After dropping off their human cargo to the gorilla and the beanstalk, they held a quick discussion of whether to first go to the dormitories to get some rest or to immediately meet with Master Arbon at his office to explain everything. Ruciella expressed concern that with dawn encroaching steadily by the minute, there was no guarantee that they could find time to with Master Arbon privately before he became occupied with the happenings of the day.

With that decided, they walked at a brisk pace towards the main buildings of the Academy. With Ruciella’s worry of expulsion alleviated, she became chatty as usual. Ada found it an opportune time to learn. Besides attaining a crash course in basic Exicozan, Ada also learned a few common curse words in both Exicozan and Tesian. Ada was a bit surprised by Leanne’s willingness here. She had expected Leanne to be much too polite or reserved for that. Perhaps this was part of Leanne’s true personality and the priestess had grown more comfortable with her new master. Or maybe Leanne just didn’t want to be excluded in the lively chat between Ruciella and Ada.

The talk lightened Ada’s mood significantly but didn’t assuage her fears entirely that they would be stopped by another group of Ruciella’s colleagues. She wasn’t sure how many times she could go through the same story without someone seeing a flaw there and throwing them in prison like Grath had attempted. There was a brief lull

“So, I hate to be acting like one of those kids sitting in a long car ride but … are we there yet?” Ada asked Ruciella.

Ruciella neither answered her question nor inquired on what a car was. She appeared surprised by a different matter. “I didn’t know gods can get tired.”

“No, I am not tired but I just don’t want to see ourselves run into another group of mages. Is this truly the fastest way?”

Ruciella nodded and then sighed. “Unfortunately, it is. We have another hour at our current pace. And also unfortunately going along the shortest route would also require us to pass the visitor registration building which would be open by the time we reach there.”

Ada pondered for a moment and then her face brightened. She grinned. “I just had an idea.”

Leanne looked at Ada and noted that there was an odd gleam in her eye. She quickly interjected. “Your look does not inspire confidence that this idea would be a pleasant one for Aurian or I.”

“Uh, what are you planning?” Ruciella looked concerned as well.

“Well, we’re now free of some dead weight so to speak, how about I carry both of you while I run?”

“Uh…” Ruciella appeared stunned by this prospect. Then she added more quietly with some embarrassment. “You know I get motion sickness and I don’t think this would be the most comfortable ride.”

“You said there are more of your colleagues ahead of us?” Leanne asked the young mage to confirm.

“Yes, there is unfortunately the vehicle registration office which usually has about a dozen people there.”

“You think they would let us pass like Gorilla did?”

“Gorilla?

“Your colleague Fish I mean.”

“Uh, maybe?” Ruciella’s voice betrayed her complete lack of confidence in their deception working.

Leanne spoke with more confidence. “I hardly think we can deceive that many people. I am sure they also have records of who are allowed to visit your Academy today with the security we have seen. I ..”

Ruciella quickly interjected. “We can always just walk the long way around. Walking won't take that much longer. Maybe another hour to be safe from a monocular.”

Ada shook her head. “We don’t have the time. I’m going ahead with my executive decision.”

“Can’t you make another Cloud and we’ll just fly over?” Ruciella asked hopefully. Anyone could see that she was trying to grasp at straws to not have to do this.

Ada chuckled. “Really now? You’ve seen how the Cloud works. It’s very hard to control its direction of motion. Maybe a steam or IC engine eventually but I’ll need some time for research. Carrying you two appears to be the best solution at the moment.”

“You know there are two of us.” Ruciella tried a last ditch effort.

“Well, I have two hands and a back. If you’re not feeling confident that I can hold on to you, just get on my back. I’ll carry Leanne in my arms. Trust me, this won’t be nearly as bad as the trip to see Ayula.”

Leanne nodded. “This is perfectly reasonable.”

Ruciella gave Leanne a glare before turning back to Ada. The mage opened her mouth to reply but Ada held out her hand and interrupted. “Sorry, we don’t have the time to debate here. I’m not giving you a choice here on whether or not we’re doing this. You do get a choice to be either carried on my back or for me to jam you between one of arms.”

Ruciella’s shoulders sagged. She sighed. “I’ll rather not be carried around like a burlap sack. But…fine, I choose your back.”

“Hey, you know carrying you two means I can’t even do a cool ninja run. That’s a sacrifice on my part.” Ada joked.

She received a blank stare from Leanne and confused blinks from Ruciella. Ada sighed internally. She wasn’t fanatical about anime but before school became insanely busy she did enjoy watching some. This was just another joke which fell flat due to a lack of cultural understanding. “Get on and let’s get moving. You point the direction of where we’re supposed to go and that’s the way I’ll head towards.”

Ada bent down and the short girl grasped her neck as if she needed to hang on to it for dear life. The girl was small enough that it wasn’t an awkward posture. Leanne was a bit harder since Ada had to carry the girl in her arms and she was a bit taller than Ruciella. After a moment of shifting, Ada held the girl between her arms like a belt buckle.

