News from Melbourne

Wednesday. Word from Melbourne: the new university on Collins Street opened on Monday, and its professor disappeared before the end of his first lecture. In my experience a professor who vanishes on day one has either been enchanted or has seen the timetable.

His owl, Corvus, has been left in charge. I have sent a note offering what help I can: tea at regular intervals, a firm voice for the first-years, and patience with the ones who want to press everything at once.

Parents keep asking whether their children should come to us first or go to Melbourne first. It does not matter in the slightest. My apprentices are mending a spell; his first-years are finding a professor. Different rooms, different troubles, one world. Most families simply choose the academy in their own city, and that is exactly right.

Hollis says a missing professor sounds like a holiday. Hollis is not allowed to say that in front of the apprentices.