I had my paperwork in order, a thick envelope under my arm. I tapped at the door, and rehearsed myself.

  "Yes?" said the rail-thin woman within, her gray hair in a tight bun.

  "I am here to speak to Dean Krasp about a rather time-sensitive matter," I said.

  "Oh, well, come in then," she said and waved me inside. She shut the door, and waved me along to a sitting room. "I was at my painting, but I can discuss time-sensitive matters while I dab," she said. The easel in the corner was of a tall man seen from a low angle, walking out through a door. The details were vague and his silhouette was blocky, but there was something there that ached bittersweet. The rest of the room was just sand-colored plaster and bookshelves crammed full of large binders with no labels on the spine.

  "You are Dean Krasp?" I asked, taking a seat.

  "Hmm? Oh yes quite," she said. "What's all that under your arm?"

  "Maps, surveys, and sketches," I said. "For a road construction project along the Fissuring within Hearster. The House that you hold to, the Eyellon, hold duchy over Hearster but the capitol city, Hearstcliff, is held by House Freckentop, who also hold the duchy of Jangale to your east. As Hearstcliff is the main point of access between southern Hearster and northern Hearster, that puts another House in control over the main artery of transit through your own duchy. I have located six ideal locations, and four less ideal, for me to carve down a ramp in the cliff side, and build up a ramp from below, to create a safely-graded roadway that can carry passengers and cargo across without paying their tolls in Hearstcliff, routing Eyellon money into Freckentop coffers. I can demonstrate that I will have this work done within the next four weeks, requiring no further resources from Eyellon. I have estimates of the cost to do this work, as well as geological surveys to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the proposed roads."

  "How shall you build such roads?" she asked mildly, applying a little more abandonment around the shoulders.

  "Sorcery."

  "Sorcery has been tried," she said. "It takes even strong sorcerers weeks to carve just a mule-trail into the cliffs, and even then it rarely holds long before it becomes impassible."

  "My method is rather more dramatic and long-lasting," I said, opening my envelope. "By using regular stone sorcery to dig bore holes into the cliff face, I can access spaces farther in. And then, with a proprietary method, I will release a mighty detonation within that bore hole, breaking up the rock with disproportionate power. Rather like the difference between a spark landing on one's open hand, or clenching a fist around an ember. The pressure magnifies the damage dealt, and by placing my charges inside the rock itself I can break down sections no less than twenty feet across. Timed in sequences, I can lower the cliff face in an angle, and the rock spill from the breakdown will form a ramp leading up to meet it halfway. I have nearly no travel time, and would be able to beat any estimate by any contractor for the work."

  She mused, thinking silently for a bit, and then pulled some of the deep-brown regret up out of his shadow and dappled it all across the floor in the painting.

  "And what would you ask for all this?" she said. "Knowing full well that Eyellon could do this work themselves if they chose to?"

  "I need a letter of recommendation to the Academy," I said, forcing myself not to hold my breath. "I was unable to file the paperwork for regular admissions, and I need an off-season bylaw exam from the scholarship board."

  She looked over her shoulder, meeting me directly for the first time since letting me into her house. "Correct me if I'm wrong, you are the ducal princess Lady Natalie Harigold?"

  "Yes ma'am."

  "You should have received a merit admission."

  "It was expired. It was offered ten years ago."

  Her jaw dropped. "That- well, in any case, you're a legacy admission!"

  "Both my father's and my mother's legacy admissions were offered to my brother," i said carefully keeping the bitterness out of my voice.

  She set down her palette with a clatter. "This smacks of Corder playing at some sort of game. Merit admissions don't expire unless someone files the paperwork to expire them. Well, if you'll sit here I'll write your letter. And after that, if you're still amenable, I would take your paperwork to the House and see if they feel like accepting your offer, and paying you a fair market price for the work."

  I was adrift. There was no floor underneath me. What the fuck.

  "Ah," I started, and my mouth started to obey me again. "If it is quite all right, I would hold off on that proposal for a spell. If my admission is not in the balance, I should not commit to any industrial labor at this time."

