I stare at Headmaster Kophis for several long seconds.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I said the Grand Matriarch, Emsala Ken, is in the capitol and wishes to meet with you.”
Gods dammit all, why couldn’t I have misheard him?
That just leaves a simple question, though.
“Why?”
He smirks. “You don’t know anything about her, do you?”
I shake my head.
“That’s alright. Well, I’ve no doubts that her intention with meeting you is to take you home with her.”
“What?!”
He chuckles.
“She is incredibly dedicated to gathering the scattered foxkin peoples and rebuilding what was lost,” he says. “She goes to rather extreme measures to do so, as well.”
I groan.
“Can I just refuse the meeting?”
“No.”
I slump into the chair and groan harder.
Then my ears perk up with an idea.
“Can I pretend to be dead?”
“No.”
I definitely do not throw a tantrum, as that would be childish.
“For what it’s worth,” he continues, “I don’t believe you’re in any danger. Nor do you have to agree with any of her demands of you. Think of her as a... particularly concerned grandmother.”
I hug my tail to my chest with a long, weary sigh.
“Right. Because that’s better than danger.”
Eventually our meeting comes to an end, and I rejoin Bella before we return to the dorms. She remains silent most of the way there, letting me stew in my nerves and dread in peace.
The moment we enter the dorm room, though, she rounds on me.
Before she can speak, I interject.
“Don’t worry about it. Everything is fine.”
Cari, who was splayed out on one of the couches as she did her homework, scoffs.
“You look like you’ve been sentenced to death.”
I scowl at her.
“Tell me what’s bothering you,” Bella says, her voice low and soft.
For a moment, I resist.
Then I see her eyes. There’s nothing but gentle concern written on her face, and I can’t help but war with myself in my mind for a moment.
“Please.”
Dammit, why’s she so pretty.
I sigh in defeat. “Fine.”
So I tell them. When the meeting is—tomorrow, an hour and a half after classes—and everything else. What my main concerns are, why I’m both nervous and a little excited, but mostly just dreading the meeting.
The moment I finish, they both spare each other a glance, then speak at once.
“We’re coming.”
“Absolutely not.”
My response is immediate and instinctual. There’s no way I’m getting them involved in whatever mess this is.
The two share another look. I don’t know what passes between them, but Bella’s initially argumentative look shifts to something more thoughtful before she turns back to me.
“Very well,” she says. “We’ll talk more about it tomorrow.”
Cari nods, her eyes narrowed with determination.
“This isn’t over,” she says ominously.
Neither pushes the issue any further, and I’m too exhausted and frayed to bother arguing about it.
The next morning is... a little awkward. Of course, I wake up feeling like the dead—but Bella and Cari both spare me worried glances for a different reason.
Still, they don’t press the argument from last night. Instead, Bella does her best to just be at my side and offer comfort where she can, all gentle hand squeezes and reassuring looks.
I can’t help but find it disgustingly sweet and endearing.
So, in an effort to just forget my concerns for a time, I give her a grateful smile... then turn my mind to the task of relentlessly teasing her.
Classes after that pass in a bit of a blur as I try to focus on anything but the upcoming meeting this evening. I fail miserably, but still.
Applied Healing actually does catch my attention, though. Today, we start class in the hospital, so after entering through the side entrance Professor Vaelinne directed us to last week, I find much of the class already present and waiting.
Healing leaves no room for worrying about things I can’t prevent, so I’m actually looking forward to this class.
Lisa, the chatty catkin from last week, calls out the instant she spots me.
“Emilia!”
Then she bolts in and gives me a hug, even going so far as to lift me and do a little spin. The only reason I don’t immediately go on the defensive is the sound of a soft purr rumbling from her.
“Oooh!” she says, squeezing me. “I missed you.”
The moment she steps back, she sees the incredulous look I’m giving her.
“What? Am I not allowed to miss my friend?” she asks.
I open my mouth, then pause the moment I realize asking “Are we even friends?” would be unbelievably mean-spirited.
Instead, I sigh.
“I guess not. I just find it surprising, is all.”
She shrugs, her tail flicking playfully behind her.
