Oscar had finished getting dressed rather quickly, and Leana stood before him picking at a few pieces of lint on his dark green jacket.

  Leana eyed the boys head for a moment, before she came to the same conclusion she had many times before, Oscar was simply too young to wear a hat.

  The boy in question could feel his soul leaving his body at the fussing of his housekeeper. The amount of times she had told him to straighten his posture or pull back his shoulders were uncountable.

  At last, Leana had a tidy look of satisfaction about her, where she then proceeded to stand behind and to the left of Oscar as he stood upon the steps to the manor.

  An awkward moment passed, and the two took in the garden as they waited for the lord of the manors carriage to appear and prompt the servants near the gate to permit their entry.

  There was a scent of sweet pollen and a heat flanked by chilly winds. It was a nice day, a day that should be spent outside but Oscar doubted his father would see it that way.

  As they stood waiting, Oscars gaze levelled upon a vision of himself loafing beneath the oak tree in the distance. The visions face tickled his brain in a way that was uncomfortable yet strangely nostalgic, the boys face was serene and unblemished.

  It looked exactly as he'd imagined himself to be, save for a smile that perhaps stretched a bit too widely.

  The vision looked up toward the gate, where his fathers carriage now strode through its steel bars.

  Servants walked either side of the carriage, holding on to the reigns of the horses that trotted them through to the gravel before the manors steps.

  "A noble sentiment Pierre!" An unfamiliar gruff voice exclaimed from within the carriage. "Although I find that a firm hand is often overused."

  One of the house maids rushed to the carriage door, opening it and permitting his father to exit with a quip of his own. "The stick and the carrot philosophy? I bow to your expertise on the matter." His fathers black trousers and gray long coat almost blended in with the gravel on which he stood, a similarly gray bowler hat made his appearance as suitably no nonsense as his personality.

  Behind the pillar of sensibility, a similar but slightly more decorated man exited the carriage with a stroke of his long white beard and a flicker of his brown eyes. "Very wise." He responded, straightening out a brown cashmere suit and thumbing a blood red tie. He sported a brown top hat, with some strange bird feather wedged in its side. One could almost be forgiven for labelling him as some eccentric, a sentiment supported by the lavish golden ring upon his index finger with a ruby encased in its golden frame.

  "Welcome to the Errayd manor, Professor Alton." Oscar's father spoke, gesturing to the steps leading up to his abode.

  The professor looked up and down the manor before his eyes settled upon Oscar and Leana, his face was a mixture of curiosity and a well practiced somber expression.

  "This is my son, Oscar Errayd." He spoke, settling on the top step of the manor and giving Oscar a pushy look.

  "A pleasure to meet you Professor" Oscar replied with a practiced sensibility, extending his arm for a handshake.

  "The pleasure is mine, young lord." The headmaster replied, "You will be a fine addition to the upcoming academy year, if it is not so forward a notion."

  The comment sparked a strange look from Oscars father, it was strange for the professor to give such an early indicator on his stance and the notion put a stammer in Oscars mind. "Th- thank you Professor, I hope to live up to academy standards."

  Headmaster Alton seemed to smile for a moment, amusement dancing in his eyes.

  Oscar felt like a fool, the old man had already gotten one above him in this mental game of pleasantry, but at least his position was all but confirmed.

  "To his side is our housekeeper Leana. She works tirelessly to make sure my home is livable and had a significant role in my boys education." Oscar's father said, prompting Leana to make a swift curtsy in reply.

  The professor nodded approvingly, clearly pleased about something that Oscar couldn't for the life of him understand.

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  Oscar's father gestured toward the front door, and Leana made a move to welcome the returning lord and his guest inside the manor. "I'm afraid my time is rather short these days, and I have a few errands to run before I can sit down and chat for any length. My son will welcome you through the manor and Leana shall see to your needs."

  Oscar's father made a show of welcoming the Professor inside before he moved with purpose up the steps of the manor, under normal circumstances most nobles would consider this a faux pas. To welcome a guest into your abode and then storm off with naught but your son to continue the welcoming was something many would take great offense to.

  Oscar's father however was most likely not considering this, instead the man probably genuinely had some important errand.

  The Professor was barely fazed.

  "Urm- right this way professor." The young man stuttered, hoping to move past the awkward situation.

  The professor nodded and followed in behind Oscar, who quickly considered the most polite place to entertain a guest without extending overfamiliarity. He eventually fell back on his prior observation on the niceties of the weather and decided the conservatory to be his best bet.

