After four hours of running, twenty-seven applicants were left. Only fourteen passed the dueling tests. Higher than what Till had anticipated, but there were some quality candidates hidden among the group. Till and Marjoram met up with Alton and Sybil in order to discuss tomorrow’s proceedings.

Till gestured to the applicant list. “With our current staff restrictions, we can only accept a total of twelve squires. I anticipate that these two will fail the test tomorrow. We can begin considering squad placements for the rest now.”

“May I trade Yarrow for this one? I believe he will be a better fit for my squad.” Marjoram glanced over the plans that Sybil had brought with her. “I approve of tomorrow's schedule.”

“I do as well,” added Till. “Please see to it that they are informed and given the maps of the area.”

Sybil took a moment to react. Till had pointed to Gideon’s name and said that she had expected him to fail. She glanced over to Alton, who was muttering to himself. Good. He hadn’t noticed. “Uh, yes! I'll pass out the maps now.” A quick squeeze was given to Alton's hand. “I'll tell them how they’re being split up tomorrow and give directions to the first group. Do you mind giving this packet to Zaniyah? She wanted to talk to the second.”

“Not a problem.” Alton flashed her a boyish grin. Hayden was in the second group and Zaniyah wanted to give her a few words of encouragement. If Zaniyah wanted to do more work, more power to her. It meant that he would be allowed to go to bed early. He was desperate to get some sleep.

Sybil jogged over to where the applicants were waiting and split them up. She asked half of them to come with her, where they proceeded to set themselves up around a campfire. Most were eager, but Gideon sat there with a dead look in his eyes. If only there were a piano here for him to mope at.

“Everyone, please gather around.” Sybil knelt on the ground and unfurled the map she had brought with her. “I'm going to go over the mission briefing.”

“How exciting.” Bryn knelt down next to her. “It truly is a military operation. How often will we get to do these activities once we are squires?”

“The first year studies are set up much like school, with classes in the morning, and squad activities afterward. It's horrifically boring, but you’ll get through it.” Sybil crinkled her nose at the thought. “The second year is when we go back into doing these operations and when we start working directly for lords and ladies in the area.”

“Book studies are what I excel at anyways.” Bryn picked up the papers, which Sybil promptly took back. “I'm sorry. Please continue, Lady Sybil. I didn't mean to interrupt.”

Sybil cleared her throat. “Your mission will be focused on this fort. Follow the road to the southwest until you see the farm, then head directly south for twenty minutes. This is a scouting and retrieval mission made to mimic an operation that occurred during the Southern War. Your opposing team will be posing as a general and his entourage.

There will be three main targets. The first will be wearing a blue cape. That is the general. They are the only target that must survive the encounter. You must capture them and bring them to the extraction point here.” She pointed to a spot on the map. “The next will be wearing a red cape. That is your elimination target. They are the only target that needs to be killed.

Lastly, there is a target wearing a green cap. They will be carrying a satchel that has their army's battle plans. It doesn’t matter what happens to the target, but you must retrieve the satchel. You will be judged on how you choose to complete each objective.”

It was a mission designed to split the group up. Seven of them versus three objectives. They had the opportunity to assign three of them to whichever task they thought was the hardest. Their group had been split up to ensure that none of them had much previous experience with the other group. Part of the test was to see if they were able to use whatever information they had gathered today to their advantage.

The other team would be told that they are expecting an ambush by enemy scouts. They were given three capes so they could assign themselves a general, the general’s personal guard, and a scout. None of them were told what the opposing team’s mission. All they knew was that the scout was to guard the satchel and take it to an extraction point once an attack had been launched against them.

“I'm afraid that's all the information I can give you about the mission,” said Sybil. “These papers explain how the pendants work. You are expected to wear them at all times in the testing area. I've also included papers on what plants and chemicals are prohibited from use.” She glanced at Tycho, who was playing with Lady Featherby. “You may run into blisterweed.

It grows practically everywhere but especially within the groves. You are not allowed to weaponize it as the pendants will not cure you of its symptoms. The test will run from two hours after dawn until midnight. Gideon Toval has been assigned as your squad captain. Whether you choose to use him as your general or not is up to you.”

“Gideon Toval? He nearly passed out twice during the run and barely won both of his duels.” A girl in the group rolled her eyes.

