Totentanz

Book 1 Chapter II: Der Fehler

Warning: contains emotional and verbal abuse of a teenager by their teacher and references to racism.

DER FEHLER
German, "the mistake; the error".

A bully with charisma and top marks is still a bully. -- Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls

When someone relived a situation with no memory of how things had turned out because of their decisions the last time, they naturally made the same decisions. Naturally those decisions had exactly the same consequences. And naturally those consequences built up until they became something far worse than the choices that spawned them.

Some things were out of anyone's control. Karandren planned to visit Diarnlan, give her the professor's gifts, and beg her to talk to her teacher about taking him on as a student. He had no way of planning for her teacher to hear about the monster attack and pay her a visit just as he reached the village. He certainly didn't know that her teacher had noticed Diarnlan's abrasive personality and come up with a hare-brained, ill-advised scheme to change her for the better -- or so she hoped.

As mages went Teivain-ríkhorn-hrair was neither the wisest nor the most powerful. She was, however, the most eccentric. Her methods of teaching included posing absurd questions about ridiculous situations, such as what sort of spell was needed to rescue a cow who'd been catapulted to the moon. And now she had devised a new way to teach her long-suffering students.

That decision was one of many small factors that cemented the course of the third time loop.

~~~~

"What do you mean, I have to teach some imbecilic teenager?!"

Diarnlan had thought she was used to her teacher's oddities. Pointless questions, riddles without answers, practicing the same spells over and over then being told to cast a completely different one... Those were all the things she had learnt to expect. She had even come to accept them to some degree. At least they made her learn something, though not quite the things she expected to learn. But this? What could she possibly learn from this?

Teivain-ríkhorn-hrair continued to drink her tea placidly, looking as if she'd solved all the mysteries of the universe. There were times when Diarnlan dearly wanted to punch her teacher in the face.

"It's not just you. I've decided all of my students would benefit from teaching someone else for a few months. Or longer, if this works as well as I hope. It'll give you all an opportunity to discover how much you really know. I'm going to write to the academy's headmistress today and ask her to send students for all of you."

Diarnlan ground her teeth.

Her teacher frowned. "Stop doing that. It's terribly bad for your teeth."

Out of pure petty spite Diarnlan ground her teeth more fiercely.

A year of teaching one of the most prickly and overly-sensitive magicians in Avallot had taught Teivain-ríkhorn-hrair a few things too. When to back down over something trivial, for instance. She shook her head like a disappointed parent but said no more about it.

"The students should arrive in two weeks' time. You can draw up lesson plans and decide what you're going to focus on before they arrive. Try not to teach them anything dangerous. No meddling with dragons, no matter how much they ask. And--"

Someone tapped the front door. Diarnlan stifled a growl. Could she never have a minute's peace? She remained seated at the table and ignored the noise. Whoever it was could just go away.

Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap.

Her teacher raised an eyebrow. "There's someone at the door."

"I know," Diarnlan said through gritted teeth.