  "Leana, please go stew some tea for our guest and I, we will be in the conservatory." Oscar relayed to his housekeeper, hoping that the process wouldn't take so long that he might have some reinforcements in the upcoming conversation.

  As the two made their way through the sitting room, Leana curtsied to them before peeling off through a door on the other side of the room, that door lead to the kitchen and would most likely be filled with a few maids preparing the ingredients for an earlier than usual lunch. The time was about an hour till mid-day, it was likely Oscar would be forced to see to the professors lunch as-well.

  The two moved through the eastern section of the house before reaching the conservatory, a brightly lit room of vibrant greens whites and blues. It seemed there were a few yellow flowers that were budding through, they would most likely be moved out to the front of the manor once the blue ones began to wilt.

  A neat white metal table was placed in the middle of the room, flanked by rather comfortable leather chairs that almost looked out of place. Oscar knew the professor wouldn't mind, that was abundantly clear to both of them once the old man sat down upon the chair and was nearly swallowed whole by its cushions.

  Oscar experienced the same when he sat down across for him, he would never understand why the best chairs were in the conservatory.

  "You're father is far more accommodating than he appears." Headmaster Alton noted, a look of comfort shadowing his discerning glare upon Oscar.

  "He is lord of the manor." Oscar responded reservedly.

  "Well, he certainly has a shrewdness befitting the station." The old man muttered mostly to himself.

  Oscar had no idea how to continue on after such a comment, to say anything might make him appear over eager yet to say nothing might be worse. It was just a shame then that Oscars questions all seemed to die on his tongue.

  The headmaster seemed content to let the conversation float for a moment, before a sigh escaped his lips.

  Oscar panicked internally, did he mess up? Was the professor testing him?

  "Would you begrudge an old man for chasing his addiction?" Headmaster Alton spoke through the silence, pulling an ornate smoking pipe from his breast pocket. The pipe was certainly strange, made of carved dark wood a man with a full main of hair top to bottom smiled from its bowl.

  "Of course not, please feel free."

  The professor wasted not a second before smattering tobacco into the pipe, pushing it down with a small metal implement and lighting it with a match.

  He took a small breath of tobacco and blew it out to the side, a smoky haze forming around the flowers about them.

  "Projecting an outward appearance of reliability..." The professor paused for a moment, "A man who simply doesn't stop moving upward. Yes, you're father cares more for his work then he does for the posturing that most other nobles conform to.

  At least that's what he wants everyone to think. In reality, he sits up there in his office. A plan to every action he makes and every question he asks."

  The professor drew from his pipe, staring at Oscar with an intensity that made the young boys heart fall into his stomach.

  Alton continued without mercy, "Oh yes, in a way the man is wrapped around his own image far more than any common noble, with a curiosity to match."

  "You are nothing like him, are you Oscar?"

  Oscar sat in his chair, that chair, that comfort was rubbing him the wrong way now its embrace felt like a trap, like it would reveal something to the terrible old man before him.

  "I- I'm sorry if I've-" Oscar was interrupted by the sound of the headmaster knocking his pipe against an ashtray, burnt leaves falling down away from that smiling wooden man.

  Where had that ashtray even come from?

  "There's no reason to apologize, i'm sure that man did little to foster you're curiosity in your younger years. This result is only natural."

  It was then that Leana entered the room with an ornate porcelain kettle and two tea cups atop an equally fancy plate.

  Oscar sent a quiet thank you to the Mundus for the gift it had given him, Leana was here to save him.

  The professor thanked Leana as she set down the plate and began to pour Oscar's tea for him.

  Oscar shared no glance to the professor as he rather quickly gulped down his tea, etiquette slipping from his mind as he desperately tried to drown the tension. The professor had said something quite strange after all, how on earth would he know anything about Oscar's early life.

  "I am a very good professor Oscar." Alton said, whilst Leana poured out his tea. "I endeavor to learn everything about my students. Each and every single one."

  Leana's eyes seemed to widen ever so slightly, and Oscar shared a glance with her for a fraction of a second. It was the most shaken he'd ever seen her.

  "I want to shake away all pretense Oscar, you have potential. Potential that the Mundus will recognize if you just let it." The old man continued, pulling on whatever ashes still burnt within his strange pipe. "At my academy you will obtain this purpose, and under my tutelage it will burn bright."

  The strange wild man on the pipe was laughing now. What had his father thrown him into?