Yuriko examined the packet of papers that had been given to her a couple of days ago. It had been a week since they arrived in the Karcellian Isles, and she spent most of it in the library. She hadn’t been this studious even back in Sharom, but examining the varied runescript formations had been quite enlightening.

The papers were her passport and explained her status as a foreign guest. That she was considered an Outsider wasn’t mentioned as she thought it was supposed to be a secret. A picture of her had been reproduced in the papers, just her head and shoulders, mainly. She remembered when Douglas brought her and the others to an office in town. There was a man with a strange contraption that they called a camera. There was a bright flash of light, and her image was captured into a substance. Ah, they had to repeat her picture-taking since she got curious and used her Animaperception to look at the film, which then ruined it from overexposure. At least, that’s what the photographer said. Funny guy: he seemed both exasperated and impressed.

She replaced the papers in their canvas case and secured them in her hip satchel. However, she wasn’t sure how to secure her satchel now that she was wearing the local fashion. It wasn’t that much different from Imperial fashion. The women’s skirts dangled at the knee, and there were sleeveless or short-sleeved blouses. The necklines were modest, however, barely even showing her clavicle. Bare shoulders were fine though, and the dresses hung easily on her frame, even if the hemlines rose slightly above her knees for most of the dresses. She was a bit taller than the average Karcellian woman.

Her usual attire, the traveller’s gear, had drawn quite a few disproving gazes from matrons on the street, and not a few sticky looks from the teenagers and young men alike. That and it was in the midst of Ignis, what they called the Season of Fire, here.

Ah, and today would be the first day of the special arcane studies class that she and Sheamus were to teach. Hmmm.

She tapped her lips as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was in its usual ponytail, but it wasn’t secured by a ribbon or mundane string. Rather, it was twisted like that because of her Will and Anima. The strands that the big skelly cut off had grown back practically the same night. It was her Tell, according to Saki. Something that marked her as a Mishala descendant. Saki and Ryoko didn’t have one, since their blood was too thin.

The ponytail undid itself and allowed her hair to flow down her back. It was long enough to brush against the back of her knees now. It hadn’t been that long before, reaching merely to her waist during her Atavism Ritual. Perhaps it reflected her Anima strength? Ah, but it didn’t change when she progressed through her Growth Stages.

Ah well, she didn’t really want to be that conspicuous so she floated a blue ribbon to tie her hair back up. It matched the dress she wore anyway. The shoes Gwendith brought back pinched her toes, so she had to make do with open-toed sandals.

Her timesense told her it was close to midmorning, so she left her room and prepared to walk to the campus grounds. She wasn’t sure how to proceed with the class, just that the Archons asked her to teach the students how to condense an Animus core.

“Hey, Yuri! Off to the campus?” Gwendith asked.

She had a couple of books with her, but it wasn’t the textbooks from the library. They were thin and small booklets that would fit easily in a pocket, and from the cover art, she was sure it was the same kind of romance novels that Krystal loved reading.

“I didn’t think you liked those,” Yuriko said slowly and Gwendith shuddered.

“I…well, not really,,” sshe muttered. “But I have to get used to a lot of things. Besides, the locals are great storytellers.” Gwendith giggled.

“Hmmm.” Yuriko nodded, “I suppose.”

“Hmm, do you want me to read to you?” Gwendith asked teasingly, “While we cuddle in bed?”

“Ah, uhm, maybe later?”

“Precisely later,” Gwendith grinned.

Yuriko shook her head ruefully. Seasons of battles and tribulations had taken their toll on all of them, especially Gwendith. Now, they were forced to stay in this plane, with the way back unclear. It was best to recover their minds here, while they were unbothered by foes. Only…she didn’t know how much longer she could tolerate staying still.

Irvalla was a new place, filled with tenacious and innovative people, who had adapted to a place with a severe lack of personal power. The novelty was wearing off, however, and Yuriko craved a challenging battle. Oh well. She sparred with her friends, the beastkin, and the marines every day, but none of them, even the other Knights, could match her unless she restricted herself down to a quarter of her strength. It was stifling.

The thing that had pulled at her was still obfuscated, but she got glimpses of it every now and then. It was still in the east. Southeast, sometimes. Clearly in the nation called Norrinth. But without a better heading, she was better off waiting for the obfuscation to wear off. Besides, just a couple of days ago, she found out that Karcellia had ancient ruins too. Perhaps one of them hosted a portal. She planned to head to one in the southern side of the country. A castle on a cliff overlooking a lake. But first, she had to allow the students to show results.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Sheamus had gone ahead, according to their agreement. He was supposed to speak about the common methods to sense Animus in the Coalition. There were only so many variations of the basics, however, so it wasn’t something Yuriko hadn’t known before.

Before her Atavism, it had taken meditation, exercise, and her Da, to allow her to sense Animus. Perhaps she would have to do the same. Ancestors knew she was the only one with sufficient reserves to do so.

