{ "submission_id": "3525091", "keywords": [ { "keyword_id": "291", "keyword_name": "adult", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "31994" }, { "keyword_id": "575", "keyword_name": "androgynous", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2281" }, { "keyword_id": "3579", "keyword_name": "arousal", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "4284" }, { "keyword_id": "211", "keyword_name": "bat", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "37279" }, { "keyword_id": "199", "keyword_name": "bear", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "50339" }, { "keyword_id": "1007", "keyword_name": "blood", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "21521" }, { "keyword_id": "3442", "keyword_name": "boar", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2580" }, { "keyword_id": "6728", "keyword_name": "camping", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1798" }, { "keyword_id": "5214", "keyword_name": "combat", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1263" }, { "keyword_id": "932", "keyword_name": "death", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "12645" }, { "keyword_id": "944", "keyword_name": "deer", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "30759" }, { "keyword_id": "2193", "keyword_name": "fantasy", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "27437" }, { "keyword_id": "123", "keyword_name": "female", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1102780" }, { "keyword_id": "735", "keyword_name": "feral", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "95243" }, { "keyword_id": "33", "keyword_name": "fox", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "251092" }, { "keyword_id": "31856", "keyword_name": "genderqueer", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "519" }, { "keyword_id": "2517", "keyword_name": "hospital", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1110" }, { "keyword_id": "16543", "keyword_name": "infirmary", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "23" }, { "keyword_id": "1406", "keyword_name": "injury", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "893" }, { "keyword_id": "1666", "keyword_name": "lesson", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "225" }, { "keyword_id": "191", "keyword_name": "magic", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "25844" }, { "keyword_id": "165", "keyword_name": "male", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1212824" }, { "keyword_id": "762", "keyword_name": "nudity", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "46678" }, { "keyword_id": "186", "keyword_name": "rabbit", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "140734" }, { "keyword_id": "452", "keyword_name": "rat", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "23808" }, { "keyword_id": "909", "keyword_name": "romance", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "9209" }, { "keyword_id": "449", "keyword_name": "school", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "9074" }, { "keyword_id": "185", "keyword_name": "squirrel", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "31561" }, { "keyword_id": "1558", "keyword_name": "student", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2344" }, { "keyword_id": "1664", "keyword_name": "teacher", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3392" }, { "keyword_id": "216", "keyword_name": "teen", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "34676" }, { "keyword_id": "23997", "keyword_name": "unconsciousness", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "204" }, { "keyword_id": "2752", "keyword_name": "wet dream", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "686" }, { "keyword_id": "171593", "keyword_name": "white rat", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "46" } ], "hidden": "f", "scraps": "f", "favorite": "f", "favorites_count": "0", "create_datetime": "2025-01-14 17:50:27.634839+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "14 Jan 2025 18:50 CET", "last_file_update_datetime": "2025-01-14 17:38:17.236281+00", "last_file_update_datetime_usertime": "14 Jan 2025 18:38 CET", "username": "LuxV", "user_id": "189085", "user_icon_file_name": "197655_LuxV_hickory_icon.jpg", "user_icon_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/197/197655_LuxV_hickory_icon.jpg", "user_icon_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/197/197655_LuxV_hickory_icon.jpg", "user_icon_url_small": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/197/197655_LuxV_hickory_icon.jpg", "file_name": "5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.rtf", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.rtf", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.rtf", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.rtf", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "200", "thumb_huge_y": "200", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120", "files": [ { "file_id": "5390226", "file_name": "5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.rtf", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.rtf", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.rtf", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.rtf", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "submission_id": "3525091", "user_id": "189085", "submission_file_order": "0", "full_size_x": null, "full_size_y": null, "screen_size_x": null, "screen_size_y": null, "preview_size_x": null, "preview_size_y": null, "initial_file_md5": "f1214ad178414442b1a9bc6801a7869d", "full_file_md5": "f1214ad178414442b1a9bc6801a7869d", "large_file_md5": "", "small_file_md5": "", "thumbnail_md5": "ad6f55f2b3516d577834cb52cd7577fe", "deleted": "f", "create_datetime": "2025-01-14 17:38:17.236281+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "14 Jan 2025 18:38 CET", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5390/5390226_LuxV_arcwright_academy_v2.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "200", "thumb_huge_y": "200", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120" } ], "pools": [ { "pool_id": "98666", "name": "Hickory - AU", "description": "Alternate versions of Hickory in universes less like our own.", "count": "1" } ], "description": "Every November, I try to get back to writing.\n\nIn November, ib!WritersCrossing1 set the writing prompt: \"You teach at a magic school, but you do not teach any magic. In fact, you’re not even a mage. Yet your classes are among the few that every student has to take, no matter what kind of magic they are studying. BONUS: Write in the first person.\" \n\n'That sounds fun!\" I thought. I can take my usual main character and interpret them for a different universe than the usual one I write in - one that's closer to their original adopt-pic #S2127770\n\nThe prompt was looking for 500-5,000 word submissions. I didn't notice that bit until I was 10,000 words into the story and not yet done... So I just kept going until I was.\n\nTwo and a half months and many words later, here we are. \n\nIt's the first real writing I'd done since the previous November, so... ", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Every November, I try to get back to writing.

In November, WritersCrossing1 set the writing prompt: "You teach at a magic school, but you do not teach any magic. In fact, you’re not even a mage. Yet your classes are among the few that every student has to take, no matter what kind of magic they are studying.  BONUS: Write in the first person."  

'That sounds fun!" I thought.  I can take my usual main character and interpret them for a different universe than the usual one I write in - one that's closer to their original adopt-pic
\r\n\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\tHickory by LuxV\r\n\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t


The prompt was looking for 500-5,000 word submissions.  I didn't notice that bit until I was 10,000 words into the story and not yet done...  So I just kept going until I was.

Two and a half months and many words later, here we are.  

