20. Chapter 20 The Dorm
Something was sitting on his chest.
Lucien opened his eyes. Corvath sat on his sternum with his paws together and his tail wrapped around his front feet, gold eyes fixed on Lucien's face from eight inches away. The bond hummed with impatience.
Morning light came through, and the room was quiet. Wulden's bed was empty, already made with Wulden’s typical precision for menial tasks.
"You're awake," Corvath said. "Finally. I've been sitting here for an unreasonable length of time. My patience has limits and you found them."
"What time is it?"
"Early. Not so early that my waiting is unreasonable. Early enough that I still have grounds for a complaint about the delay."
Lucien rubbed his eyes. The last time he'd seen Corvath was yesterday morning in the corridor when he and Ollie went on their quest together.
Corvath had been gone all of Monday, hadn't come back for History, hadn't come back for dinner, hadn't come back at all.
Lucien had fallen asleep without him, and he couldn't remember the last time that had happened.
"When did you get back?"
"Late. You were already asleep. I considered waking you but decided the debrief would be more effective if you were rested and capable of appreciating the full scope of what I'm about to tell you."
"How generous."
"I'm a generous creature." Corvath shifted his weight. "I have a report."
"Of course you do."
"A comprehensive report. The results are significant. I suggest you give me your complete attention."
Lucien put his hands behind his head. The mattress creaked. "You have it, but prepare to ignore the stomach rumbles. I’m ready for breakfast."
Corvath's posture straightened.
"Ollie and I mapped the secondary infrastructure of this building from the third floor down to the basement level.
Ventilation above, drainage below. We covered every accessible passage, identified three sealed sections that require further investigation, and cataloged fourteen observation points where the passages provide direct visual access to occupied rooms."
"Fourteen?"
"That amount is confirmed. There may be more. The northwest wing has structural anomalies that suggest older passages were closed during a renovation, but we couldn't confirm without tools. By ‘tools’ I mean teeth and claws, and the stone was too thick for either."
"You spent all of Monday doing this?"
"All of Monday was barely sufficient. The drainage network alone took four hours. Ollie handled the water sections. He doesn't waste effort, he doesn't second-guess his route, and he remembers every junction he's passed through. I told him where I needed him and he went."
"You two work well together."
"We complement each other. He is thorough. I am strategic. Together we are the most effective intelligence unit this academy has ever produced without knowing it."
"A cat and an otter roaming around where they weren’t invited is more like it."
"Two operatives conducted a comprehensive reconnaissance of a complex facility using an integrated above-and-below methodology that no other team in this building could replicate." He flicked his tail. "The terminology matters. Also, what do you care if we followed any rules? Do you follow them?"
Lucien smiled. "What you do on your own time doesn’t matter to me as long as it doesn’t negatively affect my world. I don’t like surprises and visits to the headmistress’s office."
"We are much too stealthy to get caught.
" Corvath settled deeper. "Anyway, quit interrupting me.
Silence. There are dead ends in the ventilation above the second floor where someone bricked over the original passages.
The mortar is older than everything around it.
Predates the current administration by decades, possibly longer.
Whatever they sealed off, they wanted it to stay sealed. "
"Did you try to get through?"
"I investigated. The masonry held. I'll revisit it with better preparation and Ollie's assistance. His teeth are surprisingly effective on corroded pipe joints."
"You better start sharpening your claws and teeth then."
"There is one additional item," Corvath said.
"Will this item make your story more interesting?” Lucien asked sarcastically.
Corvath reached out his paw and gave three soft pats on Lucien's forehead.
"I think you will find this tidbit extraordinary.
During our survey of the dormitory wing, Ollie identified a drainage access point that connects to the interior walls of the second floor east corridor.
Student rooms, but student rooms that are more expensive, much like the one your crimson-skinned girlfriend resides in.
We were able to access Valt Krenning's room from inside the wall. "
Lucien sat up on his elbows. Corvath rode the motion without losing his seat.
"How did you know it was his?"
"He was in there and so was his damned snake.
He was primping his hair in front of the mirror while Ollie and I watched from the shadows.
