Chapter 41 — A Glyph of Power
Sitting at her usual table in the Grand Library as she waited for lunch to arrive, Ria reviewed her notes from Wendra’s lesson, marveling at the ways Wendra’s clan had customized their magic to their silver-affinity bloodline. Many of the innovations should hopefully carry over to her orichalcum magic, but the parts that took advantage of the properties of silver would have to be tweaked. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Orichalcum had its own useful properties she would use instead—the possibility of magic suppression was particularly of interest.
Even with the focus tool provided by Wendra, succeeding at the energy transformation for silver magic proved difficult. Thankfully, she had both Wendra’s examples and the spirit token to draw from to get a feel for the magic. She’d have to refill the token before returning it though.
Wendra had thought that any success with only a half-hour of trying was rather incredible. And maybe it was… Ria still had yet to reliably achieve the lightning energy transformation. Maybe having a metal affinity made learning other metal transformations easier?
Still, that didn’t mean she could suddenly use silver magic. Her efficiency was far from good and the two spells she was able to learn took her almost a full minute of careful concentration to cast—and that was with her notes!
And until she went shopping again, practicing the magic involved destroying more Crysellian currency...
With a sigh, Ria slouched back in her chair. She didn’t want to admit it, but her brain needed a rest.
She glanced up at Iselyn quietly reading a novel across the table from her. The title wasn’t one Ria recognized.
Convincing the frugal girl to come had required an offer to pay for hers and Malleron’s lunches. Malleron and Ranger were under the table playing some sort of game to divide up the remaining energy treats from the pile she had purchased before Ranger’s transformation. Whether Iselyn’s companionship was worth the effort to fill up two more spirit tokens…
Ria’s eyes flicked over to the study-group of third-year boys sharing the table and arguing over techniques to draw out one’s energy quicker when casting. At least the third-years weren’t bothering her and Iselyn. After noticing Iselyn’s mind-mage branding, the boys had made sure to sit as far away as possible.
As to why there were unfamiliar boys at the table Ria and her friends normally occupied, Goldday was apparently different from the other days of the week, and unlike the several days preceding, every table in the secluded reading area was occupied. Though not as bad as enrollment day, the Grand Library was currently flooded with students studying, researching, socializing, and generally milling about—enough for the multitude of conversations to create a background of droning murmurs that crested and fell but was constantly present.
That, and without Zena and Faris, their group was considerably less intimidating. Faris being intimidating was more a matter of status and his divinely good appearance than the mild-mannered boy himself, of course. Sadly, Faris didn’t have classes on Goldday, so he probably wasn’t even at the academy. And from what Iselyn said, Zena was taking care of preparations for their afternoon training session.
Arthur and Orlisi weren’t there either. Arthur was working through lunch, his project having reached an important phase. Orlisi was busy meeting with some mysterious person to acquire the book expected to contain the ritual needed to enter the Moon Elf gardens.
That left Keira, who had a required lunch meeting for her Order but said she’d come as soon as they were done. So, really, if the familiars weren’t counted, Ria and Iselyn were more of a ‘pair’ at the moment than a group.
Reaching the limit of her willingness to rest and do nothing, Ria opened the borrowed text on precious metals and flipped to the page with the orichalcum glyph—a 2D glyph used for engraving. She carefully formed the glyph in the air and frowned. The result felt hollow, a cheap imitation of the truth.
The spellcraft lesson hadn’t covered going from a flat representation back to three dimensional, but if glyphs could be entirely derived from truths, then having an existing inferior version as a blueprint to start from would surely make the process easier. Then again, the discovery of a usable glyph was a celebrated accomplishment often the work of years, sometimes a lifetime. Excepting for divine inspiration, the only other shortcut was for glyphs representing one’s own affinity. Shadwich had recommended that they each practice deriving the glyph representing their own personal affinity as a way to better understand the process.
That was easier said than done when she had yet to fully gain control of her affinity. Before giving it a try, Ria formed the book’s glyph for ‘silver’ and the Astacio’s secret one, comparing them. The 2D glyph felt like an attempt to identify the metal rather than express its properties. It was accurate but limited. The Astacio version was much… more. But even though Ria had the shape right, it was still less than how Wendra’s felt. Hollow in a similar way the book’s orichalcum glyph felt. The difference was almost certainly due to the insights provided by one’s affinity, proving there was more to glyphs than just their shape.
