Chapter 60 — Whitestone Hall

As Ria walked alongside her elven friend, she almost wished they were headed to her Order’s Grand Games practice where she could enjoy engaging in creative applications of externalized violence rather than continually kicking herself for being so naive.

A first-year who could use lightning magic, it was obvious the girl would be a Ravelle! But for Leriah to be Administrator Rente’s daughter… the thought hadn’t even occurred.

That meant his daughter was caught using dangerous magic against another student twice! Ria even had Desi as a witness for the time the girl used lightning on Ranger. Did she give up too much by agreeing to Administrator Rente’s offer too easily? Didn’t he need her to agree to this apology as much as she needed to avoid a second strike on her record?

And he still stuck her with paying the full amount of the repairs even though his daughter was directly involved! Ugh! That guy is totally shameless!

“What’s with the anguished face of regret?” Orlisi laughed.

With a huff, Ria grumbled, “I totally got scammed by that Ravelle administrator guy.”

The elf girl nodded sagely. “Rente, huh. That guy’s almost as tricky as Hulle.”

“Ah-! You could’ve warned me ahead of time!” Ria groused at her annoyingly unsympathetic friend.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Orlisi objected before winking in Ria’s direction and sticking her tongue out. “Outwitting guys like him who are so full of themselves is an opportunity that doesn’t come often. You should enjoy the challenge, savor it even!”

Spoken like the #1 troublemaker that the elf girl apparently actually was…

At the time, Ria thought she had managed to dodge certain (academic) death at an acceptable price with that encounter, but now she suspected that Administrator Rente let her ‘win’ as a way of solving his own problems.

Ah well. What’s done, was done. She would still keep her end of the agreement. Getting connections with House Ravelle was a good outcome that would be hard to otherwise achieve after humiliating Verdin so much. Whether she could really be friends with Leriah was an open question, but she’d give it a fair go. …still, a private training duel to ‘clear the air’ might not be a bad idea.

“Here we are! Whitestone Hall!” Orlisi announced like a tour guide, performing a dramatic flourish of her sleeved arm. “Home to the Silver Shield and the location for the Grand Mage’s Ball!”

Ria rolled her eyes at the elf girl. It wasn’t as if she didn’t walk by the hall regularly on her way between classes. And what was with almost every event and location in the capital being prefixed with ‘Grand’?

Cynicism aside, the building was grand, and gorgeous—fluted columns, tall arched windows, large balconies, all with sculpted lion and shield details. And just like the Hall of Registration and Advancement, the white stone was subtly veined with blue and gold. The style was pretentious without being gaudy, unlike Shining Sun Hall.

“Done gawking?” Orlisi teased.

“I wasn’t gawking,” Ria denied. “I was admiring the architecture.”

“Sure, sure.” Orlisi motioned with her arm. “Shall we go in?”

As frustrating as the girl was at times, and even if she was the prior year’s #1 troublemaker, Ria was glad to have returned from the Office of Student Affairs in time to meet up with Orlisi. Neither Keira nor Iselyn had received an invitation from Iori, and facing the nobles of Whitestone Hall by herself would have been a daunting task.

Hopefully, the meeting with Iori wouldn’t take too long since Shadwich was expecting her as well. Ranger was already sent on ahead to Parthanex Tower so that whatever the monocled researcher had planned wouldn’t be unnecessarily delayed.

With a deep breath and cycling of her energy, Ria firmed her courage. “Alright. I’m ready. Lead on, my brave escort!”

“Now you’re getting into the spirit!” Orlisi praised with a contagious grin.

Her joining Orlisi’s act earned a few chuckles from a pair of older students who viewed them with warm eyes while passing by.

Just placing her foot upon the polished stone steps leading to the large entrance, Ria could feel the tremendous power flowing through the building. The sensation reminded her of the feel in the lower levels of Parthanex Tower where the energy was being drawn up from the ley-line. Most of the energy likely went to powering the building’s enchantments, but studying and practicing one’s magic around such flows was surely a boon to the Silver Shield’s members.

As Orlisi led her inside, the wide entryway opened to a receiving hall, its walls lined with rows of lacquered shields painted with the heraldry of hundreds of noble Houses. Twin glyph-inscribed staircases featuring crystal lions to either side curved up to a second-floor balcony. Archways led to other areas of the building, golden plaques giving direction as to what would be found beyond.

“Behold! The Hall of Shields! Here you’ll find the heraldry for every noble family in Crysellia displayed,” Orlisi dramatically informed, continuing her role of tour guide. “Through the archways you’ll find classes, ballrooms, and other services, but today you’re headed to the fourth floor, so let’s take the Stairs of the Lionhearted Defenders of the Realm.”

