Once everyone arrived at the oasis, they collapse, wheezing and panting for any air they could get in their lungs and the two were no exception as they collapse, for Angel, Jamil carefully lowered to the ground in which no damage would occur before heading off to the other students, and let out a sigh of relief, but it only reminded them at how dry the air was, making them pant instead. "I think I've got a whole desert's worth of sand in my throat," Grim gasps out, trying not to let sand in his mouth from his position. "Kalim, gimme some water!" He says to him.
Kalim looks at him with a glare, shocking the duo. "How DARE you take that tone with me," he says coldly.
"Eep!" Grim squeaks out in fear of the stare.
"I am not your faucet," Kalim coldly states, shivers down everyone's spines. "If you want water, draw it from the oasis yourselves."
The students look at the 'oasis' in bewilderment. "You mean the one that's bone dry? How?" A student asks in shock.
"This is going beyond tyranny..." Another student mumbles.
"Seriously, what's wrong with the housewarden?" A students asks, fear in his voice.
"Don't worry, I came prepared for this," Jamil speaks to the students. "We've got camels loaded with water. Offload it and share it amongst yourselves."
The information brightens everyone's faces and they start heading to the camels, finding flasks and canteens of water packed on their backs and happy drink the water provided. Jamil hands a canteen to Angel and Grim, which they were thankful for since they didn't have much energy to head to the camels and get the water themselves. "Thank you," a student says to Jamil as they drink from their flask. "If only you were the housewarden, Jamil."
Jamil was taken aback by the statement and sends a glare to the student. "Perish the thought, and don't vocalize it. What if Kalim heard you?" He asks quietly, looking at Kalim, seeing that he was looking at another group of students instead.
"But it's true!" Another student speaks up. "Even before Housewarden Kalim started acting like this, you were the one doing most of his duties, Jamil."
"Shhh," Jamil says to the students, trying to quiet them down. "It's fine. It's my family's honor-" He catches himself. "Actually no, it's MY honor to serve the Asims." The statement only confuses Angel. "Drink your water and rest up," he says to the students. "It's getting hotter now that the sun's high in the sky. The march back will only be worse."
"Jamil..." A student says in awe at his generosity.
"All students, assemble!" Kalim shouts, making everyone flinch. "Break time is now over. Form ranks, and no lollygagging!" He glares at the students.
"Jamil..." A student quietly says. "I...I can't take another day like this."
"I'm done following the housewarden, too!" Another student says, clenching his fists.
"Why are you still obeying him, Jamil?!" Another student asks him.
"It's because..." he sighs. "He's Kalim Al-Asim."
"Because you like him as a person?" Angel carefully asks him.
Jamil thinks for a moment. "It's...hard to say," he hesitantly says. "Let's have a talk tonight. I'll arrange things so Kalim doesn't catch us." He looks to Angel. "Angel, could you spare some time for this as well?"
After dinner, everyone waited in the lounge for Jamil to get back from handling Kalim. The group waited quietly, hoping to get some answers about Kalim's attitude change and the commands he's been giving lately. Angel could see that the students were disgruntled, angry, and exhausted from the thought of being under Kalim's rule any longer, but something kept nagging in her head. Why is he like this...? What could have happened in so little that could make him do a complete 180 in just a minute? Was he always like this? Which one was his true personality? She sighs in defeat, knowing that thinking without hearing Jamil's side of things would be just a waste of time and make her even more exhausted. She nestles into the pillows, relishing their softness with Grim fidgeting beside her, antsy about Jamil's meeting.
Soon enough, Jamil enters the lounge, closing the door quietly behind him, trying not to alert Kalim of anything and sighs, looking at everyone staring at him, waiting for him to start. "Is everybody here?" He asks quietly.
"Yes, sir," A student whispers. "Where's Housewarden Kalim?"
"Sleeping," he answers. "I brewed him a soporific herbal tea. He should be in a deeper sleep than usual."
"So, what's the deal, and where do we come in?" Grim asks. "I'm exhausted, so make it quick," he yawns. "I wanna get back and pass out."
"It's no different for the rest of us," another student sighs. "Quiet down."
