Dalileh didn’t stir up any more trouble after her initial introduction. She worked our class hard until the end of the period before dismissing us.

“Today I’ve grasped your temperaments and basic physical abilities. Next class, I’ll be holding private, one-on-one evaluations with everyone. Once that’s done, we’ll begin practical spars.” She grinned. “Everyone, look forward to it.”

Wow. This was a nightmare. I made a mental note to myself to throw out my math and history self-study until I’d made sufficient progress in learning Acacius’ magic.

I tried to slink away unnoticed, but for some reason, Xander caught up to me outside the arena and blocked my path.

“Acacius,” he said coldly.

I came to a stop and looked at him.

“What kind of little show did you put on at the beginning of class today?” he sneered. “Who doesn’t know that Master Dalileh likes to test her students’ abilities? I don’t know how your little act convinced her.”

So everyone knew she liked to start her class off this way? This was really embarrassing. It was sad I couldn’t vent my frustration by beating Dalileh up.

“Well?” Xander said. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“What do you want me to say?” I said. No matter what, I was pretty sure he’d find a reason to be unhappy with me.

Xander scoffed. “You always have something clever to say.”

I filed that away in my mental list of Acacius’ character traits.

Xander continued to fill in the silence for me. “Anyways, don’t think that playing little tricks like this will let you keep our teacher’s praise for long.”

“You understand that Master Dalileh was using me to provoke competition within the class, don’t you? You’ve completely fallen for it.”

“And you’re simply telling me out of the goodness of your heart?” Xander curled his lips. “I think you’re just afraid of fighting me.”

I kinda was. The water magic Dalileh displayed today was something I had a hard time even imagining facing. My classmates clearly weren’t going to be skilled to that level, but still, I had no idea what they might be capable of.

“I suppose a Duval will always be a Duval — skulking around in the dark.”

“Would you say that about the Duke?” I asked, curious.

Xander lifted his chin slightly. “Why wouldn’t I? Even if he’s got some ability, he only uses it to do dirty things in the shadows.”

This was a really arrogant way of talking about someone I was pretty sure could beat him black and blue without breaking a sweat.

Xander was looking at me with enough expectation that I figured I should be provoking him back somehow.

“You’re pretty good at trash talking others,” I said. “I guess you’re really frustrated that Master Dalileh didn’t praise you as number one today.”

“It just doesn’t make sense to me that someone like you can be evaluated so highly by someone like her.”

“So, what? You want to fight about it?” I said. He was wearing his sword. If I attacked, I should be careful to block him from pulling it out.

Xander looked at me coldly before snorting.

“Why would I bother? I don’t need to lift a finger if Linden is making a move.”

Linden. That was the person Cynara hoped would beat me up.

I was really starting to form the opinion that Acacius knew too many people.

Xander observed my expression, then clicked his tongue.

“No reaction? I’m surprised. Has your coming-of-age ritual given you that much confidence?”

How did he know about that?

“I suppose I’ll have to warn Linden to be prepared for some trouble.”

With that last parting remark, Xander turned on his heel and strode away, head lifted high.

It wasn’t that good of a closing shot, though, so who knew what he was feeling proud about.

I watched him go. Then I returned to my dorm, cooked myself a hearty dinner, and went to the library to read about dark magic.

Dark magic, along with light magic, were the two elements that distinguished the 6E frame from the 4E frame. However, the two frames shared the other four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Incidentally, Acacius’ plant magic fell under the earth magic category. If he had been using the 5E frame, though, the two would be considered different elements, as the 5E system’s base elements were fire, earth, metal, wood, and water, and instead of using ether, he would have been using spiritual energy.

So, did ether and spiritual energy exist at the same time?

Sort of. They existed for practitioners that were currently using the frame. Someone casting a 6E spell couldn’t cast a 5E spell at the same time. But they could cast them successively if they switcched which frame they were using, and users of different frames could cast their spells concurrently.

What would happen if a 4E water user and 5E water user tried to control the same body of water, though?

I couldn’t find a quick answer in my introductory textbook, so I gave up and focused on what spells I could learn.

During that little possession incident, Luka said that I reminded him of flames for some reason. Was it worth a try?