“I would have talked to you on Bladeday, but you seemed occupied with your other friends and I didn’t want to intrude,” she says. “Oh! Hey, you should introduce me sometime.”
The idea of introducing her to Bella and Cari makes me nervous for some reason. Mostly Cari. I get the feeling they’d get along a bit too well, and make my life hell as a result.
Not literally, of course. I’m mature enough to admit that I love the back and forth with Cari... I just don’t like the idea of being outnumbered.
Professor Vaelinne chooses that moment to appear, interrupting the scattered banter of the students.
“Today, I’ll be splitting the class up by major healing types, and you’ll be acting as spectators and assistants to the Healer’s of your wing,” she says brusquely.
Then her gaze hardens, and the pressure in the small hallway feels like it increases tenfold.
“You are not to perform any healing yourselves unless expressly directed to do so by your Healer, am I understood?”
A chorus of “Yes, Ma’am” and “Yes, Professor” ring out, and she gives us a satisfied nod.
Then she starts calling names, splitting us into groups based on Divine, Nature, Water, and Regeneration healing. The assignments aren't random, either. A few surprised looks make it obvious she'd researched every student beforehand.
Of course, I’m put in the Regeneration group, along with Lisa and four other students.
Lisa isn’t exactly a regeneration healer—her healing is done through some kind of light magic. But apparently, it functions very similarly to how Regeneration healing does, so she was put into that group.
Several students were assigned in a similar manner. The odd one, to me, was a boy whose healing magic revolved around fire getting tossed into the nature group.
I wanted to ask how that works, but before I could, the Professor dumps us onto a waiting Healer that introduces himself as Larion.
Human HealerLevel ??
He wastes no time getting started.
“Most people misunderstand Regeneration healing,” he says as he leads us deeper into the wing. “They hear the name and assume we make things grow back.”
He snorts.
“Potions and Elixirs of Regeneration being named such have led to this lovely mix-up. Limbs, eyes, and certain organs generally require specialized abilities to heal,” he continues. “What we do is far less dramatic, but also far more useful.”
He gestures toward the patients filling the ward.
“The body already knows how to heal itself. We just help it along.”
As we walk, he points out injuries and conditions, briefly explaining how regeneration healing interacts with each one. The differences between healing broken bones, torn muscles, damaged organs, and even internal bleeding.
Lisa pays rapt attention, seemingly forgetting to be a chatty chaos gremlin for the moment. I can’t blame her, though. I’m just as invested in this class.
Especially today...
I shake off the thoughts, instead willing myself to pay attention.
“Even if something isn’t normally capable of healing on its own, it doesn’t mean Regeneration can’t heal it. Most of the organs in our bodies are capable of regenerating on their own—they just never have time to do it without outside help.”
He points to one patient in particular.
“This patient lost a chunk of—”
A door at the far end of the hall slams open, interrupting him. A pair of Healers rush through with a man on a stretcher, and Larion bursts into motion.
“Follow me,” he orders, then rushes to the other healers and begins directing them.
We scramble after him, and by the time we join the healers in the room they’d rushed the man into, one of them is already cutting away the ruined clothing.
A small hole sits just below his collarbone, and as they roll him onto his side, I find a second, almost identical hole on his back, just angled slightly lower. As if something punched through his chest from slightly above and at an angle.
“Tier Zero laborer,” one Healer reports. “Construction equipment launched a bar of metal through his chest. Lung punctured.”
Larion nods. “He’s lucky, then.”
A few students give him confused looks, and he picks up on it instantly. Despite his attention to the class, his focus never leaves the wounded man.
“A larger object would’ve destroyed more tissue and demanded significantly more mana and time. This is small, and would be survivable if not for the bleeding.”
A small trickle of mana flows from his hand as he holds it over the wounded area. As he works, he continues speaking.
“The body can manage healing a lung.”
The patient coughs weakly, sending flecks of blood splattering onto the robes of one of the Healers.
“Unfortunately, drowning in your own blood tends to make that difficult. That’s where we come in,” he continues. “We speed up that process, letting the body do what it’s already trying to do faster.”