It's the first real writing I'd done since the previous November, so... ", "writing": "“Mel? Am I interrupting your lunch, or can you spare me a minute?”\n\nThe little bat-kith administrator looked up from her desk, covered in scrolls, tomes and inkwells, to meet my gaze. “I’ve always got time for you, Hickory. What do you need?” \n\n“I’m taking out the new apprentice class this afternoon for their first expedition. Do you have an extra copy of the register? I…”\n\nMel sighed and finished my sentence, “...lost yours. Here.” She waved a hand casually, invoking a breeze which picked up a parchment from her desk and carried it into the air above me, before dropping it into my hands. “Next time Professor G needs a research topic you could maybe suggest that he investigates the extra-dimensional space that apparently eats all your paperwork?”\n\nI blushed, heat radiating out through my ears. “I’m sorry, Mel. I don’t mean to cause you extra work.”\n\nHer expression softened, “Don’t be silly... I’m only teasing. Now, go on: lunch is nearly over. Have fun with the young ones. And when you get back, dinner? I’ll cook?”\n\n“That sounds wonderful. Thanks, Mel.” I blew her a kiss, and she sent one back, adding a touch of magic to make it manifest: an illusion of a heart with wings, that burst into pink sparks as it touched my cheek-fur.\n\nI swung my pack up onto my back, and hurried through the halls towards the front courtyard. The academy bells signalled the end of lunch just as I arrived, which gave me a moment to set my bags down and catch my breath before the class arrived. \n\nThey trickled in over the next few minutes, the last arriving only a scant breath before the second bell which would have marked him as tardy. It was a small class this year, even for a school as exclusive as Arcwright, which only accepted talents strong enough that they may someday qualify as a full Magos. \n\nI glanced over the five students gathered before me, all in their early to mid-teens, and then waved the parchment at them. “Good afternoon, class! I’m Professor Hickory, Arcwright Academy’s lecturer in Nature Lore and Survival. And since it’s a mandatory subject, and I don’t recognise any of you, you must be the new first year apprentices. Welcome; and please, feel free to put your packs down while we cover some introductory material.” \n\nThey all dropped their bags, with some expressions of relief, as I carried on: “We’ll start with the register. I can see we’ve got the right number of people, but so I can match faces to names, when I call your name, please acknowledge, and also confirm your primary magical attunement.” I trusted Mel to have got the details right, but my thinking a student was an air mage when they were actually an earth mage could cause problems much graver than a mix-up of names, so it couldn’t hurt to confirm.\n\n“Jenna Withier?” \n\n“Here!” A lithe otter-girl enthusiastically stuck her hand up. “Earth attuned.”\n\n“Cordo…”, I hesitated a little over the surname before pronouncing it as written, “...Moswick?” \n\nI knew it was the gray-furred rabbit boy even before he raised his hand, just from the exasperated twitch of his ears as I read out his surname. “It’s pronounced ‘Mozzik’, Professor. And, here. Water mage.”\n\n“Thank you, Mr Moswick. And, moving on… Seneth Covissey?” The squirrel-kith girl acknowledged her name and confirmed the register’s note that she was attuned to fire.\n\n“Evanise Helair?”\n\nThe remaining girl, a roan deer, half-raised her hand, and spoke quietly, “Here, Professor. L- Life mage.” She stumbled over the word, and the lad behind her snickered derisively. Evanise ducked her head and fell silent. I could guess why: life mages were commonly known as ‘lust mages’. Skilled life mages often qualified as healers and were in high demand… the more weakly talented frequently found less reputable paths for their gifts. It was an awkward power for a teenager.\n\nI moved on to the last of the five, the boar-kith boy who’d laughed at Evanise. “And, by elimination, I’m guessing you must be… Jorith Nemtall?”\n\n“That’s right. And I’m an air mage. Like my father: Magos Joren Nemtall.” He stuck his snout proudly in the air. “I assume you’ve heard of him?” \n\nI had, of course: the man ran a highly influential spell-broker consortium but, judging from the quiet sighs and shuffles of the rest of the class, they had already heard far too much about Magos Nemtall from Jorith, so I kept my expression neutral and cocked my head slightly to one side. “I don’t think so. Does he live in the forest near Arcwright?”\n\nJorith sputtered, “What? No! He’s…”\n\nI cut him off, “Irrelevant to this lesson, in that case. Thank you, Jorith.”\n\nI stepped back and surveyed the group again. They were all wearing the hiking kit that the Academy supplied, and they all had their backpacks – although, of all them, only Jenna’s looked to have been properly adjusted to her frame. I glanced down and noticed that Jenna had also known to put in some pre-wear on her boots; the others were all pristine.\n\n“Alright. We’ll be heading out on a gentle hike this afternoon, camping in the forest tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll move through the forest to a second site, camp, and then return to the Academy the day after. We should be back in time for lunch, but you’ll have no afternoon classes that day anyway, just in case we’re delayed. Does anyone have any questions before we set out?”\n\nSeneth, Evanise and Cordo all raised their hands, but Jorith just butted straight in without waiting to be acknowledged: “Why do we all have to do this course anyway? We’re here to learn magic! And,” he looked me up and down, “I don’t see how you can teach us anything about that.”\n\nI smirked and ran a finger over my whiskers. “So you know that I’m the non-mage on the teaching staff. Did you work that out yourself?”\n\nCordo answered quietly, his ears down, “That was me, Professor. Sorry.”\n\n“No need to apologise. Observation and deduction are important parts of this course. Have an extra credit point.” Cordo’s ears perked up.\n\n“Anyway,” I continued, “You do raise some good questions, Jorith. To begin to answer them, I think a small practical demonstration might help. Could everyone clear some space between me and Jorith, please?” The other four leapt to obey. They might not have known what was coming, but they plainly wanted to be well clear of it.\n\nI hefted my walking staff. “Jorith. I am going to walk slowly towards you, and if I reach you, I am going to hit you with this stick. I want you to use your magic to stop me.”\n\nHe looked suddenly uncertain, “You want me to…?”\n\n“Oh yes, any spell you want.” I took my first step forwards and he reacted instinctively, leaning into his native element, calling up a wind to push me backwards. Swirling currents of air rushed towards me, picking up dust and fallen leaves from the flagstones, but I never felt it, because the moment the front of the current hit me, it died immediately. All the detritus it had picked up fell back to the floor, momentum carrying them past me as they went, and the only traces of his spell were a faint crackle of dissipating energy over my skin.\n\nI moved another three steps forwards before he stopped gaping in confusion and got another spell off. This time, he tried a barrier, coalescing the air between us into a solid wall to bar my path, thickening it into a translucent mass that blurred my view of him. I walked straight into it, and it erupted into a shower of falling green sparks as it instantly collapsed.\n\nI was nearly to Jorith but he got one last spell off, a crackling blast of gathered lightning that leapt from his hands towards me, the flash illuminating the courtyard. But all it earned him was a very pretty light show, as I was briefly framed in an aurora of multicoloured glints of light, and a raised eyebrow from me: I ended up doing this demonstration most years, and – even with my advance permission – few students had both the nerve and the skill to try a war-spell on a professor. \n\nStopping in front of Jorith, I met his eyes. I was short, but he hadn’t come into his full adult height yet, and we were on a level. I could see white all round his irises as he boggled like his world was ending. “Y-you, you’re not just untalented, you’re a, a…” He stammered as I stared him down.\n\n“A Null. Yes.” I tapped him on the forehead with the tip of my staff. Not hard, I had no intention of hurting him, but it did make a very satisfying ‘thunk’ and Jorith staggered back like he’d been pole-axed.\n\n“Extra credit quiz!” I called out to the class, while continuing to stare at Jorith. “Define a ‘Null.’”\n\nOut of the corner of my eye, I saw Cordo’s hand go up first, and I pointed to him. “An individual entirely incapable of casting or interacting with magic. Mana-weaves break on contact,” he piped up – a near-perfect textbook quote.\n\n“What proportion of people are Nulls?” I continued. Cordo was, again, first to raise his hand, and I indicated to him.\n\n“Estimates vary at between one-fifth and one-tenth that of the proportion of Magos-class talents, which is to say, Nulls are between one in two-hundred-fifty-thousand to one in five-hundred-thousand of the population as a whole.” I started to wonder if he had memorised the entire book.\n\n“Can animals and plants also be Nulls?” Cordo raised his hand, but I shook my hand at him. “I can tell you know, Cordo. Have a point anyway, but give someone else a chance too.”\n\nThis time, Evanise was the first to half-raise her hand, the tip of her boot twisting against the flagstones. I gave her a nod, and she hesitantly said, “Yes? I think?”\n\n“You think correctly. Well done – it’s not widely known. And what proportion of wildlife is Null?” This time no-one, not even Cordo, put their hand up. I carried on: “Correct! No-one knows! It’s one of the topics of research here at Arcwright. But what we do know so far: it is much, much higher than in kith and we think it is increasing over time. It may even be in excess of one percent in some areas!” I choked down my suspicion that it might be higher even than that – the evidence I’d gathered was still patchy and the other Professors were very reluctant to accept that it could be so prevalent.\n\n“So, think quick – you’re in the woods, a wild black bear is coming at you, and it’s not walking slowly! Your first spell shatters – it’s a Null. What do you do?”\n\nJenna leapt in: “Climb a tree!”\n\nI shook my head ruefully, “Ooh, bad luck. Bears can climb trees too! You’ve given it some nice exercise to work up an appetite before supper. The supper is you, by the way.” That got a few scattered chuckles as the tension eased.\n\n“So one of the things we will be learning in this course is what you should do if confronted by a bear. And better, how not to annoy the bear in the first place! And similarly for a wide range of other hazards of the wild. As well as a wealth of other useful information about the flora and fauna of the realm, and about how to best spend your time outdoors.”\n\nCordo lifted a hand, and I inclined my head towards him. “Professor? I now understand what the course is aiming to teach, but the fact that it’s mandatory indicates an assumption that we will all be spending time out in the wilds. And,” he hesitated, “I haven’t quite grasped why yet.” \n\n“Other than the proven fact that time outdoors in the fresh air is good for both mental and physical wellbeing? Simple, really. Reagents. Someone define ‘reagents’ for me. It’s an easy one, so no extra credit on this question.”\n\nSeneth piped up for the first time since I took the register. “Reagents are,” she paused, seemingly gathering the words, “animal, vegetable or mineral components used in more complex spell-working. I know almost all item enchantments need them.”\n\n“Thank you, Seneth. You’ve probably all seen reagents for sale in shops. Generally ones that have been farmed. But components like that are only good for low-power spell-working. The mana in them is quite crude. More refined spell-work demands reagents gathered from the wild. The best reagents – the sort needed by a Magos for their work – often need to be gathered from deep in nature, under incredibly precise circumstances. Maybe they have to be gathered with magic. Maybe without any magic touching them at all. Sometimes, they are unstable such that they have to be incorporated into an ongoing working within minutes of harvesting. And that is why almost every practising Magos spends at least some of their time out in the wild, collecting what they need to work. And my job is to make sure that when you are all Magoi and you go out into the woods, you have the tools you need to make sure you come back with your reagents.” I took a deep breath as I came to the end of my spiel.\n\n“Any other questions before we set out?” I looked around the five. There didn’t seem to be any takers. “Very well, let’s go.” \n\nIt was a good day for walking, overcast but dry, with a steady breeze. Despite the cloud-cover, I still wedged my sun-hat firmly on before I led the class out of the courtyard and onto the road that wound its way down the hill on which the Academy perched, towards the forest below.\n\nBy my standards, the pace I set was that of a gentle stroll. Nonetheless, before we even reached the bottom of the hill, I could hear muffled sounds of exertion from behind. I snuck a glance over my shoulder at the apprentices strung out in a line, like ducklings following their mother. Unsurprisingly, Jenna was close behind me, wearing a goofy grin and striding along like she’d left all her cares in the courtyard. Slightly more surprising was Jorith, close behind her. He still looked disgruntled, but it didn’t seem to be due to discomfort or exertion. Then there was a gap before Evanise, who was ambling along, seemingly lost in her own little world, another gap, and then Cordo and Seneth bringing up the rear, seemingly in competition for who could make the hardest going of an easy walk. I rolled my eyes as I looked forwards again, and decided that I would – again – talk to the Headmistress about including some mandatory exercise lessons in the class schedule, even if I ended up teaching those too!\n\nI stopped at the bottom of the hill, where the road forked, and leaned against the way-marker to let all the apprentices catch up. “Doing all right, Jenna?”\n\n“Fine, Prof. We stopping already?!”” \n\nI subtly nodded up-hill to where the two laggards were still one and a half zig-zags of the switchback road away. “Be nice… I can tell you’re used to this.”\n\nJenna grinned as she leaned on an adjoining side of the marker pillar, her shoulder brushing against mine. “My family are traders, so we’re up and down the roads all the year round. Never spent much time in the woods, though.”\n\n“Yeah, I guess feral bears don’t buy much.”\n\nJorith stopped in front of us, and I nodded to him. “You’re doing well so far.” \n\n“My father always insisted on the importance of a healthy body to support a healthy mind. He says its the only way to really master a Magos’ power.”\n\n“Sensible. High-level channelling can put a lot of strain on your system. The better condition you’re in, the more you can take.” \n\nJorith grinned before looking down and frowning. “These boots are bloody – sorry Professor – really uncomfortable though.”\n\n“No need to mind your language around me. And yes, new boots always are. Hopefully, this expedition will start breaking them in for you all – without causing too many blisters. And one of the things we’ll cover is how to break new boots in without getting blisters for future.”\n\n“Wouldn’t it be a good idea to cover that before we set out?”\n\nI smirked. “I find a few blisters make sure the lesson sticks. Don’t worry – I packed plenty of salve.”\n\nEvanise reached our little group and seemed set to carry on straight past, her eyes fixed vaguely on a distant horizon. I coughed gently, and she startled, head snapping up and eyes looking round, before focussing on me.\n\n“Glad you could join us, Evanise. Are you all right?”\n\n“Oh. Fine, Professor. Just thinking about stuff, I guess.” Her stance was easy, no sign of any discomfort from the boots. Life mages did tend to be resilient.\n\n“Well, now you’ve reached the bottom of the hill, do try and pay attention as we head into the woods. Bears, remember.” She nodded at my admonition, abashed.\n\nEventually, the last two members of my little squad reached us. Both looked miserable, Cordo’s ears and Seneth’s tail all drooping. I feigned reaching for my pack. “Now you’re here, we can carry on…” \n\nCordo’s ears lost any perkiness they still had, and Seneth’s nose crinkled like she was about to cry. “All right, all right,” I said hurriedly, “We can take a break. Put your bags down. And, all of you – there’s canteens in your pack. Have some water. First, and most important lesson: stay hydrated. Water in you is water you’re not carrying.”\n\nBoth dropped their packs, and everyone pulled flasks out. Cordo and Seneth both drank greedily – more than they should have needed so soon after lunch. I leaned forwards to look closer at both. Cordo’s clothes were damp and clinging to him; Seneth’s utterly dry, no trace of any sweat-stain at all. I addressed them, “Both of you, hold still a moment.” They froze, looking puzzled. \n\nI glanced at the others, “I’ll need some help here. Evanise? Could you hold a hand close to Seneth – not touching – please? And… Jorith? Could you tell me about the air around Cordo?” \n\nAs Evanise stepped towards Seneth, Jorith’s eyes went distant for a moment, then his forehead furrowed. “It’s… wet? Like fog?” \n\nEvanise brought a hand to a hairs-breadth from Seneth before snatching it away. “Hot!”