Wearing the blond demipersona, Dana’s fingers clutched a copy of Dwayne’s response, the original still lay in the latrine where lu had found it, as lu watched deans and professors mill about on the stairs leading up to the Sages’ Chamber.

  Since Magdala was off on some ridiculous adventure, Dana had tried to find other sources of assistance. First, lu had tried tipping Lady Pol off with an anonymous message, but the Lightning of the East had dismissed the idea of Dwayne being held in his own Tower as absurd. Next, Dana tried the scrytives, but they had standing orders not to interfere with Sen Jerome’s or Magisterium business. That left two options: marshaling Circle resources, and helping Dwayne break himself out.

  Both risked SolLab getting involved; the first by directly involving the forces that would have been tasked to seize Dwayne in any case, the second - enabling him to somehow take down twelve Sen Jerome cenobites singlehandedly - would force Ramos to upgrade Dwayne’s status from “hold” to “seize”. Dana had already had to scramble to maintain that “hold” status after Dwayne had helped blow up a considerable part of Ovidia County; only the fact that the Water Sage had been there too had saved him.

  That said it was in Vanuria’s best interests to stop Dean Bruce. Considering the resources she’d already marshaled - the sedative, the tytumber, the manpower - whatever Dean Bruce planned for this Day of Cleansing was going to be spectacular. And if there had to be more incentive, acquiring a drug with a four hour wait time and a twenty hour sedation time would be worth it.

  “Professors, Deans.” A mage with more than a little south Vanurian blood in her, judging by the warm tones of her skin, appeared at the top of the stairs. “The Sages are ready for you.”

  “Finally, some of us have work to do.”

  “Weren’t you going to go meet your-”

  “Shh! Shh! Shh!”

  Over the past two days, lu had been tracking Bruce and her cohort, taking note of where they went, figuring out their schedules. Right now, Cailean should be hiding out on the riverboat they used as a safe house, Sioned should be at the Tower watching Dwayne, the guards at the Tower would have just rotated shifts, and Dean Bruce should be arriving here for the regular Magisterium evening meeting, after which she’d go straight to the Tower. That meant now was the only time the dean would have the purple pill on her person in public.

  When Dean Bruce arrived right on the hour, her white fur lined cloak sweeping around her, Dana started luz approach.

  “Roberta!”

  Dana ducked into an alcove before a flutter of indigo and purple fabric alighted in front of Bruce.

  The dean stopped cold. “Lady Pol. Is there something you want?”

  “Oh?” Lady Pol raised an eyebrow. “No pleasantries?”

  “We are rivals, not friends.”

  Dana circled them, eyeing Bruce. While neither her cloak nor her dress had any pockets, she did have a simple black leather pouch tied to her hip. That was luz target.

  “Oh, we’re not?” Lady Pol pouted. “What a pity.”

  Bruce’s fists curled tight. “What do you want?”

  “Only to ask,” Lady Pol lowered her voice, “if you’re holding Dwayne in the Tower?”

  “No.” Impressive, Bruce displayed no hint of hesitation. “Is that a rumor going around? How would one even restrain a savage Ri mage like him against his will?”

  Lady Pol searched Bruce’s eyes. “How indeed?”

  Unfortunately, a casual bump was now impossible; Lady Pol’s interference had allowed the crowd around Dean Bruce to thin out too much. Something more drastic would be required.

  Dana muttered a spell under luz breath, and luz heart rate increased.

  Bruce huffed. “Surely you don’t have time to waste. With your ‘apprentice’ both disgraced and unavailable, don’t you have a candidacy to defend?”

  Dana began luz approach once again, a quiet quick series of steps.

  “We both know that Her Majesty prizes power over all else.” Lady Pol leaned in. “Do you think yours matches mine, Roberta?”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Bruce’s jaw flexed. “Get back, you-”

  Dana’s body collided with the dean, luz limbs flailing as they both fell to the floor.

  Then lu was back on her feet and bowing, her face pink as if from exertion. “Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking and-”

  “You fool!” Bruce scrambled to her feet. “Who is your adviser?”

  “No need for that.” Lady Pol put herself between Dana and the dean. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “No, ma- milady!” Dana curtsied. “I’m sorry, I- sorry!”

  Dana fled, catching only a “Well, we all have clumsy days” from Lady Pol before exiting the hall.

  Once lu was clear, Dana pulled the bottle of purple pills out of luz pocket. It was unlikely that Bruce would notice them missing, there hadn’t been anything else in the pouch she would need for the meeting, but the deed was done, no use worrying. With any luck, Bruce would just think she’d forgotten them somewhere. Instead, it was time to worry about the next steps: figuring out what was in these pills and making modifications to them before the Magisterium meeting ended in three hours. Luz best chance of doing that lay in the top college for training nQe mages in all of Markosia: Weber College.

