I told Vyr I would think about it. And I did. Together, my mother’s fate and the Onyx’s offer haunted me for the whole of the day. They were with me as the ashai of Raystone guided us on a more formal—if far from comprehensive—tour of the academy. And they were with me still when the time came for student service assignments, my head heavy as I gathered with the other first-years of my Gem type in the central chamber of the Opal wing. If you could even call it a wing. It was a more like a huge, angular shaft—the wooden scaffolding skeleton of it still visible in places, beyond the clutter of art and carving supplies, hangings and tapestries.

So far, everyone who’d been called upon was given fairly standard-sounding sigil-maintenance shifts and assigned a section of the academy in which to perform them.

And then my name was called. I stepped forward, dipping my head in respect as I took my place before Etressa of Clan Trasseck, Terrsagard’s Foremost Opal. She was taller than me, and I could feel the weight of her regard as I submitted myself, though I did not look up to meet it. A skyborn with a patch over her left eye and deep scars across her face, she was intimidating even at a distance.

She huffed.

“You are Zia of Clan Ashri?”

My hands began to tremble.

Can she tell the truth about me, somehow?

“Y-yes,” I said, trying for confidence and failing spectacularly.

“Hm,” she huffed, her tail tapping at the platform. I peered through the cracks between boards to the clutter of the level below us, waiting.

“I thought you’d be taller,” she said at last.

I almost laughed, glancing up a bit. She grunted, looking down at a small book that she held, bound in scale-leather and open to its center.

“You’re on special assignment,” she said. “Refinement.”

“Er,” I looked sideways a bit at the other first-years, but their expressions were all as bemused as mine likely was. “What does—”

“It means that you’ll be reviewing certain categories of the academy’s sigilwork from top-to-bottom and, in the process, devising, proposing, and directing improvements upon approval.”

My mouth moved, but no words came out.

“Yes,” drawled Etressa, wings flaring briefly as she clasped her hands, still holding the book, behind her back. “It is a great responsibility and expectation of someone so new, so…troubled. But the Elders are keen to see our resident prodigy put to good use. Let us hope they don’t come to regret the choice.”

I dipped my head in acknowledgement and respect. But inside, I was screaming. As I stood there, mouth glued shut in panic, the older Opal gave me a long, appraising look—the skepticism clear in her eyes.

The instant she finished giving out assignments, Foremost Etressa dismissed us. The others made as one for the large student service schedule-board over near the exit to check their hours, chattering amongst themselves and throwing inquisitive glances at me before they made their way out. But I waited. The Foremost, noticing this, frowned and crossed her arms.

“Assignments aren’t up for debate,” she barked over at me as the last of the others streamed past her.

“I’m sorry, Foremost,” I said, stepping forward a bit. “But I have an…an extenuating circumstance.”

Foremost Etressa narrowed her eye.

“Is that so?”

I swallowed.

“Yes. I, um…I’ve been suffering from memory loss.”

The other Opal’s nostrils flared.

“Memory loss.”

My heartrate tripped forward.

“Y-yes, and so I don’t think I’ll be able to—”

“If that’s true, then deal with it. See a healer.”

“But wha—”

“But nothing. Reassignments happen one of three ways: you earn something new and better through service in your first, the school’s needs of you change, or else you fail at your first and take whatever bottom-of-the-pit assignment the Elders see fit to give you afterward. Only two of those options are in your power to choose. So what’ll it be?”

My ears turned down, my tail dropped.

“I’ll, um…I’ll figure it out.”

The Foremost’s right ear flicked.

“We shall see,” she said. Then, turning her winged back on me, she strode from the chamber.

I stood for a moment, stunned in the coldness of her wake.

It took me a moment to realize why her demeanor stung so harshly. She was grizzled, had a list of Abilities longer than a CVS receipt, and I at least assumed she was wise. If this were a story, a proper one, she’d be my first mentor. But she was clearly of the tough, hard-to-win-over variety, when I could have really used warm-and-jovial. Should have known better than to hope for that. I shook my head…as if that’d somehow set the stupid free.