Sybil continued with her explanation. “Gideon was the student head of the squire program at Starsons. He spearheaded a youth volunteer program and has the most leadership experience among all of you.”

“He's also from that backward region who just had their duke overthrown,” argued the girl. Sybil noted that the emblem on her vest was from Petalmist. Suddenly her attitude made sense.

Though she had a point. They did have the odds stacked against them. Their objectives were harsher, and Till had assigned the two she expected to fail to this group. All they had were their observations and this map. Their main challenge would be on how they chose to do it. Apparently their second objective was giving Gideon respect.

“Carapace is not a bad city. I was born and raised in its core,” replied Sybil coldly. “You should be wiser and not judge people for where they are from.”

The girl looked stunned for a moment before she returned to her cruel expression. “Maybe they should learn to keep the freaks locked up. I didn't ask for your opinion!” Now she was sounding more like an outlander than someone from Petalmist.

“Don't talk to her like that,” growled Gideon.

“She thinks because she's a squire here, she can boss us around? She isn't even that much older than us and acts like she's worlds better. The only reason she got in last year was probably because the tests were so much easier,” she said in a gloating manner. There were others in the group who were already nodding along with her.

“The reason Sybil got in here is that she is better than all of us! You know that would-be that attacked Carapace? She's the one that killed it, and she did that by herself! She also killed that big cat beast that Vex summoned this morning! On her first day as a squire here! Sybil is amazing and you need to shut up before I request you get kicked out of the exam for being a bitch!”

Sybil tensed up. “Unfortunately being a bitch isn't enough to get dismissed from exams, Gideon.” She was certain Ivy wouldn't have made it in last year of that was the case.

“So?! I'm not going to let someone talk down to you like that! Not after what you’ve been through!” His hands tensed into fists. “Argh! I need a piano!”

“I thought you brought a guitar with you,” replied Sybil as she waved her hands slowly through the air in an attempt to calm him down.

“It's not the same, Sybil!” He sounded like Alton whenever Sybil got one instrument confused for another. Despite his anger, she found it to be oddly adorable.

“Lady Till has something that looks like a piano in her office, but I don't think you'll be allowed in there right now.” Sybil shook her head. “And don’t worry about their opinions. I'm fine. I'm used to people talking down to me. I’m the last person you should be worried about. All of you need to spend some time coming up with a plan together. None of you are going to pass if you spend that time fighting each other.”

Gideon slowly nodded his head. “Alright... Thanks, Sybil.” He quickly returned to his sheepish self. “I guess we should talk about our own individual strengths and then pair off against targets?”

“Hold on.” Sybil pulled a parcel out of her bag. “Here's some strawberry pies and seed cakes. Zani is talking to the other team and showing them all sorts of favoritism and I shouldn’t let her get away with that. Don't worry, she doesn't know what your teams missions is, but she’s loading them up with food now. I know this isn’t much, but this is the least I can do.”

Excusing herself, Sybil made her way back to the camp. She could tell Zaniyah had already finished giving her briefing to the other group, because she could hear her dramatically telling them stories of her past battles. This time, she was retelling her story of the tainted snail, which somehow got more gruesome every time she told it.

“Have you ever heard the sound of human flesh being licked off the bone?” Zaniyah made this horrific squishing and slurping noise with her mouth. “By the way it was slurping up that man, I wouldn't doubt that it was delici- Oh!” Sybil had put her hand on Zaniyah's shoulder. “And, uh, that concludes today's mission briefing! Good luck tomorrow and enjoy those meat pies and honey candies that I totally didn't give you!”

Sybil had started to walk away, and she gave a nod to Zaniyah as she caught up. “I thought you said that the beast was eating a deer.”

“It sounds better if you say it was a person,” replied Zaniyah with a nod.

Sybil let out a laugh and rolled her eyes sarcastically. “I would love to hear more about it, but the only thing I want right now is some sleep.”

“Do you think it's cooled down in the room at all?” Zaniyah grimaced. “I know Chickadee said it was a waste of tainted beast blood iron, but I'm glad he installed that cooling system.”

She had to agree that it was both a waste and a blessing. “At least we know that the heat is just normal weather and not some divine threat like last season.”

