Saying the word “friends” was a little strange. I hadn’t seen them in so long, I didn’t know if I had that right.
“Oh, I didn’t ask, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.” She stopped and pointed a hand. “Hey, I think that’s the dispensary over there.”
We headed over, only to find a line leading out the door.
Of course there was a line.
We kept up the small talk as we waited. I admit, I felt a little better from it. It was good having a peer to talk to after such a long period of time. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready to face my old friends, but Sera’s presence was growing on me.
After we finally made our way inside, we got marched into separate fitting rooms, where university staff took our measurements.
The tailor gave me a speech he’d obviously given a hundred times.
“You’re a size medium. All uniforms are white, but since you’re in Phoenix Division, yours will have red accents. You get two uniforms. You will need to wear them during all classes and testing sessions. Civilian clothes are permitted during other activities. Keep your uniform immaculate. There are several cleaning facilities on campus, which you can locate on your map.”
He set aside two folded uniforms, then went into a cabinet and retrieved a silver pin with a school insignia about the size of a coin. “Pin this to your uniform before every class and test. Do not forget this, it is absolutely mandatory. The shield sigil gives you basic protection against spells — this is both to handle accidents and to assist you in classes that involve combat exercises.”
The tailor handed me the pin. “You will need to recharge the shield sigil every week, as well as before any class that actively involves combat. You will not be permitted to attend class without a pin, and failing to wear your pin more than once can result in disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion. The same is true for failing to properly recharge your pin. As an Enchanter, you will learn how to recharge the pin yourself, but for the time being you may have your pin recharged at the Divinatory.”
I nodded and accepted the pin.
“Sign here for your two uniforms and the shield sigil.”
I signed the paperwork, accepted the bundle of uniforms, and then went to meet Sera outside.
***
Sera and I would be staying in different dorms. I was in the cleverly named “Phoenix Male, Building #27”, and she was in the equally scintillating “Tortoise Female, Building #14”, but they were both in the same general direction, so we walked together.
She gave me an appraising look. “Odds that Spider Division is real?”
I shrugged, briefly debating telling her that I was in Spider Division. Which, of course, I wasn’t. “After some thought, I’d put it somewhere between zero and, hrm, one hundred percent. Plus or minus a bit.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s probably just a mind game. They want us on edge.”
“I’m not so certain about that. Maybe they’re training some people for covert operations? This is supposed to be a military sponsored school.”
Sera raised her hand to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Could be, or maybe they just really wanted one division per giant tower monster.”
I snickered. She had a point. “It’s a useful mnemonic device. Everyone knows the god beasts, so you’re not going to forget the division names easily.”
“I suppose. I just feel like they’re doing the Spider thing to distract us from something else — maybe a more subtle test.”
I chuckled. “You’ve got the family paranoia, at least.”
“I’ll try to take that as a compliment.”
“You always were good at pretending.”
***
We finished our speculative banter and arrived at her dorm, parting ways there. It only took a few more minutes to find my own building, virtually identical to the one she was staying in. The buildings themselves were three story structures, and from their rectangular shape and size, I guessed they housed about a dozen rooms on each floor.
Finding my own room was simple enough. I already had the key; it had been delivered to my home a few days before I left, along with my orientation paperwork. I turned it in the lock and examined my new home.
It turned out there wasn’t much to examine.
The room was barely larger than a closet, with a thin bed taking up nearly half the space. The remainder contained a generic wooden desk, a chair, and a cabinet. I found a neat stack of documents on the desk, containing more information about the school and another map of the campus.
The crowded space didn’t bother me as much as it could have. I’d grown up sharing a room with my older brother until his disappearance, so I was used to having limited space to work with. While some nobles lived in opulent manors with dozens of rooms, House Cadence was comparatively small. Our house had risen into the ranks of nobility through exemplary military service, not our money.
I shrugged my backpack off my shoulders, stretching, and locked the door behind me.
Freedom.
I took a breath of the air that belonged only to me, closing my eyes and savoring it.
For the last two weeks, I’d felt unwelcome in my former home. My father’s disapproval had been almost palpable. I’d done my best to avoid him, and I had some good excuses. There was a seemingly endless supply of documents to prepare for attending the academy, and I studied more to learn more about my attunement.
So, what did I do with my first moments of free time?
More reading.
This time, something a little more interesting.
I flipped open Trials of Judgment, flipping to the last thing I had written.
Still no reply.
Frowning, I set the book aside. I had other reading that I wanted to do.
I dug through my pack, finding a book on runes that I’d borrowed from my father’s library. An Introductory Primer on Empowering Runes by Conrad Lake.