitting room.

        “When they refitted the mansion as a school, they altered a lot of things to make it more academic. I’d like to undo some of that as we clean up, give it back some of its grandeur.”

        “Arminius, you had better be planning on doing some of that yourself. I’ll be busy too once I start with my plans and lessons.”

        “Oh I am, I’ve already done a some of it, just to allow me to try and hire some staff.”

        “How is that going, by the way?” Mira asked.

        “I have many applications, the locals seem quite pleased with the idea of having an academy again. I’ll be starting interviews tomorrow, for the positions of housekeeper, groundskeeper and cook, if I can hire them by the end of the week we’ll be in good shape to start planning for the semester.”

        “Good, I’d love to get down to the fun stuff.” Mira smiled.

        “I have heard you say many things before Mira, but never did I think you would consider making lesson plans fun.”

        “Well, there are only so many paintings to paint before one looks forward to one’s true job.”

        “Fair enough, though I feel just the opposite right now. It’s been an age since I last saw a duel, or even better a tournament.” Sighed Arminius.

        “Perhaps once the work is done and before the students arrive,” Mira yawned, “in the mean time, I’m going to take advantage of that bedroom you mentioned, fifth door on the right, right?”

        “Fifth on the left.” Arminius corrected.

        “Yeah, goodnight.” Mira left the room.

Intro Mira, prt 1

Introducing Mira

        Arminius sat in his newly claimed office, eyes shut allowing the warm sunbeams to enter through the window and soothe his tense shoulders. A morning’s worth of completed forms were stacked neatly on the corner of his grand desk, while a much larger stack waited at his right hand. He exhaled slowly, psyching himself up for a renewed start at his paperwork. Years of study and practice in nearly every form of wizardry had done little to brace him for the copious amounts of writing he was now required to do. The one comfort his training afforded him was that his hand was free of cramping, as he had enchanted his pen to take diction.

        Opening his eyes, he placed an unfinished form in front of him, and drew his wand from a pocket of his jacket. With a small gesture to his newly bought, but already worn, pen it stood at attention, hovering near the top of the fourteenth section of the Academy Recompense Form.

        “Number of students, not available. Primary residence, Calcibar Manor, Strouton Cornell province. Not available, not applicable, no, no preferred method . . . .“ Such did the day progress for Principal Arminius Traffurd. In fact, nothing changed, save for the name of the legal form, until the sun had hid itself behind the west wing of the manor, behind Arminius. It was at that point that there was the slight jingling of bells, announcing the arrival of a much anticipated person.

        The person in question, had arrived in Strouton only that afternoon, coming in by the most direct train from the Royal City, which still made three stops along the route. Her name is Mira Valithiano, daughter of Jordan and Miranda Valithiano, silver class duelist and dabbling painter. As she stood at the entryway, one of many summer breezes blew past, forcing her billowy clothes against her frame and nearly undoing her loose bun. At a glance, one would not take her to be a wizard rather the opposite would come to mind, most wizards being fond of plain appearances and calm demeanors, Mira seems rather contrary to the mold. It is a comment her dower, wizardly mother never fails to tease on.

        The door opened, seemingly of its own will, and Mira took her entry into the foyer.

        “Welcome to Ithalreal, Professor Valithiano!” Arminius called down to her from the balcony which ran across were the second story would be.

        “It’s a pleasure to be here, Principal Traffurd!.” Mira replied, “Or at least it will be when cob webs aren’t framing each and every corner “

        “I thought with your artistic sense you would see past that to what this place could be,” retorted Arminius.

        Mira raised her eyebrow, “ahuh, in other words you want me to do the cleaning?”

        “I’m drowning in papers, and forms, and reports and job applications, I’ve done nothing else all day,” explained Arminius. “In fact, I’ve not even eaten. I know you just arrived, but how do you feel about going back into town and catching up over dinner?”

        “I feel like if I smell coal smoke from one more train I’ll swear off anything but horses. Still, if that’s the option for dinner, let’s be off before I get comfortable.”

