The next mere handful of days were, quite possibly, the most hectic of Eleanor’s entire life.
Due almost entirely to the fact that, for most of it, she felt less like an active participant in goings on, and more like a helpless passenger purely along for the ride. In that time, she took several baths—each of them warm, unhurried, and blessedly free of other people’s stink—ate more food in a day than she had over the course of some weeks, visited book shops, clothiers, hairdressers and more.
Took several more baths, had her teeth fixed, her aches removed, and even had a woman labor over her fingernails for several hours—until they were so pristine that they shone back her own reflection.
She was taught how to comport herself—what to say and how to act—was given lessons on what she’d need to pass the written exam, suggestions on what she could expect during the physical, and even started to get used to the feeling of sleeping in a bed. Though, admittedly, she still found the floor to be far more comfortable.
And throughout it all, quite possibly the most exciting thing to come out of that week, was her growing familiarity with her, well, familiar. He, since for whatever reason that was what she insisted she be called, was quite the peculiar familiar. Or so Eleanor guessed, seeing as bonded familiars were normally the sole privilege of the gentry. And while it could be that all familiars were similar to her Jun, she honestly had a hard time imagining that.
There were technically four of him after all.
Something she had to imagine was really quite rare. Luckily, it wasn’t hard to keep track of them all. If their individual auras weren’t a dead giveaway, their personalities were rather distinct. She’d taken to distinguishing them, first by the color of their aura, then by the first letter of each color, to better keep things precise.
“How do I look?” Eleanor asked.
“No better or worse than the last ten times you asked me,” R. Jun replied. “Or no. Scratch that. A bit more rumpled maybe?”
“R-really?!”
Eleanor snapped her head down with a look of utter horror on her face. Taking in her navy-blue, red accented blazer and platted skirt with dismay.
“Oh yes. Perhaps you should try standing up next time? It really is poor form, you know, sitting down in a carriage. I mean, just the wrinkles alone! It’s liable to give me a heart attack.”
“Oh. Hah hah. Very funny.”
Despite her own words though, Eleanor still tried to straighten out any errant folds when she found them.
“Don’t worry friend Eleanor!” exclaimed Y. Jun. “I’m sure none here will care a whit for your disheveled looking appearance once you’ve shown them the true depths of your burning conviction!”
“Disheveled?! You never said anything about disheveled!”
“Yes I did! Just now! Did she not hear the part where I told her not to worry about her slovenly appearance?! I could have sworn I said it quite clearly!”
“Slovenly?!”
“Be calm,” came G. Jun’s soothing tones. “Appearance is a factor to be observed, yes, though in this context, I’d say minor concerns such as your looks matter little. Remember, you are merely here to pass the exams, not look good whilst doing so.”
“Is that your way of saying you also think I look terrible?”
There was an awkward pause at that, before Y. Jun broke in.
“I think you look great!”
“Thanks…” Eleanor sighed.
They were standing at the very back of a milling crowd of hopefuls, who themselves idled before the closed outer gates of the Knightly Academy. It was a grand edifice of elegantly carved alabaster. The massive double doors, each several stories tall, depicting a sequence of images which chronicled the birth of, first the queendom, then that of her knightly cohorts themselves.
From the seven cruel dictators that fancied themselves gods, to the first ever azure queen’s rise to prominence. It showed her rallying the people, now solely united under the azure banner, to push back the encroaching rift spawned hoards. Showed her fashioning the grand formation weave, what most now referred to simply as the wall, and thereby sealing themselves off from all rift born with a mile high energy barrier. Creating the first true bastion for humanity in the process.
Eleanor stared up at the scenes in awe for a time. The sheer majesty of this place and its grand lineage enough to momentarily distract her from her nerves. That was, until those doors began to slowly swing inward, and the muted chatter of the crowd went deathly silent. From her position at the very back, she couldn’t exactly make out what came through those doors, only occasionally snatch a glimpse of the sharp white uniforms worn by the women of the academy through breaks in the crowd.
“Please make way for our attendant squires, if you would,” projected an older voice from the far end of the massive square. “They will be the ones to process your entry fee, so I would suggest you have your payment ready.”
With a jolt of anxiety, Eleanor reached for the pouch at her waist and produced only one of several such coins she now kept on her person. Idiotic though she thought it still was to carry such large quantities of coin, it couldn’t be said that she hadn’t come up in the world.
Eventually one such elegantly dressed knight in training neatly parted the crowd to stand before her. Tall and broad, and with a stern face that looked to be more bored than the auspicious moment truly called for, Eleanor had to make a concerted effort to meet the woman’s—no, girl’s, for she couldn’t have been much older than herself—eye.
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“Entry fee?”
She said it more like a demand than a question, and Eleanor was quick to comply.
“Take this.”
And so saying, the woman gave her a round wooden token with the designation “C 7” carved into the face.
“When your group letter is called, please make your way to your group leader. She will be the one conducting and overseeing your exams today,” all of this was spoken as if by rote, and as Eleanor attentively nodded her head in response, something akin to life entered the girl’s tone. “Oh, and word to the wise? I would stay on her good side if I were you. I can’t tell you how many overconfident idiots aced the actual tests only to fail anyway because they thought themselves better than their assessor.”
“Understood. I will definitely keep that in mind. Oh, and thank you for the advice.”
