“What was that, five, zero?” Lorien’s chipper voice asked, making Edan wince.

His head was throbbing with the mother of all headaches and her chirpy attitude wasn’t helping. Edan still lay on the floor where Aser had kicked him. By some small miracle, or perhaps Lorien’s intervention, they had left him as he was. No stomping while he was down. No stealing of his stuff.

Not much to steal though Edan admitted, looking at his bag. Someone, likely Lorien again, had placed it next to his head.

“Four, zero,” Edan grumbled. "It was my fourth loss."

“Nah-Uh.” Lorien crouched beside him, her dress neatly tucked around her knees. Her brown eyes hung over him like the bulbs of an angler fish. “The fourth one was the time you tried to brain him with your lunch tray and he broke your nose.”

“I didn’t think you saw that one,” Edan admitted, struggling to sit up. “Thanks for staying back, by the way.”

“Don’t worry about it. I wanted to check out your mum's shop later. Cassie mentioned she imported some new fabric from off world? I figured it was bad form to leave her son passed out at school while I went shopping in her store.”

“Workshop.”

“Hmm?” Lorien tilted her head to the side curiously.

Edan rubbed the lump on the back of his head. It stung but his fingers came away clean. He looked over at the hand Lorien was offering and gladly took it. She pulled him to his feet and grabbed his bag for him.

“Mum likes to call it her workshop,” Edan said.

“Oh, that’s neat!”

“Sure.” Deadpan, Edan pointed towards the classroom door. “Let's get out of here.”

The walk from the classroom was mostly in silence. Edan was too busy trying to keep himself from throwing up and Lorien was content to just skip along.

Classes were held in the central building of the Academy and could take up rooms from the ground floor all the way up to the fourteenth floor. The floors above that, fifteen to twenty-one, were all administration from what Edan remembered. Their history class was on floor twelve which meant a lot of stairs. Maybe if they had guards with flight skills, like the important sect students had, who would be willing to fly them down to the ground floor it wouldn’t have been so bad.

At least the marble kept the building cool. Gold leaves accented most of the wooden framework such as the doors and windows. Some may think it made the building look regal or important. Edan thought it made the whole place look tacky.

Stumbling behind Lorien, Edan followed her down the stairs. Students streamed past, some in the colors of their respective sects, others in the more muted colors of brown and grays favored by the guilds. There were a few students in casual clothes, the civilians dreaming of a life of cultivation and sponsorship, these, though, were few and far between.

Edan groaned, holding his head, as the stairs lurched under his feet. He felt his stomach roll and quickly leaned against the wall. The wooden railing dug into his hip as he pressed his clammy head against the cool stone.

A group of girls wearing the pastel pink and yellows of the Bright Petal Sect cast suspiciously looks his way as they gave him a wide berth, almost hugging the wall opposite as they slid past.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Edan was half tempted to jump at them with hooked fingers, but he feared any sudden moves would just result in him being sick.

Lorien skipped back up the stairs. She was always full of boundless energy.

“Do you think you have a concussion?” She quired, cocking her head to the side like she usually did.

“Probably.” Edan shoved off the wall and took a slow steading breath. “My constitution will have it sorted in a bit, I’m sure.”

“Mmmkay.” Lorien started back down the stairs and Edan had little choice but to follow.

Exiting the stairway on the ground floor, Edan and Lorien merged with the crowd shuffling past. Most of the students walked in groups. Above and around them the adults, usually lecturers, could be seen vanishing, or flying slowly, as they used various skills to avoid the masses. Sound echoed in the large open space, the noises blending together to create a constant hum that made Edan all too eager to get out.

Lorien was heading towards the large double doors that led to the Eastern Courtyard and Edan was more than happy to follow. Sunlight warmed his face and a gentle breeze helped settle his stomach as they stepped outside. Here, in the open, the push of bodies lessened. A gravel footpath ran between flower beds towards the outer walls and the entry gates. A few benches were nestled among the gardens and students could be seen sitting and chatting, or eating, most often in matching colors.

“Ohhhh look!” Lorien pointed excitedly.

Edan followed her finger and saw a group of adults walking together in the shade of the walls. In the middle of the group, a massive woman strode. The brown robes she wore did little to hide her muscular frame and she stood shoulders and head above the adults surrounding her. This was all the more impressive as Edan knew a few of those adults and they were not short themselves.

“That's a big woman. Do you think she's from off world?” Edan wondered, using a hand to shade his eyes against the sun as he tried to get a better look.

“Oh! Oh! That must be the Titan! I heard the Traders Guild brought her in to train the combat classes.”

“Why would they do that?” Edan rolled his eyes at Loriens penchant for taking gossip as law. “If the Guilds are going to go through all the effort of bringing in an instructor, it’d be for one of their own classes. You know the sects and guilds are always at each other's throats.”

“But Aser said the Traders Guild agreed to a trade. The Four Star Heavenly Sect wouldn’t allow them to bring in another Guild Elder so they offered to sponsor a combat class cultivator as well.”

Edan opened his mouth to rebut the news, if only for the reason that Aser had said it, but it did make a certain amount of sense. If the Traders Guild wanted to bring in a sect elder, it could change the already precarious power structure, and The Four Star Heavenly Sect wouldn’t allow something like that to happen unless they could benefit from it.

Edan made a note to ask Harvey about it later.

The pair walked through shadows as they exited the gate. The stone arch looming above their heads was like an open palm, waiting to slam down on them. Wide bridges sprouted like limbs from the Islet, running off in different directions. Tall and arching they were made of treated Vitalis rich wood and inscribed with runes for durability and stability. Each bridge was built so the very top of the arch had enough space for the smaller masted ships and tugboats to sail under.

The lapping of waves against the bridge support and the cawing of birds overhead helped remove the last vestiges of injury from Edan and he took a steady step forward, his foot landing on the central bridge with a soft thump.

“You’re looking better,” Lorien commented

“I heal fast.”

“What’s your constitution?” Lorien asked, walking backward along the bridge.

An older couple were walking past holding hands, the man pointing at the port along the shoreline in the distance with his free hand. They looked like tourists, wearing simple cotton clothes, in neutral colors, unmarked by Guild or Sect affiliation. Both of them scowled and split apart as Lorien almost collided with them.

“None of your business.”

Edan flashed the couple an apologetic smile.

“You should come back at night,” he told them softly, letting Lorien get ahead of him. “The scribe lanterns turn on as the sun sets and…well, it looks pretty when you can see the other bridges lit up, surrounded by the dark ocean…uhh, sorry.”

Scratching the back of his head awkwardly, Edan ducked away. The couple blinked after him before the woman smiled hopefully at her man and he nodded.

Lorien had slowed down to allow Edan to catch up and with a defeated sigh he hurried along.