Ria returned to the ‘orichalcum’ glyph, bending, moving, thickening, tapering the curves and sharp-angled lines to give it depth and testing whether the changes led closer to a truth. She didn’t realize how absorbed she had become in her effort until the food arrived.
Noting down the progress made, she thanked Ellen, who looked a little harried from handling the lunch needs for the larger than usual number of students.
“What were you working on so intently?” Iselyn asked as she delicately picked at the expensive meal placed before her. “It looked like an odd control exercise, but I doubt you’d have been so focused if it were something that simple.”
Ria was surprised that Iselyn cared enough to notice and gave her friend a smile. “We learned about glyph creation in class today.”
The long-haired illusion mage held her bangs back with one hand and raised her unobstructed and incredulous gaze from her meal to Ria. “Glyph creation? And so you were giving it a go just like that?”
“Yep.”
“What if you accidentally unleashed some weird unconstrained energy or connected to a lost god or something?”
Ria blanched. Was that even possible?!
A long sigh escaped Iselyn. “You didn’t even consider the risks, did you?”
“I started from a known glyph and it feels like I’m getting closer to making it into something more,” Ria defensively argued.
“You know, that’s how some demons get summoned. They target a young mage with more ambition than sense and impress upon them the glyph of their name.”
Ria’s heart thumped. Had she unknowingly taken such a risk?
The branded girl continued to level a judging gaze as if awaiting a reply.
Wait… “How do you even know about that?”
Iselyn’s face turned a bit pinker, and the girl’s eyes began to wander. Suspicious.
Ria leaned forward and whispered, “Don’t tell me…”
“I didn’t!”
“Then…”
Looking away, Iselyn mumbled, “I read about it.”
“In a novel,” Ria guessed.
An awkward moment passed where Iselyn’s hand drooped and she turned even redder.
Feeling relieved, Ria huffed out, “It’s totally something made up!”
“It’s not!” her friend denied, indignant.
“Besides, wouldn’t Researcher Shadwich have mentioned such a risk when he gave the assignment?” Ria insisted. Maybe he didn’t mention it because the risk was common knowledge?
Iselyn considered that for a few blinks of her pale eyes. “I guess?”
Ria stuck a fork in a floret of energy-infused broccoli and used it to mop up sauce from the plate before sticking it in her mouth, chewing, and swallowing, the energy spreading pleasantly into her pathways. “So, it’s fine?”
Iselyn gave a huff of her own and let her hair fall back over her face. “No. But at least doing it here, you’ll go down in history as the foreign witch who destroyed the Grand Library and brought mass death and destruction to the world.”
Wha-? Now the girl was just being silly!
With the sudden quiet from the boys at the other end of the table, Ria risked a peek in their direction only to discover the four of them staring, forks and spoons paused mid-motion.
Ah… that could be trouble. A witch and a mind mage sitting at a table arguing over forbidden magic that might lead to the end of the world. Yep. That would definitely make the Daily Shadow.
But judging from these guys’ conversation and mantles, they were all from an abjuration-focused Order, maybe even part of the Warder’s Guild. Hmm...
“Hey. You guys can use barrier magic, right?” Ria tried. It was as good an opening gambit as any. She was feeling stubborn about solving this glyph here and now, but that didn’t mean she should ignore Iselyn’s worries—just in case—and the beginnings of a plan were forming in her mind.
There were some shared glances before one of the boys spoke up, “Yeah? We’re third-year members of Oduron’s Oath, you know?”
Ria gave them a blank look for a few moments as she tried to remember where she’d heard that name before. “Ah! The Order that provides protection to travelers and security for nobles.” She nodded to herself, pleased at having puzzled it out. From what Keira had briefly explained, their members were usually spares from lesser noble families and commoners and pledged their honor to the protection of their charge.
“Right,” the older boy affirmed. “I’m Darren.”
The other three gave their names, but Ria doubted she would remember them, so she wrote them down in case she needed a third-year for something in the future. Darren. Gion. Hansle. Arvis.
