Chapter Text
Roslind was in charge, everyone knew that. Andreas was alive, Headmaster Silva was arrested for attempting to murder him. Headmistress Dowling was missing, no one knew anything about what happened to her. The official line was that she was on sabbatical, she had taken a trip to the mountains. But that didn't sound like Ms Dowling, she would never just leave them, not with Rosalind, she knew what Roslind was capable of.
Rosalind had to tried to purge everything that represented Farah from the school, just as Farah had done after she took over from Rosalind. Fairies did not learn magic for the purpose of control, Rosalind wanted results, no matter the cost. Specialist trainings became even more intense, not that there was a difference between fairy and specialist anymore, one headmistress over the two sides of the school and everyone was her soldier. No kindness, no smiles. Yet, no matter how hard Rosalind tried, Dowling's presence remained, she was everywhere.
Her classroom stood empty, most did, as classes mostly were on the training fields and down at the stone circle, but students often found themselves in her classroom. Something there projected calm, a feeling much needed after long days of Rosalind's training.
Her office door remained open, Rosalind didn't use Dowling's office, even taking everything that belonged to her out, Farah's presence remained. Some of the older students could be found there at specific times of the day, the schedule unknown to Rosalind and she couldn't figure out the pattern. In their former, no actual, headmistress's office they patched up any injuries that their peers had obtained from trainings.
In larger dormitories, fairies gathered to practice spell work. They practiced the spells Rosalind was teaching them, the way Ms Dowling would have taught them, fear and anger get results but could not be controlled. There would be no broken or erratic magic at Alfea.
But Farah Dowling was most present in the whispers throughout the school. It was general feeling that Ms Dowling would never just leave. Some say Rosalind has her trapped under the school just like she was.
Others say Rosalind messed with her head like they all believed she had done to those soldiers who were now a constant in the school, they believed that Rosalind was forcing Ms Dowling to stay away. The soldiers who inspired this particular rumour done absolutely everything Rosalind said, they were desperate for her approval, her attention.
One rumour that was not given weight was that Dowling could be dead. That simply wasn't to be considered. She was the embodiment of their hope, if she was dead then hope was lost.
Three particular students refused to allow anyone to suggest that their Auntie Farah was dead. To Sky, Sam and Terra, Farah was the only mother figure they ever knew, she couldn't be dead, but they also knew she wouldn't just leave. There had to be something else, there just had to be. They couldn't make sense of a lot of things, the second most pressing issue being Andreas, Auntie Farah being the first. Sky's father had always been a story they were told, a good man, a fierce warrior and a true friend. But only one of those things had turned out to be true when they finally met him.
To Ben Harvey, he worried about his children and Sky. They weren't quiet about their concerns, it was common knowledge that they had no love or trust for Rosalind and Andreas and they had no idea just how dangerous the latter were. He also worried about his dearest friends, Saul and Farah. Saul's future was uncertain and Farah was entirely unknown.
For Saul, his thoughts were only to Sky, the boy he raised as his own, even as his own future seemed uncertain in his jail cell. Last he had spoke with Sky, he told him he had murdered the boy's father. He had watched as Sky spent the entire night on the lawn, never approaching, just keeping a close eye. He told Sky to stand down as the Solarian guards arrived to arrest him.
And Rosalind presided over them all. She often wondered from her office in newly reopened east wing, how to get rid of their hope, rid of Farah's memory without admitting she killed her, because that would cause up rising.