A Tutor

AJD just got back from visiting his old college roommates DS and L-AS, who recently welcomed their first child, JKS.  DS was the other half of the creative team behind the puzzle featuring some of my menagerie in the 2011 MIT Mystery Hunt, and so of course when the Wild Republic learned that he had a new baby daughter, they concluded that they ought to send her a tutor.  The tutor they chose is an owl named Archimedes; he naturally has the highest of credentials and is eminently qualified to tutor young humans.  Owls make the best tutors anyway, you know.

By fortunate coincidence, Archimedes and AJD ended up travelling together.  See, Archimedes is actually an old pupil of Twilby's; his mother is from the Wild Parliamentary Monarchy, so he did a lot of his schooling over there.  When he received his new assignment, he decided to stop by for a visit with his old teacher, and Twilby was only too happy for a chance to catch up with one of his favourite former pupils.

Archimedes hung out with the local chapter for a couple of weeks, and then he and AJD left on their epic road trip.   AJD had a conference to attend in London (Canada, not England) first, and although Archimedes is not a dialectologist, he's a generally intellectually curious chap and was more than happy to check things out.  Then it was off to the S household, where Archimedes met his new pupil for the first time.

She looks pretty intrigued, doesn't she?  I bet she's realised that her new tutor is big enough that he could probably fly her around her room if due care were taken.  Sort of stork-fashion, you know.  

I'd like to know what she's thinking in the second picture. She looks like she's mulling something over.  Maybe Archimedes has asked her a question?