Jeb debated whether it was worth asking if he was still allowed to Enchant outside of the Academy. It seems as though ignorance is a defense, he thought to himself, turning away from the Enchanting Guild. If I ask permission and they say no, that will be worse for me than if I don’t ask and the answer would be no. If the answer is yes, then it doesn’t matter if I ask. After running through the different scenarios, Jeb felt comfortable with his choice. There was, of course, the slight chance that it was currently not allowed but that it would be if he asked. If that were true, then not asking would be a poor decision.
Still, he only hesitated for a moment before continuing back to the inn he had visited. As he retraced his steps, Jeb realized that the Inspector had not taken him on the most direct route from the inn to the Enchanting Guild. Despite that, he followed the winding path that the Inspector had made, in case the streets were not all as much of a grid as they had appeared. While he walked, Jeb tried to remember why he had come out that morning. The nervousness he had felt while going to the Enchanting Guild had stripped his mind of everything else he normally carried in it.
Only when he got to the door of the inn did Jeb remember what his goal had been when the Inspector had removed him from the premesis. When he went inside, he waved to the Innkeeper, who rushed out from behind the bar.
“What are you doing back here?” the man asked, voice tinged with panic.
“I was hoping to get my hand pie,” Jeb replied honestly. His journey through the city had been enough of an exertion that he found himself hungry again.
The Innkeeper shook his head in clear disbelief. “Is that it?”
Jeb paused, frowning. Even though eating a hand pie had been the last thing he was about to do, that couldn’t have been why he left the Academy that morning. He started playing through the day backwards in his head, trying to remember what he was doing before fixing the Enchanting on the Innkeeper’s freezer.
“Oh!” he exclaimed, finally remembering. “I was hoping to find a caravan so I can go home at the next term break.”
The Innkeeper nodded, expression growing warm. “Have you been away from home for very long?”
Jeb shrugged. “The Censusmaster took me at the Census, which was midsummer.” Given the Capital’s proximity to the ocean, Jeb was not entirely sure what season it was. All the trees were still just as green now as they had been when he first came to the city.
“And was that your first time away from home?” the Innkeeper asked, tone seeming somewhat concerned.
“Other than a brief visit to my aunt’s workshop, yes.”
“Where are you looking to go?”
“Have you heard of Humdrumville?” Jeb asked hopefully. Seeing the Innkeeper’s grimace, he continued, “I think that the closest city is Midville, but even that is not particularly large.”
Understanding blossomed in the Innkeeper’s eyes. “I do know Midville. There are a few caravans that go in that direction, since it leads to the borders of the Republic. I don’t know when the Academy term ends, but Liam over there,” he gestured to a lean man who seemed to be nursing the same beer that Jeb had seen him with that morning, “leads one of those caravans.”
“Thank you!”
“I’ll have the hand pie out in a few minutes,” the Innkeeper said, moving back behind the bar. If he still had unresolved questions about Jeb’s interactions with the Enchanting Guild, he clearly was not going to be the one to broach them.
Jeb walked over to the Caravan Leader. “Good day,” Jeb said, “my name is Jeb. The Innkeeper said that you have a caravan that goes near Midville.”
Liam looked him up and down, clearly assessing Jeb. After a moment, he nodded. “An Academy student I see,” he said, gesturing to the uniform Jeb was still wearing. “Are you planning to take a leave of absence from the Academy?”
Jeb frowned slightly. “No?”
The Caravan Leader nodded again. “Are you working on your post doctoral project? I cannot imagine that there’s anything worth studying in Midville. Then again, I suppose that’s why I’m not the one doing research.”
“No,” Jeb replied again, “I was hoping to go between terms to see my family.”
Liam’s happy expression faltered slightly. “Do you know how long the trip to Midville from the Capital takes?”
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Jeb grimaced. “It was at least a few weeks when I came here,” he said, “but I was hoping that the Censusmaster was just taking his time.”
Liam shook his head. “I can’t speak to the pace that the Censusmaster was keeping, but that is much faster than a journey with us. If we were just going to and from Midville, we could potentially make a trip to the city in the length of a single term break. Getting back would only be possible if everything went completely perfectly.”
“Oh.”
“And, of course,” Liam continued, “we do not go directly to Midville without stopping. Truthfully, we only stop there because there’s nothing else of note within five days of travel, and there is a Woodcarver there that often gets commissions from larger stops on the route.” Jeb had an idea about who that Woodcarver was, but it did not seem relevant to the conversation.
“I understand,” Jeb said after a long pause. “Do you know if there are any other caravans that might go there more quickly?”
