AELLARIA, TUESDAY, SCRIBALAI 31ST,

Aellaria’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked around the dorm room. Reality slowly came to Aellaria—the events of the appraisal. The confrontation with Callo, Callo’s life before his death, and Angel putting her under. A part of her was surprised that there were no magical suppression manacles on her wrists.

There was movement in the room, and Aellaria looked to see Marin. Marin was holding Aellaria’s hat in her lap. “Hey,” Marin said with a light smile.

“Last time I woke up like this. I went to class and kicked you in the head.” Aellaria said. She guessed the reason that Marin had a cautious expression.

Marin smiled, showing her slightly crooked teeth. She let out a soft laugh when she said, “You remembered! Angel and Cryonolon said your brain was damaged in the fight. Behngi said you didn’t know who he was.”

Aellaria lay on her side, facing Marin. “What time is it?” Her body felt groggy and destroyed. Aellaria thought about drinking a stamina potion, but the idea turned her stomach.

“It’s the afternoon. Professor Kaira’s class is doing their Appraisal now.”

“It's been an entire day?” Aellaria asked, but that made sense, given the damage to her mind. “Shouldn’t you be watching the fights?” One of the perks of being the first class to undertake the appraisal was that you could watch the subsequent appraisals.

“You have woken up a couple of times, but you’ve only been responsive now,” Marin said. “I wanted to be here if you woke up. I wasn’t here last time, and I felt bad.”

Silence hung in the room awkwardly. Something was on Marin’s mind, and Aellaria suspected what it was. Eventually, Marin asked. “What did you mean when you said you killed Callo?”

Aellaria looked at Marin and felt her heart drop at the memories. A part of her wanted to tell the truth. ‘I murdered your friend in the first week of class because he said the wrong thing when we were alone. Oh, and now I know that he didn’t even deserve it.’ or, ‘I hit Callo in the face with a lethal concoction because he seemed to be a puppet of some powerful necromancer.’ Aellaria inhaled deeply and responded. “I hit Callo with a potentially lethal concoction. He didn’t concede the fight. Is he okay?”

Marin seemed to think about things momentarily, “Are you hungry? I can go get you some food.”

Aellaria pressed the question. “Is Callo okay?”

Marin just shook her head in the negative. Callo was dead.

Aellaria changed the subject, feeling Marin’s pain. “Some food would actually be really nice. Please.” Aellaria said, sitting up. Marin started to turn around, but Aellaria stopped her. “How did you do?”

Marin ran a nervous hand through her hair. “I lost to Flair. I didn’t win any fights.”

“I’m sorry, Marin. I’m sure you’ll do a lot better next time.” Aellaria started to get up, but Marin stopped her.

“You should stay here,” Marin said. She handed Aellaria the wide-brimmed sorcerer hat.

Aellaria took the hat and settled it on her head. Her fingers then checked for her arcane focus. The lily still hung from her neck. Aellaria still didn’t have her dimensional pouch, but she assumed it was still inside her closet where she left it. Aellaria cautiously looked at Marin, wondering why it would be best for her to stay in the room. “Why should I stay here?”

Marin looked nervous.

“Marin?”

“Flair saw Callo’s body. She saw what happened to his face. She blamed you. Alyviah and Bren haven’t been any better about it either.”

Aellaria thought about the physical relationship between the Callo imposter and Alyviah, and a part of her felt terrible for Flair. Bren hardly seemed to need an excuse to hurt people, which probably made her even more dangerous than the other two. “I understand. I will stay here.”

Marin left and returned shortly afterwards with a big bowl of soup. Marin also brought company. But not the welcome company of Syn and Behngi. Professor Rietta and Niall entered the Freshman dorm room.

Aellaria stood up for a moment, only to collapse at her desk. Professor Rietta, a master rogue, instantly affected how Aellaria evaluated a situation. Aellaria’s guard went up, and she exaggerated her head pain, pretending to be more approachable. “Professors.”

Marin gently set the soup on the desk. It seemed colder than normal, so she cast a gentle heat cantrip until the soup began steaming again.

Aellaria gave Marin a wincing smile and croaked out. “Thank you, Marin. You are the best roommate I could ask for.”

Niall took Marin’s desk chair and brought it to Aellaria’s side of the room. He sat down. “Hey, Aellaria. Are you doing okay?”

Aellaria read sympathy from the master water mage, which was a good sign. “My head hurts. I’m having trouble remembering things from the last couple of weeks,” Aellaria said, but to her recollection, she remembered everything.

“I’m sorry to hear that, my old-school friend,” Niall said compassionately. “We need to know what you do remember. There were moments from your fight with Callo that we don’t quite know what happened. Can you tell us about that?”

Aellaria nodded. “He had a bunch of water in the room. He used it to lock me into place and prevent me from using my dragon's breath potion. He cast a spell on me to make me yield, and things started getting fuzzy. It was—I just remember feeling fear and pain.”

Professor Rietta stepped forward. Her eyes observed Aellaria cautiously. The enchanted gold metal on her cheeks glowed softly as she said, “Niall could scry into the room for part of the fight.”

Aellaria didn’t react to this new evidence. She took a sip of the soup. There was a lot from the fight, a lot of words said that would give away her game. However, if Rietta had known that, she could have dug deeper into her mind when unconscious. “What happened? Why did Niall have to scry?”

