As it was her habit, Jadwia Lichtfreund took her breakfast in her room. Despite her drawn curtains, she could see that the sun had yet to rise entirely so she resorted to turning on the Lightsphere that served as a bedside lamp. She had already had her shower and had already stepped out of her bedroom to go to the canteen on the first floor and grab a pastry, before rushing back in. It was still early in the morning so she didn’t expect to meet many people, but she wasn’t fond of being seen before she was fully prepared to start her day.

Today was an off day and she was expecting to use this time to catch up on some classes. For several of them, she had essays to write and she feared falling behind to the point of no return. One advantage of having her own bedroom was that she could make her own schedule without worrying if she stayed awake the whole night or overslept. Jadwia had seen the Common Dorms the first time she had arrived at the Academy. The women’s section was significantly better than the men’s, but even still, one look at them had been enough to convince her to rent a private room, not only for this semester but for the next one. She had found a place in the nicest wing of the Academical residence quarters, with a private bathroom, a one-person bed in a small bedroom and a parlour turned into a living room. Jadwia knew that compared to the rest of the Pupils, she was basically living in luxury.

Once her breakfast was gulped down, she put on her uniform, washed her face one last time, tied her hair, and headed out. Thankfully, the different buildings of this section of the Academy were connected which meant that she didn’t need to step out in the frigid morning. Making her way through the maze of hallways and empty classrooms, Jadwia finally arrived at the Common Room. The buzz of conversations guided her steps as she slid in through the ajar door.

The Common Room was situated in the middle of all the residential buildings reserved for women and thus had eventually become a hub where the Pupils of every Year and Openings could gather, relax and study if they didn’t feel like going all the way to the Library. Jadwia scanned the room, before heading decisively toward a circular table near the burning hearth.

Boshena Wyater and Tatyana Chud were both already seated, exactly where she had left them. The former was tall and pale with long, glassy blond hair and glasses firmly resting on her sharp nose, while the latter was smaller, dark-skinned with lush raven hair. All around them papers were scattered and books were opened as their minds were struggling to make sense of what they were reading. Jadwia did not need to ask to know what they were working on: they had all agreed to meet up and try to work together on the paper for their class of History I .

“Grace!” Jadwia said as she took a seat.

Boshena mumbled something but did not avert her eyes from the book. Tatyana turned to her with a brilliant smile.

“Grace to you! How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. What about you? Making any progress?”

“Only a little bit. It is so slow! There’s nothing more boring to search through three different dictionaries to find the correct translation!”

Jadwia nodded and pulled out her own papers and pens. She had made significantly more progress after leaving the girls last night. All she had left to do was to check her sources and perhaps draw one map and she would be done.

“God, I hate this!” Boshena let out a sigh. “Why must I write about the Western migration pattern? Everything is written in Khrusama!”

“I told you had a bad draw!” Tatyana drawled.

“It’s not fair! I’m wasting so much time searching for a correct translation!”

“Need help?” Jadwia proposed. “Show me the passage.”

Boshena slid the excerpt in her direction. “Good luck. It’s written in Middle High Khrusama!”

Jadwia glanced down at the tidy writings. How easy… With her finger, she followed the lines and began translating as she went on.

“ We ride to meet the Sunrise on our steeds. Fear our swords, fear our bows, fear our hooves. Our People are one with the earth and thus we will claim it as ours. Stand your ground and you shall perish. And so shall she you took as wife. And so shall them you have fathered. Must you utter our names, call us with fear, call us with awe. Call us Khrusamen! ” Jadwia paused and then looked up. “You should perhaps look for another excerpt. I’m not sure about this source, it is too coherent so I suspect it has been written quite a while later after the Western migration pattern...”

Both girls were watching Jadwia mutely, eyes wide.

“Since when can you understand Middle High Khrusama?” Tatyana said. “Do you speak Khrusama?”

Jadwia felt heat rise on her cheeks. She should have hidden it better. She shrugged and laughed it off.

“Nah, I know the basics of Khrusama, that’s all… I’ve probably read a translation of this excerpt before and that’s why I remember it…”

Boshena was eying her suspiciously, but she didn’t say anything.

“Still, that’s quite impressive!” Tatyana said. “I have a Senior in my Ring who’s fluent in Khrusama and even for her, the Middle High Khrusama is difficult to make sense of given how weird it sounds sometimes.”

“It does sound weird on the tongue,” Jadwia confirmed. “At least it works grammatically the same that its modern version.”

Boshena sighed and recovered her translation and began making the necessary corrections.