Wandering over to the schedule board, I stared up at the smooth expanse of blue-ish stone—one of the few clutter-free surfaces around—and scanned its luminous glyphs until I found my name. My teeth ground together. There were eight days in a week in this world, apparently, and I had service duties for four of them. Three hours per shift. Not terrible, but, considering I had no idea what I was doing…still absolutely terrifying.

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I mean, sure. It kinda seemed like the sigils I made back on Earth worked out for me, ultimately. But that doesn’t mean the same principles apply here.

All I could do was hope.

Or…or I could take Vyr up on her offer.

But is it worth the risk?

For a moment I imagined what it would be like, to have everything—Other Zia’s knowledge and my own. To excel in my service, in my classes, to redeem both her and myself. To do the sorts of things I’d never had the guts or strength to do before, in my old life.

To truly be a prodigy.

But what if Vyr’s procedure went wrong, somehow? Or what if it went right in exactly the wrong way, and other Zia’s consciousness was dragged back into being alongside my own? Would she hate me for it? Or perhaps overwrite me completely?

There was no way know. And that was terrifying, too.

The others had said to meet them at the kitchens to grab dinner once student services duties had been assigned. So—after far too long a time attempting to imprint my schedule onto the tangled spaghetti-mess that was my brain—I made my way there. And of course I continued right on agonizing as I went…which is probably why I got lost.

I looked up as I came to the end of a corridor that should have opened up to a broader hall and the arched entryways of the kitchens. But instead there was only the opening to a stairwell. Just as I was considering which way to go, there was movement from below, and I detected a trace of a familiar scent. My tail swished through the air and my ears perked as I placed it.

It was a good thing my Moon was waning, because otherwise, I’d probably have launched myself down the stairs and straight into his arms.

“Ashri-an,” said Thors, tail mirroring mine as he climbed into view.

“You can just call me Zia,” I said, even managing a smile as he trotted over. It was hard not to, with his scent filling my senses.“Are you on duty right now? I’m kind of, um…”

“Lost again?” He smirked a bit, and I flicked his leg with my tail.

“Shut up, jerk. But also yes.”

“I should not leave my section, but I can give you directions. Where are you trying to go?”

“The kitchens.”

“Oh, you are very lost,” he chuckled, then rattled off instructions that I made him repeat twice.

“Thank you,” I breathed when I was pretty sure I had them memorized. I brushed him with my tail again, a compulsion I couldn’t seem to suppress. But this time it was a softer gesture. It brought up another low rumble of a laugh from Thors, and heat flushed my cheeks as I remembered my urge to bite him…and his response to it.

Hastily I turned to go, keen to hide my embarrassment. But behind me, Thors cleared his throat. I slowed. Turned back to him.

“On Jhirasday, when you should have Favor to share—where would you like to meet? And when?”

“Oh,” my stomach twisted. How much of his enthusiasm for me is just as a source of Favor?

But the sooner my debt was paid, the sooner I could clarify my understanding of his motivations. And I didn’t have service on the day he mentioned, so I assumed I’d have free time that evening.

“Outside of your room? Just after classes are out?”

His tail swooshed faster, and then stopped suddenly as he seemed to realize it.

“Very good. Eat and rest well, Ashri-a—Zia.”

“Have a good rest of your shift, Thors,” I said, before turning from him again to hurry off.

I wished I could be sure that my instincts were correct. That he was excited just to have set a time we’d be seeing each other…and not only for the Favor he’d get out of it. But logic told me that was likely just wishful thinking. Now that I’d been assigned to a coven, he probably didn’t, probably wouldn’t ever, see me in that way. I was practically a married woman, as far as the rules of this place were concerned—and he was the territory’s most unavailable bachelor. I sighed as I repeated his directions out loud to myself, taking a left turn and climbing a set of stairs up two levels.

