When I stepped off at the Academy, taking a second to get used to it (portaling is still uncomfortable to me), I felt uncle Azzie nudge me forward, so I stepped aside, letting him get off.
"I see the boy doesn't wait for you," uncle Azzie said. "He seemed so eager to defend you last time I came to the Academy."
That was when I was still hiding from him, because I didn't know what he would do to me when he learned I was his niece.
"I can walk to the great hall by myself," I said.
"It's better if you don't," uncle Azzie said. "I'll talk to him. You shouldn't be walking alone."
I looked at him skeptically.
"There are only fifty meters from the portal to the hall," I pointed out.
"Amy," uncle Azzie said, "you're new to this world. Let me, as the man responsible for your safety, decide w
