by Andrew Rowe
As expected, there were hundreds of students already here, and more pouring in all the time. Occasionally, I’d hear some commotion as some high profile guest entered the room. Occasionally, mild applause, usually for someone on the Council of Lords or someone in a fancy military uniform.
The most interesting thing for me turned out to be the runes on the walls. Like Elora and Derek’s household, this place was heavily enchanted. It made sense to have a degree of security for any locale that was going to house this many people, but they’d been thorough.
I saw dozens of copies of runes I recognized — shielding, anti-teleportation, anti-scrying, that sort of thing. The specific shapes were similar to what I recognized, but not identical; given the architecture of the room, I suspected that was because they were old fashioned rune designs.
Long lines of the protective glyphs trailed from floor to ceiling, spaced out roughly every twenty feet. I assumed that indicated that the runes had a limited area of effect — either that, or they were just reinforcing them with redundancy. It was impressive either way.
I wasn’t the only one inspecting them, either. I saw a few others near the walls, admiring the intricacy of the runic patterns.
One person in particular caught my eyes — a young woman with purple hair that trailed all the way down to her hips. There were plenty of people with dyed hair with unusual colors at the party, so that wouldn’t have necessarily caught my attention on its own.
I noticed a couple things that made her more eye-catching.
The first thing I noticed was that she was walking right up to the runes and tracing figures in the air next to them. A mnemonic device for remembering the shapes, maybe?
Nobody was stopping her, and the runes weren’t going out, so I didn’t see any cause for alarm. Still, it was unusual enough that I registered the need to keep an eye on her.
The second thing I realized was that I’d seen her somewhere before. But where? Somewhere at the academy, maybe? I couldn’t quite remember.
Before looking away, I tried turning on my attunement to see how powerful she was, but the blur of hundreds of auras made it almost impossible to see anything at a distance. I thought her aura was probably just clear, though.
Notably, she wasn’t the only person with a clear aura, or no aura at all. In fact, most of the people in the guest section, as well as most of the serving staff, didn’t have auras.
I hadn’t seen so many non-attuned civilians in one place in ages. I’d started to think of being attuned as the default, when in reality, most people never earned one.
After a few more minutes of awkwardness, I made it to the food. I heaped far more than I was likely to actually eat on my plate. Realizing that the drinks were in bottles, I tucked a few under a shoulder to be considerate to my friends. Then I awkwardly waddled through the crowd, spending most of the time desperately trying to keep the bottles from slipping and breaking on the floor.
I made it back to our table just in time for Sera’s grand entrance to the ball.
There was a hush near the entrance as she walked into the room.
No, not because of her. In spite of being far more politically savvy than I was, Sera wasn’t well-known. Not yet, at least.
It was her date that drew stares and murmurs.
He was hard not to notice, given his wingspan was nearly twice his height.
I sighed, putting down the plate and bottles so I could hold my face in my hands.
Of course Sera had brought Vanniv to the ball.
He was tall, charming, and looked like a fashion model. His abs looked like they were literally chiseled.
I wasn’t sure how she’d managed to find him a suit in House Cadence’s colors with slits for his wings. Maybe that was why she’d insisted on coming separately?
The crowd had to part around them, simply because Vanniv’s wings were so wide that he couldn’t enter the room otherwise.
They made their way over to our table.
“Corin! Dear Brother.” Sera opened her arms.
I rolled my eyes at her as theatrically as possible, then obliged in giving her a hug. “Hello, dear Sister.”
Nearby Vanniv grinned and opened his arms as well. Not toward anyone in particular.
Patrick, always a good sport, rose from his chair and gave Vanniv a hug. Vanniv seemed briefly startled, then grinned and pulled Patrick in closer, like they’d been long-lost brothers.
I felt a pang of envy as that thought ran through my mind and I remembered what the spire had taken away from me.
“Patrick! Ah, I see you have the lovely Marissa with you as well.” Vanniv turned his head downward and offered Marissa an exaggerated wink.
Marissa folded her arms. “So, you’re Sera’s mystery date?”
Sera finally let me go and stepped back. “He most certainly is! I considered all sorts of students, but I thought I’d go with a real man.”
“And there is no realer man than I,” Vanniv replied with a nod. “Excepting for the fact that I am a magically created copy of the original Vanniv, of course, and thus completely fake.”
Sera patted him on the arm. “There, there. You’re real enough for me, dear.”
“I know. Ah!” Vanniv snatched one of my bottles off the table. “Drinks! This is what I’m here for.”
Sera sat down and leaned back in her chair. “You’re here to be my date.”
“Yes, yes. And drinking. Drinking many things.” Vanniv smiled. He didn’t seem to know how to get the stopper out of the bottle — which was understandable, I didn’t either — so he simply snapped the stem at the top and began to drink.
The luxuries of having stone skin, I supposed. Never have to worry about mild lacerations.
“This is quite good! I believe I am getting drunk.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was apple juice.
Apparently, neither did anyone else.
I leaned over toward Sera. “So...Vanniv. Isn’t he technically only, like, ten weeks old?”
