Chapter Forty-Nine

Why did Threnody look nervous? The invitation had been sent out as soon as it was confirmed that the former Grave Society necromancer had been let in on the secret of Harmony’s visits to the manor on the outskirts of Hazeldown. Not that Agent Maxwell ever had time to do more than summon her and run off, due to his busy job as Rose’s consort.  

Shouldn’t she be the one who is nervous here? Needing to talk to another necromancer for advice, one who taught classes in Naewauld, an expert? Not that Harmony wished to go down that path of [Rot], the Grave Society turned into their thriving business for generations, so Threnody was sure to have some information she needed. The chaos energy keeping Maxwell’s pink-haired copy here wasn’t unlimited, so instead of sitting in silence, open your mouth and ask for help. Harmony focused. [Poise and Bearing] was good for keeping a mask but not breaking out of one; sometimes you needed to act. Maybe with the help of [High Kick] synergized with it— on the count of three… one… two…

Threnody started before she could. “Lady White, I want to thank you so much for the new books you’ve acquired for our little school. We now have four additional teachers with the addition of Len. Having the third-place contestant from the Ascendant Games on staff has increased interest in our teaching. But I was wondering if you could compose another book or two comprised of your recent observations? They are the backbone of our curriculum.”

[Cold Touch] froze Harmony’s face as a quick solution. My journals! Ambrosia had joked about using her teachings. Bates had referenced using one, but that was a practical application for these Max duplicates and estimating how long they would last. The theoretical musings and notes on her experiments and experiences felt personal. It was the story of her growth, even if she’d painted it broadly. But it’s not like she talked about boys or girls in them, maybe one rant about her mother and Tyler back when he was a creep.

Harmony blinked some ice crystals off her eyelashes. “I will move that up the list. I have incomplete journals about my experiences in the Ascendant Games that I wrote while I commuted to school here. Then there are my observations on my classes, but The Academy keeps me busy enough that I’ve not organized them properly. It will take time to have them be textbook-ready.  I do have access to a small library. If there are any topics the school wishes to request, I can look into providing them. I merely prioritized the ones on curses since I’ll have to return those at the end of the quarter, or if I’m removed from that class. I’m a bit surprised Len chose to take up teaching.”

“I know your time is valuable, Lady White, but your wisdom is much appreciated. Len, well, he has some interesting ideas. Something about a conspiracy only being useful if it spreads. Odd profession he chose.”

 Hopefully that suggestion wasn’t a mistake, too. “I called you here less to talk about that, but more to ask if you have any knowledge of undead who don’t seem to have a spirit inhabiting them, or necromancer puppeting them?”

“Oh my, the soulless. Those are nasty things. Happens from time to time when a spirit gets exorcised from a corpse still strong with necromantic energy. That’s where you get the insane, violent people eating stories from. The Grave Society will sometimes track a few down in the lands close to the Deadwoods for the temples.”

Was that Marci? Can’t have it delivered to confirm. It had no mouth, so at least there would be no eating. That bloody silver hat though. What if it wanted to wear a person? That might be worse. “Is there a way to add a soul to them?”

“I don’t know of anyone who has chosen to capture and experiment on any soulless. They’d have to survive being restrained, then you’d have to preserve them, and choose to do that over finding a new corpse to work on. While most are shipped off to Old Bones, it’s not that difficult to get your hands on a usable corpse.  Sorry, I can’t be more help. I probably shouldn’t take up too much of your time with other petitioners waiting.”  Threnody got up with a bow.

Harmony waited for the teacher to leave before turning to Ambrosia, who stood beside her as her personal maid. “Petitioners?” she hissed.

“Threnody let it leak that her request to see you was approved. Word spread, and Bates decided it would be easier to have an official day once a season where we do this while you’re at school”

“It hasn’t been that long since I was summoned! So, I’m holding court now?”

“Think of it as listening to an employee's concerns. You simply have to give them assurances that they’re still on your mind. It’s only those who know Max is summoning you here, so we have maybe a dozen waiting.”

“A dozen! Is this your new profession’s fault, people’s servant?”

Ambrosia made an unprofessional huff. “You know I’d never...”

“Manfred Walker to see Lady White,” Bates announced, interrupting their little conflict, forcing Harmony to gather herself.  

