The crowd dispersed, Mainard took his place at the podium up front, and class went on as usual. That day they reviewed the theory of time manipulation, the principle of spatial maneuvering, and the theory of intended focus. Then they learned a new incantation: Allard’s Restoring. The purpose of the spell was simply to transport something back to its original place. But as Mainard pointed out, original had a broad definition. He left them with a cautionary tale about a farmer’s wife who, when attempting to send some unused eggs back to the icebox, heard very curious squawking from her chicken coop a moment after her eggs had vanished.

The rest of the class was spent practicing the incantation under Mainard’s watchful eye. He told them to place their writing pencils on the left side of their desk, physically move them to the right, and use the spell “Starting spot by source restored,” while invoking the theory of focused intent to make sure the pencil went back to the intended starting point. However, about a third of the time Yenni found that her pencil ended up back in her bag, rather than the intended placement on the left side of her desk.

At last class came to an end, and Yenni noticed another little crowd attempting to form around her, but Professor Mainard called out to her from the front of the lecture hall.

“Mam’selle Kayerba. A word, if you would.”

She stepped down through the rows of seats to meet him. “What is it, Professor?”

He paused and frowned at something behind her. “Do you not have classes to attend next hour? If not, you should be studying. Off you go!”

Yenni turned to see a bunch of her classmates scurrying out of the room.

Mainard cleared his throat and adjusted his robes. “Now then, believe me when I say I am thoroughly appalled at the actions of Prof—ex-Professor Emmanuel Devon. I pride myself on finding the best and brightest to teach at Prevan and, well, I suppose I should have known, what with his eccentricities. And Gilles Desroches! A Magus, of all people, participating in this nonsense. But then he’s always been something of an embarrassment to the establishment.” He shook his tufted head. “I bowed to pressure to include unfounded magic in the curriculum. Prevan is meant to be at the forefront of magical theory after all, but I simply knew nothing good would come of it.