After a long, heart-pounding moment, Nemendias reached out with her own hand and clasped mine.

Her hand forged from magic felt real, warm, like she was a human, like she was alive on the same level as me.

“Thank you, Yulia,” she said softly. “Your offer was... unexpected. I did not think that a human would offer me their place, but then again you don’t seem to want to be my student.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” I shook my head. “I do want to be your student. I want to be your student, your teacher and your friend. I want a lot of things. I’m very greedy and I’m… incredibly desperate.”

“Are you really?” Nemendias tilted her head.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I have to stop a god and her unkillable, Inarian artifact bound minions and I have no idea who most of them are or even how to do it. I have a few decades to save Illatius. I keep getting murdered and my soul is freaking coming apart. The cards are really stacked against me.”

I rubbed my face, feeling frustrated.

“You show an interesting degree of vulnerability,” Nemendias commented. “Most mages are reserved and proper, like Agatha Amadea.”

“I’m an oddball,” I shrugged. “I like to make friends with everything on Andross. Here, want to talk to my other magical construct friend?” I pulled my cloak open revealing Dawn’s face.

Dawn waved her hand at Nemendias, looking shy. The avatar of the Arcanarium stepped closer to me and peered at Dawn.

“I know you,” she said after a momentary pause.

“Greetings, my Lady Nemendias,” Dawn said with a bow.

“Have you two never talked to each other?” I asked curiously.

“We have not,” Dawn said. “Ambiss never considered that her school could be this sentient and I could not see the heart of Nemendias since my paintings here are stationary.”

“Ambiss Huron was a very bright girl,” Nemendias said softly. “I have guided her well over the years, granted her access to forbidden archives and given her the knowledge she needed to master Depictomancy. She found exactly what she wanted in one of the scrolls of Lord Innocentai's research.”

“Hold up,” I blinked. “So it was you… you are responsible for Dawn’s creation! Ambiss was able to pour her soul into Dawn because you indirectly taught her how to do it!”

“T-thank you my Lady,” Dawn muttered shyly. “I owe my life to you.”

“We’ve gone full circle, this is great,” I snickered. “Dawn are you being shy around your other mom?”

“Lady Nemendias has much more power and presence than I do,” Dawn said. “She is truly arcane.”

“Yeah, she’s old but you’ve got loads more experience interacting with people,” I said. “Honestly, she could learn a thing or two from you. You guys should talk more. I’ll hang one of your posters in Nemmy’s den.”

“Only if Lady Nemendias would not mind my presence there,” Dawn said with a curtsy.

The avatar of Nemendias sighed.

“You need magical construct friends as much as human friends,” I said.

“Why do I feel like my sanctum has been violated?” She asked. “Are you really moving into my heart-stone room?”

“I am,” I said. “It’s a nice, private space where nobody will bother me. Plus there’s that cool skully-boi in it for extra spookiness. By the way, is Saint Innocentai real or a prop made from magic?”

“Lord Innocentai really died in that room, giving up the remnant of his life to me,” Nemendias replied. “His soul formed the foundation of my core around which the rest of me had grown over centuries. His body had decayed… badly over the years… so I’ve unmade it and remade it in its current position.”

“Cool,” I nodded. “Real-fake skeleton.”

“You know, you have a room on campus here… right?” Nemendias said.

“Do I?” I blinked.

“Yes,” the magical avatar nodded. “Your maid just finished sorting out the paperwork for it with the Keeper.”

“Neat-o,” I nodded. “Do I have roommates?”

Nemendias nodded.

“Well then, I’ll most likely be spending most of my time with Lord Innocentai,” I said. “So that you can pretend to be me while I hide in the catacombs.”

“Fair enough,” Nemendias sighed. “Don’t tell anyone else that I exist or our deal is off.”

My right wrist started to vibrate. I picked up the call. As I looked up from my Armacus I noticed that Nemmy and the attention-redirecting shield around us were gone.

[Greetings, my Lady!] Voltara said. [Your and Lady Emerald’s room is ready for you.]

“Excellent,” I said. “Where is it?”

[The Lawmaker’s Tower,] the maid replied.

“I have no idea where that is,” I yawned.

[Do you want me to meet you somewhere so that I can lead you there?]

“Yeah,” I said. “Come to the Eastern Courtyard. I might need you to lug me around. I’m dying.”

[Are you really?] Voltara asked.

