"So how many times did Ellian insult you?" Asked Kamatie, as they left the octogonal building and the Sabat society behind.

"Not that many." Shrugged Avakian. "A few offhand remarks, but nothing I would get overly offended over."

"Hah." She grunted. "You must've impressed her, that girl's social niceties are nearly as abysmal as mine."

Kamatie was walking at a leisurely pace, with Avakian's shorter legs moving much faster to compensate. Their destination currently was the apartment complex management where he would be receiving the keys to his new room.

Arriving at the management building, the duo walked into the foyer and up to the reception desk, where a man with long hair was looking at them strangely. Kamatie explained what she wanted clearly, and with as few words as mathematically possible. She was then given several documents to sign, which she looked over briefly before completely refusing to interact with further.

The man at his point looked incredibly stressed and rather fearful, and decided that dealing with the behemoth of a woman was above his paygrade. He simply gave her a pair of keys and then flipped over a sign on the desk that read 'on break', before disappearing around a back entrance.

"The room you will be staying in is one specially reserved for students of mine." She stated, leaving the management building. "It's far more room than I need, and there's currently only one other occupant."

The walk to Avakian's new abode took quarter of an hour; being in the northernmost quadrant of the academy. His injuries from his 'testing' were now mostly abated, and he spent some time examining the nearby architecture. Most of the buildings were constructed in the typical Aemonsford fashion, looking to be chiselled from a single massive stone, however there were some more recent constructions crafted from brick or metal. Ironically these looked to be more rundown than the older buildings, a testament to the skill of their creators.

They entered the residential quadrant in amenable silence, and Avakian immediately noticed the change in atmosphere. Most of the homes were rather unique in fashion; each embodying a certain culture or way of life.

Eventually they arrived on the outskirts of their destination; a plaza topped with an odd form of grey grass that made a satisfying crunch sound underfoot. The building itself was also quite interesting, a japanese pagoda-style affair complete with overarching tiers and stone steps. An old, barefoot man in an orange robe was nearby, sweeping the pathways with a wicker broom.

Kamatie strode up to the entranceway and cracked open the door.

Literally. The door made cracking sounds Avakian was fairly sure it wasn't supposed to.

He exchanged a commiserating glance with the old man, who shrugged his shoulders, before entering the pagoda behind Kamatie. The innards of the building were particularly ascetic, with the main hall left sparse, the only decorations being martial arts equipment strewn throughout.

In a corner, partially obscured by darkness, stood a uniformed man swinging a wooden blade faster than the eye could see. The man would execute a series of strikes, then pause briefly, before continuing the same moves over and over again.

"Chiros." Despite Kamatie not raising her voice, she was still easily heard across the room by the man, and he ceased his practice to join them.

"Master Kamatie!" He bowed at the hip, hands clasped as if in prayer.

Kamatie for her part simply grunted, before introducing him.

"Avakian, this is Chiros, a scion of the Judicar clan and my student. Chiros this is Avakian, a new student who you will be sharing the dojo with."

She then hefted her knapsack at him before departing swiftly the way she came. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two before Chiros spoke.

"Not one for words; Master Kamatie." He chuckled briefly. "Anyway, I'm Chiros." He stretched down a hand for Avakian to shake as they inspected one another.

Chiros was tall; well over six foot, with wide shoulders and a physique that seemed to be barely contained within his immaculate white-and-gold uniform. Every part of his face oozed sharpness, from his keen jawline, to his ears which tapered into points at the ends. His hair was a similar shade to Avakian's, except pure white instead of the bluish tint.

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"Avakian. Pleasure to meet you." He demurred.

"Great! Want me to show you your room, it's the one directly opposite mine. Judis! It's been years since I've shared this place with anyone except occasionally Kamatie, it'll be great having a housemate for my final year."

"Final year? How long have you been at the academy?"

"All my life. Parent's left for the Inner Folds when I was about 14, and that was 9 years ago. I'll be leaving the 74th as well soon enough; my dream is to travel further into the Manifold than even my family." He beamed. If he was upset at all by his parents leaving him, he certainly didn't show it.

