Return of the Runebound Professor

There was just one thing left to do before anyone could head out to a pizza party. Moxie had a Master Rune with Alexandra’s name on it. Lee hopped up onto the top of the walls to make sure they weren’t getting any undue attention while Noah took the huge grimoire off his back and set it down on the sand.

“Don’t even think about eating this one,” Noah informed the grimoire as he flipped it open to a blank page. “It’s not ours.”

“I’m not eating anything,” Lee said from the top of the wall. “Why would I eat a rune?”

“I was talking to my book. Don’t worry, Lee. I know you wouldn’t try to eat a rune,” Noah replied absently, making a mental note to ensure that his grimoire and Lee never got an extended period of time alone together. They’d be a terrible influence on each other.

Everyone gathered around the grimoire and waited expectantly. Moxie set her hand against its pages, then glanced to Noah.

“Ready?”

“Yep. Go ahead,” Noah said.

Moxie nodded and closed her eyes. Her face creased with concentration for an instant and a ripple passed over the page. Lines traced themselves into the paper as the Earthen Muster Master Rune appeared upon it.

It took Moxie a little under a minute to imbue the Master Rune. The paper around it crackled with energy as the grimoire locked its power up within its Catchpaper. The students watched with bated breath as the lines finally came to a stop and Moxie lifted her hand from the paper with a nod.

“Is there something special I have to do?” Alexandra asked breathlessly, staring down at the rune with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen a Master Rune with my own eyes.”

“Just put your hand on it and draw it into your soul like any other rune,” Moxie said.

Alexandra nodded. She steadied her emotions and followed Moxie’s suggestion. They all waited silently as she closed her eyes and her brow furrowed in concentration. Seconds passed by.

The paper crackled. Then, with a pop, the Master Rune vanished. It was nearly a minute before Alexandra opened her eyes again.

“Did it work?” James asked.

“Where do you think the rune went?” Isabel asked with a snort. “It’s not like it vanished into thin air. Congratulations, Alexandra.”

Everyone else chorused their agreement.

Alexandra smiled, her cheeks flushing at all the attention being directed her way. “Thank you, everyone.”

“Can you test it out for us?” Todd asked. “I want to see how it works.”

“Maybe later?” Alexandra offered. “As tempted as I am to try to learn how this works right now, I think it can wait a little bit. I think there was something else we were going to be doing next. I don’t want to hold that up.”

“Pizza parties are a sacred practice. That is very wise of you,” Noah said with a sage nod. “Being late to them is a grave sin. There will be time for more work soon enough. For the next hour or so, put that out of your mind. Let’s go get some pizza.”

***

A little bit under half an hour later, after taking down the walls they’d erected in the arena, everyone gathered in Noah’s classroom. Noah and Moxie had split off shortly after Alexandra had claimed her Master Rune to get the pizza and bring it back. They’d also wisely left Lee along with the others to make sure the pizzas actually survived the trip back to the scene of the party.

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Room G100 hadn’t seen use in quite some time and had started to pick up a layer of dust, but nobody was particularly bothered about that when they had pizza to eat. Noah handed Lee a stack of personal pizzas and then distributed the rest of the food amongst everyone else.

A smile pulled across his lips as he watched the students move the tables into a small ring and sit down as a group. Excitement and motivation were so thick in the air that he could practically taste it — though that might have just been the pizza.

Lee deposited her stack of pizzas by the kids and hopped up to the supporting beams on the ceiling and hung from them like a bat.

“Throw me something!” she called down. “I want to see if I can eat upside down.”

James obliged, grabbing a pizza and flinging it up at her like a frisbee. His aim was surprisingly good and it sailed out on a direct collision course with her gullet. Lee caught the flying disk of dough with her mouth and quickly stuffed it in, but not without losing a pepperoni in the process.

It plummeted back to the earth, abandoned by its comrades as they set out on their final pilgrimage into Lee’s stomach, and landed right on James’ right cheek. The students all burst into laughter and Emily took the slice of meat off his face, wiping it clean with a thumb.

“It’s funny to think about what this room was like just a short while ago, isn’t it?” Moxie asked as she took a seat beside Noah. “I never would have thought I’d be seeing something like this.”

“It’s incredible,” Noah agreed with a smile. He took a bite of a pizza that he’d saved for himself. “I can’t really take credit for any of their personalities, but turning down a Master Rune is a huge sacrifice for people who don’t have any backing from a noble family. We’ve got some damn good students.”

“I think you’re missing something. They don’t have the backing of a noble family, but they do have you. Part of the reason they’re so comfortable passing up on power is because they know you’re there for them,” Moxie said, leaning against Noah. “You’re reliable, even if you’re batshit insane. Better than any noble family anyone could ever ask for.”

“It’s not just me they have. They’ve also got you and Lee. I couldn’t do any of this on my own. Hell, they did the majority of it themselves. All I did was show them a few things I figured out while killing myself. I can’t wait to see what they’re doing in the future. They’ve all got so much potential.”

“And I can’t wait to see it with you. Teaching is so much more enjoyable when I’m actually doing it of my own volition,” Moxie said. “I was really worried about how things would go after I got out from Evergreen’s thumb, but I’ve found myself liking it more and more with every day. You’re a big part of the reason for that. I haven’t ever met someone that cared as much about their students as you do.”

“The biggest lesson I learned from my last life is that the only mark you truly leave on the world is what you give to others,” Noah said, moving his hand to cover Moxie’s. “I don’t plan on ever dying for good again, but that statement still holds true.”

She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then settled in against his side. Even though the room had six other people in it, everyone else was caught in energetic conversation and, for at least that brief moment in time, none of them were paying attention to Noah and Moxie.

“I love you, Noah,” Moxie whispered into his ear.

“I love you too,” Noah said, his hand tightening around hers.

For that instant in time, the rest of the world didn’t quite matter. They sat there in silence, and nothing possibly could have made the moment better.

Then a pepperoni landed on Noah’s forehead.

“Sorry,” Lee called down from the ceiling. She hesitated for a moment. “Are you going to eat that?”

Noah burst into laughter. He picked the pepperoni off his face and popped it into his mouth. “I am now.”

“Shall we go join the others?” Moxie asked with a snicker. She wiped the tomato sauce off Noah’s face with her thumb and licked it clean. “I think Lee might have thrown that pepperoni intentionally.”

“I would never do something like that,” Lee said, closing one eye and squinting at Moxie as she reared back, another pepperoni pinched between two fingers. “But, for unrelated reasons, please don’t move.”

Everyone started to laugh again. Lee seemed to remember that throwing the pepperoni would mean she wouldn’t be able to eat it and opted to throw it into her mouth instead of sacrificing it.

Noah and Moxie walked over to join the circle of students in their celebrations and Lee dropped down beside them. Room G100 soon descended into energetic conversation once more. For as long as the party lasted, any challenges the future held couldn’t have been farther from their minds.

For just a short while, all their worries could wait. When the time came, they would handle them. Noah had been in a number of pizza parties in his life. But, as far as they went, this was definitely the best one he’d ever had.

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