Theo got to the College of Song early in the morning. It wasn’t too early (the sun had risen a few hours ago), but it was before he’d normally go to meet Thelonious for the writing class.

In fact, he caught Thelonious in the halls of the College, on the way to the classroom. He had his head in a book as he walked through the halls.

“Thelonious!” Theo waved at him, as Thelonious’ head jerked up looked around to see who was calling out.

For a moment, there was a sharpness in his eyes, the kind that felt almost blinding to Theo.

He blinked, and it was gone, as if it was never there.

“Good morning, Theo. I was just on my way to teach you all. Would you like to accompany me there?” Thelonious smiled, in a kind, almost paternalistic way (but not condescending – especially since Theo was taller than him).

Theo walked side by side with him, casually replying as he examined the walls (and tried to guess which ones held secret rooms). “That’s partially why I wanted to find you early today. If I can prove that I can learn fast, will you let me skip out on most of these lessons?”

Thelonious let out a short, infectious chuckle. “Theo, these lessons are not compulsory, even as much as it pains me to say. I think they are vital, but I understand it is a large request to ask the youth to be up and about on a Fesday morning. If you can demonstrate to me that you can do what you have stated, then I will consider your request.” Theo nodded.

Thelonious slowed down as he rifled through his bag, pulling out a few pieces of paper. He brandished one in particular, which had a series of squiggles and symbols on it, arranged into a grid. As Thelonious came to a stop, Theo recognised it as the alphabet. He started up Tome of Memories.

“To start, I will read out each of these letters. Please repeat what I said, as I point to each.” Theo nodded, and listened carefully as Thelonious went through the alphabet. He recited everything, word-for-word, as Thelonious pointed at letter after letter.

Thelonious nodded, but otherwise didn’t comment. He pulled out another sheet of paper, with a number of words (or at least, what Theo presumed were words) on it. “This is a list of vocabulary that I think will be pertinent for you. I will read through them, then explain what they mean, and I will repeat what I did with the alphabet and ask you to repeat what I’d said.”

They repeated the process, which saw Theo learn words such as ‘monarchy’ and ‘ethics’. Thelonious nodded, satisfied. “As long as you can demonstrate to me your growth and improvement, I am happy to simply do a short supplementary lesson after World History, that won’t cut too much into your – or my – lunch.”

“Thank you.” Thelonious began walking towards the classroom again, smiling at Theo’s words.

“Oh, and before I forget, be careful when you use second-tier internal magic. You never know who is watching.” For a moment, Theo imagined that sharpness returned to his eyes, seeing right through him, but Thelonious was as pleasant as always.

Theo nodded, and tried to suppress the shiver down his spine.

---

Theo walked with Sparrow towards The Woods.

“I can’t say that I’m…okay with you skipping out on Thelonious’ lessons. Especially since literacy is very important. But as long as you keep improving and working on it, I guess I can’t complain. There’s a lot on your plate, and you have to compromise and prioritise somehow.” Sparrow waved to the guards on the walls. Squinting, Theo thought he recognised a few of them from the inner ring. Were they on the same guard roster?

Theo slowed down as one guard nodded back. Sparrow clapped him on the shoulders, gently pushing him to keep going. “Good job using Tome of Memories.” They whispered in his ear, as they passed through the gate and into the Woods.

It was different.

Something didn’t feel quite right (but then again Theo’s experiences of the Woods were probably not the average person’s). There was a nervous energy in the air.

Out of the corner of his eye, Theo swore he caught something watching him, but as soon as he looked over to try and spot it, it disappeared.

“Keep your guard up.” He looked over at Sparrow, their eyes scanning the woods, no longer casually strolling. Their body was tense, a coiled spring, slightly hunched over, with hands hovering over their belt.

Carefully, the two of them made their way deeper into the Woods, where they were greeted by Eva, a bit before the Guild of Magic. They didn’t act any differently to all the other times Theo had seen her, which when juxtaposed against how the rest of the woods were acting (noticeably twitchy) became notable in and of itself.

“Apologies, we have been…ensuring our safety. Since the events of last Fesday, we have increased the surveillance and security around our perimeters.” Eva kept her eyes focus on the two of them, but Theo had a feeling that she wasn’t really looking at them. She gestured for them to follow, and follow they did (if for no reason than to stop the trees around them from feeling as menacing).

There was no sound but the crunching of leaves underfoot, any conversation killed by the stare Eva gave the surroundings as she led the way forward (but on the bright side, the trees did feel less menacing).

“Sorry once again for last week. If there’s anything we can do to put The Woods at ease, just let us know and we’ll make it happen. Would a guard detail help?” Sparrow tried to revive the conversation (as any competent bard would).

Eva waved him off, dismissively (still without looking at them). “That is unnecessary. The cause of the increased wariness is…” She trailed off, slowing down before coming to a stop. Sparrow followed her lead, while Theo almost tripped over himself realising and trying to do the same.

It was unnerving. The trees grew larger around them, and Theo felt goosebumps on his back and arms rising.

Theo realised why The Woods felt different – there was no sound.

None.

No echoes of errant animals making their way through leaf-covered undergrowth. No hooting or skittering or cicadas. Just an overwhelming silence, filled only by the sounds Theo and Sparrow inadvertently made. Even Eva was perfectly quiet.

Theo looked over at Eva, and almost jumped back. They were still standing there, almost the same as before, but something had changed. They were a puppet with the strings cut off, a doll forgotten in an attic for years, head lolled forward, back hunched.

His eyes flicked over to Sparrow, who nodded slightly with a grimace on their face (the “yeah, I know, just keep calm” face). Theo swallowed, throat dry, and tried to put out of his mind memories of the scary stories Alan would pull out when he wasn’t behaving.

After a minute of standing around, waiting for something to jump at them, Eva’s head snapped up, and she turned to look at them again (and Theo tried to not react again). She cleared her throat, which sounded almost like rustling leaves. “Apologies, had to discuss whether or not it would be acceptable to disclose certain sensitive information to you.”

She resumed her pace, and Theo struggled to get his legs working again. She continued talking as they walked. “We are currently weaker than we normally would be, and there are regular probing attacks on our edges from foreign agents. So we are on high alert, to make sure we don’t cede any ground or lose any life.”

A pang of guilt radiated throughout Theo’s limbs. “…and once you have more mana to work with, that will be addressed.”

“Temporarily, yes.” Theo nodded to himself, eyes set and focused (like an eagle with its eyes on prey, or a tunnel-visioned athlete), as he picked up the pace.