Professor Keyes' Room
It was a task that the young man had set himself after he'd inadvertently stabbed himself in the finger with a splinter when he was picking things up off the floor, left to dwell on methods of cleaning while his employer was away teaching. Professor Keyes had left him with a number of tasks to complete in his absence and the boy was working through them diligently. He had given himself a little bit more work than he'd originally been tasked with but when everything was done, he should still have some time to himself before the engraver came back. It'd give him time to peruse some of his books, something that Fionn had begun to do in a sneaky fashion. Keyes hadn't suggested that he couldn't read if he so desired. But he was a gated passive and he knew it, knew that even though he'd been given this opportunity as the professor's personal assistant, he didn't think that he would ever be trusted. How could he be? Considering everything that he was, how could anyone ever trust him like that?
Given that he wasn't expecting the professor back until the evening, the last thing that he expected was company of any sort. Those who were looking for the professor would know his schedule or would locate him in more appropriate places so the blond didn't expect any visitors. As such, the knock on the door came as a surprise.
The servant paused in his duties, remaining perfectly still as he considered the situation, contemplated just remaining still and quiet until they gave up and went away. If he didn't make a sound then they might not think that anyone was in. He let moments pass by, each one going by with aching slowness and yet at the end of a minute, maybe more, another knock came. It was soft and timid as if the person making the sound was almost afraid that their knock would actually be answered. He stayed still and the knock came again, sooner this time, a little louder, a little more insistent. It was a bit more difficult to ignore it and there was something about it that suggested that the person behind it didn't intend to leave soon. Being ignored wasn't a sufficient deterrent obviously so he was just going to have to answer the damn thing.
Leaving his kneeling position, he straightened up with a slight grimace, brushing off his knees as he went to the door. He encountered the field before he got to the handle but he hadn't expected anyone other than a galdor if he was honest with himself; he didn't expect a persistent passive. Did he notice the familiarity though? He had started to pay a bit more attention to these things, more to his passive fellows rather than their fully magical brethren, searching for the nexus that Moore and Devlin had talked about a month before. He'd never paid enough attention to galdori to notice anything specific about their fields, never interacted with enough of them. That they had individuality and that this one was one he'd encountered before didn't occur to him and so he got an even greater shock when he swung the portal open and saw the field's owner.
"Sweet Lady, you!" Fionn gasped, hand gripping the edge of the door frame hard.
Niamh.
He'd known when he'd last seen her that it was her and he'd since had it confirmed, asking the professors very tentatively about her. And now here she was after what he'd said to her, after the vile name he'd called her. Here she was looking nervous and uncertain in her uniform looking unimaginably pretty, hands behind her back.
"I- Professor Keyes isn't here and you aren't- You can't be here to... to see me, Niamh, I-" he broke off, lost for words, eyes roving in their sockets as he sought for some explanation for this, some reason why she'd be here after their last encounter. To see him, not Keyes. His free hand found the back of his neck, rubbing it awkwardly.
"Well uh... hello."