Capricia and Shalyn sat together at the back of the classroom, already accustomed to hiding from Professor Rosamond's gaze behind one of the massive stone pillars whose soaring arches supported the lecture hall's second floor.

  As the rest of the students gradually took their seats, Shalyn began pulling textbooks from her bag. "I forgot to close it...?" She muttered under her breath.

  "Well that can happen... Besides, why do you need so many?" Capricia commented with a raised eyebrow, watching as her friend extracted a third hefty volume.

  "I've got Professor Astram's test today, and I'm failing his classes... I told you this." With a final sigh, Shalyn thumped a fourth textbook onto the desk.

  Her friend shrugged. "You could just skip it this once. School isn't everything." She then tilted her chair back and propped her feet on the desk.

  She shook her head, opening one of the volumes. "Easier said than done."

  With her index finger tracing each word, the girl slowly delved into topics of divination and prophecy.

  None of it proved particularly engaging—the sample prophecies, types of fortune-telling, and meticulously drawn diagrams for interpretation made her mind scream with boredom. Shalyn had no interest in theory, which unfortunately comprised most first-year classes, while practical lessons only began in the second year—giving her yet another reason to yearn for the years ahead.

  It took a while before most of the students had settled into their seats, and then—accompanied by the creak of wood under her feet—Saelwen climbed the steps to the small platform at the very front of the hall.

  "Good day. I’ll be substituting for Professor Rosamond today." Her voice carried across the entire room, amplified by a swarm of floating magical orbs that scattered her words evenly.

  The students responded in hushed whispers, though a few couldn’t resist muted cheers—quickly silenced by the professor’s piercing glare.

  From this distance, Shalyn could barely make out more than the faint outline of Saelwen’s figure—the one downside of sitting at the back of the hall—though thanks to a mana orb whose flight path hovered right above her desk, she’d never struggled to hear a lecture or take notes.

  The elf approached the blackboard and wrote the day’s topic, "LIVING INSCRIPTIONS" in bold letters, ensuring it was visible to every student.

  "Again? We covered this last week..." Capricia commented with a petulant twist of her lips, rocking back and forth on her chair.

  Shalyn only responded with a shrug, still buried in the ancient oracles scrawled across her textbook.

  "Alright, to start the lesson..." Saelwen turned to face the students, raising an index finger as her gaze swept across the desks. "...Mr. Sylla." Her eyes landed on a boy slumped at the front, whose head jerked up at the sound of his name.

  "Y-yes?" he stammered, pushing a long black fringe out of his face.

  "No need to fear. Now, kindly list the runes suitable for drawing mana from the environment." The woman narrowed her eyes, her hands twitching with impatience.

  "Um... Lasairín?" he offered, flipping through his textbook for hints.

  "Correct—Lasairín, the rune that siphons mana from fire..." The professor turned, eyeing a girl on the other side of the room. "...Perhaps you can name another?"

  All whispers in the hall died as students recoiled from the threat of being quizzed. The tension in the front rows, so close to Saelwen, thickened until you could’ve cut it with a knife.

  "Ugh, I was afraid she’d ask us... y’know, since she already knows we're here." Capricia muttered, swinging her legs off the desk and flopping her head down in their place.

  Shalyn lifted her head with a yawn. "Who’s she calling on now?"

  "Probably Briannan’s friend... Maris, or whatever." Capricia snatched one of Shalyn’s pens and began doodling in her notebook.

  Then, like a bolt from the blue, Saelwen's voice struck through the mana orb hovering above the girls' heads. "Well then, perhaps you, Shalyn? Can you name another besides Lasairín and Grianboth?"

  Shalyn's eyes widened, and despite the distance between them, she could _swear_ she saw the professor's smirk.

  For a moment, the girl didn’t answer, her mind scrambling.

  The mana orb above her descended abruptly, stopping inches from her lips. Up close, she could see the energy within it pulsing faintly in time with Saelwen’s voice.

  "I can’t hear you. Speak into the orb." As she spoke, the orb’s warm green hue shifted to turquoise, humming softly as it waited.

