Seth pretended not to see Mau leave. He'd considered grabbing her and making her stay, but decided against it. She had played her role perfectly the night before. He knew she could manage herself fine despite how young she was. And if he did make her stay there was a high chance she'd send every single thing on the table into his lap. He thought about whether or not he could prevent that for a moment. No, he was right. The best thing to do was to let her go.

He reminded himself he needed to learn more about what kind of cat she was.

Blaise had talked quite a bit about what they worked on and tested in the Circle Tower. Saben hadn't told him nearly as much, but many of the processes seemed the same.

Either way, Seth was convinced the two were related. But it hadn't happened the same for the two of them. Saben hadn't been kidnapped or anything.

And then there was the matter of Blaise's pendant. Selendrith had a list of materials and transactions that she remembered differently than what was in her records. There were three names associated with those transactions. One was a local lord, the other two were merchants. One of them was Benjamin.

Seth didn't want to think that Benjamin would do anything to Saben or Blaise. Confronting him directly was potentially very dangerous. Right now Benjamin had a great deal of control over both Seth's and Saben's futures. Saben in particular.

Not only that, but accusing the guy who took you in of ruining lives would be unforgivable if he was innocent. Benjamin deserved more consideration than that.

Seth rubbed the bracelet Benjamin had given him. If he had the opportunity to talk to Selendrith's grandfather, Seth would ask about the bracelet and see if there was anything suspicious about it.

He'd look into the other two names too. Seth did wonder if it was the Circle Tower that changed Selendrith's records. They'd been given access. But Seth couldn't figure any reason why they would.

Seth grabbed a napkin and started wiping up Mau's mess.

"I'm being allowed to stay," Blaise was saying. "My mum wanted me back right away, but my dad said it was fine if I stayed. Since that's what I wanted too, they let me. But, I still need to pass the final exam. I need to be able to cast the six spells, or I'm done."

Owen shifted uncomfortably. He was falling behind in casting too due to his trouble reading. They'd been working on it, but learning to read didn't happen in a couple of weeks.

"We can form a study group!" Duvessa announced. "We need a club house, a schedule, and a secret password."

"No. I ain't joining no gang and I ain't joining no club," Booth said.

Duvessa waved her hand and popped a grape in her mouth. "It's fine. I volunteer my room for meetings."

"Your room is fancy," Booth said, more interested now.

"Won't work," Blaise said. "If Duvessa isn't there, no one can go in."

"No, they can't, but this is actually a perk. Since it'll be mandatory for me to attend all meetings, I also volunteer as leader," Duvessa said.

"No," Seth, Booth, and Owen all said together.

"Yeah, that's kinda weird," Owen continued. "We're just friends, right? We don't need someone to be 'leader'."

"It's normal for someone to be in charge though," Duvessa argued.

"Not amongst friends, Duvessa," Seth said. "We all make our own decisions."

"Ugh. I wanted people to call me 'Mistress of Shadows'."

Seth paused while reaching for a grape to look at Duvessa, searching for a sign that she was kidding or serious. He really couldn't tell.

Booth snickered. "Why not go for the whole 'Queen of Darkness' thing then?"

"Because queens are old and I'm not. Duh."

"About the 'clubhouse'," Seth said, "is there any class or tower we all have together?"

Blaise shook her head. "Unless all of you grabbed keys when I flooded the Fire Tower, I doubt that we do."

"That's okay, Duvessa," Seth said. "We should probably use one of the library study rooms anyway."

"Ugh, that's lame. This isn't math class," Duvessa argued. "In that case, how about outside in one of the quiet courtyards past the coliseum?"

"That'll be fine for as long as the weather is good. Not that I mind getting wet," Blaise said. "But that isn't going to matter. I can't pass if I can't cast. I have no mana. Practice won't change that. Although, it was recommended that I talk to Professor Laur after class tomorrow."

"Professor Laur–"

"You still have your pendant!" Duvessa interrupted and turned to Selendrith. "You mentioned casting out of a mana vault, and learning mana manipulation. Are you able to teach this, or do you know who can?"

Selendrith fiddled with one of her pearl earrings as her gaze flicked from Duvessa to Blaise and back. "I do know how to do that. It's part of learning how to be a carver. I could be persuaded to teach one person."

"Done then!" Duvess cried happily. "You can teach Blaise and she can stay at school."

"I've not been persuaded yet."

"Saw that coming," Booth muttered.

"What are you looking for?" Seth asked Selendrith.

"An equivalent exchange. Knowledge for knowledge," Selendrith said.

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"What kind of knowledge?" Blaise asked. "I'd happily share anything I know."

"I'm a student of the Ten Thousand. I would like ten spells that I don't already have," Selendrith said.

Seth knew that group. It was widely accepted that there were only ten thousand spells in structured magic. They had been gifted to people in ancient times and due to time and calamity many of the spells had been lost. The Ten Thousand was a group dedicated to collecting all ten thousand spells. The members tended to be secretive about what spells they'd actually acquired. To the best of Seth's knowledge only a couple thousand of the spells were still known, but there could be secret libraries somewhere with many more.

If Selendrith had access to the library of a former student here, she likely already had all the spells the school could offer.

"Done!" Duvessa said. "Finding a few spells should be no trouble."

"I'm not committing to nothing," Booth said.

"No, I'm the one benefitting," Blaise said. "I'll provide the spells. Ten is a lot though, unless you think there are spells here in school that you don't have?"

Selendrith shook her head. "I don't know. I've not had the opportunity to search the library here. Most of the missing spells aren't in spell books, but are in with other things. Finding them can be hard."

"How about this then. For as long as I'm in school, I will actively look for spells and see if you have them. I won't stop at ten. However, if I don't pass and don't stay at school, I only need to find three for you."