Ada felt Ruciella shift her bodyweight slightly and saw the finger pointed slightly to the left in front of her. “We need to head that way until we’re several at that cove of trees. Then, make a hard right turn. I’m sure you can see the tall gleaming towers even from here. Once we’re close, I’ll show you a back way in to Master Arbon’s office.”

“Is that all? No other detours or stops?”

“No, this would be the simplest route to avoid any foot traffic and definitely the registration building.”

Ada nodded and did a quick calculation in her head. It was simple math with distance divided by velocity. From her previous assessment, with her acceleration, reaching a moderate velocity of 10 m/s would take less than a tenth of a second. She estimated the distance to the trees was approximately 750 meters with a margin of error of 10 meters. Sharp eyesight and some triangulation math based on shadows can do wonders. Then, she’ll have to take a hard right turn to the tower. By using the Pythagorean theorem to derive the length of the hypotenuse from her current location to the towers, she estimated that second part of the trip to be approximately 1000 meters.

“Welcome to Ada Airlines. Estimated minimum flight time is 2 minutes 55 seconds. Hold on tight!” she broadcasted. This was completely unnecessary but Ada thought it best for Ruciella to know how long her torture would last.

She felt Ruciella’s arms tighten around her neck. There was a grunt indicating that Ruciella was ready. Ada waited no longer. Holding Leanne closely to her chest with her arms, she pushed off and accelerated. She felt the wind whistle by. This must be what it feels like to ride a motorcycle except of course that I’m in complete control.

She slowed down slightly as she took a sharp turn to the right. Seeing the wall rapidly in front of them, she continued with a burst of energy and right before they were going to collide, she decelerated. She stopped several paces before her face would collide with a wall.

Ada remarked. “Actual flight time was 2 minutes 47 seconds. We did better than I thought.”

We probably should have just landed earlier and did this. Would have saved us a lot of time and avoided all the patrols. Ada thought.

She added aloud. “Well, Ruciella, since you didn’t scream, I’m thinking you’re okay?”

The reply was the sound of someone vomiting followed by vomit’s characteristic sour smell. A few drops splattered on her tunic but quickly disappeared. Divinely made clothing does have some advantages which Ada would have to investigate later. This did nothing for the vomit on the grass though. She quickly put down Leanne and turned her head to look at Ruciella. The girl had turned her face to the side so that the mishmash wouldn’t be all over Ada’s clothes. There were some dribbles still clinging to her mouth and she was tightly holding on to Ada.

Ada unclasped the girl’s hands and gingerly put her on the ground, ensuring that she landed not on her recently ejected stomach contents. She collapsed on the ground kneeling. Leanne asked quickly. “Are you okay?”

Ruciella’s reply was a weak bob of her head. Bent down, she took a moment and vomited the rest of what was contained in her stomach. Ada looked at her with concern. “Take your time. Also, remind me to never take you on a rollercoaster.”

Ruciella wiped her mouth with her sleeve. She took a deep gasping breathes before she spoke. “I’m fine. I can stand.”

Ada pointed at the upper right corner of her mouth. “You still have what looks like a former bread crumb over there.”

Ruciella wiped her mouth again and Ada nodded. “You look fine now. I wonder if I can take back your half-digested food.”

Leanne answered for her. “Unfortunately, I do not see any information for her vomit.”

Ada chuckled. “And that answers that question. Looks like it’s not mine even though you expelled it. But I wonder if you were my follower would that still be true? Maybe I can get my food back as some kind of new object. Uh to clarify, I’m not saying that I want anyone’s vomit. Well, at the end of the day, expelling food beats being expelled.”

Ruciella rolled her eyes. Either she thinks I’m being really gross or I’m being really not funny. She held out her right hand. Ada stooped down and grasped Ruciella’s wrist to help the girl stand up. The mage weighed almost nothing to Ada and she had to carefully conserve her strength to not suddenly throw Ruciella into the air.

Once the girl has composed herself after patting down her clothes to ensure no vomit landed on them, Ada asked. “So where do we go from here?”

“I see guards that looks like they are on patrol coming in our direction.” Leanne remarked.

Ruciella glanced towards the direction Leanne was looking. “Those are not guards. They’re students who are probably coming here to gather the morning dew as reagents for alchemy.”

Ada looked yonder and saw that Leanne was right. Two young men and a woman have not noticed them yet but they were approaching rapidly. “Well, I don’t fancy having to explain ourselves to them either.”

“Cross our fingers and we won’t have to deal with any more fish heads when we go around that corner. Master Arbon’s private study is in the building situated closest to that corner.” Ruciella pointed at the corner of the building.

Without waiting any longer, she started walking rapidly. Ada and Leanne followed in a hurry as well. They turned the corner and Ada saw the same brick wall stretching into the distance to the right of them. There were signs of any doors, gates or any other openings. “Do you want us to tunnel through a wall?”

“Ten more steps. Just follow and watch.”

“Well, we’re in your court and you have the ball.”

“Interesting usage of the Divine Tongue.”

“Well, I could say you have balls.”

Ruciella appeared surprised. “More sports analogies? I had no idea the Divine World cared so much about sports.”