  After winter examinations, most students kept to their dormitories, but Weber College didn’t mingle much with the rest of the Academy, which meant there should still be a few students wandering its halls with nothing to do. With that in mind, Dana searched the laboratories and study rooms until lu found one with a single student in it, a brunette who was staring out the window in an anemone dress and a crisp white pinafore.

  After making sure that luz dress and curls were perfect, Dana stepped up to the girl. “Hello?”

  The student turned to Dana. “Hello.” Her eyes darted to Dana’s lips and hair. “Have we met?”

  “I’m a second year Earth Qe.” Dana made sure luz eyes lingered on the brunette’s lips before saying, “I’m Cadenza. You?”

  “Eleonora.” The brunette pushed a lock of hair behind her ears. “But you can call me El.”

  Dana recognized the name, had recognized the face: Eleonora Canale, seventh-year nQe student, Magdala’s former paramour. That was all lu knew; the Canales weren’t important enough to rate Circle attention.

  “El.” Lu let luz eyes crinkle. “I like it.”

  “Well,” Eleonora blushed, “my, uh, friends call me that.”

  “Well, my friends call me Caddy.” Dana pulled up a stool and took up a perch next to Eleonora. “I did come here wanting a favor done.” Lu pulled out Bruce’s bottle of pills. “Can you modify these?”

  “What are they?”

  “Sleeping pills.” Dana lowered luz voice to a whisper. “I’ve been planning a little get-together and I need my roommate awake for the whole thing. There’s this noble from out West she has to meet, but they’re not arriving until after curfew.”

  Eleonora’s eyes glittered. “You’re setting them up?”

  “Oh, yes.” When Dana let luz hand rest on Eleonora’s, lu didn’t need luz viz medisus to know how much the girl’s heart rate increased. “I think they’ll be perfect for each other. So, can you help me?”

  “Yes, I can do that.”

  Eleonora took the bottle and poured a pill out onto the nearby table. Then she reached into her pinafore and pulled out a tiny knife, which she used to cut the pill open. It turned out that the purple didn’t go all the way through the pill; its core was a dark evening blue.

  “Interesting.” Eleonora scrapped out a bit of the blue substance then pressed a finger to it. “nQeuom.” She frowned. “This is highly concentrated bluecap mushroom.”

  Apparently, Magdala’s former paramour didn’t slack on her nQe magic studies. “You recognize it?”

  “I had a…I knew someone who…” Eleonora cleared her throat. “Does your roommate have insomnia or something?”

  Dana scrunched up luz face in thought. “You know she might? She’s always up before me and down to bed after me.”

  “I’m not sure that’s possible with this.”

  Can’t let her think about that. “What’s in the purple stuff?” Dana let luz shoulders brush Eleonora’s. “Does it also make you sleep?”

  “I, uh, don’t know. I’ll check.” Eleonora touched the pill’s shell. “nQeuom. Interesting. It’s mainly a starchy compound, like bread but tasteless, but it’s been compacted very elegantly. Where did your roommate get these?”

  Were all nQe mages this inquisitive? “I honestly don’t know, but…” Dana laid it on thick with a bit lip. “Maybe you can ask her tonight?”

  “Tonight?” Eleonora’s eyes lit up. “You’re inviting me?”

  “Yes,” Dana held Eleonora’s gaze, “I am.”

  “Oh.” Eleonora blushed. “Oh, um, then I’ll see you there.”

  “Good. So,” Dana leaned in close, let luz breath tickle the back of Eleonora’s neck, “can you make it not work?”

  “Oh, definitely,” Eleonora’s hands started moving very fast, “I’ll just replace the insides with sugar, totally harmless, and keep the outside as is.”

  “Excellent.” Dana pecked Eleonora on the cheek, causing the nQe mage’s breath to catch. “I’ll write up directions to the party while you do that.”

  As lu wrote directions to an arbitrary dorm on campus, complete with secret passwords and a dress code to sell the exclusivity, Dana also kept track of Eleonora’s progress. Good. The new pills would be done long before the end of the Magisterium meeting.

  “What should I do with these?” Eleonora held up the blue cores of the purple pills.

  “I’ll take them.”

  Eleonora hesitated. “What are you going to do with them?”

  “Toss them.” Actually, drop them off for analysis. “My roommate can always get more. Her father dotes on her so.”