A Quest (Epilogue)

Lazer Gaiden stood at the window to his office, overlooking the lands that laid beyond the tower.  He took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air and a brief moment of peace as he took out his lunch and placed the sandwich on the desk, slowly unwrapping it.  His stomach rumbled as he picked it up and prepared to take a bite when there was a knock at the door.  He sighed, and he put the sandwich back down on the desk.

"Come in."  He said.

The door to his office opened and a mousey looking girl with glasses stuck her head in.  "Um...hello sir."  She said.

"Hello Taco Lightning.  What can I do for you?"

"Sir, I was wondering if there was some sort of...mistake."

"Quite possibly, but you'll need to give me some more details than that."

"Um...about the...Glamomancy...thing."

"I don't believe a mistake was made, no.  The gentlemen from Crimson Bovine allowed us to use their genetic sampler on all the students to test for compatibility, and you made it explode in a cloud of sparkles and "zazz."  Don't worry, I've no doubt that you'll pick it up very quickly.  Elder Donna is new, but she's very knowledgeable."

Taco Lightning didn't look convinced, but nodded her head slowly.  "If you say so, sir...Thank you for your time."  And then she was gone, as quickly as she had arrived.

Lazer Gaiden waited a moment, and then picked his sandwich back up and prepared to take a bite when Space Slayer walked through the wall to the office.  "Er...Hello Space Slayer."  he said, putting the sandwich back down.

"Oh!  Hello sir!"  Space Slayer chirped, beaming.

"I thought you were missing?"

"Oh I am!  I'm very missing.  I'm here, but not actually here-here.  The meta-plane we're traveling through just intersects through your timeline and spaceline at this particular point."

"Yep, didn't understand a word of that."

"No need to worry, we're quite safe!"

"We?"

Lesser Evil wandered through the wall behind Space Slayer, still looking at the folded up blank sheet of paper.  "I still think we should have made a left at Frank...oh...er...hello sir."

Lazer Gaiden felt his heart leap into his chest as he saw the Council's worst fears pass in front of him.  "Lesser Evil, what have I told you about the rules?"  he asked, pulling the spray bottle out of his drawer.

"Ack!  Not the spray bottle!  I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!"  Lesser Evil shouted as Lazer Gaiden leaped over his desk brandishing the spray bottle.  Lesser Evil ran towards the wall and passed through it.

"No!  Not that way!  You're going to get us lo-"  Space Slayer yelled as she chased after him and passed through the wall.

Lazer Gaiden approached the wall and put a hand to it.  Solid.  He put a hand to his head, feeling a headache coming on, and went back to his desk.  He put the spray bottle back in the drawer and picked the sandwich back up once more, finally preparing to take a bite when he stopped and listened.  It sounded like a huge group of yelling people were quickly approaching his office.

He put the sandwich down again and began to approach the door when a veritable wall of dogs smashed through it, tackling him to the ground and sprinting all around his office.  All of them were yelling the word "Bark" in distressingly human voices.

"SIR!  I HAVE A PROBLEM!"  Rodeo Nova yelled over the dogs as she ran through the door.

"I have several."  Lazer Gaiden replied, as several dogs licked his face and another ate his sandwich.  "But I'm willing to guess yours has a more interesting story."

"Elder George taught me how to do a ventriloquism spell!  I tried it out on my dogs but something went horribly wrong!"

"You don't say."

"Elder George said you could help me fix this!"

"Ah.  Elder George.  Of course it was him."  Lazer Gaiden heaved a heavy sigh.  It was going to be a long day.

A short while later, the two of them managed to wrangle all of the dogs out of the office.  Various students let out cries of surprise as they were pounced on by large dogs, but Lazer Gaiden ignored them and shut the door.  Nothing they weren't used to at this point anyway.  He walked back over to his desk and sat down.

"I hear you and Burning Mermaid had a bit of a falling out."

"I wouldn't say it was a falling out.  We just disagreed on whether big dogs or small dogs are better."

"I...see."

"All dogs deserve love, but the ones who deserve the most are the ones you can ride into battle."  She tilted her head a moment, as though committing her own quote to memory.  "Where is she, anyway?"

"She asked to join Wolf Knight on his quest, and the Council agreed to let her go."

"Aren't Dark Undercold quests the ones that are..."  She stopped and tilted her head again.  "tactics used to "gently discourage" students from continuing their education?"  I believe that's how you put it."

"...You've got quite a memory."

"You know that more people probably read your fine print than your regular print, right sir?  If you want to hide something, you probably shouldn't write it at all."

"...So about your dog problem."

"Oh!  I think I may actually keep them like this for a while as I try and figure out the spell myself.  Thanks anyway, sir!"  Rodeo Nova beamed, as she ran for the door.

"Wait, Rodeo Nova, I don't-and she's gone."  Lazer Gaiden shook his head and looked down, finally realizing that his sandwich was gone.  He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.  "Really should have expected that."