“Ria,” Ria said with a winning smile and motioned toward Iselyn. “My friend, Iselyn. As you heard, she is concerned that the assignment I’m working on for my advanced class might attract unwanted attention from the nether planes and accidentally summon a great catastrophe upon the world. Admittedly, my knowledge on the matter is lacking. Could you set up a barrier that would contain any unconstrained energy and block out extraplanar influence for maybe an hour?”
After blinking a few times, four pairs of eyes went between hers and Iselyn’s gold-rimmed insignias, their mantles, each other, and back to her. Iselyn snorted at the reaction and was probably rolling her eyes at the request—as much as Ria could tell with the girl’s long bangs in the way.
“We’re on Zena Emberflow’s arena team and will be competing tomorrow. I could put in a good word with her and give you an earth token for your time if you don’t mind helping…” Ria offered, since they seemed reluctant. Connections to an important noble house would probably be important for them in finding work, and earth tokens were the easiest for Ria to fill, but Tallien didn’t pay as much for them as other elements.
The boys shared another round of glances, a few whispers, and shrugs. Darren looked like he swallowed something bitter, “We can… but, if you don’t mind my asking, what are you working on that’s so dangerous?”
“The assignment is to create a custom glyph expressing my affinity’s element.”
All four boys grimaced.
Was it really that dangerous? Exasperated, Ria added, “I’m making good progress, and I’m pretty sure I’ve almost solved it.”
Darren glanced back at the others and back to her. “Can you give us a minute?”
Ria made a gesture with her hand indicating she wasn’t bothered. “Sure, there’s no rush.”
Iselyn apparently wasn’t of the same opinion and was attacking her meal with surprising alacrity.
Taking a few bites of her own, Ria finalized her plan and summoned the meditation manual from Soulkeeper Renard.
The boys were whispering loud enough that she couldn’t help overhearing some of what they were saying.
(“She’s just a first-year. How bad can it get?”)
(“Stuck here for an hour…”)
(“If she really knows Zena…”)
(“But for only one token…”)
“That book...” Iselyn whispered, fork paused.
“It’s something I got from Soulkeeper Renard. There’s a meditation technique in it that’s supposed to help with triggering bouts of inspiration,” Ria replied absentmindedly as she flipped for the needed page with one hand while spearing another vegetable with the other.
Ria looked up to see Iselyn staring at her with a blank look. The girl then resumed her meal with even more vigor than prior, draining down half her drink after something seemed to get caught in her throat. What was that about?
“Um,” Darren voiced to get her attention.
“Ria,” Ria helpfully supplied.
“Right. Ria.” He made an awkward smile. “We’ll do it, but for the amount of energy required, we’d need a token each to replenish ourselves.”
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That much? Really? All four boys squirmed under her gaze. At that price, it would be expensive if she failed. But, Darren and his Order members were here, and after having progressed to such an extent… she felt a need to finish the glyph—as if she’d discover a missing part of herself, a part she hadn’t known was missing until now.
“Alright. But you’ll get the extra three tokens on Fireday,” Ria decided. Having to track her down for payment was probably less than desirable for them, so she added, “This is our usual lunch spot.”
The other three boys one by one nodded their agreement to Darren, and he gave her another awkward smile. “When did you want to start?”
“As soon as you are ready,” Ria answered. “Once I finish my preparations, I won’t want to be disturbed until I complete the glyph.”
“Right.” Darren nodded, and after quickly downing the rest of their lunch in the way only boys could do, the four of them took up positions at each corner of the table and began preparing the magic with Darren leading the spell and the others each maintaining an anchor point—just like Instructor Dolerin taught in the introductory barrier class.
Also having finished her meal, Iselyn scooped up her book as she got up then backed away until she was outside the barrier the boys were setting up. A grumbling Malleron joined her, standing protectively in front, trying not to drop his pile of winnings.
Ria peeked under the table and did some grumbling of her own at Ranger.
{How did you lose so many?}
Ranger gave her an apologetic doggy shrug and looked embarrassed.
Well, it was part of the payment to get Iselyn to accompany her. Nothing to be done now.
