Liv strode down the dirt road, directly behind Luna. Apparently, they were going to Smoke. Liv had tried to get a description from Luna, but she had given her absolutely nothing, not even a smidge of information about who would try to kill her when she got there.

  Liv sensed movement in the forest and had Luna trip over a small tripwire of air. Simply tripping wouldn't be very suspicious, and she didn't want her opponents to have time to analyze her before attacking. So she created a good opportunity for them to do so, kneeling down to help Luna back up. If they didn't attack now, they weren't hostile, or at least they were pretending not to be.

  A pair of arrows shot out from the forest towards Liv and Luna. Hostile it is, then.

  She summoned a square panel of Thought, putting it between one of the arrows and herself, while asking a wind spirit to block the other one. The arrows stopped, and Liv reached for wood spirits-wait. She hadn't stopped the arrows. Examining them, Liv noticed that they had stopped outside the range of her barriers. Something else had done this.

  A voice echoed out from the forest. "Who are you, and what do you want in Smoke?"

  Liv shrugged. "To travel there, I guess. If there's an altar, we'll go past that, but then we'll leave in whichever direction there are more altars."

  Someone stepped out from the woods and the arrows returned to him. "Ah, I see. Scholars then. You must study the altars. I'm sorry for the hassle. Please continue, Ma'am and Little Miss."

  He bowed to them before stepping back into the woods. Liv took note of the man's clothes. A set of clothing that was more than it seemed, enhanced by Forest spirits, seemingly a long time ago, to keep its wearer hidden. Her gaze flicked to the man's bow for a brief moment. This was a completely normal bow, made of wood she did not recognize. "Sir! Are you a Spiritspeaker?," she asked.

  "No, I am not. You would not know what I do, Ma'am, not looking down on your considerable intelligence of course."

  Liv shook her head. "So what are you, then?"

  The man hesitated for a brief moment before shaking his head. "I'm sorry that I cannot give you instruction on this. If you manage to get into the School at Smoke-which does not discriminate no matter what, by the way-I may tell you more." He winked at her. "I teach there."

  The man swiftly disappeared back into the trees, Liv looking on thoughtfully, before they continued. "Why'd you trip me?," Luna asked in a betrayed voice.

  "Well, you see, I thought there was a bad person in the woods so I had to-"

  "Don't trip me again," Luna said. "The ground doesn't taste good."

  Liv raised her eyebrows. "Was that a joke?"

  Luna started running. "That was your tenth try! And you STILL don't have it right! Get back here, rascal!," Liv shouted, chasing after the running Luna.

  Ranger Edmund stared at the two from inside the woods. He'd been here on a mission, but now he'd found these two. Quickly, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.

  Edmund.

  You remember me, don't you? I'm currently in the city, leader of the Tiransi clan. I discovered her. In the city. She's about to leave already-I told a guard to stop her to come talk to me, but I don't think it's going to work. The girl is blonde and can Spiritspeak. She has a companion with her, a red-haired girl with blue eyes who most likely cannot. I don't know where they're going, but I am sending a message down every path she may take.

  This is my request:

  Keep her safe. Teach her as much as you can about Spiritspeaking and fighting, in general. Direct her towards places she wants to go. Also, please ask her to talk with me at some point.

  I don't know what elements she can use, but I would assume Wind is one of them, or maybe the only one, given how she defeated one of my clan members 'without Whispering'. Probably just subtle intonations. It is possible she could be a Render or Thoughtstriker, but taking into account all the evidence, we can definitively say she is not one of those. Noteweavers would require sound at that moment and no sound was heard. Mana... is dead. She's not using Mana. I guarantee it.

  Thank you for reading this note. One last thing. There are people after her. Strong people. Our current spymaster is after her, for one. They all have people after her. Don't let them get to Liv.

  Thank you.

  Formi.

Mori Quam Foedari.

Semper Fidelis Muto.

Alea Iacta Est.

  Liv continued with Luna, making sure to watch her back at all times. Luna was paying no attention, continuing to run forwards. Eventually, they reached the gates, which were simply left open. No one was watching. No one was asking for papers. People simply streamed in and out. Absentmindedly, Liv slapped a hand off her sword-who would steal a sword?-as she walked through the gates, seeing a bustling city.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The entire city was made of cleanly cut stone brick, many stores with metal wares having signs that said 'imported directly from Mienchin' at the front, clearly visible to the street. Any store without the sign didn't get much business, people almost seeming to avoid the store completely.

  Liv walked up to a random person, asking for the location of an altar within Smoke, if one existed. The woman shrugged before giving them directions to a school of some kind, telling them they would know more than she did. Thanking her, Liv quickly left to the school. When she arrived, she found a small area that reminded her of the Headmaster's establishment. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, Liv remembered when she had stabbed him from below with the help of Wood spirits.

  Shaking her head, she stepped forward, entering the building. The room she emerged in was a large room with multiple people situated behind glass barriers all around the place. It was incredibly busy, everyone always busy. Liv stood in place for a moment, lost, before she caught herself, walking towards one of the lines. Before she could get there, however, she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Liv turned, seeing the man who'd shot arrows at her in the forest standing there. "Hey. Liv, I am Ranger Edmund, a teacher at this school. You're enrolling, right?"

