Chapter Five

"Orina?"

Orina rolled over in bed and stretched, then sat up and rubbed at her eyes. While a quick glance at the clock confirmed that it was still far too early to be considered morning, she did sleep better than the night before. "I'm awake!" she said before Elgin could knock again. "You can come in if you want -- the door's unlocked."

"Oh, um, okay," she heard him say, then the door swung open and Elgin walked in. He squawked when Orina threw a pillow at him. It glanced off of his shoulder and knocked his glasses askew.

"That's for that dance, you jerk," Orina told him while he straightened his glasses and smoothed his ruffled feathers. "My ribs hurt today from all that laughing, and it's all your fault."

Elgin chuckled. "I'm not sure if I should say 'I'm sorry' or 'you're welcome.'"

"Both. You still look ridiculous, by the way," she said, smiling. Elgin looked down at the nightshirt he wore. "Yes, I was just about to fix that. Do you need in the bathroom to get dressed or fix up your hair before I take a shower?"

Orina puzzled over that last word for a moment, but figured it had something to do with that overhead nozzle attached to the bathtub. She'd amused herself during her long soak by making it send down water like a rainstorm. "No, I'm okay. Go ahead."

"Okay," he said. He picked up the pillow on his way out, then stopped and looked over his shoulder at Orina.

"Don't you dare," Orina warned. She hunched over in the bed and shielded her stomach with her arms, then squeezed her eyes tight against the expected blow from the pillow. When it didn't come, she straightened up a bit and opened her eyes.

Elgin walked back to the bed. He lightly bumped her on the arm with the pillow, then handed it back to her. "Your breakfast is on the table," he said. "I'll eat after I shower."

"Okay?" Orina watched him leave, then got out of bed and walked over to the dresser. She glanced over at the shut door and considered locking it, but pulled the nightshirt off over her head instead. Figuring out what to wear was more difficult than she initially anticipated: while the slacks she selected fit just fine, the blouses left her entirely underwhelmed. They were designed to be worn farther along than she was and made what she considered both a miracle and a secret far too obvious for her current comfort. She opened the bottom drawer and pulled out one of Elgin's button-up shirts. It fit much better and, left untucked, she decided it made her look stylish rather than sloppy.

Breakfast proved to be the same as the day before, and tasted better now that Orina was awake enough to enjoy it. She smiled at Elgin when he entered the kitchen to retrieve his bowl from the fridge.

"Is that yours now, too?" Elgin asked with a nod towards her shirt as he sat down across from her. They were dressed quite similarly, she noted, except his shirt was tucked in and his slacks were brown rather than black.

"Maybe. I'm still deciding: it is a nice shirt and I do think I look pretty good in it," Orina said. She adjusted the sleeves that she had folded over at the wrists and smoothed at the creases. "Although, as much as I like it... I'll take it off right now if you ask me to."

Elgin dropped his spoon midway to his beak. It bounced off the table and landed on the floor. Orina stared back at him, a horrified blush blazing over her face as she realized exactly what she'd just said and how it had sounded.

"Let me rephrase that!" she said. Elgin nodded, eyes wide. "If you don't want me wearing it, I'll go back in the room and change immediately."

"No, no, the shirt is just fine! Keep it on! Wear it!"

Orina nodded, still blushing, then quickly finished the rest of her breakfast. She glanced back at Elgin, who was looking glumly at his own breakfast. He had his head propped up with one hand and was lightly drumming the claws on his other against the tabletop.

"Do you want a new spoon? I can get you one."

"...I'd, ah, actually really appreciate that. Since you're already heading to the sink and all...?"

"That's why I asked," Orina agreed. She picked up her own bowl and spoon -- and decided that the one half under the table was best left ignored -- and set those in the sink before retrieving a clean spoon from the drawer. She delivered that to Elgin, then returned to the sink. There was actually very little she could do to clean up, and she had to settle for washing and rewashing her bowl and spoon a few times. She even considered splashing some water on her shirt, so that she'd have an excuse to change out of it. It's not like I wanted to make us both uncomfortable. I succeeded, but I didn't mean to! I was still sleepy and it was just a slip of the tongue! And I really need to say something now so Elgin won't think I'm avoiding him, even though I am... "I've been thinking about what I'm going to tell the kids when they see me today. After all, we can't keep hiding me between classes."

"That's true -- we can't. Any ideas?"

"Honesty's worked so far, so I'm going to keep going with that," Orina said with a shrug. She ran the water long enough to rinse her bowl for the fourth time, then dried it on the dish towel. "They accepted my being from Zeal -- I'm going to tell them that I decided to stay in this time. I'm not sure what to say to the older ones, though, other than that I'm on a sabbatical. Maybe they'll be so blindsided by that test you told them about that they won't even notice I'm there."