Niall went to respond, but Rietta stopped him. “Do you remember striking Callo in the face with the Liquid Lava concoction?” She asked.

“Yes, I struck him before I was immobilized. I thought that he would be okay as a Cryomancer. I thought he would yield, but he didn’t.” Aellaria said, mostly lying. She knew if she was caught lying about the time after Niall scryed, she might be in trouble.

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“Why didn’t you say that when we asked?” Rietta pressured.

Aellaria shook her head. “Details about the last week are coming to me pretty weirdly. What happened to me?” Aellaria redirected.

Niall gave his classic charming fatherly smile. “You’re okay. Some damage was done to your mind by some type of frost spell. The type of magic that spits in the face of our ethical guidelines.” Niall then shook his head, disappointed in his deceased student.

“You said to Paris that it wasn’t Callo. What did you mean by that?” Rietta said.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember much after I was restrained.” Aellaria lied. “Callo hurt me, and maybe. I don't know.”

Niall nodded, understanding. “Someone you thought of as a friend restrained you and hurt you in an excessively brutal way. I could understand feeling betrayed,” Niall said, and Aellaria could see that it undercut Rietta's truth-seeking.

Rietta looked at Niall, annoyed.

“Callo wasn’t a friend to me, but I did think he was a good person,” Aellaria said.

Rietta asked her next question. “Afterward, while in the infirmary, you said that you killed Callo. Why would you say that?”

Aellaria was annoyed at Rietta’s insistence, but being close to Callo’s death not once but twice made it a required follow-up. “I think I knew how reckless it was to hit Callo with the Liquid Lava.”

Niall shook his head disapprovingly. “It was reckless. The enchantments meant to dispel damage done by spells cannot be applied to chaotic magic or poisons and concoctions. Do you remember what happened after Paris entered the room?”

Aellaria shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s spotty. I remember seeing Callo’s body.”

Niall continued. “Paris fought with Callo and was disarmed of his sword. Paris used chaotic magic that killed Callo. We don’t believe at this time that your concoction was responsible in any way. After Paris accidentally killed Callo, you beat Paris in mostly magicless combat, where Paris continued to use chaotic magic.”

Aellaria wrinkled her brow. “Paris? Is he going to be expelled? I won?”

Niall sighed and scratched his head. “Paris will get a warning. He shouldn’t have acted so rashly, but given that Callo had pierced Paris’ back, legs, and scalp with dozens of ice shards– It was reasonable he could have feared for his life. Evidence suggests Callo was in a sort of manic state and was not thinking clearly.” Niall gave a bard’s smile, relieved he had some good news to talk about. “That is right. You won the Appraisal. This will set you up well for the rest of the year if you can defend your position. Congrats, Aellaria.”

Marin seemed happy for Aellaria but not giddy.

“Who won today?” Aellaria asked, knowing the teachers wouldn’t be here if the appraisal continued.

“Your sparring partner. Tilly is very proud of the pair of you.” Niall said, and Aellaria imagined what the foulmouthed coach would have said about the women’s performance this year.

Rietta put the conversation back on track, asking finally. “Did you notice any explosions in the room?”

Aellaria was surprised. This was a detail she missed in her retelling. Callo destroyed the scrying enchantment in the corner of the room, and it caused an explosion. If Aellaria had started to forget at the point that she did, she should have been able to comment on this.

“There was an explosion, and tile fell from the ceiling. I thought maybe it came from one of the other rooms.”

“Did you see Callo do anything that may have affected the scrying enchantment in the room?”

“I don’t recall seeing that.” Aellaria lied. “I remember an explosion and the sound of Paris cutting through the Ice, but much of that fight is just gone. I’m sorry.”

Niall seemed almost annoyed with his superior’s insistence on questioning the nineteen-year-old student. “I knew you had potential that day you showed me your Geomancy. Know that Tilly isn’t the only one that is proud of you. I am, too. Even Granite Guardian is singing your praises.”

“Thank you, Niall. I have worked hard for this.” Aellaria admitted. This time, there was minimal deception. She used much of what Zenithor was to get this far, but she worked very hard for it. Aellaria felt proud of her accomplishment, even if it was stained by the torturous session with the fake Callo.

Niall stood up, “We should get going. You have victory soup to eat. Rest well.”

The two teachers vacated the room. A part of Aellaria felt nervous that Rietta may plan on pursuing the investigation further, but thought she did an excellent job at misdirecting where appropriate and misremembering when necessary.

Marin walked over and ducked under Aellaria’s hat to hug the mage. “I’m not strong enough to protect you, so you better be more careful next semester.”

“I will be. Are Syn and Behngi okay?”

“They are okay. They were watching the fights. They are probably eating now.”

“I will be okay now and next semester. Thank you for looking after me. I really appreciate it.”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Yes. I plan on recovering after I finish this soup, and you should be gossiping and having fun with Syn and Behngi. There might be some weak links in Terra’s class you can get the scoop on now.” Aellaria said.

“That is… an excellent point. Thank you, Aellaria. Rest well.” Marin said before leaving the room.

Aellaria didn’t go for the soup. Instead, she went for the closet. Inside the closet behind her robes was the dimensional pocket. She tied it around her waist and pulled out the journal inside.

It was still there, and the pages were still glued shut. Aellaria ripped out the pages that were glued. Now that she remembers everything. There was no reason to keep them. She then burned them. Aellaria destroyed one of the few damning pieces of evidence left of her crimes.