  "Certainly, certainly. You keep that in your pocket. It sounds like a good plan, might need a little polish, there will be plenty of time to address it later. In the meantime, I'm going to write one letter to the scholarship board on your behalf, and another to Corder. He's overdue a scolding."

  "Thank you so very much," I said, still dazed.

  "And you are quite welcome, young lady. I'm sorry if those tinpot tyrants thought to push you around. It probably made them feel like such big men, pushing around a duke's daughter. But, if I may ask, why did you come in here with such a strong swing? Thousands of crowns in construction work, certainly a good way to get the attention, but you did sort of bury the lede behind a lot of bluster and posture. Why?"

  "I was told that if I am to offer a bargain to any of the Houses I should make sure to have my terms as distinctly defined as possible," I said, miserable now. Wasted effort.

  "While that is broadly true," the dean said, finally finding her quill. She dipped it in the inkwell, let the ink draw up the calamus and then started her paperwork. "It rarely hurts to at least ask first. There are people who will surprise you. The Harigolds have been friends for years. Tell your father that Nyra Krasp sends her best."

  I had my second letter. After sanding it and drying it, it was folded now and in my packet, ready to deliver.

  And it only took two weeks. The second one was spent pulling survey records, geological assessments, and working a lot of math to demonstrate that an air-burst shockwave would break up the rock face in a controlled and predictable pattern. A week to work up my packet of data, only to have her ignore it.

  Okay. Lesson learned. Ask first, before you spend an entire week on a project proposal that nobody has asked for. And, worst case, I've still got the data. I can pitch this later. She said "thousands of crowns worth of work". And she also said "fair market price". That's really huge. Like "rebuild Harigold Manor" huge.

  Which was an amazing idea, but there is nothing I would possibly do with that much money right now, other than to worry about it. This kingdom does not have FDIC insurance, if someone like me robs a bank, that bank stays robbed. Putting money in a vault does not guarantee its safety, it just makes it harder to steal. And, you pay for the privilege of their vault and guards, a fee automatically deducted from your account. And, there've been a few scandals about embezzlers helping themselves to the secured coins, robbing their own customers.

  Much more secure for a line of credit: the major Houses have their vast wealth. And as a matter of convenience, the banks facilitate spending that money without carrying precious metals in a clinking purse. And then the bank tallies up what is owed, sends an invoice, and everything is handled cleanly and simply. But you do need a lot of trustworthy people peering at ledgers for hours at a time, making sure every copper coop is accounted for correctly.

  Could I earn a ton of money from Eyellon, and leave it in their accounts to draw on? I'm not sure. Tarratan is a faction-ally to Harigold, and does not have the resources to challenge. Eyellon could cheat me, and dare me to do anything about it.

  So, that option goes in my back pocket.

  Not like this letter! This I took straight to the Academy. I leaped into a portal, and then out the other side. I landed, both feet slapping the gravel, and I pulled in a deep shuddering breath. I had not even let myself come here until now. The front gates, the iconic first glimpse of the school grounds. The favorite and most famous backdrop of conversations held on school grounds in Harigold Glitter.

  White gravel coursed down the middle of the grounds, parting to make space for the great multi-tiered fountain in the middle of the grounds. It was laid underneath a sky of perpetual night-time, stars ever-twinkling, the faintly purple darkness stretching far overhead. A diffuse and sourceless light permeates all, starkly at odds with the pitch-black overhead. The grass is lush, manicured, cropped and sculpted, a perfect green year-round. Unlike the medium-gray that permeated most of Hearstcliff, the buildings of this campus were a brilliant white-and-heather marble with speckles of quartz, glimmering always. The buildings almost had an aura of light around them, the sharp colors of them cutting against the backdrop. A surreal sight, always.