Outside Calcibar Mansion

Outside Calcibar Mansion

        Calcibar manor was built by James Nolan Calcibar eighty-one years previous. Near the end of his life, his son, Daniel Nolan Calcibar, donated the estate to be a school for magic in honor of his father. It was a grand affair and the estate made for a beautiful school. However, in the years since the closing of the school, the iron wrought gates had rusted; the red brick and white limestone had been grown over with ivy and moss. The once clear and beautiful windows became translucent with dust, and the woods and gardens are now choked with weeds and brambles. It is a sight of prestige lost.

        Although the manor is in a dilapidated state, many children of Strouton at some time or another, make a play area out of the large grounds. They frolic and chase through the bushes and grassy courtyard, whisper and crawl through the leaves and thorns, but not one ever dared enter that place of magic and mystery which was inside.

        “I heard Daddy say wizards are coming to the haunted house,” said one boy in a loud whisper to his friends as they eyed the building from a bush.

        “Be quiet Tommy, you’re just trying to scare us,” scolded a little girl with a pink ribbon.

        “No, I mean it,” cried Tommy, “Daddy was reading the papers and everything!”

        “Guys, do you really think we should be so close? What if they see us?” asked another boy.

        “Nah, don’t worry Fred, there’s no way any wizards are there now.”

        Yeah,, if there were there’d be smoke from the chimneys because they’d be stirring their cauldrons,” said the girl.

“Don’t be stupid Susie,” said Tommy, “wizards don’t use cauldrons.”

        They do too!” whined Susie. “I saw it at the magic shop with my own eyes,” she added.

        “Susie, witches work aat the magic shop. Wizards use those wand thingies,” countered Tommy.

        “That’s right, and they shoot fireballs and lightning and turn spaghetti into worms and controls your mind to make you eat them.” Fred added, sounding more and more scared than before.

“They can’t turn spaghetti into worms!”

        “Yes they can! And if they’re angry they’ll turn you into a frog and keep you as a pet”

        “You’re being stup-“

        “FRED, TOMMY LOOK!” yelled Susie pointing out at something.

        From the cover of their bush the two boys looked across the courtyard and saw a silhouette in one of the big windows. It wasn’t moving, merely there, but it hadn’t been there before. Fred screamed, “ A GHOST!”

        “No stupid it’s a wizard.” Tommy said smugly. They paused, then they screamed and scrambled to leave their hiding spot.

        The figure raised its arm, and a gust of wind, the color of mist, whished across the courtyard toward them. It lifted them up, rushed through the trees and set tehm at the open iron gate. The two who didn’t lose their breakfast, ran down the dirt road, while the one who did lose his breakfast struggled to catch up.

        Back at the window, if anyone were listening, a voice could be heard saying, “perhaps that will get them out of the way” as its owner tucked a slender stick into his pocket.

A clipping from the Cornell Gazette

Magic returns to Strouton

The Council of Magical Educationhas formally released news that the Calcibar School in Strouton is to be reopened as the Ithalreal Academy for Wizardry.

“I look forward to the school reopening and the prosperity it could bring to Strouton,” said local witch Geoffrey Salem, owner of the Strouton Magic Shop. The school would seem to be a welcome addition to this small town whose only local magic is the Magic Shop and the three witches working there.

Originally the Calcibar Manor, the estate was donated to become the Calcibar School. However, after fourteen years the school was closed by the CME (Council of Magical Education) for failing to meet the expectations for a secondary school of magic. It has lain closed these past twenty-two years, becoming an overgrown, local landmark.

The reopening of the school is part of His Majesty the King’s Act of Magical Proficiency, to improve magic throughout our land Regnum. Appointed to this task as the principal of Ithalreal is Wizard Arminius Traffurd. Prin. Traffurd is young, a mere nineteen years of age, but has several accomplishments to qualify him. He is a graduate of the Percival Academy, the top in wizard training, and a duelist of the highest class. Previous to graduating top of the class from the Royal Instructors Academy, he was captian of Percival’s tournament team, vice captain of the demonstration team, and lead duelist. Having these credentials it is sure that much can be expected of this principal, and Ithalreal: Academy of Wizardry.

The school is scheduled to be open this coming September for its first semester, whilst Prin. Traffurd is supposed to have arrived by train this past Tuesday.