\n\nI cursed under my breath as I stepped swiftly forward, and then simultaneously flicked both Seneth and Cordo on the ear. Sparks flew as I touched them and they yelped. “You young idiots,” I snarled. “I’d expect better mana control if you were newly-awakened ten-year-olds! No wonder you were struggling! Seneth – you’ve been heating up your close surrounds, and Cordo – you’ve been calling water into the air around you, meaning you couldn’t cool down by sweating. How did you not realise?!” I was well aware the warm glow of anger in my chest was masking a knot of guilt in my gut – I should have checked on them much sooner. \n\nSeneth’s eyes screwed closed and the only reply she gave was a little sniffle. Cordo’s whiskers trembled, but he did find words: “I’m sorry, Professor. We were talking as we set out and fell behind, and then we had to hurry to try and catch up, and we must’ve got distracted, and unfocused, and then it just seemed so hard and you were all making it look so easy…” \n\n“A bad start, which proceeded to make everything worse.” I stepped back and sighed. “Well, at least you now know – and more importantly know what to watch out for in future.” I looked around. “Everyone, sit down. Off to the side of the road. We’ll take a slightly longer break.”\n\nAs they all sat, I rummaged in my pack and pulled a pouch of dried fruit mixed with nuts, which I handed to Cordo. “Split this with Seneth and eat it before we carry on. You’ll need to replace the energy you lost to the channelling. And both keep drinking. You’ve probably lost more water than you realise. We’ve got plenty and can always redistribute later.” \n\nI’d no sooner got them sat down and eating than I turned around to see Jorith about to pull one of his boots off. I dashed over to stop him: “It might feel good now, but your feet will swell, and it’ll be even worse once you have to get the boots back on…” That minor crisis thwarted, I took a moment to step a little bit away from the class, face down the road, scrub my fingers through my cheek-fur and scream silently to myself.\n\nA few deep breaths later, I fixed the smile back onto my face and returned to the group. “How’s everyone doing?” I got a mix of nods and affirmations in return. Cordo and Seneth were looking much recovered with benefit of water and food.\n\n“Great. We’ll carry on then. As you can see,” I waved at the dense treeline that lined part of our horizon, “We’re at the forest’s edge. We’ll follow the road a bit further, and then veer off onto a trail into the woods, that will take us to tonight’s campsite. For this leg, we’ll all stick together. Don’t get too far ahead, and if you start falling behind, call out. We should make the campsite with time to spare before twilight.”\n\nJenna popped a hand into the air. “Professor? Our packs have bedrolls but no tents. And only some trail mix for food.” \n\n“Given this is the first time on a camping hike for many of you, I didn’t want to overburden you. Some of the Academy staff have been out before us and have left supplies and tents at the campsites. Don’t get too used to it! Over the course of the year, you’ll be expected to carry more and more of your own kit.”\n\n“Supplies… just left in the woods?”\n\n“Warded, of course. Neither kith nor animals should see them. Unless a Null stumbles through the supply dump – but this close to the forest edge, the risk of that is low. And there’s a few non-magical tricks to lower it further, which I’ll show you when we get there.”\n\nJenna nodded, slipped her pack over one shoulder, and pulled herself to her feet, using her walking staff as a prop, with easy practice. Evanise, seeing that, tried to mimic the movement but didn’t seat the butt of the staff properly and tumbled back down. I gave her my hand and pulled her up, while the other three settled for just picking themselves up and then collecting up packs and sticks. Before we set off, I went around four of them, adjusting pack straps to rest better on their frames, explaining how it should sit, using Jenna as a model. She pivoted slowly as I talked, posing, grinning widely.\n\nI explained what trail blazons to watch out for to guide us, and we set out once more. Jenna and Jorith still set a slightly faster pace but now paused for a few breaths every so often to let everyone else catch up a bit, and while Cordo and Seneth still lagged a little, they were keeping up much better, so there was never a long wait needed to keep everyone in view. And this time, in order to maintain that eye on everyone, I stayed in the middle, which put me walking alongside Evanise.\n\nEvanise was silent for a while until shortly after we’d passed under the boughs of the wood, when – seemingly out of nowhere: “Is it difficult?”\n\nI shot her a sideways glance, “Is what difficult?”\n\n“Being a Null.”\n\n“It’s certainly got its downsides. If I get hurt, I can’t benefit from healing magic. But then, most people couldn’t afford a healer – so in practice, I’m not that different from most people in that way. And it has its advantages: there’s some magical hazards in the deeper wilds that I can ignore completely.”\n\n“But Arcwright’s full of enchanted items. Don’t you risk breaking them?”\n\n“That’s not as bad as you might think. A Null will break a shoddy enchantment by touching it, sure. But if it’s been imbued properly, it will just shut down and resume as soon as I move away. And everything in the Academy is top-notch.” I chuckled briefly. “I’m actually part of the qualification examination in Enchantment most years – test if the apprentice-crafts can survive me.”\n\n“All right, but so much of how things work in the Academy is based on the enchantments... How do you manage?\n\n“With difficulty sometimes. There’s a few places in the Academy I can’t get to. Things I can’t do. But a lot of the Professors have actually modified standard enchantments to turn them into things I can benefit from.”\n\n“Like what?”\n\n“Well, take the fireplaces in your rooms. You can all light or put them out just by willing it, right?” She nodded. “Well, I can’t do that. But, generally, you’ll only need do that when it gets cold – you wouldn’t light a fire on a summer’s day. So, the fireplace in my suite is enchanted so that it ignites and extinguishes itself based on how cold or hot the room is. Things like that. I’ve got a glow-stone that lights up when its dark – so long as I’m not holding it, I can put it down and still use it to see by.”\n\n“Oh, that’s clever!”\n\n“Advantages of working for the Academy. Puts me in a much better position than most Nulls, I imagine.”\n\nShe cocked her head quizzically. “What do most Nulls do for work?”\n\nI hesitated, but answered, “There’s few enough of us that it’s hard to make generalities. Some just work in trades that don’t rely on magic. There’s several who have ended up in the army. An elite unit that doesn’t have to worry about enemy war-spells.” I didn’t want to elaborate on that too much, because it hinted at another possible employment for Nulls like me: mage-killers; assassins who could breach wards and take down even Magoi – only a rumour, but frighteningly plausible. \n\nI struck out for a different topic of conversation. “Evanise Helair… unusual name.” I left an unspoken question hanging in the air. It was a terrible segue, but she seemed unbothered.\n\n“My grandparents immigrated. I’m named for my grandmother. Most people just call me Ev or Evie.” She pronounced the former with a short ‘eh’ sound, as just the first syllable of the full name, but the latter with a long ‘ee’.\n\n“Do you prefer that?”\n\n“I like Evie. ‘Ev’ sounds like someone coughing.”\n\n“As you prefer, Evie.”\n\nAfter that, we mostly walked in silence, Evanise retreating into her thoughts, except for the few times I called the group together to point out some salient feature of the wilderness.\n\nIt was getting on for late afternoon before we drew near to our campsite. I paused the group on the path and bade them to smell the air. They all sniffed. Jenna sneezed. Cordo, Seneth and Evie all shifted uneasily, looking round. I could see hackles raising on the back of their necks. Only Jorith seemed untroubled, taking deep draughts of the air. I pointed to the trio who had drawn closer together: “I can tell that you can smell it, even if you can’t put a name to it. What are you scenting?”\n\nIt was Jorith who answered though, his eyes closed, snout still raised. “Musk. Very strong. Fur. Traces of blood and carcass.” He thought about it for a moment, and opened his eyes as he concluded. “Predator. Big one.”\n\nI nodded, “Good! Well done. All of you take note. In this instance, it’s fake: the non-magical deterrent to anything that might disturb the campsite – the only thing that will generally trespass on a large predator is another predator who claims the territory. And there aren’t any near here. But if you ever smell something like that and you don’t know it’s fake, be very very careful.”\n\nI indicated forward towards our campsite for the night, a small clearing around a rock formation, from which a spring welled up to make a stream. Even from the edge of the clearing, I could hear its merry burbling. I stepped forwards from the cover of the trees into the clearing, and as I passed under the last tree there was a glittering rain of mana-sparks, my presence breaking the boundary of the wards that had been left behind to guard our supplies.\n\nBefore the apprentices’ eyes, the air in the clearing shimmered and the seemingly empty space filled with bundles of canvas-wrapped packs and dismantled tents. I turned and beckoned the class in, and as they came, I pointed out the ward-amulets and the bundles of alchemical scent-mix that hung from the branches by the path and at other strategic points around the clearing.\n\n“Let’s see… first things first. The spring,” indicating the rock formation, “Is pure and safe. Tomorrow, we’ll cover safe water sources, but for now, just know you can drink from where it wells up without worry. Next – who needs salve for their feet?” Jorith, Cordo and Seneth all raised their hands. I handed out small pots, with advice to apply it before bed and again in the morning.\n\nI carried on, “Now, I’ll walk you all through how to put a tent up, so we can get that done while there’s still a decent amount of light. Then, how to build a fire. After that, there should be still be time to follow the stream down to where it joins another brook – there’s a pool there large enough to wash. Then food, campfire tales and an early night for an early start tomorrow. Any questions?”\n\nNo-one seemed to have anything urgent to raise, so I called Evie over to one of the dismantled tents, and had her assist me as I walked them all through the process of assembling it and staking it down. Once it was done, I indicated the gear piles. “There’s two more tents. Jenna and Seneth on one, lads to the other. Jenna, I’m guessing you’ve done this before?” She nodded, and I continued, “You should be fine then. Evie, you can help Jorith and Cordo if they need a spare hand. Anyone gets stuck, just yell.”\n\nThe four of them immediately started unpacking their tents. Evie stayed stood by the tent we’d just erected though, her hands twisting together. “Professor? These look like they hold two people.”\n\n“Yes? They’re cosy but not too tight.”\n\n“...And there’s three tents.” A statement, but uncertain.\n\n“And six people.” \n\n“Are you planning that I will sleep with you?”\n\n“Uh… ‘With’ being ‘in the same tent’, yes?” \n\nEvie’s voice was very small now, so that even with my over-sized rat-ears, I could barely hear her over the chatter of the other four. “Why?”\n\n“It’s actually Academy policy for these expeditions. Life mage students either bunk alone if we’ve got an odd number or with me, if not. We’ve never had two in a class, I’m not sure what we’ll do in that case,” I rambled on before slowing to a pause. \n\nEvie was trembling slightly now, hands still twisting, and ears flicking. I glanced around – I was clearly missing something, but nothing in the clearing gave me a clue. I tried to explain, “It’s no personal judgment, just that – as it’s been explained to me, life mages are the most prone, at your age, to sleep-channelling. And of all you, your attunement is the one where that could be most… awkward.” ‘Awkward’ being an understatement for a teenage hormone-fuelled dream accidentally driving their tent-mate into rut. “But it won’t affect me at all.”\n\n“It’s just, just…” I had to lean in to hear her. “I know what people think about life mages… ‘lusties’. But, even if you are a teacher, I’m really not comfortable with sharing a tent with a man!” She blurted that last bit out at volume and everyone looked up. I took a step back in astonishment.\n\n“Huh. I see. Um.” I cleared my throat awkwardly. “That’s actually entirely reasonable. I wouldn’t expect you to.”\n\nShe looked up in puzzlement “It is? But...”\n\n“I’m not male, Evie,” I said gently.\n\nEveryone in the clearing was now watching this little drama, until I shot a glare round the circle and they all at least pretended to be busy with their tents.\n\n“You’re not?”\n\n“I’m not. I’ve checked.” There was a quiver in my diaphragm and my face was twitching, as laughter tried to well up, looking at the confusion written across her face. To try and keep it down, I kept talking, rambling, “Don’t feel bad. I don’t exactly lean into my feminine side, you know? And the gods know I’ve not got the build for it. You’re not the first person to make that mistake from looking at me… It’s generally my voice that gives it away.”\n\nEvie was scuffing the toe of her boot in the dirt again, staring intensely at her feet. She mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out.\n\n“Pardon?”\n\n“I thought… I thought it was because you’re rat-kith. You know, um,” her voice trailed off into another indecipherable mumble.\n\nI should have let it be, but I couldn’t resist. “Because I’m a rat, I’m…?”\n\n“Squeaky?” She admitted in hopeless desperation, not meeting my eyes.\n\nI nearly lost the battle to suppress my mirth right there, a snort forcing its way out before I wrestled it down. I quite deliberately bit my tongue, literally, using the red thread of pain as last line of defence to stop me from laughing in the face of an upset student.\n\n“I see.” Slightly muffled as salt-iron taste welled up. “Well, cultural tip: I’m not offended, but I would not recommend calling any other rat-kith ‘squeaky.’”\n\n“m’sorry.”\n\n“It’s okay. Honest.” I reached out and lightly touched her folded arms, “We good?”\n\nI got another mumble in return, but she did, at least, look up and meet my eyes. I held her gaze for a moment, before giving a little wink and looking around. “Evie, how about you just help Jenna and Seneth get the last of their tent-pegs set? I’ll help the boys finish getting their tent up.”\n\nShe nodded and scurried to join the other girls, while I took a deep breath, discreetly spat blood to one side, and went to investigate the mess that the boys had made of theirs. It turned out that they’d been so busy watching me and Evie that it was a complete shambles so far but, under my supervision, they soon had it standing.\n\nWith tents finally up and packs stowed, I had the class scurrying to fetch dry wood and kindling for a fire. I’d camped here many times before thankfully and the firepit needed only minimal clearing to be ready once more. To recoup some lost time, once I’d walked them through how to stack the fuel, I let Seneth spark the blaze rather then mess around with flint and steel. As flames warmed us, I assessed the state of the apprentices: grubby, tired but excited, in need of a warm meal but more immediately in need of a wash before I let them handle food. \n\n“Who’s having the first bath and who the second?” I indicated Cordo and Jorith on one side, and the three girls on the other.\n\n“We could all go together,” suggested Jorith with a broad grin. Jenna seemed tickled by the idea, but he just got flat glares from both the other two girls and Cordo.\n\nI limited my answer to the practicalities: “We don’t ever leave a fire burning untended in the woods.”\n\nJenna made a fist and held it towards Jorith. “Play you for first bath?” He made a fist in response, they shook their hands three times in the ancient ritual and then threw out shapes. His rock crushed her scissors, and she sat back, “Go, wash. I know how to watch a fire, so we’ll be fine here.”\n\nI stood up, “Come on then lads.” \n\n“You’re coming with us?!” Cordo piped up, as suddenly squeaky as I’d been accused of being.\n\n“Since I know where the pool to wash in is and you don’t, yes?”\n\n“But, but…” he sputtered.\n\nI sighed. The earlier contretemps with Evie had clearly managed to wedge the fact of my femininity in the fore-front of his mind. “I promise not to watch. Now, move.”\n\nI led the pair through the gloam, following the little brook that flowed from our clearing to where it joined a larger flow, and just downstream of their joining it had formed a pool deep and easy enough to access for a quick wash. “Face and hands, minimum. Wash anything else you like, just remember that putting clothes back on when damp isn’t much fun. Don’t fall in.” I turned my back on them and allowed myself to relax for a moment, albeit with one ear wary for particularly loud splashes behind me or calls from the camp.\n\n\nIt was a surprisingly long while of splashing before Cordo piped up behind me to say they were done. I turned and gave them a once-over – they’d clearly stripped down and dressed again – shirts slightly askew, buttons left unfastened, but both seemed totally dry. “Did you actually wash?” I enquired, sceptical of teenage boys in this regard. I leaned in and sniffed. They smelled clean, or as close as they’d get without soap.\n\n“Yes, Professor,” came the patient reply. “I pulled the water off us after we were done.”\n\n“Good call. Come on, lets get you two back to warm up by the fire.”\n\nA short while later, I was stood back by the waterside, but now with Jenna, Seneth and Evie, giving the same speech I’d given the boys. Jenna was already pulling her boots off before I started, was down to her small-clothes before I was half-way through and, as I concluded, she finished stripping and dove gracefully into the water, surfacing out in the centre of the pool.\n\n“Otters,” I sighed. I looked at Seneth and Evie as I started to take my own top off. “I do not recommend joining her unless your fur’s also waterproof.” They both shook their heads and copied me in a much more limited undressing, shedding coat and shirt. After the earlier issue with Evie, I was not surprised to notice both Seneth and Evie sneaking a sideways glance at me, both seeming reassured to see that I too wore a breast-band under my shirt, even if it did contain somewhat less than either of them.