Chapter 6 — A Changed Situation

“Demon-blooded,” a Golden-Dawn-mantled boy spat as Ria passed him in the hallway. “That’s why you can use nether energy and fell magic, isn’t it?”

She was taken aback at the spite in the boy’s voice. The pride of her divine blood filled her with a need to refute his slur, yet with the refutation on her tongue, she stopped herself. Having seen the danger of the truth, was it more useful—safer for everyone—to be thought of as such? Her pride hated the idea, was disgusted by it.

Ranger, at her side, stopped when she did, positioned between her and the boy who made the remark.

“Maybe it is as you say…” Ria carefully allowed and turned her gaze fully on the Golden Dawn boy and the three other noble boys standing with him as she cycled and stored the energy that coursed through her at the offense. Really, this was more the reaction she had expected of her new appearance.

Was her elemental magic class an exception because Elder Genwald had shown favor and made her demonstrate her magic in front of the class that time after the tournament?

Zena companionably draped her ember arm over Ria’s shoulders. “Come on, Ria. You don’t need to listen to weaklings like him. We’ve got practicals to prepare for.”

Fear widened the boys’ eyes, and Ria let herself be led into the classroom. Zena’s conjured arm really was intimidating, maybe even more than the royal Gryphon Knight following them and taking up guard in the hallway. The hero’s daughter had always had a presence before, but now it had the kind of edge like the warriors in the epic stories—the ones blooded through battle, the ones surrounded by the resentful souls of the slain.

Not that Ria was any different. Really, she had probably killed more than Zena had. Maybe it was an aura trait worth more actively cultivating? The voids of absence that she had brought unto the world by her own hands? Something to think about. Projecting an aura of blood did appeal to Ria’s sense of romance.

Ria nodded to Nielle, who was already seated, and received an acknowledging nod in return. Ophesia had yet to arrive, it seemed. Nielle’s measured acknowledgement drew wide-eyes and some confusion from the noble girls gathered around the volatile Vesali heir.

That Nielle now appeared to be less antagonistic was at least one good thing to come from the debut. With the girl’s temperament, Ria had been worried of things spiraling out of control between them if the girl blamed her for Phaelys’ near death.

Another surprise greeted Ria as she approached her usual seat. Leriah was there, talking with Faris and Yentis.

“Ah, I am glad to see you well, Ria. It was chaotic, but I saw you brought to the priests and the Touften master mage portaling you away…” Leriah’s eyes went to the side of Ria’s head. “Something happened to forcibly awaken your bloodline?”

Ria nodded and sat beside Leriah. “High Priestess Elora and Researcher Shadwich thought it necessary because of the poison used by the assassin. I was relieved when I didn’t see your name on the… list, Leriah. Are Nescia and Elinore okay?”

Leriah lowered her gaze and her expression flashed through a few complicated emotions before facing Ria more fully. “Elinore was a bit traumatized by the maimings and the deaths. Joren had a magic that made the assassins ignore us, so I left them with him while I fought.”

Leriah fought. Ria’s chest tightened. The girl sitting fine before her could have easily been one of the casualties!

And Elinore… Elinore was an arena enthusiast, so the trauma was surprising.

Then again, the Grand Arena’s safety magic could foster a romanticized view of combat. Ria could see how that could ill-prepare someone for the brutal and sudden absolutes of real combat—how quickly and irrevocably death comes to friends and companions that were living, breathing, talking about being proud of their child’s first words just moments prior.

“It is good that you and Joren were there to keep them safe,” Ria replied, trying to hide her unease and project supportive confidence to her friend.

A small commotion rounded the classroom as more students entered and asked friends about the Gryphon Knight stationed outside the door.

“A Gryphon Knight?” Leriah asked. “I had heard rumors, but in the academy? I thought, other than public spaces, that only students, staff, and graduates were allowed onto the academy grounds?”

“Our Celestria here has been recognized as an important person,” Zena joked from her usual place in the row behind them.

“Celestria?” Faris questioned, as Zena had clearly indicated who was meant.

Leriah blinked, looking to Faris before eyeing Ria for her reaction. “The knights are here for Ria?”

Wanting to grimace, Ria admitted, “The High Council has assigned me two knights for while I’m at the academy.”

The Ravelle girl’s face blanked. “...I was naive to help Elaine and Sofia with getting you expelled, wasn’t I?”

