After the meeting, I was vibrating out of my skin and trying not to show it. Assistant Oxenden was my lifesaver, even if he didn’t realise it. He found me someone willing to assist me with food later that day, and the robe maker immediately after that. We just first had to witness the final registration. It was hard to pretend to care, but I couldn’t give anything away until the very last minute. I was thankful for the physical exercise of the flights of stairs down to the landing platform to work off some of that energy. We were joined by the existing candidates and our registration forms were brought out. It was apparently important that everyone witnessed everyone else, although I couldn’t imagine why.

As I waited, I tried to think of anything other than my approaching deadline. Standing there, now far too warm in the morning sun even with the over-robe pushed back, I realised just what had confused me about the girl’s existence. I had fooled myself into thinking of this place as some sort of uncontactable outpost. She proved that the external world knew what was going on within the academy walls, and the desire and ability to interfere. But they chose to interfere with the candidates. They didn’t send anyone to take over the investigation. Putting a Hero in charge when all the other options were equally amateurish made some degree of sense. Leaving me in charge it seemed like they could easily fly in an expert from the capital? That did not.

> Unfortunately, none of the other existing records give any definitive answer. Most of the texts were written sometime after the fact, when it was ‘obvious’ that His Devotion, Saint Percival the Investigator, would be the best candidate. They ignore that it would not have been obvious to anyone at point. We all just have to live with a nebulous ‘politics’ as the answer.

Although I wasn’t certain if they were uninformed about the potentially blooded dragonets or had chosen to disregard it. There would have been no point in bringing the new candidate to the academy just to turn around and sent them straight home again. Or perhaps they had such indifference to the value of other people’s time that they didn’t care either way.

“How did they choose a new candidate so quickly?” I asked, wondering if it was the Altengart girl, and they were just trying to get ahead of the cheating scandal.

“She was the standby candidate,” said Assistant Oxenden.

“Standby… for accidents?” I asked. How many times did they lose candidates to have a process for that?

“Oh, no,” he said, sounding a little a shocked. “Not at all. This is just a co-incidence. No, she was a standby in case all three of the summoned heroes were male. The genders of the dragonets have to match that of the candidates, you see. We had all possible candidates on standby that Friday until we knew which genders we would be able to supplement.”

I wondered if there were another two male candidates similarly on standby, or if there was a gender bias in the heroes.

> Volunteers to become heroes do tend slightly towards more male, but not excessively. It is also possible to request genders during the summoning itself, although that adds to the expense. Which gender worlds specify is surprisingly not linked to whether they are patriarchal or matriarchal. Some worlds prefer a hero that they can marry into their power structure.

“There are three female and four male dragonets, then,” I deduced. “What’s the gender mixture on the dragonets that Academy Leader Darkwater is concerned about?”

“One female, two male,” he answered.

Four dragonets remaining, two of each gender. I could see why Academy Leader Darkwater jumped to leaving all the teenage candidates out of it, however. Letting Candidate Shanelly, and only Candidate Shanelly, bond to the dragons would not look good. Particularly when there was still that outstanding suspicion against her.

Then the candidate landed – Candidate Lourdemy Appleby. And wasn’t that name a mouthful. I wondered if it was equally awkward in the original language. She filled out her form with glee, and then came around to greet us all personally. Her robes were patterned in yellow and red. The embroidery was abstract patterns in blue, contrasting violently with both materials.

“It’s an honour to meet you, Hero Percy,” she said. “I’ve heard many great things about your work here.”

You have? And what could you possibly have heard? I haven’t done anything!

“It’s nice to meet you too Candidate Lourdemy,” I said instead, “even under the circumstances.”

She laughed. “I suppose I’m meant to be all reluctant and guilty about being here, aren’t I? It would be the polite thing to do.”

“But not the honest thing to do?” I asked, amused despite myself.

“I’m afraid not,” she said. “I’m thrilled to get the chance to be a rider, and everyone knows that Bethany didn’t deserve it. Oh, I don’t mean she deserved to die, but well, it’s not like I’m surprised she got herself killed. It was just a matter of time until she picked on the wrong person, and got more of a reaction than she could handle.”

“She was a bully, then?” I asked, since Candidate Lourdemy clearly wanted me to.

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“Oh yes,” she said. “She was very sly about it, I grant. She did an excellent job of making herself look like the victim. She’d pick and pick at people until they exploded in reaction, and then cry that they were bullying her. Such an overreaction to the very petty thing she did, after all. Her mother babied her too much after it became clear that she’d be facing problems. She came to rely on that special treatment and was vicious to anyone who denied it.”