\n\nI crouched by the waterside, trailing my hands in the water, listening to Jenna as she swam back and forth in the confines of the pool, wishing I could join her. I scrubbed my hands and then cupped water to pour over my head, rubbing the grime of the day off my face, repeating it until I felt I could pass for clean. Standing, I saw that Evie and Seneth were also about done, so I called out: “Jenna! If you’re finished, we could all do with going back for dinner!” \n\nJenna swam over to the riverbank and pulled herself out, water cascading from her as she stood. Droplets flew as she shook herself, earning her glares from the rest of us. “Oops! Sorry!” She glanced over, “Sen? Could you warm us up a little?” Seneth nodded and furrowed her brow in concentration, then the other two turned towards her and all three basked in what I assumed was a wave of warmth that I could not sense at all. I grumbled to myself a little as I pulled my shirt back on, the fabric clinging to the traces of water that had run down my torso. \n\nBy the time three of us were dressed again and ready to go, Jenna had gotten her trousers back on and was knotting her chest-band. She then just picked boots, shirt and coat back up as a bundle, “Good to go!” I raised an eyebrow, then shrugged it off. If she didn’t mind, I doubted the boys would object – although Cordo might blush so hard his ears would catch fire.\n\nNight had properly fallen by the time we got back to the clearing. The boys were lounging by the fire, and the girls joined them. Jenna called over, “What’s for dinner, Prof? Do we have to cook? I can roast a potato, but that’s about it…”\n\n“No – much like carrying the kit, that’s sorted for us tonight. We just have to warm it up.” I opened up the supply packs, and carefully lifted out two large pots, each with the lid sealed on with a thin line of clay. I carefully arranged the pots by the fire, near enough that the contents should heat through quickly. “And, again, like the kit – don’t get used to it. Classes cover camp cooking, starting next week.”\n\nWhile the pots warmed, I distributed small bread loaves from the packs, and demonstrated how to hollow them out to make a working bowl; after that, it wasn’t long before the pots had been hooked out of the fire, and silence descended as everyone was chowing down on one of the thick stews that the Academy cooks had made for us, either mixed game or vegetable. \n\nOnce the pots had been first scraped into bowls, and then wiped clean for any last traces with the remnants of the bread, and every scrap devoured, I turned the pots over and glanced around. Plentiful, hot food after an afternoon of unaccustomed exertion had sent all of the kids into a sleepy haze, heads nodding and eyes heavy. Seneth was, to all appearances, actually asleep; leaning against Cordo’s shoulder, tail wrapped around herself. \n\nI spoke softly, just loud enough to be heard over the background of chirping forest insects. “I did promise campfire tales before bed, but it’s been a longer day than expected, and…” I indicated the slumbering squirrel. “I think we’re best getting you all into your tents, and we’ll aim for an earlier start and finish tomorrow.” There were no signs of dissent from the sleepy teens. “Jenna? Think you can steer Seneth to bed?”\n\nJenna stood but came over to me first and whispered, “Sure you don’t want to get Cordo to bunk with her? I know she won’t mind… and I’m pretty sure Jorith and me can cope together.” \n\nI flicked her with the tip of my tail. “Nice try, but no. Go on, and goodnight.” \n\nShe sighed, padded over to Seneth and gently nudged her awake before pulling her up and shepherding her towards their tent. I’d always liked rabbit-kith for how easy it was to read their emotions from their ears, and watching Cordo as Seneth was drawn away was a treat as he seemed to flicker between relief and disconsolation. \n\nCordo and Jorith also headed to their tent, both yawning widely, triggering my own yawns. I glanced at Evie, still sat on a log near the dying fire. “I need to finish banking the fire before I go to bed. You can head to the tent now or wait with me, as you like.”\n\nShe didn’t reply for a long enough moment to make me wonder if she’d mastered the art of falling asleep sitting up but, “I’ll wait.” She was gazing into the warm glow of the embers, as she’d gazed at the horizon earlier.\n\nAs I worked, the last red light of the fire faded, to be replaced by the silvery light of the stars spread out above us and a hint of moonlight from over the trees, and the rustling of preparations for bed from two tents were slowly replaced by soft snores. Once I had the embers safely covered to hold their heat to morning, I stood and stretched, feeling my joints pop. I padded silently towards our tent, only glancing back to make sure that Evie was following me. \n\nAt the tent-flap, I took advantage of the boys already being in bed to strip down to my underclothes before getting into the confines of the tent, placing my boots by the flap, and bundling up my outer layers. I couldn’t tell if she understood my reasons but Evie mimicked me, getting mostly bare in the clearing. \n\nI shivered slightly as a cool breeze ruffled through newly-exposed fur, and gestured to Evie to go in first, so I could fasten the tent flap behind us. She crawled in, and then I ducked into the tent, sliding into my bedroll with familiarity born of long practice, while Evie was still getting herself sorted.\n\n“You all right?” I whispered into the darkness.\n\n“I think I’ve… Yes. Got it.” Evie whispered back as she stopped twisting about and laid down flat.\n\n“Goodnight, Evie.”\n\n“Good…”, yawn, “Nigh…” Her voice trailed off and was replaced by soft, deep breathing as she fell asleep with a speed I could only envy.\n\nI lay on my back, staring sightlessly into the dark confines of the tent, as I mentally reviewed the events of the day: the mistakes, minor and major, that I’d made and what I should have done. I then, consciously, let those drop away and called to mind what I’d done well, luxuriating in that for a moment; then went over what I’d learned about my new class, what they’d learned and what I had yet to cover tomorrow. I then let my thoughts drift back to my meeting with Mel at lunchtime and how we might spend the evening when I got back, and it was as those pleasant fantasies played through my mind’s eye that sleep gradually claimed me. \n\nI am an early riser by habit. I had expected to wake with the dawn, as usual, a birdsong chorus my alarm and accompaniment. Instead, I awoke with a jolt of adrenaline, my subconscious telling me that something was wrong, something was out-of-place. I fought down the instinct to sit up immediately, instead forcing myself to lie still, to slow my breathing again, to work out what it was that had set ancient prey instincts jangling. \n\nI focussed on what I could determine about my surrounds. Hearing first, my keenest sense. Next to me, Evie was still asleep but restless, making soft sounds. There was also a nearly inaudible rustling that I couldn’t place. I could smell flowers? It took me a moment to realise that I could see, dimly, in the tent. There was no hint of daylight creeping in under the edges of the tent, it was clearly still night outside, but there was some dim, greenish illumination nonetheless. I held a hand above my face and squinted at it. Faint emerald phosphorescence danced across my fur. I glanced back at Evie, as pieces of the puzzle dropped into place, and took another deep breath through my nostrils. Yes, it was there under the floral notes, now I knew what I was smelling for. Evie was clearly having a very pleasant dream. \n\nIt was, in its way, fascinating. Despite what I’d explained to Evie about why life mage students bunked with me, I’d never actually seen one sleep-channel like this. Possibly the rest of them had just managed to keep it to a level that didn’t wake me. Evie, on the other hand, was shedding mana at a surprising rate. I realised that the rustling sound was actually the plants under and around the tent growing in response to her power. Had I not been magically-null, I would have been feeling very very good just then. Tired and grumpy but in control of myself was probably better – even if it didn’t feel it just at that moment.\n\nI did need to wake her. It was a pity, I doubt I would have wanted to wake up from a dream like that, but if she kept channelling like that, she’d be a wreck in the morning, even with the undirected life-energy mitigating the backlash. I rolled over towards her, and hissed, “Evie!”\n\nShe made an incoherent little sound in reply but did not wake. And, if anything, the glow of the magic discharging against my skin got fractionally brighter. \n\nI tried her name again, waited, sighed, reached out and poked her shoulder. As I made contact, the mana-flow collapsed and the green glow vanished in one bright flare that left me blinking away afterglows in the returned darkness of the tent. I’d asked Mel once what it felt like when I disrupted an active channel like this. She’d compared it to a tightly-drawn bowstring snapping against your arm. So it was no surprise that Evie sat bolt-upright with a deep inhalation of breath. \n\n“Ahh-ow! What? Who? What happened?”\n\n“Evie? Are you okay?”\n\n“Hickory? Huh?! You…? We were… Uh. What?” \n\nI filed away the thought that, in the moment of waking, she’d called me by my name, not ‘Professor’ and answered softly, “You were dreaming and sleep-channelling. I woke you. Do you feel okay?”\n\nThere was a long pause and then a very tiny, “Oh.” She took a slightly shuddery breath. “Did I say anything?”\n\n“No.”\n\n“Okay. I’m okay. I’m sorry.”\n\n“No need to apologise. It’s fine. Can you get back to sleep?”\n\n“I think so.” I could hear her wriggling back into her bedding as she lay down again. \n\nI rolled back over into my side of the tent and closed my eyes again. “See you in the morning…”\n\nDespite the interrupted sleep, I still woke as the dawn chorus started from the forest. Evie was still asleep and I suspected that the other students would be too. Moving as quietly as possible, I slid out of my bedding and wriggled into my trousers. I held up my shirt before putting it back down on top of my pack. The boys had coped gracefully with Jenna going shirtless. Even if they did wake up, they weren’t going to lose their mind at me doing likewise. Or so I hoped. \n\nI unlaced the tent-flap and crawled out into the clearing, blinking against the sun-rays filtering over the edge of the treeline, before standing up, wriggling my toes in the dew-damp grass. I looked about, feeling my neck pop as I turned my head back and forth. As I had feared, my and Evie’s tent had verdant overgrowth to at least a pace in every direction, further on her side of the tent. The tent-pegs were now buried in deep grass and tendrils had coiled their way up the stays towards the canvas. Closest to the canvas, the green gave way to a riot of colour, a mix of wildflowers all abloom, several out of season, their petals now opening to the sun. Given that I had not packed a scythe, there was no way of hiding that from the class. I could only hope that Evie would not be too embarrassed.\n\nI turned my mind towards things that I could control and started my morning stretches. Gently rolling my shoulders, twisting at the waist and hips, and then a deep breath as I brought my arms together over my head before bending forwards and planting my hands flat on the ground, resting the tip of my muzzle on my legs. Flip my tail up and forward to come down over my head, giving me a counterweight as I raised my legs and moved into a handstand. Hold for several breaths and then bring my legs down the other side, until my feet were flat on the ground again and I was stretched into an arch, belly up, white fur glowing in the early sun. I breathed into the stretch, feeling faint stiffness in joints and muscles begin to yield. The early morning sun was warm on my fur, in contrast to the cool air. \n\nJust for a moment, I was perfectly at peace.\n\nNaturally, this was the point where Jenna stuck her head out of her tent. “Morning all! Oh. Hey, prof. What are you doing?”\n\n“In general? Stretching. Specifically? This is the wheel pose.” I then flexed my legs, gave myself a little push with my tail against the ground and brought myself up to a standing position, before bringing my hands together before my chest as I stepped forwards into a lunge.\n\n“Oh, neat. Can you teach me to do that?”\n\n“Eventually, certainly. You’re still young and flexible. Want to try?”\n\n“Sure!”\n\n“Come over here then.” \n\nJenna approached, and I demonstrated the forwards bend, which she copied easily enough. “Now, try moving up into a hand-stand.” \n\nWith some help, she made it to that point and managed to hold it for a bit, until Seneth emerged from the tent and Jenna called over, “Hey, Sen! Look at this!” At which point her concentration broke and she promptly toppled over. She landed, laughing, on her well-muscled tail. “Give it a go!”\n\nAnd so it was that, as the apprentices gradually emerged from their tent, I found myself teaching an impromptu pre-breakfast exercise class. Results were mixed. Jenna and, slightly surprisingly, Evie took to it like ducklings to water. Seneth and Cordo had to settle for the most basic stretches, with a promise that if they kept at them, then over time, they might manage something more advanced. And Jorith had a lot of strength, but not a great deal of grace. \n\nOn the positive, it distracted anyone from mentioning the unexpected greenery around my tent.\n\nExercise was eventually halted as stomachs started to growl. I uncovered the embers of last night’s fire and demonstrated how to build the fire back up, at which point we tore into the remaining supply packs – more bread, toasted over the fire, spread thick with fruit preserves and honey, all washed down with water from the spring. \n\nNext, I walked the students through dismantling their tents, which was easy enough, and then the art of stowing tents and bedrolls back into bags which never seemed quite big enough. Before we could finish packing up the campsite, a deep-voiced call from the forest trail: “Ho, the camp!”\n\nI straightened up and called back, “Is that you, Tey?”\n\n“It surely is.” \n\n“Come on in, then. We’re running a tiny bit late, but we’re nearly done.”\n\nTeyvor, a hulking bear-kith, so large that, were he not dressed, he could be mistaken for one of his feral cousins, came strolling in to the camp. He was there to collect the tents and the now-empty supply packs to carry them back to the road, before going on to set up our next night’s campsite. The fact that he could carry three tents and all the empty bags as easily as I could carry one made him a great asset to the Academy in these classes. I was also glad to see him for a more personal reason. \n\nI darted over to grab a wooden mug from my pack, and then I sidled over to Teyvor, while the students continued to pack and patrol the campsite for any lost items. I craned my neck to look up and meet his eyes. “All clear on the way down from the Academy?”\n\nHe rumbled affirmatively.\n\n“Were you able to bring… it?”\n\nAnother rumble.\n\n“Please, Tey… Don’t hold out on me. I need it.”\n\nHe withdrew a stoppered flask from his bag, and I raised the empty mug in my hands beseechingly. Opening the bottle, he poured a stream of liquid into the mug, dark as sin. He then furrowed his brow momentarily, and the liquid began to steam in the cool morning air, the steam carrying with it a complex, bitter scent that made my mouth water. \n\nI took a long drink of the coffee and sighed, contentedly. “You’re a life-saver, Tey.”\n\nHe rumbled in amusement. “You could just be bringing coffee beans with you, no? They are not so heavy that even a little rat cannot carry them.”\n\nI made a face. “Campfire coffee? Only if I must. Only if I really must. Besides, even at the Academy, no-one else makes coffee quite like your Ersa. Give her a hug for me when you get back, okay?”\n\n“Always happy to hug my wife, yes.”\n\nI looked around, “Looks like we’re done packing. See you tomorrow morning?”\n\n“Surely.”\n\n“With coffee?”\n\nHe grunted, then “Dinner when you get back? Ersa’s making pie.”\n\nI made a tragic face. “I’ve already got plans with Mel. Ersa’s pie is as close to persuading me to cancel as anything ever could, but…”\n\n“The day after then. Pie keeps.”\n\n“You’re on. Stay safe out there, Tey.”\n\n“I will. And keep all of you safe too.”\n\nTeyvor placed the empty supply bags into his rucksack, added the ward-stones and herb-bags from around the perimeter of the clearing and then hoisted all three of the packed tents with no visible signs of effort bar ripples of muscle across his shoulders, and lumbered back onto the trail to the road.\n\nI called the class together. The first point of the agenda was to check who, if anyone, needed more blister-salve, but no-one had gone overboard with the application and those who had needed it all still had a little left from last night. Then came a rapid-fire quiz of things they’d learned yesterday, on which they all acquitted themselves adequately. Then I set them the morning’s route: we would follow the stream back to the larger brook, but rather than downstream for the pool where we washed last night, we would go up-stream, until it reached a lake, where we would stop for a while. I reiterated my warnings on not getting too far ahead or behind, and then gave each student a list of things to try and find along the way: birds to be spotted, herbs to be harvested, trees to recognise... \n\nWe set out and, with differing paces, it wasn’t long before our little band started to space out along the route, much as yesterday. I would have preferred to be up front, but that would leave Evie alone in the middle and, given the tendency I’d seen yesterday for her to retreat into an inner world when left by herself, I didn’t want to find out where in the forest she might end up. \n\nWe walked in silence for a while, the two of us, until there was enough space ahead and behind that I couldn’t easily make out the conversations between Jorith and Jenna or Cordo and Seneth. \n\nEvie suddenly spoke up: “Who was that bear at the camp?”\n\n“Teyvor? Have you not seen him around the Academy? He’s our handyman, odd-job man, janitor… He’s pretty much always doing something useful. He’s married to the head cook, Ersa.”