Ash found us, still on the ground. I heard her footsteps first. She looked exactly as she had before we had even stepped into this room. There was no Essence Weight attached to her now. She stopped beside me and looked down at the scene. Her hand reached out towards me, before she pressed it to her side. Then, she sat down in the sand beside me, close enough that her knee pressed against my arm.
"Who is this?" Ash asked, pointing at Alisa. She was not even breathing hard.
"A nuisance," I said. The word came out softer than I had intended.
Ash looked at me, then at the girl. Alisa had risen onto one elbow. She studied Ash, and for the first time, her chin was not raised. "I am Alisa," the girl said. "You are the woman who filled the Arbiter until it shone."
"My name is Ash," she said simply.
Alisa extended a hand, pointing right at Ash. "Well? Are you her rival too? If you are, that would make you my rival in turn!"
"What?" Ash stared at the girl as if she'd grown a second head. She looked to me, perhaps for assistance. All I could offer her was a faint shrug. "No, I am not her rival." Ash said. "I am her…her-"
"My esteemed retainer." I finished for her, helpfully.
Ash looked at me, and I held her gaze. The light really did make her eyes look very blue. I was the one who broke gaze first.
"Good!" Alisa declared. "That means I'm your only rival then. It makes things simpler. Just one half-demon to vanquish. After all, one such as I-"
Ash reached over, lightly brushed at my side. Where I had fallen first, the dust clung to the tunic. "You lasted a very long time," she murmured. "I saw you fall. Almost made me want to…." She trailed off. I could guess where her words had been heading.
"I am a Queen. I may stumble, but I do not fall." My voice had gone low, until I almost couldn't hear it over the sound of whatever tirade Alisa was on. "But perhaps I would not mind some small assistance, every now and then."
Ash's face flushed. She rose, extended a hand. "Is now one of those times then, Lys?"
I looked at her hand. My breathing had lightened. The infernal weight was well off me. If I attempted the rise again, I would make it. There was no reason to take Ash's hand. None at all. A Queen would not-
I took her hand. It was callused, and yet still soft. Ash pulled me to my feet, gently. Perhaps Heroes were good for more than just being pack mules.
“You know, you might come to regret this tomorrow.” Ash said.
“Hmm?”
She gestured at my legs. “Well…exerting yourself like this right away has a way of coming back to haunt you. You won’t feel much of it today but….”
I did not know what she was speaking of. “I will be fine.” I said. Ash gave me a shrug, but said nothing more.
The girl was still talking. I did not think she had ever stopped. "-never have I had a worthy peer. Not that someone calling herself Lysanthia would ever be a true peer, but perhaps she will be a good vessel to test myself aga-"
Alisa paused, looked up at us. Her face flushed. She coughed, and then hurriedly rose to her feet, far more unsteadily than I had.
It was then that Edda appeared at the edge of the track. Her stride was quick. She stopped a few paces from us and glanced between the three of us. Her gaze lingered on Alisa with obvious confusion. "Inker Martial says we need to clear the chamber," Edda said. Her eyes drifted back to Alisa. "All of us. He was very insistent. We’re the last ones-."
"You." Alisa's voice cut through before Edda had finished. The blonde girl had risen herself with visible effort, and was now regarding Edda. "You are the demonblood girl who had a reasonable performance in front of the Arbiter. The one with the unusual mark." She stepped closer, tilting her head. "Your potential seems to be rather substantial. Your name was Edda, correct?"
Edda nodded slowly. She had taken the faintest of steps back. I did not think it was from fear. Confusion, perhaps? Alisa pointed a finger at Edda. It was the same gesture she had pointed at me, and at Ash, and I was beginning to suspect the girl simply pointed at everything. "Very well, Edda. Join me. You clearly have potential. I do not know what that shifting mark of yours might be exactly, but surely it can only mean-"
Edda shook her head. Her hands came up in a gesture that was almost frantic."I'm sorry," she said. "I can't do that."
Alisa's chin rose half an inch. The girl's pride did not take kindly to refusal. That was something we had in common. "And why not?"