  "Hmm..." Shalyn frantically flipped through her textbook, pages blurring under her haste—she wasn’t even reading them anymore.

  "Crannlosg..." Capricia hissed from beside her, tapping a penciled page number in her notebook.

  "If you don’t know, just—" Saelwen began, but Shalyn cut her off, reciting verbatim from the text:

  "Crannlosg—a rune used to siphon life-force energy from larger flora, such as trees or mature shrubs..." She turned the page with a shallow breath, ready to continue.

  "Fine... let’s say you passed." Saelwen halted her before she could drone on, and the mana orb hissed back into its place.

  The woman pivoted sharply on her heel and strode to the blackboard, writing out all three runes' names before deftly sketching their sigils beside them.

  "You likely recognize these runes from prior lessons... and today we'll practice carving them." The elf clapped twice—a crisp sound that sent the hovering mana orbs bobbing in rhythm.

  In perfect unison, the orbs expelled what resembled pencils, though these were ceramic with semi-liquid cores resembling dried paint rather than graphite.

  "For your safety, inscribe these runes only in your notebooks or on other mana-dead materials." The professor instructed while continuing to demonstrate the symbols on the board with practiced precision, her chalk never faltering.

  "Try not to smudge them either... an unstable rune never brings anything good." she warned, throwing a sharp glance over her shoulder before returning her attention to the board.

  The girls quickly got to work, grabbing their pencils and sketching the circular symbols of the Lasairín rune—one of the simpler ones.

  But barely two minutes had passed when, as if to spite them, black smoke began rising from one of the desks, carrying with it the nose-stinging stench of sulfur.

  Shalyn's gaze drifted to the desk three rows ahead—assigned to Briannan, who was, of course, responsible for the smoke.

  The muffled laughter of his friends soon turned into loud whispers, filling the classroom, while the panicked boy frantically tried to wipe the drawing off his desk with his hand, only smearing it further.

  Sìleas, sitting beside him, scooted away, covering her ears as the desk began to sizzle, quietly urging the others to move back as well.

  When Saelwen turned to explain the meaning of the symbols she had just drawn, she didn't miss the commotion in the upper part of the room—but before she could raise her voice, it was too late. The desk erupted into a volcano of bright sparks, which in midair transformed into waves of black smoke.

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  "...Finini! Did I not say something about smudging runes?!" The professor's booming, furious shout, amplified by the mana orbs, shook the classroom as some students ducked to avoid the sparks.

  But before she got to them, the three boys quickly stood up, with Briannan at the front they all ran out of the lecture hall as if burned, the sulfur stench that clung to their uniforms almost made Sìleas gag. They ran up to the doors, opening them with a loud thud and leaving the furious teacher, together with the fountain of sizzling sparks behind them.

  Only Sìleas decided to stay in her seat, that was now a few meters away from the rune.

  Both Capricia and Shalyn stared at the commotion with mixed emotions.

  "They burned out of there faster than Brianan's failed rune." Capricia commented, trying her best not to laugh.

  Shalyn's annoyed gaze contrasted with Capricia's amused expression, however what connected them both was that they were secretly hoping the lecture would end sooner thanks to the stupidity of the royal children.

  The quiet rustle of leaves and birdsong filled the garden from dawn till dusk—though even at night, the chirping of crickets kept them company.

  Shalyn often found herself there, usually when she couldn’t bear to take a test she hadn’t studied for, or when her next class was with Professor Rosamond—and this time was no different.

  "The closer the test gets, the better your idea sounds..." She muttered as the two girls stepped through the grand gate, leaving the building behind.

  "Think it through, if we go now, we might still find Marica in town." Capricia scanned their surroundings, her eyes landing on a group of black-clad boys hiding from Saelwen behind the old building. "Morons... like she won't check there first." The stench of sulfur that clung to them was so intense she could smell it—which almost made her gag—despite keeping a good distance from them.

  As they walked onto the garden's cobblestone path, Shalyn's gaze kept alternating between the corridor leading to Professor Astram's small lecture hall and the university's front courtyard gate.

