It's Monday, the 29th of March. Having spent the day before with her family, Rowan decides to head over to the institute, to see how things are progressing there - as well as to deliver a few goodbyes. Nothing impedes her progress as she heads up to the magical research department, but the main office is empty when she arrives - very unusual for a Monday morning.
That's odd... Rowan thinks for a moment, before shrugging it off - she has been out of the loop with things here over the past few months.
Still, wondering just why no one is in the main office today, she goes to take a look at the calender to see if any interesting experiments were scheduled that might explain people's absences from the administrative area. Either that or if today is meant to be a holiday. It's easy to lose track of these things...
The calendar has a rather large note scribbled on it for tomorrow - 'Launch!!!' Looks like Margie's handwriting - she's been your advisor in the MR department ever since you enrolled at Mugen.
But nothing for today... Rowan thinks, disappointed. Exiting the office, she heads downstairs to see if anyone she knows is working in the labs at the moment.
Even the labs are empty, although you do see that there are a few experiments set up - looks like someone's trying to work on shaping a magical field, using magically non-reactive materials. Not the kind of stuff you'd just leave laying around for the weekend.
Now feeling a little bit annoyed - after all, if she wanted to spend time by herself, she could do that at home, Rowan makes her way to reception so she can just ask where everyone is.
On the way down to reception, you pass by the department's main conference room - and you think you hear someone shuffling around inside, although you can't see anyone from the door.
Pausing, Rowan briefly pokes her head in the door - she doesn't want to interrupt if there's a meeting or anything like that going on, but it'd be nice to assuage her curiousity over just where everyone has gotten to.
There's... still no one visible from the doorway as you peek your head in. But after a few moments of looking around, several people appear with a flash. "Congratulations!" comes the cheer - almost the entire department looks like it's in here, the table covered with snacks and drinks of various types.
"Aah!" Rowan jumps, startled, putting a hand over her chest as she looks around. "You guys..."
Wow... good thing I didn't just decide to go straight home after not finding anyone in the office... she thinks, blushing.
Margie comes up to you, grinning. "Congratulations, Rowan," she says with a grin. "We're all really proud of you - even if you got here too early!" She gives you a mock scolding look. "We were going to get set up in the main office, but there was a mixup on the memo about the party and everyone had already brought their food down here." She shakes her head and grins. "We're all really glad you decided to stop in before you left, though."
"Thanks," Rowan grins, rubbing the back of her head. "I was just going to ask at reception after I'd checked out the labs. I was starting to think I'd missed something important that everyone had been called away for or something..." Looking around, she adds, "You guys really didn't have to go to this trouble for me, though."
"Hey, you know us," she responds with a grin. "Any excuse we can find to have a party."
One of the other researchers comes up and hands you a plate with a slice of cake and a glass of some sort of punch, giving you a smile - you think his name is Hiro. "What's it been like so far?" he asks. "What's the Queen really like - you met her, didn't you?"
"I did," Rowan nods, taking a sip of the punch. "And she really is as nice as everyone says."
Again, she decides not to tell anyone about the rabbits. She's taking that one to her grave.
"Not only that, the woman is a genius. I spent an afternoon discussing the current state of magical research with her and the heads of the government research department. I suppose it's not surprising with as long as she's lived, but she's probably forgotten more about magic than I've ever learned..."
"So she really DOES know that much about magic?" Hiro goes on. "I almost thought half of that was a screen to keep people from trying to do anything to her - I wouldn't think she'd care about magic other than what it takes to keep the Kingdom going."
One of your professors - Dr. Alexander - comes up, munching on a piece of cake himself. "I think the entire department's turned out for this, Rowan," he says with a smile.
"Almost," Margie corrects him. "Someone called in sick earlier this morning, and Helena said she was taking the next few days off - something about a big project she needed to research."
"Well, I guess not everyone will take the slightest excuse for a party," Rowan offers, taking a bite of cake herself. "Any idea what her big project is?" she asks, always eager to learn about the work of her peers.
"She's been rather tight-lipped about it," Dr. Alexander replies. "Just that it's something involving linked planes."
"Hmm..." Rowan mulls over that, thinking of a few projects she might run on similar lines, and then increasing the risk/reward by several degrees to get an idea of what someone less timid might try. "I suppose I'll find out all about it when I get back. What about everyone else?" she asks, "I haven't kept in as close touch here as I might over the last few months. I saw someone was doing something involving shaping magical fields with inert materials down in the lab?"
"That one's mine," Hiro pipes up. "I'm running a few experiments to see how a distorted magical field affects the completion of different types of invocations. It's going kind of slow so far, but I'm hoping for some interesting results."
"That sounds interesting, Hiro," Rowan nods, although a part of her thinks it could be really dangerous, she squelches it. Obviously if the experiment is done in the university lab, the failsafes will keep everything on the level. "What kinds of invocations have you tested, or is it still in the setup stage?"
"Still getting set up," he says with a slight frown. "The materials I'm working with aren't exactly precision-tuned, so it's hard to maintain the field shape I'm looking for."