The fact that she’d missed Ambrosia’s evolutionary choice stung. Now a primal sounder, which made sense with pet bonds being primal bonds. Though she'd always been resistant to mixing music with her class or profession, Harmony suspected she wasn’t given a non-musical option.  Someone else who needed a half-step potion. Maybe something more traditional than what she did for Tasha? At least until she understood the results of that experiment.

Twelve– It would be best to get through this quickly. The security man took his seat. “Bates speaks highly of you, Mr. Walker. It’s good to finally meet. How may I help you?”

The grizzled man who projected competence let his face soften as his body shifted nervously for a moment. “It’s about my niece…”

Back at The Academy.

​

“Are your mid-quarter assignments going okay, Harmony? You're looking a little stressed.” Tasha asked as the team,  minus Tun-Knee, attacked the peppered roast they’d purchased for the table to share, at The Rusty Nail. The chipper redhead had finished bragging about  mastering hers and quickening to three whole levels. Two for her class and one for her profession.

Half a world away, Harmony was a bit stressed. Holding court was ridiculous. Part of her was handling that. It was time to approach the group before she surprised them too much. Soul sight checked on Tasha again, stable as ever, with no strong internal results from the transformation; had she put an invisible monster in there? “Our delve into Oorty’s Tomb is soon.”

“I know training has been off, but we have nothing to worry about. We’ll only push in at most two guards before leaving.” Alex assured Harmony.  

If only that were the only issue. “I’ve received a warning that someone might try to take advantage of our group while we’re in the dungeon,” Harmony admitted, finally breaking the ice.

“Good thing we have you.” Xera chuckled, grabbing a slice of the roast.

Alex and Tasha add their laughs to the mix.

“What do you mean by that?” Harmony asked, working hard to keep any accusation out of her voice.

“We know you’re not exactly open with your strength. But whenever we’ve been in a pinch, you’ve been there to help. You got my bear and me as friends. Tasha, her body, and Xera seems mostly pleased with her link?”

“I’m pleased!” the young girl insisted.

“During our dungeon run time, they only allow first and second year students into the Tomb  because they had issues with political assassinations happening. Do you really think you’ll have an issue if a couple of younger  students choose to go after you? People famously try to spook students before their first run anyway.” Alex finished.

Younger students, so no one who’d enter would be as strong as Becca or Houte? Not that Harmony couldn’t handle those types. Who could she have pissed off enough to go after her, or cared enough? The queen and her hands couldn’t have that far a reach? Bantz didn’t seem like the type to spend time spooking her. Almost as important as all those considerations was that her team publicly recognized the poorly kept secret of her dishonest behavior.  

“I’m sorry that I haven’t given you an accurate representation of what we could do as a team in practice.”  

Tasha snorted. “We need to get better. It’s not like we want our healing princess to do all the work. We want to assure you that if you do need to pick up and toss about some interlopers we won’t be too surprised by whatever you reveal, your highness.”

Harmony had to remind herself that saying she’s not a princess would make it worse than simply remaining quiet. It was bad enough when Alex had accused her of that early on, but did Tasha have to turn evil and do it now, too?

 “I get it. You’ll rely on me to save your behinds if you need it.” Harmony took a slice of roast and chewed on the meat as the others joked about her getting spooked.

They were relaxing and not taking this seriously. A little [Recall] and [Shadowed Graves], and she could make them take it seriously. It’s not like she could forget the murdered students mixed in the projected images of students who died in the dungeon. Too much like mental control to influence her team that way. It’s not like these kids hadn’t faced life and death situations to get here. They knew the odds that they faced in the dungeon.  Each of them had already faced life-threatening danger at school, be it Xera against the djinn, Alex tackling his bear, and Tasha with her transformation. Even tasting the meat now, memories of that burning smell that would not let go.

More importantly, they weren’t wrong. Allowing yourself to relax before facing the unknown prevents mistakes. If you didn’t take those golden moments between hard work, you would drown. Harmony joined in with that part of herself, taking a swig of cider, hoping the buzz would somehow transfer over listening to Grohl drone on about which beat would be better for finishing his drum solo.  Ba-da-ba-ba-ba, Ba-ba-bum, or ba-da-bump. Because the beat was everything to that man.