“Heh, Sparks, just now realizing that?” Zena smugly chuckled at Leriah’s expense. “I knew I’d hit gold just from my mother’s reaction to finding out who I’d been hanging out with. Trust me that Faris’ family is only the tip of our mystery girl’s connections and backing. Interesting that House Astacio has chosen this timing to make its backing public and that Ria is advertising it.”

Leriah’s gaze went to the new Astacio-crested pin-broach securing Ria’s mantle. “Yeah, what is with that? I thought you were interested in Phaelys. Did you accept a different betrothal?”

Ah-?! Was that how it looked?

Ria held up her hands and vigorously shook her head. “My grandmother was Aliceille Astacio. She married into House ad`Drelfgar. I just found out a few days ago. It’s a bit scary, but a friend from House Astacio who is part of the Sages is arranging for me to meet with my grandmother and other relatives soon.”

“Ad`Drelfgar?” Faris asked, his brows continuing to raise higher. “Weren’t you from Revant, Ria?”

Leriah seemed to be suffering from the same escaping-brow disease as her fellow Greater House scion. “Isn’t that a House with dwarven ancestry?”

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“Not just any old dwarven ancestry,” Zena gleefully pointed out, doling out yet another morsel of chum.

Yentis, who had yet to contribute, grunted, rolling his eyes and offering with well-practiced monotone, “Let me guess: fallen royalty.”

“Got it in one!” Zena laughed and happily rewarded the boy with a brief patter of cheery clapping.

Ria ignored Zena and addressed Faris’ question, “My mother was from Revant. As I told Lady Asara, I was born and lived in Shadewood until events forced me to flee to Crysellia. What I didn’t know until this past Divinesday was that my father was an ad`Drelfgar from Crysellia.”

Faris slowly nodded. “That would explain the divination in the library.”

And that was one of the reasons she and Jarrel thought going public with her ad’Drelfgar heritage was a good idea—it allowed her a safe way to explain away her royal bloodline.

“Ad`Drelfgar or not, it still doesn’t explain the Gryphon Knight stationed outside,” Yentis pointed out.

Ria didn’t have a good answer to that, thankfully Master Abjurer Dolerin beginning his lecture saved her from having to provide one.

She placed her hand on the broach Wendra had given her to wear just that morning. No one had commented on it during her elemental magic class, but it had drawn discreet eyes both in the hallway and in the classroom. Maybe no one had said anything because until now she had mostly encountered commoners?

In fact, the students were all commoners in her elemental magic class. Ria didn’t really understand why that was when Elder Genwald was an excellent teacher. Her elemental magic—and Ranger’s too!—had improved rapidly under the elder’s expert tutelage.

Was it because the Sages of the Nine Circles weren’t taken seriously anymore? The question was starting to bother her enough that she quietly asked Zena about it when Dolerin was answering other students’ questions about the day’s planned practicum.

“Nobles are more focused on improving their strengths,” was the breezily given answer. “If you’re good with fire, why waste time on water when you’re still going to be mediocre with it at best and it might dilute the strength of your fire? Just use a wand or other casting aid inscribed with the water spells you need. Simple, right?”

Ria wanted to rub her forehead at that. Truly spoken like a rich person. Instead, she revised the question and tried again, “Even so, skill with each element allows a person to cast a variety of spells with simpler and more powerful focus tools. Why be so limited?”

“Spoken like a wild talent,” Zena teased. “Most mages don’t have the needed control for that without decades of training. Students of common background are often limited in achievable strength and view the trade-off differently. When excelling isn’t possible, it’s better to at least be versatile.”

That was a depressing way to look at it, and it gave Ria some insight into why many in Elder Genwald’s class seemed to dislike her. With her overflowing talent, she was like a noble visiting the slums just to make herself feel superior. That she could competently and powerfully use all of the elements was further insult to the effort her commoner classmates put in.

The master abjurer was soon finished answering questions and they were given time to form groups. To Ria’s further surprise, Leriah immediately asked to join their group for the group exercises and exams. Their new Ravelle friend was respectably competent at abjuration magic so there was no reason to object.

After dividing into groups, the class relocated to the Hall’s roof where warded practice areas had been set up. Each practice area had a stone gazebo with a barrier pedestal inside and mock fortifications on top. The pedestals were designed to simulate the barrier pedestals commonly used in Crysellia to protect manors and military fortifications.

The goal of the attacking teams was to break through the defending team’s barrier and damage the self-repairing fortifications atop the gazebos. For the defending teams, each member was required to take a turn controlling the central pillar while the rest of the team formed anchors to empower the gazebo’s barrier spell.

