Rafiq greeted them when they arrived at the archive. “Good morning, Novices.”
“Morning, Rafiq,” Gregory smiled. “We’re all in need of new material today.”
“I was wondering about that. What would you like?”
“The history of Krogga,” Gregory said, “a country ruled by a high priest of Krog. Considering how entwined Aether and Krog are in many myths, I want to see what their country has done differently.”
“There’s a subject no novice asks about,” Rafiq chuckled. “I’ll do what I can.”
“I’d like to see about the wars with Krogga,” Jenn said.
“You’ll move onto the country of Limaz after that?” Rafiq asked.
“Probably,” Jenn admitted.
“Very well.”
“I’d like to read what I can about bane beasts,” Yukiko said. “History to start with, then moving on from there.”
“Hmm… Another unusual topic. You three certainly keep us on our feet. I will have them brought over. How has your time been since the tournament?”
“Peaceful,” Gregory replied.
“How unusual. By now, there are normally challenges and accidents happening, and with you two holding the top places, I’d have expected you to field a number of them.”
“We only attend one class currently,” Yukiko said. “That’s probably kept a lot of the grief away.”
“Yes, that would cut down on opportunities,” Rafiq nodded. “Don’t let me keep you. The books will be brought right over.”
Thanking him, the three friends headed for the table they used every time they came to the archive. Taking their seats and getting Magi Squares blanks out, they set out to make them for each other.
“We’ve never seen any of the other novices in here, and we’ve rarely seen an apprentice or initiate,” Yukiko mused. “Why do they not take advantage of this resource?”
“Maybe they use it when we aren’t?” Gregory opined. “We’re up far earlier than most of the students here. We’ve come back during a class period before, and that’s when we saw the others. It also explains the lack of other novices.”
“That’s fair,” Yukiko said. “I just don’t understand not wanting to use it as often as you could, especially for those on the mind path.”
“From all I’ve seen and heard, other clans aren’t as willing to give their novices the freedoms we have. The Iron Hand especially— they’re highly regimented in what’s allowed and when,” Jenn said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the other clans are strict like them.”
“That makes sense,” Gregory agreed. “Yuki is also right, though. We use the archive every day, and we’ve never seen anyone here nearly as often.”
“We could ask Rafiq, but I don’t think he’d tell us,” Jenn said as she passed her Magi Squares to Gregory.
“Thanks,” Gregory said, putting the last number on his and handing it to Yukiko.
“And done,” Yukiko said before sliding hers to Jenn.
“Your books,” Simon said as he placed them on the table between the novices. “May the knowledge be easy to learn.”
“Thank you,” Gregory replied. “We’ll be starting on them in just a few minutes.”
Simon bowed his head before walking away.
“Focus on this first, then start reading,” Jenn muttered under her breath.
Yukiko’s lips twitched into a smile when she overheard Jenn. She did likewise, focusing entirely on the paper in front of her so she could get to her book.
~*~*~
Gregory shut his book with a sigh. “Sometimes, I think Rafiq is purposely making this difficult.”
“Why’s that?” Yukiko asked, closing her book.
“This history of Krogga… it’s so stilted and slanted in favor of them, it’s nearly painful.”
“It’s been thirty years since we had a war with them,” Jenn said. “That was just after the current high priest took on his position. Change of power in a country does seem like a warning that war is soon to come.”
“With increased power, many want to see what they can do,” Yukiko replied. “I don’t find that correlation odd. In fact, a change in leadership and no war either externally or internally would be the oddity.”
“I suppose,” Jenn said. “The war before that was right after Krogga put down a civil war. The oddity is in our history texts… it says they were the aggressor. In this book, it’s a bit more muddled.”
“I would expect that,” Yukiko said. “Is it written for their side?”
“No. It’s actually an observational report from an adept posted on the border at the time.”
“He can’t say too much outright, then,” Gregory said. “If he said it was the empire’s fault, he’d no doubt get in trouble for it.”
“Agreed,” Jenn nodded, “and that explains the parts that really conflict with each other.”
“We might be put in the same positions later,” Gregory said. “Border postings are almost exclusively adepts.” Gregory’s brow furrowed as he thought about that. “Wouldn’t it be better to have the higher-tiered magi there, though? It would be a deterrent, one would think, and allow for a better response if the other countries decided to start a conflict.”
“Hmm,” Yukiko mused, “that makes it sound like the empire leaves itself intentionally weak to invite attacks.”
“We should get going,” Jenn said suddenly.
“Yeah,” Gregory coughed. “We got caught up talking.”
Hurrying out of the archive, they said goodbye to Rafiq, and Gregory made a mental note to ask for a different book tomorrow.
~*~*~
They’d only made it halfway to class when Petak appeared, coming the other way toward them. He paused on the small bridge over the stream. “Well, if it isn’t Pet-tit,” Petak snickered. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”
“Class. You’d know what that was if you hadn’t been thrown out of them,” Gregory replied, coming to a stop a few feet from the other novice.
