She’s old. The black of her tied back hair is interrupted by white strips. Her face has some benefit of a necromancer’s preservation, but it’s weighed down by years of torment—same as about every other necromancer I’ve half seen. Even the holy rings on her fingers have gone dull with age. I’d place her as about a stressed out forty-year-old with decent fitness, which probably means she’s fifty to one hundred and twenty.
“We’re closed for today. Leave and come back tomorrow,” she demands in a voice both authoritative and absent minded.
“A-are the interviews over?”
She straightens and glares at me. “You came for an interview?”
“Yes! Please. I, uh, thought I could…”
“Come in.” She walks back through the door without waiting for my response.
I hop out of the chair and follow. The hallway is tight, with only two doors on this level and a steep stairwell up. One is already cracked open, and she leads me inside.
It’s a cramped office, but orderly. There’s very little in the way of a mess, except for the split cord on the landline.
She sits behind her desk, too large for the room it occupies. “Sit down.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I comply, chest held tight.
“Experience with necromancy?”
“None... Sorry.”
“What?” Sheinputs something into her typewriter before starting a new line. “Never mind. Next question: strength of your Ringborn ancestry?”
“I don’t have one.”
“…And you wanted to interview to be my apprentice?”
“Yes?”
The typewriter rings as she enters the next line. And then the next. And then the next next.
“I don’t know why I’m even…” She sighs and continues, “origin of your appreciation for necromancy?”
“I just saw the sign. I never actually cared about it before.”
Maybe I could’ve said something more tactful than that.
She already looks like she hit maximum disappointment. “Religion?”
“Ring?”
“I know.” Maybe… notquitemaximum. “Which church are you?”
“My family doesn’t really go to any church.”
“In…active. Okay.”
New line.
“Do you ever smoke?”
“Tobacco or opium?”
Her eyes lift slightly off the keys. “Either.”
“No.” And I now feel stupid for needing clarification.
