They were, in short, ushered out of Amonās office, but not before Professor Windsor was told that he was effectively going to be under surveillance for a while. She felt a pang of guilt, but as she was constantly being reminded, it wasnāt really her fault. Technically, it wouldnāt have happened if not for herself and her choices, butā¦ well, it wasnāt like she asked to be chased around by hired thugs. Hopefully this would be nothing worse than the usual case and he could go back to his ordinary routine in a few days or so.
āUmā¦ thereās plenty of places to rest or eat if you need to. Iām headed down to the Archives. Itās a really interesting place, if you can get yourself in the right mindset anyway.ā She knew from experience that this sort of thing was not one that a person got over instantaneously, so she offered a sympathetic smile and waved, disappearing down an adjoining hallway in search of the stairs.
The Guild, for all its openness, was actually something of a labyrinthine building. She supposed that made sense; were it ever attacked, there would be plenty of places for its denizens to hide in, strike from, and otherwise use to their advantage. Of course, Pan herself was not the best with directions, and occasionally wound up lost even now.
Not today, though, apparently. She found the winding staircase easily enough and passed a few landings before she reached the one she wanted. Granted, she probably appeared to be handling this a lot better than she actually was. It was hard to tell, but she was pretty sure that the sharp-eyed Amon had not missed the fact that she was shaking a bit. Really, though, she just needed to do something useful to calm her nerves and sheād be fine. Whether that useful thing was reading something that might help increase her knowledge or dealing with the more egregious practice injuries sort of depended on the day.
Sheād check the infirmary later, just to be sure, but the apprentices didnāt have combat training until late in the afternoon usually, so itād be a while yet. Either way, she was rather fatigued at present, mostly from the earlier battle and then a headlong, tense flight through Delta and half of Gamma. She really needed to consider moving closer to the border between districts.
She rounded a corner in the Archives only to come upon a most strange assortment of people. It looked like Scheherazade was here training again, but the Doctor (she still didnāt know his name, and by now doubted she ever would) and his apprentice were there also, along with someone Pandora had seen at the Guild maybe once or twice but never actually spoken to. She stopped in her tracks and blinked slowly, but they were definitely still there, and so she offered a too-bright smile. āHello, everyone. I hadnāt expected to see most of you here.ā
Zade regarded the mage with a level of puzzlement that the latter obviously did not understand, and crossed her arms (not aggressively, just out of habit). āWerenāt you just attacked?ā She found it somewhat difficult to believe that the woman would just be wandering the Archives, right as rain, after such an event, but then maybe it wasnāt so unexpected after all. She had always seemed to be rather foolishly optimistic.
āOhā¦ well, yes. I trapped the mercenaries in my house. Why?ā Apparently, she was not aware of the circumstances surrounding this, and Zade decided she might as well inform her, too. They were all going to find out eventually anyway.
āLoki and Lord Taylor were, too. Theyāre fine, obviously, but Carlisle was apparently just here.ā This was clearly news to Pandora, who had just assumed it was a solitary thing, as they usually were.
āI donāt supposeā¦ were their any other targets?ā Zade shrugged as if to say ābeats me,ā and Pandoraās face took on a troubled frown, but she didnāt say anything further. She didnāt really know what to ask, actually; knowing the right questions wasnāt exactly her business, unless it was regarding some form of injury.