Looking for somebody *special*

[Vico]

Vico's rampage through the first floor of the school had proved unsuccessful. He'd not harmed anybody, nor torn anything to pieces, but he certainly had not found the woman he sought. Next, then, was the second floor. He'd allowed his band to move ahead of him for the most part, their weapons already drawn and clearing the way from students. Their intention was not to harm anybody today, Vico hoped things would end well enough and this confrontation would be settles peacefully, but he was prepared to take any force he deemed necessary to protect his home, and his family.

It was with haste that Vico entered the second floor, looking about himself feverishly - giving cold glances to any students who thought it was polite to stare. He noted just ahead of him his band had stopped and just before them appeared to be a woman. Perhaps this was who he sought? He caught up to them and stood in the middle of the warriors he brought with him, letting the woman who stood opposite him set the tone for all events to follow.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily sat brewing chamomile tea to help soothe her stomach. The honey would help her throat, raw from being sick one time too many that morning. All she wanted was to get her workday done so she could go home and die peacefully in her own bed. She wouldn't die, of course. But she'd lay there, thankful for the blessing she'd received, even if said blessing made her sicker than a crup right now. The tea was hot in the mug, warming her hands. She'd just gotten a few drinks in, going slowly so it wouldn't come back up, when she heard a horrendously loud commotion outside in the corridor. "Oh for the love of-"

Grabbing her cardigan, she shouldered into it and was belting it as she stepped into the corridor. "Okay, what's going on?" Then she stopped dead. It wasn't anything she'd thought it could be. No students playing pranks. No fights, like at last night's feast. She almost wished it could have been a portable swamp. Instead she stared at several very large centaurs, all armed and frightening her students. Not to mention herself. Why would they have come inside the castle? Then worry overcame her fear. Had something happened? Did they need help? She felt her stomach begin to tighten and prayed not to be sick. Not now.

It was then that the herd parted, allowing one centaur she knew by name. "Vico?" She offered no greeting, knowing he would want none. "What's wrong?"

 

[Vico]

'What's wrong?' Vico repeated inside of his head as the woman spoke to him. A great number of things were wrong and Vico quite honestly had no idea where to begin. He had a great number of points to discuss with the Headmistress, and he hoped that she would not be quite as ignorant as her peers in order to see his side of the situation. Deciding he'd start with a question of his own, Vico loosened the string of his bow, placing the arrow it had held tightly in to the quiver on his back and allowing the bow to rest on his back as well. He quickly indicated to his fighters that they, too could lower their weapons, but that he didn't want them to put it away - not yet. While Cecily seemed like a woman of integrity she was still a witch, and worse still she was the guardian of this school and its pupils. If she felt entirely threatened he was sure she would not hesitate to choose the safety of her students over her relations with his herd of centaurs and all would be lost. He needed to achieve a sense of balance between two opposites in this moment. He needed to be peaceful, but still make clear that he had strength in the situation and could direct the course of events however he might feel necessary.

"Tell me," Vico began, a gravely concerned look appearing on his face as he drew slightly closer to the woman to which he spoke, "Is it now commonplace for this school to abandon its students in the middle of Centaur territory - deep within the forbidden forest where there are far worse dangers to fear than my tribe? If so: then is it also a common practise, when we attempt to defend our homes and remove the students from the forest with a warning, to send in an armed and excruciatingly ignorant professor to insult us openly?"

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily slid her hands into her sweater pockets, one hand loosely settled itself around her wand. Once Vico had disarmed his weapon and the others lowered theirs, she felt less threatened. She took a moment to glance at the stragglers who remained in the corridor, gawking. Honestly, hadn't they learned anything from Professor Fletcher. What she did not need were to have her visitors become more agitated. "Go elsewhere. Now." Her voice wasn't harsh, just firm. Once they had gone, Vico approached her. She wished he would keep his distance. Not that she felt he or his herd would harm her without given provocation; she simply could not put her child in jeopardy.

She kept her slightly widened green eyes trained on him, feeling the knot in her stomach tighten more so as he spoke. Each grave question, coupled with the tense posture and wild appearance, added to the headache mounting in her temples. Fingers pressed against her forehead for a moment as her eyes slid closed, the other hand cupped her elbow. She knew immediately whom he spoke of. She had been appreciative when Gabe had offered to break up the fight last night at the feast. She'd entrusted him and also Lola, to see to their detentions. Now she wished she had sent the lot to Kalif. They'd have been neck deep in something horribly disgusting and she would be going home in an hour to vomit in her own restroom.

She released a breath, hands sliding back into the sweater pockets. "It most certainly is not, Vico." She almost spoke again, to tell him what she would do to handle those on her end. Then stopped. Would he mistake it for arrogance, as most of their kind saw hers? She did not want to add to the offense he must already feel to even have come into the school. In a show of peace, her hands became visible once more, held loosely by her sides. "I am deeply sorry for what one of my professors have done. I in no way condone such behavior, nor disrespect toward you or your herd. What would you have me do to reconcile this situation?"

