Chapter 65 – Peace of Heaven

Wherein Rose shrugs off the last of Bardic College’s chains.

On the last Paladay of the semester, Rose walked into Mr Bosch's practice room feeling invincible. She had survived the previous three sessions since the dormitory party. This was the last one. Two more days of classes until Summer break.

She would pick up her road magic license as soon as possible. Yesterday afternoon, the wizarding teacher had listed all those who had succeeded his course. Big surprise, it had been everyone.

All she had to do was present herself at the University of Unseen Arts administrative office and collect her card.

But first…

"Welcome, Ms Cerdos," Mr. Bosch smiled. His eyes glimmered behind his half moon spectacles. He tried to put a hand on her shoulder. She wasn't completely in time to dodge. He ended up stroking down her spine. It caused her to involuntarily shiver. Gal rose in the back of her throat.  

Twenty-nine minutes left to go, she reminded herself. 

She claimed a seat for herself and waited. Sometimes Mr. Bosch would sit down next to her, other times he would sit on the piano-forte bench, as he did now. He sat with his back towards a large wooden box, lid closed over the keyboard, rug stuffed under the pedals. 

"Tell me, Rose, how do you think you're doing?"

Rose took in a quick, deep breath. She hated these kinds of questions, where he asked for her opinion, but made it clear that there was a wrong answer. Any answer would be the wrong answer, but not answering was also not an option. 

She took longer to answer than she should have. She could see it  on his face. He was going for a remark that would make everything worse still. 

"Good. I'm doing well."

"Would you really say so, Rose? Or do you think you could do better?"

She gnashed her molars. This. This was what she hated. "There's always room for improvement," she deadpanned, expecting him to comment that if she said this, it wasn't truly going well. 

Mr. Bosch smiled widely, however. "If I said I have a job offer for you, would you think that is improvement?"

By his smile, Rose figured he was enthusiastic about either something truly big, or something that would be excruciatingly humiliating. It turned out to be both. 

"I can't wait to hear it," Rose replied stoically. He was dying to tell her, that much was certain. 

"What if I told you, we were so impressed with your performance at the party and everyone's love for Rosie the Pig, that you could do an entire tour, here in the city. Six theatres in six weeks, two sets of shows a day, six days a week. The musical show is already written, waiting for a lead player. The crowning jewel will be your own song. Isn't it great?"

Rose listened. She hated it. All of it. Most of all, she hated that she was tempted. 

Everyone would know her name. Everyone would know her song. 

Gripping the arms of her chair, she looked around the plain grey room with its garish painting over the piano. The silk flowers in the windowsill were too dusty to perk up the room; any scent they had once held was long gone. The wall to wall carpet was threadbare and stained, the original colour a ghost of a memory along the edges. 

Mr. Bosch patted her knee. 

Instantly, she refocused on him. "Get your paw off me," she bit out, levelling him with one of Bosra’s murderous stares.

Passing grades didn’t matter anymore. She had what she needed and soon she would hold the coveted card in her hand.

"The piglet bites." Mr. Bosch raised both his hands, as if to apologise, but his smile changed from dazzling to predatory. "You want to make it in the bizz, Ms Rose, you'll have to get used  to it."

Rose stood, sending him another pointed stare. "No. I won't." She picked up her bag and the scorched violin case. "Goodbye."

Without looking back, she walked away. 

She rushed straight to UoUA campus. Thanks to Marissa, she knew where to find the administrative building and the licensing office.

As she stepped inside, she was once again shocked by the contrast between the exalted atmosphere here and Bardic College's suppression-of-self decor. The front office was light and airy, smelling of beeswax and citrus. The front-desk itself was a beautiful pinewood construction, with scrollwork carved into the borders. 

The young man behind the desk helped Rose to the best of his ability with eagerness and grace.

"I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait a bit." His name tag read Katryon. "The teacher’s form came in last night, so we’re still printing. Yours shouldn’t take too long to come off the press."

Katryon explained that they printed by last name, in alphabetical order.

"The waiting room is through there." Katryon pointed to an open archway on the side that Rose had not paid attention to before. "You could also come back later."

The waiting room could have been a sitting room in Effyne Palace. Fresh flowers graced a freshly waxed salon table. There were easy chairs and large windows. There were books and periodicals, orderly stacked in a bookcase. A tea trolley, decked out to provide refreshments, was easily accessible.

Katryon called out to Rose when the printing was finished. He placed a card that was both hard and flexible in front of her. He flexed it to prove it was sturdy. "This should last you a few years. Please check to see if all your information is correct."

Rose saw the card listed her year of birth, the current date, and her full name. "Yes, it is."

As Katryon handed her a form and pointed out where she should sign–a legal document stating she had accepted the card and all information on it–he said casually: "You know, we just had a message come in from a Mr. Bosch – supposedly a dean at Bardic College. He was very emphatic in stating that your license should be revoked."

With a gleeful sparkle in his eyes he continued: "Unfortunately, only the King's word - Peace of Heaven be upon his brow - can revoke a road magic license, once it’s been granted by the University of Unseen Arts." 

Rose pressed the card to her chest. "I could kiss you, right now."

Grinning, Katryon pointed to his cheek. "Won’t say no to that."

She complied with a giggle. "Thank you, honestly."

"Don’t worry about it. It’s our joy to thwart idiots like that whenever we can. We trust our staff to make the right assessments."

Rose skipped out, deciding, on a whim, to find the temple she had visited with Marissa and show her gratitude to Sunfather and Nightsoul, for putting Katryon and the University of Unseen Arts on her path.

~

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