  Before Liv could shake her head and say no, the man continued. "I know the location of multiple altars, but you're not currently strong enough to get to them." he winced. "The werewolves are barely being held back by some off our strongest, for example."

  "And, I know you can get stronger, because you're a Spiritspeaker. How do I know?" Edmund raised his eyebrows. "I can sense your usage of Voice. Now get over here. And you too," he said, turning to Luna.

  Both her and Luna looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Edmund. This did not go unnoticed, however, many people turning to look at their exit with no small amount of jealousy. Ignoring them, Liv followed Edmund as he walked through a side door and down a few hallways, entering what looked like an office. "So. Getting enrolled. Is there anything I have to pay?"

  Edmund shook his head. "Not the first term. After that? The masters will decide on how much you get to pay. The things we think about: Performance, character, what exactly you do." he grabbed a file from one of the bookshelves situated around the room before turning back to her. "What we don't think about: How wealthy you are, and things like that."

  Liv raised an eyebrow. "So, theoretically, I just do good enough and I get out of jail free?"

  Edmund shook his head. "If a master doesn't like you, and at least one probably won't, they'll try to hike up your payments. If your performance is good enough, though, you can simply ignore them and pay nothing anyways."

  Liv pulled Luna alongside her. "And what about her?"

  Edmund raised his eyebrows. "If you do good enough, you get some money back. You can pay for her tuition or she can just do well for herself."

  Liv nodded as Luna looked up, seemingly affronted that Liv thought she wouldn't be good enough to do it herself. "Do we start in different classes, based on age or whatever?"

  Edmund waggled a finger. "Nope! Skill and only skill. Also some peoples' parents get chummy with the masters sometimes so they get let into higher classes." He ground his teeth. "Whenever I see one of those posh idiots I usually get the council to expel them."

  Liv nodded. It made sense. If this was an elaborate trap, they wouldn't have so many people joining, and either way, her enemies would simply capture her, not try to get her to go to school to capture her. "What happens if someone, theoretically, tries to kill or kidnap a student?," she asked.

  Edmund's face darkened. The air shifted in front of Liv, and she saw some kind of... dungeon. Her face blanched as she saw what was happening. Screams echoed through the air and Liv immediately nodded. "That's good, thank you."

  Edmund waved his hand and the air returned to normal, as if it hadn't just shown her... that. "So, want to enroll?"

  Liv nodded. Edmund pointed at something behind her and Liv turned around, seeing a chair she knew wasn't there before. Luna had a smaller chair, and they both sat down as Edmund opened the file, pulling out the first sheet of paper. He skimmed it, writing in a couple places, before putting it back in. Then the next one. And the next one.

  Soon, Liv swore it was spatially expanded, as he kept pulling paper out without end. Eventually, the deed was done, and A mountain of paper had been signed. At the end, Edmund pulled out one last piece of paper and handed it to her, along with a quill. She read through the small amount of text, which essentially stated she would be going to this school. Quickly signing it, she handed it back to a very exhausted-looking Edmund, who got up and shook her hand. "You two are enrolled. Better teleport you there, now."

  "Teleport?," Liv asked.

  Edmund shrugged. "Forgot to tell you. The school isn't actually here. This is just headquarters. You'll get teleported to the actual school."

  Liv felt a twinge of nervousness but ignored it. It this was a trap it would've already been sprung.

  Edmund led them to a room with a circle of runes in the center. They seemed to be infused with a higher energy of some kind which Liv didn't recognize. She gathered Luna into the circle. Edmund stepped in as well, activating the circle somehow after he did so. The runes glowed with a black light before it exploded around them, obscuring their vision before suddenly disappearing. A large room sat around them, many circles littering the area. People kept stepping out or into the circles before disappearing, the same black light expanding around them every time. Edmund was standing right next to them and led them out of the room, through a pair of great wooden doors, taking them down a side path, directly to a large building.

  "This is the housing," Edmund said, pointing to the building. "Your rooms will depend on skill, as always."

  The edge of a story tickled at Liv's mind. "Is this school based off the one the Gemstone Council served at?"

  Edmund shook his head at her, smiling. "I was looking forward to you finding out, eventually. No. This is the school the Gemstone Council served at. Some of the originals from the stories are still alive, in fact. We can get you a talk with Violet, if you'd like, though you'd have to take her class to do that."

  Liv didn't hear the rest of what he'd said, her mind blanking before it returned to its normal state. "You're not pulling my leg?"

  Edmund raised a gem from under his shirt, suspended on a chain. It was a glimmering yellow gem. "Topaz, at your service."

  Liv smiled at Luna, almost unable to believe what was happening. Luna just stared back. "We're learning from the Gemstone Council, Luna. Don't do anything stupid unless it's to me."

  Luna nodded. "I'll do extra stupid things to you, then."

  Liv nodded seriously. "Then I'll punish you even more for your bad jokes."

  Luna started to run before Liv caught her arm. "It wasn't that bad of a joke. I'm just pulling your... arm," Liv said, frowning at the fact that she was actually pulling Luna's arm and not her leg.

  Luna stopped running and immediately turned to Liv. "Was that a joke?"

  Liv waved her hands at Luna. "You aren't allowed to do that!"

  "Do what?"

  "Uh. Use my own tricks against me!"

  Luna started laughing, and then Liv laughed, and then everything was amazing, including the look that Edmund was giving them. It just made them laugh harder.