I let myself into an empty private study room, flipped through the textbook, and tried the first flame magic exercise available.

Within seconds, I was looking at a small flame the size of a lighter at the tip of my finger.

Within minutes, I was controlling thin streams of fire, tracing them in circles through the air.

I could have tried making something bigger and more impressive, but the flames I created were so lively and wild. I was worried they would run rampant and burn if I didn’t concentrate on controlling them.

I couldn’t help but sigh. It really felt like I was destined to have a connection with fire all my life. At least I wouldn’t ever have to worry about how to start a fire again.

Next, I reviewed the basics of 6E spellcasting. In the end, it boiled down to power and control.

Meditation exercises nurtured ether in the body, and ether circulation exercises built up mage circles in the heart. A mage’s power was exponentially amplified for every completed circle. A single-circle mage was only a beginner; someone who had seven circles qualified as an archmage. Acacius had four circles, which was fairly impressive for his age. I didn’t need to worry about building up power for now.

Control referred to one’s ability to manipulate ether flow within the body and outside of it. This came from natural talent and practice. Formal, distinct spells didn’t actually exist in the 6E frame. Instead, certain classic “spells” served as benchmarks of a mage’s power and control. Incidentally, the process of “typing” ether into a distinct element was a form of control. Theoretically, you could learn to wield all six elements, but it was difficult to use elements outside your greatest affinities, and affinities were shaped by how well you aligned with an element’s symbolic domain.

Darkness, for example, represented mystery, obfuscation, and malice.

Acacius’ plant magic was a subset of earth magic, so aside from the earth magic traits of stubbornness and endurance, it also represented poison and healing.

Fire represented destruction, purification, and rebirth.

I was disappointed that I wasn’t better at earth magic, because healing and poison seemed really useful, but the better question was probably what Acacius even had to do with healing.

In any case, it seemed like I would be dedicating my evening study time to mastering darkness and fire magic until the foreseeable future. I didn’t want to neglect my other studies, but my first priority was keeping myself safe in that maniac’s class.

I practiced control exercises quietly until the library closed.

That should have been the end of my day, but for some reason, shortly after I returned to my dorm, someone came knocking on my door.

When I opened the door, I saw an expressionless girl with dark skin and long, thin braids tied back by an elegant scarf.

She didn’t speak for a long moment, looking at me.

“Hello?” I prompted.

“Acacius,” she finally greeted.

I nodded a greeting and hoped she wouldn’t comment on me not using her name. “What brings you here?”

“It’s been difficult to find you. I didn’t expect you to move into the student dorms.”

That didn’t actually answer my question.

“Congratulations on completing your coming-of-age ritual,” she said.

What? Did everyone know about that? “Thanks.”

“I hear that according to tradition, the Duval heir is required to undergo the ceremony,” the girl continued. “But other family members may use it too. So, will your father name you as his official successor soon?”

All that effort and I wasn’t even the official heir? “You’ll have to ask him.”

The girl nodded without any particular change in expression. She handed me a black envelope sealed by a silver crest.

“Your younger sister hasn’t met the minimum qualifications to become heir, so for now, you are the ultimate representative of the Duval family.”

I hid my trepidation and opened the letter.

Acacius Duval,

You are cordially invited to join the Fellowship of the Silver Wing.

All members are expected to attend meetings on the fourth day of every week at 6 o’clock, hosted at the Dawn River Suite. Please dress appropriately for your station.

Sincerely,

Yugrazal Kamara, Co-President
Javier Baschet, Co-President

I had the feeling I was supposed to know what this fellowship was.

I let out a faint trace of annoyance and tightened my grip on the letter, as if I wanted to throw it away but was holding my impulses back. Lifting my eyes to her, I said in a suppressed voice, “What do I get out of this?”

“I am aware that you have strained connections with our other members, but you should remember we will soon be the ruling class of this country. If you don’t seize this opportunity to become familiar with others and make alliances, things will become difficult for you in the royal capital.”

So someone like Acacius was expected to join. That sounded troublesome. Plus, it would cut into my self-study time at night.

“I don’t want to attend every week.”

“Then come every two weeks. That is my minimum requirement.”