There was annoyed grumbling from the nearby tables as students that probably overheard or saw the Oduron boys raising the barrier evacuated the adjacent seats of the nearby tables.
One thing was for certain, she was going to have an audience. With a sigh, Ria pushed her half-finished but tasty vegetable dish to the side and reviewed the meditation technique: Wind Through The Mountain Peaks Sees The Path Below. The name reminded her of the names for the different types of incense. Did all spirit magic share a similar ridiculous naming convention?
And for a technique that was supposed to give inspiration, its name was hardly inspirational. Sure it was a technique that combined wind and spirit energy, but shouldn’t it be: ‘Rising to the heavens, ascending to the truth on winds of whimsical fancy!’ or something? But, no. It’s about looking down to get a better view. Ria couldn’t help shaking her head.
At least the technique didn’t require any particular pose for use. She just needed to flow the blended energy in a carefully drawn pattern inside her head, lingering at some key points and with each repetition extending the effect for the desired amount of time. There were some warnings about cumulative strain on the mind leading to diminishing returns and not to use it too often, but those hardly mattered for her first time.
Slowly, carefully, Ria wove the pattern, her mind becoming lighter and more detached from her worldly concerns with each pass. One, two, three, four, five. That was the number she chose to last the half-hour. Why she chose a half-hour wasn’t important. That was a worldly concern.
Summoning the glyph from where she left off prior, her work seemed so mundane. Timidly tweaking an uninspired and hollow truth defined by some enchanter who didn’t even understand the nature of what he was describing! Why limit herself so? Ria scoffed. Her ancient blood called out to be expressed! The bracelet resonated. It too yearned to sing of its mysterious beauty forged through ages of exposure to unimaginably powerful magic!
She let her superior truth flood through the glyph, like flowing rivers of molten metal formed in the deep earth at the beginning of the world, bathed in magic until it became something greater, something primordial. The glyph writhed as if alive, its meaning returning like the breath of a lost god awakening from its slumber.
Gradually, the flood of changes slowed to a trickle and then stilled, and Ria knew. Like a seal unlocking, the power within her raged forth eager to merge with the truth and fulfill it. She reveled in the power, cackling darkly at the doom she would justly bring to her enemies.
But. The glyph was still hollow. There was more—a yet deeper truth. Glyphs were so much more than their shape! She was overcome with wonder by the extent of the realization and poured her power into the glyph making it denser, denser, filling in hidden truths, patterns in the twisted space in between.
The truth she found was not new. It was a truth that still existed in the world. Echoes could be felt. Most small and insignificant, but one was more important than the others, and as her glyph became more perfect, she felt a connection form to the source. She had to see!
Born of her desire, the magic bridged the distance, her spirit stretching along the connection and taking ethereal form at the place where that which she sought resided. As she opened her ethereal eyes, a cavern inscribed with countless glowing glyphs of meaning arranged in unfathomable patterns filled her vision. The walls of the cavern had been shaped to give the impression of a great hall, and in the center of the hall a dragon with golden scales encroached by the black of orichalcum curled around a glowing ritual circle that felt of spirit magic and more. An angular orichalcum tree grew from the dragon’s back.
An orichalcum dragon! But was it dead? Or just asleep? If the tree was that tall and majestic, how long would it have slept for? She drew closer and thought she felt the presence of a spirit, or maybe a multitude of spirits, like an ocean hidden behind a rainbow gauze. She could almost reach it…
Frustratingly, her thoughts muddled, and the ethereal avatar began to lose cohesion. A growing ache spreading through her head forced her to release the magic she no longer understood.
When the vision faded, Ria noticed that one of the four boys had fallen to his knees, face pale with strain, fear in his eyes, as he struggled to maintain the barrier.
Ria quickly let the glyph fade, drawing the remaining energy back in. A quick, nervous glance around showed all four boys on their knees. Ah-! Had the unconstrained energy really been that strong?
She put on a victorious smile for them. “I completed it. Thanks for your… help...”
Her voice trailed off as she realized that all the tables around her were cleared of students, chairs overturned, meals abandoned, and liquid dripping to the floor from a few spilled drinks. The tables’ former occupants were staring her way from between the nearby bookshelves. Some didn’t look too happy. Ugh… this was definitely going to make the Daily Shadow.
