Xaviers!

Opting to not place Isolde among the rest of the student body she'd been giving one of the guest rooms in Dower House. It's sparingly decorated, but while renovated it still has bit of an old-fashioned flair to it, including a small fireplace. It's on it's mantle where a very, very old friend suddenly materializes, sitting with his legs crossed, both arms on his knees as he leans forward a bit, patiently waiting for Isolde with a broad grin on his face.

It's a bit late when Isolde gets back, looking frustrated from her time outside. She reaches to flick on the light switch and freezes once she's able to take in the room a bit more attentively.

"...you."

"Well hello, my dear. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Nearly four hundred years. Why now?"

"Because you made a new friend, of course! How long since the last one? I was beginning to worry."

"Our dealings are done, zwerg. You don't have to pretend to pleasantries."

"Oh I wasn't worried about you. And whether the debt is paid matters little. As long as you bear the curse you know who your true masters are. Have you told her?" he asks coyly. "Just whom she has to thank for her newfound connection to the earth?"

"...you're not talking about my daughter, then."

He barks out a laugh. "Seems rather disingenuous to call them that, doesn't it? I should know, there's power in first-born children after-all. Over the years people have sacrificed quite a lot to have what you gave up and it's beginning to bear fruit." he says and launches into more laughter, wiping at his eyes with the sleeve of his suit and getting dangerously close to falling off the mantle.

"It's what I have. Maybe one of them won't disappoint me. Eventually."

"If at first you don't succeed..." he chuckles. Apparently the small man is in an exceptionally good mood tonight.

"Is there a point here aside from the one you part your hair just so to hide? I'm not interested in what you're selling."

"Rude. No, I suppose not, beyond a friendly reminder that you've already bought what I have to offer and you'd do well to remember the nature of what you are." he says, his good mood gone in the blink of an eye as the room suddenly feels so much darker.

"What I am is changeable," she says, gritting her teeth.

"You saw to that."

"I knew how to make you, I know how to unmake you. Just keep that in mind." the dwarf glowers at her without breaking his grin. Then he snaps his finger and disappears.

Shortly after the dwarf disappeared, there was a knock on the door.

"What?" Comes a frustrated growl from inside.

"Bad day?" Tereza says from the other side of the door. The growl doesn't seem to bother her.

"Everyone's determined to test me, so what's one more?"

She huffs and opens the door for Tereza.

"I was actually coming to check on you, not test you. Should I be testing you?" She raises a curious eyebrow and crosses her arms.

"Well I missed my chance to punt my last visitor, so you tell me."

"So you're going to punt me instead? That may not end the way you think it will." She looks at Isolde.

"I already told you about the dwarf. It seems he's still about. Probably because of that boy."

"I'll definitely keep an eye out for him," she says with a softly growled inflection, "The dwarf, that is. I'd say I'd offer to tell the headmistress, but I don't think she'd know what to do with that information even if I did."

"She probably thinks I hallucinated him all that time ago."

"I think I can probably safely rule that out, despite never having seen him myself. Too much other evidence to not realize something's a bit off the norm," Tereza says, walking around the room and looking it over.

It's sparse. Certainly the room has some furnishings of its own, but Isolde hasn't added to them any. Isolde herself came to the university seemingly with only the clothes on her back, and while they'd confiscated some minor items from her, it's certainly not enough to make the place feel even remotely 'homey.'

"I do not know what he is up to. They say he always knows where to be at the right time."

"The question then becomes why would now be the right time? And why you?" The questions seem mostly rhetorical as she adds, "You should really add some plants or something. I can pick up some things if you'll tell me what you want."

"There's plants outside," she huffs. "It's good enough."

"Yeah, but this place doesn't really feel like a... well, 'home' is probably a bad word all things considered, but it'll have to do. You may be here for a while, you should probably settle in."

"Because I'm so welcomed here, aren't I?"

"Do you see me rushing to kick you out?" She looks Isolde in the eye, "I mean, I can certainly do that, but I think this place might be good for you."

"I haven't belonged anywhere for longer than most people have been alive."

"It's... hard to adjust to."

"Well, this is the first place I can really say that I've ever felt like I belonged, so you'll get used to it. I'll do my best to make sure that that happens, but you may have to give a little."

"Sometimes it's easier to just... let things fall away. Be where you are, when you are."

"Sometimes, but that doesn't seem like a wise long term strategy. And easier isn't always better."

"Then I suppose I haven't been 'wise' in quite some time."

"Hey, you said it, not me," Tereza says, grinning. "Other than impromptu visits from small bastards, are you doing alright?"

"It's better to stretch my legs, but I still feel caged. I suppose I earned that."

"Maybe I can arrange for a trip into town or something. It won't be a lot, but it'll be something at least."