 

[Vico]

Vico sensed the uneasy nature with which Cecily reacted to his approaching her, but decided not to make an issue of it or even back up to make her more comfortable, he simply stood where he was. He could tell that she wasn't feeling the best, and contemplated - for a moment - offering her to have a healer of his herd to look after her. Centaurs were known to be skilled healers and what she seemed to be experiencing would be no problem for some of the more skilled in his herd. This thought past from him, however, as she readdressed the issue he had brought up. Besides, she was a witch and regardless of how upstanding a witch she seemed to be: a witch was still a witch. She would have to prove herself more than she already had to receive services from anybody within his tribe.

Vico listened respectfully as Cecily took the time to confirm that the practises used by the professor he had met on her pupils was not common, and not the policy of the school - nor was openly insulting centaurs. He watched as she seemed to struggle with choosing her next words, "The actions of your kind are not yours to apologize for." Vico assured the woman harshly, his extreme dislike of magicfolk being evident in his voice. Had this been another age, several centuries earlier, he was sure he and Cecily may have been friends, but the times called for something different now. Wizards had become too big for their own good and instead of surpassing them and overcoming them Centaurs had decided to sink away from the wizard-dominated magical society, not needing the structure or troubles of that world and choosing instead to focus their special talents upon each other. It was no secret to anybody of any intelligence in the wizarding world that centaurs were more intelligent than wizards. Wizards simply had wands and ambition: these two things in combination in any single being seemed to often cause corruption beyond repair. Centaurs decided it was wiser to live in harmony with each other, away from the self-created troubles of wizards than it was to stay in the magical world alongside wizards and become very much their subordinates in every way.

"However," Vico spoke up again, "Your staff and your students are answerable to you, are they not?" Vico paused a moment, as if he was waiting for confirmation of this fact, before he continued. "As such, I would request you deal with your kind in your way. My requests are otherwise quite simple. First, I demand that centaur land be centaur land. Several students have been in our territory, and these are just ones we caught further in than ever. I cannot continue to lead my herd and be guardian of your students. I must choose one over the other, and I will choose my herd." Vico waited for a moment with this piece of information as well, letting Cecily process it before he pushed on, "Next, I would desire your staff, and ideally your students, be removed from their present state of ignorance. It appears your teaching staff believe the forest is not centaur land, that detentions anywhere in the forest are acceptable, and that the simple fact that we allow some lessons to be taught on the outskirts of our land means it is not our land. You know that none of that is the truth just as well as I do - but the ignorance of your staff outshines the knowledge you hold. Share your knowledge. Make the situation clear. We don't want to be within your school any more than I'm sure you want us here, and your staff being removed from their ignorance could have prevented this." Vico took a step away from Cecily at this point, believing that his discussion with her would soon be through but not being entirely certain. "Other than those two key points I would entrust the discipline of your herd to you."

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily's hands slowly came together, fingers twisting nervously, causing her engagement ring to sparkle as it hit random light. It was a horrible nervous habit yet she wished to have this meeting come to an end, hopefully with favorable results. Her stomach rolled yet she forced herself to answer or speak up when it was needed. She felt for them, having their land encroached upon, when they had been good enough to allow them use of a part of it already. Breathing through her nose, she nodded, "You're right and I-I understand." Unconsciously her hands pressed lightly to her lower abdomen, where the reassuring bump was. The stress of the situation won the battle with her stomach. Gasping, "Oh-Oh Merlin," she clapped a hand to her mouth and bolted for her office.

She had had a small half loo added to a corner in her office. It was impossible to keep running to the second floor restrooms and more times than naught she didn't make it. The office door slammed open, staying that way as she shut herself within the loo. The small enclosure didn't completely muffle her retching. Moments later, water ran as she brushed her teeth, if she didn't then she would become ill once more from the taste. It was horrible. Morning sickness her eye. Try all day sickness. Why, she cursed as she wiped tears from her eyes, had it happened now.

Slowly she opened the door, hoping she'd wiped away all of her tears, which happened every single time she was sick. She didn't know what to expect on the other side.

 

[Vico]

Vico nodded his head, knowing he was right and glad that at least this which could see things the way they were. He simply observed as the woman rushed from the hall back in to her office. She was very clearly pregnant and this was, Vico figured, the cause of her sickness. He felt for her, having to suffer as she was, but there was nothing he was comfortable doing for her at the moment. Vico did hope, however, that Cecily's child would grow up and be kept as understanding of the needs of centaurs as his mother appeared to be.

When Cecily reappeared from her office Vico was still waiting for her. Normally he'd have taken offence to her actions, but he did understand her situation and decided to make no fuss of it - especially when larger issues were at hand. "I have both of your students and a professor downstairs waiting for you. If you would like to come retrieve them I can take the men I left there and we'll be on our way, trusting you to uphold your portion of this understanding."

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily apologized upon reentering the hallway. She was thankful they hadn't misconstrued her situation but just the same telltale spots of color from embarrassment were on her cheeks. Pushing that aside as Vico once again spoke, she nodded, knowing she would have to speak in length with the professor who had been in charge of this debacle. It saddened her to do so, as she knew her professors were fine educators. Yet to have had offended Vico and his tribe. She sighed inwardly. In this day and age, these things shouldn't be happening. "Yes, I'll come straight away." She made further promise to deal with her teachers, hoping that she could fully fulfill that promise. If they didn't listen and continued their dangerous ways. She stopped her thought, knowing she'd have to sack anyone who'd go against the rule she would set up.