The Academy’s bells tolled early the next morning, waking its students shortly after dawn. The clanging continued for minutes, ensuring none could roll over and ignore it, and was followed by a psychic broadcast in a man’s stentorian tone: ‘Everyone is to report to the practice grounds at once, casual wear allowed.’

Shaya expected to be up early, but not that early. She had warned the rest of her lance except Ren, who was nowhere to be found last night. Bri handled it best, up at the crack of dawn for morning prayers to Astoria anyway. Oraeus and Ralus appeared unaffected by the early wakeup call, though they wore simpler garb than usual. Samorn was prim and proper as usual, leaving only Shaya looking ragged and unkempt. She hoped Ren looked and felt as hideous as she did wherever he was, at least sharing her suffering in spirit.

They arrived at the practice grounds in short order as commanded, Shaya still trying to tame her wild mane of golden hair and wishing she had just put on her helmet. Fortunately, most of the students appeared in far worse shape than her. Then she realized there were hundreds of students around her: a few hundred undergraduates like her, as well as graduates who had continued their studies here either as pure academics or as part of their training in an Order of mage knights. The graduates were easy to spot, many of them possessing familiars or minor constructs, but also appearing a strange combination of confident and exhausted that Shaya hadn’t seen amongst younger students.

Now alert to her surroundings, Shaya looked around to see who else might be present. While she spotted squires like Avaim, she didn’t spy any other full mage knights except for a surprising contingent of wardens standing before a stage full of professors. She also glimpsed blue cloaks throughout the crowd, likely intended to exude a calming, professional aura to keep the grumpy students in line.

“Shaya!” Apricot shouted, working through the crowd to reach her, lance in tow.

“Apricot!” Shaya waved back, a few of the tired students around her flinching from the volume. She realized the wave was unnecessary, she and Bri stood a good head above anyone else in the crowd.

The small woman slipped around students without much issue, though Shaya’s criminal past couldn’t help but judge that she wasn’t particularly graceful about it. Shaya’s sensitive nose immediately wrinkled as Apricot walked up to her, carrying a tin cup of black, steaming liquid. A few of the others in her lance seemed to be drinking the same stuff, including Lan, shocking Shaya given that it smelled like acid.

“Wait,” she said, looking at the wintry Veyeiran, “Lan! You’re back!”

He simply nodded.

“Well,” Shaya continued, “it’s good to see you, you had me worried. You missed an exciting deployment, though I’m sure Apricot has already filled you in.”

“Indeed,” he replied, averting his gaze, “my apologies, I had... personal matters to attend to. But it sounds like the deployment, though ‘exciting’ as you say, brought to light certain inadequacies amongst our cohort and rid us of them.”

Shaya chuckled, “At least in the short term, yeah. Which I guess might not have happened if you were there, so it all worked out.”

He nodded again.

Shaya suspected there was more to the story, but she didn’t want to push him further right now.

“What is that?” She asked Apricot, pointing at the cup of black acid.

“Hm?” Apricot cocked her head, then her eyes lit up, “Oh right, I keep forgetting Arcadia doesn’t have coffee beans.”

“You’re drinking beans?”

“Well, it’s more like a...tea... I guess?” Apricot explained, face scrunching up as she thought about it, “Give it a try, it’s not as bad as you think. Also, it wakes you right up!”

With dread, Shaya accepted her friend’s tin cup and took a tentative sip of the black liquid. She never wanted it to be said that she judged something before trying it... within reason.

It took all of her will power to avoid spitting it back into the cup.

“Thanks,” she said, returning the cup with a grimace, “I don’t think it’s for me.”

Apricot giggled, “It’s an acquired taste. My mom makes it better than I do, she lives off the stuff.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Shaya said, wanting to claw the flavour off her tongue.

“Can I try a sip?” Samorn asked, gliding into the conversation.

“Sure!” Apricot handed the cup over again.

Samorn tilted the cup delicately, as if she were at an important ceremony, and let the liquid sit in her mouth a moment before swallowing.

“Bitter,” she said after a moment of thought, “a bit of honey would help cut that down, and perhaps a bit of milk to help cut down the acidity?”