He put on his jacket and left the room a few minutes later with Ashavir wrapped around his neck.
I was concerned that his familiar would sense our presence but he is more stupid than I thought. "
"How were you seeing all this from inside the wall?"
"Through a maintenance panel behind the baseboard. But shhh, you are messing up my story. I was getting to the good part." Corvath's gold eyes were bright. "I urinated on his pillow."
That statement was followed by a long pause.
Lucien looked at his cat. Corvath looked back with the absolute pride of a creature who had executed a flawless operation and saw no reason to apologize for any part of it.
"You actually pissed on his pillow?"
"Directly in the center. A generous volume. I wanted to ensure the impact was unmistakable. The asparagus I ate early that morning added an extra kick to an already quite foul stench."
"Corvath, you do realize that cat urine has a very distinct smell?"
"And?"
"Valt is an idiot, but even he will recognize the odor."
"He will not trace it back to me. He has no way of knowing I can access his room.
The maintenance panels are invisible from inside and the access points are too small for any human or elf to fit through.
He'll suspect a human or another animal.
A bird, perhaps. Or a rodent with a grudge.
" Corvath swung his tail once. "I have no regrets.
The pillow deserved it, and so did its owner. "
Lucien pressed his lips together and rubbed his temple with his index finger. The practical concern was real. Of all of the things he expected Corvath to report, that was not on the list.
"Don’t announce this prank to others, please," Lucien said.
"Obviously. I'm not an amateur. Ollie knows, but he is a professional and we agreed on confidentiality. He understands operational security." He lifted his chin. "It was the highlight of an excellent day."
Lucien lay back down. He shook his head once. "What do you want me to say? I'm proud of you?"
"You should be. It was spectacular." He yawned, wide and unhurried, showing every tooth. "And now I need rest. The reconnaissance was demanding and my body requires recovery. I'll be sleeping for the foreseeable future."
He stepped off Lucien's chest, circled once at the foot of the bed, and settled into a tight curl with his nose tucked under his tail. His eyes closed.
Lucien got up and started his morning routine. The water in the basin was cold. He splashed his face and reached for his shirt.
The cat had never asked about Lucien's Monday.
He'd spent all day inside walls with an otter and he'd come back full of his own story, and the story had filled every minute of conversation without leaving room for anything else.
Lucien could have told him about Calith and that new development.
Corvath would have listened eventually. He would have had opinions, most of them scathing.
But the cat had a report and the report came first, and Lucien had let him have it.
He pulled on his boots and laced them.
A knock came at the door.
Lucien crossed the room and opened it. Liora leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed. She wore her academy uniform, and her silver hair was pulled back in a loose tie that kept it off her face. She looked him over once, quick and thorough.
"Morning," she said.
"Morning."
"Walk me to breakfast," Liora said, then looked past him at the bed. “Staying out of trouble, Corvath?”
Corvath yawned. “Hardly.”
Liora snickered. “You look and sound guilty of something.”
“An innocent cat like me? You must have bumped your head in the night to think so.”
Lucien scoffed.
Liora turned toward him immediately. “What? Tell me at once.”
Lucien pulled her in the room and closed the door behind her, ensuring privacy.
“Corvath made a rather poor decision,” Lucien replied.
“I object!” Corvath hissed.
Liora tilted her head to one side and raised a brow. “What did he do this time?”
“On his little adventure with Ollie last night, Corvath found Valt Krenning’s dorm room.”
“Yeah, he stays in the same hall that I do,” Liora replied.
Corvath rolled onto his back. “Yeah, you and all the other obscenely wealthy kids.”
Lucien closed his eyes and exhaled. “Corvath goes into Valt’s room and proceeds to piss on his pillow. Yes, you heard that correctly.”
Liora’s eyes widened and her mouth opened. “Corvath, that’s awful, but brilliant.”
“Don’t encourage him. You do realize that cats have a distinct urine smell? You do realize what cat insulted Valt in class in front of everyone yesterday? Do you see where I’m going with this?”