“Are they really called that?” Ria asked dubiously. It sure sounded impressive. Was there a trial of the heart involved in their ascension? She had read about such things before.

“Yep!” Orlisi affirmed. “Cool, huh?”

Ria nodded agreement and let her gaze travel over the nearby shields as they walked. Many of the shields she recognized from her aborted etiquette studies, but there were still so many more she would need to learn if she wanted to avoid future mistakes when interacting with the students from the noble houses.

When they reached the stairs, Orlisi darted up the first few broad steps and glanced back with one of her troublemaker grins, which turned into a full grin once Ria’s foot was on the first step.

Ria narrowed her eyes at the elf. Was there a trick with the steps after all? Some of the many glyphs inscribed into each step were warding glyphs, but Ria didn’t sense any reaction. That Orlisi was happy about something was worrisome though.

“Coming?” Orlisi prompted, resuming her assent.

Whatever the trick was, Ria couldn’t figure it out and hurried after her friend.

Like everything else inside the hall, the stairs were beautifully crafted from magically-conductive materials. Ria let her hand brush against the lacquered wood atop the glittering crystal railing, appreciating it’s deep color and feel. The location had a sense of time and dignity that was subtly different from that of Parthanex Tower’s entry hall.

That sense of dignity reminded her of what she felt when unlocking her ‘body’ gate—an aspect of her bloodline that seemed to cause her pride to flare at odd times and for odd reasons. Hints were contained in the feel of the wood, hints which might help with unraveling that mystery, but before Ria could grasp the insight, they reached the top of the stairs, and her hand left the surface of the wood.

“This way,” Orlisi encouraged. “Since we’re here, there’s a place I think you will find worth seeing.”

“I don’t want to be late,” Ria cautioned. A glance around the balcony showed the second-floor archways were inscribed with the same glyphs as present on the stairs—or at least the ones around the balcony were.

“It’ll be fine. You can get to the fourth floor this way as well.”

Orlisi eagerly proceeded through the central glyph-inscribed archway to a hallway ending in wide steps which led into a large sun-lit room.

The sudden brightness of the space forced Ria to squint before her eyes adjusted. Rather than a room… the scene before her was again nothing short of grand. As in the Hall of Registration and Advancement’s central atrium, pillar-supported balconies reached to a glass-domed ceiling. At the far end, more light poured in from large glass windows which provided a sprawling view of Vesali City’s upper ward and the castle’s towers. From the upper balconies hung colorful tapestries featuring the themes and colors of the Greater Houses.

“Wow…,” Ria breathed out at the sight.

“Thought you’d like it,” Orlisi replied smugly then added with her mischievous voice, “Though you may want to appear more like you belong from here on.”

What?

Ria lowered her gaze and froze.

She and Orlisi were standing on a dias with steps leading down to a well-appointed lounge area below, an area not unlike the waiting room for the Office of Student Affairs but larger and with a tended bar and mantled servants—an area occupied primarily by students wearing the distinctive purple and silver mantle of the Silver Shield.

Wait! Orlisi brought her to the Silver Shield’s student lounge?!

“Oh? What’s this?” a deep voice called out from a nearby seating area. “A pair of newcomer champions come to pay their respects to real champions, is it?”

Orlisi’s eyes widened upon taking in the sight of the fourth-year purple-mantled teen wearing a golden robe that could compete with Keira’s for gaudiness. “Oh-hoh, Champion Rone, Master Abjurer and Vice-captain of the Silver Lions! Indeed, indeed. Congratulations on last year’s exciting win. Come, Ria. You should also introduce yourself.”

The elf girl cheerfully pattered down the dias steps on light feet, and Ria nervously followed.

The fourth-year boy was one of Presius’ teammates. Did that mean Presius was here? She really didn’t want to encounter the terrible boy again. Thankfully, Faris and Hulle’s cousin didn’t seem to be around. There was only a younger boy with Rone, sitting on the couch opposite. The younger boy’s dark curly hair nudged a memory. Had they met before?

She scanned the students at the bar as well just to be sure Presius really wasn’t around only to freeze in place again when she turned back in time to see her friend had approached behind the somewhat-familiar boy and, casually draping an arm around the boy’s shoulders, leaned over with a sultry “Heya, handsome. What’cha reading there?”

“Oy,” the now blushing boy objected and scooted down the couch enough to slip away from the amused elf girl’s touch.

That voice! The younger boy was the smoke idiot! What was Orlisi doing?!

“Thanks for making room,” the troublemaker sing-songed and vaulted the back of the couch with an easy hop, fluttering into the vacated space before shamelessly pawing through the piles of paper on the low table between the couches. “Oh? Dossiers on competing teams, is it? Ah, the Farenthil Hall team. Definitely, looking to be one of this year’s favorites. Hey, hey. Got one about me? I’m really curious!”