Edda frowned. Her gaze moved from Alisa to me. Something crossed her face. It was brief. "I don't know yet," The girl said quietly.
I looked at the blue-haired girl. She was still looking at me. The strange look was gone now, replaced by that same measured flatness. But I had seen it. I recognized it now. I had seen looks like it before, on faces that were now dust. Back when they hadn’t yet sworn themselves, but had certainly seemed to consider it. It was a gaze I could not meet, and certainly couldn't understand. And so, I looked away.
"A fascinating non-answer," Alisa said. She looked at me and her expression was far sharper. "I see now. It seems my rival has already begun establishing her kingdom. Does she seek to revive the name Lysanthia all on her own?"
Ash was giggling. I could hear her beside me, and the sound was entirely unhelpful. Something in my skull throbbed. I pressed two fingers to my temple. I could already feel the start of my second headache since waking up in this world. "I am not building a-"
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ALREADY!" The Inker's voice shook the sand beneath our feet. I felt it in my teeth. "IF YOU WANNA SLEEP HERE I CAN ARRANGE THAT!"
I looked around. I couldn’t even see the man, but it didn’t seem to matter. We left very quickly after that..
The corridors were a mercy after the heat. Edda walked ahead of us, the small wooden device in her hand, its faintly glowing letters rearranging themselves as she walked. Ash was at my side. Close enough that our arms nearly touched, which was closer than was strictly necessary for two people walking a hallway wide enough for six abreast.
"Is she still following us?" I asked. I kept my voice low.
"Sure is," Ash said, without turning.
I looked back. Thirty paces behind us, walking at precisely our pace, was Alisa. Her chin was raised. Her gaze was fixed on some indeterminate point a few paces behind us. Did she think this some manner of subterfuge? Did she think her intent was not obvious? Given what I had been forced to learn about her, perhaps she did.
“So I hear you have a ‘rival’ now,” Ash said. Her voice was very light, and very amused.
I sighed. "The girl is not my-"
"You have a talent for taking in strays too," Ash said. "Do you remember? You said something like that about me once."
"I am not taking them in. They simply will not leave." Two students ahead of us pressed against the wall as I passed. I did not slow. "There is a considerable difference." Ash hummed in answer. That was no answer at all.
"What other classes are there to attend?" I asked.
Ash glanced at me. "You want to take another one today?"
"You think that puny exercise was enough to tire me?"
"That's not what I meant." Ash paused. Her voice softened. "What about Sol? You want to go check on her, don’t you?"
I winced. The Hero’s guess was accurate. I had been trying not to think about Sol. Yet, I knew it was prudent to take at least one more of these ‘classes’ today, while there was still time. If I went to Sol now, I would have to leave her again. I would see her on her pillow, and she would chirp, and she would climb to my horns, and then I would have to set her back down and walk away. The image alone made my chest tighten in a way that had nothing to do with the Ember Core.
Perhaps it was better to take another class and retire for the day. To see her only once, at the end, when I could stay. I did not say any of this. "What are the options, girl? You are checking that, are you not?" I asked instead.
"There are three classes running for Line, or about to start right now. There’s a Mark Combat Class," Edda said. “The Combat Class will mostly be destroying dummies or the like. Usually will have some sparring against other students. That sort of thing.” There was a certain appeal to that. Fighting inanimate dolls and children might normally teach me little and less, but I had not gotten the chance to use the Requiem and Cradle much. Perhaps there was something to gain there.
Edda checked her tablet without turning. "Then there’s a Non-Combat Mark Application class," Edda looked back at us. “The goal is to, as the name implies, find non-violent applications for your mark. Those are popular classes. Not everyone wants to fight. Most don't.” Once, I would not have found any appeal in that at all. Once. Perhaps I will visit this class someday. If only to reconfirm that it was pointless.
"And the third?" I asked.
"Forging." Edda said. "For us Lines, it’s a little different. We don’t forge something that lasts quite yet. They don’t trust us with the truly valuable materials. But this is where we learn the process, so that we can start, if we hit Sigil." Her voice trailed off. It seemed she was done.