\n\n“He heated up your drink.” She sounded oddly accusatory.\n\nI raised an eyebrow, “You noticed that?” I tried not to match her tone, despite the fact that she should have been clearing that camp at that point, not watching Tey. Or… watching me?\n\n“Yes.” Evie’s tone shifted to slightly defensive, “You did say observation and deduction were important.”\n\nI couldn’t help but chuckle as my words from yesterday were turned back against me. “Fair point, I did. So, you observed. What do you deduce?”\n\n“He’s… got an enchanted item to heat things? But I wouldn’t have thought that would work on something being held by you.”\n\n“Potentially true of any sort of magic to heat my drink,” I pointed out. “But in this case, I was holding the mug by the handle, with the contents extended away from me. The mug isolated the contents just enough. But you’re right, most enchanted items couldn’t be that precise. So, question: why assume that it was an enchantment?”\n\n“He’s Talented?”\n\n“Yes. Full Talent. Fire, clearly. Not Magos class, of course; the only Magoi at the Academy are the other professors, and you students, if you count partly trained talents.”\n\n“But… why would a Talent be working as a handyman?”\n\nI tilted my head slightly, “How many untalented staff do you think the Academy has? Not counting me.”\n\n“Well, they make up nine-tenths of the population so… um… that would make it…” Evie clearly had no idea how many people worked behind the scenes to keep the Academy running, which she would need in order to do the arithmetic.\n\n“Actually, while I won’t say who they are, there’s fewer untalented support staff at the Academy than there are Magoi as Professors. Most of the non-teaching staff are half-Talents. But significantly more are full Talents than you’d expect based on the proportion you see elsewhere. So, word to the wise – don’t look down on the Academy staff, whatever their job role. You might have more raw power than them, but almost all of them are very skilled in using their gifts.”\n\n“But, why?”\n\nI noticed a patch of woundheal growing not too far off the path, so paused my walking for a moment. “Well, I’ve provided the observation, why don’t you see if you can deduce some possible reasons? And, while you’re thinking about it, see if you can find one of the herbs I asked you to watch for.”\n\nEvie cast about, looking through the woodland. I casually turned, very slightly, so that the line of my shoulders pointed to the herb-patch. Evie’s eye was caught by my movement, and then tracked sideways… “Got it!” She darted off the path and into the woods. “Trefoil leaf, reddish border, ground cover… Woundheal?”\n\n“Yes! Good spot! Grab a handful and stow it. It’s good for all sorts of things.”\n\nShe returned to the path, shoving leaves into a belt-pouch. “Rituals!”\n\n“I don’t think woundheal’s useful for rituals. It might be?”\n\n“Talents! Why the Academy has them. Rituals!”\n\n“Good! Yes: they can support the Professors and the senior students in major workings. With so many Magoi in one place, it demands an unusually high volume of Talents. So the Academy seeks out people prepared to work in ‘lesser’ roles for most of their time, but pays them the going rate for a Talent.”\n\nEvie gave a little skip, started back down the path along the stream but then stopped. “Is that the only reason?”\n\n“No.”\n\nHer face fell. “How many reasons are there?”\n\n“Beats me. I don’t make hiring decisions.”\n\n“Prof…!” She wailed, but then narrowed her eyes. “But you must know at least one more reason, because you know that there is more than one reason.”\n\nI grinned, “You’re getting good at this.” I hummed momentarily to myself, counting, before concluding, “I know three other reasons. Might be more I don’t know about.” I carried on down the path and Evie hurried to catch me up.\n\n“Well?”\n\n“Why don’t you discuss it with the others? See what ideas you can come up with between all of you. Or even if not, just mull it over. Maybe you’ll think of one of the ones I don’t know.”\n\n“How would you know if it was right?”\n\n“I’ll see if your logic makes sense. If it does, I can go ask when we get back.”\n\nWe followed the stream around a bend to see our vanguard pair, who had presumably stopped to let us catch up a bit. Jorith and Jenna were standing side by side, heads dipped and turned towards each other. Jorith had a hand on Jenna’s back, drifting close to her tail. She had a hand resting lightly on his arm.\n\nI cleared my throat mildly and the two sprang apart. Jorith misjudging his space and teetering precariously on the riverbank, before a sudden gust of wind sent him staggering back onto the safety of the path.\n\nI gave them a moment to sort themselves out before speaking, “Thank you for waiting for us. How’s your collection going?” \n\nThey had both spotted a reasonable number of their targets so far, although they’d both missed the woundheal. No criticism, Evie had needed a hint and there would most likely be more along the way: it grew well at this time of year. \n\nI indicated they should carry on: “We’ll wait and check in with Cordo and Seneth. The lake’s not a lot further, fifteen or twenty minutes? Probably fifteen at your pace. We’ll see you there. There’s should be a few items on your list to find around the lake, so don’t get too distracted by other things while you’re waiting.” Jorith blushed, while Jenna just grinned at me. \n\nI leaned against a tree to wait, as the pair set off again. Evie remained in the middle of the path, fidgeting. \n\n“You don’t have to wait with me for the other two if you’d rather not. I can likely catch you up before you reach the lake,” I offered.\n\n“I’m fine,” she assured me even as she kept shifting restlessly.\n\n“Okay…” \n\n“I… I’m sorry about last night!”\n\n“Oh, Evie. Have you been fretting about that? Please don’t. You don’t need to be sorry. You can’t be blamed for what happens in your sleep.”\n\n“But we lost the tent-pegs!” Several of the tent-pegs had proved unrecoverable when the tent was taken down, lost to the overgrowth.\n\n“There’s a reason why there’s spares in the tent-packs. They get lost regularly.”\n\n“Oh.” She did, thankfully, stop moving about. “Does it happen often? The sleep-channelling?”\n\nI equivocated. “Well, it’s the reason for the ‘life mage students bunk with me’ policy, you know?”\n\nShe looked at me, frowning a bit. “That wasn’t a ‘yes.’”\n\nI sighed and came clean: “It’s the first time it’s been bad enough to wake me.”\n\nShe looked downcast, “Oh.”\n\n“Is it something that happens at the Academy? I mean, do you wake up with ivy growing up your bedroom wall?”\n\n“No, never.”\n\n“Well then. It was probably just the sleeping for the first time in a new environment. In a tent, out close to nature. You’ll get used to it.”\n\nShe glanced up at me, away, back at me, away again. “Maybe.” She sounded dubious.\n\nI rubbed the back of my neck. “May I make a personal observation?”\n\n“Sure?”\n\n“It can be awkward. Seeing your peers pair up,” I gestured up the path, “Feeling like a fifth wheel on a wagon. But you’re young and it’s early days at the Academy. It’s a ten-year course if you stick to the end. You’ll get to know the classes above you and eventually the ones below. And what’s going on between people now won’t necessarily last. Very likely won’t, in my experience. Anyway… I don’t know if that’s relevant. Or if it helps.” I sighed. “I’m not very good at this stuff. Sorry.”\n\nShe let out a strangled sound that was half-way between a sob and a laugh. “I guess. But, thanks. For thinking about me.” She gave me a look from under lowered lashes. I had a sinking feeling that my advice might have backfired slightly.\n\nWe waited in silence for a few minutes more until our slowpokes caught sight of us loitering and hurried to join us. Their lack of speed was explained and just about justified by the fact that they had managed to spot every single thing on the target list that they could have spotted by this point, even including one that I’d missed and had thought was only found around the lake. Cordo had even taken notes of observations in a journal he’d brought with him, in a neat if cramped hand. Seneth, on the other hand, drooped a little in ears and tail as Cordo volubly explained his notes at me. I praised them both for their observational skills and Cordo for thinking to take notes. Then, talking to both but looking at Cordo, I reminded them that on, a hike, timeliness and decent progress were also factors to bear in mind. He looked slightly abashed, while she fluffed up a little and shot him a sideways glance that practically screamed “I told you so!”\n\nI decided to try something different. “There’s nothing left on your list that can’t be found at the lake or after it. You two start walking and we’ll give you a head start. I want you to focus on the walk. Find your pace, something you can keep up. We,” I indicated myself and Evie, “Won’t rush, but if we catch up with you before the lake, well, your fates will be dread and mysterious.”\n\nI paused to let that sink in before continuing, “Or, you know, involve scrubbing the pans after dinner. Go! Shoo! Move.”\n\nCordo and Seneth shot confused looks at each other then, as I flapped my hands at them, set off down the path together at, I was pleased to see, a better pace than I’d seen out of them so far.\n\nI settled back in against the tree trunk I’d been leaning on. “Sorry, Evie. Hope you don’t mind waiting a bit longer.”\n\n“It’s fine.” Evie found her own tree to lean against, on the river-side of the path. “You said something, Professor, about the Academy course and ‘if you finish’? Do many students not finish the ten years?”\n\n“No, almost everyone does. Magoi are too rare and too in demand for it to be otherwise. It’s very hard to fail out. And anyone thinking of leaving voluntarily will have some long conversations with the Headmistress and, most likely, officials from the government to see if they can be persuaded to stay.”\n\n“But some people do leave?”\n\n“It has happened. In every case I know of, it was at the end of sixth year. That’s when your training puts you at the same level of skill as most full Talents and with more power than most.”\n\n“What if someone wanted to leave sooner?”\n\n“I hope I’ve not put you off hiking so much that you’re desperate to get out of the Academy?”\n\n“No! No. Nothing like that… just curious.”\n\n“Well. You actually can’t leave until, let me think, end of third year. More or less.”\n\n“Why then? Why ‘more or less’?”\n\n“Two reasons: You’d need to be a legal adult. While you’re a child, the Republic can – and does – require you to be at the Academy. And you would need to demonstrate that you’re in full control of your mana. Because you’re all unusually strong talents, that takes longer than it does for most people. And both of those things tend to come around the end of third year.”\n\n“Oh. So, you’re stuck with me for a while then.”\n\n“Oh, Evie… Being your teacher is not a hardship. After all, of the students in this class, you’re not the one who threw a lightning bolt at me.”\n\nShe broke into an uncertain grin, “You did tell him he could.”\n\nI grinned back. “I did indeed. But, seriously: don’t worry about me, or the Academy. I’m looking forwards to teaching you. And I am confident that you will finish out the ten years, and become a Magos that I will be proud to say I taught.”\n\n“Really?”\n\n“Really.” I glanced up the path. “And on that note, shall we set off and find out if Cordo’s scrubbing pots tonight?”\n\nGiggling, we set off again towards the lake.\n\nWe did not, in the end, catch them before they made it to the lake. It was a close-run thing, though: when Evie and I left the treeline to step onto the gravelly lake shore, Cordo and Seneth were just putting down their backpacks next to those of Jorith and Jenna. The boar and the otter by contrast had clearly been here a while and were sprawled on the ground, soaking up the sun.\n\nI dropped my backpack next to the pile, crouched and rummaged through it to extract a large cloth-wrapped parcel. I unknotted the cloth to reveal six smaller bundles wrapped in waxcloth. Spreading the larger cloth on the ground by Jenna, I dropped five of the bundles on it. “Lunch. Make sure you have plenty of water with it. Before we move on, I’ll show you all some ways to get clean water, that we can use to refill the canteens. And, while you eat, Evie’s got a puzzle for you all to work on.”\n\nEvie shot me a confused look for a moment, before remembering our conversation about the number of Talents at the Academy. As she sat down with the others, I grabbed my own canteen, took the last bundle over to one of the scattered trees on the shore and sat down in the shade. I opened the waxpaper to reveal black bread, a wedge of firm cheese speckled with herbs, strips of beef jerky and a handful of dried apricots. \n\nI let my awareness of the kids talking fade into the background, swivelling my ears to bring birdsong from the forest into prominence instead. I stuck a strip of jerky in my mouth to gnaw on, while using my pocket knife to slice slivers from the cheese and add them to broken-off pieces of the bread. \n\nGiven that the apprentices were all mixing food and chatter, I finished eating well before any of them. I brushed crumbs off my clothing, and leaned back against the tree, tilting my hat over my eyes, confident that I would hear any trouble before it got too close. I let my mind drift; voices, forest noise, water lapping on the shore all mingling into a soft, soothing symphony.\n\nI wasn’t quite asleep when my mind was dragged back to the present by a shift in the tone of conversation, and my ears pivoted back to the apprentices as I heard the crunch of gravel that suggested first one, then all of them approaching me. Even keeping my eyes covered, I could tell that they stopped at a respectful distance, then one stepped forwards a little closer. I took a guess based on the weight of the tread and who would be their likely spokesperson: “Yes, Jenna?”\n\n“Woah. Nice, Prof.” She sounded genuinely impressed. “We came up with some ideas. About the Talents. Wanted to see what you thought.”\n\nI pushed the brim of my hat back and opened my eyes, squinting at the bright sun surrounding them. “All right, amaze me.”\n\n“So, Evie said you knew three reasons for there being so many talented at the Academy, plus the one she already worked out; but that there might be others. We’ve come up with four more possibilities on top of Evie’s one. My guess is that I think the Academy seeks out experts. Talents who’ve really focussed on developing their abilities and coming up with specialised or niche applications – because that’s the kind of thing that a Magos could then learn from them.”\n\nI nodded slowly. “Good. That is one of them, yes. As you get into fifth and sixth year, you’ll likely have some classes with non-Magos talents, to share in the kind of skills that they’ve developed through a lifetime of focus on one particular element.”\n\nJenna grinned and stepped back into the semi-circle of apprentices. Cordo shuffled forwards a little. “I proposed that it was credible that one or more of the Magoi at the Academy study Talent itself and not merely its applications. The extent to which it is heritable perhaps, or environmental influences. And that type of study would benefit from a concentrated population of Talents to research.”\n\n“And you are correct. It’s Professor Brinn’s primary field of study when he isn’t teaching. It was, incidentally, also through one of his projects that I first came to the Academy, before I was taken on as a teacher.”\n\nJorith took Cordo’s place as the spokesperson for the circle. “I think there’s a defensive element. Arcwright’s is the single largest concentration of Magoi in the Republic and it houses every one of the potentials from a full decade of births. If an enemy could successfully attack it… it would cripple the country. The Academy’s built in a defensible locale and I’ve noticed that a lot of the Academy staff have the bearing of military veterans. I think the level of Talents feeds into that.”\n\nI grimaced. “You’re right. We don’t talk about it much to the students, but yes. The Academy staff, even without the Professors, should be capable of dealing with almost anything short of a full-scale invasion.”\n\nI glanced round the circle. “Well, I said I knew three other reasons, and you’ve managed three for three. I’m now really interested to know what the fourth one is.”\n\nThey all looked at Seneth who shrank in on herself. “It’s probably just me being silly,” she whispered.\n\n“No, please, Seneth. I’d like to hear it. I did tell Evie that I probably don’t know all the reasons.”\n\nJenna and Cordo, one on each side, gently nudged Seneth forwards. “I… I thought that maybe its because… Talents are rare. That means its not always easy to be one among lots and lots of people who aren’t. They’re valued, but that means there’s a lot of pressure. But if you’re in a community that’s mostly talented, it’s like you’re normal. And maybe not everyone wants that, but if you do, then that might be why you’d come to work at the Academy.” She stuttered to a halt and fled back into the shelter of the circle.\n\nI gave that idea due consideration before answering. “You know, I think you’re very likely right. Certainly in combination with the other factors, which explain why the Academy wants Talents. It fills in the other half of the equation – why Talents come to work at the Academy. I’ll ask some of them when we get back, but I think you’ve probably got that dead right for a good many of them.” \n\nJenna gave Seneth an approving nudge in the ribs, which sent her sideways into Cordo, who in turn put a steadying hand on her shoulders. Seneth beamed in happiness.\n\nJenna forestalled whatever I might have been about to say next by shooting her hand into the air so fast that she bounced on her toes.\n\n“Yes, Jenna?”\n\n“Can we go swimming, Prof?”\n\nI eyed the rest of the class. The number of students enthused by this idea appeared to be precisely one.\n\n“Do you mean: can you go swimming, Jenna?”\n\nShe also looked round the others and looked crestfallen at the lack of buy-in for the idea before looking up defiantly, “Well, if no-one else wants to, yes – can I? Or, how about you Prof? I bet you’re a good swimmer.”