“No, not really,” I replied. “Just being dramatic and my legs won't obey me anymore. Ne… umm… uhhh… I was doing a magical quest and trying to catch a spooky ghost.”

[Right,] Voltara didn’t even bother to ask why I was chasing ghosts. [Be there as soon as I can. My apologies for taking so long to get your room sorted, the Keeper of Keys was giving us a hard time.]

“Figured she might,” I sighed. “That’s why I sent you. I didn’t want to deal with Amadea’s minion. Sorry if she gave you trouble.”

[I’ve dealt with way worse, a bit of waiting was nothing,] Voltara sent. [See you soon.]

I yawned again and leaned back on the bench.

“So, what do you guys think about Nemendias?” I asked.

“She’s… imposing,” Dawn said.

“She’s amazing!” Emerald grinned.

“I’m never sleeping peacefully again,” Agatha muttered.

“Eh?” I blinked at her.

“She’s been watching me,” the eldest Amadea princess replied with a small shudder. “Always watching and judging. You know I thought that I had privacy in Nemendias, but no… you just had to summon her avatar and ruin everything.”

“Dawn’s the same way, you know,” I laughed.

“Dawn is not the same,” Agatha shook her head. “Nemendias… feels and looks… real. She’s not a drawing, not an artifact. I think I understand exactly why the archmagi of Illatius destroyed magic-born manifestations over the centuries.”

I rolled my eyes at Agatha’s dramatic declarations. I doubted that Nemendias obsessed over people’s private moments. She’s most likely seen it all over six thousand years and grown extremely bored of the little ants running through her halls.

“Don’t worry,” I told my friend. “Nemmy doesn’t have human eyes. She’s an astral manifestation. She does not perceive the world in the same way as you and I do.”

“Wow, that makes me feel soooo much better,” Agatha muttered sarcastically. “Non-human eyes watching me sleep, forever and ever. Yep, I’ll just go drown myself in that fountain over there.”

“If you drown in a fountain, I’m stealing your crest,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

“Fine, I won’t end myself if that’s what it takes to prevent a small monster like you from attaining a crest,” Agatha huffed. “I cannot even begin to imagine the mayhem you would concoct if you had a full crest!”

I started to giggle furiously.

. . .

“Onwards, my bravest knight-maid!” I giggled as I stuck my head out of Saccy.

Voltara was carrying the bag with me in it on her front. I took another swig of Folding Seed sap as she opened the door into my new room. The drink was making me giggle even more than before, uplifting my spirits and reducing the awful pain in my joints.

“I claim this territory in the name of Captain!” I yelled, petting the kitten on my shoulder. “I shall call this blessed landmass Captania and make it into a most prosperous paradise nation of dignified lo…”

The large, fancy, gothic room we’ve entered had three poster beds in it. Two of the beds and shelf sets were completely empty and the third one was… filled.

I choked on the rest of my words, staring at the face of a thin, redhead girl in a lace, white shirt sitting on the aforementioned bed. Angry, glacier-blue eyes focused on me.

“Just freaking great,” she muttered. “Of ALL the students in Nemendias I get the lowborn Undertown topaz addict as my roommate. Gods damn it.”

“In my defense, I didn’t expect the room to be occupied,” I muttered, my face burning in embarrassment.

“I got here early,” the girl shrugged.

“I’m Grogs,” I climbed out of Saccy, swaying a bit.

“I know,” the girl sighed. “I... read about you in Illatius Daily.”

I tried to plaster a grin on my face. It came out lopsided as the left side of my face had locked up and wasn’t responding properly.

“Hi, I’m Emerald Amadea,” Emerald introduced herself. "...and that's my sister Agatha Amadea."

“Uh-huh,” our new roommate sighed, eyeing the two princesses and the two maids with a weary look.

“This is Voltara and Arouetta, our personal maids!” Emerald declared. “Is your maid out?”

“I don’t have a maid,” the ginger girl shook her head. “Well, I did... she exploded… along with my parents and my Baronial Estate.”

"That's a joke, right?" Emerald blinked.

Our new roommate shook her head, looking angry and forlorn at the same time.

Emerald froze, her hand covering her mouth.

An awkward, deep silence settled between us.

“Do you want to share… my maid?” I offered, trying to break the gloomy atmosphere. “Voltara is nice.”

Voltara nodded, confirming her nice-ness.

“I don’t need your benefaction, addict,” the redhead shook her curls.

I shoved the metal flask back into Saccy and stepped closer to the girl on the bed.

