Lyra had spent the rest of the week studying for the entrance exam. She knew she didn’t need to, any and all Magus were accepted into Waypoint U, but she wanted to do well on the placement exam anyway. And today was the day! Today was the uncomfortably warm, not-a-cloud-in-the-sky day! She was going to go take the placement exam for Waypoint University! All I have to do is not throw up before I get to the exam. Yep. I can do this, that’s not gonna be hard at all. Wow, it's big.

Waypoint University was a massive complex, Lyra had already gotten lost twice just trying to find the line to enter the exam. The school was an open campus, and there was probably some logic to its structure, although what that logic was was a complete mystery to Lyra. There was a row of long, thin buildings right to the left of the entrance, and from the regular window placement her best guess was that they were the dorm rooms. Other than that though, there didn’t seem to be any particular order to the place, the buildings were just kind of scattered about surrounding an open area in a roughly U shape. Given the U was drawn by a toddler who had only seen a U once on a sign two years ago.

“NEXT!” The person in front of her moved away, and Lyra was at a desk manned by a tired-looking teenager. Seriously, she felt like she could carry like four books in the bags under their eyes.

“Are you okay?” Lyra asked

“Applicant or guardian?” replied the teenager

“Uhm. Applicant I think,” said Lyra, “Do you have someone who you can switch out with-”

The teenager gave her a piece of paper, “Go to my left and follow the sidewalk, stop when you see the big crowd of people. NEXT!”

That was not enough direction. Lyra had no fucking idea where she was going, why don’t they sell maps or something at the gate? I don’t know where I’m going, am I gonna miss the exam and miss out on going to Waypoint University because I couldn’t figure out where I’m going on the first day? Oh I hope not that would be so embarrassing, I don’t wanna go back to Stalport. Oh god please don’t let that happen, I think I’m gonna cry- Oh there’s the crowd.

There were…a lot of people. Most of them seemed to be sitting on the grass in front of a building. Or a wall actually, Lyra couldn’t see a roof. She assumed there was a courtyard behind there, probably where the practical was being administered. Lyra wandered over and sat down on the far edge of the crowd from where she entered, closer to the building, and took a look at her paper.

“Examinee number 9066 huh,” she muttered, “that’s a lot of classmates.”

“No it’s not!” said a voice right in my ear what the fuck

“GAH,” Lyra startled and fell down onto the grass. The voice came from a rather short girl sitting much too close to Lyra. How did I not notice her?

“A lot of people enter Waypoint U even though they aren’t magus on exam day, just to say they were there. Notice how there aren’t that many people in the crowd?” She was right. The crowd was big, easily 150 people, but nothing close to the 9 thousand people her paper implied. And it was only the first day of exams.

“Maybe the other people are in other testing sites?” Lyra said

“If there actually were over 9 thousand applicants in 1 day, they probably would have other testing sites. But most people just come here to see the sights. It’s almost a festival actually,” said the girl, “Only for this week though. Most of the time the gates are closed, and it’s really hard to get in here, but during exam week it’s open pretty much all day every day. So people come and visit, just to see what it’s like.”

“Why would Waypoint U let that happen though?” asked Lyra “Doesn’t that like…plug up the line or something?”

“Not as much as you would think,” said the girl, “Most people just wander the grounds, and Waypoint U is big. How would they keep people out anyway? The test for magic capability takes half an hour per-person, and doing it on such a large scale would be really expensive. I’m sure they could come up with something, but why bother? So long as no one tries to disrupt the actual testing process, it’s harmless.”

“Right…” Lyra said, “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“I’m Emma! What’s your name?” said Emma

“Lyra”

“Nice to meet you Lyra, where are you from? You nervous?” she looked Lyra up and down “You look nervous.”

“Okay first of all, Rude. Second, I’m from Stalport. Ever heard of it?” Lyra asked

“Can’t say I have,” Emma replied

“Not surprised, it’s not exactly a big name. Little port city, lots of tin roofs and drunk sailors. Where are you from?” Lyra asked

“Waypoint City, born and raised. I’ve never left here, what’s “The Outside World” like?” Emma responded

“It’s. I dunno, it’s big? It can be pretty too I guess,” Lyra had to pause and think for a moment. “I mean, I’m not the most well travelled either, it’s not like I’ve left the Dominion or anything.”