“What’s going on?” Ria heard a familiar voice asking and had complicated feelings about a certain lord’s granddaughter showing up with this timing.
“Stupid first year experimenting with dangerous magic outside an isolation room, that’s what!” an older girl vented. “Probably restricted magic too since she’s a Sages of the Nine Circles crazie! Judging from the aura earlier, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s been possessed!”
Murmurs of agreement came from many of the other students, some with wands at the ready and eyeing her warily. In fact, the four Oduron guys were watching her the wariest of all and hadn’t released the barrier yet either, even though they looked terribly tired as they wobbled back to their feet.
After a pause that Ria imagined was a grimace, Keira asked with resignation, “Can I get through?”
Ugh.
Their secluded section of the library had become quiet enough that Ria heard the shuffling of fabric as several students moved out of the way for her golden-robed friend.
Keira’s eyes scanned across the abandoned tables, the four third-year boys, and Iselyn before she drew closer with a tired expression and slumped shoulders, stopping just outside the barrier. Ria could feel at least a dozen spells readied by those watching.
She put on a smile and tried, “Keira! I unlocked my affinity!”
The Vorshan girl’s eyebrow might have twitched. “And how did you manage that in such a way that has you being treated like a threat?”
“I succeeded at making the glyph!” Ria proudly reported and half-jokingly added, “I’d show you, but…”
Keira groaned. “I can’t believe you did something so risky without supervision! You could have accidentally connected to a major power or been influenced into performing a summoning!”
And apparently, that wasn’t just in stories—if her vision had been any indication!
Ria laughed nervously and waved a hand in denial. “There’s no way something like that would happen.”
Keira’s eyes narrowed. “Ranger, is Ria possessed?”
Ranger tilted his head. “War-rawr-woof.”
“It’s when a spirit or powerful being takes control of someone’s body,” Ria helpfully explained, trying her best to keep up the ‘unworried and cheerful’ facade in hopes that no one would get panicked and attack her.
He trotted over and gave her a few sniffs. “Rawr-woof.”
The heck?! “What do you mean you can’t tell?” Ria blurted out, only to realize too late she probably shouldn’t have said that out loud.
“Woof?”
“Fine, fine. Don’t worry about it,” Ria grumbled, before turning toward Malleron and a hooded Iselyn, who was in the process of sneaking away. Oh, come on, Iselyn! “What about Malleron? He can tell, can’t he?”
Iselyn froze, but after Malleron said something that sounded both affirmative and rude, Iselyn’s hood bobbed in what was probably a nod.
Malleron made a stoic chest-puffed pose then strutted over with self-importance and poked the barrier, causing a small oval portion of it to ripple. To the third-year boys’ wide-eyed surprise—and probably everyone else’s—the spriggan proceeded to hop through the ripples and hop up on the table, where he motioned for Ria to draw closer and squat down.
Once she was at eye-level with the fungus man, he poked her in the forehead and a disconcerting ripple of spirit energy struck against her soul gate, sort of like when Welkin used his strange spirit magic to forcibly calm her mind.
Once he was done, he motioned for her to stand back up and held out his palm with a gimmie gesture.
Ria stared at the greedy nature spirit in disbelief, but a raised eyebrow from the extorting fungus bastard was enough to motivate her to hand over another earth energy treat. Hadn’t he won enough from Ranger earlier?
Satisfied with the offering, Malleron gave Keira a thumbs-up.
“Did you just bribe Iselyn’s familiar?” Keira asked in disbelief.
“What do you mean, bribe?” Ria scoffed. “He just ext-... er um, was getting a reward for his efforts.” She managed to catch herself in time, and Malleron nodded approval, popping the treat into his mouth before trotting off to ripple the barrier again and returning to Iselyn.
Keira groaned for the second time. “I don’t believe this. Iselyn, did he really check her?”
Iselyn’s shoulders visibly sagged at her escape failing, and she returned to the barrier. “He says she’s fine, and that there’s no intelligence present, natural or otherwise.”
“Hey!” Ria complained, but was only met with smugness from the rude spriggan.