"Forging. Do you forge weapons?" I asked.
Edda glanced back at me. “A lot of people do. Most of the Crests have a Forged weapon. Most of the Inkers do too.”
How interesting. This concept of forging one’s own weapon did appeal to me. My Class had granted me a weapon, once. The [Ever Devouring Sword], an obsidian blade that could cut through flesh, and far more besides. Close range weapons had never been my specialty, and so I had found little occasion to use it. Still, I had used it to slay Calithra. And besides that, I had simply preferred its presence, though it had so little of it.
Come to think of it, during the battle against Isabelle and her demonbloods, that Inker had produced a brown greatsword, seemingly from nowhere. It had been a fine enough weapon, for one such as him. Was that one of these forged weapons?
"Very well. Lead the way to this Forging class." I said. Edda nodded and turned down a corridor I had not seen before. They all looked the same. I had given up trying to tell them apart.
Ash walked close to me. Our hands brushed, just for a moment. Ahead of us, Edda led. Behind us, at a distance that I had not checked but was sure was still thirty paces, Alisa followed.
"You looked like you were having fun." Ash's voice was low enough that only I could hear. She had moved a half step away. "With that Alisa girl." The words were sharper than I expected from her. The sharpness surprised me. I looked at her. Her jaw had set, just barely, and there was something in her eyes that I had not seen directed at me before.
The colour rose in her face almost immediately. "I just mean-" She looked away. "She seemed to bring out a different side of you. That's all. It was…I don't know."
I considered this. The girl had been entertaining, somewhat. Perhaps I had not entirely minded whatever that had been. "I would have preferred to be with you." I looked straight ahead. I did not want to look at Ash right now. "Though naturally, only a fool would try to run when she can barely walk."
Ash did stare at me. I saw it from the corner of my eyes. Her jaw softened. She walked closer to me. Just enough that our hands brushed again, and this time her fingers caught mine. Just for a moment. I did not let go first. It seemed even the most prized of retainers could wonder at their standing in my court.
Edda had looked back at us. Her eyes were wide and there was faint colour on her face. She turned forward again, very quickly.
The Atelier sat at the end of a corridor in the Academy's western quarter. I knew this because Edda told me so, and because the corridor narrowed as we walked, and because I recognized the door.
I had seen it before. During Ren's tour, when the girl had been rattling off rooms and their purposes at a speed that suggested she was being chased. The door had caught my eye then, it caught my eye now too.
The wood was a mix of every color shifting and turning, and every inch of it had been worked into carvings. On one side, there were hammers that rose from anvils so fine I could see the grain of their handles. On another side, blades curved along the frame in shapes so meticulously detailed I could see the light reflecting off them, even in a carving. Flames licked upward from the base of the door. They were the kind that sat beneath a crucible.
Near the top of the frame, was a single pair of carved hands. They were open and facing upward, as if offering something to whoever passed beneath them. Or perhaps they were simply empty, and waiting to be filled. I had seen this door before. I saw it more now.
"This door," I said. "Who made it?"
Edda glanced back. "I don't know. I don't think anybody does. I think it just...came with whatever this place was, before. It's been here longer than the Academy. It’s kinda like the Atheneum."
"That is not an answer."
"It's the only one anyone has." She shrugged. "Ren calls it 'the weird door.' I am guessing that’s all she told you about it?"
I did recall hearing something like that from the girl. I looked at the carvings again. Yes, coming to this class next was surely a wise choice.
Footsteps stopped behind us. I did not need to turn to know who that was. It was rather difficult to follow someone subtly when they finally reached their destination.
"Are we going in?" Ash asked. She was watching my face.
"Obviously." I reached for the handle with my left.
The handle was warm. It felt like metal, and yet it was warm. The Cradle hummed under the green Line. I pulled.
The door opened, and a woman's voice hit me before the light did. "DUCK! IT'S NOT STABLE-"
The world went white.