A few days had passed since the Evaluations. Isyd didn’t have much chance to see Jadwia. It seemed that the girl was avoiding him which was a first. Words had quickly spread about his null tuition which Isyd found odd because everyone’s else tuition was treated as intimate information and not easily shared. Isyd wasn’t sure who to blame and he even suspected the Doyen to be behind it all, though there was no way for him to ever prove it.

Isyd had been trying to find Hidrss but the man was also elusive, busy with his tasks as a Tutor. Those made him particularly grumpy for the few times Isyd had caught a glimpse of him.

Naeht finally found him in a room of the Atelier after searching all around the Academy. She was better than Isyd for localizing someone in that instance because the Atelier disturbed Isyd’s perception of the Song of the Grace due to all the [Arcanes] being concentrated in one place. Hidrss was hiding in the basement of the Atelier, a place that Isyd had never been before. As per usual, he was tinkering on some [Arcane] with old [Lightspheres] embedded in the ceiling to provide light. Orbs of liquid copper and mercury were held in suspension over Hidrss’s head and he was casting [Spells] in quick succession to twist and turn them into thin wires of the desired shape and attached them to leather bands spread out in front of him. Isyd was impressed by the man’s dedication to Arcanic Arts; every time he saw him, Hidrss seemed busy working on this [Arcane] or another. It was as if he couldn’t spend a single hour away from his craft.

It was good that Isyd found him here, away from other Pupils and Tutors. He wanted to talk to him in private. Isyd cleared his throat to announce his presence. Hidrss threw a glance over his shoulder and grinned seeing him standing there on the doorstep.

“Oh, it’s you! Sorry for missing your calls this week. I was busy.”

“It is fine. We can talk now if you are available.”

“Yeah, I managed to sneak out,” Hidrss said, turning back to his workbench. “I’m surprised you found me actually! Anyway, I wanted to congratulate you for your Evaluations. That’s quite the performance you did there! 3 Openings in one semester? Never seen in living memory before!”

“That’s also what I wanted to discuss with you,” Isyd said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. “Did the Doyen ask you and the other Tutors to give me an easy pass?”

“He certainly didn’t ask me anything, that’s for sure! But then again, I didn’t Evaluate you so I can’t be certain…”

Isyd’s face was grim. “Did he also do it for other Pupils? Is it a habit of him to manipulate the Evaluations beforehand?”

“Manipulate? I don’t know if I’d call it that…”

“Hidrss…”

“I guess he did ask me once or twice in the past to lay it easy for some Pupils of the Paramount Rings, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he asked the same of your Tutors. The geriatric had taken a liking to you, Isyd!”

“Hidrss!”

Isyd’s tone made Hidrss stop his tinkering and turn in his direction. The Tutor was confused.

“Is something… wrong?” he asked tentatively.

“The whole system of the Evaluations is wrong!” Isyd hissed. “Why were merchants from the Guild and independent Artysta present?”

“They are curious I suppose…”

“Are they now? You don’t think it has to do with them wanting to see their prospective recruits perhaps? Tell me the truth, Hidrss: the goal of the Academy is not for everyone to graduate as Artyst, right? Instead, everything is organized so that most Pupils will drop out after a year or two, after having learned the basics of the Arts. They are then perfect Artyficers. All of them will be of the 1st or 2nd Openings and can work as assistants or counsellors but never as full Artysta of their own.”

“Artyficers is a noble profession!”

“That’s not the point! We will need Artysta, not Artyficers!”

Hidrss sighed and passed a hand through his hair. “I don’t see what got you so angry, Isyd. It isn’t a conspiracy you’ve just discovered. It is known…”

“You can’t see? Let me ask you this then: why do we stunt the growth of some and let others thrive? What are the criteria for selection? There are many Pupils here who could become great Artyst if truly given the chance. Instead, they are burdened by a heavy tuition, punished for simply believing that the Academy was honest in its educational pursuit. I, on the other hand, get to have my path cleared by the Doyen and other Tutors, making almost a mockery of the whole thing! And for what? Because I am talented? What does that even mean? Many are as well, but talented of a different sort, in ways that may not be as apparent at first! But what is the point of a strong seed in a sterile ground, Hidrss? On the entrance of the Academy is carved its motto: ‘First the acorn, then the forest’. I thought it spoke of the potential of growth in each of us, but I am now sorrily disappointed…”

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“Not everyone can become Artyst or wish to do so, Isyd,” Hidrss said with a regretful expression. “It is something I also had to come to terms with when I was studying. You must understand that you and I are the exception, Isyd. Many of the Pupils that enrol here do it with the wish of becoming Artyficers…”

“Only because they think it is the best they can achieve and everything and everyone here reaffirms this belief instead of challenging it. We need more Artysta!”

