The square that J-65 ended up bringing him to was a yet uated space, framed by low stone walls engraved with various symbols of the Imperial Academy. Gently glowing nterns hung from iron posts, casting a warm golden light over cobblestohat were arrayed in patterns with a rge fountain at their ter. The fountain itself was a masterpiece, sculpted to show what Krion took to be a human nobleman surrounded by individuals of various races armored as legionnaires, ons pointed outwards, shootile streams of water.

  Leaving his escort behind, Krion turned his attention to the small tables and cushioned behat were scattered around, most bearing refreshments and snacks, that dozens of first-year ss were currently socializing around. The murmur of mingling voices filled the air, mixing with the faint soothing sound of the fountaihought at first many had not yet arrived, but when he saw a handful going in and out of various buildings oher side of the square, he guessed that those buildings were proper restaurants and many more students were already iing.

  After the quiet of the tral Archive, the noise and bustle were a bit overwhelming. He stood for a moment, just taking it all in, doing his best to adjust. A few deep breaths, and he began walking into the square, gng around to figure out if there was anyone who seemed open to being approached. As he walked in, he overheard bits and pieces of versation. Students talking about their es. Students talking about the fas they were already a part of. Even students talking over alliahey hoped to t by the time graduation came around. He overheard the words “House Bright” multiple times, though “House Bcksword” was mentioned nearly as often.

  His steps began to falter somewhat as he realized that it was clear from looking around that the majority of students were already grouped into cliques based on status and rank. Krio a pang of exclusion as he watched the iions unfold before him. While he could not always make out what was being talked about, the body nguage of those around him spoke volumes. The subtle ghe turned backs, the sidelong looks — they were all enough to tell him that he was not wele with any of the groups around him. He was not wele to join their circles, and they were making sure he k.

  Ultimately, Krion ended up standing awkwardly at the edge of the small square. Leaning against one of the iron posts o a bench, he slowly sipped at a cup of juice he had been able to snag from an unatteable. While the juice helped, his stomach still gurgled with hunger. As much as he wanted something to eat, he wasn’t sure if he could go into one of the restaurants now, and the snacks that had been id out across the exterior tables in the square were all gone. He wasn’t sure what he could do. First, the ceremony, then the veiled hostility from some of the students and the clear divisions among the fas, all of it was overwhelming and he felt more out of pce than ever.

  His brooding was interrupted by the sound of deliberate footsteps approag. He turo see a young elf with short, pointed ears underh a shock of hair so blue it was almost white. Eyes behind wire-rimmed gsses were fixed on him as the s came closer to Krion, his school uniform showing the ranking of a baronial house. Krion nearly gripped the hilt of his greatsword when he saw who strode behind him.

  A stocky, red-skinned hobgoblin with sharp features, dark hair, and a school uniform that was, somehow, already scuffed and dirty. It was the st, despite their rough appearahat led to Krion doing little more than shifting his drink to his opposite hand, so that he could draw his greatsword if needed.

  “Mind if we join you?” the elf asked, his voice polite.

  Krion blinked in surprise but quickly nodded. “Of course not. I wasn’t really doing much.”

  Without hesitation, the hobgoblin plopped onto the nearby stone bench with a grunt of satisfa. “ly the frie, are they?”

  “Not really,” Krion admitted. “I take it you both have had the same experience?”

  The elf adjusted his gsses and sat down beside the hobgoblin. “You could say that. The name’s Valdre, s of House Emarion. This is Redrek.”

  Redrek raised a hand in a zy wave. “Knight’s son. Not that it does me much good here.”

  “Krion, s of House Bcksword,” he offered, gng between them. “So you’re not… part of one of the bigger groups?”

  Valdre gave a dry ugh. “ly. I don’t fit ly into their ranks and priorities. Half-elves of the frost lineages arely the first choice for alliances or friendships, even if I e from a family with a baron’s title.”

  Without thinking about it, Krion gnced back at Valdre’s ears. The majority of elves he had seen so far had longer ohat were lohan Valdre had, but that would make sense if he was only a half-elf. At least it would if the logic that held in the games he had pyed growing up held here as well.

  Redrek leaned back, resting an arm on the bench. “And me? Well, let’s just say hobgoblins aren’t a noble favorite either. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got a crest or not.”

  Krion nodded, uanding a bit more of what Redrek was hinting at simply from his own experiences getting to the Imperial Academy from Verdant VI. “Seems like we’ve got something in on, then.”

