Master Jaduk’s eyes widened as he took a deep breath, but he regained control again quickly as his expression returned to normal. He was silent as he stood up slowly, his eyes on the shelf to my right.

I waited as he paced towards the shelf, examined what looked like a jagged green stone, then set it down and moved to the opposite side of the room. “Master Jaduk?” I said, anxious as I waited for him to say something.

He replied with an absent ‘Hmmmmmm’, but nothing else as he continued moving slowly from shelf to shelf. I took a moment to review what I had just told him, and started to realize why he was taking a moment to process it.

First of all, he now knew information that Lord Runax had wanted kept secret, and he could probably guess why, given that I had been able to badly injure a Hunter ‘by accident’. Then he had to process the fact that one of his fellow instructors would be so petty to a student, especially one so young as I.

He finally spoke, “Thank you for telling me about this, Heller.” He looked back at me, his expression pensive. “The previous Master of Fire died in the attack four years ago, along with many of our staff, protecting our students.” He absently rubbed his left shoulder, as if reminded of an injury. “Only Sylko, who was then a junior Instructor, survived from among his staff.” Master Jaduk paused, “I have long suspected her unfit for the job, but tradition dictated that the next Master of Fire must come from among their own ranks.” He returned to his chair, sitting down with much less grace than he displayed previously.

I was silent, not sure exactly what to say. I still wanted to take a shot at Sylko for being so vicious to a child (me), but it was seeming like I may have lost my chance.

Master Jaduk spoke again after his brief silence, “I will look into this, Heller, I can assure you. Every student of Academy must receive the same quality of instruction.” He shook his head slowly, looking down at his hands as he folded them together on the desk. “Just give me a few days, if that is alright?” He smiled at me, but his grin lacked the energy it had before I entered.

I nodded, “Yes, Master Jaduk, that would be great.” I forced a smile. I was both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

“Well, young Heller, how is everything else? I have had reports of you doing more laundry than would seem your share?” He asked me.

I debated for a moment… I had just dropped a pretty large bomb on him, and it didn’t really feel right to add to the pile. Besides, I’m sure I’d be able to handle a couple bratty kids… well, one bratty kid and her follower…

“Oh, it’s ok, I am just getting used to having roommates…” I said, deciding to keep the focus on Sylko. For now, anyway.

He nodded, “Idonea is from The City, and from a wealthy family at that. We often find that children from well off families have the hardest time adjusting to life at the Academy.” He grinned and shook his head, “Mei had problems with her when they first started rooming together last year, I seem to recall, but I was told the situation resolved itself after a few weeks.”

I blinked, considering what he had just said. Resolved itself? It didn’t seem very resolved to me.

----------------------------

My anger at Sylko completely disappeared the next day. I was made to go to the Garrison for my punishment instead of attending her class, which was a relief in itself, but it wasn’t long before I bumped into a familiar face.

“Tetra!” I called, waving at her as I set my cleaning supplies down and jogged down the hallway, a big grin on my face.

She was startled, almost dropping the load of dishes she was carrying, “Wha… wait, Heller?” She asked, her expression incredulous. “You are still alive?” She swayed back and forth, fighting to keep her balance.

I blanked for a moment, nearly stumbling as I drew near her and reached out to take some of the dishes off of her pile (she was taller than I was, but not by very much). “Uhhhh… yes?” I said.

She frowned at me, “Oh… too bad.” She said, turning around and walking in a different direction. I nearly started laughing as I jogged after her (I was still carrying half of her dishes). “The soldiers want to punish you, you know. Or at least some of them do.” She looked at me. “It was you who hurt Ander, right?”

I hesitated for a moment before shrugging my shoulders, “He seemed like he deserved it.”

She giggled, “None of the staff liked him, you know, but I couldn’t get anyone to tell me what happened. But I’m not an idiot.” She looked back at me, arching an eyebrow. “You can’t hide something like that from me.”

I grinned again, deciding that not saying anything would be the best way to keep her talking. We arrived at the kitchen a moment later, dropping off our dishes under the watchful gaze of the kitchen staff. The eyed me curiously, but probably assumed I was supposed to be there because I was with Tetra.

“It was nice to see you again.” I said as we left the kitchen, giving her another smile as I turned away. I wanted to spend more time with her, but I had a feeling that the best way to do that was to keep her curious.

She didn’t say anything as I walked back down the hall, but it wasn’t long before I heard her run up behind me. “Heller, it was you who destroyed…” Tetra paused for a moment, looking around as she lowered her voice, “who destroyed Toad’s room?” I could hear the barely contained excitement in her voice.

I grinned again, looking over at her, “Well, I thought he deserved it for yelling at you.”

Her eyes widened and she probably would have blushed if not for her delicate silver scales. She looked away for a moment as I silently gloated, but when she turned back her expression had turned stormy.

“It took me days to scrub all the soot off the floor! And do you know how hard those feathers were to get off of the tapestries?” She was frowning again, her head tilted to the side as she looked at me.

Oh, crap… I hadn’t thought of that…

-----------------

I could tell that Tetra wasn’t nearly as mad as she pretended to be, mostly because she keep on visiting me throughout the morning. I was ecstatic to have someone to talk to, and even more surprised at how witty she was – I felt more like I was speaking with an adult than someone my age… although when I found out she was actually nearly ten years old I was slightly disappointed. I was fairly big for my age, though well within the ‘average’ range, while she was quite small for a nine year old girl.

She was equally shocked when she learned my age, though I suspected that she hadn’t had much exposure to other children, so she didn’t recognize just exactly how different I was from the norm. She had a good sense of humor and liked to tease, and I took a page out of my father’s book and let her win most of our exchanges while keeping my cool… and still getting the occasional friendly jab in myself.

She actually came from The City, from a fairly wealthy family even, but she didn’t remind me much of Idonea (thankfully). Her father was a famous Alchemist, she told me, which was someone who worked with herbs and oils to make special potions and remedies. There was an Alchemist in North Stone Village as well, but I had never seen him personally – all I knew was that father did regular trade with the Alchemy shop, purchasing various powders and oils in exchange for minerals and goods from the forge. She was surprised when I told her that my father was a Blacksmith, commenting that I looked too weak to be an apprentice… I simply laughed and flexed my (non-existent) muscles.

Her presence made cleaning toilets seem a lot more fun than it would have been otherwise, and she had just started telling me how a wealthy girl from The City ended up as a servant when a group of soldiers walked into the room I was servicing. There were three of them, all wearing armor, including gauntlets and helmets, and they spread out inside the large area of the safe room Tetra and I were in.

I stood up and moved away from the small bathroom set into the back wall of the room, letting my cleaning supplies drop to the floor. I was getting a very bad feeling about this, but Tetra seemed to be simply confused.

“Uhh, hi there! I was just making sure this slacker was doing a proper job!” She said.

The three armored figures ignored her as the one in the middle spoke. “Alder sends his regards, you filthy village rat.” He said.

My pulse was racing, but my first thought was ‘thank god nobody uses bronze armor’.