Krion’s dreams were strange and vivid, to say the least. What little he could remember started with him entering the manor to find a t Storm Wolf i, somehow wielding oversized utensils with finesse, growling as it stirred a bumbling pot. Apparently, the beast had a chef css, because Krion had tried to eat from the pot several times, but each attempt caused the Storm Wolf to move it with a growl. Then, to his frustration, a Sentinel’s mask had drifted into the kit, expressionless but persistent, somehow pressing spoonfuls from the pot directly against its surfa a pantomime of eating. The dream had ended with him wrestling one of the spoons out of the intangible grip of that mask.

  Setting the weirdness aside, Krion rolled out of bed, stretg away the stiffness of the previous day’s events. His many scars were pulled tight across his body, but in the long weeks since he first met Alesin and Rolfun, he had grown aced to the pulling. Once he got up and moving, he would cease to notice them. After pulling ba his Academy uniform, which for some reason still felt fresh against his body, he secured his greatsword in its harness across his bad made his way down the hall to where he remembered the kit to be.

  Only navigating the manor proved more challenging than that. The hallways looked much the same with no one else living in the manor. As a result, he ended up taking several wrong turns, opening doors to several rooms filled with nothing but dust and cobwebs. Eventually, he was able to find the kit, and this time, he made sure to remember what hallway ected it to the room he had slept in st night. He hoped he would not have issues finding his way arouhat night when he came back, but it would likely be a few days before he was fortable in his new home. It was just that much bigger than his apartment ba Earth.

  More deeply expl the ets and pantry that he had only given the most cursory looks into st night quickly led to him finding the ingredients he was looking fgs that looked like they came from a chi, a loaf of bread, and some spices. He wasn’t sure who had stocked the kit ahe rest of the manor in its abaate, but he was thankful he could make his own breakfast in the pead quiet.

  He approached the stove, its sleek, polished surface embedded with faint runes of some sort. Hoping it was simir to the stove he had used ba Earth, he tried to figure out whie to press. Tentatively, he touched one, and the er, just rge enough for a small pan, fred to life. Enced and relieved he hadn’t actally set the kit on fire, he retrieved a pan from the rad set it oove to heat up. He wasn’t the best at crag eggs, and since he didn’t want to pull shell pieces from a pan sitting on what he assumed to be magical fmes, he broke them in a bowl first. He couldn’t help but have a sense of bitter satisfa when the very first egg yolk took a full quarter of the shell with it into the bowl. Maybe one day he would get better at breaking eggs.

  Once all the eggs were broken, yolks in the bowl without any pieces of shell, he dropped in a few pinches of salt and pepper, and then poured it into the pan. The eggs began to sizzle almost immediately, the pleasant aroma filling the kit. While the eggs were cooking, he sliced a few pieces of bread off the loaf. Not wanting to risk pressing a wrong rune oove, he speared each piece of bread on a knife and held it low over the fmes cooking his eggs. He smiled as the bread started to get brown and crispy. Once everything was the way he wa, he hit the rune again to turn off the stove. It was at that moment that he realized he had no idea where the butter was. Or even if there was butter i in the first pce. With the eggs already starting to cool, he pivoted away from the eggs and buttered toast he had been pnning to have to instead pile the eggs onto a piece of toast and then covered it with the other pieake an egg sandwich. The first bite was not bad, especially as there had been no small pieces of shell that snuto it. In no time the sandwich was gone and, after setting the dish pan in the sink, Krion was ready to head out for the day.

  He walked to the front door of the manor, only getting lost once along the way. On the inside of the door, a small hook caught his eye. Hanging from it was a keyring that held a heavy iron key and several smaller ones, all inscribed with the crest of House Bcksword. Apparently, he had missed st night when J-65 had left. Taking the keys off the hook, he tried the rgest one in the front door once he was outside. It turned easily, log it with a satisfying click. While he was curious as to what the smaller keys went to, he had css to worry about first, so he simply put the whole keyring in his pocket.

  The side street the House Banor was on was empty of life. Though, given the empty apartments oher side, Krion had to admit that he was not surprised. After a few turns, he arrived ba a street he reized from having walked down it with J-65 yesterday. Though it was still early in the m, he reized several other first-year nobles by their uniforms. Apparently he was not the only one who had thought to get an early start today.

  Thankfully, the walk to the Lecture Hall where his Foundations of History course was being held was uful. Individual students gradually turned into small groups, all heading in the same dire Krion was. While most of the students still seemed to give him a wide berth, he also didn’t sense any ht hostility from them. He thought it was the greatsword across his back at first, but some of the other students were carrying ons of various sorts as well. Remembering his iions with the Bright s yesterday, the general reluce to eh him made some sense. While still frustrating in some ways, at least now he didn’t have to worry about fending off barbs res, and could instead focus on what really mattered right now: his education.

