Chapter 5-2
625 Words
The first thing I did was to go to Professor Fran. He was in the office, working on his research during the summer vacations. He looked up when I knocked and ushered me in.
"Come in, Dana," he said, taking a file out of the pile next to him. "Well, I must admit, your thesis is ready to submit now. You don't have to worry at all: it's a guaranteed A star. You can just focus on your magical studies now since you have so much more work."
I took the folder and glanced at the files. The copy just had a few red marks for typos, and it seemed it was all good. I put it into my bag. I would have to retype the pages with the typos and submit them, if I wanted to get my thesis approved.
I looked at this folder, this folder with three years of my work in it.
"About that… Professor Fran, I'm thinking that maybe I should have waited for later to start my project. Now that I'm a fifth year, I have so many fresher ideas. Maybe we could pivot into something different? I'm sure I could do better than this?"
"Now, Dana, why would you want to do this? You will have one of the busiest years of your life. You will have to pass the Alchemy exams, and the Practical Magic exams, you will need to write a thesis for Practical Magic, and, if you want to get a job later, you need to get an internship. Don't ruin your chances because of perfectionism. Submit your thesis, free up your plate for other things."
"But Professor —"
I launched into a speech about how much more I knew, how much more I could do now, but Professor Fran was inflexible. I had to submit the thesis as it was and be done with that.
Every other Professor in the Alchemy Department also refused to listen to my proposal. Quite a few of them said that I would be too busy with the magic to do anything useful, anyway.
Stupid magic!
And Professor Fran, as if taunting me, mentioned an internship. As if I didn't know I should work somewhere. It's not like I could get a job somewhere of my choice after I finish my degree. No, I must work to pay back the degree to the Floyd Fund.
If I didn't get a job in some really big firm that can repay the Fund in full, I must pay it back by working in some rural hellhole.
There was a reason I left Caerland and came to Ashford. Crow Hill is a small mining town, a place where innovation ends, not starts. If I wanted to spend the rest of my life fixing broken farming equipment, I would have stayed in Crow Hill. There, I would be the respectable co-owner of a firm that fixes mining equipment, with father.
But, if I couldn't avoid a dreadful future of boredom and monotony, I would have some fun before that. And for that, I needed access to an alchemical lab. Or a machine shop.
I spent the rest of the day ruminating. Without a Professor signing up for a project with me, I couldn't use the university's alchemical facilities. And the number of things that could be jury-rigged at home were, let's say… limited.
To make a decent alchemical lab and shop, I would need tons of money. And there was my problem. I had no money.
Sure, Grandpa had declared me his heiress, and when he died, I stood to inherit a sixth of his wealth (shared with Billie, Mother, and my three brothers). But Grandpa was spry, and I didn't want him to die, anyway.
And, while I'm sure I'll get some money, my problem is having money now.
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