Snap. Snap.

Tapendra snapped out of it suddenly, his jaw shutting with a clack of teeth. He looked at Landis, shaking his head. "S-sorry, I-" he cut himself off, shuddering. "I'm fine. Yeah. Fine." He wasn't.

He looked at Landis for a long moment - wanting to ask about those celibacy spells - but didn't say anything. This didn't seem the time to ask, frankly; nothing like having a chat about hexing an annoying relative while they stood out in the woods as a horse and a woman, was there?

"Let's-" he started, and the school's bell rang out over the moor again. Tapendra hopped on his feet again, running in place. He had to teach. He hadn't carefully avoided Snark last year to get fired over - to get fired for this! Nadge...Nadge would be there later -

"I have to teach!" He said, apparently more to the world at large than to Landis. "I - fired -"

That was the last comprehensible thing out of his mouth; he took off towards the castle  at full tilt, wings beating the air in a frantic attempt to get airborne.

Landis watched him go, arms folded over her chest, shoes dangling loosely in hand. Not for the first time in the past half hour she wondered if Trishna's transformation had also depleted his IQ to a horse's level. Being fired, when he had such a good excuse? Just for being late? Hardly. But he seemed so frantic, and if he wanted to flutter madly through the student-thronged halls - well, that was his choice, wasn't it? Landis would have just canceled class.

She followed at a more sedate pace, picking her way carefully through the soft grass up towards the castle. She'd wait outside until the halls had cleared, then go straight to either her quarters or the library office. The students could deal without the librarian for a few hours - so early in the school year, it wasn't as though they were teaming to check books out. They'd barely been assigned homework yet.

And perhaps once the students were safely engrossed in dinner - or after curfew tonight - Landis could seek out either Nagde or the Transfiguration professor's help, get this safely reversed before word spread all over school. What a blessing disillusionment charms and billowing robes were at a time like this.

She knew already she'd be seeing Trishna again. The fool had forgotten she still had his wand.