Professor Valmaris
Taenya was dismayed at the state of the gardens as they walked up to them. Barnaby was old to be sure, but this way no way to treat plants. She turned to Barnaby and looked at him disapprovingly, shaking her head.
"You don't listen to the plants do you?" She asked.
"Listen to them? Ma'am they're just plants. They don't talk."
"All living things speak, if you have the ears to listen." Taenya said, kneeling next to a seedling. Listening intently, she reached into her pocket and placed a few seeds into the ground. With a satisfied look on her face, the plants grew in mere seconds, ivy almost exploding out of the ground, entangling every plant in the garden as it spread.
"What are you doing?" Barnaby shouted, looking around.
"The plants aren't happy. I need to move them, and moving them by hand takes precious time. Ammangoan Ivy does the job for me, though." Taenya said, standing back up to face Barnaby. "No human gardener could ever care for a place this big."
Taenya stood and watched as the ivy uprooted entire trees and moved hundred of plants around to their whims. Students caught unaware yelped and dodged the trees as they lumbered around the grounds, given locomotion by the ivy. The ground quaked as a several hundred year old oak hauled itself out of the ground, and seemed to look around.
"Oh my. He's heard of the rest of The University, wants to visit it." Taenya said, chuckling slightly.
"He's what?" Barnaby asked, dumbfounded as he watched the old oak slowly walk away down the path towards the fire magic department's buildings.
"The plants understand when you speak. Thousands of students have sat under his boughs over the centuries, and he's listened to them all." Taenya said, beginning to follow the old oak as it lumbered down the path, the other trees bending to give way.
"Far be it from me to ask a silly question, but does the old oak have a name?" Barnaby asked, struggling to keep up with Taenya.
"A good question. A moment." Taenya said, and started to run to catch up to the oak tree. With a graceful leap, she landed in its boughs, and sat for nearly a minute, speaking quietly to the tree. She gently patted his trunk as she climbed back down, and rejoined Barnaby.
"Well?"
"He says names are for walkers." Taenya said, nodding her head sagely. Before Barnaby could reply, he spotted Lord Xilro and the Headmaster running up, their expressions priceless.
"Barnaby! What's going on? The plants all over the campus are in an uproar, they're all walking about!" Otto Ward the Headmaster asked.
"That's my fault. I planted too much ivy." Taenya answered sheepishly. "But you haven't been taking care of your gardens. The plants are quite upset at where they've been planted."
"Barnaby who is this woman?" Otto asked Barnaby, gesturing at Taenya.
"Well I came to apply for your creation magic professor job, but it seems you need a gardener far more." Taenya answered. "Gardens this big need a master of the craft. I'm not my mother, but I got at least 30 years on your man Barnaby here."
"An elven gardener?" Otto asked, turning to whisper with Lord Xilro, who looked intrigued as well.
"What are we going to do about the tree?" Barnaby asked, pointing at the old oak as it continued to walk away without them.
"Oh he'll be around. Just stay out of his way." Taenya said, waving at the tree, who to Barnaby's surprised, waved back.
---
"So what do you think?" Otto whispered to Xilro, while Taenya and Barnaby were preoccupied with the tree. "Is she who we need?"
"Sad feeling from soul. Need us more than we her." Xilro replied after a moment's thought, flicking his tongue. "Silver hair important."
"What are you two whispering about?" Taenya said, sneaking up behind them and putting an arm around both of their shoulders. "I know, you want to hire me, is that it?"
Otto and Xilro looked at each other for a long moment before Otto deigned to answer.
"In a word, yes. There's still the matter of an interview, however. Let's go to my office, all of us."
"Barnaby, come." Xilro said, offering his hand. Barnaby nodded, and Xilro picked him up with ease, placing him on his shoulders. Taenya watched curiously as Xilro casually leapt into the air and turned into a dragon, flapping his wings and disappearing from view very quickly.
"I know his name from somewhere, I swear I do." Taenya said, wracking her brain.
"Lord Xilro's?" Otto asked as they resumed walking.
"Yes, I heard or read a story about a dragon once, I'm sure of it, I'm sure he was the one in it!"