"They'll notice. They'll probably have a lot to say about it, too." Elgin sighed. "Orina... you don't have to deal with them, you know. I can walk you home after the morning class is over and still have plenty of time to ready the classroom before they arrive. And, even if I don't, waiting won't kill them."

Orina put the bowl and spoon away and debated going back to the table. She quietly exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding when she heard the sound of the chair sliding back, followed by silverware clinking into a bowl. She stepped aside so that Elgin could get to the sink. "You don't have to worry so much about me," she said. "I'll be okay. They won't hurt my feelings."

"Don't be so sure," Elgin said. "They've hurt mine before... and I'm used to them."

"Yeah, but they aren't used to me," Orina countered. She touched his arm, a little hesitantly, then smiled. "Trust me, if any of those brats run their mouths at either of us -- I'll teach them some manners and give them a lesson in respect."

Elgin chuckled. "You're a good friend."

"So are you," Orina said. "What time are we leaving today?"

"Oh, yes... right." Elgin pushed his glasses up, then tilted his head to examine his watch. "It depends: do you want to leave early again, or would you rather wait until it's lighter? If we leave now, there's less chance you'll encounter anyone else on the way."

"And a greater chance I'll be able to surprise the kids. Let's go, then. I'll get your coat if you pack a lunch," Orina said. "I need to make sure my hairpins get out of the pocket before it ends up in the wash," she added before he could protest.

"If you insist," Elgin said, already on the way to the fridge. "Same thing as yesterday okay? The peanut butter is open and I don't want to waste this loaf of bread."

Orina suppressed a grimace. "Yeah, sure. Pack two."

"Of course."

Once inside the classroom, Orina watched as Elgin pushed back the tables and stools from the day before. She realized that it was probably something that he did before he left at the end of each day, and how their shopping trip had interrupted his usual routine. She took the rugs from the cubbyhole and unrolled them in a semicircle at the front of the room. It would have made more sense for there to be more than just two classrooms -- so that the youngest grades and the oldest could each have a dedicated room -- though Orina wondered if Elgin would still have both classes if that were the case.

"Thank you," Elgin said when he saw the unrolled rugs. "You... did that yesterday, too, didn't you? I realized while I was pulling out the tables that I didn't remember putting those away."

Orina nodded. "I thought that was why you hired me as your teaching assistant," she said with a half-smile.

"That, and your portal-building skills. Would you have preferred a formal interview? Or even a dance-off?" Elgin asked and Orina laughed.

"Speaking of that... where did that music come from, and why?!" she asked.

Elgin laughed. "I've got a tape player in the laundry room. Some chores go better with music and that song is how I get through mopping the kitchen."

"...And when does this happen?"

"Saturday mornings, usually, right after I run the vacuum," he said, then added, "I can stop, though, if it bothers you. Like I've said before: it's just been me rattling around that house and --"

"Are you kidding? I want to make sure I don't miss the show," Orina said. "Is there special music for the vacuum as well?"

"No, it's too loud... sometimes there's singing, though," Elgin confessed.

"There better be. I might even join in once I know the words."

"Stop," he said softly, chuckling a little.

Orina smiled. "Do I look like I'm lying?"

"Seriously, though, you'll have to tell me if I do anything that gets on your nerves."

"That does, actually," Orina snapped. "Stop that! It's your house and I'm the one invading it! You don't have to tiptoe around me and act like a guest in your own damned home! How's this sound: you keep being yourself around me and I'll keep being myself around you. We either get along and you let me stay, or we don't and you throw me out. Sound good?"

Elgin nodded. He removed his glasses and moved to clean them on the edge of the suitcoat he wasn't wearing, then shrugged and put them back on.

"Just... let me know if I ever do anything that bothers you, okay?" she continued, more gently.

Elgin nodded again. "Okay. You haven't y--" He coughed. "Er... actually, you did this morning, ah, during breakfast."

"Yeah, I bothered me then, too," Orina said. She felt the blush creep back into her cheeks, then sighed. "How much do you want to not be having this discussion right now?"

"Considering that the kids will be here soon? Very, very much."

Orina winced. "Point taken."

"Yes, yes." Elgin checked to make sure that his cuffs were buttoned, then put his suitcoat on. "Well, then. I guess I should give you a run-down of the lesson plan. The first part of class runs for about an hour, after which we take a short break. On nice days, the kids get to play outside during that time, but they stay in when it's too cold or during bad weather and I read them a story instead. Class continues for another hour and a half -- and, every other day, the last half hour of it being arts and crafts -- after which they go home and we prepare ourselves -- and the classroom -- for the older ones."

"I didn't realize I talked that long yesterday," Orina said.