  “Outsiders,” Redrek agreed with a toothy grin, raising a red hand in agreement.

  Valdre adjusted his gsses, the mplight glinting of the wire rims as he leaned forward slightly. “Krion,” he began carefully, his tone measured but direct, “I’m not sure if this is presumptuous, what with just meeting you and all, but I wao say something on behalf of myself and Redrek.” He g the hobgoblin beside him, who nodded silently but kept his arms crossed in an almost defense gesture.

  Krion tilted his head, curiosity piqued. “Go on.”

  Valdre cleared his throat, the fairace of hesitatioraying his previously posed demeanor. “The truth is, we don’t have much ce of joining one of the other Archducal fas here at the Imperial Academy. For reasons that, well… we expin ter, her of us exactly fits their mold.” He offered a rueful smile as he awkwardly ran a hand through his blue hair.

  Redrek let out a long sigh, though his expression remained guarded. “What my half-elf friend is saying, Krion, is that we’re not just here because we are ied iory of your scars.”

  Valdre shot him a look before tinuing. “We’ve been watg the way things work here, much as I expect you have been. Even in the short time we’ve been on campus, it has beehat es are everything. And we couldn’t help but notice the way you’ve carried yourself, and especially the way you have ied with the Sentinel you were with earlier. You didn’t treat her as just another faceless servant. You were kind and respectful. That stood out.”

  Krion bliaken aback by the observation. “You approached me based on how I treated J-65?”

  “The fact you even know her designation proves my point,” Valdre shrugged, a grin ing to his face. “It might still be a gamble, approag you like this. But you’re the first s from an Archducal house that we’ve seen tonight who didn’t seem pletely ed with their own self-importance. Call it instinct, but we figured it was worth the risk.”

  Redrek nodded. “We’re looking for someone we trust, someone who might be willing to build something of their own here — something that doesn’t require us to start at the very bottom of the rigid hierarchies that domihis pce.”

  For a moment, Krion was silent, his mind rag as he sidered their words. Trust and alliances were both important and, he suspected, dangerous, especially for someone like him, who was still pletely unaware of so many of the rules that goverhe games that nobles pyed. Yet as he looked at Valdre’s ear expression and Redrek’s wry grin, he didn’t feel a flicker of worry but rather one of hope.

  “You’re n,” Krion said finally, his voice steady. “I should be thinking about gathering supporters and allies, given my position as the only s of House Bcksword amongst the first-years. But, holy? Right now, I’m more ied in finding some friends.”

  Redrek raised an eyebrow, the er of his mouth twitg upward to show a rge fang. “Friends, huh? That’s ly the typioble mi. Especially from someone like your background.”

  Krion shrugged at that pointed response. “Well, I’ve never been a typioble.” He made sure not to eborate on just how much that was the case. Better to keep any more details than that secret for now.

  Valdre gave a rger smile, the tension in his shoulders visibly easing. “Then perhaps we’re in good pany.”

  Krion couldn’t help but smile iurn, as he started to actually feel somewhat fortable for the first time all night.

  Which was why, of course, that feeling could not st.

  A ripple amongst the more crowded tables further into the square seized the trio’s attention. A group that had retly left one of the restaurants on the opposite side was cutting through, clearly headed in Krion’s dire. At the ter of the group was a young man with striking golden-blonde hair wearing a school uniform that, even from where he stood, Krion could make out as having the crest of the Archducal House Bright on it. Fnking him were other noble ss, though their presence was not quite as attention-grabbing as the lead s of House Bright. They moved together, their every step exuding an air of dominance.

  Caspian’s sharp gaze nded on Krion, and his lips curled into a predatory smile. He stopped a few paces away, his ente halting just behind him.

  “Well, if it isn’t the s of House Bcksword,” he said, his voice smooth but den with dession. ”I wasn’t sure I believed the whispers that your family would be sending someoo the Imperial Academy this year, but here you are. On behalf of House Bright, I wele you, Bcksword.” Caspian dipped into a clearly mog bow, his supporters behind him not b to cover their ughter.

  Krion’s jaw tighte the mog. While he still knew o nothing about proper noble behavior, he did have some experieh bullies. The most important thing he could do was not rise to his baiting.

  “Thank you for the kind wele,” he nodded in response. “My name is Krion.”

  The Bright s she amused look s on his face when Krion did not rise to his baiting. “Krion? Is that what you think you are? No, you’ll only ever be a Bcksword. A hat carries infamy and a stench that ’t be scrubbed .”

