Chương 139: Book 3 Chapter 17 - The Headmistress

Ava complied by forming a tiny little ice mountain above her palm, then causing little mist-sized snowflakes to fall all around the mountain. Kiara was once again impressed by the little details that Ava managed to work in: tiny cliffs and ridges, and even a miniature forest of trees, all made of ice. Scrunching her eyebrows in concentration, the forest slowly turned from ice to wood, and the cliffs turned to stone. One of her eyes began twitching from the effort.

Elara's eyebrows shot up to her hairline in surprise and she leaned closer to get a better look.

"Oh my! That is beautiful, young lady. The attention to detail is impressive for such a small construct, and I see that you've managed to use multiple elements at once." She leaned back in her chair, shaking her head.

"Truly outstanding. I see now why the duke insisted on my meeting you, even mid-semester like this." She glanced at Kiara.

"I assume that payment won't be an issue?" Kiara snorted out an involuntary laugh, then tried to cover it up with a cough. The institute cost two hundred gold per year, which included housing and food for the students. It was outrageously expensive, prohibitively so for some, but wasn't anything she needed to worry about. It operated on a four-semester-per-year cycle, each semester being twelve weeks, followed by a week-long break.

Although some students might end up dropping out or being expelled after any given semester, the full yearly tuition had to be paid up front. The base curriculum covered three years of instruction, with an optional two additional years of post-graduate training for those that wished to continue attending. That option of spending additional time at the institute was mainly used by those that hadn't yet reached tier 4 before graduation, but wished for continued guidance until they did so.

Their regular class schedules were foregone in favor of specialized tutoring and instruction geared toward their specific needs. Kiara was sure that Ava wouldn't need the extra two years, based originally on Belliston's excitement over her progress, and now reinforced by Duke and Duchess Esborne's opinions and Elara's reactions of her talent level. Even so, she wanted to cover the cost just in case.

"Can I pay for all five years up front?" she asked. Elara blinked in surprise, then nodded.

"Yes, of course. Any unused funds can be collected after Ava graduates, or applied toward another student's tuition, or gifted as a scholarship or donation, whatever you prefer."

"Perfect," Kiara said, taking the single diamond coin from her soul space. [Soul Space 3] now allowed her to exchange coin denominations without any sort of fee and without making a trip to a bank or money exchanger, but this coin was the original one she'd first received from the World Engine. It felt right, somehow, that it should be used for her family. Everyone except Dustin involuntarily leaned forward with wide eyes as the coin appeared. He just smirked, enjoying their reactions.

The coin was worth a thousand gold, an amount so large that the denomination was rarely used. Few people ever saw a diamond coin in their life. She tossed it to Elara, who let out a squeak of surprise and hurried to catch it. She looked at it for a moment longer, then inhaled sharply as it disappeared into her storage ring.

"Very good. Well, everything seems to be in order here, so I will have one of the clerks on the ground floor show Miss Ava to her dormitory, and she will begin class in the morning. I'm afraid that visitors aren't allowed in the dormitories, so you can all say your goodbyes once you've stepped outside the tower." She thanked them, then showed them to the door and gave Kiara a small bow, which she returned. They descended the stairs back to the ground floor, and one of the clerks there led them outside.

As they readied to part ways, Ava suddenly looked quite nervous. The excitement and bravado that she had shown throughout the entire journey so far was forgotten in that moment. The clerk waited patiently while they said their goodbyes. Dustin ruffled her hair fondly.

"Hey, this isn't goodbye. We'll come by and visit you from time to time." Her eyes brightened.

"Really?" Kiara nodded.

"Of course! You thought we'd just leave you here for three to five years on your own?" Ava shrugged, glancing at the ground.

"I mean… I didn't know what to expect, really. You're so generous, and it's such an amazing opportunity, I never really thought that far ahead. I just wanted to see The Capital and go on an adventure, and mom and dad made sure to tell me like a thousand times how amazing this would be, so I just came, you know?" The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Kiara smiled and pulled her into a tight hug, which Ava melted into, hugging her back.

They stayed like that for a moment, as emotions welled up inside Kiara's chest and her eyes began to glisten. Once they pulled back, Ava went for Zoey next, pulling her into a tight hug as well. She hugged Dustin last, then pulled back and wiped a few tears of her own from the corners of her eyes. Then she straightened and smiled brightly.

"Thank you, Lady Yountal. For everything. I'll study hard and make sure this opportunity isn't wasted. Kiara smiled back.