“Don’t mention it,” the girl flashed a rare smile. “Best of luck.”
Eleanor had to resist the impulse to yell back, “you too!”
Thankfully she managed to avoid completely embarrassing herself this time around. It wasn’t long before the milling crowd was beginning to separate into groups, and very soon she too had her group letter called. Pushing her way to the front, Eleanor soon found herself before her group leader, a rather short looking woman, with a severe expression, and her hair bound up into a rather painful looking bun.
Apparently the last of their group to arrive, the woman’s eyes briefly passed over her before she nodded in confirmation. Turning swiftly on her heel, their assessor strode purposefully into the greater academy beyond.
“Follow.”
Was her only instruction, before she quickly disappeared into the opulent grand entrance—with its multistoried balconies, liberal splashes of greenery, and massive chandeliers twinkling overhead. The click of her heels echoing off of the extremely reflective stone tile audible, even over the growing din of excited chatter. Eleanor briefly shared a glance with one of her group mates, one of only three, not including herself, who was in possession of a bonded familiar.
A large cat like rift spawn, what she could now easily recognize as a Pyrostripe Emberfang, it was a rift spawn at the very peak of D grade, according to her books. Not for the first time Eleanor lamented the apparent uniqueness of her familiar. It would have been helpful to know his actual power level categorically, instead of purely relying on Y. Jun’s blanket assertion of:
“The strongest!”
The other familiar holder, for her part, merely looked Eleanor up and down, promptly giving her familiar a similarly brief appraisal, before she sneered, turned, and strode after their assessor.
“Well, that was really quite rude of her,” exclaimed Y. Jun.
This garnered more than a few startled glances, as many in her group, as well as others, gave her talking familiar inquisitive looks. Eleanor nearly crumpled under the weight of all those eyes. Before any could corner her and press her for answers, Eleanor grabbed her familiar by the arm and, head held down, hurriedly strode after their assessor.
image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]
With a sigh, Eleanor set aside her quill, blotted the ink on the page with the sand provided, and then finally allowed for the waiting attendant to collect her test, along with many others. This portion of the examination had been held with every single letter group in attendance.
Conducted in a truly massive lecture hall, even with every single one of that year’s hopefuls bent over their exam, they’d barely taken up a small fraction of the total number of seats. Unlike the later portions, bonded familiars hadn’t been allowed inside during this test. Something for which Eleanor could only be grateful, as it was almost a guarantee he’d have been nothing but a distraction.
And as for how she had done? Only time would tell. She was a bit unsure of herself, though she trusted in Mary’s tutoring. And more than anything, was simply eager to get up and stretch her legs. The physical portion was next, and though the butterflies in her stomach betrayed her nervousness, she was nevertheless eager to test herself against some of the queendom’s most promising young elites.
image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]
Stepping out onto the massive gymnasium floor, Eleanor couldn’t help the sudden thrill of excitement that raced through her. And though she couldn’t have known this at the time, the impressive space had far more in common with an open air stadium of sorts, than any ordinary hallmark of academia.
An impossibly long ovoid stretch of green turf encircled by a single looping clay track, at its center was a sprawling series of what looked to be obstacles—each miniature trial leading onto the next in a way that seemed chaotic, though, on second glance, was clearly deliberate.
Now standing with the rest of group C on an open patch of turf, Eleanor’s gawking was brought to an immediate halt as the harsh voice of their assessor snapped everyone back to attention.
“I am not one to mince words so let me be clear. This is where you will perform the purely physical portion of your exam. You will do so to my exact specifications. If you in any way disagree with this statement, or my authority, you are free to leave. If I hear any of you voice any such disagreements, you are free to leave. If these terms are not to your personal liking, you are free to leave. Just know that, by doing so, you forfeit your chance at admission, and will be forced to try again some other year. Am I understood?”
“Y-yes ma’am!” Eleanor replied—though she was only one out of maybe four that responded immediately.
The rest, most notably the other familiar holders, merely glared at the shorter woman, open sneers on their lips. And if this weren’t shocking enough, everyone else just seemed to be blindly following their lead. The assessor, for her part, appeared unfazed by the open defiance. Merely staring the dissenting group down until, with a snort, one of the familiar holders—a slender girl with a lower C grade Torrential Python wound about her chest—seemed to wave away the tension by patting at the air.
“Of course. Of course. Though, there’s really no need for threats, senior. I believe we’re all fully capable of discerning your position without them,” she said in a playful tone. “Here, at least within these walls, your word might as well be law. Or something along those lines, correct? And really, if that is indeed the case, who am I, who is any of us rather, to question the law?”
Despite her conciliatory words Eleanor couldn’t help but edge away from the holder. She really didn’t like that gleam in her eyes. Because not only did she recognize it, but she knew it was bad news way more often than it was not. Not an uncommon sight in the slums, you were bound to run into one of them eventually, if you’d lived there long enough.
The petty tyrants who lorded over their little fiefdoms through a combination of fear, intimidation, and not a small amount of cruelty. The only surprising bit had been running into something like that here of all places.
Though, on second thought, perhaps that’d simply been wishful thinking on her part. Barely acknowledging the girl’s words with a sniff, the assessor was quick to begin throwing out rapid fire commands. And in no time at all, Eleanor was working up an all too welcome sweat.