She is going to be a perfect wife, Shaya thought, watching her work through the flavour profiles and chat with Apricot about the concoction.

Before they could go too far into the details, the bells thundered over them once more. Everyone’s attention was drawn to the stage where a few dozen professors stood in rows behind a man at the podium. His immaculate black and white robes and authoritarian bearing marked him as the Imperial War Academy’s Chancellor. Shaya was unsurprised to find that the bald but silver-bearded patriarch possessed no small amount of Astorian blood. Zaal and Basillo stood in the front row, effectively flanking the Chancellor. Shaya spotted Rea, Auric and Bari in the back row, their height letting them tower over most of the other professors at the Academy.

Am I just drawn to tall people? Shaya wondered as she observed the stage.

“I will not keep you long,” the Chancellor said, his stentorian voice carrying over the massive field without issue. An illusion of him in full colour appeared over the podium, five times his normal size, and mirroring his every move and expression, “for those of you who have yet to meet me, I am Chancellor Makrian.

“I wish I was bringing you good news,” he continued, voice full of sorrow, “but as the rumours have no doubt spread across campus, I must needs address them. One week ago, a dissident snuck onto our campus and sabotaged one of our facilities: the stables.”

A wave of emotion passed over the crowd followed by a susurration as the silence was broken. The Chancellor allowed it for a few seconds, then tapped a wand on the edge of the podium, the sharp tap, tap sounding like a Titan tapping on a mountainside. The crowd fell silent again, all attention back on the Chancellor.

Guy knows how to play a crowd.

“Fortunately,” he continued, hand to heart as if relieved by his own words, “no one was harmed and, through the efforts of our staff – and dutiful students that were nearby – the lives of most of the animals within were saved.

“The Wardens of Heiwa are working alongside members of the Inquisition to investigate this vile terrorist attack,” his voice grew hard, and he clenched a fist in front of him, “and I know that, through their cooperation, this culprit will be found and brought to justice.”

The crowd nodded, the tension fading somewhat at the Chancellor’s confidence.

“I know you are the Empire’s best and brightest,” he continued, a fatherly smile touching his lips, “and that you are keen to assist in any way you can, but I must insist you leave the investigation to the professionals. Please focus on your studies – especially since mid-terms are coming up fast.”

Shaya could sense malevolent smiles from some of the professors on the stage and an awkward chuckle passed through the crowd. The tension was back, but directed at something else entirely now, and Shaya was no different. Her increased work hours left her little time to study, and she felt guilty for how little time she was able to spend with Quill. Combining study time with visiting him helped balance the two, but it wasn’t ideal.

She’d have to make it work though, she didn’t have any other choice – at least none she wanted to consider.

“That is all I have to say,” Chancellor Makarian said, “thank you for humouring the early meeting – I’m afraid even my weekends are booked with meetings otherwise. Please put thoughts of this unfortunate event far from your minds and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Best of luck with your exams, everyone. Seven Protect.”

The crowd echoed him as he dismissed his illusion and stepped away from the podium.

The professors were the first to leave, many of them simply teleporting or flying away in small groups. Some of the graduate students followed using the same methods, leaving a few hundred people to disperse the good old-fashioned way.

Shaya and Apricot’s lances hung behind, letting others stampede back to their beds.

“I have some practice time booked for our lances,” Ralus said, as the two lances formed a protective circle against the other shoving students, “but unfortunately the areas have been booked solid since our first deployment... so an appropriately sized practice area wasn’t available until the evening after our second deployment.”

“That’s alright,” Apricot said, “thank you for booking it for us Ralus. This will just let us focus on studying for mid-terms.”

“We just need to make sure that some of us get back without injuries this time,” Bri said, elbowing Shaya.

“What?” Shaya looked wounded, “You were the most injured!”

“Uh, yeah,” Bri replied, “I was crippled in an ambush. What’s your excuse?”

“I, uh...” Shaya floundered, then glared at her, “alright, you win this time.”

Bri’s only reply was a shit eating grin, earning her a laugh from everyone around her.