(Resumed) Solstice

[Emmett]

I returned home, packed my workout clothes away, and double-backed to the Student Center.

The private conference rooms were located on the first floor of the facility, above the General Store, main lobby, public gathering tables, and public-use crafting stations, and most certainly above the General Library. Things were quieter on this floor, this being the general studying floor rather than the socializing floor beneath.

I made my way past several tables of students reading over books and jotting down notes, and watched the numbers on the doors to my left climb.

1... 3... 5... 7.

I looked across the room and found nearly identical doors on the other side, so I crossed through the hushed din of schoolwork and arrived at, wouldn't you guess it, Conference Room Eight. I gave two knocks, waited about three seconds, then entered.

I was greeted with the pensive stare of Ser Feylance, my eyes widening at the surprise of it not being Ser Linn, as well as shocked doe-eyes from Grace and Patrick, and finally a demonic scowl from Samael, the Air Magus who kicked me around in MMA.

"Ah, Mr. Sinclair, glad you could join us," said Feylance, "If you would kindly please close the door behind, we have everyone who will be present."

"What sick stunt is this, Emmy?" Patrick asked pointedly.

"Ser, I don't mean to sound rude," Samael said, "but, are you serious? We have to lug around deadweight?"

Ser Feylance took a moment to let the silence linger before speaking. "You wanted to be a leader, Mr. Michaels, and you did advance your grades significantly from last year so I put in an application. It was conditionally accepted: Ser Linn wished to compose the initial squad, as well as test the validity of one of our rules."

Samael threw his hands in the air. "So I get stuck with a remedial?"

"Two, actually," Grace cheerily reminded, "I did not pass the Power Examination."

"You're actually skilled, though-"

"Enough, please," Feylance interrupted Samael, "I imagine the two students from Charade Gin don't know what an expedition squad is or does, and do not disparage them of it; their home was utterly destroyed by the Emissaries and is still being rebuilt. So let me start from the top."

The elder Air Magus stood up and regarded everyone in the room: "Expedition Squads are co-educated extracurricular student task forces, four to eight in size, sponsored by one staff member, and approved by higher-ranking staff, the Headmaster of course answering to no one. These squads sign up for missions advertised to the Seminary from all over the province, and, if chosen, are dispatched through the southern gate for service missions or the northern gate for combat missions. Squads on dispatch are relieved of their responsibility to attend classes, but homework and exams must be coordinated ahead of time. Once the squad completes its mission, it will return through the gate it exited, delivering payment to the sponsor for final remuneration."

"Remuneration?" Grace asked.

"Yes, Grace," Samael said, "We get paid for this."

My eyes widened in shock, and apparently so did Patrick's. "We get paid?!" we both asked in unison.

"Well, us three will; you won't, empty."

"Let me explain, Michaels," Ser Feylance intoned, shaking his head, "First, when the bounty is delivered to your sponsor, in this case me, I take sixty percent of it off the top-"

"By doing none of the work?" Samael interrupted.

"Hey," I countered, "At least we're getting paid at all for this."

Patrick cleared his throat. "I hate that I'm about to say this, but Emmy's right. Back at Charade Gin, we did everything for free because there was no economy left after Aegis dicked us all over."

"If you all are done interrupting the Dean of Air who could suffocate all four of you in one swoop, I'd like to continue." That shut everyone up, and Feylance gave a soft smile after a little bit. "Of the remainder, one fourth is divided among you all in flat shares, with the leader taking three and everyone else one. This payment is static and guaranteed no matter what, even if a squad member served as dead weight. The next fourth of the remainder is divided into shares, to be doled out based on how helpful every member was, ranked by every other member, in aggregate. The leader's score is tripled in this regard as well. Members can claim a squad-mate was not helpful at all, but such a claim requires sponsor approval, otherwise it is overturned. The final half I dole out to the four of you as I see fit. Finally, you will be awarded marks based on individual and team performance. The squad leader, however, will personally suffer those negative marks borne by all his subordinates; this is the rationale for the increased pay."

Patrick beamed. "So do we get opportunities to kick arse for missions if we do well in MMA?"