“I am also thinking of taking an extra course next semester to learn the language.”

“Why? You intend to travel West?” Tatyana asked her.

“Not necessarily. I’m just thinking that it may be useful. At least to know the basics to communicate with Artysta from those parts of Ziemia.”

“Well, that’s something that will have to wait for later,” Jadwia said, looking to change the subject. “For now, we have to finish this paper.”

“Everyone is working on it,” Tatyana said. “I was at the Library briefly yesterday and it is full of 1 st Year, nose in history books. I even caught a glimpse of Isyd Wybrany there!”

“I’m not surprised,” Jadwia said. “He does spend most of his days there.”

“Apparently, he also sleeps in the Library…” Tatyana said in a whisper.

“Now, that’s ridiculous!” Boshena said.

“I mean… that would explain how he is so good at classes…” Tatyana cheekily drawled. “Weren’t you the one who told me that you admired him?”

Boshena flushed bright red, faster than Jadwia had seen Kewin ever do.

“I have never said that! I said I admired his dedication , not the person itself!”

“Do you really think dedication is everything there’s to it? We all study a lot, but Isyd Wybrany seems to be on another level entirely. I mean, remember the last class? He solved the Balance puzzle of Tutor Milwyk in a matter of seconds! He makes it look so trivial!”

“Well… I’m sure that his innate talent also plays a role in his success…” Boshena said begrudgingly.

Tatyana leaned in, a conspiratorial look on her face. “Some say that he is in fact a noble in exile from Matizna…”

Boshena rolled her eyes and huffed. “That’s another ridiculous idea! He doesn’t act like he’s from Matizna. Plus, he doesn’t have the accent!”

“Well, neither do I and yet I’m from the Empire!” Tatyana retorted.

“Of course, you spent all your life on this side of the borders!”

Tatyana was about to say something when Jadwia intervened.

“Isyd Wybrany is no foreigner. He is from a farming village near Hojny, a city two weeks of travel south of Vilriver.”

It was at least what Kewin had told her when she had asked him if he knew anything about the mysterious classmate.

Tatyana affected a disappointed pout. “Damn! That sounds immediately less cool…”

“A farming village, eh?” Boshena pondered out loud. “Those are quite humble beginnings. The Grace does bless everyone in the end I guess…”

“You also think Isyd Wybrany is Blessed by the Grace?”

The blond girl shrugged. “Isn’t it what Tutor Milwyk has been saying? For me it’s all but confirmed;”

“Wow, and to say that we are in the same class…” Tatyana sighed dreamily. She then turned to Jadwia. “You and the albino boy, Kewin Udachur, spend a lot of time with him. How did you become friends?”

“ Friends ?” Jadwia almost choked on the word. “I don’t think that Isyd Wybrany considers me a friend. Hell, half of the time he seems to barely tolerate my presence and wishes to be left alone! The only reason you see me around him is that Tutor Milwyk asked him to answer any basic questions I have regarding the classes.”

“Still, it’s much more interactions than most of us have ever had with him!” Tatyana said.

“How is he? As a person, I mean,” Boshena asked.

“He is…” Jadwia’s mind went through all the obvious descriptions possible.

He is cold, distant, strange, witty, insightful…

After that also came more abstract descriptions, words she had never considered before but now sounded evident.

He is… wary… angry… dangerous…

“He is surprisingly nice,” she finally said.

Boshena raised an eyebrow at this simplistic description. Surely she had more to say, but Jadwia didn’t give anything more.

Tatyana rested her chin on her palm and sighed dreamily. “He is so mysterious… He is the first 1 st Year to have joined the Atelier since Tutor Hidrss became the Master of Arcanic Arts!”

“I heard people talking about it,” Boshena said. She turned to Jadwia. “Is it true he joined?”

Jadwia simply nodded. She had been asked not to talk about whatever she’d seen play out at the Ravasz house. Plus, she wasn’t sure she understood anything of what happened with Isyd’s weird and shiny crystal.

“It is…quite impressive…” Boshena said, trying to hide her obvious wonder.

Both girls had apparently decided that Jadwia was their best source of information regarding Isyd Wybrany since Tatyana followed with a question of her own.

“Do you know why he is still Ringless? My Ringleader had been saying that it wouldn’t last, but she’d been saying that for a month now!”

“I do not know why he hasn’t joined any. He looks to me like he doesn’t like company. Perhaps, he hasn’t found any Ring he fancied…”

Tatyana perked up. “Speaking of Rings, how your application is going? Have you managed to join the Cerulean Feathers?”