  Valdre shifted nervously on the bench that stood beside Krion, while Redrek leaned slightly closer, cwed hands drifting to his side as his lips pressed into a thin line. Krion’s pulse quied as he reized Caspian was still trying to goad him into reag, but he forced himself to remain calm.

  “While I wouldn’t know anything of infamy, I’ll admit I am looking forward to a bath after the long day I have had,” Krion responded evenly. “Perhaps we tihis versation ter, Caspian.”

  Caspian’s eyes fshed in anger, and his expression darke Krion using his name. “Your House has been an enemy of mine feions, Bcksword. You do not belong here. And if you think for a moment that anyone of any importance will side with you, you’re more deluded than the majority of your House. I have already begun spreading the word that so associate with you will e with…costs.”

  The tension in the square thied, versations around them dwindling as the standoff between two of the most important ss in the ining css drew attention. While still outwardly calm, Krio nothing but rage. He hadn’t even done anythi but gh the ceremony at the Amphitheater of Indu, and he, apparently, already had an enemy willing to threateire first-year css in an attempt to isote him. Krion held his ground, but the weight of this frontation pressed heavily on him. Out of the er of his eye, he could see Valdre’s visible anger on his behalf while Redrek seemed almost to be psyg himself up for flict. A small kernel of happiness grew in the ball of anger he was feeling. Despite the threats being voiced by Caspian, it looked like he might have made two friends willing to back him up.

  Thankfully the three of them wouldn’t have to find out what they would do today.

  Before the situation could escate further, the distinct sound of armored footsteps cut through the tension. A trio of Sentinels, their polished white masks glinting iern light, approached swiftly. The lead Sentinel raised a gaued hand that gripped some sort of red rod. Krion vaguely reized it as being simir to one J-65 had carried.

  “Enough,” the Sentinel said, their voice holding an edge of anger. “This gathering is for socializing, not p. Disperse. Now.”

  Caspiaated, his jaw tightening in frustration. With a st, venomous gre at Kriouro the group of ss that had followed him. “Let’s go. The Bcksword isn’t worth my time.”

  The group stepped around the Sentinels, going slowly as if to prove a point. Soon they were heading out of the square on the opposite side. The potential fight ended before it could begin, the three Sentinels returo where they had been keeping watch over the square.

  Krion exhaled, the tension and anger of the moment passing.

  “You should be careful.”

  J-65’s voiing from behind them caused all three of the ss to jump. She had e to a stop behind Krion, her mask still fixed in the dire Caspian had left.

  “Careful? What’s that supposed to mean?” Redrek asked.

  Valdre’s eyes flicked between Krion and J-65, a mixture of curiosity and apprehension in his gaze. Krion gave a small shake of his head, dismissing the half-elf’s unspokeion for now. His thoughts tio , the enter with Caspian leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

  “I o get out of here,” Krion muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

  J-65 turned her mask to him. “Where would you like to go?”

  “Anywhere but here,” Krion replied. “Somepce quiet. Preferably with food.”

  J-65 hen turo face Valdre and Redrek. When she did not say anything, Krion figured out what she wanted.

  “I don’t suppose you both would care to join me for dinner somewhere else?”

  The half-elf and hobgoblin shared looks, then nodded in agreement and said together, “Sure.”

  J-65 nodded aured for the trio to follow her. They wove through the square and onto a quieter side street, thankfully some distance away from the one Caspian and his group had taken. The ambient noise of the other first-years faded, repced by the softer hum of nterns and what Krion suspected to be crickets of some sort. They sounded a bit bigger though.

  After a few mihey arrived at a modest restaurant tucked into a er of the campus. Its warm, inviting light spilled out into the street, and the faint st of roasted spices wafted from within. A handwritten sign on the door read Open, though the seating area outside was empty.

  “There are other restaurants open?” Valdre asked, surprised.

  J-65 nodded. “It’s one of the few establishments that remains operational year-round. Few, if any, students of your year know about it yet. Wele to The Hearth & Ember. ”

  I have been looking forward to introdug Valdre and Redrek for about 20 chapters now. In the feters, we will begin heading into csses, coursework, and more, where both will really shine. I 't wait =)

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  Note: While there will eventually be 10+ additional chapters up for those who wish to read ahead, for the duration of the Royal Road Writathon, all those chapters will be posted directly here instead. For that reason, while I would love the support, I would ence you to wait to pledge until after the Writathon ends.