Once everyone had gathered in Keane’s living room, they all agreed quickly enough to form a faction together. The next order of business was to decide which one of the first years would represent their faction for negotiations. Before that, Cassandra wanted to hear the story of how Alois became the headmaster’s apprentice.

“Making sure you don’t have any reason to run away before you commit?” Alois asked, “I don’t know what kind of story you are expecting, but it isn’t that big of a deal.”

“I still want to hear it,” Cassandra insisted stubbornly, “It will give us more insight into what the headmaster values as well.”

Alois sighed as he saw everyone’s curious and eager faces. Even Keane and Caleb seemed invested. “Fine,” he gave in, “Last year I was a first year here at Nobility. Back then, I had no intention of graduating. All I wanted was access to the information at the Headmaster’s disposal. Just enough to get my bearings on how Tethia compared to the future I saw…”

As the runaway son of a merchant, Alois did not have much in the way of influence, so he had to get his information the hard way. Sneaking, stealing, eavesdropping. He already sounded more like a spy than a student, especially when he mentioned his penchant for stealth magic.

The incident in question began when Alois, in a particular moment of curiosity, pocketed an odd looking pen in the headmaster’s office.

“Hold on,” Cassandra interrupted, “You stole the headmaster’s pen?”

“I just picked up something interesting that was lying about,” Alois replied with a shrug, “Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?”

Cassandra still wanted to object but she fought it down. He wasn’t going to tell any stories if they were too busy arguing about a minor detail. “Continue.”

Alois watched her for a few moments before he began again. “I used to pick up little things here and there but it was never a problem,” he continued, “but one of my classmates who was always angry about my carefree attitude recognized this pen…”

It was easy to see how this would go downhill. Alois was called to the headmaster’s office where a group of his classmates were waiting with smug faces. Osmond calmly asked Alois to empty his pockets. At this point in the story Alois paused for a few moments.

“Remember how I said I wasn’t really interested in graduating?” he asked, “I figured that those guys had just handed me the perfect opportunity to get expelled before things got too complicated. I had all the information I needed, and I could tell I wouldn’t be able to turn back if I got too much more involved. I knew why I had been called there, and I knew I had that pen on me too. It was perfect.”

Before revealing anything else, Alois pulled the pen out of his pockets first, placing it on the desk before the headmaster. He waited and watched for a reaction before beginning to pull out other items when he received none. Rather than the headmaster, this drew a reaction from the ringleader of the students. It was not a reaction to the pen, or any of the shiny things Alois had happened to pick up along the way.

It was a scrap of metal that looked to be the missing piece of something. What that something was could be anything, but that student seemed to know. Osmond also noticed this. Alois hesitated before setting that item down, drawing an even stronger reaction.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“That’s mine! You really are a dirty thief! Hand it over!”

“These are all just things I found lying around,” Alois had replied.

Cassandra hadn’t been going to comment. She really had been trying to just listen to the story, but she had to say something to this. “Did you really just give us the exact same excuse you used a year ago?” she demanded.

“It worked pretty well back then,” Alois told her.

“Are you certain this is a story about how you became an apprentice?” Maximus asked in disbelief, “It sounds more like you are about to get your wish to be expelled.”

Alois sighed. “Unfortunately, I am right here, not freely living as a merchant after being expelled from Nobility.”

That was certainly true. Alois continued on with his story. Things derailed from there. The focus which had originally been on the stolen pen had switched entirely to the scrap of metal. Osmond seemed particularly interested in it and confiscated it immediately.

“I am afraid this requires further investigation,” he said, “Alois, do you have anything to say against your accusers?”

Mistaking this as part of the ceremony of expulsion, Alois let it all out. Though he had barely interacted with his peers he knew far too much about them. This one was cheating. That one was helping him. The other one was selling fake potions. And the ringleader? He was an annoying guy so Alois had plenty to say about him. He had been sneaking off campus to meet his girlfriend who had failed to get into Nobility, and he had even beaten up a first year Heart who had happened upon his little escape route.

“You have a unique skill for gathering information,” Osmond noted, “I have been watching you for some time, actually. I keep a special close eye on all of my Dusks. This little meeting is the perfect opportunity to make an example of those who disobey the rules right in front of me.”

Most of the students standing in front of Alois were suspended. Suspension in Nobility was a big deal when every moment was important and precious. Not only that, who would take on an apprentice who had been suspended? As for the ringleader, he had been expelled.

“Why?” he demanded.

Osmond held up the scrap of metal he had confiscated. “Do you think I would not recognize a fragment of magic bomb?” he demanded, “I am afraid your expulsion is only the beginning. You will be arrested with suspicion of colluding with the enemy.”

After all of the other students were sorted, Alois tried to leave the room. He could tell by now that things had gone far away from the direction of his own expulsion and wanted out before he caught any more attention. Unfortunately, it was too late for that.

“This is a nice pen, isn’t it?” Osmond asked him, “It is a unique color, but otherwise nothing too special. You can keep it if you would like.”

Somehow permission had always sounded like a trap so Alois refused immediately. While he was at it, he figured he could just take matters into his own hands.

“I would like to take responsibility for the incident I caused and quit Nobility.”

“I can’t allow that,” Osmond told him, “How can my precious new apprentice leave school during his first year?”

And it was settled before Alois even had a chance to refuse. Hadn’t the apprentice system been created with more protections for the apprentice? Where was his right of rejection? How did everyone suddenly already know about it?

“Like I said, not a very exciting story,” Alois concluded, “It is more annoying than anything. That idiot Nathan who was bothering you earlier was one of those students. Obviously the headmaster would never recommend someone who was helping others cheat no matter how good their intentions.”

For the first time since she had met him, Cassandra truly felt pity for Alois. It was one thing to choose and intend to take on the role of the headmaster’s apprentice and another to have it forced upon you. Despite that, he seemed to be thriving in his position even if he was very busy.

“So Nathan may continue to be a nuisance,” Caleb concluded, “He bothered me as well.” Nathan must have been cornering first year apprentices all day about the representative business.

“You wouldn’t even make a good representative,” Keane observed, “Negotiations aren’t your strong suit.”

“You can’t get your head out of your research long enough to care,” Caleb pointed out, as if he wasn’t the same.

“Then who should our representative be?” Autumn asked, “Alois can’t do it. He’s in his second year.”

“I think it should be either Maximus or Cassandra as Hearts and Tears are both positions which involve a lot of future negotiations,” Alois suggested.

Cassandra could feel before she could see Maximus’s sparkling eyes. He still had unwavering faith in her because of whatever incredible martyr she had been in the future he saw. It was already obvious how this discussion was going to end.

“I’ll do it,” Cassandra told them before they all could start trying to convince her. Alois had been right. It would be good practice for later anyway. “We have more important things to worry about, though. We still need a Quill to be acknowledged as a faction.”