Ria found the practicum very interesting and was glad she worked up the courage to attend the day’s class. Her thicker flows still made her spellwork sloppy, but she was grinning ear-to-ear at the chance to use her magic to destroy things. Even better, it gave her an opportunity to put the newly learned benefit of having reached stage 1 of her soul-strengthening technique to the test.

It turned out that filling her soul to bursting with negative emotions had more use than just expanding her reservoir, and thanks to Lestina dropping by in the evening to tutor on the stage 2 soul-strengthening technique, the third-year girl had also taught how to use the soul reservoir to empower her magic.

As a result, Ria was all-too-happy to load each attack spell with terrifying levels of negative energy to the extent that her unnecessarily large spell matrices visibly hung in the air like ghastly omens of darkness. Fell magic, indeed.

Zena and Leriah beside her were just as eager, unleashing powerful volleys of ember spears and lightning strikes. Faris and Yentis weren’t slouches either. Yentis had some sort of barrier weakening spell and coordinated well with Faris’ water whips and wand-cast ice spears.

Their group overpowered the defenders to an extent that where two or three groups were normally assigned to each attacking side, Ria’s group was quickly assigned to handle the attack on their own. Ria did hold back some when they were paired against Ophesia and Nielle’s group, making sure to fall just short of overcoming their barrier.

Ria didn’t mind giving the Vesali cousins this much face if it helped keep the peace. The contest had been remarkably close, and Ophesia and Nielle’s complicated expressions afterward were amusing enough.

The stress-reducing fun came to an end all too quickly as the allotted lesson time ran out.

“Ria, you’re back!” Arthur greeted from his usual seat at their lunch table. Iselyn was also already there, reading.

“Yep, she’s back,” Zena confirmed with a chuckle as they approached. “Her magic is looking stronger than ever, too.”

Ria gave a grimacing smile. Her stomach had been queasy and her chest tight even before entering the library. A first-year boy she didn’t recognize was going table to table taking lunch orders—a boy that wasn’t Ellen. Forcing herself to breathe and focus on the now, she turned her attention back to her mushroom-haired enchanter friend.

“Keira and Iselyn said that you left the care of the healers at Healer’s Hall Divinesday, so we were going to celebrate yesterday, but…”

“Was your meditation successful?” Iselyn asked, looking up from her book to meaningfully catch Ria’s eyes with her own. While they communicated silently, Faris nodded to Arthur and quietly took his seat beside the moon elf girl.

With another calming breath, Ria nodded. “It was. I completed the first stage of soul-strengthening and was able to improve my light and shadow attunements.”

Iselyn used an arm to hold her long bangs out of the way and gave Ria an encouraging smile. “I’m glad.”

“Soul-strengthening?” Faris asked.

“It’s because of my bond with Ranger being too strong,” Ria explained.

“Woof…” Ranger said unhappily, and Ria assured him that she would never regret binding him as her familiar.

Faris nodded, seeming to have remembered something. “Ah, right. You mentioned something about that when we were surprised by the resonance during Ranger’s magic beast transformation.”

Feeling a bit conflicted about the normalcy of interacting with everyone, Ria tried her best to seem casual as she seated herself in her usual seat at the table. “Also so I can add a second familiar without soul-strain.”

“Ah, right. Zephec,” Iselyn recalled. “I wonder how he’s doing.”

Ria wondered that as well. “I hope he won’t be too disappointed at the delay.”

Iselyn made a wry expression. “With your luck though, he’s probably been bound by some rich young master planning to join the Silver Shield or some such.”

“Ugh, don’t tempt the gods…” Ria groaned.

“Food order is taken care of,” Orlisi reported with a mischievous grin as she slipped into the remaining seat next to Iselyn. “Now what’s this? Ria’s planning to get a second familiar?”

“News to me too,” Zena spoke up.

“He’s a wind-aspected pseudodragon with a specialization in illusion magic. The little guy was too expensive for me to bind but also took a liking to Ria when we were at Tyrilenil’s,” Iselyn reported.

Zena hummed with interest. “An interesting choice considering Ria’s current attunements and affinity balance.”

“Indeed,” Orlisi agreed.

“I’ve brought Aldri like you asked, Orlisi,” Keira announced as she and the red-haired spatial mage approached the table.

Aldri grinned and waved a hand at chest height. “Greetings.”

“Great! Now that we’re all here,” Orlisi announced to their gathered group of friends, pausing to make sure she had everyone’s attention and leaning forward like she was about to discuss something involving secrecy. “It’s time to discuss the next expedition into the Tower of Dreams to gain entry into the lost Moon Elf Gardens.”