The library door clicks open softly, just as before. Smewgy comes in with that same impassive frog-like face, and the room seems to draw itself tight around him.
He does not look at the shelves first. He looks at the ledger, then at Lewis, then at the neat line of copied work, as if he is measuring a specimen.
Smewgy
Excellent. The hand is improving. I thought it might. That is why the prep room was offered.
Smewgy
Not as a kindness, gentlemen. As supervision. If a boy is to wrestle with theology, he must do it where his mind can be watched.
The implication lands cold and plain. The private room, the books, the silence, the courtesy, all of it was never refuge. It was an instrument.
C. S. Lewis
So the question is not whether he helps. It is what he means to make of the helping.
Smewgy
You have an uncommon turn for difficult reading, Lewis. I mean to see what you become when pressed properly.
Parsley keeps still. Friedrich’s pen pauses. In the warm lamp light, Smewgy’s politeness feels sharper than a rebuke.
✓ Quest Accepted
Understand what Smewgy intends to make of Lewis
“Does he intend to use my theological studies to mould me into a school prefect?”
YES, AND MORE (Likely, rolled 5)
Smewgy
You are to be the model of the new order, Lewis. A prefect who understands that the mind is the most effective tool for maintaining the discipline of the house.
C. S. Lewis
He does not just want a student. He wants a weapon.
Smewgy leans closer, his spectacles catching the lamp light and obscuring his eyes, leaving only the wide, unblinking mouth visible as he waits for the weight of his ambition to settle.
The boy is liable to receive punishment for his lack of positive demeanour.
“Does Smewgy want me to beat Parsley so that I can learn how to give a caning?”
YES (Likely, rolled 34)
Smewgy
You have a gentle hand with the quill, Lewis, but a master must know how to apply force when the mind alone fails to correct a wayward student.
C. S. Lewis
He is not asking me to study. He is training me to be the one who holds the cane.
Smewgy slides a heavy, polished cane across the ledger, its wood gleaming under the library lamps as he gestures toward Parsley, who sits frozen with his head bowed.
“I instruct Parsley to bend over the desk and lower his shorts.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Etiquette, rolled +0)
Lewis hears the order settle into the room like a verdict. Parsley’s shoulders twitch, then he draws a careful breath and shifts his chair back from the desk.
C. S. Lewis
He understands. Smewgy wants a boy who can hand out discipline as neatly as Latin.
Parsley rises at once, cheeks paling above the bruise at his jaw. He turns to the desk, not to argue, but to obey.
The lamplight catches the ledger’s ruled lines and the cane lying beside it, making both look equally official.
Smewgy
Good. You see the use of firmness at once.
Friedrich’s eyes move from Smewgy to Lewis, then back to Parsley, his expression hardening into wary approval.
Parsley bends over the desk and lowers his shorts without protest, one hand braced on the wood as he waits for whatever comes next.
Quest Complete
Understand what Smewgy intends to make of Lewis
The boy is liable to receive punishment for his lack of positive demeanour.