"Headmistress Macbeth? I brought the new teacher," Ranma called out by way of introduction motioning for Ami to step inside. "Sorry it took so long, but nobody told me I was the one supposed to pick her up."
"That is okay Ranma-san. As you can see I have been rather busy and probably would not have found time for her before now anyway," the woman sitting behind the desk who Ami had to assume was the headmistress replied.
Ami had to note that other than her name and some blue triangles marks on her face that were vaguely reminiscent of Pictish war-paint she did not look very Scottish at all. Her dark skin and white hair gave her an exotic appearance that many men might have found attractive but was rather atypical of northern European descent. She also exuded a strange, but subdued kind of presence of authority and power that reminded Ami of the aura that her friend Usagi emanated on the rare occasions that she transformed into her ultimate form. Only in the case of the headmistress this sensation was tempered with a suggestion of sensual darkness and temptation instead of innocent light and love.
It was however not the sight of the undoubtedly weird headmistress that made Ami almost freeze in her tracks but that of the mysterious, tall, tanned and green-haired woman in the room with her.
"Hello, you must be the Dr. Mizuno that I have been hearing so much about. After reading some of the paper's you have published I truly hope that we can win you as a future staff member. I am Setsuna Meio," She introduced herself unnecessarily.
Had it been Usagi or Minako in Ami's place they surely would have demanded to know why Setsuna was pretending not to know them. Squealing and hugging might have been involved. But Ami was not for nothing known as the smart one. She managed to suppress any outwards signs of surprise or recognition while politely returning the greeting. She would have to ask her later in private what this was all about.
"Are you a also teacher here?" she then added for further verisimilitude.
"I am professor of history here at Pretty Heart," Setsuna revealed. "I was just submitting my choices for the textbooks to the headmistress when you came in."
Ami had to admit that this made a certain amount of sense for Setsuna. Her first hand experience and access to the time gate should give her an interesting perspective on the subject of history.
"And I am Urd Macbeth, acting headmistress of Pretty Heart. I will get to you in a moment Dr. Mizuno," the headmistress promised before turning back to Setsuna." I don't really see any problems with your selection of textbooks. They might not be typical or usual but neither are our students and I feel that your take on the subject of history might really teach them some lessons that will be useful in their future careers."
"I understand that you will still have to submit the all the text-books to the supervisory board for confirmation," Setsuna questioned.
"Yes I do but I don't think they will find anything objectionable about them," Urd reassured her.
"Thank you, Headmistress," Setsuna replied," I will start working out my lesson plan then on the assumption that they will be approved. Goodbye."
Setsuna turned and made for the exit where Ranma still stood waiting despite having promised the librarian to visit the bookshop with her earlier. On her way out she stopped to address Ami again.
"I really meant what I said earlier about hoping that you will take the job," She told Ami. "It's so hard to find qualified instructors for young magical girls since nobody really knows the secret Identities of those who have any practical experience at the job we are trying to teach them. We were very lucky to find someone with your academical qualifications. If you happen to know of anyone else who might be able to teach here don't hesitate to mention a name. Some positions such as the one of the divination professor for the course on eschatology and precognition are really hard to fill."
"I will keep that in mind," Ami assured her thinking hard about what the green-haired woman had said.
"Good. Then I can only wish you goodbye and good luck." Setsuna said leaving the room and dragging Ranma out with her.
When the door closed behind them Urd and Ami were finally alone, but before headmistress Macbeth could address her the telephone on her desk rang.
"Who is this?" the white-haired woman demanded angry at the interruption when she picked it up.
When the person at the other end identified themselves she quickly calmed down and became more polite. She gestured for Ami to take a seat and apologetically let her know that she had to take this call first and would get to her as soon as possible.
While Urd was busy mostly listening and nodding at the telephone Ami was using the extra time to think. She doubted that it had just been coincidence that Setsuna had been here in the office at exactly the right time. When Setsuna Meio was involved timing was rarely a coincidence. She must have been waiting for her to warn and instruct her.
Ami tried parsing and processing the message implied in everything Setsuna had said and done. They were supposed to pretend not to know each other. Nobody knew that Ami had more then theoretical knowledge about magic and magical girls and she was supposed to keep it that way for now.
She doubted that the casual mention of the supervisory board had been coincidence either. Setsuna wanted her to know that there were others in the background who were the real power behind this strange new school.
The remark about the divination position had been a bit unclear. Ami knew a number of people with the gift of clairvoyance and she would have to find out later who exactly it was that Setsuna wanted her to recommend for the post.
The most important piece of information the time-guardian had given was that the school could not afford to be too choosy about whom they hired at the moment and was unlikely to reject any qualified applicants. It was also clear that Setsuna thought it important that Ami actually got the job.
Ami also vowed to find Setsuna later and ask her why she did not tell her any of this before hand instead of ambushing her like this.
Her priorities thus sorted she waited for the headmistress to finish her call, but she showed no signs of ending it soon. She was still listening and answering with an occasional "I understand!" or "Yes, sir!".
Slightly bored Ami decided to take a peek at the various textbooks that Setsuna had dropped on the desk to see if she recognized any titles from her own studies. She soon got an inkling about what the headmistress had meant when she said that Setsuna's approach was neither typical nor usual.
There was "A Future History" by H. Seldon, a book entitled "Secret Histories of the World" whose author was only given as Anonymous and most curiously enough a large volume with the words "Uchronia, Elsewhen in Time - A definite guide to the worlds that might have been" and a picture of a horseshoe with a nail loosely dangling from it on the cover that was apparently written by Setsuna Meio herself.
Unable to contain her curiosity and mindful that the headmistress was still occupied she opened Setsuna's book to browse its contents.
It appeared to be using a novel approach to teach readers about the importance of key events in history by actually describing what might have been if things had gone differently. It illustrated the possibilities with fictional accounts set in those hypothetical worlds where Napoleon was not defeated at Waterloo or the South won the American civil war. At least she thought that the accounts were fictional and the worlds hypothetical. An excerpt about a reclusive author living in a world where Japan did not loose the second World War gave her pause. The possible implications about the nature of time and the ontology of reality were quite staggering. She really was going to have to talk with Setsuna about all that.
She closed the book and opened "Secret Histories of the World" on a random page wondering what strange ideas it would contain. She was just trying to absorb the impact of the page heading "Chronicle of events leading up to November 22 1963" when the headmistress announced by a loudly clearing her throat that she was now finished with her telephone call and ready to talk with Ami.
"Fascinating reading, isn't it?" Urd asked with a smile prompting Ami to embarrassedly close the book and replaced it on the desk.
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(Posted Mon, 05 Jun 2006 21:24)
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