"I understand that you are all unhappy with how Kalim is running things," Jamil says. "Being locked in your dorms over winter break and forced to undergo such harsh training day in and day out...Who wouldn't resent such harsh treatment?" He sighs. "I agree that what Kalim's doing is not for the best."
"Then why won't you stop him?!" A student angrily whispers.
"I have, many times, but he's stopped listening to me."
Grim sighs at the students. "If you guys have that much of a problem with it, how about sayin' it to Kalim's face instead of whining to Jamil?" He asks.
The students look at each other hesitantly. "Well...Um..."
"What, so you can say it to this guy, but not to the one actually causin' problems?" Grim asks curiously. "What a bunch of gutless wimps."
"Th-that's not true," a student says. "We HAVE tried to talk to him. Over and over, actually!"
"When he's not acting strange, the housewarden really is a broadminded, kindhearted soul..." another student says.
"Everybody in the dorm used to look up to him before this started happening," a student says. "We thought we had the finest housewarden in all of Night Raven College." Compared to the ones we've seen so far, that's...probably not far from the truth. Angel thinks.
"When I first enrolled, I had trouble adjusting to dorm life," one student speaks up. "He lent me a shoulder and let me air it all out."
"When I was struggling to keep up in school and ready to drop out, he joined me for late-night cram sessions to catch up," a student says with a smile.
"Sometimes he's a little cavalier and not totally on top of things, but we all loved our housewarden," another students with a smile. "it was fun being a Scarabia student. And yet..." The smile fades from their face.
"Yes. Kalim is a truly fine housewarden," Jamil agrees. "He treats everyone equally and never puts himself above anyone else." He sighs. "However did it come to this?"
Everyone only look down, dispirited at the fact that their housewarden changed so much. The scene only reminded Angel about what Jack said about Leona. "So it's hard to put your foot down because you look up to him?" She asks the students and they all looked down quietly, at least not disagreeing with the question. At least Jack told Leona about his feelings, but isn't this much?
"Y'know, it might be a good idea to get Kalim checked out by a doctor," Grim says with his paws on his hips. "He keeps sayin' one thing, then changing his mind the next minute. Even his personality shifts. That's kinda weird, don'tcha think? What if he ate some bad food or something?"
Grim's suggestion made Angel think. "What if he's sick?" She asks Jamil. "I mean there's no way it could be poison since you taste test his food and the fact that these mood swings might be a side effect of a medicine or sickness. If it was poison, you might experience it as well."
The statement shocks Jamil, not expecting her to remember the fact that he was a poison tester and the fact that she was worried about him but quickly dismisses the thought, thinking about her suggestion. "It's hard to rule out," Jamil says pensively. "A doctor, though?" He asks quietly, thinking about the option. "If we go back to the land of the Scalding Sands, the Asim household has a doctor in their employ...But as things stand, simply getting him home would be an ordeal in and of itself," he states.
The statement dashes the students' hopes. "Darn it," a student grunts.
"This is getting us nowhere fast," a student sighs.
"The problem facing Scarabia now is similar to a problem that Heartslabyul recently had to address," Jamil states, shocking the duo. "There, the students were also forced to live under their housewarden's tyranny, as I understand it. They were all afraid of Riddle's signature spell, and no one could stand against him. Hence, I would like input from you two," he says to the duo, "since you were central in solving Heartslabyul's problem. What do the two of you think we should do?"
Angel looked at Jamil nervously. I thought the incident was kept under wraps by Crowley... She thinks but then again, Ace's complaints were loud enough to notify everyone about Riddle's tyranny and the entire Heartslabyul situation, but the thing was that Jamil didn't know how the problem was solved, only that the problem was solved by them. She looks to Grim, hoping that he wouldn't say anything about her helping Riddle out with overblotting, only to see him thinking. "Oh!" He exclaims. "What if you challenged Kalim to a duel and became housewarden yourself, Jamil?" He asks, and the memories came back. "When everything went down with Riddle, Ace and Deuce challenged him after the headmage floated the idea. Of course, they were a couple of knuckleheads and Riddle wiped the floor with 'em, but hey, Kalim's signature spell ain't nowhere as threatening as Riddle's. You could probably whoop him with one hand tied behind your back!" Grim happily suggests.
"That...is the one solution that is utterly out of the question," Jamil sternly says.