  And now, after dozens of hours of seeing it as a static backdrop, still and rich with twinkling patterns- it was here. I walked, and stared around. New angles, new information. The gravel crrrnched under my feet with each step, the dapple of the water was soothing to hear. The stately arched colonnades passed by my sides, and then behind me. I felt like I was walking into a painting I knew by heart, only now witnessing the world within.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Nervous giggles broke out of my lips. After fifteen years, I was finding new ways to be nervous about all this being real. It was probably just a huge fistful of déjà vu hitting me all at once. Like seeing a place in a hundred dreams and then finding it waiting for you, around a corner you never explored before. My stomach fluttered.

  I channeled air and owls and joy and I ran across the grounds in a sprint, whooping with glee. I ran until my breath was gone, and I threw myself down onto a bench, panting.

  There have not been many moments for me, in the last fifteen years, where I could feel myself passing a barrier and getting closer to my goals. Mostly, like Baroness Grancine said, I've been very reactive, responding to events and doing whatever is expected of me. But to push against opposition, overcome an adversity, and get closer to where I know I'm supposed to be? That is fulfilling. That is validating. It's a high that I savor as much as I can. The satisfaction of this moment is going to have to propel me and sustain me all the way to the next stage, and then after that, and again.

  While I could have spent some mana to clean myself and erase the sweat from my run, I decided not to bother. I took my papers, and I walked to the administration building. Someone would be here, this building was never empty. If it were Nathan, he would run into them in the halls by coincidence. I don't have protagonist privileges. Instead I activate the senses of the owl, and I listen carefully. Scratching. I follow it, moving soundlessly down the hallways, leading with my ears.

  "Knock knock," I said, tapping on the door frame.

  The postgrad stuck doing admin work over the semester break nearly fell out of his chair, spooked. "Gods!" he blurted. "How did you get in here?!"

  "You know that every door in this place is unlocked, right?"

  "Yes! Because nobody could possibly get through the gates! Have you been here since the gates shut? What happened?!"

  "Don't worry about little old me," I said. "I'm just here to drop off some paperwork for the scholarship board. Oh look, that's here!" I said with a broad smile, tapping the sign on his door. "Scholarship board, right here! Would you kindly take these off my hands?"

  I passed over the pages, and he would kindly take them and open them and read them. He got about five words in when he stopped and stared up at me, eyes huge and round. You'd think he was the one channeling essence of the owl.

  "Natalie Harigold?!" he squeaked. "The one wh-"

  "Yes, the one and only," I interrupted. "That's what you were going to say?"

  "Of course," he said. He had gone from startled, to spooked, to surprised, to scared. His face was pale and blotchy as he read the letters. Must be his first time face-to-face with a mass murderer.

  I had a moment, a dull chill washed over myself. I still hated when I thought of myself that way. I hated that people were going to see me that way. I hated that even in my own mind, that was how I identified myself. But by gods and goddesses, I was not going to pretend that it hadn't happened.

  I was still looking out the window with a bittersweet smile, my arms crossed over my stomach, when he looked up. "These seem to be in order," he said. "I'll have to pull the test forms out of storage though, we're packed up to start the new semester right now. And, I'll have to go through our on-call list to see who's assigned to proctor an exam outside the normal schedule. What contact could I schedule..?"

  "I'm staying at the White Waterfall Inn," I told him. "It's not far from here. I can take mail and messages there. Please do expedite this process, it is very important that this exam is administered and adjudicated with haste." I paused, thought a moment longer. I anticipated some bullshit might go on behind the scenes. "When the test is scheduled, please message me at the inn. If there is any significant delay, please message me at the inn. If there is no progress for a full business day, please contact me there, Mister Senecs."

  He gaped. "How did -"

  "You're either Mister Senecs, or you're wearing his nametag," I pointed out. I finally got to do the thing! "And I am Natalie Harigold. I have had a very long year, and patience is not my strong suit. Yes?"

  "Er, yes?"

  "Good. I will get out of your hair and let you find that on-call list."

  I stepped into the hallway, opened a portal, and the corridor was bathed in searing light before I vanished.