“Which reminds me, last time I was in Tilrey, Phil mentioned there was a group of fanatics going through. They flooded the library and were looking to see if there was any evidence of a local temple to Tyrtain. At least, maybe ruins of one or something. And well, Phil called them fanatics... But, uhm, you know.”

There was the elementalist village that has sprung up to the north of Braytons. They still hadn’t come up with a name for it, but they had elected a mayor and were going through the process of being officiated as a city. Further tests were being done by them to look for proof of Tyrtain’s existence. Even Horsetalon were a part of those tests. They had been sent to Grand Temple so Doctor Saxifrage could continue her examinations.

Sybil began to mumble to herself. “All that matters to me is that the miasma stays away.”

They both let out a sigh of relief as they entered the squadroom. The cool air felt so nice. Sybil changed into her nightgown and climbed into Alton’s bed. He lazily put his arms around her and drew her close. As she nestled next to him, he started to whisper quietly in her ear.

“Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of our first kiss,” he whispered. Alton thought it was a cute memory, but Sybil thought the opposite.

There was shock, disgust, confusion, and an assortment of other feelings that she couldn't comprehend at the time. Never would she guessed that she would happily be nuzzled against the same man a year later. She pulled back slightly and gave him a lingering kiss to his lips.

“Want to make out in the storage room?” She whispered.

“My, my,” he whispered back. “I have been such a bad influence on you.”

Sybil grinned back at him. “Maybe I was always this bad, hmm?” She gave a brief tug to his collar. “Let’s go.”

Alton reached to grab the small box of protection from underneath his pillow as Sybil gracefully rolled out of his bed and landed onto the floor. She grabbed some items from her dresser and Alton was not far behind her as she headed out the door. They had barely made it down the second floor when they ran into Irving, who was heading up the stairs.

Alton grinned nervously as he positioned Sybil in front of himself. “... Hey there, Irving... Friend Irving… Uh, just Irving.” He wrapped his arms around Sybil’s shoulders and pulled her closer. “... Hi.”

Irving looked between the pair and pulled out his letter. He slowly typed into it, then… Nothing. No buzzing of messages being sent or the realization that he was trying to talk to them. A glare was given to the pair while he made gestures with his hands. They were all lewd in nature and he was shaking his head the entire time.

“We were going to use the storage room. Is that okay?” Sybil asked.

Irving stared at Sybil. It was the judgemental sort of stare that let her know that he had lost some respect for her.

“Don’t kink-shame me,” muttered Sybil.

Irving then stepped around them and continued upward. The two that remaining supposed that was permission enough, and raced down to the bottom floor. Sybil pulled Alton into the storage room and he closed the door behind them, pushing a box in front of it to keep it closed.

A year ago, she dreaded the idea of being near Alton. Now, she hesitated to stay away. Sure, he could be a jerk at times, but… They still had time. Sybil knew he’d make it up to her someday.

“Little cave mouse.” He bit at her earlobe. It was so dark in the room that he had trouble seeing her, but he knew the pet name annoyed her. “Have I ever told you that I've always thought mice were cute?”

Her arms wrapped about his shoulders and she gave him a hug. “You were the first fish that I’ve met and I can confidently say that I have never seen a cute fish.”

“And yet you still want to be with me? Remind me not to introduce you to any whales or jellyfish. I wouldn't want to lose you to them.”

Jellyfish? Sybil imagined a jar of apple preserves with fins... The ocean certainly had strange creatures. “I think you're safe. After all, I had promised to be with you for the rest of my life.”

“You only promised we'd get married,” he said back in an amused manner.

“I can't imagine having a future where you aren’t there to stalk me,” she whispered. “You're going to have to deal with that fact.”

He let out a long sigh. “Why did you have to say something like that?” He moved his hand up the back of her neck and twisted his fingers in her hair, bringing her closer still. “I was really looking forward to getting some sleep tonight. Now I have to stay up all night making sure that you’re happy.”

Sybil puffed out her cheeks. “We still have work tomorrow.”

“We have work every day,” replied Alton with disdain.

All she could do was laugh at the idea. Just a bit longer and the two of them will be traveling to Carapace together. Off to work in the city without fear of acting like a noble or a would-be attack. The thought brought a smile to her face. Just a little longer. After tomorrow, her second year at Braytons would finally begin, and she couldn’t wait.