Chapter 4 In Darkness #3
He took a deep breath and entered the building. As before, Mrs. Urdson was the only person present, and she looked up as soon as he entered.
“Good evening. How can I help you?”
The scrutinizing gaze had lost nothing of its sharpness.
“Uhm. Good evening to you, too. I would like to… enroll.”
The sentence was much less rehearsed than the last time he had been in this situation, but Mrs. Urdson smiled a dry smile.
“Of course. You do need to tell me your name, though…”
She let her voice trail off in the most unnerving way, and Kraghtol was quick to answer.
“Oh, yes, sure. My name is Kra —”
He froze. Shit. He had not thought this through. He could hardly use his real name. Mrs. Urdson knew that one.
“—sen. Krasen.”
It was the first thing that came to mind, and only as he heard the secretary’s quill scratch over the paper did he exhale.
“And your last name?”
“I… uh…”
He should have expected the question. His mind was already racing, trying to come up with a real-sounding last name, when Mrs. Urdson sighed.
“Let me guess,” she asked. “You come from a small village with few people, so no one really uses last names?”
He sheepishly nodded, and the secretary sighed again.
“I just wished there were a law against this malpractice. You would not believe how much confusion it causes. Well, not your fault, young man. But I need to put in a last name. Usually, we choose something like ‘son of so-and-so’ or ‘from this-and-that’. It’s not perfect, but at least nobody has complained yet. So, what’s it going to be?”
“Uhm, I come from… Caemdir. Can we take that?”
Instead of an answer, Mrs. Urdson scribbled on her sheet.
“Wonderful. That answers my next question as well. So, Krasen from Caemdir. No, I don’t think we ever had someone from that village, not that I remember.”
She carefully put her quill away, adjusted her glasses, and looked Kraghtol straight in the eye for the first time since he had entered.
“Look, Krasen. I probably should have started with that, given where you grew up. I’ll be quite frank.
While we do not require any previous standings with the guilds in order to join our school, there are three things that are essential to be admitted: A good character, a good measure of wits and willpower, and the funds to pay for the higher education provided by the guild. ”
She paused to let the words sink in. Kraghtol just nodded slowly, unsure what to make of the statement. He didn’t know what had changed exactly, but suddenly, Mrs. Urdson seemed almost human, her usual mask made of pure bureaucracy broken.
“I have met my fair share of your type. Young men or women, often from remote villages, without a last name on them, their hearts full of idealism, searching for wonder in the big city. They certainly don’t lack character, and most of them seem reasonably bright.
And yet, hardly anyone of those graduates to be an alchemist.”
It wasn’t hard to guess why.
“Because they can’t pay the tuition fees?” Kraghtol asked, and Mrs. Urdson nodded.
“Yes. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the fees are too high; after all, this is one of the best educations you can get in all of Wardenreach. Still, it can be difficult to pay for someone who doesn’t stem from a wealthy background.”
She looked downright remorseful now.
“I have seen more than one such student struggle to pay their quarterly fee. First they struggle, then they turn to loan sharks, and then they don’t return at all.”
A long moment of silence stretched on between the two of them until the secretary sighed again and adjusted her glasses.
“So, if you want my advice, Krasen: if you are not wealthier than you look, think twice. There are other honorable professions.”
With these words, the usual mask returned to the secretary’s face. Her tone was still softer than before, but that could also have been a trick of Kraghtol’s mind.
“So, how much is it? The fee, I mean,” he asked, fearing the answer after that speech.
“One gold coin per quarter year.”
Kraghtol tried hard to hide his shock. Four gold coins a year. That was a lot.
“And how long does one usually… take?”
His voice was husky, and he mentally cursed himself for that.
“Well, that depends. The best students graduate after three years. That is the minimum time required to learn everything you need to know. But it’s rare for students to pass every exam on the first try, and frankly, it takes a lot of dedication to do that.
Most students take five or six years, I would say. Those that actually finish.”
Kraghtol’s head was swimming. Five or six years. Even if he spent his mother’s gold coin, it would merely be enough for half a year. He knew he would have to work on the side to afford the school, but how was he supposed to earn that much?
For a moment, he considered the secretary’s kind words from earlier. But he hadn’t taken that fey-cursed potion just to give up now. He would find a way.
“That’s doable,” he lied as best as he could.
It was unclear whether Mrs. Urdson believed him. With only the slightest pause, she nodded and made another remark on her paper.
“Very well, Krasen. I have one last question for you. As I mentioned, we organize our courses into quarters, from solstice to equinox and vice versa. You are a few weeks too late for the quarter that started at the fall equinox, but if you want to, you can still be admitted right now and join the ongoing quarter. Or you can wait until the winter solstice and begin then. It is not impossible to catch up now, but it might be less pleasant than waiting.”
Kraghtol grimaced inwardly but couldn’t help but ask:
“If I were to join immediately, I wouldn’t attend a full quarter, is that right?”
When the secretary nodded, he continued.
“So, in that case, I wouldn’t have to pay the whole ten silver pieces, either, right?”
Mrs. Urdson hesitated briefly before adjusting her glasses.
“Interesting. And very observant. And I suppose you are correct. If you were to enroll now, the ongoing quarter would only cost you…”
Her lips moved silently as she calculated with impressive speed.
“… seven silver coins and seven copper ones. However, I have to warn you. The first quarter teaches you not only the basics of alchemy but also the basics of our craft. You will need to learn how to write, how to weigh and how to measure. It won’t be easy.”
This time, Kraghtol’s confidence was not fake. He couldn’t tell Mrs. Urdson without endangering his false identity, but his foster father had taught him all of that already.
“Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Urdson, but I think I’ll manage. So, I would like to try that.”
“Very well,” she nodded again. “The Alchemists’ Guild graciously covers the cost of the permit of literacy with the Scribes for you, by the way. You won’t have to pay extra for that. Now.”
She folded the sheet and put it into an envelope.
“You are in luck. The admission board, comprising the local guild master and the higher-ranking teachers of the school, meets new students every Oathday evening and decides about their admission. I will forward your application right now, so if you want, you can present yourself to the admission board this very evening. I believe this aligns with your… hurried approach.”
Kraghtol felt a lump in his throat. He hadn’t expected it to be that soon, and he didn’t know what to expect, but he nodded. He had to. This was his chance.
“Thank you, Mrs. Urdson. Really.”
The secretary just nodded and instructed him to return an hour later when the admission board would meet him. As they shook hands, she even smiled a surprisingly warm smile.
“Good luck, Krasen. I hope you make it.”
The following hour was the longest since his alchemical transformation.
The fall winds had picked up, and he shivered, but there was not enough time to go to his room to seek shelter.
He had nothing to do and didn’t want to loiter around the guild office, so he wandered over the empty marketplace.
From there, he had a good view of the clock tower where he had hidden himself just this morning, and watched the hands crawl slowly over the face of the clock.
The minutes passed with agonizing slowness.
Finally, after what felt like ages, it was time to return to the office.
It was almost entirely dark now, and the people of Winterstone had lit lanterns on the streets and inside the buildings, turning the cold stone walls into a warmer and more welcoming sight.
When he entered the office, Mrs. Urdson greeted him.
“Ah, Krasen. Just on time. The admission board has agreed to see you. And since you are the only applicant, we can begin immediately if you are ready.”
Kraghtol nervously straightened his clothes.
Suddenly, he could think of a million things he could have done to prepare for this meeting in the brief hour he had spent wandering around.
Would there be some kind of test? A quiz?
For a second, his thoughts jumped as quickly as they had before taking the potion, but he calmed himself. Whatever it was, he would do his best.