The following morning was the first assembly in which all of the mages were present. High Archon Kingallu started with the same old ‘summary’ speech.

Then he said, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that, though we said there would be no rest days, the teachers have decided… to allow for some downtime. It is Restday after all.”

A small cheer went up.

“We’ll have a lecture this morning, and then you’ll have the afternoon to relax and prepare for the coming week. For now, you won’t be allowed to leave the campus. That privilege will be added later.

“But feel free to roam the gardens close to the main school complex, or the fields in the back. Explore the training rooms, the museum, the stables, or do whatever else you see fit. Nap if you wish. There’s a temple for those who wish to engage in formal worship of the Pontifarch. As you probably noticed, the walls of the Institute are designed to be functional, so if you wish to stroll on the battlements, you may. But be aware that there are spell formations bolstering the walls. Do not throw anything over the edge, spit, or attempt to climb down to the other side.

“And do not attempt to leave the campus by any other means. The punishment for breaking the rules will be severe.

“Now, for the bad news. Assessments will begin tomorrow, first thing. The order of testing will be announced later today after the dinner hour. We’ll go in order starting with the Seers who arrived first, roughly speaking. That means that you from Harmu will have a few days to settle in and attend a few classes before the testing.

“The testing should be finished by Fifthday. The weekend will be one of rest and recuperation, and then your new assignments will be announced on the following Firstday. Which is when your real education will begin.

“Before we go into the morning prayer, I’d like to provide a bit of news regarding the Abhorrent invasion.

“All of you here are from Ira starisles such as Humusi, Dumusi, Ashlultum, Al-Ga, and the like. But as you know, there are many other starisles subsidiary to Ku-Aya besides Ira. There are some members of the Mage Parliament here on Sin-Amuhhu that believe the Ira incidents to be nothing but a probing invasion. In other words, they think that far worse attacks will come in the future. That’s one of the reasons we’ve brought you here to train. So don’t think of this as some sort of vacation or a game.

“Take this evening’s rest time to prepare yourselves in mind and body. Starting tomorrow, things will get tough. Very tough.”

Finally, some free time, Xerxes thought. As soon as the morning prayer was finished, and the assembly adjourned, he walked through the crowd toward Katayoun. However, she already had her back to him, and walked shoulder-to-shoulder with her friend back toward the main part of the school, and presumably, the dorms.

Random Seers kept getting in his way as he tried to catch up with her. He was tempted to call her name, but it would have attracted too much attention.

She broke free of the crowd before he did.

“Move, buddy,” he growled to someone before nearly pushing him out of the way.

“Hey!” the young man called after him.

Xerxes broke into a jog, but Katayoun had already reached the dorm entrance. By the time he jumped through the entrance himself, she’d already entered the wing set aside for female mages.

“Shit,” he muttered, slapping his palm against the wall. He waited for a minute or two, but she never came out.

Finally, he left for the lecture. When he arrived, Katayoun was already there, sitting with her friends.

Idiot, he chided himself. He’d totally forgotten that the dorms had back entrances.

The morning lecture went by so slowly that Xerxes wanted to die.

The topic was, yet again, starsea geography, a topic so dry and stuffy he wasn’t sure why they bothered with it. Who cared about the layout of Gateways and the configuration of starisles? What did that have to do with fighting on the battlefield?

Thinking he was half-paying attention—but in reality not paying attention at all—he spent the morning lecture thinking about longsword fighting, contemplating what it would be like to become a High Seer and finally be able to cast a spell that would make his sword on a magical level, and trying to get a glimpse of Katayoun through the crowd.

Unfortunately, he could barely make out much more than a lock of hair here and there, and eventually, he stopped trying. Then, before he knew what was happening, he fell asleep.

The call to wake up came when Gandash poked Xerxes’ ribs.

“Ow,” Xerxes said, sitting up. “What happened?”

“You’re lucky you didn’t start snoring. Come on, we have the rest of the day off.”

Katayoun, Xerxes thought, and he jumped up and looked around. There wasn’t a sign of red hair anywhere around.

Gandash frowned. “She left already.”

“Oh.”

“Xerk, you’re acting….” Gandash didn’t finish his sentence. “Look, the assessments start tomorrow. Tomorrow. Let’s go back and study. We want to be totally ready, right?”

“Right.”

Back in the room, Xerxes saw Gandash had a huge pile of books on the desk at the foot of his bed.

“Where’d those come from?” Xerxes asked.

“The library. That’s kind of the point of the place. Here, this one’s about starsea geography.” He slipped a book out from the middle of the stack. “Considering how much they’ve been talking about it, I bet you ten shekels it’s on the test.”

Xerxes took the book, sat at his own desk, and started reading. After flipping through a few pages, he realized he hadn’t registered anything that he was reading. This is pointless. Whatever’s on the test, I either know it or don’t know it.

“You know,” he said, closing the book, “neither of us have been to temple since before the mission on Mannemid. Knowing you, I figured you’d have gone praying or something.”

Gandash looked at him. “They don’t have a temple of the One Faith on campus.”

“Oh, right.”

“There’s one to the south, though. I asked. Once we get to go outside, I’ll definitely head there. You should come with me.”

“Sure.” He stood up. “I need some fresh air. I’ll be right back.”

Before Gandash could protest, Xerxes was out the door.