In Which Camaline Is Given a Not-Horrible Proposition

March 16, 1183

"Cammie!" In keeping with her increasingly chipper demeanor the last few times Camaline had seen her, Xeta greeted her with a hug--hardly one of Camaline's preferred forms of human contact, but given the agony of the past few weeks, she'd let it slide. If she or Aydelle snapped and ended things for good, Camaline would need a friend for comfort anyway, and Xeta had already proven herself trustworthy with Camaline's other secret, the one that rendered this one mundane in comparison. "I'm glad you could make it today after all."

"So Rona can't guilt you about you turning her down?" It had taken a few months, but Xeta had brought herself to the point where she was ready to tell someone about her problems, and she'd chosen her sister. From what Camaline could gather, Rona had been both understanding and sympathetic, but her chosen method of help was of the distraction variety--hardly attuned to the needs of sensitive, quiet Xeta.

"Yes, well... I did see her yesterday, and there's only so much complaining about Lemons being the only dog in the world who doesn't chase the cats away that I can take."

Camaline snorted. Her father-in-law had once bought a dog for that very purpose. That dog had loved the cats almost as much as Holladrin and Thallie did. "If the dog won't do it, perhaps she ought to chase the cats away herself."

"Give it another couple weeks and she will. She's always hated cats. I never understood it. But enough about my sister and the apparent feline infestation." Xeta took her by the arm and pulled her toward the couches. "Please, sit down. I have a project, and I'd very much like for you to be a part of it."

"A project?" She settled herself on the larger couch, right by the end-table, Xeta taking the nearer spot on the loveseat. Whatever it was couldn't have possibly been more tedious than waiting around for her turns with Prior while somebody else had him, or moping around after Aydelle--or so she forced herself to hope. "Do tell."

"All right. I'm assuming that your father-in-law told you and Sparron about the university?"

Camaline nodded. "It's not much of a secret any more."

"Not since my father-in-law fenced off the land for the campus, no." Xeta's eyes flitted to the window--specifically to the east. "Anyway, he and Raia want to offer monetary grants for students who may not be able to afford tuition otherwise, but the problem with this is that if a student's family can't afford the fees, they may not have been able to afford a tutor for their children, correct?"

"So they wouldn't be on even footing with their wealthier classmates."

"Precisely. So, Nora and I were talking, and we figured... well, we have quite a bit of surplus tax money. Why don't we put that toward some sort of academy?"

An academy? "For children, you mean."

"Yes. Raia says that the starting age for the university will be roughly seventeen, so I figured we'd educate from five to sixteen. I'll teach the older kids, and Vera has agreed to teach the younger ones. I was thinking I could ask Rona and Asalaye if they'd be willing to teach as well, so we could have smaller classes or narrower age groups."

"Then why are you talking to me instead of them?"

"Because we need someone strict and organized and competent to keep the whole place running." Xeta's hands slid along her legs as she leaned forward. "Someone like you."

Her? Camaline's jaw fell out of reach and no amount of struggle could raise it. She supposed she could be strict. She liked to think that she was organized and competent. But this? "Xeta, honey... my own son aside, you know I'm not one for children."

"I know, which is why I didn't ask you to teach." Her friend winked. Xeta didn't have the thickest of lashes, but the lingering blue between them was charming in its own right. "You'll be in the office. You'll be in charge of the budget, as well as timetables and records. Apart from the occasional parent or patron, you'll only ever deal with the teachers. You won't see any children unless they need special accommodation--or they need to be punished," she added with a smirk.

"So I'll be scaring brats straight." That didn't sound... horrible.

"Yes. That, and you'll effectively be in charge of the entire school." That didn't sound horrible either. "Promise me you'll at least think about it?"

Camaline nodded. It would be a welcome change, something not horrible to think about. "Very well. I'll let you know when I decide."

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