Talking by the river
| I I I I I I I I |
I I I I I I I I |
But this year was different. It had only been three weeks before Salim started to feel terribly homesick. He didn't know what was causing it or how to fix it. He knew that talking to someone often helped, but since Salim had no close friends, it was difficult. If he wrote home, his father would just tell him to come home, and Salim didn't want to, even though he missed it terribly.
On this particular sunny day, he walked around the less populated areas of the school to get his thoughts under control. It was of absolutely no help at all. Salim went outside and kicked a stone that rolled a little way in front of him. Why was he like this?
Finally, he came down to the river. He looked down into the water that reflected his reflection. His braids were messy and not at all as neat as usual. He also discovered that he had a smeared ink stain on his cheek. He dipped his hand in the water and washed it away.
Salim then turned to continue his walk when he saw someone sitting just a few meters away from him with a pile of documents. It was the headmaster. Salim stopped and thought intently. Finally, he made up his mind and cautiously took a few steps forward.
“Professor?” Salim asked cautiously. “I don’t mean to bother you but… can I sit down?” Salim’s voice was heavy with the worry that occupied his entire consciousness. He waited for the headmasters’s answer and half expected to be rejected so he was ready to leave. He didn’t want to bother anyone with his troubles.
Reducio
@Anthonie Engelbrecht OOC notes: Professor Engelbrecht allowed me to write him sitting by the river working on documents.
Last edited by Salim Wolde on 2 Apr 2026, 07:14, edited 1 time in total.
| Olivia Williams - Gryffindor | I have a father, but I never had a dad. |
Talking by the river
The sounds of the twinkling creaks rushed by him as Anthonie sunk into his mind, his work becoming the monotonous flourish of pens as disappeared into the background of his psyche. Amidst boiling inter school politics after the happenings in foreign lands, followed by the impending events in the winter wild lands of Koldovstoretz, the stress of headmaster was beginning to chip at his nerves.
Nature had always been his solace, and soon Anthonie found himself by one of the many interior rivers of Uagadou, his only backdrop the light buzz of passing students and the waters’ chorus. Alone, he could think mind as clear as the way the waterfalls chimed into the creaks’ depths.
Lulled deep into his thoughts, a voice grounded him back into reality — unexpected, certainly, but not unwelcome.
“Professor?” It was hesitant, subtle, almost lost to the gushing of the river.
He paused, and lifted his head.
“I don’t mean to bother you but… can I sit down?” A cautious question, which would receive a magnanimous answer.
“Yes, of course!,” Anthonie said agreeably, sparing him a glance before marking his place in his work and putting them to the side. “Please, sit.” He turned, half expecting to find the familiar faces of one of his students from before his headmaster tenure, yet instead, it was someone he was yet to meet. For brief moments, he studied the stranger, seen only in passing — dark hair in braids, eyes the colour of moons, mirroring his own in grey.
“I apologise,” he said with an easy smile, “But I don’t seem to know you by name yet.” Allowing his student to make an introduction, Anthonie would extend a hand in formal greeting.
“Now,” he prompted, straightening, “What might be on your mind today?”
@Salim Wolde
we are all stardust and stories. we are all dreams.
Archer Duncan | Liliya Starkova
Archer Duncan | Liliya Starkova