Good Advice [Chapter 97 Concurrent]

This is a canonical deleted scene that is set between events of Chapter 97 – “Properties of Explosive Materials.”

Sebastien

Month 1, Day 29, Friday 1:30 p.m.

Though Sebastien hadn’t been keeping tabs on Tanya or waiting for her, she caught a glimpse from afar as the other woman hurried toward the Menagerie gate.

Tanya’s shoulders were hunched, and she looked around constantly, as if her head were on a paranoid swivel. She walked quickly, but for some reason seemed more as if she was running from something than hurrying toward something.

Sebastien stared after Tanya as she disappeared from sight. A small spark of curiosity flared to life within her. She couldn’t sneak after Tanya—she shuddered at the thought of what that had led to last time—but there was no reason she couldn’t follow more openly. If questioned, she could easily say she had seen Tanya by coincidence and followed because she was worried for the other woman. Especially since they had both undergone a similar ordeal, and lost the same friend.

With a deep sigh, Sebastien rocked to her feet, letting the momentum pull her forward.

Tanya’s rendezvous was almost over by the time Sebastien found her. She was meeting somewhere different than the little bridge, and also meeting someone different. Tanya and the new faculty member, who Sebastien vaguely recognized as being a professor, were already walking in different directions.

Tanya was so on edge she noticed Sebastien right away.

Sebastien waved at her halfheartedly, waiting for the other girl to reach her on the way back to the University.

Tanya stopped in front of her, cold-nipped fingers flexing in the air. “Siverling.” She nodded. “What do you want?”

Sebastien turned, motioning for Tanya to walk with her. “You seem...stressed.”

Tanya didn’t reply.

“I should know. I’ve been stressed myself. And now I’m just tired,” Sebastien admitted. Tanya had caused a lot of problems for her, but not out of any particular malice. Sebastien recognized some part of herself in the wild desperation that flashed behind Tanya’s eyes. Sebastien was too tired to play games, and Tanya was wound too tight. Strings wound too tight sometimes snapped. Like Newton. “Professor Ilma gave me some advice about handling your problems when they seem too many, or too overwhelming. I think it could be useful to you.”

Tanya laughed bitterly. “I’m not sure that any advice can solve my problems, Siverling.”

“Maybe. But all problems have solutions. If you can’t find them, maybe you’re just looking in the wrong place. And sometimes you need to hear trite advice that seems obvious, because it will spur you to think of your situation from a different vantage point.” Sebastien shrugged. “Ilma told me that if a problem seems too big, you should break it down into smaller bites. Each individual bite might have a possible solution, and if you can find enough of those, you might be able to weave it together into a solution to the larger problem. Breaking something overwhelming down into smaller sections can help to ensure you actually understand the entirety of the larger problem.”

Tanya eyed Sebastien with surprise. “That’s not bad advice, I suppose. Newton once told me about something he read.” She paused to swallow hard. “Supposedly, people on committees or company boards will instinctively start offering solutions to presented problems before they actually understands the entirety of the situation. When they instead stop to list all aspects of the problem beforehand, all the different ways it presents itself and the follow-on effects it has, not being allowed to put forth any suggested solutions until that’s done, they come up with solutions that are much more robust. Or something.”

“That’s interesting,” Sebastien agreed. “Ilma also told me that you have to make sure you’re replenishing yourself, because food, rest, and things like that are one of the fundamental resources that you actually do need to solve your problem.”

Tanya snorted. “What University student has time to rest?”

Sebastien herself was struggling with that. She shrugged. “Find ways to rest and recover more efficiently?”

Tanya bowed her head. “Now that I’m no longer a student liaison and only taking four classes, perhaps I will have more time for other endeavors.” She sounded bitter about it.

“And maybe not just food and rest,” Sebastien added as the idea came to her. “Maybe you need to replenish your motivation, too, by reminding yourself why fixing your situation is important to you. Doing that is probably different for everyone. Maybe you need to spend time with your friends and family, or go watch a play, or read through your childhood diary.”

“My motivation is still quite clear,” Tanya said wryly. “I’m unable to forget it.”

Considering the meeting with whoever that professor had been, perhaps that was the truth. Sebastien didn’t know how Tanya had gotten into all this in the first place, after all. “The final thing Ilma told me is that sometimes, if you can’t solve it, you just need to remove the problem altogether. So that you don’t need to solve it.”

Tanya blinked at her, then burst out laughing. “Was Professor Ilma intimating that you should hire a hitman?” She deepened her voice comically, probably quoting something that Sebastien didn’t recognize. “A permanent solution to a temporary problem.”

Sebastien’s mouth opened, then closed. She took her hands out of her pockets to wave them in a negating motion. “No! I think she meant that sometimes we should change our priorities, or realize that giving up on things isn’t the end of the world. If you accept that the thing you were trying to achieve, the way you were trying to achieve it, is impossible, it can free you up to still achieve the goal you actually care about.”

“Hmm.”

They walked in silence back to the University.

“You know, Siverling, you’re not half bad. I can see why Newton liked you.” Tanya spun on her heel and walked away without giving Sebastien a chance to respond.

Sebastien checked her pocket watch, then turned toward the Practical Casting classroom. Giving advice to Tanya had sparked those same problem-solving pathways in her own mind. Perhaps she should sit down with a pen and some paper and try to work through her own situation, piece by piece. She would need about a gallon of coffee first.

Author Note: This is the last of the canonical deleted content from Book 3. If you've missed any of the 30k words worth of bonus story content that I've posted so far, you can browse it all easily here: https://www.azaleaellis.com/pgts-bonus-stories-and-deleted-scenes/

Also a reminder that there's some cool fanfiction here: https://www.azaleaellis.com/fan-stories/

This story and other bonus content may also be downloaded in ebook form through BookFunnel: https://books.bookfunnel.com/practicalsorcerybonuses

And I'm getting back into posting the Character Portraits, which kind of slipped off my to-do list while I've been extra fatigued the last few months.