Smoke idiot grimaced and looked to Rone for help.

Ah-! Orlisi was doing espionage! She was stealing the information on their competitors!

With the realization, Ria knew what part she was supposed to play when Orlisi told her to introduce herself—distraction! “Wow, Champion Rone! The Vice-captain for the Silver Lions! Nice to meet you, I’m Ria of Shadewood—ah, but you probably already knew that since you knew I was a newcomer champion. I can’t believe I’m actually talking to the Vice-captain of last year’s Grand Games winning team! This is my first year competing. I’d be grateful for any advice…”

By the time her spiel had finished, she was sitting beside the imposing fourth-year gazing up at him expectantly. She took the opportunity to view him with both magic sight and sensing sphere. His aura of light energy was as solid as his muscled appearance. Even just sitting there, his defenses were impressive to an extent Ria wasn't sure she could breach them on her own.

Rone smiled at her—a humoring smile that made Ria blush a bit in embarrassment at the transparency of her actions.

“Advice, is it? Suppose I could do that. It’s apparent that you’ve put extensive work into your physical training. More than Tensley here by far.” The vice-captain motioned in smoke idiot’s direction with a challenging smirk that made the younger boy bristle. “It’s easy to let your dedication to physical training slide when overwhelmed by the demands of your magical studies. Don’t let that happen. Keep at it. As you grow in attunement to your chosen element, your body’s physical development will also increase your energy production and reserves. The benefits to body-strengthening are also quite significant—more muscle means increasingly more power to your speed, jumps, strikes, and so on. And that is just the beginning of the benefits.”

It was better advice than expected, and her physical conditioning was falling to the wayside under the weight of her studies and other commitments.

While Rone was talking, a second-year wearing clothing similar to a butler’s uniform underneath an open robe and a variation of the Silver Shield mantle that replaced the lions with horses had unhurriedly approached and glanced at Rone before turning to Ria. “I don’t recognize the House symbols patterned on your robes and mantle. This is a noble only area. Guest passes should be prominently displayed. Shall I escort you to the noble who invited you?”

“Noble only area?” Ria blanched a bit and shot a glare in a certain elf’s direction. Was that the mischief her elf friend was up to with the grin at the stairs?

The second-year boy looked at her strangely. “You did see the wards inscribed into the floor, did you not? You can’t enter here without noble blood or a guest pass. But blood alone doesn’t confer nobility without recognition. Are you perhaps from a foreign House?”

Ria’s eyes widened. The stairs were warded against those without noble blood?! And she could pass?! Did that mean…?

Tensley’s voice dripped venom as he interjected, “So, not only has the Witch of Vorshan’s Hills stolen the power of the elves, but she’s either a bastard, or she’s stolen the blood of a noble as well.”

Wha-?

“All nobles are bastards if you go back far enough, the only difference being for some the meaning is more literal,” Orlisi quipped.

The fourth-year boy grunted in what might have been respect for the creatively delivered insult, but Tensley seemed to take it personally and was gritting his teeth. He wasn’t the only one to take offense at the idea—if the murmurs from a group of Silver Shield girls eyeing her as they passed by were any indication.

Gah-! Why was Orlisi suddenly antagonizing them? Ria mentally groaned. She absolutely couldn’t afford any more trouble right now! And what did the smoke idiot mean by stealing the elves’ power?

Whatever Tensley meant, the implication that her skills from Tina were acquired through nefarious means rankled, and she felt the need to address that accusation. “I worked hard to learn my teacher’s fighting style and adapt it to my strengths. How is that something stolen?”

“Not just your fighting style! Your power! Where did such power come from if it wasn’t stolen?” His lips curled up in a sneer of victory. “Can you even name an ancestor from which your bloodline comes?”

Ria gripped her medallion of faith and bit back her retort that ‘maybe it was a gift from the gods.’ Giving voice to such words would surely cause her even more trouble.

“Maybe her bloodline is a gift from the gods,” Orlisi offered with a laugh. “It has happened in the past. What would you do, Tensley, if the one you are disrespecting is actually a Saintess?”

Ria gaped at Orlisi. What was the girl saying?!

“That wouldn’t explain how she passed the ward on the stairs,” Tensley scoffed.

Orlisi grinned. “No, I suppose not, amusing as that might be.”

“Regardless, if she’s not recognized nobility and doesn’t have a visitor’s pass to visit someone here, she’s not allowed to be here,” the second-year boy insisted.

Orlisi lazily leaned back her head to meet the second-year boy’s gaze. “Iori Novidus invited her, Darsen. She’s waiting up on the fourth-floor balcony. Could you show Ria the way? I want to mess with Rone and his cute first-year recruit a bit more.”

