“Fantastic,” Angel said. “That should be it, then. I’ve got an exam to go watch.”

“Oh?” Silver asked. “Available to all of the Academy?”

“Anyone already on grounds, apparently.”

“That sounds fun. It’ll be interesting to see if you’ve taught your little trainees anything of use, so I’ll be tagging along.”

Angel shrugged and the two headed out to the courtyard. It took some time to figure out exactly which courtyard Tilly and Alison’s test was taking place in, but they managed to spot a crowd gathering on a grassy field near the center of the Academy.

They joined it, pushing past the well dressed attendees to reach the front where a temporary wire fence had been set up. Several dozen tables were laid out on the other side, each bearing a metal box, a pile of scraps, and a scribe.

The students themselves were huddled in a corner at the far side of the field, speaking to two tall men that Angel guessed to be the teachers by their gaudy, flowing robes. A little under an hour passed before the students dispersed and made their way over to the tables.

Angel spotted Tilly first. She’d walked up to a table at the very front of the crowd. The short girl caught Angel’s eye and gave him a small nod. When he cocked his head to the side, Tilly jerked a thumb to her side.

“Over there,” Silver said, pointing at a table nestled between several others a short distance away. Alison’s table was at the edge of the line, out of the way enough that he probably wouldn’t have noticed it had they not been looking. “I wonder if they choose the tables for the kids.”

“Judging by what I know of them so far, they probably did,” Angel muttered. “At least I can see them both.”

“Thank you all for coming,” one of the instructors said, stepping up to address the crowd with a flourish. His robes jingled with metal knickknacks that hung from his sleeves and neck. “The students have been working hard to master the craft of Tinkering. Today’s demonstration will show just how much they have learned.”

“The exam will take one hour,” the other instructor said. This one had a thinner face and had long since lost his hairline to the annals of time. “During this time, we request that you do not interfere or otherwise distract the students. Tinkering is dangerous, and mistakes could cause their projects to fail when they enter testing.”

Angel scoffed under his breath. “What kind of Tinkerer gets distracted that easily?”

“Normal ones, I think,” Silver said, rubbing his chin beneath the mask. “Do you think the girls are going to do well?”

“Tilly will be fine. She would have been without my help,” Angel said. “Alison should be too, though. I guess it depends on what they’re supposed to make, but her runes have been improving a lot recently. It would be a shock if she wasn’t at least as good as her classmates.”

“Today,” the first instructor continued, “the test will be one of their biggest yet. The students will be creating a functional steam engine. They will only be allowed the usage of the components on the table before them, and a portion of the engine has already been properly carved. So long as they complete their work before the time limit is over, they will be considered successful.”

“Will they be for sale after, Professor Langreen??” a man in the crowd called.

A smirk tugged at the instructor’s lips. “They will.”

“Ooh, profiting from making the kids work,” Silver said. “That’s the sign of a real upstanding institution, you know that?”

“Clearly,” Angel said dryly. “But a steam engine shouldn’t be too difficult for either of the girls. That’s just a modified flame rune with some supportive work. Depending on what they did for them, this could be a few minutes of work. It’ll take Alison longer to write all the protective runes, though. Something tells me any runes they drew aren’t going to be suitably beefed up for her magic.”

“I understand about ten percent of what you just said,” Silver replied. “But it sounded mostly positive, so good.”

Angel rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the students. The professors had instructed the students to open the metal boxes and inspect their contents while Angel and Silver had been talking.

“We will be getting started shortly,” Professor Langreen said. “Students, please prepare to begin.”

All around the courtyard, kids examined the parts on the table before them. Angel suspected that they were trying to plot out how they’d add their runes in their heads. It was smart to have a plan before starting work, so he had to give the instructors at least a little credit.

“You may begin. I will give a warning ten minutes before the test is over,” Langreen said.

Most students didn’t respond, but a few picked their scribes up and got to work. Tilly was one of the ones that immediately started. Angel had expected as much. A steam engine really shouldn’t have been a major problem, as they didn’t have to worry about making it function for a long period of time. Getting a piece of Magitech to run once was easy. The hard part was keeping it running.

One by one, more students picked up their scribes and got to work. Angel was pleased to note that Alison started working around the middle of the pack and was far from the last to start. While he couldn’t see what runes she was carving, her movements were confident and her hand looked steady.

“Is this it?” Silver whispered. “I should have brought some tea. I didn’t realize Tinkering was so boring. They’re just drawing stuff, and I can’t even see what it is that they’re drawing.”

“Are you going to tell me you didn’t come here to scope out the crowd of people watching,” Angel muttered. “Did anyone have anything interesting?”

Silver smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Tilly drew a spark of magic to her hand and applied it to the inlet pattern on the engine in front of her, drawing Angel’s attention. The bronze machine churned to life, chugging and letting out a puff of dark steam. Professor Langreen approached her, his eyebrows creeping up his forehead. No more than fifteen minutes had passed since the start of the test.

“Tilly, you already finished?”

“I have,” Tilly replied. “It was just a modified flame rune, professor.”

“Well, yes. But we only covered some of the runes used to properly shield it yesterday,” Langreen said with a frown. “It does appear to work properly, but how did you have time to double check all of your work? These runes are new to you.”

“I didn’t double check,” Tilly replied. “I’ve carved these runes a few thousand times already. Magistrate Daliah invested in a tutor for me, and he covered the runes before the class did.”

Langreen blinked. He examined the steam engine closer, then pulled a device out from his sleeve and connected it to the engine. He examined it, then nodded. “Very impressive. I would like to meet this tutor of yours at some point. I can’t say that I approve of his methods, but I can confirm that your device is very well made. Please refrain from running anything in the future without confirmation from an instructor, though.”

The crowd murmured in interest. Tilly caught Angel’s eye and he gave her an approving nod. She grinned in response.

Slowly, the other students started to finish their work as well. Langreen walked around, testing their devices and announcing the results of their test so the crowd could hear. Nobody got the glowing praise that Tilly did, but most of them passed.

As the hour drew closer to the close, Alison was still drawing. Her pace hadn’t let up once and her hand was still just as steady as it had been when she’d started. It wasn’t long before all the other students were finished and everyone was watching her.

“Ten minutes,” Langreen warned, a small frown crossing his features. “Alison, if you can’t finish, don’t waste the good crowd’s time. They have places to be.”

“I’m done,” Alison said, stepping back from the table. She took out her canister and held the nozzle to the inlet.

“No!” Langreen yelled, lunging at her. It was too late. Magic slipped into the motor and with a shudder, it chugged to life.

A thick pillar of steam rose into the air. Everyone in the class watched it with wide eyes. Langreen discreetly moved himself behind another desk, but the engine churned on with no regard for his actions.