“Friends must always be treated as if one day they might be enemies.”

- Napoléon Bonaparte

Back in Alea’s room.

“That was unexpected.” Mireille looked guilty.

“I was not forced, it was my decision.” Alea tried to comfort her. “And I did not think about confiding in him. I simply went along because it was logical. I hope Max can forgive me.”

Alyssa nodded. “We all simply went along. But Vanessa is our savior. Mireille and I would not be here without her. How could we neglect to help!”

Vanessa waved her off. “And I would possibly be destroyed already if not for your intervention in Sorringen.”

They looked at each other and smiled.

“The last time I was in danger was at a party.” Alea clenched her small fists. “So we will simply stay in the academy and only come out to help Vanessa?”

“That seems a sensible precaution.” Alyssa nodded. “But what about Iseret and how do we contact Vanessa?”

“We could have Adam contact us when necessary. And we still have an open bed in our room. We could say she is another servant? We would be allowed one each wouldn’t we?” Mireille shrugged.

Alea nodded. “That could work. And our reputation is such that even employing a Keshian should not damage it further.” She looked a bit guilty at that. “Not that Iseret is not a nice person but others will not see it that way.”

“I hate to say it, but she is a slave with exceptional sword skills working for a probably criminal enterprise. We should be a bit wary of her. And yes she is easy to get along with.” Alyssa admonished. “I wonder how they can control such a capable person.”

“Slavery seems to be at once nuanced and on the other hand integrated into all strata of society in Sur Kesh.” Vanessa explained. “If you look at it in a certain way even Kadira is a slave of the gods.”

“I would not want to live there.” Mireille shook her body like a wet cat. “A collar, being beholden to someone without a choice.”

Alea looked at her and seemed pensive.

Vanessa sighed heavily. “No one is truly free. But that is another and primarily fruitless, philosophic discussion. If I could still drink alcohol it would be something you do when you are completely drunk and absolutely sure of your genius.” She gave a crooked smile. “Never experienced it myself but my brother would tell me about it.”

“Let us try and learn something before we go to sleep. Tomorrow we should try to study for the test that Maximilian mentioned. Not that I could forget that if I tried.” Alyssa grimaced.

Vanessa intensified Alyssa’s training regarding using void safely. Then she assigned some exercises using arcane magic for Alea and gave instructions for Mireille. Their time together was much too short and they continued until well after midnight.

Asandria helped Alyssa and tirelessly corrected each fault.

As Alea fell asleep while reading. Vanessa stopped them. “If we continue like this it is highly likely that you might memorize something wrong and have to unlearn it or even worse it might not come up until you really need it. So we stop for today. I wish you all a good night. For what it’s worth I admire you for coming with me to talk with the Keshians.”

“Night” Mireille yawned.

“Good night.” Alyssa gave a small wave.

And then she was gone.

“Let’s go to sleep. I will take care of Alea. You can use the bathroom first.” Alyssa tried to wake the unresponsive girl.

Mireille yawned again. “Okay.”

And soon everyone was lying in bed and trying to sleep.

“Are you still awake?” Mireille looked at the pale oval of her friend's face. Because of the cloud cover, it was near-total darkness.

“Mmmh.” Alyssa mumbled.

“Do you like snakes?”

“Mh.”

“Is that a yes or no?”

“Cats…...and snakes. Cyrus.” It was unclear if she was talking in her sleep or sleepily talking.

“Let's sleep.”

Her only answer was soft, regular breathing.

The next day came much too early.

“I could have slept another hour or two,” Mireille grumbled.

“I normally would have scolded you but today… I raise you another hour. I feel like I have not slept at all. I had this strange dream where there were a lot of cats and snakes.” Alyssa rubbed her eyes.

Alea was already clothed and sitting at her desk working through her notes.

“Are you not tired at all?” Alyssa asked incredulously.

“After I got back my memories I have slept a lot less and been fine. Even as I have nightmares constantly. I don’t know why.”

“That seems as if it should not work.” Alyssa looked at the small girl worriedly. “How do you feel?”

“Mh. Not that bad actually. I wish I could get rid of the nightmares but you two being with me helps immensely. And not needing that much sleep? It’s something I would have wished for given the chance. There is so much to learn, to do and so little time.”

Mireille did a sommersault.

Alyssa took a hasty step backward, “Be careful with that. Your foot was a handsbreadth from the chandelier.”

“Did I grow some? Would be awesome if that was the case. I wanted a bigger sword and the teacher wouldn’t let me because of balance and some such nonsense!” Mireille looked fired up. “The small ones are mostly decorative. I was lucky to find one that mostly fit me in the Arcaneum.”

“Don’t tell me. It’s too big actually?”

“Maybe?”

Alyssa put both hands to her face.

Alea gave a smile.

There was a knock at the door and a maidservant called. “The young lord bids you to come to have breakfast with him.”

