The week became a blur to Gregory; waking, food, archive, classes, break and meditation, conditioning, then sleep. Twice he felt the mind path opening more to him. Body was being trained every day, but spirit had not shown him a second memory yet. Their teachers started to take notice of him and Yukiko, recognizing them from their early starts each day.
When he woke up, he got out of bed and dressed by habit, only stopping when he reached the door. “Wait. Today is our day off… I think?”
He opened his door almost on reflex when a soft knock sounded. Yukiko was standing there, wearing a dark blue kimono embroidered with white owls. “Greg… it’s our day off today… why?”
“Reflex,” Gregory sighed. “I’ll change and meet you downstairs as quickly as I can.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Yukiko giggled.
Shutting the door when she turned away, Gregory went back to the closet and got dressed in his best clothing. Looking at it, he frowned. Plain, drab. This makes me look poor… well, I am, but it reflects on Yukiko now, too. Tying his money pouch onto his belt, he felt the jingle of coins— not many but some.
When he made it downstairs, he found Yukiko and Dia speaking on the porch. “Here he is,” Dia said. “I do hope you enjoy your day.”
“Thank you, Keeper,” Yukiko smiled. “We will do our best.”
Dia just took a long drag on her pipe, watching as they went toward the mess hall. “The clans should be taking an interest soon. I wonder who will approach them first?” The light breeze did not answer her question, wafting the smoke away from her instead.
The mess hall was empty; the four teachers who were usually there were not present today. The eurtik working behind the counter waved them over. “I told you they would be here, Zenim,” the weasel chuckled.
“So you did, Ravol,” the scaled eurtik, Zenim, replied, handing over some vela.
“Betting if we would show up?” Yukiko asked as she took her offered breakfast.
“Yes. Today, many novices will sleep in,” Velma replied. “You two are driven, though. We had doubts when he only thought you’d sleep.”
Zenim shrugged, “Didn’t lose much, at least.”
Gregory shook his head, “Next time, tell me and we can work out a deal.”
Zenim laughed, and the others joined in. “Have a good meal.”
“Can we get our snac—?” Gregory started, but Velma was holding out the snack bags before he could finish asking. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” the four replied, bowing their heads in almost perfect unison.
Taking their seats, Gregory was in thought. “Why did they thank us?”
“I forget you’re a fringer, sometimes,” Yukiko replied. “We treat them well, we are polite, and don’t yell at or scold them. All of them have strong ties to eurtik blood, which means they are used to people looking down on them.”
With a puzzled shake of his head, Gregory started to eat. He wondered about the eurtik and how they could accept that treatment after hundreds of years of servitude to the empire.
By the time he finished his breakfast, he had stopped thinking about it, instead turning his thoughts to his current reading. “Ready for the archive?”
“Yes,” Yukiko smiled, getting to her feet.
“Let’s go,” Gregory smiled back as they headed out together.
It was not a long walk, and Rafiq grinned at them as they entered the archive. “I thought you two would be here, even with it being your day off.”
“Good morning, Rafiq,” Yukiko greeted him.
“No reason to break our routine. We’ll just be going into town instead of class today.”
“Interesting. That will still make you some of the first to leave the walls today. Your books are awaiting you. Did you need new ones?”
“I’m almost finished with the history I’m reading,” Yukiko replied. “I have enjoyed seeing things in a different light. Maybe you can have another ready tomorrow?”
“Of course,” Rafiq bowed his head.
“The scroll written by Lionel Lighthand has taken me a long time to work through,” Gregory admitted. “If you have anything on future visions, though, I’d like to see it tomorrow.”
Rafiq looked into the distance for a minute. “I’ll see what can be done. Books like that are normally for more advanced magi.”
“I see,” Gregory sighed. “If it’s not possible, then something on economics, please? The teacher is about to race off ahead of me. Yukiko and I haven’t had much of a chance to study together, since we’ve been collapsing every evening after conditioning.”
“I can do that,” Rafiq replied. “Good learning to you both.”
As they walked toward the table in the back, Yukiko glanced at Gregory, “We could study together tonight.”
“After an hour of physical training,” Gregory said. “We need to keep the training going.”
“Yes,” Yukiko nodded. “I’ve felt connections with mind and spirit over the last week. Body is being drilled into us… I wonder if the other novices are seeing that?”
“It’s slight,” Gregory said, “but it proves that training more than one path at a time is probably very possible. Some of it might be how much you can train in any given day, too. We’re pushing as hard as we can and barely scratching all three of them.”
Yukiko nodded, taking her seat at the table. “True, but maybe the next step on each path will make it easier to train?”
Gregory smiled, “Hope is good. It sustained me for years. I have a feeling it will only get harder and more intense, though.”
Yukiko looked serious, “Then we will do more.”
“Helping push each other and support each other.”
Yukiko smiled brightly, then opened the book in front of her. Seeing her focus, Gregory unrolled the long scroll he was reading and settled in, trying to decipher the text written by one of the greatest magi of the empire.
~*~*~
Rolling the scroll up, Gregory set it aside, deep in thought. Lionel states it’s possible, but takes dedication… he trained both body and spirit. He was trying to merge the two by training them together, but hadn’t yet been successful when he wrote the scroll. Can we do that…? How would we manage two, much less all three, together? They’re all so different.