Jenner detected my scent first, ears perking forward as he picked me out from the crowd. My other coven-mates followed his gaze, looking up from where they gathered to one side of the kitchen’s middle entrance. But as I drew closer, the Jasper’s pupils narrowed and his nostrils flared, and the others looked over at him—a sudden tension souring the air.

“Good evening, Zia,” he greeted me, his tone measured. A little too measured. “You’ve been with Thors of Khural?”

My already twisty stomach coiled up tighter.

“I got lost on my way here and ran into him, so I stopped for directions.”

“And to scent-mark him?”

“I—”

My words faltered before they could leave my lips. I’d been about to argue…until I remembered all the tail-brushing. Was that what I was doing?

“We’ll talk when we get back to the suite. Go pick out your food.”

My fur bristled even as my tail dropped to the floor. Defiance and submission warred within me.

Submission won.

Teeth grinding together and lips sealed shut, I did as I was told. It was dangerously soothing, sometimes…letting someone else take the reigns. When it wasn’t absolutely infuriating. But this time, it was myself I was mad at as I let the skyborn push me around.

I didn’t do anything wrong, damnit.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, or at least, I know you didn’t mean to,” said Jenner, once we’d all gotten back to our place and settled into the scoop with our feast. “You’ve eliminated your memories, and I am only now beginning to fully understand how…extensive…that loss truly was. Everything is unfamiliar to you, you’re just coming down from your Moon, and the urges involved in that—I’m told—can be very overpowering.” His gaze flicked briefly to Imbris, who smirked.

“I understand that Khural-an was helpful and kind to you before you came to us, and I’m grateful for that. But you are with us now, and…and unfortunately, I think it’s best you keep your distance from him, going forward.”

I stared unbelievingly from Jenner to Imbris to Asho, hoping one of them would cut in. Tell him he was over-stepping his position. But no one did.

“But…but why? He’s my friend.”

It was a pathetic argument. But in my defense, I was exhausted…and I hadn’t even gotten to start on dinner yet.

“His entire coven lost their lives, merely because they were close to him,” said Jenner. “And besides, this is not Embiri or Sadras. There are certain expectations of us here.”

My fur prickled.

“And those are?”

“That you focus on your coven. That you mate and consort within your coven. At least until our union is long and well-established. And even then, you should seek our approval before consorting with others.”

“I am not consorting with him. I just…I just instinctively marked him. I didn’t really know what I was doing. Please, I don’t…I just feel so lost in this world, and he’s one of the only people I know. I can’t shun him. I won’t.”

Now that we were back in our own space, it was somehow easier to defy the Jasper. But it still made me a little queasy.

Jenner considered me, breathing slowly in and then out through his nose.

“A compromise, then. May I at least ask that you avoid being alone with him in private and vulnerable places? Situations in which assassins may strike, for instance. And those in which propriety might be called into question.”

I gnawed at my lip.

“Alright,” I conceded. “I…I suppose I can agree to that.”

I didn’t want to, and if Jenner were a Topaz, I’d have been sure he was using his power on me—glyphs or no. But his authority, his influence…it went beyond magic.

“Thank you,” said the Jasper, a hint of breathy relief to his tone.

Is he genuinely worried for my safety? Or just about how I’ll make the rest of them look?

Either way, I was pretty sure I could add another item to my long list of ways in which I was screwed…because I’d just made an agreement that I was going to have a very, very hard time keeping. But that was a problem for another day. I had even more pressing issues to deal with.

Once we’d all finished our food, I looked over to the Onyx, whom I’d made a point of sitting close to. My stomach churned as I worked up the nerve to make my request, and I was beginning to regret eating all that food first.

“Vyr,” I forced the word out. Her ears twitched back, pupils narrowing a bit as she turned her head to look down and over at me.

“Would it be alright if we talked for a bit…alone?”