As she walked to the campus, her thoughts moved towards what the rest of her group was doing. Izna and Arman were exploring Lindorn, as were all of the beastkin. According to Kassy, the Lindorners seemed attracted to the beastkin’s humanoid forms and seemed to find their wolf and cat ears, and tails, to be adorable. The locals certainly plied them with whatever the beastkin wanted.

As for the marines, Seran and Horace, along with another couple of older marines, had gone off towards the university’s engineering research, or something. They were helping the country apply plasma Animatech to their weapons. But without enough warriors able to use Animus, such technologies would be of minimal use. She didn’t really know how they would apply it. Oh well, not really her problem.

All in all, their time within the Karcellian Commonwealth had been unexpectedly luxurious. Gwendith told her that the government had already put up a Ministry of Food. Apparently, nearly half of the country’s food supply had been imported from the mainland. She only had a vague impression of the country’s size and population. But then, she remembered that thousands, hundreds of thousands of warriors had been killed or captured so far. Oh, not warriors, soldiers.

She didn’t quite know the difference, or what the word soldier meant. It translated the same way in Verdanian, but the Karcellians defined it differently. Warrior…anyone can become one, but only those who swore to serve their nation in the field of war became soldiers. It was a curiosity she pursued the meaning of. Soldiers were ultimately not responsible for any of the actions they took in accordance with their superiors’ orders.

Foolishness.

She shook her head. By giving away the responsibilities of their actions, they give away too many things. The blood on her hands was there from her decisions, and not anyone else’s. The weight they had on her Anima was hers to bear.

Her ruminations came to an end when she arrived at the campus. Being at the height of the Ignis break, the building and gardens were practically deserted, except for a couple of classrooms on the second storey. The custodian tipped his hat to her, having seen her come and go several times already, though she noticed him giving her an odd look once she walked past him. Ah, well, she supposed he’d been used to her wearing her normal gear.

Classroom 201 was already occupied by the time she came up to it. Sheamus was there already, talking to the class. There were nearly a dozen of them, all men, ranging from their late teens to a bit over twenty. Douglas Hart was there, bouncing on his toes while chatting with the old adventurer.

While she was still in the corridor, Yuriko spread her perception aura throughout the classroom. The space was just big enough that the edges of her aura touched the far wall…and, it lookeded like there was actually one woman amongst the students. She wore a jacket and baggy pants, and her chest was bound flat. She also had the short hair prevalent in most of the men’s hairstyles. She only noticed since the woman didn’t have the men’s bulge on her throat.

None of them felt her perception, which was a pity. If one of them did, then it meant their sensitivity to ambient Chaos or occult resonance would be notable. Sheamus noticed, and he stopped mid-word, looked towards the door and said, “Ah, Lady Yuriko is here. Time to begin.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, then the students shuffled towards their seats, murmuring and whispering to themselves. With her perception aura active, she could hear everything.

“...she looks Drunadan…”

“Beautiful…but why?”

“...heard she’s an Outsider. So’s Lord Dorn, I think.”

“What’re the Archons thinking?”

“Does she look young to you?”

“She’s so tall…and fierce…”

Yuriko strolled to the centre of the raised platform. She stared at each of the students in the eye until they quieted down. Then, she said, “I am here as part of an exchange with your leaders. My purpose is to see if any of you are capable of mimicking our techniques.” She smiled, “Before we go there, please show me what tricks you know.” She said all of that in an even tone, but for some reason, nearly all of them turned red, thunderclouds in their eyes. She arched an eyebrow and pointed at the man seated to her left.

“Yes, miss,” the man said. He had wavy, dark hair and a poor attempt at a mustache on his upper lips, and his grey eyes narrowed. He drew a card from a holster on his belt, and activated it with a smidgen of Will. A mandala of runescript formed over the card, which then merged with his eyes. Afterwards, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened as he nearly yelled, “So much!”

“Ah, some form of Chaos Sight. Next.”

Nearly all of them performed some kind of sense enhancement technique, or a vocal projection technique. All except for the hidden woman who caused a gout of flame to appear above her palm. She lost control of it and the flames shot towards the windows, lighting the curtain on fire, but Sheamus quickly smothered it.

The boys jeered at her. “Why bother learning how to attack with occult resonance! Use a pistol or something!”

“We won’t always have access to a gun!” the woman retorted.

“Then you’d better run instead!” the first student who demonstrated Chaos Sight said.

Yuriko let them bicker for a bit, absently noting that her Mien worked through her perception aura and subtly influenced the students. At the first connection, she realised that many of them felt that she, as a woman, had little to teach them. Which was honestly strange. Why would they even think that? And there was also the fact that they didn’t even know that one of their own was a female and she was very much pretending to be male. She purposely deepened her voice and kept her chin lowered, as well as her collar buttoned tight. Silly locals.

“Why do you think using…occult resonance to attack is useless?” she finally asked.

“It’s a waste.” It was Douglas who answered. “Reactive malachite and spell cards are diminished with every spell, and mental focus and energy is drained, too.”

“Ah.” Yuriko smirked. “That’s because most of your mages are ignorant and foolish.”

Her statement then brought the explosion that the students had been holding in, prompting her smirk to widen even further.