"An elven story? Lord Xilro is a very old dragon indeed but I've never heard of any story with him in it." Otto stated as they neared the building containing his office. Several mages were watching in confusion as the old oak lumbered about the busy plaza, seemingly stopping at each building to observe it.
After warning off students from climbing the old oak, Taenya and Otto resumed walking, saying little to each other as they climbed the steps within the main building, until at last they arrived at Otto's study. It was as to be expected of the Headmaster of a university, with books lining the shelves of the many bookcases, and two comfortable smoking chairs positioned near a window. Taking a seat, Otto motioned for Taenya to do the same. They sat in silence for a long minute as Otto lit up a pipe and began to smoke it.
"So, let's begin simply enough. What is your name, young lady?" Otto asked between puffs.
"Young? Good Sir I'm likely older than you." Taenya said with a wry smile. "It's Taenya."
"Miss Taenya as I'm sure you're aware people have last names as well. My name is Otto Ward, and I'm the Headmaster of The University."
"I've been advised many times throughout my life to never speak my last name, and I've seen first hand the consequences of doing so." Taenya replied, her eye twitching slightly.
"You're among friends here. Who is it you're hiding from?"
"King [Redacted] and his spies." Taenya relented, whispering the wicked King's name.
"The Usurper King?" Otto said, raising his brow. "You may rest assured knowing this entire Campus is warded specifically against him, may his name remain forever unremembered."
Taenya leaned back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she could just be herself here, and not have to worry about prying eyes after all.
"Valmaris. My name is Taenya Valmaris." She eventually said, looking at Otto directly, whose eyes seemed to flicker in direct recognition of that last name.
"As in... House Valmaris?" He asked carefully.
"The very one. Murdered down to the last. Except of course, for my Grandmother."
"An exiled Princess." Otto said with a smile.
"Please. I'm no Princess. My Grandmother certainly was, and even raised my own mother as such, but I'm just Taenya. I'm not nobility and I'm certainly not royalty."
At this point, a knock at the door was heard, and Xilro entered, alone and without Barnaby. He nodded at Otto and went to sit on the window sill.
"I'm sure I know your name from somewhere." Taenya said, continuing her train of thought about Xilro.
Xilro laughed his signature sharp laugh. "Hah! What elves know Xilro the Flamemaster?"
Taenya's eyes suddenly widened. But it couldn't be, that was a fairytale! Told only by the most romantic of elves. She politely excused herself for a moment and went to look at the Headmaster's shelves. Of any library in the university, no, in human lands, it would have to be here.
"It has to be here..." She muttered.
"What has to?" Otto asked.
"The book."
"What book?" He asked, but Taenya found it. Tales of Heartbreak, by Sinaht Magkrana.
"This one. Südamevalu jutud in the old tongue. I'm surprised you have one in the original old elven." Taenya said, pulling it off the shelf and checking the index. "I know for certain Xilro's name is in here."
Xilro made no comment, but he knew exactly which tale was in there. He was starting to wonder if she was going to read it aloud when his fears were confirmed.
"Here it is. Xilrothicus Demonflame and Saffron Frostfall, the Forbidden Love, as transcribed to me by Xirkess." Taenya said.
"Stop." Xilro said. "You right. Do not read story aloud. Never." Xilro's face had a grave expression, and he looked pained.
"I'll make you a deal, lizard." Taenya said, looking quite wicked for a change as she closed the book. "I'll never speak of this story again, but in exchange I get tenure, for as long as I live."
"Deal." Xilro said, before Otto could say a single word. He would regret saying this for hundreds of years to come.
"Should have thought that over first. I'm a Royal Elf. Do you have any idea how long I'm going to live?" Taenya said, unable to contain her laughter. "My Grandmother was over 600 years old when she died of an illness, and was otherwise quite healthy." Taenya sat back down, and picked up the cup of tea that had been left there by Otto. "Well, nevermind that. We'll work something out."
"That's quite fine. An eternal Professor for an eternal university." Otto said, clasping his hands together. "While the plants settle down, why don't you work on some course material?"