“I can’t believe that they use an actual strike of lightning,” Saela said as she strolled down one of the many thin strips of jetstone that crisscrossed the castle halls, Nina following behind with Svanda’s scrap of paper in hand. “Which way?”

“Left.”

“I mean, can’t they just use a bell or something? What’s the need for everything to be so dramatic?”

“Down,” Nina said before Saela could ask, stepping into the stairwell behind her as they made their way towards the hall. Why they weren’t given a guide when they needed it the most was something that irked her, but Svanda had dismissed it as a disappointingly common ploy. Getting lost in the maze of halls and then turning up late to the meal had consequences regardless of whether they were familiar with the route or not, so there was little doubt that their current predicament was orchestrated by Qualifieds who wished to see them fail. Nina had considered asking what would happen if that became a reality, but she’d shelved the thought in favour of setting off as soon as possible. They wouldn’t be in a rush to make it in time if what Svanda had told them was correct, but taking chances wasn’t something that they should really be resorting to.

“Down again?” Saela asked.

“Err…” Nina mumbled as she studied the letters before her. “I think so. Would have been nicer if her handwriting wasn’t so bad, this D kinda looks like an R.”

Saela shrugged before passing the landing, continuing downwards as instructed while Nina’s boots echoed throughout the stairwell. Since leaving Svanda’s room they had hardly seen a soul in the somewhat eerie halls, although that was also something that they had been told to expect. Unqualifieds usually didn’t have a reason to set foot in the upper reaches of the castle, while both the Daerx family and Qualifieds would take a much more direct route to their destination. At least they could make their way there in relative peace, a small victory but a victory nonetheless. Saela had been hoping that they would find someone to follow the entire way, but trust in any other person in the castle besides Svanda was something that Nina was planning to avoid.

“What happens when the mechanism that sends the damn thing up and down breaks?” Saela continued while unaware of Nina’s thoughts. “Makes you wonder who had more screws loose - the guy who came up with the concept of extending a lightning rod into the clouds whenever they needed to get everyone’s attention, or the other guy who thought it was a good idea and approved it.”

“Maybe they were both the same person,” Nina suggested with a shrug, stuffing her hands into her pockets as they stepped out of the stairwell to find themselves in a long and dark passage. Twin streaks of grey and black snaked away from them across the floor underneath a couple of plain chandeliers, while modest stone statues sat along one side every ten or so meters. Again, there was nobody to be seen, but what had previously been a blessing was now a cause for concern. Surely the pair should have seen at least a few other people around by now as they closed in on the hall considering that everyone had the same destination, yet despite walking for some time there had been hardly an inkling of traffic.

If they weren’t on a rarely trodden path, then they were nowhere near where they were supposed to be.

“Good point,” Saela mused as she led the way. “Then there would have only been one stupid person instead of two. But the clan head would surely have had to approve it. So…”

“Don’t go around saying that a previous clan head was stupid,” Nina said with a frown. “People want us out of here enough as it is.”

“No point denying the truth.”

Nina dropped the conversation in favour of paying closer attention to the scrap of paper in her hand, directing Saela through a series of quick turns before they found themselves in yet another staircase. This time they were headed upwards, and when they reached the next landing she was relieved to see a stream of grey robes heading in one direction down the wide and airy passage.

“We found a friend,” Saela joked as she nodded in the direction of a young man hurrying down the jetstone path, his black jacket fluttering above a pair of jeans as he went. Nina could almost sense the scorn radiating from the groups of Qualifieds as he passed them, but she also knew that a portion of that would quickly refocus on her. If it was easy to tell that they were outsiders or not, she didn’t know. At least all Unqualifieds dressed casually which would help them blend in, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t trends that they were failing to follow.

“Let’s just get this over with,” she mumbled as they set off down the path which ran along the side of the hall, ignoring the heated gazes from the Qualifieds which strolled across the grey slate in the centre. There was no white marble floor for the Daerx family here, although Nina thought it was still reasonable. She probably wouldn’t see any white badges until they were inside their destination itself considering that they wouldn’t be able to use the same door. Ushered in through some small hole at the back where nobody could pay attention was her best guess, although it also made her question why they would be in the same room at all. Wouldn’t they want to dine in peace?

Rounding a corner, Nina found that there was a line of people in casual dress forming up by a door at the end of the passage, the dark timber arch that stretched over it seeming out of place. Confirming that it was their destination by checking off the final few instructions from the scrap of paper with a small sigh of relief, she pocketed it before joining Saela at the back of the queue. At a guess, there were some sixty or so people already waiting, muffled discussions reaching their ears in snippets before melting once more into the crowd. A slow but steady stream of people rounded the corner before joining up behind them, and very soon the pair were just two more faces in the crowd.

Off to the side, Qualifieds marched past them in a sea of grey robes towards a destination unseen, an array of sneers mixed in with other dismissive glances as they passed. Some simply pretended that they weren’t even there, their animated conversations continuing as they disappeared out of sight. That was fine by Nina, although the upbeat attitude that seemed to be shared by both Qualifieds and Unqualifieds left her deep in thought. Svanda had said that the meal time ‘wouldn’t be that bad,’ but she also had a notorious tendency to drastically understate things. Some advice from Trim would have proved to be invaluable for them right about now, but everything soon flew out of their hands as the door before them eased open.

“Time to see what this is all about,” Saela sighed as they shuffled forward with the crowd, her comment attracting a couple of stray glances. She might as well have put a sign on her head which read ‘outsider’ at times, but Nina wasn’t about to distance herself from her only ally. Instead, she ran through what Svanda had told her in her head, mentally picturing the processes to the best of what she could piece together. Unqualifieds would be seated first, followed by the Qualifieds, and finally the members of the Daerx Clan.

“It’s just a meal,” Nina replied with a calmness that surprised even herself as they passed through the door. Beyond it was not the dining hall, but instead a thin and dark corridor of stone, the meagre amount of light that shone from the ceiling obscured by the steady procession. The atmosphere was muted now, the optimistic attitude from before nowhere to be seen as hushed whispers drifted through the room. Nina found it almost claustrophobic with all the people around her, but thankfully it soon it opened up into a plain square chamber of stone where everyone milled around once more.

Nina wondered what the wait was for until the door they had entered through closed behind them, the signal that they had arrived on time. Even Saela breathed a small sigh of relief this time which seemed to be shared by many others, and Nina considered saying something until the next door opening stopped her thoughts in their tracks. This time, light flooded in from the room beyond, and the steady shuffle of people jostling for position seemed to suggest that everyone suddenly wanted to be out there. Nina wasn’t any different, trying to glimpse over the sea of heads that crowded her vision, and suddenly she was even forced to grab onto Saela’s forearm as the crowd threatened to pull them apart.

“What’s the rush?” Saela growled as she stepped closer to Nina, the two of them slowly shuffling towards the light. Animated conversation suddenly surrounded them as they neared the opening, and before they knew it they had been pushed through the door into the room beyond. Blinking twice to adjust while forgetting to move forward at the sight that met them, Nina felt an elbow in her back as the procession of people behind her pushed their way through and suddenly she could see why.

“If whoever designed the lightning rod was crazy,” Saela murmured. “Then the person who designed this was insane.”