\n\nI ruefully indicated my broad-brimmed hat and the clothes that completely covered everything but my face. “I’d love to. But if I took any of this off and went swimming in the sun, I’d have an all-over sunburn like you wouldn’t believe in no time at all.”\n\nJenna’s shoulders sagged a little more. “May I go swimming?”\n\nI thought about it for a moment. I didn’t want to just say ‘no’ outright; we did have a little time to spare. “On either one of two conditions.”\n\nJenna’s ears pricked up.\n\nI carried on: “One: you swim in your underclothes and Cordo agrees to dry you out when you’re done so you can get dressed again. Or two, if everyone,” and I emphasised that word, “Agrees that they don’t mind you swimming bare.”\n\nCordo hastily interjected, “I don’t mind magicking the water out of your clothes.” I was pretty sure he was trying to steer Jenna away from option two. I did notice Seneth fold her arms at that statement.\n\nJenna grimaced, “Swimming in clothes is no fun. Option two? Anyone mind?”\n\nTo my utter lack of surprise, Jorith immediately said he’d be fine with it, to which Jenna gave him a saucy wink. I looked at Cordo, expecting him to object, but he stutteringly said that if Jenna really wanted to, he didn’t mind. Although from the way he was firmly looking away from Jenna when he said it, I expected that he would spend the whole time staring at the treeline.\n\nI resigned myself to Jenna going swimming but glanced at the other two girls to be certain. Evie chewed her lower lip for a moment but then gave a little shrug. “Sure.”\n\nOn the other hand, Seneth’s eyes were darting around the group: to Cordo, to Jenna, down at herself, back to Cordo, and she seemed in an agony of indecision, but eventually, she just gave a little head shake and said in a tiny voice, “I’m sorry, Jen.”\n\nJenna’s jaw dropped at this betrayal from an unexpected source but before an argument could develop, I jumped in. “There we go then. Sorry, Jenna, but no swimming right now. Just to check though: you do know there’s a lake big enough to swim in in the hills behind the Academy, and that you’re free to go to it on restdays, right?”\n\nFrom Jenna’s expression, she clearly had not known this. Once again, I mentally cussed out the Academy’s neglect of physical pursuits, before continuing: “It’s mountain-fed, so it’s pretty much always cold, but there’s generally at least a couple of students there on a restday, as well as some of the staff. And it is both clothing-optional and mixed, but I’m guessing you’re fine with that. Come find me the morning of next rest-day and I’ll show you how to get there.”\n\nJenna’s eyes were lit with glee, “Thank you, Prof! I’ve missed swimming so much these last couple of weeks!”\n“Offer to show people how to get there is open to all of you. Or I guess Jenna can show you afterwards.”\n\nEvie spoke up, “Do you swim there, Professor? Or, oh no, sorry, I guess not, given what you said about sunburn…”\n\n“Actually, sometimes I do, depending on who else is going. Or sometimes on a summer evening, people make a party of it. Take some drinks, build a fire, roast an animal, swim under the stars.”\n\n“That sounds nice? I’m not very good at swimming, but maybe Jenna will help teach me?” Evie glanced sideways. \n\n“Of course!” Jenna seemed positively over the moon at the prospect.\n\nI dusted crumbs off my lap. “Well, if we’re done with lunch, we should probably cover the ‘clean water’ lesson I mentioned.” I started to get my feet under me to stand but Cordo had his hand up. I sat back, “Yes, Cordo?”\n\n“I’m sorry if this is too personal a question, Professor, but something you said intrigued me.”\n\n“If it’s too personal, I won’t answer, but I probably won’t be offended. Go on.”\n\n“You implied that you could sometimes go swimming in the day depending on who else was there.”\n\n“I suppose I did imply that. And that is the case. Is that the question?”\n\n“No. It’s just that… I’ve got a cousin who’s a white rabbit. And they use life-enchantments to be able to go out in the sun safely. So, my initial assumption was that you meant you could go swimming if a Life talent was with you. But you’re, um…”\n\n“Null?”\n\n“Yes. So, I couldn’t figure out why it would matter who you were with.”\n\n“Okay…” I let out a long breath and made myself comfortable again against the tree-trunk. I indicated to the class. “You might as well all sit down.” They all sat down, still in their semi-circle around me. I was reminded of a wood-cut I’d seen once, of a philosopher teaching his acolytes in a very similar arrangement. To amuse myself, I folded my legs so that my feet rested on my thighs and raised a hand, as that ancient teacher had been depicted. \n\nI carried on, “Now, this is a lesson that’s normally much later in the curriculum. Like, several years. But, since Cordo has puzzled his way into the question, you might as well get it now. Let’s start by framing the question: ‘How do you use magic on a Null?’”\n\nJorith: “You can’t.” He huffed. “That’s the whole point.”\n\n“Technically correct. But in a practical sense, wrong. Possibly fatally so, in the wrong circumstances.”\nThey all looked at me, looked at each other, looked stumped. I pointed at Evie. “Evie got a clue to it yesterday.” She looked startled, and I elaborated: “When we were talking about enchanted items. Can you remember what I said?”\n\nHaltingly, struggling to repeat my exact words as best she could remember, Evie relayed to the others that part of yesterday’s conversation. I nodded as she finished.\n\n“Thank you, Evie. So, let’s reframe the question very slightly in the light of what you just heard and see if it helps. Not ‘how do you use magic on a Null,’ but ‘how do you use magic to affect a Null?’”\n\nThere was another long pause as they mulled over the new information. I waited patiently, unsure if they would get there – they were missing quite a lot of the magical theory classes they’d normally have before this came up. Then, all of a sudden, Seneth’s furrowed brow cleared, and the realisation on her face was like the sun coming up. \n\n“Indirectly!” She shouted.\n\nI clapped my hands, “Yes! Very well done, Seneth!” She beamed at the praise. I glanced at the others. Cordo looked like Seneth’s one-word revelation had been sufficient to clue him in. The other three still seemed confused.\n\nI explained: “You cannot use magic directly on a Null. We all know this. You can, however, use magic on the world around the Null in such a way that the consequences affect them. Simple example,” I pointed at Seneth, “If you conjure a fireball and throw it at me, it will dissipate. But if I’m standing amidst loose brush and dry grass, you can ignite that fuel. The ignition is magical – but so long as it’s not right up against me, it isn’t affecting me and won’t be annulled. And then the resulting fire will be very real and will burn me just as it would anyone else.”\n\nNow they were all nodding along to the explanation. Although Jenna grumbled, “Sounds complicated.”\n\nI smirked. “I didn’t say it was easy. You need to be precise and you need to be creative. And if it’s a combat situation you will need to be quick.” I shook a finger at her, “You shouldn’t complain though. Of all the basic element manipulations, earth is one of the easiest to use against a Null, because you so rarely conjure directly and mostly manipulate existing matter.”\n\nCordo half-raised a paw and I looked at him questioningly. “What about the higher magics?”\n\nI made a face. “Please bear in mind I’m not an expert on what each element can do once you get past the basics? But of the ones I do know, air’s probably best. That gets illusions, and although it gets complicated as to how and why, some illusions do work on Nulls. But higher magic training is still several years off for any of you, so we can come back to this then.”\n\nI added, “And, on the bright side, since you’re all Magoi-in-training, eventually you’ll be able to access all of the elements, so you’ll always have options.”\n\nCordo, again: “But what lets you go swimming in the sunshine? I still can’t quite work that one out…”\n\nI sighed, “I’m not surprised. I don’t fully understand it myself. The core of higher Air magic is actually control of light – which is the basis of illusions?” Cordo and Jorith both nodded. “Well, at some point, one of the Academy researchers discovered that it isn’t sunlight as such that burns exposed skin, but only part of it. And a Magus or a full air Talent that knows that fact and knows how can filter that part out.” \n\nI shrugged. “So, yes. If one of the few people at the Academy that have learned how comes to the lake, they can put a ‘shield’ up in the air above that lets me swim safely.” Luckily for me, one of those few people was Mel, which meant I got more swimming time than I might otherwise.\n\nI looked at Cordo. “Are there any other parts of the curriculum you want to jump ahead to, or shall we cover how to purify water like I was planning?” I hoped it was obvious I was joking but he still looked abashed.\n\nI started by explaining the principle of cleansing water by distillation: boil and then re-condense into a second container. I touched on the types of contamination it couldn’t remedy, none of which should be an issue with the lake water. I then described what kind of gear you might need if you were to do it entirely without magic, none of which we had with us. So, it was going to be a good opportunity for them to practice working together.\n\nFirstly, I had Jenna shape two large basins into a large rock by the shore, exposing the inside of the rock to give us a clean surface. Cordo filled one basin from the lake. Seneth knelt beside the basin and stared fixedly at it, channelling heat into the water. As it began to boil, Jorith funnelled the air over to the other bowl, and Cordo re-condensed the steam.\n\nThey worked well together, and soon had a steady stream of water filling the second basin. Evie muttered to me, “I don’t feel like I’m contributing much here…”\n\n“It’s all valuable learning for when you can channel other elements, Evie. Also, you’re going to be needed fairly soon…”\n\nI was keeping a close eye on the three students doing the distilling. Jorith was bearing up well, although starting to breath heavily. Seneth and Cordo though were both starting to sag, though not yet looking quite as sorry as they had been yesterday at the foot of the Academy hill. \n\nAs the clean water reached the point where we could refill all the canteens with some left over, I called, “Enough!”\n\nAll three exhaled loudly as they released their channels, looking like they’d run a race. First Cordo, then Seneth reached up to rub their temples. Jorith didn’t, but was squinting. \n\n“Headaches?” I asked, sympathetically. They all nodded, and I looked at Evie. “Over to you?”\n\nShe nodded and closed her eyes. A green light built around her palms, then formed tendrils which snaked across the ground to each of the three, winding up them and connecting the four together. As the vines embraced them, the three distillers all relaxed. After a few breaths, Evie opened her eyes and the light vanished.\n\n“I could do more… but it might go a bit weird,” Evie said.\n\n“Feeling better?” I asked of the three. Jorith let out a contented grunt, and I looked back at Evie, “Good job.” She beamed under the praise.\n\nWe refilled canteens, and then I gave a quick talk about the biota of the lake and the lakeshore. I then gave the kids a run-down of what trail we’d be following to get to tonight’s camp. As backpacks were re-hefted, I noted from the corner of my eye that Jenna was whispering to Jorith. After she finished, he raised one eyebrow, shrugged but then nodded.\n\nJorith approached Cordo, who was still strapping his pack back on. “Hey, Cordo? Did you guys manage to spot the, uh, the tassletail cones on the way up to the lake?” He carried on without waiting for an answer, “I missed them, but I reckon you’ll have got them, and if I know you, you’ll’ve taken notes on what they look like. Would you mind walking with me, to make sure I don’t miss them this time?” He paused, then added, “Please?”\n\nCordo looked taken aback but, “If I can help, I’d be happy to. Do you want to join...”\n\nJorith cut him off, “Great! You and me, my man. Come on, let’s show the Professor that we can put in the paces and still spot everything!” He wrapped an arm round Cordo’s shoulder and hustled him off towards the path, near dragging him for a few steps until Cordo got his feet under him. They disappeared into the trees following the path, leaving all the rest of us staring after them.\n\n“Oh, I’ll keep Seneth company then if you’re going to keep paired with Evie, Professor,” Jenna piped up with forced nonchalance. Seneth’s tail wavered nervously at this proposal.\n\nI stared at Jenna from under the brim of my hat as I weighed my options. “Al…right. Don’t lag too far behind. Come on, Evie.” I started walking, but looked back over my shoulder to make sure that they were also headed for the trees and weren’t just going to hang back on the shore.\n\nAs Evie and I got a little way away, Evie whispered, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”\n\nI murmured back, “Don’t worry – I’m not going to leave them unsupervised. Are you okay to carry on by yourself for a bit?”\n\nEvie looked confused but nodded nonetheless, and I smiled at her, “Good lass. I’ll catch up with you soon, I hope.” As I whispered that, I was looking about for the right opportunity, and it didn’t take long until it appeared. At a moment when a screen of foliage blocked the view from the path behind, I pulled myself up into the spreading branches of a sturdy tree, then climbed a little higher, before bracing myself and waiting.\n\nIt was less than a minute before Jenna and Seneth passed below me. They were walking in silence, Seneth huddled in on herself, Jenna looking antsy and uncertain. Once they’d passed a little ways, I dropped softly back down to the ground, and followed. I could sneak up on most wild animals. Stalking a pair of distracted first-years should be well within my capabilities.\nI’d timed my eavesdropping well. It was only a moment later that Jenna broke the silence: “Sen…” Her tone was not angry as such, but had an edge to it.\n\nSeneth, who’d clearly been dreading this moment, let her get no further, cutting across whatever Jenna was about to say, “I’m sorry! Please don’t hate me, Jen!”\n\nJenna was taken aback by the pre-emptive apology. “Oh, for…” She stopped and took a deep breath, before carrying on in calmer tones. “Sen. It’s all right. I’m not mad.”\n\nSeneth sniffled. “Really?”\n\n“Really.” Jenna paused and then added honestly, “Well, I mean: I was mad. For a bit. When you first said ‘No’ about me swimming. But, if you hadn’t said it, then the Prof probably wouldn’t have thought to tell me about the lake at the Academy. So, if you think about it, you cost me a quick swim today in exchange for getting me swimming every rest-day from now on. Which is a pretty good deal.”\n\n“Oh, good. I guess? But, then, why?” \n\n“Why did I force a situation where we could talk alone? Because I don’t know why you said ‘No’ and I was worrying about it all the time you guys were distilling the water. I know modesty concepts can vary between kith and regions. Did I offend you when I stripped off to wash last night? If I did, I’m sorry.”\n\n“No, that was fine.”\n\n“Then…?”\n\nThere was a long pause and then, so quietly I could barely hear it from my distance behind them, “Cordo.”\n\n“What about him?” \n\n“You’re so pretty, Jen! You’re so sleek and fit, and…” Seneth trailed off.\n\n“Thanks?” \n\n“And, and I’m not! I’m a fat fluffball! And I know any boy would look at you and want you and not me. And… and thinking about Cordo seeing you like that and wanting you…” She let out a strangled sob. “Hurts.”\n\n“Oh! Oh… Oh, Sen.” Jen’s tone ran at speed through the spectrum from surprise to understanding to compassion. “Come here, you silly squirrel.”\n\nI froze in my cover as the two girls stopped in the middle of the path, Jenna drawing the shorter girl into a hug, making soft shushing noises and stroking Seneth’s hair as she sniffled into Jenna’s shoulder.\n\nEventually, Seneth pulled away. “Thank you, Jenna. I’m sorry I’m so daft.”\n\n“You are silly, but not for the reason you think…”\n\n“What do you mean?”\n\n“Use your eyes, girl! Cordo’s only got eyes for one girl on this trip and it’s not me.” Jenna let that sink in for a moment and then hastily added, “And before you panic, it’s not Evie either! Or the Prof!”\n\n“You mean…?” Seneth sounded confused, but a hint of hope was creeping in.\n\n“Starry gods above! The boy’s head over heels for you, Sen. I don’t know if he realises it, the bookish types never do. Gods know you clearly didn’t… But the way he acts whenever he’s near you? I’m pretty sure I could be dancing around naked and screaming his name and he’d still be looking at you.”\n\n“Really?”\n\n“Really.”\n\n“Oh!” Seneth let out a happy little squeak and hugged Jenna again before letting her go. “Thank you, Jenna!”\n\n“You’re welcome. Now, good luck getting him to realise it!”\n\n“We’ll manage. Somehow.”\n\n“I know you will. Now, we’d better get walking!”\n\n“Yeah! Or we’ll be scrubbing pots tonight!” \n\nThe two of them headed off down the path with renewed vigour. And with that little drama laid to rest, I followed after until the path reached a point where I knew that by cutting off-path and going over a hill I could get ahead of them again. I scrambled up and back down, landing on the path with broken twigs clinging to me, but hearing Jenna and Seneth now to my rear. I set off to see if I could catch up with Evie.\n\nA quick hustle later, I rounded a bend to see Evie up ahead. She was going slow and glancing back over her shoulder. She immediately perked up on seeing me and waved. I waved back and broke into a jog to close the distance.\n\n“You’re back! Everything all right?”\n\nI nodded as I slowed back to a walk, “Yeah, I think it’s all sorted.”\n\nEvie reached over and pulled a bit of stray foliage free from my pack, before offering it to me. “Were you wanting to keep that, Professor?”\n\n“Thank you, but no. If I need it later, I’m sure I can get another one.” I gestured to the surrounding woods. Our eyes met and we managed to keep straight expressions for whole seconds before breaking out into grins, as Evie tossed the leafy twig aside.