Ilvermorny

Arlington stared at the map, a pin in hand. He hadn't done a lot of traveling over the summer, not to anywhere new at least. He'd already marked much of the Great Lakes area in the US and Canada in pervious years. He had, perhaps, gone a bit overboard in that. This year, he kept it to one.

"Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada. Searching for the Cave of the Spirit." he said as he pressed the pin into the map.

She wasn't entirely sure why she'd gone to the map room specifically. Maybe it was because after what she'd done with the duel, Xanthe wanted to go far, far away; and this room had the maps to show you exactly how far you had to go to be the farthest away from here.

She had not expected anyone to be here, though. So when she stormed in; and that was an appropriate way of describing it; she stood there frozen for a moment, before his eyes would fall on her and she was forced to face the awkward silence.

"Uh... sorry, I'll go."

"Why?" he asked. "You don't need to leave. I'd rather you didn't."

This was awkward; mostly because Xanthe hadn't expected that and wasn't sure how to respond. How *did* one have a normal conversation with others? She'd never really properly learned how to talk to anyone outside of her family; so it was already difficult to wrap her head around, even before the whole boy/girl thing came into play.

"Uhmm... why?"

"You came in here for a reason. You shouldn't leave because I'm here." He shrugged.

He gave her a smile. "I know I've teased you from time to time, but I tease everyone from time to time. I don't really pay attention to all of those rumors, either. You've never done anything to harm me."

"I just..."

What? No, no. She couldn't say she was here to hide. That would sound so lame. Fortunately, he himself changed the subject. But then that just made her think, and worry. Why was he talking about 'those' rumors. And about harming people? She *knew* it. People were already starting to talk again. Every year...

"...no, I just... it was an accident."

"Clearly." he nodded. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Are you alright?"

It hadn't actually looked like an accident of course, and maybe he was just humoring her. But it was still nice to know not everyone was thinking she'd gone full-on evil. And the concern was nice too, she guessed. Although there was still the possibility he and the others would do something to her later because she lost the house some points.

"Well... I... I didn't get hurt or anything."

"Well, I'm sure it bothered you. It would bother anyone." he looked back at the map. "How was your summer?"

"It was... fine?" Right. Conversation. Small talk.

"I mostly stayed home," she said, "it's not far from here. I did go into the droozel town once or twice though."

"I was back in Michigan." His fingers brushed over the map. "Just a normal summer."

Arlington's fingers moved from the Great Lakes to New England, finding Massachusets and Mount Greylock. "How close is it?"

She moved closer, finally, and looked at the map. Her own fingers finding their way to a spot very close indeed to where Ilvermorny was.

"Our main home is in Rensselaerville, a few miles outside of Albany, right where the Catskills end. It's really nice; the falls are real close by, and we have a view of the lake. Of course, the wards keep it hidden from the droozels. I have a lot of cousins who live in the area around Albany too."

He handed her a pin. "You should mark it."

"Uhh...okay?"

She took the pin, and placed it into the map. It looked like it was about 30 miles from Ilvermorny. Close indeed. Could fly there and back again on a broom real quick if one were so inclined, probably.

"So... you live in Michigan?"

"L'Arbre Croche." he tapped a pin set along the northwestern coast of the lower peninsula of Michigan. "The Crooked Tree. The no-maj's have different names for the area. Harbor Springs is the closest of their cities."

"I don't really know much about droozels," she said; despite everyone using the term 'no-maj', Xanthe still insisted on using her family's name for them. The town we live next to is pretty small, so there's not a lot of them to interact with. Not that I was allowed to do so much. Droozels are strange and dangerous at times, is what I was always told."

"I don't know much either." he shook his head. "Grandpa keeps me in the woods or on the lakes."

"We've got a lot of woods around too. It's pretty nice, especially when it's dark outside."

Oh no, she'd inadvertently drawn attention to *that* again. Quick, distract!

"Have you learned any new spells at home?"

"Just a charm or two." he replied. "Home study is mostly component harvesting and wood carving, practicing the basic family techniques. Did you learn anything interesting?"

"I... well," she thought about it for a moment, "...I learned a bunch of new jinxes and some hexes too. And I practised my broom flying."

"I need practice in both areas." he sighed. "I just prefer to leave the flying to Bullwinkle."

Hearing her name, the squirrel peeked out from Arlington's pocket.

She looked down at the squirrel for a moment, expression inscrutable, than back up to him.

"I was thinking of maybe joining one of the teams," she said; which was another one of those 'wait, Xanthe is doing *what*?' things. "I don't know if I'm good enough, though."

"There's only one way to find out." he shrugged. "If I can help, somehow, just ask."

"Well... do you know anyone on the team? I don't know if they have try-outs or anything?"

He shook his head. "I could ask around."