“It’s… still up in the air,” Jadwia sighed. Suddenly, from the corner of her eyes, she noticed movements.

She turned to see Klara Utro waving at her and beckoning her from the other side of the Common Room.

“Er… girls, I think I will have to leave you,” Jadwia said as she began packing up. “Senior Klara is calling me.”

“Perhaps it’s about the Cerulean Feathers!” Tatyana said, hopeful.

“Perhaps… Anyway, I see you later!”

She rushed to her Senior who welcomed her with a toothy smile. Whenever Jadwia saw her, Klara Utro always appeared happy and full of energy.

“Grace, Senior Klara,” she said timidly.

“Grace, Jadwia! Didn’t I say you shouldn’t call me Senior?”

“You did.”

“Then why do you continue?”

“It’s just a force of habit, Se— I mean, Klara.”

Klara giggled and passed a hand through her short hair. “Come, let’s go out. I must talk to you about something.”

Jadwia felt jitters in her stomach. She was expecting of having to wait a little bit before being relieved of her stress, but the moment they stepped out of the Room Klara linked their arms together.

“Congratulations! You have been accepted into the Cerulean Feathers!” she exclaimed.

Jadwia’s jaw fell open. “Wait, really? Good Grace, I can’t… Thank you so much!”

“Don’t thank me, you did most of the work! Now, it is as I explained to you when you first applied; your probation period starts tomorrow and lasts until the end of this semester. If all goes well, you will be a full-fledged member of the Cerulean Feathers for next semester!”

“That’s awesome! But… isn’t there something more I need to do? Like, I was just asked basic questions during the interview… there’s no trial or rite of passage?”

“Nah, all of this was discontinued two years ago,” Klara said with a smirk. “Most Rings have done away with trials as well; they cannot afford to put off Pupils. This is not to say that everything is assured. The Seniors have been keeping an eye on you and followed Tutor Milwyk’s counsel. Your grades and behaviour speak for themselves: you are a good Pupil, Jadwia Lichtfreund! Just keep up the good work!”

Jadwia felt relief course through her body. She nodded and smiled. She had needed this, a confirmation to soothe her doubts: she was at her place at the Academy.

As they crossed an inner courtyard, Klara’s expression shifted from happy to wary and hesitant. She watched to see if there was anyone in earshot, then leaned toward Jadwia.

“I must confess something to you, Jadwia,” she said. “I was hesitating, but I think it is best if you know. Plus, I feel bad…”

“What is it?” Jadwia whispered back, worried.

“It is all but confirmed that there is one additional reason that motivated your acceptance in our Ring. It is known by our Seniors that you are close with Isyd.”

That again? Jadwia’s face turned from concerned to annoyed.

“What does Isyd Wybrany has to do with anything?”

“He’s Ringless.”

“So, what?”

“This cannot last. Listen carefully, there are things in this Academy that are invisible to the uninitiated. It is hidden from the 1 st Years but know that all the Rings are in permanent conflict against each other. It is a struggle that pits Pupils against Pupils for fame and influence.”

Jadwia shrugged. “All right, and what about it?”

“You do not understand!” Klara growled, snapping her fingers in frustration. “It is not simply children’s games for who can seat where in the Canteen. The conflicts involve powerful factions such as many noble families from all over the Commonwealth; we are talking about strife and opposition that will continue long after their studies and turn into political as well as family feuds!”

Klara’s words were starting to get to Jadwia and she felt her heart drop in her chest. “Wh-why are you telling me this?” she muttered.

“The Cerulean Feathers, the Crimson Gold, the Golden Dew, the Faded Jades, The Hammer, the White Flowers… The most powerful the Rings of the Academy are now in competition for recruiting Isyd Wybrany in their ranks by the end of the semester.”

“I-I still don’t understand what this has to do with me…”

Klara gave her a sad smile. “I just thought that you had the right to know what was happening. As Isyd’s friend, you may be targeted in some way or another. The boy is Blessed by the Grace, and thus some Pupils may feel justified in any kind of actions…”

Jadwia nodded slowly, her face pale and her eyes wide.

“I see…” she said softly. “What should I do now?”

“Nothing. Stay on your guard, that is all. I will keep an ear out for you and warn you if our Seniors were to try anything funny. It should be fine, though…”

“You know what’s funny?” Jadwia said with a shaky laugh. “I’m not even that close with him… I mean, we just talk here and there…”

“Aye, I understand you since I am in the same situation. However, it seems that Isyd is a whirlwind that catches everyone who comes near him…”