  When he finally got to the Lecture Hall, he ighe students who paused to miside and instead went right up to the heavy oak door to go inside. His first time ihe building revealed the interior to be as impressive as the exterior, with tall ceilings and even more works of art along the walls showing the history of learning in the Empire. While part of him wao linger for a closer look at some of the paintings near him, as soon as he saw a rge board on the far wall that appeared to list s and courses, he quickly set that desire aside. Ign the other few students that had started to trickle iepped over to the board and quickly found where Room 101 was. Following the designated arrow soht him to the door of the first css he would be taking as a reized s of an Archducal House sworn to an Empire built on might and magic that he hadn’t even knowed only a few weeks ago. Strange how quickly life ge.

  Setting the thought aside, Krion pushed the door open only to immediately pause upoering the room. Rows of polished wooden desks stretched out in semi-circur tiers. Since he was the first in the room, all the seats were still open, so he had his pick of where to sit. sidering his options, he went with a seat he baot having much of a choice about where to put it, he leaned his greatswainst the back of the chair the. Turning in the seat, he knew he had picked the right spot in the room. There, he would be able to not only focus on the professor but also observe his peers without drawing uention. That, and maybe his cssmates would ignore him as well. As he settled in to wait for the start of the css, students started to trickle in in ones and twos. Krion eagerly sed eaew face, but as the room started to fill up aher Valdre nor Redrek appeared, he grudgingly cluded that the half-elf and hobgoblin probably had a different css schedule from him. Oher hand, none of the ss of the Archducal Houses appeared to be enrolled in the course either, uhey po be te.

  Of course, both those realizations were pletely overpowered by the fact that everyone around him ulling out various styles of notebooks and writing implements, and he hadn’t thought t anything in his haste to get to css.

  Frustrated with the fact he fot anything to take notes with, and bored with the watg, now that he figured her of his new friends would be ing, he opted to look outside until css started.

  Just as he was settling in to watch a beetle crawl over the exterior of the gss window, a figure slid into the seat o him. Turning in his seat brought him nearly face to face with Hector, the s who had waited to talk to him yesterday in the Amphitheater of Indu. Hector offered a polite smile, his bearing every bit as posed and fident as it had beehey first met.

  “Good m, Krion,” Hector said, his tone courteous.

  Krioated for a moment, then nodded. “Good m, Hector.”

  “Ready for your first css?”

  “I think so,” Krion replied, but gave a slight shrug. “Though I’m not sure what to expect.”

  Hector leao the side, eyes gng around the room at the other students present. Apparently finding what he wanted, he turned back to Krion with a smile. “I have a distant cousin who attehis course a few years ago, so before I came, I asked them some questions. From what they said, Foundations of History is straightforward, but it be dense. Depending on rofessor is assighe course this year, we might get off easy or we might be drowned in an overwhelming amount of material every lecture.”

  When Krion didn’t immediately respond, Hector leaned a bit closer to him to set a bnk notebook and pencil on his desk, his voice dropping in volume as he did so. “Let me offer you some advice — focus less to write dowhing the professor says. Summarize key points, especially dates, names, and how events ect.” He smiled. “Based on what my cousin said, history professors live to test how well you grasp the bigger picture.”

  Despite himself, Krion listened carefully, grateful for the insight. While he still held some reservations towards Hector, his tinued friendly attitude towards him was beginning to ge his opinion of the other s. Perhaps he should give Hector the be of the doubt? With her Valdre nor Redrek in this css with him, maybe he should sider seeing if Hector could be a friend as well.

  “And one more thing,” Hector said, leaning bato his chair. “You’ll want to form a study group at some point, too. The soohe better. And not just for sharing notes — though that helps too — but for discussing cepts and theories. My cousin said the professors here are subtle, and that half the time, what they don’t say is more important than what they do. A good group help you catch things you’d miss on your own.”

  Krion tilted his head slightly, his voice low as he mused aloud to himself, “A study group… might actually be a good idea. I mean, it could help me with —”

  “I’d love to join,” Hector interjected, cutting Krion off mid-thought.

  Krion bliurning to face his fellow s. Hector’s sharp smile was firmly in pce, radiating fidence, but there was an undeniable twinkle in his eye — ohat betrayed his awarehat Krion had not actually been addressing him directly.

  That’s ly what I meant,” Krion said, awkwardly shifting in his seat. “I was just thinking out loud. I haven’t decided anythi.”

  Hector once again leaned closer, resting his on one hand as if he were sharing a private joke. “Of course, of course. But if you do decide, sider me ied. A proper study group should have at least one person who knows how to get things done.” His tone was light, but there was a traugness woven in. “And I do so love to volunteer.”

  “Right. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Hectrin widened as if Krion’s guarded response had been a small victory. “Take your time. But don’t wait too long — success here is all about the timing.”

  Having made his pitch, Hector returned his attention to his own notebook, idly drawing abstract shapes across a page and leaving Krion to mull over the ued iion they had just had. For all that the initial iion with the grey-eyed s had set off internal arms, the versation that they had just shared had beeer. Almost like iing with someone who might bee a friend. Maybe he’s not so bad after all.

  The door burst open with a resounding bang, smming against the wall as the professor strode in.

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