Wow, was it that easy to get what I asked? I clicked my tongue and pretended to deliberate before giving out a terse, “Fine.”

“So we are agreed?”

“Yeah. See you at the gathering.”

She nodded, but she didn’t leave.

“Your collar is unbuttoned.”

I looked down. It was. I half-heartedly buttoned the top with one hand. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she said. “If it was you last year, you would never have let someone see you in such a messy state.”

I’d been trying to put on Acacius’ stupid magenta suits properly for days, and it still wasn’t good enough? The collars were so stuffy.

“Your speech has become more crude,” the girl added.

“…I see.”

“You didn’t thank people before, either. The changes of the Duval coming-of-age ritual are interesting. I wonder what else has changed.”

I stared at her, trying to understand what she was getting at. She looked back impassively.

“Bye.”

And then she walked away.

What had that all been about?

I closed the door and looked at my invitation letter again. Seeing as she had authority to decide who attended the fellowship and how they participated, did that make her the co-president on the letter, Yugrazal Kamara?

I’d find out later once I attended the gathering. For now, I needed to correct my daily habits. If Acacius was such a fastidious guy, I’d probably have to pay more attention while ironing his clothes.

This was just the worst. I missed my leather jacket and jeans.

On my third day of school, I received another visitor.

This time, I made sure my dress shirt was straightened and buttoned properly before answering the door.

It was a boy with short hair, bright hazel eyes, and light, freckled brown skin. I barely managed to get out a, “Hello?” before he barged cheerfully into the room.

“Acacius! How come you haven’t come to say hi since the semester started?”

I stared at him as he threw himself back on the sofa by the window, tossing a cloth-wrapped box on the table and propping his boots up on the armchair. “I’ve been busy.”

“Is that any reason not to see your dear friend Zaire?” he said lightly. “You weren’t avoiding me, right?”

“No. I really have been busy,” I said, and nudged his legs off the sofa. Minimally polite but not respectful, firm, fastidious about appearance… “Keep your dirty shoes off the couch.”

Zaire smiled. “Fussy as ever. So what are you planning now? You still haven’t told me what you wanted that crow for.”

The crow… Luka’s spirit friend that Acacius kidnapped?

I folded my hands behind my back and gazed out the window, solemn and profound.

“It’s a mystery.”

“I see. Well, I brought the mystery back to you so you can deal with it.” He gestured at the covered box. “I spent time taking it to different places like you said, but it didn’t do anything special.”

“That’s fine,” I said after a momentary pause. “I’ll take care of things from here.”

“You’ll let me know how it goes, won’t you?”

“If it won’t cause trouble.”

Zaire shrugged. “Guess that’s as good as I’m going to get. So, since you’re here now, when are you going to come meet my mentor for real? They’re curious after everything I’ve said about you.”

“What did you say about me?”

“That you’re a great friend, of course.” He what? This was the most unbelievable thing I’d heard since arriving in Kosmonymia. “Oh, but I didn’t tell them your name. Don’t worry.”

I almost couldn’t believe it, and yet, the evidence was right in front of my eyes. Acacius actually had a real friend.

So as long as he treated me as one, I should treat him as one too.

“I’m not ready to meet your mentor just yet,” I said. “Let’s give it a little more time.”

“Sure, whatever you say. But remember to keep me in the loop. I don’t want to miss out on anything.”

“I’ll try,” I said vaguely. As long as it didn’t cause me more problems. “So what have you been doing, Zaire? Let’s catch up.”

Zaire brightened up and began to chat.

He talked about crossing the isthmus with his mentor to visit the Lemirian Empire to the west. They’d apparently spent a lot of time in the forest, but he was vague about what they actually did there. He shared some anecdotes about wildlife he’d seen and flowers he’d observed, then moved on to complain about being assigned to a different home room than me.

“I guess it can’t be helped since I’m on the Scholar track, not the Governance track,” he lamented. “Still, I can’t believe we don’t even have any electives together. And why aren’t you in weather class?”

Weather… Cynara mentioned something about that before.

“I took different electives,” I said, and handed him my schedule.

“Are you serious? If you were going to take History of History, you should have told me! I would have signed up too.”

