The Unskillful Thaumaturge

X

Lillian needed to go over her thaumaturgy homework, but she was too tense to study. Ever since her interview the previous day, she had been trying to put the facts together.

A baby present at the very site of the Thaumatogenesis should have enhanced thaumaturgical capacity, right? So why wasn't she setting the curve in her lab? Something didn't quite fit about her being that baby. Yes, the dates and the situation fit, but- she was sure of it- there was something very wrong with her ineptitude at thaumaturgy. Knowing now who she really was- at least to some degree- she felt that there was something blocking what should have been thaumaturgical giftedness.

"What's wrong, Lillian?" Daria's irritable tone of voice displayed how frustrated she truly was. "You've been zoning out a lot since you went to that meeting with the DIAO. What's up? Why won't you tell us about it?"

"Because it's confidential, that's why," Lillian snapped. "It's not that I won't tell you, I just can't."

"You just can't?" Leslie commented, returning from the bathroom. "Yeah, sounds about right."

"No, Leslie, that's not what I meant-" Lillian stopped abruptly, rose from her chair, walked over to her bed, and flopped down on top of it. "Well, yeah, that too."

"Bad situation," Daria observed. "Got something wrong but you can't get support because it's confidential. How about that?"

"It's..." Lillian trailed off. "I'll be fine. I just need some time to think."

☙❧

She's going to love that, the voice in Dakota's head complained when he picked up his list of questions and walked out of his office, heading for the levitator.

"I need to know."

She might not answer.

"You can stop being-" Dakota searched for the right word- "snide and start being helpful. I don't think they like attitude either."

She!

"They!"

No, she!

Dakota sighed. "Whatever. Depends whether you're talking about her or about all of them." He pushed through the doors of the thaumaturgy building, the students in the lobby barely giving him a second glance. They were used to his habit of seemingly talking to himself.

Just her.

"Well, I was talking about all of them so it doesn't really matter."

Let's just stop arguing about this.

"Good idea. Last time you were pushing 'they' anyway. You keep changing your mind."

So do you.

"Oh, shut up." The voice conceded as Dakota swung open the doors to the Crave, making a beeline for the table next to the microwave. A woman already sat there. Long dark hair streaked with gray and big green eyes were all he could make out from across the lobby. Even so, he knew intuitively that it was the woman he had come to meet. He slid into a chair across from her and pulled a granola bar out of his backpack.

"Ashley," he acknowledged, bowing his head slightly.

"Good to meet you, Dakota," she replied, tapping her head lightly. "Rory told me all about you..."

☙❧

Galena felt as if she should be overjoyed. Her mother was away from home, at least for a few hours, and she wasn't working, so she had this time to herself. Strangely enough, however, she found that she wasn't happy, but bored. Bored and frustrated.

She put it up to the case.

They were stuck. Again.

She began to wonder what a stranger had been doing in the dorms. Maybe he went to the school. Then she shook her head again. She kept forgetting that it was an illusion.

A breakthrough, that was what they needed. Something needed to come through that they could base their work off of. A little thought, or lead, or idea. Galena could attest to the fact that she wasn't having any little ideas.

If only they could get some tests done on the dead kid- she would have to talk to Diane about getting permission to exhume the body. She wasn't entirely sure how the laws worked, but she knew Diane would take care of it.

She picked her phone up off the arm of the chair and dialed Rolf's home number. He answered on the fourth ring. "Who is this?"

"It's Galena. Listen, I want to talk about the case. Can we get lunch?"

☙❧

Rolf walked casually into the Gamma Ray Café, glancing behind him at the sound of a bell before nearly hitting his head on the "Please Seat Yourself" sign spinning toward his face. He stumbled, dodging the sign but almost falling over, into the restaurant with much less dignity than when he had walked in, looking left and right before noticing his coworker in a corner. She grinned and beckoned him over.

"Never been here?" she asked after he sat down.

"You can tell?" He tittered.

"Don't let the cheesy name fool you, this is the best place in the park."

"I worked at the park for a couple years. Never really wanted to eat here, since I spent so much time cleaning up wrappers and stuff."

"I get you." Galena nodded. She broke off, not sure of what to say.

"So, what were you wanting to talk about?"

"Well-" she leaned in- "I was thinking about asking Diane to get some paperwork in so we can exhume the dead kid."

Rolf took a moment to consider a stranger's perspective on the situation. What had appeared to be a friendly young couple chatting about the park were now discussing how best to dig up a dead body. He nodded slowly. "It really did feel like we were making progress for a little while there, didn't it? Then we hit a dead end." Galena gave him a stony look. "No pun intended," he added immediately.

"Yeah..." she sighed. "I just... everyone seems so busy, Erica's trying to figure out all the thaumaturgy of putting up that illusion, Derek's filing all of this stuff away, Janelle and Evan are working on the DNA test, I'm going to have to ask Diane about that exhumation paperwork... but I really don't feel like we're accomplishing anything, at least not the way I felt that when we were talking to Lillian. Oh, and I asked her to come in on Monday to discuss everything we found."

"Thanks, Galena," Rolf began. "And I don't think everyone's busy. I'm sure either Janelle or Evan could be doing the DNA test alone, you didn't ask Diane about the paperwork yet, and I'm sure Erica has too much dignity to bear working on the weekends. Derek... well, I don't know. But we don't seem to be very busy."

"Yeah, you're right," she observed. "I'm just worried that we're going to end up quitting like the other Directors and Assistant Directors. You promise you'll stay?"

Rolf looked her straight in the eye. "I promise. Do you?"

She dipped her head in a nod.

"I'm Fiona, and I'll be your telekinesis-trained waiter today! I'll be back with your bread appetizers in a few moments. In the meantime, would you like to order drinks?" A pair of menus floated onto the table, and Rolf nearly jumped out of his seat.