#4 - A favourite feature

Orla jumped back in surprise as the gargoyle spoke, slapping a hand over her mouth to stop a swear word echoing off the stone walls.

Its voice was surprisingly posh and smooth, and Orla felt compelled to try and convince it that she hadn't been trying to bribe it at all - but a quick glance told her that the marble was gone. She smiled, feeling more than a little smug as the gargoyle settled again into silence.

The door to the staff room opened after a short wait, catching Orla off-guard as she was trying to peer up the gargoyle's large nostrils.

"Oh, hullo Professor!" She said as Professor Fairburn greeted her. Orla felt bad that she had clearly interupted the Professor on a break, but this was important and she had finally caught the right person to answer her question.

"I'm Orla Fallwater, I don't have a class with you yet but...Oh! Did you get the fire chicken thing under control?"

As determined as Orla was, she was still a little nervous; she worried the Professor would brush her off or, worse, tell her she shouldn't go near the Lake again. 

"Sorry," she mumbled, shaking her head and trying to get back on track. "I...um...Well, you see, last year I gave a clementine to something in the Lake. I was getting frog spawn and I saw something and well, I only had a clementine on me...a really old one...but it took it! I was wondering if you knew if mermaids liked clemintines? Or if it was even a mermaid...Or if I should bring it something nicer next time?"

Orla was bouncing on the balls of her feet now, excitedly babbling as she remembered the thrill she felt seeing her clementine disappear beneath the surface of the water.

Orla pressed her lips together and nodded slowly - she was in desperate need of more information now that Professor Fairburn had looked haunted by her fire chicken experience, but it would be silly to ask for more details. Or to pet them, maybe, sometime.

She leaned in as the Professor pulled out a well-worn notebook and wondered at the scribblings and sketches on the pages. The pocket notebook was genius - Orla felt the weight of her own journal in her robe pocket, and made a mental note to ask her family for a smaller version as soon as possible.

"Field notes..." she murmurred as the Professor made even more notes. Orla hesitated, trying to remember all the things she should make notes on, then gave in with a huff.

Orla pulled her thick journal out of her pocket along with a quill and some ink, then crouched down, opening the journal to an empty page. The hardcover smacked loudly on the flagstones and echoed down the corridor.

She hoped the Professor didn't judge her messy handwriting, plant pressings and very bad sketches as she made quick notes - 'time, weather, general conditions, exact location!'

"Well, it was ages ago, but..." Orla began, trying to cast her mind back to that day. She scooped up her journal and stood up straight, dragging the feather tip of her quill under her chin as she thought. 

"I slipped and sent stones into the Lake, which I think let whatever the creature was know that I was there. It was dark and very still, and took the clementine, even though -"

Here, Orla hesitated. She felt a little ashamed at giving an unknown creature food that could harm it, but it was also fruit that was well past its prime. Orla cast her eyes down and mumbled the rest.

"...even though it was a mouldy clementine..."