I held back from saying sorry since that seemed out of character for Acacius. Instead, I offered, “I have the textbook for the class if you want to read it.”

“Really? Maybe we can study together.”

I looked at him regretfully. If he’d made the offer yesterday, I would have accepted in a heartbeat, but unfortunately, we were now in worse times.

“I’m focusing on other subjects right now, but maybe later in the semester.”

Zaire didn’t seem discouraged at all. He smiled. “Alright, you said it first. It’s a promise, okay?”

We chatted for a while longer before Zaire yawned and bid me good night, leaving me alone in the dorm with the box.

Given his name, was he the mysterious “Z” who had sent Acacius a letter before?

I took the cloth cover off the box, which turned out to be a cage.

Inside the cage was a black crow, indistinguishable from a normal bird of the species except for its silver eyes and a subtle sigil on its forehead that flashed velveteen under the light. This must have been Dreyminn. It tilted its head, watching me with blank silver eyes. I had no idea what it was thinking.

What should I do about this? I didn’t know how to take care of animals. I’d barely even managed with my sister’s dog.

Could it talk?

“Hello,” I tried.

It didn’t respond. Whether that was because it couldn’t talk or because it didn’t want to talk to Acacius was unclear. I mean, that guy had kidnapped it, after all.

“Luka was looking for you.”

It might have been my imagination, but Dreyminn seemed to perk up at that, watching me attentively.

“He got in a lot of trouble because of that.”

Dreyminn ruffled its wing feathers, puffing up.

“Don’t worry, he’s fine. He’s even attending class with me like normal.”

Although it was still watching me, Dreyminn continued with its silence.

I talked at it for a little while longer, mentioning things I thought would provoke a reaction from it, and even gave it a pen and paper to see if it would communicate that way. But although it acted like it understand me to some degree, nothing was forthcoming.

So it probably didn’t talk, right?

Which meant I was free to do what I wanted.

I opened the window and took Dreyminn’s cage to the windowsill, unlatching the cage door.

Dreyminn watched the door swing open, then turned its head to stare at me.

“What are you waiting for? Do you need an invitation or something?”

Dreyminn stared at me a moment longer before fluttering its wings and flying out to land on the windowsill. It still didn’t fly off on its own.

I frowned. “Are you hungry?” No response. “Thirsty?”

Dreyminn cawed.

Okay, fine.

I poured some water from the sink into a cup and put it on the sill. It examined my offering and dipped its beak in the water a few times, but I couldn’t tell if it was actually swallowing anything.

“Are you making fun of me?” I complained. “If you don’t want to drink, just go already.”

Dreyminn cawed loudly.

“What? Don’t tell me you actually want to stay with the guy who kidnapped you.”

It cawed again.

I really was arguing with a crow, and I didn’t even know what it was trying to say.

“Your friend Luka almost died while looking for you. Hurry up and show him you’re okay before he dies of worry.”

This finally got Dreyminn to shuffle back a few steps and fluff its wings, looking restlessly out the window.

“Oh, and don’t tell anyone I let you go, okay?” I added, just in case it did have some way of communicating. Dreyminn turned its head back to me, narrowing its eyes. “Don’t give me that look. It’s not like anyone will believe you anyways, right? Just save us both the trouble of looking stupid.”

Dreyminn unleashed a series of passionate caws at me.

“Whatever. Tell that to someone who understands what you’re saying.”

Then I picked up the cloth cage cover, held it up like a sheet, and crowded Dreyminn off the windowsill out into the open air. It cawed and flapped its wings frantically, trying to get back into my room, but I managed to shut the window before it could.

Dreyminn pecked at the glass insistently.

I pulled the curtains shut on its protesting caw.

As if I’d take responsibility for it if I didn’t have to. If you thought about it, letting it go was like my good deed of the day, too. Now I was free to shower and go to sleep in peace.

The faint sound of pecking and scratching floated out from behind the curtains, but it didn’t matter. With the physical capabilities of a normal bird, Dreyminn wouldn’t make it in.

Stupid bird. It should’ve flown off as soon as I opened that cage door.

Chapter 10 Chapter 12