"I don't think they did, either," Elgin replied. "No one asked about recess and they all seemed surprised when it was time to go. I'm curious to see how they react to your being here today." He chuckled fondly. "Expect a lot of questions. We may even have to devote the rest of the week to the subject of Zeal, though you may be spared another watching of that video. They've all seen it before, after all, and I told them yesterday how important it was that you not know about Zeal's fate."

"And how it went splat?" Orina asked with another half-smile. "Yes, well, there might be a bit of that, too..." Elgin admitted.

"I'll just act confused," she said. "And call them liars if they persist."

"Speaking of which, I see Asher heading this way," Elgin said. He waved to someone outside the window, then hurried to the door to open it. A little Hench soon walked in, first finger halfway up his nose. Elgin knelt down beside him and gently tapped him on the wrist of the offending hand. "Asher, we talked about this: you can do that at home, but not in class. Go on and wash your hands before we start, okay?"

Asher removed his finger and wiped it on the seat of his pants. "'Kay," he said, then started for the door that led into the hallway.

"Don't forget to use soap!" Elgin reminded him as he stood back up. He looked over at Orina, who sat at his desk. "He's just like his father, unfortunately. Same habit," he whispered.

Orina wrinkled her nose. "Lovely."

"Yeah, if you meet him, don't shake his hand." Elgin turned back towards the window and waved to some more approaching students. "We'll work on introductions throughout the day, but Iris, Callie, Bertram, and Leif are here. You'll like Callie, I think."

"I'm sure I will," Orina said. Callie turned out to be the Juggler she saw yesterday and arrived carrying a somewhat ragged Nu doll. The other three were Imps and, while Orina couldn't tell which was Leif and which was Bertram, she did hazard a guess that the one in the green dress was Iris. She was relieved when Elgin informed her that the two boys were identical twins whose own parents even had trouble telling apart sometimes. The confusion wasn't helped by the fact that they would cheerfully answer to each other's name.

She watched, smiling, as the students -- all twelve of them -- arrived and were each greeted by Elgin. None of them noticed her until a Grimalkin known as Lucas One -- who was friends with a Hench known as Lucas Two -- pointed to Orina with a squeal of "Eww!"

"Shh!" Callie leaned over to spittily shush him. "That's mean!"

"That's right. Lucas, how would you like it if someone pointed at you and went 'Eww!'?" Elgin asked. Lucas One mumbled something in response. "Exactly."

Elgin walked over to Orina, who stood up and took his arm. They walked back to the semi-circle of students. "And does anyone remember who this is?"

Several hands went up.

"Oh, we do! Okay... let's see... Asher?" Elgin nodded towards him.

Asher grinned widely. "That's the lady who came from Zeal before it --"

"Stop right there -- you're right!" Elgin interrupted him. A few of the students giggled. "Yes, this is Orina."

"Why's she here now?" Iris asked, somewhat accusingly.

"I'm here because I enjoyed talking to you all so much that I decided to come back and stay for a while," Orina said. She smiled at them and was rewarded with some sharp-toothed grins in return.

"How long?" Cliff, a very young Goon with a very gravelly voice, asked.

"I'm not sure. I hope I can stay for a while, though," she replied. "I like this time, even if it's strange and confusing, and Teacher has been nice enough to let me stay with him and help with class."

Elgin nodded. "That's right, so don't be surprised if you see Orina around town. And, if you do, it's okay to say hi to her or wave. You can even be her friend."

Orina was surprised to see so many squinched faces and heads shaking to that statement. There were even a few quiet noises of disgust. Even Callie looked a little frightened.

"Well, I'm still going to be her friend," Elgin said. "Anyway, let's begin! Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Teacher," the kids chorused, and the morning continued.

Orina let go of Elgin's arm and went back to her seat at his desk, where she could observe the lesson as well as the curious looks several of the students kept giving her. There weren't any of the questions that Elgin had warned her about, not even when the kids returned from recess, but she figured that they were still getting used to her being there. Mostly, though, she enjoyed watching Elgin and the students interact.

Once arts and crafts -- and its chaos of colorful paper, glue, and markers -- came to a close, Orina waved to the students as Elgin carefully herded them out of the classroom. A few waved back and a few more simply stared as they hurried by, but the Lucases stuck their tongues out at her. "Don't be mean!" she heard Callie say to both of them, just before the door was closed and locked.

"You're right, I do like her," Orina said.

"Callie's very smart. Academically, she should already be in Lorca's classroom... but the four days she spent there last month didn't go terribly well socially. Maybe next year will be better for her. If not, I can continue giving her advanced material in the same workbooks as the others." Elgin walked back to the aftermath of arts and crafts and began to gather up the papers. "I try to showcase everyone's artwork in the front of the classroom. Most of them take their work home after it's spent its time around the chalkboard, but that filing cabinet in my office contains all the pieces I've been gifted over the years... as well as the few cards I've gotten from my graduates."

