Daughter of Azeroth

64 | ARCHIVE DUTY

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Soliciting Strictly Forbidden

No Unaccompanied Goblins

Thinking of Kuzzik, Idira smirked at the last restriction as she made her way along one of the paths through the garden, which she soon realised was comprised of crushed seashells. She eyed the numerous other paths, criss-crossing the garden all along the length of the enormous reception hall, trying to comprehend just how many seashells had been sacrificed to create the garden. She couldn't. The amount would have been stupefying.

She reached the desk. She had to wait a long time before one of the staff members finally glanced up from their work. A thin, ginger-haired man came over, harried, wiping his hands against the front of his robes.

'Yes?'

'I have been sent by Lady Margot to speak to the Director on Duty?' she explained, hesitant.

The staffer raised his eyebrows at hearing Margot's name. 'That'll be me today,' he muttered, though he didn't sound too happy about it. 'What's the message?'

'She says I have been sent for archival duty?' she answered, uncertain, hoping it wasn't going to turn out to be as bad as it sounded.

The director nodded and turned away to pick up something. A plain, leather bound ledger landed on the counter between them. No gilt, no gold, completely ordinary. She stared at it, enjoying the sudden, unexpected uniqueness of it. He patted his robes, sighed, and waved his hand, impatient. A stylus appeared between his fingers. He opened the ledger and went through the usual questions, Idira's name, her dorm address, her tutor's name, date of registration, etc. Then: 'And how long is your punishment for?'

'Punishment?' Idira asked, perplexed. 'She said I would be working here since I was learning too fast.'

'Learning too fast?' The director asked, taken aback. He shook his head. 'No, you must have misunderstood. No one is ever punished for advancing quickly, rather it is rewarded. And certainly none but the most offensive crimes are punished by archival duty. How long?' he asked again, impatient, waving away another staffer who approached him holding a bundle of papers in her hands, a questioning look in her eyes.

'Um. Indefinitely?' Idira answered, biting her lip, suddenly beginning to understand the gravity of her situation.

The director looked up at her, astonished. 'Really? In all my life I have never heard of that before.'

Idira nodded, glum.

He glanced from side to side before leaning forward, curious. 'I must know. What did you do?'

'I'm not sure,' Idira answered, sincere, 'but I think it's because I found a book out of the thousands in the stacks the first time I tried. The exact one we needed, I mean.'

For a beat the director stared at her, incredulous and obviously impressed. A flicker passed over his face, and his look melted into resentment. He pulled back, his expression hardening. 'So you're one of those ones,' he muttered as he wrote the length of her punishment in the ledger. 'Should have suspected it sooner, with unnatural eyes like yours. You know it's not even supposed to be possible to be human and have eyes that colour. You're a . . . what's the word again? Oh yes, an anomaly.' He slapped the book shut. 'Never mind. We don't tolerate liars here in Dalaran, not for a minute. I can see why the good Lady Margot has come down hard on you.'

'I'm not—' Idira protested, thinking Margot was anything but good, but the director held up his hand, stopping her.

'Don't speak,' he said, cold. 'Just follow me. Let's get you settled in, shall we?'