“This copy of him might be, sure, but he has the memories of his original self. Who is twenty, thank-you-very-much.”
I chuckled. “And the fact that he’s compelled to obey your every whim doesn’t strike you as unethical?”
“Please, Corin. I’m showing him off at a fancy party. Vanniv and I are both too classy—”
Vanniv broke off the top of a second bottle, but a little too hard this time, spilling half the contents on the table.
“Correction.” Sera sighed. “I am far too classy to do anything untoward with my control of a summoned monster.”
I laughed. “Fair.”
I turned away, focusing on eating my food.
I didn’t mention the fact that I was pretty sure that Sera had told us she had a date for the ball before she’d made her contract with Vanniv.
If she wanted to play this off like it was her plan all along, I wasn’t going to get in her way.
She deserved a chance to smile and laugh. And, as weird as it might have seemed, Vanniv did, too.
Sera wasn’t going to let me get away with teasing her without a bit of retribution, though. “So, Corin. You’re looking quite charming in that new outfit. I can tell that at least one person is particularly taken with it.”
Oh no.
I coughed. “Please don’t tell me—”
“He’s staring right at you. Quite brazenly, in fact. My, my.”
I sighed, turning to find that Jin had relocated to lean against a different wall, but that he was still watching me. He noticed that I’d noticed him and tilted his hat downward.
He’s...not going to stop doing that, is he?
I set my fork down. “I’ll be right back.”
“Good luck! Don’t get your heart broken.”
I shook my head as I left the table, heading toward Jin.
“Corin,” he said amiably as I approached. “What a surprise to find you here.”
I folded my arms. “You could st
are at me a little less, you know.”
Jin smirked. “Why? There’s nothing else that interests me here.”
Do not be charmed.
He is not charming.
There is no charming happening here. None.
“While I appreciate your interest, there are plenty of fascinating people here. And a band! Playing music. You could watch the band.”
“Watching the band isn’t what people come to a ball for, Corin.” He pointed a hand toward another section of the room.
The dancing section.
I watched the distant figures swaying together in harmony. Holding each other close.
It was a romantic ideal. The kind of thing that we’d read about as children, seen in plays and operas.
How could I justify doing that with someone who I didn’t trust?
My jaw tightened. “I haven’t forgiven you. I can’t forgive you.”
Jin looked away. “I know. I don’t expect you to. But that conflict we had...does that really cancel out the things we’ve shared?”
“No,” I shook my head, “But it does make it difficult for me to want to have anything to do with you.”
Jin winced. “It would appear I’ve made a mistake in coming here.” He nodded, more to himself then to me. “Have a good night, Corin.”
He turned to leave.
I spoke without thinking. “Wait.”
Jin turned toward me, raising an eyebrow.
“One song.”
Jin tilted his head.
“I’ll dance with you for one song. That’s it. No more.”
Jin exhaled heavily. “...I understand.” He spoke again, more quietly. “I’ll be glad to have a chance to dance with you at all.”
He led the way toward the dance area.
He took my hands.
We swayed together, awkwardly at first.
Don’t forget what he did.
This doesn’t mean anything.
The song ended.
We continued to sway, even in the silence.
***
Minutes passed.
Perhaps hours.
Finally, I broke away.
“Thank you, Corin.” Jin bowed at the waist. “You have made my evening worthwhile.”
I bowed in return. “I...good night, Jin.”
“Good night, Corin.”
Jin disappeared into the crowd.
I breathed a sigh of relief, slipping back to the table.
Sera waggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.
I just glared at her. I couldn’t even articulate my thoughts, I certainly couldn’t come up with anything clever to say.
I settled for eating my now-cold food. It was still pretty good.
I found myself finally starting to relax a little bit, now that Jin was gone, and I had something to focus on aside from my insecurities.
Unfortunately, my insecurities were creeping up right behind me.
“C...Corin?”
I froze at the sound of that voice, my fork still in-hand.
Gently, I set the tool down, and turned to face the horror behind me.
The young woman was just my age, with her auburn hair cut just above the shoulders. She wore large, round glasses with tiny runes etched into the frames.
Her dress was white with silver accents. Her family colors, that I’d seen a hundred times. It was accented by a large silver broach, etched with runes that were easier to read if I had the ability to pay any attention.
The frilly white umbrella she carried was very traditionally ladylike. It didn’t suit her in the slightest.
My voice caught in my throat. It wasn’t because I was choking, fortunately.
“Um, hello. I don’t know if you remember me, but, um...”
“Cecily,” I managed, somehow.
She let out a heavy breath, although I couldn’t tell if it was out of relief or mortification. “You remembered me. That’s, uh, good, I suppose. I just...wanted...can we talk for a minute?”
I glanced from side to side.
Vanniv gave me a hugely exaggerated wink, and Sera followed it with a hand-sign that was either supportive or some kind of lewd gesture.
I looked back at Cecily. “Sure.”
“Okay, good.” She took another breath. “This is good. Can, uh, we have the talk in private?”
