Winds sent the brown leaves whirling over the withered grass as Dr. Learned Crooner strode with lighthearted steps over the gray flagstones of the Prudence University courtyard. She nimbly dodged the occasional ice patches and noted the triangles of windswept snow that had piled up in the nooks and corners of the University’s ornate walls and gargoyle-encrusted buildings of antique stonework. 

About her, students shivered and wrapped themselves deeper into their coats as they crossed the quad. During the spring and summer they would be lounging under the trees between classes, studying and chattering and comparing notes, but under this gray sky the leafless elms and cold bronze statues offered little incentive to tarry. She paused to orient herself, spotting the lecture hall, the dormitories, and there, the old faculty office building...

“Why hello!” cried a sudden voice; a large fellow was striding towards her. It was Dr. Frettle, chair of the Mathematics department. “Dr. Learned, you’re back already? A welcome surprise!”

Dr. Learned started slightly, but turned with a broad smile. “Ah, Dr. Frettle, how pleasant to see you! Yes, my little adventure is at an end, back to the grind!”

He chuckled. “That’s quite an unseasonal spring in your step, the rest must have been quite restorative. What a shock, to leave palm trees and sunny sands to come back to austere old Prudence! But you seem quite cheerful, as if you're just setting out on vacation rather than coming back to dull routine....” He raised a sly eyebrow. “You didn’t happen to bring one of those handsome muscular coconut harvesters home with you, did you?”

Dr. Learned stared, then brayed with laughter. “Oh, I wish!” she giggled. “No, I’d say that distance simply lent me some perspective. I’ve got two more promising angles to tackle on my research paper, and I find that I actually am rather eager to engage my students again. Fresh outlooks and new blood, brought together by the love of learning!”

It was Dr. Fettle’s turn to laugh heartily. “Ever optimistic, dear Learned! Please don’t ever change.” He glanced at the tower clock. “Well, I won’t keep you for now, but let’s do catch up some more later!” He headed off and left her to trot the remaining way across the quad as the other lecturers and students strode around her, wrapped in their dark coats and marching to the tolling of the next class bell.

She at last reached her office and shut the door, noting the nameplate and sign with her available hours posted for the student’s convenience. She sank into the desk chair with a sigh and a creak of rusty springs from the antique mechanism, then looked around curiously at all the little objects and oddments, the framed awards and photos on the walls, the squash racquet in the corner, the ornate antique inkwell, the large dusty ledger for marking grades, the desktop toy with four metal balls suspended by strings. All the tiny things that surrounded and corralled and defined a little life. Dr. Learned Crooner’s life.

A life that should be easy to resume. 

She reached for a pen on the desk but pricked her hoof on an errant tack by mistake. She fumbled her disguise slightly, there was a tiny flash of green and a gleam of black chitin, but nothing that anyone would have noticed had they been present. 

A thousand miles away, the real Dr. Crooner was asleep and cocooned and perhaps dreaming of her return to work, but here, with a staff of caring colleagues and adoring students to hang on her honeyed words, the vacation of Drone 38590 was about to begin in earnest.