The second-year boy, Darsen, rolled his eyes. “This is the Silver Shield student lounge, you know, Orlisi, and I’m not about to facilitate one of your infamous pranks.”

“Alright, alright. You win, Darsen,” Orlisi yielded. “Ria, let him see your invitation from Iori. Darsen’s an honorable guy and won’t divulge the contents.”

Ria was surprised but did as told.

Darsen handed back the letter after a brief glance through the content and sighed. “Fine. I’ll do it, but you’ll owe me a favor later.”

“Sure, sure. Let’s have lunch sometime—my treat,” Orlisi readily agreed.

Ria looked back and forth between Darsen and Orlisi, her heart thumping with sudden nervousness. Was Orlisi already abandoning her to face the rest on her own?

“This way, Ria,” Darsen prompted.

“Don’t expect your stolen power to be enough to continue earning victories in the arena,” Tensley challenged as a parting shot.

Ria glanced back to see Orlisi beside him make a ‘d'aww isn’t that cute’ expression with a hand pretending to cover her grin. Rone was watching but his expression was unreadable.

“Thank you for your advice, Rone,” Ria offered as she got to her feet and received a nod in response before she hurried after Darsen.

“It’s good that you’re making connections,” Darsen advised when she caught up with him. “You should be careful not to become too involved in matters of contention between the Greater Houses though. And while Orlisi of House Furren can be a valuable friend, you should take care to not imitate her behavior.”

His advice drew an agreeing nod from her. “Thanks, Darsen. Speaking of proper behavior, I promised my sponsor that I would sign up for etiquette lessons. Do you know how I would go about that?”

“The Hall’s Administrative Office is through the archway opposite the entrance,” he answered. “You can arrange for a tutor there or register to join a regularly offered class. The Administrative Office also handles issuing visitor passes for the noble-only areas.”

Ria again thanked him and let the conversation lapse into silence as her mind tried to wrap itself around the idea that she could have noble blood.

As much as she wanted to deny any possibility that it might be true, her mom being a bastard of some noble would explain a lot of unusual things with her childhood—her mom’s uncommonly beautiful facial features; why Ria and her brothers were all forced to study things none of the other commoner children did, things like literature, history, arithmetic, calligraphy, art; and why her mother had so many connections to minor nobles and wealthy merchants who came to buy the clothing her mother made.

Was that why her mother had her wear the dresses to show the nobles when they visited?

While she was lost in thought, Darsen led her up a flight of stairs to the first balcony, and then up another flight to the second balcony. She found it interesting that the balconies also had seating with the areas closest to the windows set up for dining or tea. Was this the world she was always intended to belong to? A world of beautifully dressed ladies and political dangers hiding behind every smile?

With more time having passed since the end of classes, she and Darsen were passing more students heading toward the lounge. One pair of Silver Shield girls wore their mantles over expensive dresses, probably having taken the time to change so they could look their best while engaging socially with their peers.

At the sight, Ria couldn’t help thinking that, rather than afternoon teas and dances, somehow, the battlefield felt like it suited her better. Dances, though, did seem like fun—the dancing part anyway.

The hallway Darsen guided her down after they left the lounge’s second balcony led out onto what was surely the so-called ‘fourth-floor balcony’. All of the archways they passed through had glyphs marking that she was still inside a noble-only area.

How much would her life change if she were to find out who her grandparents were and be recognized by a House?

The bright sunlight encouraged her to look around at the cafe-like setting. The fourth-floor balcony was open to the sky with only a railing and lion statues dividing the large half-circle of space from a fall to the ground below. Round tables with nobles enjoying the fresh air and a view of the academy grounds filled the large space. Servants stood discreetly by, ready to provide service.

Now that she was on the balcony, Ria realized that the ‘fourth-floor balcony’ was the large pillar-supported roof that shaded the Hall’s entryway below.

Darsen soon spotted Iori and Rienne and led Ria toward their table. Interestingly, there was a third girl seated with them, her back to Ria. The girl had pretty red hair and was laughing at something Iori had said.

The difference in mantles between the three girls was also interesting, with Iori wearing the white and blue mantle of the Order of Eternal Ice and the other two wearing the mantle of the Order of Celestial Knowledge. Maybe the red-haired girl was a friend of Rienne’s?

“Ah! Thanks for bringing Ria, Darsen!” Iori cheerfully greeted the second-year boy as they approached.

“It’s not worth mentioning,” Darsen demurred. “I’ll leave her to your care then and return to my duties.”

At the exchange of greetings, the red-haired girl turned, and Ria froze for the third time since entering Whitestone Hall. The freckled face before her was one she’d never forget—a face that had glared with blaming eyes while standing protectively beside Amilee at the trial in Vorshan’s Hills!

Zoe Clearwell!