Chương 69: Chapter 70 - Reyna

"Will, come in. You don't have to knock," Arien called. The door opened to reveal Reyna standing in the doorway, her bright red hair impossible to miss even in the dimmer light of the corridor. She held herself with the same easy confidence Arien had noticed in class, chin slightly raised, as though appearing uninvited in someone else's dormitory was perfectly normal. Two boys stood behind her, both familiar from class despite Arien never having spoken to either of them.

Matt was tall and broad-shouldered for his age, with short brown hair and the build of someone who looked misplaced anywhere outside the House of the Sword. Sebastian was almost his opposite, short and remarkably thin, with dark hair and sharp features that made him look a little older than he probably was.

"Reyna?" Pori asked. The change in her was subtle enough that Arien might have missed it a month earlier. She straightened slightly, her casual posture disappearing, and the easy expression she wore around them became something more composed.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Pori." Reyna smiled.

"I hope you don't mind me inviting myself in." Pori's answering smile was perfectly pleasant.

"You already have." Gilly covered a laugh with a cough. Reyna appeared completely unfazed. Her attention settled on the flame above Arien's palm.

"I see the rumors were true. These gatherings aren't purely social." Arien looked down and realized he had completely forgotten about the flame. He extinguished it with a thought.

"We never intended to make them secret," Pori said.

"But you still haven't answered my question." Reyna stepped inside, allowing Matt and Sebastian to follow before closing the door behind them.

"Do any of you know what's happening in the other first-year classes?"

"No," Gilly said immediately.

"Why would we?"

"What about later semesters?" Reyna asked.

"Do you know how the examinations affect class rankings? How rewards are distributed? How Masters are assigned?" Bud frowned.

"We've barely been here a month."

"Exactly."

"Reyna," Pori interrupted gently, "you clearly came here for a reason. Be a dear and save us the interrogation." Reyna's smile widened.

"We missed you at the Summer Solstice Ball." Arien had known Pori came from an important family, but until now she had mostly been the girl who complained about homework, scolded Gilly, and stole half his bed during their study sessions. The girl sitting there now looked much more like Poriette Miley, heir to one of the wealthiest noble families in Wyndor outside the Old Houses.

"I'm sure you survived." Matt glanced at Sebastian. Sebastian merely raised an eyebrow, the faintest hint of amusement appearing on his face. Apparently, whatever history existed between Pori and Reyna was not news to him. Reyna laughed softly.

"Fine. Straight to the point." She pulled the empty chair away from the wall and sat down without asking.

"There are five first-year classes, and those remain our official groups. Later, once people start unlocking different Aspects and qualifying for specialized courses, our schedules will overlap less and less. But the Academy will still track our class results separately."

"We know that much," Gilly said.

"Then you probably also know that stronger classes tend to receive more attention from better Masters. Later, rankings matter for other things as well. Rewards. Opportunities. Certain courses and training options. The exact scoring system is complicated, but the important part isn't." Bud leaned forward.

"So the better a class performs, the better it gets treated."

"Exactly." Pori frowned.

"How much do the top students actually matter?"

"Enough that the ten best-performing students determine most of a class's position. After that, everyone contributes considerably less." Bud considered that.

"So if the strongest students do well enough, they can keep the class near the top even if the rest perform only average."

"More or less," Reyna said.

"That's why people who know how the Academy works start putting training groups together almost from the beginning, instead of waiting for the first examinations."

"And you want one too," Pori said.

"I already have one." Reyna gestured toward the boys beside her. Matt gave them an easy nod, while Sebastian offered a small smile while his eyes moved briefly across the group.

"Both of them have already discovered their first Aspects. What I'm proposing is that our groups work together." Gilly narrowed her eyes.

"Half the class follows you around. You could train with practically anyone."

"True."

"So why us?" Reyna tilted her head.

"Your father never told you how the Academy works?" Gilly's expression darkened immediately.

"Your habit of answering every question with another question is starting to annoy me." Reyna laughed.

"I like you."

"That makes one of us."

"Gilly," Pori warned, although Arien could see the corner of her mouth twitching. Reyna leaned back in the chair.

"Because quality matters more than numbers. Matt and Sebastian have already proven they have potential. I know what I can do. And I have a fairly good idea what everyone in this room is capable of." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Do you?" Pori asked.

"Your family has produced excellent mages for generations," Reyna said to Pori.

"Gilly has clearly had good instruction, Melli already discovered Water, and Budram knows things half the class has never needed to learn." She glanced toward Arien.

"There's enough potential here."

"And what do you expect in return?" Pori asked. Reyna spread her hands.

"Does there have to be something?" Pori merely looked at her.

"Fine," Reyna conceded.

"I want our class to win."

"Why?"

"Because I dislike losing." That answer, at least, sounded honest.

"And because Efie has apparently gathered a rather impressive group in her own class," Reyna added.

"If we do nothing, we'll spend the next several years watching them take the best positions." Pori's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Rey, we've known each other for more than a day. Mel and Arien have Aspects, but the rest of us don't. If all you cared about was immediate results, you could recruit three more students who already have theirs."

"If all I wanted were students who were ahead right now, I would choose differently," Reyna said.

"I'm more interested in where people will be in a few years." She glanced at Arien.

"And you're forgetting him." Arien frowned.

"Me?"

"You're the only person in our year who can realistically compete with Efie." That was news to him.

"Why?" Reyna looked confused by the question.

"Because she has two Aspects." A small, unpleasant suspicion began forming in Arien's mind. Reyna continued before he could stop her.