I stood up, glancing to the others. “I’ll be right back.”
“Not a problem, Corin. We’ll be here.” Patrick grinned at me. “Good to see you, Cecily.”
She seemed to ease up just a little at Patrick’s comment. “Thanks, Patrick. It’s nice to see you, too.”
Cecily reached out for my hand. I stared at it for a moment, then processed how crowded it was and the necessity of her gesture before accepting it.
Cecily led me through the crowd...and then outside the room entirely.
I followed, breathing heavily as we moved through the groups of people, and feeling a little less anxious once we managed to get outside of the ballroom. She seemed to have some idea of where she was leading me, at least.
The term “murder hallway” somehow jumped into my mind.
I was getting ambushed entirely too frequently. It was possible that it had done something bad to my nerves.
She didn’t take me far, fortunately. She took me through the halls and then back outside of the building through a side door, into a garden with a hedge maze.
There were fewer people here. Fortunately, none of them seemed to have glowing tattoos on their shoulders. I was very certain to check for that.
Instead, they mostly seemed to be young couples, determined to get lost in one of the corners of the hedge maze.
I realized, of course, that we appeared to be doing the same.
Was...that what this was?
No, there was no way Cecily would be this forward about something like that.
She couldn’t have changed that much, not even after this many years.
By the time she pulled me into a dead-end in the maze, I was reasonably confident that being killed here would be preferable to being in the crowded party, so I just sort of resigned myself to that possibility and started to consider what other options could explain her behavior.
I wasn’t properly prepared for what she said next, though.
That seemed to be a theme in my life.
“So, uh, Corin.” She released my hand, turning to face me and leaning close. “Read any good books lately?”
I stared at her blankly for a moment, processing. “You couldn’t possibly mean...”
She frowned. “I suppose I wasn’t clear enough. I spent so long trying to figure out the right way to sound witty about that, too. Drat. I mean, have you had a chance to look at your messages from Tristan in the last few days?”
My jaw opened, then closed, without any words escaping.
That was more like Cecily, at least.
Somehow, she’d always managed to catch me off-guard.
Cecily winced. “Was that too direct?”
I shook my head. “No, no. And that opening line was wonderful, I just... didn’t expect it. I didn’t expect, well, you.”
“I’m sorry! I can go if I’m bothering you, I just, um, there’s something important...”
I took a deep breath. “No, wait. My fault. I’m being terrible.” I raised my hands in a conciliatory gesture. “I don’t want you to leave, Cecily. You’re fine. I’m just processing.”
She nodded. “Okay. Right. Processing, I understand that.”
“So.” I clasped my hands together. “Before we continue, we’re at a crowded party, and I don’t know how you know about this at all, but we probably shouldn’t be talking here.”
“That’s why we’re in this secluded location!” She gestured all around us. “Also, it’s why I brought this.” She waggled her umbrella.
I glanced upward, paying closer attention.
There were just a few runes on the inside of it, cleverly concealed by the curvature of the cloth.
Silence and anti-scrying, I realized. “Oh.” I blinked. “That’s actually rather brilliant. It’s restricting noise from escaping.”
“B...brilliant?” Cecily took a sharp breath, then stepped back.
Had I said something wrong?
I just kept talking, though. Like I do when I’m excited. “I assume it’s intended to keep anyone who isn’t underneath the umbrella from hearing us?”
“It’s actually a few feet wider than that, and it only dulls the sound and makes it harder to hear, rather than silent. Silence is conspicuous, but just a murmur makes it sound like we’re mumbling to each other. Most people won’t notice a difference.”
I bobbed my head in approval and then pointed at another rune. “And that rune blocks scrying spells, I think. But I don’t recognize the third one.”
“Oh, this?” She pointed at the third rune. “It’s not in the current curriculum; I’m not surprised you haven’t seen it. I’m a little surprised you even recognized the anti-scrying rune, to be honest. This one is a mild observation-blocking rune. It makes us less interesting to anyone who is within range, but not within the range of this other rune,” she pointed at another rune I hadn’t seen, “which lets the people who are within just a few feet of the umbrella interact with each other normally.”
I clasped my hands together in realization. “You’re mimicking an effect similar to the Mesmer attunement.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “I’m surprised you’re familiar with that. It’s somewhat obscure.”
I chuckled. “Believe me, I’m more than familiar with it at this point. But that’s another story.” I leaned forward slightly. “And that broach — that’s an improved shield sigil, right?”
She nodded fervently. “Yes, isn’t that silver bird you’re wearing a variant on that as well?”
“Sure is.” I was wearing the silver phoenix sigil on the right breast of my tunic. It looked better there than on my pants, where I usually wore it. I tilted it upward so she could see it more easily.
She leaned closer. “May I....?”
“Oh, sure.” I unpinned it.
She unpinned her own broach. We traded.
I inspected the runes on her broach. “Four enhancement runes... One for the shield itself, one for capacity, one for recharging. The fourth is connected to a series of knowledge runes... Interesting. Iterative hardening? Something that reinforces the shield in locations where it’s recently been hit?”