  With a sigh, the girl turned her gaze down the hallway. "No use. I'd just get another scolding from Mrs. Ceana anyway."

  "Well I won't force you." Capricia shrugged with a yawn and moved her hands up, her bag slipping off her arm as she stretched.

  "I'll just sit down and revise..." As she spoke, she reached into her bag—only for her hand to grasp empty air where her journal should have been. The journal she'd filled with notes and research from the entire school year. "Damn it..." She muttered, cold sweat began running down her forehead.

  Her sharp brows furrowed as she rummaged pointlessly through the bag, pulling out items one by one.

  "What's wrong?" Capricia stopped and studied her friend's red face.

  "My notebook..." The girl upended the remaining contents onto the gravel path in frustration, nearly hurling the bag itself into nearby bushes. The commotion drew stares from surrounding students. "...I always keep it right here."

  "Maybe you left it in your room?" Her friend scanned their surroundings, shooting dagger-eyed glares at every student who dared glance at Shalyn.

  Crouching to the ground, the girl began gathering her textbooks. _"Absolutely not..."_ She clutched her head, mentally retracing her steps to the last moment she'd seen her notebook. Yet a nagging suspicion prickled at the back of her mind—she already knew exactly who was responsible.

  "Then where could it be?" Capricia helped collect the scattered books, shoving them back into the bag as Shalyn rose to her feet.

  A sudden gust of wind slapped both girls in the face, sending dead leaves from surrounding trees swirling around them.

  Shalyn looked up, trying her best to sweep her long hair aside—just as she did, her eyes found a dark, fluffy creature with wind-rippled fur stretched luxuriously on her windowsill, its white antlers glinting in the sunlight.

  "I think I know." Her pupils contracted to pinpricks, her grip strangling the bag's straps. "I'll kill it." The words slithered through clenched teeth as she stormed down to the hallway, footsteps pounding like war drums.

  "Shalyn! I don't do pathetic chases!" Capricia shouted, taking one defiant step forward before giving up as her friend disappeared into the sea of students.

  Her shoulders slumped dramatically as she exhaled with theatrical exasperation. "And she says the uniform makes her look like a child..." She muttered, rolling her eyes. "...when the truth is, she acts like one." With a light step, she turned toward the classroom where their dark-skinned teacher already stood waiting.

  Shalyn caught a glimpse of the time on the grand clock out of the corner of her eye before it vanished from view as she rounded the corner. A shiver ran down her spine—she had only ten minutes to retrieve her notebook and get back to class.

  Weaving nimbly through clusters of students, Shalyn swiftly climbed the stairs to the second floor. As she hurried across the elevated hallway overlooking the courtyard, her mind raced to figure out how Ribbon could've possibly taken her journal from the bag.

  "'Homework' my ass..." She muttered, charging up the stairs to the third floor. "...That creature is a devil in a mouse's fur."

  Reaching the third floor in final bounding steps, the girl sprinted to her door marked with a "No. 342" plaque.

  She grabbed the knob and flung the door open violently, startling her roommate who remained seated at her desk.

  "Oh, Shalyn, what are ya' doin' back so early?" Ceren lifted her head from her notes, watching as the girl—completely ignoring her—hurled her bag at the window, nearly hitting Ribbon who scrambled away with a shrill squeak.

  "Hay!" Ceren shouted, her brow furrowing. "Calm down, will ya'?!"

  Shalyn finally turned toward her roommate, but less than a second passed before her brows furrowed again.

  Yet when she met the piercing gaze of Ceren's emerald eyes, her stance softened slightly, allowing her to take several quick breaths. "I left my journal here..." she explained. "...that stupid pet of yours must have pulled it from my bag."

  Filled with the urge to theatrically spit on the floor at the mention of Ribbon, she restrained herself as her roommate reached into one of her desk drawers.

  What she pulled out was none other than Shalyn's old leather journal, its surface mostly worn bare. "This what ya' mean? Fell out when ya' went tearin' outta here like a shot."