  On Sixthday I got a message at the front desk, stating that a meeting between the on-call proctor and the head of the department was scheduled for Oneday, to take review of my case and that I should hear back shortly after. I spent the rest of that day visiting the city. I found that I loved the view from the roof of my inn.

  High above, a spur from the aqueduct hung from the ceiling, and let off a steady spout of water that fell hundreds of feet through the air, turning into a fractured mist before it spattered against the tiled roof of the inn, filling a shallow pool there that drained in a constant stream down into the inn itself, filling its shower reservoirs and drinking water, and into the wastewater system as well. Sigils here dampened the sound from a mighty roar into a restful trickle. I stared up, enjoying the engineering marvel that it represented, and the aesthetic excess that it indulged.

  Damn shame what was going to happen to it.

  On Sevenday I went to the same church in Cliffside that my cousins attended, and in that crowd I finally felt invisible. Church grounds were sanctuary from all House bullshit, so I did not need to be paranoid about sneezing in the wrong way and starting a war. When I got back to my inn, Senecs had left a message identical to the first, a meeting on Oneday.

  On Oneday afternoon I was informed that their meeting was rescheduled to Twoday.

  On Twoday morning I came back in person.

  "Mister Senecs," I said, throwing open the door. "I don't want to be a bother. And I don't want it said that I am abusing my position or my family name for special consideration. But there is now adequate reason to say that my paperwork is being slow-rolled, and I believe I'm entitled to know why."

  "I- sh- ahem. I am afraid that I cannot answer for the school's faculty, Lady Harigold," he said, gulping for air as he sat back down. He was reciting by rote. "This matter is above my paygrade, and matters of administration need to be directed to the administrative authorities."

  "And, with them out of the office, the administrative authorities is you," I said, and I stepped into the room, out of the doorway. "Mister Senecs. There is not anything about this examination that requires a meeting with the head of the department. This is a simple matter. It will take a single afternoon. This is precisely the reason you have an on-call proctor."

  "This matter of administration needs to be directed to-"

  I chilled the air on his half of the room, sharp and sudden enough to draw a gasp out of him. "I don't want it said that I used intimidation tactics on school personnel to get them to do their jobs as they are required to," I said. I let a hard tone communicate for me. I don't want it said that I did this. But I will do it if I have to.

  "I am not at liberty to give out the names of -"

  The air around him went thin, and his voice tapered off as he gasped for a breath. This sucked. I hated this. I was pushing around an intern who was being bullied by his bosses to give me the runaround. But there were a lot of lives on the line and I had already been obstructed enough by bureaucratic foolishness. And the only tool I had to address this was applying pressure against this guy right here.

  I stepped in closer, and the air came back, warm and ready. "I know it seems like I'm being harsh," I said, and I let my voice carry the sympathy I felt. "But this is the better answer by far. The Academy serves at the direction of the throne itself. So whomever in this institution is bypassing the procedures listed in the charter of the Academy, is in violation of crown authority. There is nothing that I could possibly do that would compare to the measures available to the crown authority if some functionary were known to be holding their position's authority in opposition to the throne's charter. The crown authority has frequently been known to make an example of anyone who treats their own policy as preceding that of the throne." I sat on the corner of his desk, looking down at him.

  "So, Mister Senecs, if someone here has given you orders that gainsay the charter enumerated and re-signed by the King and Queen of Hearstwhile, it is best that you not be found to be shielding them from mutiny and insurrection against the throne. As we are discussing a matter of hanging treason, I feel compelled to pull rank as the ducal princess, earl of the realm, dame and lady. Now, tell me who is behind this, and where to find them."

  Unsurprisingly, that worked. The combination of magic, noble rank, and the threat of the royal dungeons got me the answers. I was remembering now one of the basic truths of this game and this Academy: nothing can ever be easy. Getting anything done always takes extra steps, extra time, extra conversations... it's part of the format of visual novels, a crucial gameplay element. But if you don't have timeskips between scenes, it's really damn annoying.

  Maybe I was wrong to be so excited about this phase of the game.