“A difficult situation,” I replied meaninglessly.

Candidate Lourdemy’s attention was claimed by Branneth, which freed me up to do more important things. Assistant Oxenden took me to the lower dining hall, on the bottom level of the dormitories.

I looked around and did some calculations. “Why is this the lower dining hall? This is at a higher level than the upper dinner hall.”

Assistant Oxenden laughed, “The name is a bit of a lie, isn’t it? The upper dinner hall used to be on the floor immediately above this. When we built out the new section, we moved it to next to the chapel so we could use the space for additional student rooms, but we kept the old names.”

It made sense to keep the dormitories all in the same place, even if it meant a bit of a hike to get to the dining hall. I supposed that was why it was used by the staff and guests, and not the students. The dining hall itself was more cluttered with tables, and much darker. The only windows were high up along one wall and weren’t in direct light. The walls too, where covered in dark patterned wallpaper, making the whole room feel like it was at a different time of day from the rest of the dormitories. The volunteer came out to meet us. The servants didn’t have a uniform, but I was starting to pick up the differences. Less finely woven fabrics, less embroidery, more layers, and colours that tended more towards the greys and pinks than the more vivid greens and reds of the gentry.

After the introductions, I suggested that I didn’t need Assistant Oxenden’s further time, and he was more than grateful to agree. I started the home-sickness explanation, but to my relief the volunteer didn’t have any interest in my motives. He just wanted to know what I wanted to buy. Still, I took a brief detour to disguise my current intent. I talked him through what food items, in what format, were possible to include in the food orders to the academy. I received the promise of a list I could look at. Once that was out of the way, I moved onto my much more urgent interests. I might have had some genuine interest in particular food when I’d woken up, but now that was a luxury I couldn’t afford. I needed any food whatsoever.

“Would it be possible to order some snacks in bulk?” I asked. “What about a meal I can eat elsewhere?”

“That won’t be a problem,” he said. “We offer packaged lunches for any of our teams going to the further spires.”

That could be perfect. “I’d like to try that. Is it too late to order one for tomorrow?”

The rush I was in did verge on suspicious, but I had no choice. The next day might be my last chance.

“If you just want a standard pack, then tomorrow is fine,” said the volunteer. “They’ll all be laid out here after breakfast, so that the teams can just grab them on the way out. I’ll have one made up for you.”

Something was finally going my way. I could feel the panic start to settle. Long term plans were still enough to send my thoughts into a spin, but I was getting a start on my short-term plans.

“And would it be possible to add a selection of snacks to that?” I asked. “I can investigate what’s already available.”

“I suppose I can give you a little of what we have,” said the kitchen worker, a little more tentatively.

“Anything you can provide will be great,” I was quick to reassure him. “I will be sure to consult with the lists for the more special orders.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate it.”

I did appreciate it. He wasn’t prepared to promise in case he couldn’t deliver, but that made me feel he was more dependable. I hoped that he wouldn’t be blamed for my actions the next day. If any of the people who were involved had any common sense, none of it would ever come to light.

Food down, Next step, clothing that didn’t double as a light house.

Memo to Self

Stuff to avoid

· Becoming a dragon rider Joining the official dragon rider forces

· Participating in bonding

Information gathering

· Find out about alternative occupations and opportunities

· - Speak to Minister Greenfield in private [not useful]

· - - Find out when he is due to leave before he leaves in four three days tonight, to fix injury

· Investigate other countries and cultures to see if they’re a better fit

· - Determine just how far heroic independence goes

· - - Legally, very far: complete diplomatic immunity

· - - Practically: assistance can be withdrawn

· Track down itinerary [no point]

· Check safety / security of funicular

Opportunities

· Sneak out when harvesting night flowers [7 6 5 days]

· - Walk out down dry river bed towards Cammions

· Deliberately failed bonding [not an option]

Preparations

· Beg, borrow or steal clothes of a different colour

· - Use investigating embroidery as excuse? [Meeting planned with artisan]

· Delay the bonding ceremony as much as possible

· - Extend investigation

· - Imply maximum psychic pollution

· Acquire or fake travel documentation?

· Find way to transport food and water

· - Talk to House Holder Fairbanks about food [done]

· - Book a packed lunch for Monday [done]