“You keep saying that but I don’t understand what you mean by ‘need’!”

Frustrated, Isyd paused for a second and tried to think of a way to make Hidrss see how much they were hindering their chances of survival in the coming war against the Obcys. He couldn’t simply tell him what was about to befall them, but he had to make him understand…

“I understand now part of Tekla Dumnchory’s anger,” Isyd finally said. “In the past, she was probably slighted just as I have described and this made her resentful. Seeing me enter the Atelier with ease must have aroused an old wound.”

“Dumnchory? Is it what it is all about? I thought we had agreed to move on from this issue!”

“It’s not about her specifically, but the whole Academy! This won’t do, it needs to change!”

“And what can we do, really? It’s not like you can afford to pay for the tuition of all the Pupils. We should count our blessings instead! The Commonwealth is one of the only places where everyone can practice the Arts. I hear that in Khruss, women can’t even dream of studying the Holy Arts while in Matizna, you cannot cast a single [Spell] without having the Tsarist secret police breathing down your neck! The system we have here is far from being perfect, but much better compared to what’s happening elsewhere. Do not think I am happy with it, though…”

Isyd could hear a certain bitterness behind Hidrss’s words and he guessed that the man must have felt a similar frustration in his time at the Academy. Isyd crossed his arms and remained silent, brooding. Hidrss turned back to his workbench after a heavy sigh.

“To be fair, I thought you knew all of that already,” Hidrss said. “It’s like an open secret after all… The sons of the szlachta can afford to continue their studies no matter how lazy and talentless they are whereas others are not given a second look the moment they entered the building and displayed normal abilities… That’s why I was so surprised you took so long to join a Paramount Ring – everyone knows it’s the only way to get an advantage here. First I thought perhaps you just wanted to see which one would suit you or which one would be the best for the incoming Tourney… I was sincerely surprised when you came to me and asked to form your own Ring! By that point, I had just assumed that you’d do your own thing during your short stay in the Academy…”

Isyd nodded distractedly, still mulling over what needed to be done. His attention perked up at a specific word Hidrss said. It ruffled a part of his memory from so long ago, that he had almost forgotten it entirely.

“A Tourney? What is that?” Naeht asked.

Isyd relayed her question to Hidrss, though now he recalled what it was referring to.

“The Tourney is a tournament held every decade between the three Academies of the Commonwealth,” Hidrss explained. “It serves as a showcase for Artystic talents and a forum for competition between the Rings. I thought you knew about it already.”

“I did. I just… forgot…” Isyd said.

His life in Vilriver was relatively a long time ago and if he remembered a lot from the broad strokes of his time in the city, many of the minute details came back to him with more difficulty. Now that Hidrss mentioned it, Isyd recalled such an event that had put the whole city in a frenzy around the Academy. In his previous life, he hadn’t enrolled in the school and was working as a lowly apprentice clockmaker so he didn’t know much about it.

“When does it take place?” he asked Hidrss.

“During the first half of the next semester. This year, we are the ones organizing it! That’s one of the reasons I had to go to Lubz, to the Academy of Holy Honour. The people from the Academy of Holy Temperance in Karak must have already begun their journey by now.”

“I’m surprised I’m not saying more activity about it then.”

“Well, we still have time and it’s better to wait for the Evaluations to be over with. Plus, it’s not like nothing is happening at all; the Paramount Rings are already butting heads to decide which ones of them will be allowed to participate…”

The beginning of an idea sprouted in Isyd’s mind. He got closer to Hidrss. “What are the modalities? How are the participants decided?”

“Hmm… Well, each Academy must send 9 Pupils, often arranged as 3 Rings sending 3 of their members. Usually, this means that only 3 out of the 6 Paramount Rings get to compete so you can understand now where the conflict begins. The participants are decided by the respective Ringleaders but the sum of the three person’s Openings has to be between 7th and 20th included.”

“And how do they decide which Rings can participate?”

“A competition between the Ringleaders of the Paramount Rings usually. At least, that’s how it was last time… Why this sudden interest in the Tourney, Isyd? I didn’t know you to be the type to worry about such things! It’s not like you can part…”

Hidrss let the sentence trail out as a slow and dreadful revelation dawned on him. He spun around and met Isyd’s determined gaze.

“Don’t tell me…” he mumbled.

“Can a Ring other than the Paramount Rings participate?” Isyd asked, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“This isn’t a good idea! You—”

“Answer the question, Hidrss. Can other Rings participate as well?”

“Yes… yes, they can…” Hidrss sighed. “But it is simply not done! Only the Paramount Rings have the skills and the manpower to participate…”

Isyd nodded slowly and gave him a mischievous smirk. “Now, you were right in what you said before, Hidrss. The reason I founded my Ring is because I intend to do my own thing…”