The Dean stuck his tongue out. "Your squad is not cleared for combat missions, so no, and when you are, we will need another conversation to make sure you understand the risks. However, as a squad, you will have the opportunity to participate as a squad in competitive events, such as team combat. Now that about covers the formalities. So, what do you wish to call yourselves? I suggest 'Upstarts'."

"Divine Wind," Samael said.

"Tempest Riders," Patrick declared.

"I don't really care," I said.

"I think I like Upstarts," Grace said, "We are all severely inexperienced, and two of us are remedial, and another two of us haven't touched a single copper in years. And clearly there's doubt of our abilities, given we had to be conditionally approved."

"Two versus one, one, and one," Ser Feylance said, "Upstarts it is. I even have a service mission for the four of you over the weekend. I'll have Ser Sakura give you the details after Friday's MMA class. I'm assuming you are all agreed to be in a squad together."

"Ha, I'm in! Even with deadbeat Emmy, nothing will beat us!"

"If I have to accept this clusterfuck of a group, fine."

"This should supplement my learning well. I'm in."

I nodded.

"Excellent. I think that is all I needed you for. I'll be at my office if you need me." Ser Feylance stepped around the table and out of the conference room. "The room lease expires in forty minutes, so make of it what you will."

Samael grumbled and leveled a glare at Grace. "Really? Fucking Upstarts? What are you, a child?"

"Better than Divine Wind," Grace countered to a Samael halfway out the door, "Besides, it wasn't like you and Patrick were going to agree."

"Anything would be a fucking improvement. I'm done here, see you in class." Patrick stood up and walked out.

Grace turned to me. "Well, if we're done here, I'd like to get on with my classwork."

"Of course. Also, I like your rationale," I said, "For the Upstarts name."

"Sorry to burst your bubble," Grace said, "but first: the idea of you reassuring or protecting me is laughable. Second, if you were going to say something you should have said it when everyone was gathered. I'll be honest: I'm not really looking forward to working with you on an expedition. See you on our next class together."

Before I could formulate a response, I was the only one in the conference room. I had a literature class to go attend, so I did. It wasn't much, but it did include a brief overview on things a Magus might pick up in a piece versus a Dreamer. I took a few notes, but overall didn't pay too much attention.

Mathematics was also similar, going over basic trigonometry and how to relate sines to cosines and tangents on a triangle. I didn't quite see how it related to Magick, but I was repeatedly assured the Provost of Arcana uses this stuff every day, whoever that was.

I figured I could look in a directory sometime.

I finished my classes, and found myself with an abundance of time, so I went to the second floor of the Student Center to work on some homework before retreating for supper and sleep.

The next day I found myself back in the Fire College, this time sitting closer to the front, having brushed over my notes before. Not that I needed to; apparently the major journey of discovery and feverish note-taking had embedded what I learned into my skull.

Emotions are weird at interacting with the mind, it turns out.

"Good morning class," said Ser Sakura, handing out stacks of papers to the class. "Here's hoping you did your homework, because here's the quiz. Make sure to put your name on the paper or else we won't know whose is whose."

I had received my quiz paper, and sure enough, it asked what the thing that turned Fire into Forging was called, how many of them there were, what the standard names for those things were, and to list the things they combined with Elements to produce.

I diligently wrote down the answers I had dug up earlier at the library, and I noticed an older student wearing tan robes with orange trim, similar to Ser Vise's, the Earth Professor who had visited. Maybe this was a more advanced student of Earth.

"Alright, time to turn in your quizzes," said Sakura, and I noticed the pattern of students taking papers from behind them and passing them up front. I did the same, passing papers forward to the front row, which Sakura scooped up and handed to the older student. "Mr. Douglas, if you would please mark these papers," she said.

She went on to describe more or less what I had learned in the book, tacking on a few additions here and there. "So I, a Fire Magus attuned to Light, can cast raw, Fire, Light, and Forge Magick, and I use all four types in differing circumstances. For example, I could use Forge to create a kunai, Light to blind my opponent, Fire to enchant it to explode, and finally Æther to telekinetically stab him with the weapon and watch the enchantment resolve."

