Things were not going well for Camaz. Of course he knew that his lack of abilities would mean many changes to his life. In his foolishness he hadn’t considered his ability to make the Shades talk to be that big of a loss. They were avoiding Aris anyway, so while she was at Academy island he rarely saw Shades at all unless she was at the opposite end of where he was. He had been meaning to see what were the ‘borders’ of Aris’s newfound Shade repelling ability but of course there were much more important things to do while she was there.

After Aris went off island, the Shades returned but Camaz wasn’t able to make them talk like he did before. In retrospect, he should be glad he could even see and hear them but that would require him to be an optimist. No, Camaz was quickly descending into the role of ‘crotchety old man’ and he didn’t really care to pull himself out of it.

He glowered at Sharp; of all the Shades lurking in the shadows barely out of view, it was the one that was clearest to Camaz. “Say it again,” he urged the floating Shade that tried to retain its cone form. He reflexively tried to reach out to its solute to squeeze the information out, but it was like trying to hold on to thin air.

The Shade remained silent. Camaz closed his eyes in frustration. The Shades’ subsequent return also made it painfully clear just how useless his research on them had been. Perhaps they are useful in finding people with Inner Eye abilities as they had proclivities towards sensing them. But beyond that? Just as his frustration was about to boil over, the Shade spoke in a muffled ‘voice’.

“…have nothing prepared! Does security mean nothing to you people? Just because we’re on an island does not make us invincible,” a voice that sounded like Yepla came out slightly garbled. “And… nonsense about the boats? We had an agreement… do as they please…”

The latter of Yepla’s rants degraded in audio quality such that Camaz didn’t understand any of it. At the very least it clarified what he thought he heard the first time around. Yepla was both stressed about something and dealing with some drama with the boatswains. He spat out a curse - if he was able to interact with the other Shades he would perhaps get a better picture of what was going on. Asking the manus professor directly wasn’t going to work - Yepla took too much pride in his work and disliked people acting like they wanted a share of it. Parts, he hated people.

Camaz got up and briefly swiped a hand over a specific brick on the wall. The ‘la’ rune glimmered to life along with three long lines branching out under it. It was Laell’s signal to him that the four of them were still safe. He checked it several times a day.

When he was satisfied that his ward and the rest of the group was at the very least alive, he left his lighthouse for the residency buildings next to the Marketplace. It was where Verne lived and roomed with Ral - after receiving boisterous recommendations for her work out east from Camaz, Laell also managed to land a nice apartment right near the heart of the Academy. Only the richest and smartest got into the residences here.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

It also meant the most important visitors got to stay there. If Yepla was yelling at somebody about security, it meant someone important was visiting.

Camaz rounded the building where they usually kept guests and casually kept walking up the street that was at a slight incline. A humble stationary shop stood at the end of the street and he stopped by to purchase a bundle of pencils at the stall and asked for it to be wrapped in paper. While the merchant obliged him, he glanced over at the building in the distance, the second and third floor now in plain view. The corner apartment on the third floor had its windows opened and what looked like rugs hanging out the edge to dry. It was a sign that the cleaning staff was there, meticulously scrubbing the floors for a new visitor.

Camaz paid for his purchase and walked back down towards Market Square. Just a block away from the building he was watching stood the Academy’s beloved food stall of steamed buns. The steamed bun merchant was called Lenny but of course everyone just called him Steamer.

Camaz, in fact, didn’t really like steamed buns. He preferred to make his own sandwiches with fresh baked bread from the bakery. In the past he had been wary of letting anyone know this and would occasionally visit Steamer just to keep up appearances and eat one of the steamed buns just for show. Nowadays, steamed buns was pretty much all Aris could eat and his visits to the stall were a lot less conspicuous.

“Another meat bun for the picky lady?” Steamer said as soon as he saw Camaz. He meant Aris who only really liked one type of steamed bun. “Got some ground meat ones fresh out of the steamer.”

Steamer made a big show of uncovering a huge steaming basket, stray droplets of water hissing loudly onto the rune-kept flame below a cauldron of water. “She’s not back yet,” Camaz said under the clamor of evaporating water. “Any word?”

“No, but she might have problems getting back,” Steamer muttered. “The emperor is restricting access to the island.”

This must have been the ‘nonsense with the boats’ Yepla was ranting about. “Know why?”

Steamer shifted another basket, causing more hissing and plumes of steam to come out, obscuring them. It was past midday so there weren’t that many people around as most had their mid-day meal already.

“Heard from one of the patrols,” Steamer continued muttering. “Complaining about extra shifts. VVIP guests coming through.”

“They giving them the room up top?” Camaz discreetly nodded at the residence. “Who is it?”

“Sir, they’re giving them the whole damn building,” Steamer whispered urgently. “Cleared everyone out. Only one person is that important.”

Parts damn it, Steamer was right. The only person the Academy would show that much deference to was the emperor himself.