“Fine. Whatever. So, it’s safe to lower the barrier then?” Keira tried again, exasperated.
“Is she done doing stupid things for the day?” Iselyn countered.
Ria nodded. “I completed the assignment.”
“Then, it’s fine… I guess,” Iselyn grudgingly allowed.
Ugh. Was she upset?
Darren let the barrier dissipate.
“That was crazy scary…”
“Ah, I’m so tired…”
“A first-year. How bad could it be, huh?” Arvis mockingly muttered, shaking his head.
From the students with spells at the ready, there was some grumbling about how they should zap her anyway just to be safe, but Ria chose to ignore that and walked over to Darren, who was wiping sweat from his brow.
“Thanks, you four, for your hard work.” Ria gave the third-year boy a self-deprecating smile and made an earth token appear. “It looks like Iselyn was right about the unconstrained energy—if everyone’s reactions are any indication.”
“Sure, no problem… is what I’d like to say,” Darren groused, still eying her while receiving the token. “Was that a gods-cursed glyph of Malor?”
“Huh?” Ria blinked. Was he cursing at her or seriously asking? “I’m a follower of Hemse. Why would you think that?”
“Hemse? The god of farming? Really?” Darren asked with a disbelieving eyebrow raise.
“Really!” Ria grasped the chain of her medallion of faith and raised it up so he could see it better. Though the boy was only partially right. Hemse was also the god of husbanding and fertility, but she wasn’t about to correct him. The other three boys crowded around to get a look at her medallion.
“Huh. She really is…” the one she thought was called Gion mumbled.
Letting her medallion drop, Ria prompted him again, “You still didn’t explain why you thought it was a glyph of Malor.”
He nervously rubbed the back of his head. “Well, you were in some kind of trance and the aura from the glyph was disrupting the barrier and pushing down on the area with enough weight to drive us to our knees.”
“And Malor’s the god of negation, gravity, and change, you see,” Arvis added.
Oh. That did make sense.
Was the pressure just from the weight of time? This sounded like it might have been something different. She had noticed that Orichalcum was surprisingly denser and heavier than gold. Was weight itself a property of the metal? She’d have to investigate it more later.
“Hmm. No, it was a metal glyph. I have some of the metal here.” Ria raised her arm so the flared sleeves of her robe and shirt fell back enough to show the light-absorbing metal of her orichalcum bracer.
Darren’s eyes widened.
“What kind of metal is that?” Gion asked.
“I’ve never seen metal like that,” Hansle blurted out. “And my dad is a blacksmith!”
That drew looks from the other boys.
“It’s a secret.” Keira interrupted, placing a hand on Ria’s arm to stop her from answering and pushing the cloth back over the bracer. “Ria, you’re only paying them one token? They look exhausted.”
Ria glanced at Keira and shook her head as she let Keira lower her arm. “I’m going to give them three more during lunch on Fireday.”
Keira stepped toward Darren with three spirit tokens in her hand. “Are light tokens okay?”
The boys exchanged looks, and after Gion, Hansle, and Arvis voiced that getting paid now was better, Darren received the tokens.
“Keira… it takes me forever to fill up light tokens,” Ria groaned.
Keira didn’t look sympathetic at all. “Then you just need to improve your light attunement.”
With the situation diffused, the angry group of displaced students began trickling back to their tables, some to finish their lunches. Many sent glares in Ria’s direction. The spills were magicked away. Ellen showed up to collect dishes and take new orders.
The mood was not looking too hospitable, so Ria suggested, “I guess maybe we should go meet up with Zena now?”
“No, let’s sit down,” Keira said, taking a seat at the table. “I want to get something to eat.”
Ria tilted her head. “But aren’t you late because you had to do lunch with your Order?”
Keira put her head down on her folded arms and didn’t answer.
“I bet they made her serve the meal,” Iselyn suggested as she slipped back into her seat as if she hadn’t tried to sneak away just minutes ago.
Ria shot a look at Iselyn, but oddly Keira just kept silent and didn’t deny it. Did that really happen?
Iselyn shrugged and waved for Ellen. “Some Orders require new members to act as servants until they earn seniority. It’s a way of establishing a hierarchy and to weed out overly prideful spoiled nobility.”