She also mentioned Spell Circles briefly, and touched on how they would respond differently with differently-Attuned and/or Aspected Æther, but intentionally left the details blank, citing that the Spell Circles instructor still needed a job.

The more advanced student handed a paper to Ser Sakura before handing the graded stack to the class, each student searching and finding their quiz paper before passing it to the next one. Fortunately I had gotten my paper before Patrick could fuck it up by hiding mine or something similarly nefarious.

"Some of you need to learn that my homework is not optional and does require self-study," Sakura said, furrowing her brow, "This is a college in a seminary that has historically been the target of hostile military operations. Furthermore, you are all adults; you need to know how to direct your own paths. Your homework today is to simply reflect on this, I will assign no research material today. Thank you for attending, and class dismissed."

I walked back home, grabbed my workout clothes, trekked to Barracks F, and got ready for another Physical Fitness class. It was a running day again, and it seemed like Ansel had gotten a leg-up on me over the past two days: I had felt my own speed and stamina increase from Wednesday, but it still wasn't enough.

"How in the heavens and hells are you faster all of a sudden?!" I called toward him.

"I'm giving it my all Em!" Ansel called back, "After yesterday's lifting you showed yourself a formidable opponent! If I got complacent you'd overtake me in short order!"

He was certainly smart. One of these days I'd get him. But apparently that day would not be today.

I ran my cooldown laps in defeat, took the bath, dried off, changed the clothes, and tracked down Ansel real quick,

"Huh, what's this?" he asked, after I was back in my proper Magus clothes.

"I wanted to say see you in the next class," I replied.

Ansel covered his face briefly for reasons I could not figure out why before shaking his head and waving back to me, "That was awfully considerate of you. Oh, I got pulled into an expedition squad earlier today!"

"Oh, congrats! So did I! But, yesterday."

"Nice! Here's hoping you figure yourself out. Maybe come find me after your first mission, and we can talk about it?" Ansel's right eye flickered and blinked softly, probably due to a speck of dust.

"I'll think about it," I said, "See you at MMA."

During Spell Circles we took a test to draw out as much of the Elder Runic Alphabet as we could, and, to put it bluntly, I didn't do as well here as I did with the quiz with Sakura. I got about ten of them, I was sure, but that was still rather bad as marks go. Ser Feylance reached out, and pulled the test papers to him in lieu of formally calling time, much to the guttural complaining of several of the class.

"Allow me to mark these papers real quick, and while I do, let me talk real quick about the basic shapes one will encounter in a Spell Circle: Triangles, Polygons, and Stars."

The brief explanation we got was as follows:

Triangles symbolized union and direction. When equilateral, a triangle directed Æther equally across the three points, invoking whatever was there, and carrying the results back to center before discharging the combined result across the entire circle. Non-equilateral triangles imposed directionality to the spell, and also acted to control proportions of conceptual weight.

Polygons, on the other hand, symbolized simultaneous invocation and stability. Polygons distributed Æther to specific points to gather specific runic effects, then did not bother mixing them, instead leaving them alone. Regular polygons were preferred almost universally for their equal distribution and relative lack of surprises, but an irregular polygon can be used to deliberately unbalance the Spell Circle if you really needed specific tuning.

Stars, on the other hand, or polygrams as Feylance liked to call them, instead of distributing energy across the entire Circle, focused their energies on specific parts, and acted as a selector switch, allowing the Spell Circle, or Magus with a Nauthiz rune, to decide which points of the star get activated and in which order. Jera runes also saw ubiquitous use in Star constructs, to allow the selector to "reload" and activate the same point more than once.

At the end of the explanation, the test papers flew out of Feylance's table and landed perfectly on each student's desk, with no mix-ups of students getting each other's papers. I examined mine: 11/24. Not too bad, I thought, Not good, but not bad.

"I expect you to study hard over the weekend, because on Monday you will also need to have the names of the runes memorized." Feylance started scrawling on the stoneboard. "For those who need it, I offer extra credit to those who turn in a paper before class decoding this and determining what it does."

He stepped to the side, allowing me to copy the contents:

h360h(2st0[a])

"Have a wonderful weekend." At Feylance's goodbye, I made sure the notation was copied, and set off for Magickal Martial Arts.