#and goes 🤔 and yoinks her back also

[etruatcaelum]

[ @serabellyms | salem // glynda ]

The elevator to the top of Beacon Tower had always taken longer than Glynda liked, but she found herself appreciating it now. One hand pressed flat to the cool metal paneling, she watched the floor number tick higher and tried to impose some order upon her thoughts. No small task. They kept flying away from her, scattered like leaves driven by the wind.

Summer’s gone. Why Taiyang had chosen to call her first, Glynda didn’t know—perhaps grief had stricken every practical consideration from his mind, and he’d turned to her as a friend more than colleague—but she was glad. Better for Salem to hear it from someone calm, first.

The elevator glided to a halt, and Glynda released her breath sharply. Calm wasn’t the right word for what she felt as she stepped into the headmistress’s office; she didn’t feel much of anything at all, as though every emotion had been blasted out of her and left only a charred suggestion of feeling behind. She supposed she might call it shock.

“Professor Witchhazel,” she said, with a little too much formality. Stilted. Clearing her throat, she moved to stand at a more comfortable distance from the desk. “I–”

The words have bad news dried up, inadequate somehow. Glynda was no stranger to death. Gods knew Salem wasn’t either. Familiarity did little to soften the blow, or ease the burden of sharing it.

Better to just say it. Salem didn’t need to be told that Glynda had come to deliver bad news: a single glance would have sufficed even if the lateness of the hour and the unannounced intrusion had somehow escaped her notice. Glynda took a deep breath as she lifted her head to look the headmistress in the eye.

“Summer Rose is dead,” she said, stripped of inflection. “I’m not sure of the details: Taiyang called about ten minutes ago, and all he could tell me was that Raven’s bond to her has been severed. He’s on his way here from Patch now.” Her gaze flickered down. “I gather he wants to know where you sent her. He was… very nearly hysterical over scroll; I thought it best to inform you before he arrives.”