Sleepwalker

Chapter Eight: Armadillo Ferdinand Alexander Green

Even after I dried and changed hastily, the figure had not gone far. Nervously, he had scampered away. The snapping and whooshing of the plants as he sprinted informed me of his location. Soon, his crisp white collar was nearly in reach of my hand.

Eventually, I was able to yank his collar back. Even wearing my knapsack, I was able to catch up to him. “What were you doing, you…pig!” My words weren’t very powerful as my pull and weight of my bag caused both of us to plummet into the grass.

“My apologies, I-I…please do not turn me into a stag. I’ve no dogs to hunt me down and kill me. It was not purposefully done, I swear!” He sat up and righted his shirt.

On my lap, rested a large pair of thick spectacles. “These are yours, I presume?” I held them up to him, without peering upward to watch him take them. “Wait, you’re talking about Greek mythology! Artemis is only a figure of myths. Even if I was she, I would not have made you a stag.” I rubbed my shoulder, sore from the fall.

“If you are not the goddess, and you’ve no intentions to hurt me, might I have another name to call you?” He offered a thick, long-fingered hand to help me up.

“Jenny.” I graciously accepted his aid. “What is your name?” I asked once I was standing and able to look into his face. I scrunched my face as I studied him.

Light facial hair lined his jaw and above his lip. Coiffed atop his head was shaggy messy blondish-brown hair, which hung in his face. His bulky spectacles enlarged his eyes surprisingly only a tad, illuminating their dark color. “I am Armadillo Ferdinand Alexander Green, but you may call me only Armadillo or Dill if you’d like. I am truly sorry for earlier, especially for running. Might I make it up to you, Jenny?”

“Well, are you headed for Eirodin? If you are, it would be nice to have a traveling companion.” I brushed the twigs and dirt from my damp hair. I offered a small smile.

With a nod, he replied, “Eirodin, it is. I am only headed home to my parents after my year of nature documentation and analysis. You see, I was hoping for a more worldly experience to help me write my pleas to universities. My father thought sixteen sounded like a good age to do so. And then now, at seventeen, I might apply to professors.”

I queried, “Were you hoping for a particular professor?”

He jabbered excitedly, “I am not sure how much you know of, but I am extremely fascinated in the old era and I am told the only professor to learn about such is-”

“Professor Mary Lester,” I guessed bluntly. With Armadillo’s wide smile, I assumed I had estimated correctly. “She has been tutoring me for the past few weeks.”

“You have been getting lessons from Professor Lester? Is she brilliant? I should hope so. Her theories are groundbreaking and her support is flawless. Oh, I wish for a five-minute conversation with her! And you have been her student for weeks!”

“She is phenomenally brilliant. I listened to her speak her theories of women’s influence in the first era. She even suggested that it was commonplace for ladies to wear britches. Then she spoke from a few documents and I started to believe it myself.”

His eyes widened. “Then she is all that I hope her to be. I should ready my essay soon then.” More to himself, he added, “Ah, but what do I say? It’s not enough time!”

“Actually,” I grimaced. “You’ve got an entire year. She’s not teaching this year. She’s uh, working in an inn near Yondrin. It’s a favor to my father.”

Armadillo smirked at me. “Your father is having relations with the professor.”

“Clearly,” I muttered at Dill’s smug expression. I remembered how deep their bond had grown just before my departure between Papa caring for her and she sacrificing a year of study to help him at the inn.