“Maybe today, you’ll be late,” Petak smirked. “Magus Han hates it when her students don’t show up on time.”
“We won’t be unless you decide to physically stop us,” Gregory said, taking a step toward Petak.
“Only way past is to knock me down,” Petak sneered. “I was on this bridge first, after all.”
“And the way back is blocked, as well,” Jenn said, looking at where two clanless novices had come up behind them.
“What a coincidence,” Petak snickered. “Since I don’t have history anymore, it’s not like I have to be somewhere. It’s why I was meeting with those two, who’re hoping to be invited into a clan. You just happened to get in the way of our meeting.”
“Greg,” Yukiko said, “I can get past him. I’m not sure you two can.”
Gregory eyed the distance behind Petak. “Jenn can, too. Go on. We’ll be right behind you.”
“You really think you can just ignore us?” Petak laughed.
Yukiko ducked down, Gregory’s shadow surging to swallow her. Jenn took the two steps Yukiko had given her and her legs burst with aether as she propelled herself up and over Petak.
Petak and the other two stared in surprise at Jenn’s maneuver, not having expected her to manage what she did. When they looked back to Gregory, he smiled as he hoisted himself onto the railing of the bridge and walked past Petak, then jumped back down on the far side.
“Looks like your trap failed,” Gregory said as he started walking away, Yukiko and Jenn falling in beside him.
“This isn’t over, you beast-loving fringer!” Petak called after them. “You’ll get yours.”
“What about us?” one of the clanless novices asked. “We did as you asked. You’ll talk to Nick for us, right?”
Petak glared at the novice before he turned on his heel and stalked off.
“Is that a no?” the novice called after him.
~*~*~
“That was the start of it,” Yukiko said. “Small harassments; wear us down and make us miss class. We need to start altering our routes more. We didn’t last week, and this happened because of it.”
“You’re right,” Gregory said. “We got complacent.”
“What do you think they’ll do next?” Jenn asked.
“A duel or two,” Yukiko said. “They know Greg doesn’t like eurtiks being insulted, so they’ll try to leverage that against him.”
“And they’ll do the same to us,” Jenn nodded.
“We just need to be the ones challenged,” Gregory said. “That gives us the advantage of picking the weapons, or even something else entirely. The archive is set up for doing treasure hunts as challenges. I wonder when they last did one?”
“We can always ask Rafiq,” Yukiko said.
“Not important for right now, but something to keep in mind.”
“Do you think they’ll try to delay us again?” Jenn asked.
“Probably,” Yukiko said. “It’s why we’ll be changing our routes every day again. Avoiding an unneeded conflict is better than engaging in one.”
“Agreed,” Jenn said. “If we can’t, then decisive victory would be best.”
“I wonder if Magus Han makes exceptions if the novices are ambushed on the way to class?” Gregory asked.
“She doesn’t seem to care about the reason, only the results,” Jenn said.
“That’s consistent for her clan. The result is all they care about, not the means,” Yukiko said.
“I’m still going to ask. Best to know for certain,” Gregory said.
When they reached the classroom, Magus Han was already there. She gave them a piercing look when they entered the room. “Not as early as usual.”
“We were delayed by a former student who tried to make us late,” Gregory said. “Which prompted a question we had: what if the delay had worked and we were late? Would that be taken into consideration?”
Marcia’s lips pursed. “I would need to know the specifics. For the most part, it wouldn’t sway me, but I can think of a few instances where I could be persuaded to make an allowance.”
“Thank you, Magus,” Gregory replied, bowing from his seat.
“Have you been challenged to a duel yet, Novice?” Marcia asked, staring at Gregory.
“Not since joining the clan after the tournament.”
“Hmm… it must be because you only attend a single class now. I’m sure they’ll begin soon. Between classes and during meals are usually the times that challenges are issued.”
“That might be why, then,” Gregory replied.
“Yes. You three have made it difficult to find you easily. However, I fear that’ll only make those who want to test you all the more eager to do so.”
“Understood, Magus. Thank you,” Gregory said, bowing again.
“Ah, here come the others,” Marcia said, looking past them.
“Magus, I have a question,” one of the novices said when they entered the room. “We were harassed on our way to class by a couple of other novices. What if they make us late? None of us want to be late. We enjoy the class, and learning.”
Marcia nodded. “I just answered that question. I’ll answer it again when the class arrives in full. Take your seats.”
When the sixth bell chimed, Marica gestured and the door boomed shut. “It’s been brought to my attention that a few of you have been harassed on the way to class, and some of you asked if it will matter to me. It depends on the circumstances. This is one of the many challenges you face during your time here. Young magi hindering each other, allowing one to shine brighter, is a long-standing tradition of the academy. It’s the least of the challenges you will face. Only the truly strong will rise up to become a magus or something beyond. Your clan might help you, but other clans rarely will. Learn to overcome, but do it within the rules of the academy.”
She paused for a long moment, and when no one spoke, she nodded. “Very good. Now, where had we been…?”