Liora nodded. “Yeah…Corvath…not the best of your ideas, I’m afraid.”
Corvath quickly stood and then stretched. “Gods, with all this noise I can’t fall asleep. I might as well get some breakfast.” He plopped on the floor and waited for Lucien to open the door for him.
Lucien cracked the door and Corvath slipped through the doorway into the hall. “Toodles, you two.”
"Oh, let me grab my bag," Lucien said. He pulled his bag from the desk and stepped into the corridor. Liora took his arm and they walked behind Corvath.
"Changing the subject… so," Liora said. "Calith Krenning."
He'd told her about the full encounter last night after dinner. She'd listened without interrupting, which meant she'd been filing away every detail for later. Later was now.
"You've been thinking about it," he said.
"I've been thinking about it since you told me." She looked ahead, her tail keeping a lazy rhythm behind them. "She intercepted you in the corridor, apologized for her brother, told you she'd contacted her father, said she'd handled Valt, and left. In under three minutes."
"That's an accurate summary."
"You still don’t think it is suspicious?"
"You think she was running a play?"
"I think she was too good at it." Liora kept walking. "She positioned herself where the corridor narrowed. She waited. She had her lines ready. The apology was polished, the delivery was calm, and the 'I have handled my brother' comment is as clear as mud."
"She was composed. That's not the same as dishonest."
"Lucien." Liora stopped walking and looked at him.
"She's a fourth-year Krenning. Her father is a trade commissioner who plays leverage games with headmistresses.
Calith grew up watching that man work a room.
She knows exactly how to position an apology so it sounds genuine, creates an obligation, and leaves her room to move later. "
"Or she's a young woman who's embarrassed by her idiot brother and wanted to deal with it before it got worse."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
"No, they're not." He started walking again, and after a second, she fell back into step beside him. "But I was there. I read her. She didn't feel like a player."
"You read her in three minutes." Her boot nudged his ankle. "From a cold start, in a corridor, with no preparation."
"I've been reading people for a long time, Liora."
"You've been reading people who don't know what you are.
She doesn't know either, but she's smarter than anyone else in that family, and that's the part that should worry you.
" Liora looked ahead and kept walking. "I liked Calith as a concept.
The competent Krenning. The one who isn't an embarrassment.
But a concept who tracks you down and delivers a polished apology with a vague promise attached, that's not a concept anymore.
That's a person doing something, and I want to know what. "
"What do you think she wants?"
"I don't know yet. That's the part I don't like." Her eyes came back to him. "You think she's genuine?"
"I think the apology was genuine. I think she meant what she said about Valt."
"And 'I have handled my brother.' What does that actually mean? Handled how? Talked to him? Threatened him? Told daddy she'd take care of it so he wouldn't have to come back for another hearing?"
"It just means she handled her brother… nothing more, nothing less."
"That's your answer? You trust her because you liked how she said it."
"I trust my read because I've been doing this longer than she's been alive.
Considerably longer." He met her eyes. "You're usually right about people.
I'm not dismissing your instinct. But I've been reading liars who were better at it than any student at this academy for a very long time, and Calith wasn't lying.
She's not her father or her moronic brother. "
Liora held his gaze for three steps. Her tail tapped his hip once, the punctuation mark that said she wasn't finished.
"I'm not saying you're wrong," she said. "I'm saying one conversation in a hallway isn't enough information and I worry about you. She’s pretty. That’s it. She’s charmed you with her flawless elven face."
"I won’t argue with you. She’s beautiful, but that isn’t why I believe her. I believe her because she was telling the truth. Trust me."
"I do trust you. I don’t trust her. I'm going to watch her like a hawk."
"I'd expect nothing less."
"Good." She pulled his arm tighter against hers. "Because when she shows up again, and she will show up again, I want us to be ready."
They walked the rest of the corridor behind Corvath without any of the three talking. The dining hall doors appeared at the far end, and the sounds of breakfast reached them from inside—chairs scraping, and plates clinking, and the low murmur of dozens of students planning their day.
She let go of his arm at the doors and walked in behind the cat.