\n\nSoon after, we saw Jorith and Cordo waiting up ahead. We sped up slightly to join them. They were standing in an awkward silence, and Jorith looked relieved to have other company. “Hey,” he piped up. “We, er, we found the things, the…”\n\n“Tassletail cones,” interjected Cordo.\n\n“Yeah. Them. And we, I mean, I…”\n\nI interrupted him, “You figured you’d bought Jenna enough time for whatever she was planning?”\n\nCordo looked confused, glancing between me and Jorith. Jorith shrugged in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Pretty much. Everything… okay, do you know?”\n\n“Should be fine. I don’t think they’re far behind us. Shall we wait and regroup, go on ahead together?” Everyone seemed fine with that plan. I unhooked my flask from my belt and took a long swig, and the three apprentices followed suit.\n\nJorith made a face as he swallowed. “This water tastes weird. Kind of flat.”\n\nI nodded, “The distilling process does that. As well as dangerous impurities, it leaves behind all the safe ones that add flavour. If we’d carried on until the first basin was empty, you’d’ve seen a layer of minerals on the bottom.” I carried on, “Which is – and I’ll come back to this in future classes – something to be wary of on longer trips. When you sweat, you lose salt, and this kind of water can’t replace it, so you’ll need to get it from somewhere else.”\n\nMy ears flicked as I heard footfalls from behind us, and I stepped to the side of the path to look back. It was, as expected, Jenna and Seneth. I glanced sideways at Cordo and it really was amazing how, as soon as he saw Seneth, his entire affect changed: he stood up a little straighter, his ears perked up, eyes brightened. I couldn’t help but smile. Looking round, I could see that Evie and Jenna were also watching Cordo with warm smiles, and as for Seneth… Finally clued in by Jenna to what had been obvious to everyone bar her and Cordo, Seneth reflected and magnified Cordo’s radiant affection. Never unattractive, whatever she might think of herself, she was now made beautiful by young love’s light.\n\nCordo just drank in the sight of her for a long moment, before some instinct clued him in that he was the focus of attention of the hike’s entire female contingent, and he suddenly panicked. “What? Do I have something on my face? Is it a bug?” He twisted around, trying to look at himself.\n\nSeneth hurried to his side, brushing past me and Evie, to put a reassuring paw on his shoulder. “You’re fine, don’t worry. We were just pleased to see you all.”\n\n“Oh.” He settled down. “It’s… nice to see you too?” His words were anodyne, but as his eyes met hers, their gazes locked and silence drew out between them.\n\nUntil I cleared my throat and broke the spell: “Right. Yes, we’re all glad to see each other. But unless you two girls need a break,” I looked questioningly between Seneth and Jenna, who both shook their heads, “We should carry on. Let’s keep together for this next leg – it’s the last bit before we get to camp, and you can all compare notes and work together to spot anything else on your lists before we get there.”\n\nMoving as a group this time, we were making good time along the path. The last few items on the list of ‘things to spot’ were rapidly ticked off with all of them working together, and the kids were laughing and chatting as we went. I reckoned we’d get to the camp with plenty of time to set up for the evening, and was mentally reviewing my stock of campfire tales to keep my promise and make up for the previous night’s lack.\n\nIt was, in short, all going too well.\n\nFrom the front of the pack, my ears twitched as they caught an unexpected sound. I paused on the path and held up a paw, causing the apprentices to stumble to a halt behind me. One of them started to speak, but stopped as I hissed, “Quiet! I’m listening…”\n\nAs silence fell, I focussed my attention ahead. There was definitely some unusual commotion: something moving heedlessly through underbrush and odd vocalisations.\n\n“Wait here,” I instructed, “Quietly. I’m going to scout up ahead.” I matched deed to word, moving cautiously towards the noise, staying low and moving from cover to cover. \n\nIt wasn’t long before I got a look at what was making all the ruckus. A full-grown wild boar, but not one that was peacefully foraging. Even from a distance, I could see two broken arrows protruding from high on its side. The boar was panting and drooling, weaving back and forth across the path, through the bushes and every so often would let out a grunting roar and half-charge some inoffensive shrubbery.\n\n“Oh, star-spit,” I muttered as I turned and started to hightail it back to the group. A wild boar was problem enough. One that had been injured by a careless hunter, far worse. Addled by infection setting in from the wounds? About the only worse option would be one in rut defending its turf.\n\nAs soon as I reckoned I was clear of line of sight, I moved as quickly as I could while still remaining quiet. The teens were where I’d left them, huddled uncertainly, waiting. They looked surprised to see me coming towards them at speed. As soon as I was with them, I briefed them on the problem, in quick quiet sentences: “Change of plans. We’re headed back towards the lake. There’s a wild boar on the path, he’s injured and he’s raging. He doesn’t know we’re here. We’re downwind, and his eyesight isn’t great. But if he hears or scents us, he’ll come for us. Move as quickly as you can, while keeping quiet. If he does charge, scatter and climb trees. Use your magic if you have to but best plan’s waiting him out. Now move!”\n\nThey exchanged fearful glances, but all obeyed without hesitation, turning and moving back down the path with commendable speed. By unspoken agreement, they rearranged themselves such that Cordo and Seneth were at the front, furthest from the boar and where, as the slowest, we could all take our pace from them. Evie was in the middle, with Jorith and Jenna at the rear. Other than myself, of course, who was last of all. \n\nAs we went, I was calling down curses in my head on whatever fool of a hunter had sparked this mess. Bad enough to injure your prey and not finish the job, leaving it to most likely die slowly. But what sort of thrice-damned idiot went after a boar with bow and arrow in the first place? I stopped dead in my tracks as an unpleasant thought rose up from my subconscious. \n\nCasting a nervous glance backwards, Jenna noticed my halting and also paused, gradually bringing the rest of the group to a stop. I closed the gap and said quietly, “I need to go back and check something. Keep moving. I’ll catch up, but even if I don’t, do not stop until the lake. Even there, keep near trees you can climb. If all else fails, the lake is a rendezvous point where the Academy will come to look for you, so stay there. Got it?”\n\nThey nodded and resumed their march, while I doubled back towards the boar. It took me far less time than I would have liked for it to come back into view. I had an unpleasant feeling that it had picked up our scent, and while it probably wasn’t sure we were out there, it was now headed down the trail with far less meandering and far more impending menace.\n\nAs the slightest of positives, the boar’s more forward trajectory gave me a good angle to see what I’d wanted to check. I slipped my folding spyglass from a belt pouch and opened it to get a closer view at the broken arrows, specifically their fletching. Even in the waning afternoon light, I could make out the colour banding: black, red, black. \n\n“Drowning dark,” I swore under my breath. And as I turned tail and fled down the path as swiftly as I could while staying silent, I offered a prayer of apology to the spirit of the hunter I had earlier maligned – for I was now near-certain that he was as dead as we would be if the boar caught us. That colour banding, here, meant that the arrows were Academy-made for sale, enchanted to bring a swift and painless end to any prey even grazed by them. That they hadn’t…\n\nAgain, I caught up with the apprentices faster than I wanted. Whether from fatigue, reluctance to leave me behind or both, they had slowed down, although they did pick up the pace as I hurried to rejoin them. I updated them as best I could, while trying to catch my breath. “Don’t bother using magic on the boar. It’s a Null. If it comes to it, just get up a tree as fast as you can and wait it out.”\n\nAlthough the prospect of fighting should never have been more than a last resort anyway, the news that they couldn’t rely on their magic sent a new frisson of urgency through the class, reinforced by the sound of a grunting bellow from behind. Without speaking, we all picked up the pace.\n\nMaybe we would have made it to the lake, if everything had gone right. We did not have a chance to find out. As best I could reckon what happened: I snapped shut the spyglass that I was still holding, meaning to stow it back in its pouch as we went to free my hands. Evie looked back at the sound and did not see a protruding rock in the path. She stumbled, breaking stride and Jorith, close on her heels, could not stop in time. His bulk collided with her slight frame and sent her flying forwards and off the path, straight into a bramble bush. All things considered, I couldn’t even blame her for the startled shriek that ripped through the quiet of the forest, putting those few birds that hadn’t already fled to squawking flight from their roosts.\n\nAn enraged bellow from behind us put paid to any faint hope that the cry might have gone un-noticed. I barked orders, no point in stealth now: “Trees! Move! I’ll get Evie!”\n\nThe four teens scattered off the trail as I darted for the bush where I could see flashes of roan and white fur in the greenery. I had to trust that Jorith and Jenna could climb. I spared a sideways glance for Cordo and Seneth, where he was giving her a boost into the lower branches before heading for a shelter of his own. \nI grabbed Evie’s waving hand and pulled her upright, just as the boar hoved into view. It was steaming in the cool afternoon air, slaver dripping from its jaws and tusks. It bellowed once more and charged.\n\n“Shit, shit, shit!” I shoved Evie away from me, adrenaline lending me strength, hurling her back into the undergrowth, as I used the reaction to leap the other way, aiming to let the boar pass between us. As it passed, in a thunder of hooves, musk and sweat, something hit me, sending me tumbling off the other side of the path.\n\nI rolled and came back up to my feet, as the boar wheeled around to come back for another pass. It swung its head back and forth, squinting, looking between me and Evie, fallen like the leaves in which she lay.\n\nAs I turned to look her way, my right leg buckled under me. I glanced down. The boar had not merely knocked into me. Its tusk had opened a long rip down my trousers and into my thigh, and even in the dimming light of the day, I could see white fur turning carmine. Now the pain hit. I gritted my teeth and inhaled to yell.\n\n“Evie! Get to a tree! I’ll keep him busy!” \n\nShe stirred and started to rise. The movement drew the boar’s attention, so I resorted to desperate measures. I threw the spyglass that somehow I’d held on to through all this. The brass cylinder bounced off the boar’s head with a very expensive shattering sound. As the boar’s gaze focussed on me and it started to move, I offered up two, admittedly contradictory, prayers: that my death would be quick, but that it would buy enough time for Evie to get to safety. \n\nI crouched, preparing to jump at the last moment, knowing that with a bad leg, it was unlikely to be enough. But as it closed the distance, suddenly, a bush a few paces ahead of it exploded into bright flame. The boar veered, as startled as I, and a breath later, before it could reorient to me, a thunderbolt crashed down into the undergrowth with a flash of light, sound and steam, sending the boar even further off course. I leapt into the opening, landing badly as another jolt of pain shot from my leg, but without further injury. I shot a look upwards. Jorith and Seneth were both clinging desperately to their perches, trying to get a decent view of the path and the boar. Jorith had crawled so far out on to the branch, I was sure he must be supporting it with magic. Jenna was gesticulating wildly in the boar’s direction.\n\nI looked back at my nemesis. The boar was trying to turn for another charge, but was being hindered by the fact that the path kept rearranging itself, as Jenna raised berms and ledges, digging gullies and trenches in circles around the beast. It wouldn’t last forever, but for a moment, I dared to think it might last long enough.\n\nNo sooner had the thought crossed my mind than the boar lost patience and charged at one of the infuriating earth features that kept appearing around it. Jenna couldn’t release the magic fast enough and I heard her yelp as the boar hit the raised ground, shattering her mana-weaving with a flash. The boar was beyond infuriated now. As it crested Jenna’s earthworks, it didn’t even seem to notice another shrub bursting into flame.\n\nI tried to crouch, to leap again, but my leg gave out entirely, sending me to my hands and knees.\n\nAn agonized cry, Evie: “Hickory!”\n\nI looked her way, hoping that I would, at least, see her half-way up a tree, on her way to safety.\n\nWhat I saw instead was a young goddess. Evie, standing amidst the trees, entirely limned in emerald light, a rack of phantasmal antlers crowning her, blazing in verdant fire. \n\nThe boar charged.\n\nTime seemed to slow. Each heartbeat, thudding in my ears.\n\nEvie raising a hand. \n\nA slow, deep, ripping sound. The earth buckling and parting as tree roots thrust themselves up from the soil, growing and twisting, all outlined in that same green fire that surrounded Evie.\n\nThe boar, halfway to me now, I could see the spit dripping from its tusks and the delirium in its eyes. \n\nThe roots, twining together, thickening, forming a palisade. A wall of living wood between me and the boar, with long, sharp stakes angled outwards.\n\nThe boar hit the palisade. The green fire vanished in a flare of shattered mana, but it was too late for the boar. The roots were entirely real and needed no further shaping. The boar’s momentum drove the stakes deep into its chest. It kept coming, heedless of the fact that it was impaled, uncaring that it was killing itself. Onwards it came, slowing as the stake got thicker, gradually losing momentum, its legs no longer driving forward, but still it frothed, shaking its head, seeking only in its last moments to take me with it into the darkness. \n\nIt hit the fence at the end of the stakes. It bashed its tusks against them, throwing what weight it could still muster against the root’s aegis. Living wood groaned and creaked, but held.\n\nFrom where I lay, I could feel its hot breath. Our eyes met, two lives marked by the same stigma, both leaking life’s blood into the earth. Saliva spattered my boots, as the boar frothed and raged. Shadows hovered around the edge of my vision. And finally, gradually, as the light left its eyes, darkness claimed me too. \n\nI awoke to warm sunshine on my face and the sound of voices. I opened my eyes a crack, squinting against the light. I was lying on a soft bed, tucked into sheets as white as my fur. For a moment, I did not know why I was there, and then memories of the boar slammed back into my consciousness. I essayed a tentative wiggle of my toes: both feet still seemed to be there and responding, although I did get a warning twinge from my thigh.\n\nI opened my eyes more fully and glanced about. I was in the Academy infirmary. Mel’s favourite coat was draped over the chair next to my bed. Mel herself was sat next to the bed opposite me, chatting to its occupant: Evie, sitting up and smiling.\n\nEvie was the first to notice my stirring. She shrieked, “Hickory’s awake!”\nMel, not quite literally, flew across the room, and as I started to pull myself up to a sitting position, she caught me up in her arms, and pulled me close to her chest. We hugged for a long moment, saying nothing, until she reluctantly let me go.\n\n“Hey,” I said. My voice was hoarse, my throat dry. Mel passed me a cup of water and I drank, gratefully. “How long was I out?”\n\nA new voice answered: “Eighteen hours, near enough.”\n\nI looked towards the door to see Professor Kellen, a lanky fox-kith who doubled up as the senior healer for the Academy.\n\nKellen continued, “I’m fairly sure I can guess your next questions, so I’ll save some time.” He held up one finger and pointed at Evie with the other paw: “She will be fine. She’s on bed-rest for today to recover from channel-burn.” \n\nA second finger, other paw now pointing at me, “You will also be fine. You will have an impressive scar. You can go back to your quarters this evening provided you can stand up.” \n\nThird finger: “You owe your life to your apprentices. Although, from what I understand, also due credit to your teaching. The otter and the rabbit treated your wound with some of the herbs you’d had them collect, bandaged you up and got you stable. The boar and the squirrel figured out a way to send up a distress signal that we could see from the Academy. Without both parts, you wouldn’t have lasted until we came looking for you this morning.”\n\nFourth finger, “And since they didn’t have any classes scheduled for today, they have spent all morning lurking around the infirmary asking when you will wake up. You’re awake, so I’m letting them in before I turn them into toads.”\n\nKellen threw open the door that led out to the corridor and barked, “One hour, tops. Then, out!” He promptly stalked away.\n\nHe was immediately replaced by far more congenial companionship, Jenna and Jorith first through the door, laden with bouquets of flowers; hot on their heels Cordo and Seneth, two hands joined, the others carrying baskets of fruit. \n\nAs they swarmed into the room, clustering round Evie and my beds, I squeezed Mel’s hand and smiled up at her, grateful for these people, this moment, and this chance for further days.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "“Mel?  Am I interrupting your lunch, or can you spare me a minute?”

