Re: The Schoolboy/The Witch
Had she been raised with his manners, or his father's manners, in his father's world, she never would have said anything like that of her own father. She'd probably make that pinched little face, and look away until she could come up with a subject change that would get them away from something so uncomfortable.
She had none of these things. She said what she wanted, and his apology got a tilt of her head and a momentary derailment from parties he should intend that his father would surely hate. "Nothing of value was lost," Morgaine finally said, confident that whatever he might have offered her or her mother, they were better off without.
Perhaps if he had been around, she would have gone to the grammar school, or that girl's school where they tittered and laughed behind their hands. But she did not, and there was no tittering as she regarded him again, sensing the secret in his love of poetry and history. Such things were not law, and while they could be dusty, the worst part of history was what humans did to one another. Her eyes softened, and she nodded again, the secret sliding into her vault of things she knew but didn't speak of.
"Perhaps," she lilted before her voice swan dove into a whisper. "You should fake being ill and sneak out." That would have them in a tizzy, but really, he wasn't doing anything that she hadn't done a dozen times before she was half as old as she was now. "How do you live your life by someone else's approval? The people there, the adults in your school, they all disapprove of everything," she said, perhaps dramatically, but not so much that she minded. "You should skiv off. I can help you. I could make sure they never even noticed you were gone," she leaned forward in her excitement, her eyes widening.
"I could show you, if you want to know what are dances are like. They're probably nothing like yours. And no one's going to judge you, except perhaps your partner if you step on their toes too much," she said with another laugh and stood, one pale hand reaching out for him. "Up, I'll show you."