“We will make haste, but it will take us some minutes,” Alea called back.

Breakfast came and went and then it was the afternoon and Mireille had to return to the academy for the lightning attunement tutoring. The rest of the girls decided to accompany her this time, taking Iseret with them.

The snake woman had been fitted with a maid uniform which made her look adorable in the opinion of the trio.

She carried a large bag containing her armor and the khopesh.

“And? Does it work?” Alyssa looked curious.

“Yes. I get better all the time when I am training. Which means I should probably train some more.” Mireille’s look was a bit complicated. “Yes, you got me. I was so absorbed trying to learn Auram the language of air and getting my academics to a reasonable level that I might have neglected my affinity training a bit even though it made a big impact. I’m not made for studying.” She hung her head.

“You are amazing. You reacted instantly when we were attacked and that lightning bolt was very impressive.” Alyssa tried to comfort her.

“I’m too stupid for that Auram language!” Mireille looked despondent. “And why do I have to learn spells I can’t use!”

“That is indeed nonsense. Auram might be useful to you someday. And lesser magic should be accessible to you still but it is no use learning higher magic when not able to use it.” Alea looked thoughtful.

“Could you talk to someone for me?” Mireille looked hopeful.

Alea looked troubled. “Alyssa?”

“Yes, I will do it. Reneus might be amenable to persuasion.”

Iseret looked at the byplay with interest.

Soon they arrived at the academy. A fine dusting of snow covered the grounds already turning to mush and mud where students and staff walked most often.

“Brrrr.” Mireille was shivering.

Alyssa looked at her worriedly and then took her own cloak and draped it around her shoulders.

“But you will freeze.” Mireille tried to protest.

“I am good with cold. Don’t worry. And we will soon be inside the dorms. You will have to go to your tutoring session so you need it more.” She hugged her affectionately. “Do your best!”

They introduced Iseret to Lorelle who was wary of hybrid woman.

“That was good. You have some talent for this after all.” Aldrick, her tutor looked only half-serious as he said that but she would take what she could get.

“Thanks. Being a genius is hard but your kind words make it all better!” Mireille bowed while sitting and nearly overdid it and had to stabilize herself by grabbing for a nearby column.

Laughing Aldrick swept a bit of snow from his shoulders. “Ok. That should do it. You have the basics down pat. But you have to keep at it or your gains might go up in smoke. The body and your soul do not like to be altered and there is a certain...inertia that comes into play. It could even be a form of healing. After all, if someone tried to curse you and anchor some nasty shit on your soul it would try to revert too. But enough of this. With today's lesson, you should be able to continue on your own. I will tell Professor Ark.”

Mireille looked a bit conflicted but smiled in the end.”That’s good, I think. If I have problems can I ask you to help sometimes?”

“Naturally. But Professor Ark is probably the better person to ask, and he other than me is even getting paid for this. Not that I complain about academic merit and all that.” He raised his hands in defense. “Have a nice evening.” He tipped his nonexistent hat and walked away.

“Bye!”

The courtyard of Air was silent, snowflakes drifted lazily towards the ground. It was still late autumn but with the mountains and being further north than Rivenlorn the area got to experience the first cold days much earlier than Mireille was used to.

‘Lightning. Neither air nor fire.’ A spark shot from her hand. Lately, she had found that such small expressions of elemental energy were possible for her even without speaking a command. ‘Neat.’ She pointed at a large snwoflake and with a hiss, a spark leaped and liquefied it.

‘I should try and get some more meditation done today. But the test…’ She groaned and stood up patting the snow from her two cloaks. ‘I must remember to do something nice for Alyssa. That was a life-saver.’

Walking back through the still mostly empty halls lit by a modest amount of glow-globes she came to the main yard in front of the academy. Two students were involved in a snowball fight and seemed to have a lot of fun.

‘If I have to take classes on the weekend I will most assuredly die of prolonged boredom.’ She firmed her resolve and walked towards the dorm when a snowball impacted her shoulder. “Just you wait! It’s on!”

An hour or so later she arrived in the dorms, shivering and covered in snow.

“Mireille! What happened?” Alyssa took her cloak and gave it to a waiting Iseret, after a short moment of hesitation.

“S.s.s..snowball f.f.fight.” Mireilles teeth were chattering.

“You big idiot! And we have the test tomorrow. First, you take a hot bath and put on some new clothes. I will see if there is still soup to be had and warm it up for you.” Alyssa took charge. Iseret’s features were expressionless but seemed to radiate amusement nonetheless.

Later in the evening Mireille was bundled in some blankets and tried to keep up with Alea’s and Alyssa’s tutoring while sipping a cup of hot soup.

The next day dawned on stormy but clear weather. Clouds raced each other before a turquoise sky.

Mr. Glames looked at the students filing into the room.