  "...?" The girl flushed crimson, her face softening. "...Sorry," she stammered, bowing her head as a wave of hair curtained her beet-red cheeks.

  "Ya've been wound tighter than a clock spring lately." Her roommate remarked with an exaggerated sigh, thumping the journal onto the desk. "Might have to report this to Madame Ceana..." She whispered, her grin widening as Shalyn jerked her head up, revealing a face red as radish.

  "I already apologized!" The girl near-shouted, though instinctively fighting to lower her volume.

  "Fine, fine..." Ceren chuckled softly, shaking her head before flipping the journal open to one of its more tattered pages. "So that's the one?"

  Shalyn nodded. "I mostly use it for test notes..."

  "And this is interesting... ya're learnin' magical botany right now?" Her roommate flipped through the journal pages until her gaze landed on an illustrated plant diagram.

  "Yeah..." Shalyn mumbled with a grimace, stepping closer to peer at the page.

  "I wonder if the professor still accepts the Haravik's flower." Ceren tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned the page with renewed interest.

  "What... do you mean?" Shalyn glanced at her, eyebrow raised.

  "Back when he was teaching me this topic, he was accepting flowers for grading... but if ya' somehow got the Haravik's flowers, he let ya' pass on the spot!" Ceren's face lit up as she began gaining momentum, launching into stories about university traditions from her freshman days.

  But Shalyn had completely tuned out. Her eyes remained fixed on the page filled with her painted flowers, yet only one thought circled her mind: "Haravik's flowers...?"

  Shalyn waited for the perfect moment when her roommate paused to take a breath between sentences, then asked: "So... where did you used to find these Haravik flowers?"

  The girl scratched her chin. "Ah... honestly I haven't seen them in ages, but they should still grow deep in Austeria." Ceren shrugged, glancing around.

  "I see..." A thoughtful Shalyn furrowed her brow, reaching for her journal which had now become the least of her interests.

  "Ribbon? Where are ya'?" Ceren called out, snapping Shalyn from her trance.

  The girl quickly darted to her bed, grabbed her bag, and headed for the door. "Alright then, I'm off... sorry for the trouble."

  "Don't be late for class." Ceren waved dismissively, rising from her seat.

  Shalyn gave a half-wave in return before rushing out the door.

  With a journal in hand and a bag under her arm, the girl dashed down the stairs, jumping off the last steps and marching through the hallway.

  "Haravik, what...?" she muttered, adjusting her bag as it kept slipping off her shoulder, though it seemed to push on her houlders more than before.

  Turning left and hurrying down the stairs, a plan began taking shape in her mind - one she had no intention of abandoning.

  She jumped down the last few steps and, picking up speed, made a final sharp turn before stopping near Professor Astram's classroom, her eyes scanning the area.

  "There you are, finally," Capricia said, appearing behind her with arms crossed and giving her an evaluating look.

  "We don't have time for this." Shalyn grabbed her by the arm and dragged her through the crowd of students flooding the hallway, pushing their way out to the garden.

  "...So you've made up your mind after all?" Capricia grinned foolishly, wrenching free from the girl's grip while struggling to match her pace.

  "Yeah... we're going to Austeria." She blurted out with prideful confidence, quickening her pace as they turned onto the muddy path worn by generations of students - one leading straight to the forest behind the university.

  "Hah! And you lecture me about responsibility?!" Capricia forced a laugh, though she showed no signs of turning back. "Do we at least have a plan?"

  "...If we succeed, we'll pass Astram's class." Shalyn scanned their surroundings, her eyes tracing the university's towering stone walls before settling on the narrow gap wedged between the main building and an adjacent structure.

  "Fine... at least we're skipping those boring lectures." Capricia sighed, carefully placing each foot as the path turned to thick mud. "Though I won't lie - I'd rather be shopping with Marica." She muttered with a soft scoff.

  "Yeah, me too..." They both paused before the slender crevice that opened into Austeria's dense woods - the same forest where she'd spent weeks traveling with Sylleth months ago. "...but it can't be that bad, right?"