“I believe we got off to a bad start,” I said. “My apologies for yelling nonsense, I was simply excited about my first day at Nemendias. My kitten's name is Captain, you see and...”

“Uh-huh,” the girl nodded, clearly not listening. Her icy, blue eyes were staring past me.

“I… um, I’m sorry to hear that your parents died,” Emerald muttered. “Would you at least do us the honor of telling us your name?”

“My name is… Amber of Snippy,” the redhead said, not looking at Emerald. "I'm the Baroness of the Morvius Marshes."

Something in my head clicked. Could she be related to Charles Snippy? No, it had to be a coincidence. How could a highborn Baronial Princess be related to the last man on the surface of Eureka?

My eyes trailed down her body to a dark-frame amulet on her chest. A polished, crystal gemstone was embedded within it. Something red and something green were spiraling within the locket hanging from her neck. Two colors were dancing around each other, looking like a mixture of an ouroboros that was perpetually eating its own tail and yin and yang. I glanced at the cool magical amulet with my Still-Walker sight.

There was nothing at all within the crystal container. No magic. The strange, dancing colors did not cast a resonance into the Astral, did not leave an imprint. It was like they did not even exist.

I gulped.

What the shit? Did Eunice make a 9th apprentice? Was this girl one of my enemies, a high-cendai?!

“Do you mind not staring at my chest?” The girl wrapped her blanket around herself, looking more annoyed than before.

My hand was already gripping Endy tightly. I moved into a defensive position. Emerald, Agatha and the maids tensed up. They knew what Endy could do.

“Amber,” I uttered, drawing the words out of myself, Endy shaking in my hand. “What is that amulet?”

“You know, when I came to Nemendias I did not expect to be assaulted with a kitchen knife by a drunk lowborn child,” Amber sighed, eyeing Endy.

“Agatha - truth hex, now!” I growled.

Agatha was quick on the uptake. Her armacus unfurled.

“Oh wow,” Amber looked at Agatha. “You people have a whole gang. Are you going to demand my lunch money now or something?”

“Your locket,” I repeated. “Tell me about it.”

“Why should I tell you anything?” Amber raised an eyebrow. “What is this? I knew that Nemendias was full of highborn pricks, but this is ridiculous.”

“That’s not a magical artifact,” I said. “That’s a shard of Inaria.”

“Is it now?” The ginger girl asked, completely undeterred by me waving Endy in front of her face. She wasn’t afraid of me, showed zero recognition of me. Maybe she wasn’t associated with Eunice?

My hand started to ache from holding the knife up. I slowly lowered it.

“Look, please tell us about that locket and we’ll stop bothering you,” I said. “This is really important, Amber. I need to know if you’re one of my enemies.”

“Oh?” The redhead raised an eyebrow. “You have enemies?”

I nodded.

“Add me to your list of enemies then,” she shrugged. “Because I refuse to be bullied by two highborn bitches, their maids and their lapdog lowborn. Your childish intimidation tactics won’t work on me - the student protecting ward of Nemendias will make that knife useless and it will block direct spell-fire from the armacus. Your threats are empty.”

“Hey! J-uh-Grogtilda ain’t my dog,” Emerald snapped. “How dare you?”

“Go on, keep bugging me. I was planning to ask the Keeper to relocate me as soon as I saw you, but now I’ll have a legitimate excuse to get new roommates,” Amber rolled her eyes. “Look at you two bullies. Classes didn’t even start yet and you’re at minus ten and minus one hundred points. Very impressive. Who’d you harass before you found me?”

My face fell. I’ve made friends with everyone I met. I was a pro at making good impressions on people. How did I screw this up so badly? Was I wrong about this girl? Was she just an innocent bystander who simply happened to carry a shard of Inaria on her neck?

“Galissi’s too far, I don’t have the energy to hold the hex all day,” Agatha’s armacus closed, folded back to its bracelet form. My friend looked lost. In fact everyone around the room was completely at a loss, not sure what to do next. They were waiting for me to order them into battle but I froze, became paralyzed with indecision.

“Just as I thought, all bark and no bite,” Amber rolled her eyes and retreated deeper into her bed, glaring at us from within.

All of my intelligence-bound senses screamed that Amber’s locket was an ancient weapon, that it was incredibly dangerous to me, that the right thing to do was to destroy it, to stab it out of existence.

Would Nemendias protect Amber? Would she stop me from ripping the locket off her neck?