The cabin was certainly homely. From the front door, it opened into the combined dining and kitchen, and a short hallway at the back led to the three bedrooms and the shared bathroom. The furnishing was modest, but looked quite sturdy. And, perhaps because it had been a while since the last occupants lived here, there was a fine layer of dust on surfaces other than the floor. Cursory cleaning had been done, but no more than that.

Yuriko didn’t mind so much, even though she felt a bit icky when her perception touched the crevices, cobwebs, and dust bunnies. The three of them did some preliminary cleaning, with most of the efforts done by Yuriko. Using her Animakinesis, of course. Gwendith practiced with her kinesis, and her efforts had started to smoothen over the long hours she practiced. Desire lethargically dusted the shelves and countertops, and after half an hour’s effort, she collapsed on the sofa to nap.

Dinner was a simple repast brought from the marketplace a few blocks down the road. The entire group wasn’t in adjacent cottages, but were scattered across the several streets. That first night, each of them ate in their respective cottages, and slept, wondering what the future held.

The next morning, just as Yuriko finished a plateful of eggs and ham, someone knocked on their door. Gwendith opened it and revealed a wiry young man with brown hair and hazel eyes concealed behind a pair of spectacles. Corrective lenses? He was just a couple of inches taller than Gwendith, and as soon as her friend opened the door, he squeaked in surprise.

“Oh! That surprised me! Er, ah, good morning! Miss Davar?” the man asked, and continued to speak before Gwendith could answer, “Hello! I’m Douglas Hart! The University tasked me to bring you and your companions on a tour of the facilities, and to guide you to the Society’s headquarters in Lindorn! Ah, there’s a branch here, of course, but the main office is back in the capitol. Bit of a bother, really. We’ll have to take the train everytime we want to visit. Or if we have any administrative things to do, eheh. Oh, er, wow! You’re got pretty eyes. And freckles…er, wait, where’s that description…”

“I’m Gwendith Sharine, actually.” She gestured towards Yuriko. “Miss Davar’s over there.” She giggled and stepped aside. “Come in.”

“Oh! Thank you! Oh, you’re both blonde! So that’s why I got confused. Ah, Miss Davar’s taller than either of us, huh. And even more beautiful…wow…” His voice trailed off and his face turned a bright red as he realised what he just said aloud. “I’m sorry!” he said profusely. “My thoughts sometimes go through my brain and out my mouth without stopping…”

“It’s quite alright,” Yuriko said, giggling.

“Oh, thank you!” Douglas gushed. “Ah, I’m sorry again, it seems I came a bit too early?”

He did. It was only an hour past dawn. Yuriko and Gwendith had just finished morning training and breakfast. Both of them weren’t wearing their traveller’s gear, and while Gwendith was in a sundress, Yuriko had been wearing a robe.

“Well, if you’d give us some time to get dressed,” Yuriko said.

“Ah, yes. I apologise. Er, there’s no rush, really. The University won’t be open for another hour or so.”

“Then why are you here so early?” Gwendith asked pointedly.

“Ah! I just wanted to meet the Outsider mages,” he said with a wide smile. “I’m an apprentice mage, an Inkgrinder, and Cardmaker hopeful! I’ve been assigned as your guide and well,” he looked down and scuffed his shoes on the floor. “I wanted to learn. I want to know…” He looked up at them with a bright smile. “There’s more to life than the Irvalla Region and all of you are from beyond it! Like our ancestors thousands of years ago! And—”

“Hold on.” Gwendith interrupted, “We can speak once we’re all appropriately dressed.”

Yuriko, licking her spoon clean, blinked at the sudden attention. “What?”

“Go get dressed,” Gwendith said flatly, “And you, Mister Hart, do you mind waiting in the living room?”

“Oh no, not at all. Pardon me.” Douglas finally managed to control his words. He headed to the living room area and nervously sat down on the sofa, glancing at them every couple of seconds or so.

Yuriko placed the dishes in the sink, along with the pots and pans. She knew Desire was still in her bedroom, mostly sleeping after being fed distilled Chaos and Animus. Her Animus was a passable enough replacement, but it took nearly a hundred lumens to satiate the Chaos Lord. That was more than an hour’s worth of regeneration. But then, she could only produce a drop of distilled Chaos an hour, too. She was also close to figuring out a runescript pattern to automate it for her. Perhaps a few more days of trial and error? It could also take several weeks if she got stuck.

She went into her bedroom to change into her daywear. The Season of Fire was already a third over and it was a bit hot and humid. Where they were wasn’t so bad though. She put on her pants, boots, and her white, button-down shirt, but forgoed her overcoat.

Douglas stuttered when he saw her come out. Ah, Karcellian women normally didn’t wear trousers, huh.

“You look…er, nice,” he said.

“Thanks,” Yuriko said. “Well, let’s go,” Gwendith tagged along, but they also needed to grab Orrin and Sheamus. Orrin went to Sharom and was a Runescribe, while Sheamus dabbled in runescript and other esoteric methods during his long travels.

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They found the boys still asleep in their cottage, while Sheamus had a little cylinder of paper with a burning ember at the tip, on his lips. He drew a deep breath, taking in the smoke, and puffed it out contentedly.

“Great stuff,” he said once they approached, “It’s a local habit, eh, and I get why. It relaxes,” he grinned.

“Alright,” Yuriko agreed, though she did notice Douglas frowning. “Trouble?” she turned and asked him.