"I know you'll do great, Ava. Good luck!" Ava turned and followed the clerk toward the dormitory, while the other three made their way back to the institute gates. The carriage they had hired was still waiting for them outside, and they piled in. As they pulled away from the institute, Kiara turned to Dustin.

"How are you holding up?" He raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" After what happened with Rekton, it had taken him a few days to recover emotionally, and Kiara had been giving him time to process things. He'd been acting more normal lately, especially once they began meeting with important people. That seemed to have pulled him out of the remnants of whatever funk he'd been in, and Kiara figured it was a good time to talk about it.

"After Rekton showed up, you seemed distant for a bit. How are you feeling now?"

"Ah," he replied.

"That." He breathed in deeply and sighed.

"I always knew it was only a matter of time before they found me. I laid low in Livalia and the surrounding areas for a long while, but that wasn't the life I wanted to live. I followed you north mostly out of curiosity, at first, but once we settled and began expanding outside of Easton, I knew this day would eventually come." Zoey listened intently. They'd never told her the story of how they met before.

Dustin continued, "I suppose coming to The Central Island increased the odds of an encounter quite a bit as well. I knew my father would be looking for me, but I didn't expect him to send his bloodhounds."

"Bloodhounds?" Kiara asked with a raised eyebrow. Dustin nodded.

"Mages who specialize in finding people. I assumed my father would use information networks, pay for information from third parties, that sort of thing, not send out search teams to collect me. My absence must have impacted the business more than I realized it would."

"That's not surprising," Zoey said from where she sat on the other side of the carriage.

"House Yountal would fall apart without you." She turned and bowed apologetically to Kiara.

"No offense, Shian." Shian chuckled.

"None taken. It's a well-known fact. House Yountal is really just House Dustin." Dustin looked at her curiously, but she just shrugged.

"You know it's true. The businesses make enough money now that you could pay back all of the money I gave you originally and keep things afloat." He nodded.

"True, but that would limit our expansion and growth. It's better to put the money back into growing the empire." Kiara smiled at how easily he was conversing.

"You don't seem as shaken up anymore, that's good. Are you nervous about what your parents might do once Rekton reports back to them?" He sombered slightly and nodded.

"I know you scared Rekton away, but the other bloodhounds will continue looking for me. My father won't give up the search so easily. I imagine it will take some time for Rekton to report back, then for word to reach the other teams that are looking for me, but now that they know we're in Eshela, we'll likely see trouble on the horizon at some point."

"We'll handle whatever comes," Zoey said confidently. Kiara smiled. She agreed wholeheartedly.

"Should we come back up north for the ball the duke invited us to?" She asked Dustin. A smile forced its way onto his face. He just couldn't help himself with this sort of thing. He lived for the social interactions, the intrigue and maneuvering that happened at those sort of events. He had confided in Kiara once that the few parties he'd been to in Portish were much more to his liking than the ones in Easton had been.

He said the balls and parties in Easton were like playing 'tea time' with a group of small children, while the ones in Portish felt more like dealing with the social nuances of young teenagers – More challenging, certainly, but still not quite enough to satisfy his unique cravings. She knew the ball in Lakeshire was likely to fill that hole in ways he wouldn't be able to get elsewhere.

"I'd love to attend," he said, "but it's fairly far north. The journey from Portish is long."

"Is it?" Kiara asked with a suggestively raised eyebrow. She still had one more warp gate they could deploy. She really did want to come visit Ava from time to time, and the warp gate would simplify that journey incalculably. Even with the speed she could run, she would have to wait for a ferry to get on and off the island each time, which would slow her down considerably. The three of them glanced at each other knowingly, then Dustin lowered his voice.

"You want to use it here? Near the Capital?" Kiara shrugged.

"Maybe in Lakeshire? Duke Esborne seemed nice enough, and we have a relationship with him now. If anything were to happen, it might be nice to have it set up somewhere that we already know someone." Zoey gave Dustin a concerned look.

"If your family hears about a Yountal estate here on the Central Island, they might come poke around." He nodded.

"I was thinking the same thing. Maybe instead of an estate we should get something small. A nice house in a middle-income area, something out of the way where no one will think to look. We can hire a few staff to keep things clean and pay some guards to drop by from time to time to keep an eye on things." Kiara liked the sound of that. They had the carriage driver leave the Capital and take them back towards Lakeshire.

As they neared the city, the carriage suddenly pulled to a stop, and a loud voice could be heard outside, talking animatedly with the carriage driver.