Selendrith considered this and then nodded. "That is acceptable. And if anyone else wishes to sit in on lessons, they also need to commit to a minimum of three spells."

Seth was excited to see this. Mana manipulation without the use of talents? Taking power only from a mana vault? That was definitely something he was interested in and wanted to learn.

"You can teach all of us how to manipulate mana?" Duvessa asked Selendrith. "How is that different from what we can already do?"

"Most of these techniques will train you to use less mana in all of your spells. When you only have what's in a vault, you have to have a light touch," Selendrith said.

"How do you cast spells without your own mana?" Seth asked.

"You can only use mana that is tied to you somehow. Either it's your own mana, or it's mana from a vault attuned to you. There are other ways, like forming a contract or something, but I don't really know those," Selendrith said.

"Contract? Like a familiar contract?" Seth asked.

"I think so? I've never studied them. I've focused on vaults." Selendrith shrugged. "If you fill a vault with your mana, it's already attuned to you," Selendrith explained. "If you don't have mana, you need the vault attuned to you specifically, so that all the mana in it will be attuned."

"Is my pendant attuned to me?" Blaise asked.

"As long as it hasn't been drained, all the mana in it is still yours. If it was drained, we'd need to have it attuned. My grandfather would need to do that."

"I'll need your grandfather to repair it anyway. It's cracked." Blaise showed Selendrith the broken pendant. "I don't know if it can even hold mana at the moment."

Selendrith took the pendant and examined it. "It was overfilled. Forcefully too. It looks like it was broken on purpose."

"I didn't do that," Blaise said.

"The Stonehold bastards did," Booth said.

"I was thinking," Owen said. "If you're empty, like a well, sometimes when a well pump goes dry, you gotta prime it with water. Do you think we could prime you up with some mana? Maybe we could give you some? And yours would start working again?"

"Isaac said that wouldn't work," Seth said. "We talked about that yesterday."

Owen shrugged and looked away. "Thought it was an idea worth mentioning."

"No, it's a good idea," Blaise said. She looked at Selendrith. "You mentioned charging a vault with a formation. Could I charge me with a formation? Has anyone ever tried that?"

Selendrith popped a grape in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "The formations are harmless to people. It'd take a long time though unless we find mana stones or something infused."

"How long is a long time?" Blaise asked.

"It can take a week to charge up one of my vaults. And the school grounds are pretty mana rich. I have no idea how long it'd take."

"How about if we were somewhere more mana rich than the school?" Seth asked.

"Like where?" Duvessa asked. "I thought the school was the best place."

Owen's eyes widened. "It's not better than an actual well."

"The mana wells are guarded," Duvessa said, scowling. "You can't be scolding me for bold ideas when you get them too."

"The East Well isn't guarded," Seth said.

"The East Well is busted," Booth said. "There's nothing there."

"The tower is busted, yeah, but the well itself should still be there and working at least a little. It won't be quite as strong, but it didn't just go away when the tower collapsed," Seth argued. "And mana wells are upside down from water wells. The mana comes from Above."

The table was quiet for a bit while everyone thought about that. Booth snagged a grape and puckered at how sour it was.

"Wyvern season is soon," Owen said, shaking his head. "The weather's changing. It's much too dangerous."

"There's never been a wyvern before the equinox. It's still too warm for them to be out," Seth said.

"Will someone be explaining 'wyvern season' to the non-residents?" Blaise asked.

"Every year during the winter a few wyverns show up and camp out by the mana wells," Seth explained. "Most attack the city within a couple of days of showing up and are killed quickly. Some will just stick by the wells to absorb magic and get stronger."

Blaise blinked. "They're trying to evolve into dragons."

Seth nodded and continued, "There's a nesting ground somewhere in the mountains. And before you ask, they did go on an expedition to eliminate the nesting grounds. The results of that are the busted East Well, and the ruins along the road that way."

"I don't think I want to run into any wyverns," Blaise said.

"Let's do this. It'll have to be this weekend before there's any chance of wyverns. We go up Saturday, spend the night with Blaise in a formation, and come back Sunday," Duvessa said.

"What are the things that could go wrong with this?" Seth asked.

"The East Well has no guards. It's all ruins, so it doesn't have any mana stones or anything," Owen said. "So iffing a wyvern does show, it won't go there anyway."

"Right! Nobody to see us," Duvessa said. "That means there's no one to get in trouble with!"

"If it doesn't produce anything, then how is that useful to us?" Blaise asked.

"Because the well is still there. We just find a place where the mana concentration is as high as we can find it, and set up the formation there. As long as the concentration is at least double or triple what's around the school, it'll be worthwhile," Seth said.

"I'm game," Selendrith said. "I could fill a bunch of vaults myself. And this sounds like just a weekend camping trip."

"For a chance to get my power back at least a little… Okay. I'll do it," Blaise said. The others nodded too. "Everyone plan for an overnight on the mountain then. We'll head up first thing in the morning on Saturday."

Seth had wanted to try this with Saben. He was glad everyone agreed it was a good idea. And if it worked, Saben would have his power back soon too.

"And we can start on the mana manipulation now!" Duvessa said. Seth was excited to see that.

"We should be working on your fighting," Booth said to Seth.

"Yeah, we got a good start the other day," Owen said.

"We start dodge training with Professor Mick tomorrow," Seth tried to argue.

"Then we'll get you doing good in class this time," Booth said.

Seth tried not to visibly deflate, but Booth was right. Seth badly needed to learn how to not be a sandbag. He just wished he didn't hate it so much. Saben was an excellent fighter, and since Seth was taking Saben's place here, he should learn to fight too.