Gradually, the patients wound stops leaking blood, and the man’s breathing steadies. His eyes flutter open for a second before he tries taking a too-deep breath, then his body is wracked with coughs as it tries to remove the blood from his lung.
The other healers take over then, using magic to soothe the coughing and remove the blood at the same time. It looks unbelievably uncomfortable for the patient, but...
Well, better than dying. Or coughing for hours.
Only when color returns to the patients face does Larion step back and turn to us.
“Alright. Any questions?”
Lisa and three others raise their hands.
Larion spends the next half hour answering questions and walking us through a handful of other patients. By the end of it, I’m incredibly happy to have chosen to take part in this class.
When class is over and we file out of the hospital, Lisa once again falls into step beside me as I make my way to the dorms. She chatters all the way about this and that, doing an admirable job of keeping my mind occupied with entertaining her.
Then we arrive, and she gives me a uncharacteristically serious look.
“Next Bladeday,” she says.
I tilt my head, letting an ear flop.
“What about it?”
“I’ll come say hi again. And you can introduce me to your friends.”
The grin on her face is somewhat alarming, but worse is her tail. It swishes with slow, graceful movements. Almost exactly like an actual cats would right before they pounce.
Still, I push my concerns aside. She seems like a good sort, and I just know she’d get along famously with Cari. There’s no legitimate reason for me to refuse.
So I let out a dramatic sigh.
“Fine.”
“Yay!” she squeals.
She dashes in for another hug, all purrs and tail wiggles, then darts off with a wave.
I watch her go for a moment, weighing the pro’s and con’s of reconsidering my decision.
The walk back to the dorms is strangely quiet.
Which, as it turns out, is a bad thing.
The meeting with the Grand Matriarch sits in the back of my mind. There’s just over an hour before the meeting begins, and with each passing minute, it seems to loom even larger.
By the time I step inside the suite, it feels like I’m awaiting my execution rather than preparing for a meeting. Then I look up.
Bella and Cari are waiting across the room, both seated across from one another on the couches. And they’re both giving me determined looks.
My ears instantly flick back.
“No,” I say preemptively.
“Emilia,” Cari starts.
“No.”
“Emilia...” Bella adds.
I point at her.
“You stop that. Don’t use that voice.”
She frowns. “What voice?”
“The cute reasonable one,” I huff.
Cari snorts, and Bella’s cheeks take on the faintest hint of pink.
But she doesn’t stop.
“We’re coming with you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, we are,” she says stubbornly.
I fold my arms.
“This meeting has nothing to do with either of you.”
Bella stands and steps close.
“You haven't stopped worrying about it since yesterday,” she says quietly. “Whether you realize it or not, you need someone there.”
One of her hands reaches out to pry one free from where I’d folded them under my chest, and she’s horrifyingly gentle about it.
It’s honestly unfair.
“Let us be there for you,” she finishes, giving my hand a squeeze with both of hers.
Hells, this woman will be the death of me.
I try to scowl at her, but can’t. I try to seem at least a little put off the idea, and fail.
Cari grins at me from behind her, looking victorious. And ridiculously smug.
I do manage to frown at her, but she shrugs it off effortlessly.
“You’re not alone, Emi. You don’t gotta face everything by yourself,” Cari says.
My first instinct is to deny them again, but I can’t. Both watch me with the same stubborn determination, absolutely unwilling to take no for an answer.
I groan.
Cari’s grin widens, and Bella gives me a relieved smile.
So I tug her close and wrap her up in a hug.
If she’s going to be all amazing, the least she can do is suffer my affection.
Cari can just suffer in general, the stubborn brat.
The next hour passes both too quickly and too slowly. I don’t have it in me to eat dinner right now, so I spend the time doing my best to ignore the upcoming meeting.
Mostly by terrorizing my girlfriend.
Bella bears the burden with impeccable grace, because of course she does. She’s still a flustered mess half the time, but I can tell she’s trying to get used to us.
To me.
The realization leaves me feeling warm and happy in ways I’ve never felt before, and it’s a good distraction from my worries.
Then the time is up, and we head out.