"How long have you been teaching?" Orina asked.

"Nearly twenty years," Elgin replied. "Specifically, seventeen... but that doesn't sound as impressive."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing. Just surprised, that's all." Orina shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I thought you were younger than that."

"I don't know how old you think I am, but I hope that was a compliment." Elgin finished gathering the papers and set them back on his desk, before going back to the chalkboard to remove some of the previous pieces. The beaky-looking ones, Orina noticed, stayed. "Just give me a moment, then we can stop for lunch. I want to put these away to hand out tomorrow and then put up the new ones."

"I'm twenty-six," Orina said quietly. "In case you were wondering."

"Which makes me eleven years older," Elgin said. "I started college a little early... I'm still not sure if that was a good thing or not. It's why I worry about students like Callie."

"Your first few years of teaching the upper grades must've been rough," Orina said.

"...Yeah, they were." Elgin sighed. He flipped through some of the papers he held, then walked to the side of the chalkboard closer to his desk. "Oh! Look at this one," he said as he handed one of the drawings to Orina.

Orina looked at the picture, brow knitted, as she tried to make sense of it.

"That's you." Elgin reached over her shoulder to tap the scrawly figure on the paper. "That black blob next to you is the portal, I think."

"And what are all those green things?" she asked.

Elgin laughed. "Those are hearts -- Genesis thinks you're a very nice lady. Here, hand it back to me and I'll tack it over the desk where it'll be safe."

Orina handed it over and watched as Elgin pinned the drawing up as high as he could, far out of the reach of little hands. He pinned the rest of the pictures along the side of the chalkboard, below the one of her. "Is that the last one?"

"Yes, yes, which means it's lunchtime," Elgin said. "I put the bag with the sandwiches on the desk. There's still time for me to take you home, though, if you want."

"No, I'm staying," Orina said firmly.

"I really wish you'd reconsider," Elgin murmured and Orina pretended that she didn't hear him.

They ate their lunch in silence, and that silence continued while the rugs were rolled up, the tables were pulled out, and the stools were arranged. Orina sighed inwardly at Elgin's obvious discomfort when, once again, the students were due to arrive.

"You can wait in my office, even," he said.

Orina rolled her eyes. "I'm staying." She was almost relieved when the students started to file in, since it meant an end to the discussion. Jade's entourage was among the first to arrive, followed by Jade herself. Her hair was done up in pigtails with ribbons and her dress was so brief that it should have been considered a shirt. At least she didn't bring any candy this time, Orina thought with another inward sigh.

"Hey, Teacher, what's she doing here again?" a sullen-looking Naga-ette demanded. "It was sorta cute yesterday, but you really need to stop showing her off. It's getting gross."

Elgin looked apologetically at Orina, and Orina gritted her teeth.

"Yeah, hi. I don't believe we've met," Orina snapped. "If we had, you'd know that I'm actually a visiting expert on Pre-Fall Zealian culture and that I'm here now because I decided to expand my field of study to Mystic society. Your teacher has graciously allowed me to observe his classes and given me a place to stay."

The Naga-ette rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Uh-huh. Sure."

Another student -- a Grimalkin with thick glasses -- raised his hand.

"...Yes, Ruel?" Elgin said.

"Can I be excused? It stinks in here and I think I'm gonna be sick." Ruel clamped one hand over his mouth and puffed his cheeks out. Several other students laughed and one high-fived him.

"Oh, very funny. Hilarious." Elgin sighed. "I'm glad to see that everyone's in such a good mood. Let's begin class, okay? I don't know if any of you remember what I said at the end of class yesterday, but today's lesson will begin with a test on Orina's lecture."

Jade raised her hand. "Ooo, Teachie-pooh, I have a question for youuuu!"

"Go ahead, Jade."

"Oh, I will." Jade giggled. "Will this test be graded on a curve?"

"I don't think so," Elgin replied.

"No? Not even mine?" Jade pouted. "I think my curves are pretty great." There was a murmur of agreement from her flunkies.

Orina glared at Jade. "That's enough, Jade."

Jade smirked back at her. "Well, look who thinks she's queen of the classroom and the expert at when Teachie-pooh's had enough," she cooed and Orina felt her face grow hot. "I'd call you teacher's pet, but I think you're the one petting Teacher. And I bet he grades you hard."

Orina gasped, outraged.

"Jade. Principal's office. Now!" Elgin snapped. "Now, does anyone else want to join her... and get an F on the test, by the way?"

"Hmph. F you, too, Teach," Jade muttered as she bounced out of the room, then slammed the door.