Chapter 18 #3
Eventually, Callum and Cersha went back to eating. Wilder’s lips released from their thin line.
Finally, when Lottie pulled in a breath, before she could leap into another stream of chatter, Audra jolted her hand out to the center of the table, her palm up. “Let’s compare schedules; maybe we have a course together—won’t make being in different guilds so terrible.”
Scrolls with their schedules were pulled from the brass-buckled leather satchels issued to all initiates, unrolled, and placed on the table, careful to avoid Cersha’s spoon.
Burning disappointment bubbled up within Audra as she studied the scrolls.
It was abundantly and immediately clear that the different guilds, despite having many of the same courses—for instance, they all shared the course Introduction to Zenaidan Lore and Culture taught by a Scholar Haile—shared no lectures or training blocks with the other guilds, of which, they had discovered upon reading the welcome letter at the top of their schedules, there were four:
Arcane—incraic art and language focused. Sabre—combat and war strategy focused. Echinacea—healing arts and botany And Forge guild was comprised of tinkers and smiths, crafters.
The academic schedule was designated into three-day structures.
For the Arcane Guild, their class structure was as follows: Lantern Days, Vault Days, and the third day, Sanctum, which was the least structured of the three and filled with theological lessons taught by the priestesses and structured prayer in the morning, followed by personal study.
Outside of meals, Audra and Wilder would hardly see Cersha or Callum.
“Well, that’s disappointing,” muttered Audra as she rolled her scroll back up. Quickly, she swapped it out for the campus map.
“ ‘Disappointing’ is an understatement,” said Cersha, eyeing Audra’s map even though it was upside down from her. “And alarming, because class starts in ten minutes and I’m not even in the right building!”
She leapt up from the table, shoving her scroll into her bag and hauling up her own books by the leather cord cinched around them. Her skin had a rather green cast to it, like she might be sick at the thought of having to go off on her own.
Callum’s first class was Introduction to Incramancy with Scholar Khari, so, like Audra, Wilder, and Lottie’s, it was inside Central Main, albeit on a different floor.
But Cersha’s first class, Arcane Properties of Native Zenaidan Flora, was held across campus, inside an oblong building labeled on the map as the Botany Greenhouse.
Callum stood as well. “Do you want me to walk you to your class?”
Cersha pushed a swath of red hair away from her face, her books swinging.
“That would be stupid for you to have to leave, just to return to this building. There is still a chance I’ll make it on time, but you, however, would be late.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I’ll be fine, Cal.”
Callum nodded, his expression somber as he placed his hands in his pockets. “I know you will be.”
“I’ll see you all at lunch, right?” asked Cersha to the whole group.
Everyone assured her that, yes, they would be back here for lunch.
Cersha momentarily considered struggling into her thick coat, but that would mean she’d have to remove her satchel or at least put down her books.
Before anyone could offer to help, she shrugged on and tucked the coat around the strap of her satchel.
She, along with a few other initiates, hurried out the door.
“Well, classes start in nine minutes. I guess we should go too,” said Callum, his eyes on the door his sister had just left through.
“She’ll be fine, Callum. She’s smart and capable,” said Wilder, gently placing a hand on his wrist, just above his clenched fist.
“Yeah.” He released his tightly balled fist and brushed a hand through his fiery hair. He huffed a weak laugh before scooping up her dropped spoon and plopping it in Wilder’s tepid cup of tea. He began gathering their dishes. “Notice how she left her mess for me to clean up?”
Audra thought of Emyre. That was something he was always doing too. The moment he shoveled in his last bite of food, he was off, racing to wherever, his plate and cup forgotten instantly. Audra would give anything to be back there, picking up after her little brother.
“Typical of a younger sibling,” said Audra. “All I have is my teacup.” Lottie had already stacked what had been Audra’s oatmeal bowl with her own. “I can grab Cersha’s, so you don’t have to take as much.”
Callum clutched the perilous collection of dishes a little tighter to his chest. “Is it odd that I’m finding some strange comfort that at least one thing is the same—Cersha making a mess and leaving it for me to clean up.”
Wilder chimed in. “Not odd at all. But I’m making Cersha clean up your meal after lunch.”
Callum’s snort was drowned out by a cascade of tinkling bells and chirps as every timepiece in the dining hall simultaneously alerted. Callum almost dropped all the dishes but managed to just keep them all intact and unshattered.
Five-minute warning. Time for their first lecture.