"So why is it Academia and not Academy?"

Karl looked up at Kira's sudden question during their after-dinner video Enliss lesson, his eyebrows raised. "Pardon?"

"The Atmont Academia. Why Academia and not Academy?"

"I haven't the foggiest." Karl laughed, scratching the base of one of his horns in a gesture Kira suspected signified his embarrassment. "Calling it an Academy would have been more appropriate, if referring to merely the place. Perhaps the founder wanted to signify something? That it was more than merely some buildings, but an environment of learning and progress?"

"Maybe they just picked something that sounded fancy?" Kira suggested, and Karl gave a small laugh.

"That's also possible. It was a very long time ago, and surviving records suggest the founder was more brawn than brain."

"Weird. Why would someone who wasn't smart want to start a school?"

"That's a very good question. I wonder that sometimes myself."

Kira sighed, leaning back in her chair. She hated when she came across questions that couldn't be answered not because she didn't have access to the knowledge, but because the knowledge itself was lost to time. Reading history books was especially frustrating, knowing records were heavily edited by the victors.

"Can we go over these..." Karl frowned, his nose wrinkling as confusion dimmed his eyes. "These 「prepositional 」 phrases again. I'm not sure I really understand what a 「preposition」 is?"

"That's not surprising... Your language doesn't even have a word for it. See, a preposition is a word governing and usually preceding a noun or pronoun, expressing relation to another word or element in the clause..." Kira grinned to herself as she explained, then paused. She remembered her dad talking about them in the same way, and it brought a nostalgic pang to her chest.

In reality, she'd been trapped in the Gate for thousands and thousands of years. But from her perspective, it was about two hazy weeks. Including the time since she left the Gate, it had been just over two months since she last joined them at the dinner table, laughing and chatting over a plate of lasagna.

She could still taste the spices mixed in the ground beef. Mom liked spicy food, so anything she cooked liked to kick back when it was eaten. Dad always had a Greek yogurt smoothie with dinner whenever it was Mom's turn to make dinner, to settle his poor stomach.

Her own stomach flipped. Grief hit suddenly, followed by a strange numbness in her limbs that made it hard to breathe.

"Miss Kira?"

Kira dragged herself out of the mire of sorrowful reminiscence when she heard Karl's concerned voice. "Sorry. Just... Remembering something."

Her voice was more quiet and subdued than usual, and she flinched under the expectations of prying, of sympathetic but unwanted questions about her condition.

Instead, Karl just smiled. "I see. Do you want to call it a night? I'm sure your training has been wearing you out. The first combat portion is tomorrow, isn't it?"

Kira nodded slowly, trying not to let surprise show on her face at the Dragon willingly cutting his favorite Enliss lesson short. "Yeah."

"Is she using the obstacle course?" Seeing Kira's instant grimace, Karl broke out in hearty laughter. "I knew it! She grew up using it and swears by how effective it is, but she challenged me to complete it once and I never tried again. It's a monster! I broke my horns once on that thing..."

Kira eyed Karl's magnificent horns, brows furrowed. "Broken?"

"They're not fake, Miss Kira. For a Lesser Dragon like myself, our horns are shed naturally every few decades, so if they break we just have to wait for them to grow back."

"Neat." Kira grinned. "Wish my bones grew back."

"They're not really bones, only Greater or Ancient Dragons have bone horns. For Lesser-"

Lilian cleared her throat, an oddly mechanical grinding noise that didn't suit the Automata's smooth voice. "Sir Karl."

"Ah, right. My apologies, Miss Kira. I should let you rest."

Kira tried not to show her disappointment at an interesting conversation cut short, and nodded. "Okay. Goodnight."

Before she could finish debating whether or not to study a little more before bed, she received a message from Ailsa.

〖 Ailsa: Hey, Kiddo! Mind if I bring my Pappy to visit tomorrow for breakfast? He really wants to meet you, he got a gift and everything. 〗

〖 Kira: Oh. Ok. Should I get him a gift too? 〗

〖 Ailsa: Nah, nothing like that. He's excited for my first disciple, see. Dwarves take our mentor-student relationships seriously, as far as we're concerned, you're the newest and youngest member of my family. He wants to spoil you. 〗

〖 Kira: Oh! 〗 Kira blushed, Ailsa's blunt statement making her embarrassed and nervous for some reason.

〖 Ailsa: Relax, he's a big softie. Trust me, he's more nervous about meeting you than you are about meeting him. 〗

"That's hard to believe," Kira scoffed under her breath.

〖 Ailsa: Also. He's on the Atmont Council like Karl, and is helping to protect you from the media and whatnot. You briefly talked to him already, I think? He's really proud you're sticking with being a Geomancer, he hasn't even met you and he's started bragging to relatives! 〗

Kira blushed again, the tips of her ears turning scarlet. 〖 Kira: Oh? 〗

〖 Ailsa: Don't get me started, Kiddo. These days all I hear is questions about when he can meet you, like I'm hiding you from him! He also spent ages trying to find the perfect gift, and he's so excited that he won't even tell me what it is! He's so stingy sometimes! 〗

〖 Kira: Hm... What does he like for breakfast? I'll make something. 〗

〖 Ailsa: Oh goddess he's going to be so smug about that he's gonna be insufferable for weeks 〗

Kira, who imagined her mentor groaning in despair, couldn't help but grin wide.〖 Kira: Good, fair trade for a gift then 〗

〖 Ailsa: You're a menace! He ain't picky, make whatever you like best and I'm sure he'll think it's ambrosia even if it's charred to a crisp. Ugh, I understand how my parents felt when I was born, now. 〗

Kira said goodnight to her mentor, then sat by the window in her bedroom looking out at the crowds of people perusing stalls and games in the distance.

Everyone expected her to be nervous about the combat Trial the next day, but she felt surprisingly calm about everything. She would almost describe her feeling as anticipation, almost excitement. Fighting monsters in a dungeon, or crawling through an obstacle course, were very different and efficient forms of training, but it wasn't the same as fighting against someone who also had experience doing such things.

How would she measure up to other people? Were the Core and Elite classes really as good as people said? Would they have cool magic, or martial arts?

Seeing all the different kinds of people visiting the school, with different physiques and features and weapons and armor, Kira's anticipation only grew.

She stayed up late watching the crowds, and once she fell asleep, Kira didn't have any nightmares at all.