"Looks like I'll be travelling in the same direction." Avakian said dryly. "I was just informed that the levels of void in the atmosphere aren't enough for me to survive on."

Chiros made a noise of sympathy. "That sucks. It's the same reason why my parents had to leave."

He led Avakian out of the hall and down a long passage, decorated by tatami-style mats on the floor. They passed half a dozen sliding doors before reaching Chiros and Avakian's respective rooms.

"You got your key?" He asked, opening his door. "I never lock my room but you'll need it to access stuff around campus."

"Yup." Avakian chucked and grabbed his key with one hand.

"Here come check my room out." He gestured Avakian past the door.

Chiros' room was possibly the strangest he had ever seen. It was incredibly spartan and lacked any amenities one would associate with home. Instead of a bed he simply had a large mat in the centre of the room; no pillows or blankets, but what really struck Avakian was the decorations.

Blades.

Lots of blades.

Avakian spotted knives, daggers, and swords of any given variety, all looked to be sharpened to a nigh razor-edge. He even spotted a sword similar to the one he had wielded against Kamatie that morning.

The room was a monument to the art of cutting, stabbing and rending.

Chiros, the artist himself, was standing in the doorway with his arms folded together, looking immensely proud of himself.

"You like them. They're a small portion of the Judicar clan collection."

"Wow." Avakian exclaimed, impressed. "And you actually know how to use them?"

"Yep." His already large chest puffed up. "I may not be an expert with some of the more esoteric ones, but I can duel competently with any of them."

Avakian could tell he meant it, Chiros seemed to have an extremely honest and straightforward demeanour, concepts like lying or exaggeration didn't seem part of his repertoire.

"Anyway, let's check your room out."

They wandered across the corridor to Avakian's door, and he unlocked it to enter. His room was practically identical to Chiros', except it didn't have the swords and had a proper double bed instead of just a mat.

"Needs more swords in my opinion." Chiros jested, grinning at Avakian.

---

Next they visited the bathing and dining facilities respectively, the dojo had a large kitchenette, equipped with multiple refrigerators, an oven-stove, and a table for eating. Opening the fridge yielded a truly monstrous amount of assorted plants and vegetables.

"I don't eat the flesh of animals I'm afraid, so I don't have any meat. If you want to buy some there is a market every firstday, or a grocery store open all week." Chiros explained.

"I will look into that, although I don't actually have any money." He confessed.

"Check the bag Kamatie threw you, she probably left enough to get by for the week."

Avakian looked into the knapsack Kamatie had thrown at him, inside were half a dozen crystals similar to the one she had given him before, along with a small pouch and an envelope. The pouch itself held 10 navy-blue oblongs stacked neatly, which he took out.

Chiros snorted from over the sideboard, where he was chopping vegetables for dinner. "Kamatie seriously has no idea how money works. She probably thinks that's the exact right amount to buy groceries for a week."

"Isn't it?"

"It's enough to buy groceries once a week for a decade."

Avakian whistled as he examined one of the coins; one of the sides was embossed with a stylised oak tree, whilst the other had a handsome man wearing a laurel. "That's a lot, are you sure it's alright for me to take this?"

Chiros waved a hand dismissively as he emptied his chopping board into a pot on the stove. "Don't worry about it, Kamatie is obscenely wealthy and doesn't spend any of it on anything. I actually don't think she even knows she's rich."

"Why is that? I only met her this afternoon but I noticed she seemed a little..." Avakian trailed off.

"Airheaded? Indifferent? Yeah. It comes with being an immortal, after living for thousands of years your sense of importance changes immensely. Kamatie doesn't place a lot of significance on mortal concerns like money, relationships or what we would consider 'common sense'. There are stories of her doing incredibly strange things like falling asleep in the middle of a busy highway, or walking across the city naked." Chiros explained as he stirred his gigantic pot of stew.

"On a different note, can you tell me a little about the academy? I've never been to a school before and don't exactly know what to expect." He asked.

"Sure." Chiros gave Avakian a brief rundown of the academy whilst they ate their stew. Despite the absence of meat it was rather delicious.