As he speaks, you notice someone else enter the room. Tall, light-haired, and wearing a pair of round glasses, it's not hard at all to recognize the dean of the university, Professor Tomoe himself. He glances around the room for a few minutes, then smiles as he spots Rowan. "Ah, I see the guest of honor has arrived," he says.
"Oh!" Rowan looks surprised as Tomoe approaches. "Hello, Professor. I didn't expect to see you, today. How are things?"
"Quite well," Tomoe replies smoothly. "I'd gotten the memo about a farewell party here for you, so I thought I'd stop in." He smiles a bit. "It's a good excuse to get out of my office for a few minutes, as well as catching up with you. How has the training gone?"
"Surprisingly brief, actually," Rowan admits. "I don't think I'm expected to handle any of the technical aspects of the mission, although that does make me worry in case something happens to the person who DOES handle those aspects..." Shaking her head, she goes on, "I read up on the 20th century Apollo missions to the Moon for an idea of what to expect, but it's been nothing like that."
"I've spoken quite a bit with the Queen about the mission," Tomoe explains. "While it's true that you won't be doing much in the way of getting the ship to its destination, you should have plenty of work to do in determining the state of Mercury in a magical sense. And in the event that you do come across any magical artifacts, you'll be better suited to determining whether they're any danger, more so than the other members of the team. You were chosen more for your broad understanding of magical theory than anything else."
"I know," Rowan nods, "We discussed possibilities of what might be encountered on the planet during my meeting with Cyprine and Ptilol the other day - the Queen contributed a good deal to that discussion as well."
"I'm just rather nervous about the time I'll be spending between the Moon and Mercury on the spaceship. One of the team members - an archaeologist fron New Denver U - has an uncontrolled and rather destructive magical talent thanks to an artifact that recently bonded to him..."
The Professor frowns a bit at that. "I've also looked into that matter a bit," he says. "Apparently, from what I've been able to gather so far, the item that seems to have bonded itself to his hand grants him some measure of direct elemental control over earth and stone. It also seems to be completely inaccessible to him except under periods of extreme stress - he was tested with it over the course of a month, and never once did it activate again intentionally OR inadvertently. I wouldn't worry too much about any accidents with him."
"Oh," Rowan blinks. "That's something of a relief, then." Just so long as things don't get too stressful, I guess...
"Still, I am really looking forward to seeing what we'll find on Mercury. From what Dr Mizuno explained, the underground cities should be mostly preserved in the state they were following the Dark Kingdom attack. It should provide for a fascinating insight into life there during the Silver Millenium, as well as answer questions about exactly what went on away from the Moon during the Fall..."
"That's the hope, especially for Mercury," Tomoe replies with a smile. "Very little in the way of intact structures are expected on any of the other planets, but just one of the underground cities of Mercury could be a treasure trove of information. I envy you - you'll be among the first to see them personally."
"You can be the first to see my written reports once we get back, Professor," Rowan offers with a smile, not at all thinking of the extra prestige it will add to have Professor Tomoe listed as a proofreader, not at all.
"It's just a pity that the mission timeframe doesn't allow for a truly in depth study. An entire city, preserved for all that time... it would take decades to examine it all..." she says, slightly awed.
Tomoe smiles at that. "Certainly it would," he answers. "Who knows? Perhaps you can join one of the colonization groups for Mercury after the survey mission is complete. It IS a bit far from family, but once we get a teleport grid set up between Mercury and the Moon that itself should become a minor issue. And I'd be most pleased to get a first look at your report, by all means."
Rowan looks thoughtful at that. "I'd never really considered that... I'd sort of expected to live here in the capital for the forseeable future." But now that the idea has been planted, she's giving it serious thought...
"I suppose it can wait until I see what the place is like, but perhaps... It's something to think about, at any rate."
"By all means, keep it in mind. And watch for the other planets as well - you might find that you like Mars, or one of the outer planets' moons even more than Mercury." He winks at that.
"I expect Mars to be the most popular destination for colonists, anyway," Rowan observes, "Living beneath the surface in great sunless cities on Mercury would be rather trying for many people, and past Jupiter the Sun is little different from any other star in the sky..."
"Certainly it should be the easiest of the planets to colonize," Tomoe agrees. "It has water deposits in the ice caps and the actual planet itself is very similar to the Moon - so the techniques applied to the terraforming of Luna should apply quite well on Mars."
"It's still rather amazing to think about... within a century or so we could have humans living all across the solar system for the first time in ten thousand years..." she chuckles a little, "And just as amazing to think I'll be one of the pioneers in making it happen."
Tomoe chuckles at that. "Indeed - I know the feeling. I don't know if I ever expected the Moon to turn out the way it is today."
And so it goes, most of Rowan's coworkers taking the time to talk to her about the training and the other members of the team as the morning rolls on. Helena is mentioned another time or two, but mostly in remarks on her absence - and on the rather foul mood she's been in for the past few weeks. Sadly, like all good things, the party winds to a conclusion around noon - most of the others having projects to get back to. All of them wish Rowan the best of luck, and most demand to hear about the mission as soon as she gets back.
Promising that she'll come and visit with lots of stories as soon as she returns, Rowan bids farewell to her friends, going home to take care of some last minute details before having dinner with her family and then returning to the palace.