"And so do you." Bud and Pori both turned toward him. Gilly looked as though someone had personally betrayed her. Reyna looked between them.

"You didn't know?"

"Two Aspects?" Gilly said.

"Arien, you have two Aspects and you didn't tell us?" Arien suddenly felt uncomfortably warm. Training in the Infirmary did not automatically mean that he possessed the Life Aspect, and he had been putting off telling the others about it until each of them had discovered at least one Aspect of their own. With everyone already obsessing over who was ahead and who was falling behind, announcing that he had two had seemed like an excellent way to make things worse.

He did not want to build these new friendships on lies or half-truths, but staying off the Factions' radar, at least at first, meant greater safety for both him and the people close to him. His plan was to reveal the extent of his abilities gradually, making it look like natural progress rather than evidence that he was hiding something worth investigating. Besides, he was not naive enough to believe that his friends told him everything either, and he did not hold that against them.

Reyna looked genuinely surprised by their reaction, which meant she had probably assumed his second Aspect was common knowledge. Arien was more interested in how she had learned about it in the first place. She knew far more about the Academy and its students than he had realized. He made a mental note to be considerably more careful around her.

"Yes, Gilly. I have two Aspects," he admitted.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. With everyone already worried about discovering their first, I thought announcing another one would only make things worse." Gilly stared at him.

"So you felt sorry for us?"

"That isn't what I said."

"It sounds like it," Gilly said, quieter this time. Pori shifted beside her.

"Gilly."

"What? He's sitting there acting as though keeping it secret was somehow for our benefit."

"Maybe because it was." Pori's tone remained calm.

"He's spent hours letting us sit here and interrupt his own practice because he wanted to help. Don't turn this into something it isn't." Gilly looked from Arien to Mel's bowl and Bud's scattered papers. After a moment, she lowered her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she muttered.

"It's alright. We all know your mouth is considerably faster than your brain." Gilly stared at him. Then she grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it directly at his face. Arien caught it with both hands.

"See? Much better."

"Idiot." Truthfully, he wasn't angry. Gilly was impulsive, competitive, and apparently capable of turning almost any discussion about magic into a personal crisis, but none of that made her cruel. If anything, Arien suspected she would be the first person in the room to rush to someone's aid without stopping to consider whether doing so was sensible.

"Wait." Bud leaned forward.

"Your second Aspect is Life, isn't it? That's why you're allowed into the Infirmary," Bud continued, visibly pleased with himself.

"First-years normally don't get practical Healing lessons." Wonderful.

"Alright," Arien said before anyone else could join in.

"Yes. One of them is Life." Gilly's eyes widened again.

"But before all of you start interrogating me, can we get back to Reyna's proposal?"

"Oh, don't stop on our account," Reyna said. She had remained seated throughout the entire exchange, watching with open fascination.

"I came prepared for several possible responses to my proposal. This wasn't one of them." Arien narrowed his eyes.

"You're enjoying this."

"A little." Her smile widened. Bud ignored them both.

"Does that mean you can actually heal people?"

"Minor wounds and stuff like that." Gilly stared at him.

"Sometimes I genuinely hate you."

"Only sometimes?" She reached for the pillow again, remembered that Arien was still holding it, and settled for glaring.

"Now I understand," said Pori, and Reyna tilted her head.

"Would you mind if we gave you our answer tomorrow?"

"Not at all." Reyna stood and smoothed the front of her robe.

"I didn't expect you to agree immediately." Her attention shifted toward Arien.

"And I am sorry about mentioning your Aspect. I genuinely thought everyone here already knew." Arien studied her for a moment. As far as he could tell, she meant it.

"Fine. Just don't tell anyone else." Reyna nodded.

"I won't. I hope you all have a pleasant evening." She headed for the door. Sebastian followed, but paused before stepping into the corridor.

"For what it's worth," he said, "everyone who matters probably knows already."

"That does not make me feel better." Sebastian smiled and followed Reyna out. Matt remained behind. For several seconds, he seemed unsure whether he was supposed to follow them or say something first. Eventually, he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know Reyna can be… a lot."

"That's one way to put it," Gilly said. Matt smiled awkwardly.

"She really is helpful once you get to know her. She just has a habit of making the plan first and asking whether anyone agrees with it afterward." That sounded sufficiently accurate to earn a quiet laugh from Pori.

"I hope we get the chance to train together," Matt added. His gaze moved around the crowded room.

"You seem like an interesting group."

"Interesting is also one way to put it," Arien said. Matt laughed.

"See you tomorrow."

"Bye," Gilly said as he stepped into the corridor. Once Matt left, Bud looked at Gilly with a grin.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. I was merely thinking that Matt seems very—""Don't."

"—handsome." Gilly launched herself at him with a battle cry. The next few seconds dissolved into chaos. Bud tried to defend himself, someone nearly knocked Mel's bowl onto the floor, and Arien had to snatch his homework out of the way before it became collateral damage. By the time order returned, Bud was sporting several fresh fingernail marks across his wrists and had been forced to issue a formal apology for what Gilly described as his slanderous and completely unfounded accusations.

Conversation eventually returned to Reyna's proposal. They went over the possible benefits, argued about whether working with her group would actually help, and agreed to think about it until tomorrow. Arien listened, but part of his attention remained on Reyna. She had known about the other classes, the ranking system, Efie's group, and even his second Aspect. Until now, most of his attention at the Academy had gone toward classes, practice, and keeping up with the workload.

Reyna had just shown him that some students were already thinking several steps beyond that.