“Attention, please. Good morning. Today we will be having our first test. You will get used to it soon, so don’t worry. Some rules before we begin: No one uses magic. There might be one or two that could augment memory or something like that already but we want to see your academic prowess not your facility in mind magic. No copying. It should not be necessary to say that but here it is. When you are finished you can leave but do not disturb the others. No loud talking in the corridor nearby. And without prolonging your suffering we will start by giving out the test papers. Remain at your seat and please put away anything but your stationery.”

The test consisted of a hundred questions written in order of difficulty. Groans and looks of despair could be seen on some students, Mireille included.

“Silence. Answer the questions to the best of your ability. I don’t expect anyone to get a perfect score today but it is possible. Heloise of Marginar was the last to achieve this. Let’s start!”

Scribbling noises and soft noises of distress were the only sounds for the rest of the test-taking. The time allotted was two hours after which the students had some free time until lunch.

Lieseleta was still confined to the palace. Alea had sent a letter asking about her situation and health but had not received an answer yet.

The three friends gathered in an unused classroom after finally giving back the test papers.

“AAAAAAH!” Mireille sat on a desk and held her head while trying not to scream too loudly and draw attention to their hideout.

“Mireille.” Alea looked at her reproachfully.

Alyssa held back a giggle and then stroked the red-heads back. “Shh. It’s not so bad. Even if you have remedial lessons on Saturday it will help with future tests, no?”

Cyrus hopped on the desk too and butted Mireille with his head, hitting her on the arm causing her to nearly fall off. “Hey! You don’t know how much you have grown! Nooo my Saturday! They will begin at eight. I will not be able to sleep in.” She had a despondent look.

“Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.” Alyssa wisely admonished. “It might be the other way round this time but the saying is still true. You might by some miracle…” she got a hurt look for that, “...ahem, by some effort still manage.”

“Did you see Otto?” Alyssa tried to change the subject.

“Yes, he was silent the whole time. Do you think he learned his lesson?” Mireille rubbed her eyes and answered.

Alea adjusted her blindfold and stroked Cecily. “I don’t trust him to be sensible. There will be something else. He will not give up so easily.”

A fist hit him in the gut. Hard. Groaning with pain he staggered back. He spat some bile flecked with blood.

“You did not manage to do a thing I asked of you and that was after all the money and resources I gave you.” The mask of red cloth stretched over gaunt features. There were no openings for eye or mouth but the voice was not muffled nor did he seem to have problems seeing. Small runes were stitched into the blood-red, stiff cloth. A hooded robe made of a similar material draped his form.

Leonhard Poroskar gritted his teeth, trying to conceal the hatred in his eyes. “It is not finished yet, I have some more I can try. She did best him but she is isolated and feared. Give me a bit more time and I will win her over.”

“You were asked to harm her, expose her for the void-witch she is. Then it would have been easy to gain her service for the lord. You could not do this single thing I wanted. All the time you had my resources and my product to set yourself up and what do you have to show for it? A few lackeys that a bit of coin would have been sufficient to buy anytime, any day.”

“They are completely dependent on me. If I want they would commit murder for me. That is not as simple as you make it out to be!”

The mask drew close and a musty, metallic smell filled Leonhard's nose.

The room was in a small inn half an hour's ride from the academy. They had used it several times for their little ‘talks’ but up ‘til now it had been much more pleasant. Leonhard was starting to regret getting into business with his mad uncle. The rest of the family notably his father had warned him in no uncertain terms after all.

“I can't babysit your every move. Grow up.” He made a dismissive gesture. “This is your final chance. I have some urgent work that demands my attention so I will give you more product and this.” He pulled a metal vial from a pouch at his side. “She has to drink all of it. How you do so is not my concern, hold her down and pour it into her throat for all I care. It will make her do what you say for a quarter of an hour afterward. Use that wisely, make her into a villain, hurt her. I don’t care. But she should no longer be able to continue at the academy. Best if she does something unforgivable. But her ending up a cripple would be fine too. Don’t expose yourself!”

“Understood.”

“See that you do.” The robed figure turned and left through the door. Light filtered through windows of scraped parchment. The cheap furniture, the slightly dirty linen covering the bed. The threadbare carpet. Everything served to infuriate Leonhard at the moment. He furiously kicked the chair and grinned as he heard a cracking sound as a leg broke off. ‘Bastard. We are family and he treats me like this! In the beginning, it was – Oh, Leonhard, that was well done. You will go far. Have some more product, it’s on the house. Call it an allowance.’ He kicked the chair again. ‘And now I am his lackey and with everything I do, nothing is good enough. But you will see. You will all see.’

No, he would do some of what his uncle wanted but it was high time he did something for himself. Grinning he wiped the bile from his mouth with the back of his hand.

Yes, he should have been more selfish from the beginning.