The man gave him a slow sad smile. “I wish I could help you,” he said, “but I truthfully don’t know of any faster route to the middle of the Republic other than hiring a group to escort you there as their sole mission. Of course, that will be-” he gestured something that Jeb interpreted as “ruinously expensive,” before speaking again. “That being said, if you should ever decide to take a leave of absence from the Academy, my caravan would be happy to have you come with us. I saw what you did for the Innkeeper,” he gestured to the kitchen, “and I don’t want you leaving here today thinking that good deeds go punished.”
“Thank you!” Jeb replied. He couldn’t think of anything else to say, and moved back to the bar.
The Innkeeper came back out with a pastry disc. Seeing Jeb back at the bar, he asked, “how did the conversation go?”
Jeb shrugged, feeling as though that was rapidly becoming his default motion. “It takes too long to get to Midville for me to go there for a term break. I’ll need to find another way there.”
The Innkeeper laid a comforting hand on Jeb’s shoulder. “That must have been difficult to hear. Sorry that today must have been filled with disappointments.”
“It’s alright,” Jeb replied, trying to look on the bright side. “At least I have a hand pie.”
The Innkeeper smiled slightly and left. Jeb bit into the hot pie. It was delicious, filled with a thick gravy and well seasoned vegetables. When he had finished the pie, he stood and left the inn.
It only took him a few minutes to find the building he had left the Academy from. The same man was sitting at the desk when he came in. As Jeb approached, he stood.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Jeb frowned slightly, pulling out his day pass. “I was in the Capital on a day pass. I’m coming back from that.”
The man cocked his head. “It’s not even sunset. Are you sure that there is nothing else you need to do in the city?”
Jeb nodded.
“Well then,” the man took his day pass, “welcome back to the Academy.” As Jeb walked through the door in the back of the room, he did not see the hallway that had led to it. Instead, he found himself in the indeterminate tunnels that made up the bulk of his travels through the Academy. Jeb followed them, intentionally focused on not trying to go anywhere in particular. Wherever the Academy was sending him, he trusted it to be the right place.
In retrospect, Jeb thought, staring at the forest that made up Dean Aquam’s entryway, seeing the Dean after my day trip makes sense. Debriefing the Dean on what had happened had been the furthest thing from his mind, so Jeb was grateful that the Academy had thought of it. Though, the longer Jeb had walked through the tunnels, the more that he felt his connection to the System being buried again. This time, though, he was able to feel the change as it happened.
It was a strange feeling. It was somewhat like when he had first left the swarm and hive. The connection between them slowly faded, as though there was a greater distance. Unlike with his Bindings, though, the feeling did not stop at some arbitrary level of weakness. His connection to the System kept fading until it was completely buried.
Dean Aquam opened the door to his office as Jeb neared it. “Welcome back, Jeb,” he said, seeming somewhat confused. “What are you doing back so early?”
“It turns out that caravans are too slow to get back to my hometown in the span of a single term break,” Jeb said simply.
“I am sorry to hear that,” Dean Aquam said. “Did anything else of note happen?”
“Oh!” Jeb exclaimed. “I may or may not have gotten in trouble with the Enchanting Guild.”
Dean Aquam sighed. “As soon as you left, I had to question my wisdom in not warning you against performing Magic in the Capital. Foolish me, I had assumed that there would not be an easy opportunity for you to demonstrate. What happened?”
Jeb quickly ran through the day’s events, this time making clear his distaste of the person who had first Enchanted the freezer. Dean Aquam listened along, frowning slightly.
“I do not believe that the freezer was initially Enchanted by a member of the Guild,” Dean Aquam said when Jeb had finished his recollection of the events, “though I will still bring your concerns to the Guild.”
“Oh? Why do you think someone unlicensed made the initial Enchantment?” Jeb asked.
“The fact that they used such an inferior piece of material is one strong piece of evidence. Moreso, though, the fact that there was an Inspector in the inn who did nothing to repair the system himself. It reflects badly on the Enchanting Guild to have Enchantments they make break down. When that happens, Inspectors are sent out to determine what went wrong. Given that the Inspector did not make any comments about the Innkeeper’s misuse of the Enchantment, my only other thought is that it was not made by the Guild in the first place.”
Jeb hadn’t considered that. The fact that there was an Inspector watching him make an Enchantment had just seemed like a strange coincidence. “But the Innkeeper said that he couldn’t afford someone from the Guild coming to repair it,” he protested.
The Dean looked at Jeb impassively. “There are a number of reasons that he could have said that, most of which relate to the fact that there was an Inspector in the inn. Nevertheless,” he continued, “I am glad that you did not get into too much trouble today.”