“Ah, no. Not so much.” He shrugged, “I just can’t stand the smoke. My mother never approved of my father smoking. She said it stunk up the house. I tried a few times, after I graduated secondary schooling, and before entering the university. I didn’t like it so much, it made my head spin!” He chuckled, then coughed in embarrassment when both Sheamus and Gwendith stared at him. Yuriko just smiled.

“So, where are we going, young mistress?” Sheamus asked after an awkward silence.

“For a tour of the facilities,” Yuriko said.

“Ah, the university,” he chuckled. “Well, let’s get going then.” He pressed the lit cigarette into a bowl, snuffing the fire out. He and Heron shared the cabin, but Yuriko didn’t find her friend inside. And when she asked, Sheamus said, “He went for a run.”

“Ah.”

The campus grounds weren’t that far from the cottage village, just a couple of longstrides down the lane. Douglas chatted about inane mundanities with Gwendith, and Yuriko only listened with half an ear. The topic was mostly about the ongoing war, the draft and call for volunteers, as well as the rising prices of food.

“How are we buying our food, Sheamus?” Yuriko asked. “Are we trading gold Shekels for their paper letters of credit?”

“The bills. Yes. They’re called Karcies, I think,” Sheamus said. “As for that, their government is paying us for our keep. About ten Karcies a week for each of us. I haven’t checked the market for prices yet, and I’ll do it later. I think we’re welcome to trade or work for more funds if we like, or we could ask for more. But I think we’ll have to give more knowledge or things up for that.”

“What’s the exchange rate? Between a Shekel and a Karcie?”

“About one Shekel to a hundred.”

“Which means two hundred for a Sovie, right?” Yuriko observed.

“Maybe,” he shrugged, “I’m not so sure. I think they weigh and pay for the gold rather than the face value.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll leave it to you then.”

By the time they arrived at the campus grounds, the university was already quite active. Many youths were walking around the grounds, going from the gate towards their respective colleges. The Lindorn University was actually bigger than the attached town at least twice over, from what Douglas said, and they taught everything from engineering, literature, and arts. The arcane was included in the arts, apparently.

“About one in a hundred men and women can sense occult resonance, and about a hundredth of that can actually do something about it,” Douglas said. “Those who can sense can also use arcane machinery. Why, the Divination Towers are what’s keeping Karcellia safe from the threat of Confederate invasion! They have to cross the channel, you see, but if they try that, our navies would sink their transport craft! They’ve been sending air raids over the past few weeks, but the towers always warn us in advance! Divination can feel the hostility directed our way, and when enough are gathered, it triggers the alarms and prompts the observers to watch the skies! Yesterday, the Confederates attacked Southend! They bombed out airfields! Oh, that’s trouble!”

“How do you know all of this?” Yuriko asked curiously. That had only happened yesterday, after all.

“It was in the papers,” he answered easily. “The Premier isn’t letting us forget the war. That’s why I’m so eager for us to start! What arcane knowledge you have can save Karcellia! Or at least, give us an edge against the Confederates.” He frowned, “We really need it, too, after that debacle on the north coast.”

“Why, what happened?” Gwendith asked with a frown.

“The Karcellian Expeditionary Force and the Norrinth Army got surrounded and pounded to pieces. We only managed to save a fraction of them. Grim tidings,” he muttered. “That operation ended two weeks ago, and we brought everyone home who could be brought. But Richmond got nearly two hundred thousand prisoners of war.” He clicked his tongue, “The vile Tyrant is holding out on ransoming them back.”

Yuriko nodded. The number of prisoners and their armies and general befuddled her. In Rumiga, fifty thousand was already the entire armed forces of the Empire. The Federation of City-States had four or five times more than that, of course, but their general Anima strength was much weaker, and they included unawakened in their roster. And yet, fifty thousand here was merely a fourth of what had been captured.

Soon enough, they headed towards a building on the east side of the campus. It was placed far from most of the other colleges, and it wasn’t that as big as the others. It was still a magnificent edifice, however, with its facade covered in smooth pink-veined marble slabs.

“This is the Arcane Studies Department,” Douglas said. “This is my second year, but even so, not many can actually enter the college. But I also heard that admittance procedures would be relaxed due to the need for more trained mages.” He chuckled. “I hope to have many more underclassmen! Ah, there’s only two dozen of us in my year. The next semester will be in a few weeks, so only those who want to further their studies are here during the seasonal break!”

Once they were in the building, they headed towards the south wing.

“The library’s in the north, but the Second Archon wanted to meet with you first, and discuss the differences in the disciplines.”

They went up two flights of stairs, and ended up in front of an ornate oak door. Douglas knocked then opened the door without waiting for a reply. Inside was a spacious office, and about an entire wall was covered in bookshelves. It had four shelving rows, and each one was filled to the brim with books of varied sizes.

Yuriko felt her head begin to ache. Did she have to read those things? Maybe she could have them demonstrate their techniques instead.

There were two men in the room already, sharing a cup of coffee. Both of them turned to look, and Yuriko recognised the Third Archon, who jumped up and excitedly welcomed them.

“Miss Davar, Miss Sharine, and Mister Dorn! Welcome! So good of you to come here. This is the Second Archon of the Karcellian Mages’ Society, Arthur Delange!” The other man was white haired and looked about twice Third Archon Wendell’s age. He had rheumy eyes and a rather placid look on his face.

He was also radiating a fair amount of Animus. And…Yuriko suddenly realised that the density of ambient Chaos in this room was actually close to half an iarvesh. Fifty times more than what was available in the countryside. And when she hastily activated Chaos Sight, she saw hundreds of runescript lines etched on the walls, floor, and ceiling. And most of them were the sort to empower the keyed individual and drain away Animus from someone else.