fandomtownies | Our Lady of Fandom, Tuesday all day

It was morning, and so far it was far better than yesterday's had been. After he finished with Trenor, Karal made his way into town and into the church. "Gabriel?"

Gabriel looked up from his book. "Karal! Come in!"

He actually looked almost cheerful.

He couldn't help smile as he did exactly that. "You are in a good mood this morning," he observed, sitting down in a pew. "There has been no return of Saturday's visitors?"

"No," Gabriel replied. "Good riddance. I've had some peace and quiet." He put the book down next to him. "Someone said on the radio there's a goblin relative at the school though."

Karal looked at him blankly, confused. "There is?"

Gabriel shrugged. "I don't know much about what's going in there except what they say on the radio, and it's not exactly easy to interpret. Worse than the Bible at times."

That was enough to clear the confusion. "Oh. You mean the Headmistress," he said flatly. "I spoke with her yesterday."

"Did she mention the goblins?" Gabriel asked.

"No, she didn't." He gave Gabriel a tiny smile. "Gabriel, I don't think they are actually related to her. The people on the radio were simply using an analogy."

"How should I know?" Gabriel snapped. "As I said, hard to interpret."

Karal's face fell, but only for a moment and then he'd schooled his features to neutrality. "I apologise. I was not trying to insult you, and yes, the radio often makes no sense."

Gabriel wasn't in a mood to argue with Karal. "Help yourself to coffee," he said in an attempt to make his guest feel at home. "You don't seem to cheerful." Even if Gabriel most of the time didn't pay attention to such things didn't mean he couldn't. It also didn't mean that when he did it was because he was overly concerned.

"I am fine," he replied, smiling tentatively as he rose to pour a cup of coffee for himself. Gabriel's snappishness reminded him of how he'd behaved on the weekend, but Karal was reluctant to broach the subject. "Thank you. You looked as if you were enjoying your book."

"Good book," Gabriel confirmed. "That head girl really had it coming. So what's school like for you?" Karal was usually a lot easier to interpret than the radio.

Karal took awhile to answer, not sure how much to say. "They are not as good as they could be," he finally settled on, then abandoned caution. "The Headmistress is evil."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow and gave Karal a curious look. "In what sense?" he asked, wondering if Lucifer was trying to infiltrate the school. He had to be up to something else than running a bar and being involved in unspeakable relationships after all.

"In the sense that she is using magic to harm students." His knuckles were white around the mug. "And she enjoys it."

Gabriel's face lit up. "Oh, a witch. That's simple." He grinned. "The scriptures says 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live'. It's been used a lot through history. Just burn her at the stake."

Karal went pale and the mug slipped from his nerveless fingers to smash on the floor.

He didn't even notice. "What?" His voice was a horrified whisper as he stared at Gabriel.

"If she's evil and a witch burning her at the stake is a perfect solution," Gabriel repeated. "Good for morale, too." He looked quite pleased with his suggestion.

Sick to his stomach, cold spreading through him, he backed away a step before he caught himself. Sunlord, no. "You would give someone to the Flames?" he choked out, memory overwhelming him.

Gabriel looked disappointed at Karal's reaction. "You said she was evil and a witch. Why not?"

"Because you do not answer evil with evil." He clasped his hands together tightly as images from childhood rose unbidden behind his eyes.

Children found guilty of harbouring witch powers, burning alive, the others forced to stand witness. The three he'd witnessed still gave him nightmares, and it felt as if he'd suddenly stepped into one.

Clearly his suggestion disturbed Karal for some reason. "I thought people liked that sort of thing," he muttered. He'd seen it happen plenty of times, after all.

"No." Karal closed his eyes, folding his hands around his Vkandis medal, drawing comfort from the feel of the sun's rays against his hand. It was real and solid and he forced himself to calm. "Some might, but it is a a greater wrong than anything she has done," he said as he opened his eyes. "If it is necessary to execute someone, it must be quick and clean and after they have been found guilty."

Still looking a little disappointed, Gabriel reminded himself that he could do quick and clean too. Ripping out hearts was quick and... no, not clean come to think of it. Still, he didn't mention that to Karal as the biy looked upset. "So what has she done?" he asked, hoping talking about that would cheer him up.

He couldn't help but notice the disappointed look, and he turned his eyes to the floor, sighing when he saw the shattered mug. He dropped to his knees to start picking up the pieces. "She is casting spells on the students, for breaking her irrational rules," he said quietly, gathering the shards in his palm. "She has a magic quill that carves words into a student's hand as they write, and she forces them to write lines."

Gabriel frowned. "Casting spells on students?" That would certainly have been enough for a death sentence in most places he'd been. "Magic quills? She hurt you?" Even if he was just a human, Gabriel was not prepared to let a servant of his be tortured and humiliated by a witch.

"No," he kept his eyes on the pieces of mug, "she did not harm me, but she hurt others. She is abusing magic and her position of power to, to torture people. She should be caring for the students, she's responsible for them, and instead she's playing sadistic games and enjoying them."

At least she'd left Karal alone then. "Let me know if she tries to hurt you," he told Karal. He'd definitely have a word with her then.

He looked up at Gabriel, both hands cupped around a handful of shards. "It should not matter who she is hurting - friend, enemy or stranger - that someone is being hurt is reason enough to act," he said wearily, struck with a sudden longing to just go home, back to the temple at Sunhame, and never leave. "I am sorry I broke your mug."

Having hardly noticed the mug, Gabriel looked almost surprised. "I have plenty of mugs," he said. "So what did you do?" He was curious to hear how Karal saw fit to deal with evil witches.

"Nothing that made any difference," he replied, standing and going to drop the pieces in the garbage, careful not to cut himself. "All I did was confirm that she chose this path of her own will, she wants it."

"Oh, people are stubborn." Gabriel smiled. "So what's your plan?"

"Yes, they are." Karal glanced down at his hands, then managed a small smile that he didn't feel. "I do not have one, beyond speaking to some people."

Shrugging, Gabriel wasn't too sure about that plan. "I could help you," he offered.

"You cannot blow her up," he said, after studying Gabriel for a moment.

Yes, Gabriel looked disappointed. An explosion would be so simple, and he'd always liked fire. It had such a purifying quality. "No? I'm afraid that in my current situation my options are a little limited." A plague of grasshoppers to eat her alive would have been nice, too.

Something inside him was urging caution. Given everything that had happened, he was inclined to listen. "Your offer to help is very kind, Gabriel, but I do not know what will happen. Once I know that, then we can think about a way that you could help."

Gabriel managed to conceal the annoyance he felt at having his offer rejected, at least for now. He shrugged. "The point of acting is that you don't wait and see what happens," he replied.

"But if you rush off without a plan, then you will likely fail," he said quietly. "And then people will be hurt even more."

"True." Gabriel had to admit Karal had a point. "Perhaps best just to ignore it for a while. You have a hobby?"

A bit taken aback by the quick change in subject, and still off balance, it took him a moment to answer. "I have a horse," he offered. "Trenor."

"Perfect," Gabriel replied, looking suddenly cheerful again. "Go riding. Should help."

Karal leapt gratefully at the chance to escape. He needed to get out, needed some time to think. "That's a good idea," he said. "I'll go and do that now, if you'll excuse me."

Gabriel gave a nod in reply. "Have fun." He picked up his book again.

Karal fled. He did it slowly, and with a small smile and a hastily uttered, "Goodbye," but it was still fleeing nonetheless.

Our Lady of Fandom, Tuesday all day

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