“And they didn’t let her eat afterward either?” Ria challenged, still not sure she believed what Iselyn was saying.
“Probably told her she shouldn’t eat lunch until she could present herself without her excessive girth embarrassing the Order,” Iselyn snarked.
“Iselyn!” Ria rebuked but Keira just made herself smaller at the table. Had they really said something like that to Keira’s face?
“Ria, you haven’t been among nobles long, have you?” Iselyn asked, but didn’t wait for an answer, continuing with an emotionless voice, “Most nobles are not nice to each other. Keira’s a friendly girl with a pretty face and golden hair. There’s little chance the other noble girls won’t see her as a threat.”
Ria felt her stomach sink only to be filled with bile as a harsh anger churned at her friend’s mistreatment. Was this what Keira’s grandfather meant when he said attending the academy wouldn’t be easy for Keira? That she would be bullied?
While Ria was stewing, Ellen took another order for food from Iselyn. Wait. Was the girl expecting her to pay for that one too? Before Ria could speak up, Iselyn was already directing Ellen to take Keira’s request next.
“I’ll just have a salad,” Keira muttered pitifully and her stomach growled, causing the blond girl’s face to turn red with embarrassment.
Ellen’s face fell at seeing Keira’s depressed mood, and after meeting Ria’s eyes seemed to get what was going on. “Alright. A salad it is! Don’t worry. Today’s chef makes great salads. I’m sure you’ll like it.”
When Ellen returned with Keira’s salad, it was a beautiful meal full of suntouched flowers, small fruits, nuts, and greens topped by glittering golden sauce. Ria gave her culinary friend a discreet thumbs-up at the sight. Even Keira couldn’t help her eyes widening in wonder at what it might taste like.
The depressed Golden Dawn girl still picked at her food, but it disappeared just as quickly as Iselyn’s second meal.
Walking toward the arena later, Keira still looked really down.
“You could join the Sages. Welkin already offered,” Ria tried.
Iselyn nodded agreement. “The housing is affordable, too. And the Towerkeeper let me bring my maid in.”
“And you’ve already met many of the other members,” Ria added.
Keira looked conflicted for a moment before firming up her expression and shaking her head. “No, I don’t want to disappoint my mother and her family. And I would still have to attend classes in Shining Sun Hall, but as a failure who ran away.”
Ria pulled her friend into a side hug and offered with a low voice, “I have a contact in the Twilight Cloak, if you want to get back at someone.”
Blond hair whipped Ria in the face as Keira spun to face her. “Those articles in the Daily Shadow! You didn’t?!”
Ria smirked a bit.
Keira grimaced and rubbed her forehead. “If Nielle finds out…”
Ugh. That would be trouble.
Ranger woofed to get Ria’s attention.
“Ah, Iselyn, wait up,” Ria called out as the pale-robed girl continued on without them. Of course, she was ignored.
“Fine. We’ll talk about it later,” Keira huffed and chased after their mutual friend.
The arena that Iselyn led them to was huge. A grand structure several times larger than the dueling arena she fought Phaelys in. Immense pillars carved with scenes of grand battles rose up to support upper levels so high Ria thought she’d fall over if she tried to see the top.
When, after finding their way through the arena’s depths, they finally reached the training room full of strange machines and devices where Zena and a dozen other members of the Flaming Dragons were training, Zena greeted them with a huge smile, letting the heavy device she was using drop to the ground with a thud.
“Great, now that you’re all here, we can get started. I arranged for use of the main arena until evening and for the staff to operate the safety magic,” Zena revealed.
They would be training in the main arena?! With staff operating the barriers? For hours? How much coin had Zena spent?! “T-thanks, Zena!” Ria blurted out.
An older boy stepped forward. “No. Thank you, friends. It’s really hard for us to find opponents to train with.”
Nods were exchanged among the Flaming Dragon members with further echoes of thanks directed Ria and her friends’ way.
Keira pressed her lips in a grim line, and even Iselyn’s face looked uncharacteristically stoic.
Suddenly remembering what it was like being burned by Rialle’s magic during the recent Grand Games training, Ria realized what the boy meant and the extent of what she had signed up for...