“A lot of those there do care too much about their teams in my view but uh, the expression having balls has nothing to do with sports.”

“I’ll have to ask you what that means later.” Ruciella said. “We’re here. Look in front of you.”

Ada stared at the imposing wall in front of her. “I’m a little confused. That’s still just a wall.”

“Look closer.”

Ada peered closer and noticed a faint black mark following the outlines of adjacent bricks in front of them. Leanne squint and must have noticed the same thing. “Remarkable, I would never have noticed. This is a door?”

“It is. The Master gave me this little secret precisely so I can avoid certain fish heads who have acquired a hobby of constantly trying to annoy me. Can one of you push it? Usually I'll do it but I'm extremely tired. This door is really heavy.” The girl explained as she took a step back.

Leanne was closer and was about to step in but Ada stretched out her right arm to block her disciple. “Let me.”

Leanne nodded and stepped aside. Ada pushed slowly and the door swung open easily. She felt that it weighed about the same as Ruciella. “Well, I thought you said it was heavy?”

Ruciella smiled. “I can see that the stories about the physical strength of a Divine isn’t a joke. I’m sure you can probably punch a hole through a section of the wall if we really need to make a quick escape later.”

Leanne frowned. “I am hoping that will not happen.”

“Obviously, I was kidding. It’s good to know that we have options though. The building is right there.”

Ada followed her finger and saw a rather nondescript gray concrete-looking building two dozen paces in front of them. It was large but not absurdly so with two floors that had five windows symmetrically arranged adjacent to each other on the top floor and four windows on the bottom floor. There was a towering pine tree at least thirty feet higher than the building which stood proudly to the right of the building that provided ample shade.

Speaking of the door, it was the only remarkable thing in front of them. It was made of several solid blocks of red gleaming stone intermeshed together to form a square with a brown cylindrical stone that jutted out which must be the doorknob. Technically, a rectangular prism since this isn’t 2D unless it’s just an illusion. Ada thought.

Ruciella knocked on the door and they heard someone grumble irritably inside and then footsteps on a creaky floor. The stone wasn’t anything Ada recognized. Material science was not Ada’s area of expertise but with her new powers, Ada has increasingly realized that she must learn more to manifest her powers fully. Leanne took a step closer towards the door. Her eyes were fixated on the gleaming stone.

“This is remarkably fine stone craftsmanship,” Leanne remarked. She gingerly touched it.

Ruciella said sharply. “Careful! Touching that can be deadly for followers of gods.”

Leanne stumbled back from the door as if a piranha was about to bite her hand. She had a look of shock on her face until she saw that Ruciella was chuckling. “Ah, you should have seen the look on your face.”

Leanne looked more annoyed than angry. “I can see that you have your childish display of humor back so you must be fully recovered.”

Ruciella smiled. “Oh, aside from the taste of vomit in my mouth and feeling pangs of hunger and a tremendous desire to sleep, I’m perfectly fine.”

Leanne shrugged. “Sarcasm. I see that is back as well.”

“Some breakfast and sleep would do wonders for the both of you. I do think that if you do have such magical stones, I definitely want to know more.” Ada said.

Ruciella shook her head. “Unfortunately, we don’t. We have nothing that directly targets the Divine. These are finely crafted but at the end of the day they’re mostly just ordinary stone.”

“That’s a little disappointing.”

“I said mostly. It does have some effects. For instance, have you …”

The loud creak of the door being opened interrupted Ruciella’s enthusiastic explanation. In front of them stood Master Arbon dressed in a man's usual morning splendor – namely pajamas. He had an annoyed look on his face but upon seeing them, it quickly transformed in quick succession to shock to worry and lastly to amusement.

“I can see that you’re not expecting visitors,” Ada said dryly. Then she added, "And it's just us three."

The old man chuckled. “I thought you might be one of my especially annoying colleagues but I’m glad to see you instead. Come in. I’m sure there is much to discuss on what has transpired in the city and how our unfortunate Aurian managed to entangle herself in all this.”

At the mention of Aurian, Ada saw the girl stare at the ground sheepishly. She said nervously. “Uh…I was…”

Her master didn’t wait for her to finish. “As I said, let’s talk inside.”

He gestured for them to come in and Ada followed behind him. The other two stepped in as well and the door closed behind them with another loud creak. Master Arbon clapped his hands and the dim interior was suddenly aglow with warm floating lights in the center of the room. It was an expansive room which must have covered a quarter of the area of the first floor. Beautiful antique furniture was arranged neatly in the main entrance. Bookshelves with books covered every side of the walls. It would have been beautiful except for the mounds of papers, scrolls and books that were scattered everywhere.

Nowhere did Ada see any candles or oil lamps. Seeing Ada’s look, he remarked. “Lambent balls. Can’t live without them. One day maybe people without magic can use them too. A story for another time. Follow me. We’re going to my study where we’ll hear the most important story of the day – yours.”

My story. I like telling the truth but just much should I reveal? But does it even matter when his disciple already knows who I am and what I’m capable of? These thoughts circulated in Ada's mind as she followed him into his study.