Yukiko closed her book when she finished reading, only to look up and see Gregory lost in thought. She sat there quietly, watching him with a smile.
The chiming of fifth bell brought Gregory back, and Yukiko looked away before he could catch her watching him. “Guess it’s time to go to the city,” he said.
“Yes,” Yukiko said, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.
“You okay, Yuki?” Gregory asked, concerned for her.
“Yes,” Yukiko repeated. “If you want to purchase anything while we’re in the city, I can get you a good deal.”
Thinking of his limited purse, Gregory nodded. “Thank you, I’d appreciate the help.”
“Have a good day, Novices,” Rafiq grinned as they approached. “Enjoy your day together.”
“We always do,” Gregory replied, missing the context.
Yukiko blushed again, “Friends always enjoy each other’s company.”
Rafiq’s smile tilted into a suppressed smirk, and he said softly, “Yes. Some more than others.”
Yukiko looked away from him, her cheeks burning hotter as she followed Gregory down the path.
~*~*~
At the gates of the academy, Gregory was surprised to be directed to one side of the giant gates. There was a small metal door guarded by six guards and an apprentice, and they examined the pair with curiosity.
“Going out on a date?” the apprentice asked with a smirk.
“We are going into the city,” Gregory replied blandly.
“Early in the day, but it’s allowed,” the apprentice replied. “Novices are to be back by sundown, or they will face discipline.”
“We understand,” Gregory said.
“Sergeant, the door,” the apprentice said.
“Open it,” the sergeant told the man closest to the door.
With the metal door unbarred and opened, Gregory and Yukiko stepped out into the city. The door closed behind them with a firm thud.
Gregory looked around in the predawn light. “Not sure where we should be going besides down to the lowest ring.”
“It’s a walk to get there unless we can find a rickshaw,” Yukiko said. “We can try to find one, because it will take us most of our time otherwise.”
Thinking about the limited funds he had, Gregory frowned, but followed her. “Okay, but we should start walking just in case we don’t find one.”
“Agreed,” Yukiko said.
They did not have to walk far before a man driving a rickshaw came toward them, clearly heading for the academy.
Yukiko flagged him down, and when the man came to a stop next to them, she handed him a coin. “We would like to be taken to the lower ring.”
“Of course, mistress,” the man bowed.
Yukiko got into the seat and Gregory followed her. He tried not to stare, as he had seen this vehicle during his trip to the academy with Proctor Bishop. The seat in the covered carriage was barely wide enough for them both, and once they were seated the driver mounted the device at the front and pedaled them down the gently curved incline toward the lower ring.
“How much do I owe you?” Gregory asked after a minute.
“Nothing. I was the one who wanted to take the rickshaw,” Yukiko said, aware that Gregory did not come from money.
Gregory considered arguing, but he glanced at her and noticed her set expression. “Okay, Yuki. Thank you.”
She smiled, “You’re welcome, Greg.”
The pair watched the streets roll by as the sun broke over the horizon. The empty streets slowly came to life, the traffic increasing as they drew closer to the lower ring gates. Sixth bell had just chimed throughout the city when they arrived at the gates between the upper and lower rings.
“Should we start here or at the lower gates?” Gregory asked her.
“Let’s start at the bottom,” Yukiko replied. “I doubt we’ll make it around the entire lower ring, but we can try.”
“I’m in your hands, Yuki. You have more experience in a city than I do.”
Yukiko’s cheeks pinked and she nodded. “I will do my best, Greg.”
It took a few minutes before they were past the gate and into the lower ring. The rickshaw driver followed the long, spiraled, inclined main road all the way to the north gates. Yukiko had him stop a hundred yards short of them.
“We will disembark here, thank you,” Yukiko called out.
“My pleasure, mistress,” the driver bowed deeply to her and Gregory. “A pleasant day for you both.”
Gregory whistled as he took in the view. None of the cities he had been in with Proctor Bishop had been anything like as grand as the city spread out in front of him.
“Are you looking for anything specific, Greg?” Yukiko asked, bringing Gregory’s attention back to the street in front of them.
“Better clothes, maybe? Beside you, I feel like a beggar.”
“A clothing store first? Very well,” Yukiko said as she looked down the street. “Follow me.”
Gregory fell into step with her. He was looking everywhere, trying to both take in the city and avoid another run in with muggers. After a few blocks, Gregory realized something that had been nagging at him.
“These shops are all pretty large, but the second levels are almost always smaller,” he muttered.
“They’re homes. They reside above the shops, or their apprentices do,” Yukiko told him. “It is a common practice.”
“Why are the shops so large?”
“They have storage space as well.”
A stray memory came to him, “We should find Lagrand Clothiers. I ran into one of their family on my way here. He sold me this tunic, in fact.”
Yukiko slowed her pace for a moment. “Okay.” Looking around, she waved at a man in light armor bearing the empire’s colors and emblem. “Sir, may I trouble you?”
“Yes, miss,” the guard said, coming over to them. “How might I help you?”
“Where might I find Lagrand Clothiers?”
“Not far from here,” the guard said, turning to face the direction they were heading. “Six or seven streets that way, on the left side.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Have a good day.”
“You, as well,” Gregory replied to the guard. “Well, that will make it easier to find. I’m not used to patrolling guards.”
“They help people like us find our way, as well as deterring crime,” Yukiko said as she started walking again. “Another expense of the empire, but one that is well spent.”