“Yeah, but who has left the Dominion, really,” Emma said, “Besides all the rich people in the paper.”

“I’ve met a few,” said Lyra, “Stalport. Port city, y’know? Plenty of people work on ships, they see a tonne the world. Although, to be fair, I didn’t really know any of them. It was more a ‘Oh look, there’s a cargo ship coming in! Maybe I can yoink some of the freight’ sort of situation, y’know?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Not really,” Emma replied, “Waypoint City isn’t a port city, so I haven’t seen any cargo ships, and I definitely haven’t had any chance to steal freight. I would love to see the Ocean though. What’s it like? I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

“I’m sure it is,” Lyra answered, “When there are sandy beaches and sunny days. But it’s mostly been cold, wet, and gross in my experience. Ships aren’t great for the water, and we never went on any field trips to or anything. I haven’t seen much of its good side.”

“Really? It’s just cold and wet?”

“Most of the time, yeah,” Lyra paused, “Sometimes though, right after a storm’s just blown through…I can really understand why people write poetry about it. What about Waypoint City, are there any things I should see here?”

Emma laughed, “Not really, you’re seeing the most beautiful part of it right now! The City is mostly here for the University.”

“Examine 514, please come to the testing site,” said a voice from Emma’s slip of paper. Lyra startled, and looked between her own paper and Emma’s rapidly. Excus-e-moi?

“Yessir, on my way!” Emma said to the slip of paper, “It was nice meeting you Lyra, we’ll have to talk more after we enter Waypoint U. Bye-bye!”

“Bye,” said Lyra distractedly. These things talk, what the fuck? How? I mean, magic, obviously, magic school. But how does it actually work?

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“Examinee 9066, please make your way to the testing area.”

Lyra startled awake. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but she’d been waiting for hours and nothing happened. She hadn’t been able to find anything out about the paper, talking into it didn’t yield any results and she couldn’t really think of anything else to try. And the sun was so nice, the grass so warm…there wasn’t any harm in a nap right? Except now she had grass stains on her cheek and probably sleepy eyes too. Way to make a good first impression Lyra. She got up, dusted herself off and headed towards the wall she’d seen when she first gotten to the testing site. It looked like she was the last person here, all the others either went through or left to try again earlier tomorrow. She got to the front door and knocked. The door swung open.

“Examinee 9066?” asked the bespectacled man who’d opened the door. He was small, wearing what looked to be a rather stuffy suit for the weather and had some expensive looking glasses. Are those actual gold rims?

“Uhm. Yes, that's me.” Lyra said

“You’re sure?” the man lowered his glasses, “You aren’t just pretending for ‘shits and giggles,’ as the kids would say.”

As the kids would call it. Lyra had to hold back a laugh. “Do people actually do that? Like pretend they’re a Magus to try and enter the University?”

“Well a few of them are actually trying to enter the university, although most of them just want to see what the test is like,” the man said, “A few of them hope to have somehow not been noticed by the universal tests. Those ones never come out of the exam happy.”

“...Huh”

“...”

“...”

“In any case, my name is Professor Brown, and I will be the proctor for your test today,” Professor Brown said “and -provided you aren’t Mundane- we will test your magical capability. Now come in, come in.”

Lyra stepped through the door, and she was right, that’s a courtyard. Prettier than most courtyards I’ve seen though. The courtyard felt old, but it didn’t show it. The brick floor was well swept and taken care of, despite the foot traffic that must have happened today. There were flowers and greenery housed in 4 L shaped dirt corridors that hugged the edge of the square courtyard. Each was about a pace wide, and probably around thirty paces long down the long end of the L, ten for the shorter leg. They were each separated by one of four brick walkways, each connected to a doorway roughly in the middle of the four walls. In the centre of the courtyard, there was a burbling fountain with six benches evenly spread around it. Professor Brown ushered Lyra towards the benches, and sat her down on one of them.

“Now, today I want you to resonate,” he said

“What?” Lyra asked

“It’s how we test for aptitude.” Professor Brown explained, “Time to reach a resonance, how deeply you feel it, how long it lasts, and how well you hold onto what you learn are all important in measuring your magical capability. Now, if you can’t resonate with something here we’ll ask you to describe the last time it happened to you, so we can try to grade it from there, but it’s always far easier and more accurate to grade you when we can see it happen.”

Lyra blinked at Brown. “You…do know what resonating is, don’t you?” Professor Brown asked.