The administrative building feels larger than normal. More domineering.
It’s definitely my nerves getting the best of me, but I can’t help it. Thankfully, the receptionist barely glances at our ID’s before sending us upstairs.
The moment my foot lands on the first step, a pulse of familiar magic washes over us.
Suddenly, we’re standing in a large office.
Of course, having been mid-step up the stairs, I stumble forward as my foot lands on nothing but air.
I give Headmaster Kophis my best Scruffy-glare, promising murder.
He did that on purpose. I know he did.
He feigns innocence and ignores my ire-filled gaze. Then the Headmistress giggles, distracting me from my promises of violence for a moment.
As focused as I was, I hadn’t even spotted her at his side until then.
“Here,” she says, gesturing to a tray laden with teacups on a nearby table. “Grab a cup and sit. It’ll help you calm down.”
My gaze snaps back to her.
“How—” I start, then snap my mouth shut at the sympathetic look she gives me.
“It’s written all throughout your body language, dear. Your ears and tail betray you,” she says softly.
Of course, I only now realize that my ears have been flicked back with displeasure since we left the dorms. Not only that, but my tail has been stiffly tucked against my legs for... I don’t even know how long.
“Grab a cup,” she says again. “Sit. Drink. It’ll help.”
Bella drags me forward, strangely enthused by the offering, and Cari tags along as a matter of course.
Time passes as we sip on tea that tastes far, far too good. The effects it has are also something else entirely. It warms my whole body, relaxing muscle and mood alike in a wave of comfort and floral deliciousness.
By the time I finish my first cup, the knot of worry in my stomach has nearly disappeared. The second erases it entirely.
Eventually, Headmaster Kophis speaks up.
“Are you ready?”
He’d stayed quiet the entire time, letting his wife care for us in her way. But now it seemed like my time was up.
“No,” I say honestly.
He smiles. “Don’t worry. So long as you’re a student of my Academy, you are under my protection. At least as long as you want it.”
That... does help. A bit.
I glance at Cari and Bella. Both offer me encouraging nods, so I let out a low sigh.
Then, begrudgingly, I give him a nod.
“Okay. Let’s get it over with.”
The Headmistress rises from her seat across from us.
“I’ll go fetch them, then.”
Once she’s gone, the room is deathly silent.
Thankfully, I barely have enough time to start regretting coming here before the door opens once more.
The Headmistress steps inside, and several figures file into the room behind her.
The first is an eager-looking foxkin woman.
Grand Matriarch of the LostLevel ???
Silver hair spills down her back like liquid moonlight. Matching silver fur covers her ears and tail, save for the very tip, which fades into a striking crimson red.
She looks... young. At least, far younger than I’d expected. Instead, she has the mature, lithe beauty foxkin were once known for.
Behind her trail two foxkin attendants.
Foxkin AttendantLevel 47
Foxkin AttendantLevel 33
Then several humans, each and every one of them at least Tier Two.
Human FighterLevel ??
Human RangerLevel ??
Human FighterLevel ??
Human RogueLevel ??
Human MageLevel ??
Human FighterLevel ??
Their bodies are decorated with intricate purple markings that twist across exposed skin in patterns resembling something like a mix of runes and tribal art at the same time. Each one seems dressed to expose as much skin as possible while still remaining modest.
Some wear trousers, but just as many wear little more than loincloths. Man and woman alike, each similarly varied and unconcerned with normal expectations regarding modesty.
Instead, the markings themselves appear to be the focus. That, and the scars each of them wear with obvious pride. One woman even has the entire center of her chest exposed, as if to display the long scar that mars it.
My eyes drift across the group, then stop.
The world narrows around me as I spot her. The tattooed woman stares back at me just as intently.
Dark skin flecked with scars, deep purple hair and irises, and enough muscle to make most men jealous. Twin blades, once used to deflect a giant spear, rest on her hips.
Her eyes widen with shock.
“Emilia?” she asks, breaking the silence before anyone else has a chance to.
I realize then that I had stopped breathing. I exhale slowly, trying to remain calm.
“Agora?” I ask.
What in the hells is she doing here?