“What? Yeah, of course I do. It’s “the deepest connection to magic a Mage can have.” I thought it was a really high level technique, that only Tower mages could do or something,” Lyra said

“No,” Brown laughed, “Resonating is what any Magus, not Mage, does to make magic possible. If you are a Magus, you’ve almost certainly had it happen before, though you might not have had the word for it,” he slowed down, his tone becoming almost reverent, “Resonating is connecting with the world in the deepest way possible. What that means is unique to everyone. Some people Resonate with a particular piece of artwork, some Resonate by rigorous experimentation and meditation on a problem till they have understood it, sometimes it means hours or days of study in a library. Regardless, Resonating occurs when a Magus connects with a concept, understands what it means to them as best they can, and then they are shown what that means to the world.”

Professor Brown looked off at something only he could see “It’s… the most incredible feeling. To see as magic must see, to see the world as it sees itself. You can only remember the barest echo of the experience, but it changes how you see everything. If only by the littlest bit.”

Lyra tried to remember. Had something like that ever happened to her? Had she ever understood something so deeply the world itself showed it to her? She was only 19, she hadn’t been around very long, hadn't had much time for contemplation. But…yes. There was that time with the ocean, and the storm…

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“LYRA!” screamed the Matron, “BRING THAT BACK!”

Lyra giggled, out of breath from her daring escape, prize in hand. She clambered onto the roof, and rolled over onto her back. The sun fell on Stalport in the golden colour of a not-yet sunset, bouncing off the tin roofs ever present in dockside. She huffed a breath, and opened her hand. A crust of sugar bread tumbled into her lap. Still high off the thrill of the chase, she nibbled on the treat, bright eyes surveying the scene in front of her.

The ocean was beautiful after a storm. Lyra was on top of the church roof, hiding from the Matron, so she had a gorgeous view of the sea. The sun’s light fell fresh and new on her skin, almost watered down from its usual harsh glare. She finished her treat, and wiped off her hands. The crumbs tumbled onto the roof below. She could still smell the fresh scent of rain, lingering on the cool sea breeze. She felt the familiar urge to move, to do something to banish the tenseness lingering just under her skin. No harm in giving in, not now that she would be in trouble with the Matron later. So despite the height of the church roof, and the beating she was sure to be given later, Lyra stood up. And then she danced.

She moved to the tempo of a far away storm, beating against the roof in time with rumbles of thunder, a laugh ripped from her with a flash of lightning, a ship sunk by the bolt. She swayed with the bowed over trees, and howled with the wind. Felt the electric power of the sea storm, smelt the ozone just before a flash of lightning struck a lonely lighthouse, and giggled at its destruction. She was a ship, tossing and turning, and she was the waves throwing it about. She was the laughter and the joy felt within the terrible wrath of nature unleashed on an unprepared world.

Her dance slowed, breath coming fast and hard. She was the settling storm, the waves spent in their joy and anger, the satisfied exhaustion making her eyelids heavy. Her head dipped as the gentle waves beating against the sandy shore did. She smiled with the tired sun, landing soft and warm on the faces of the storm’s survivors. Her sun kissed hair was thrown about by a wind that never was, her clothes rumpled and wet from gale a thousand miles away. Her smile was big and tired, gleaming in the sleepy sunset, and she smelled faintly of fresh rain.

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That was resonance? How did Mages get anything done, if that was necessary for magic to happen, every time? She couldn’t imagine doing that all the time, she was spent.

“That was certainly intense,” said Professor Brown, “You know, despite the nature of this exam, very few people can resonate with something from just a memory. Don’t expect every resonance you ever have to be that intense, that is a very rare experience.”

“That’s a relief” Lyra said, “I’m exhausted.”

“Mmm.” They sat for a moment, Lyra recovering, Professor Brown waiting patiently. Lyra drew in a rattling breath, held it, and then let it out again.

“So,” she said, “Did I pass?”

“Of course you did,” Brown said, almost affronted. He gestured around the courtyard, “If that’s not a resonance, then I've never seen anyone resonate in my life.”

Lyra looked at the courtyard, and saw it soaking wet, despite there not being a cloud in the sky. She saw the echo of crashing waves in the new pattern on the walls, and heard the pitter patter of gentle rain on a tin roof. She felt the tired sunlight landing on her arms, and breathed in the sharp scent of rain.