The little bat-kith administrator looked up from her desk, covered in scrolls, tomes and inkwells, to meet my gaze.  “I’ve always got time for you, Hickory.  What do you need?”  

“I’m taking out the new apprentice class this afternoon for their first expedition.  Do you have an extra copy of the register?  I…”

Mel sighed and finished my sentence, “...lost yours.  Here.”  She waved a hand casually, invoking a breeze which picked up a parchment from her desk and carried it into the air above me, before dropping it into my hands.  “Next time Professor G needs a research topic you could maybe suggest that he investigates the extra-dimensional space that apparently eats all your paperwork?”

I blushed, heat radiating out through my ears.  “I’m sorry, Mel.  I don’t mean to cause you extra work.”

Her expression softened, “Don’t be silly... I’m only teasing.  Now, go on:  lunch is nearly over.  Have fun with the young ones.  And when you get back, dinner?  I’ll cook?”

“That sounds wonderful.  Thanks, Mel.”  I blew her a kiss, and she sent one back, adding a touch of magic to make it manifest: an illusion of a heart with wings, that burst into pink sparks as it touched my cheek-fur.

I swung my pack up onto my back, and hurried through the halls towards the front courtyard.  The academy bells signalled the end of lunch just as I arrived, which gave me a moment to set my bags down and catch my breath before the class arrived.  

They trickled in over the next few minutes, the last arriving only a scant breath before the second bell which would have marked him as tardy.  It was a small class this year, even for a school as exclusive as Arcwright, which only accepted talents strong enough that they may someday qualify as a full Magos.  

I glanced over the five students gathered before me, all in their early to mid-teens, and then waved the parchment at them.  “Good afternoon, class!  I’m Professor Hickory, Arcwright Academy’s lecturer in Nature Lore and Survival.  And since it’s a mandatory subject, and I don’t recognise any of you, you must be the new first year apprentices.  Welcome; and please, feel free to put your packs down while we cover some introductory material.”  

They all dropped their bags, with some expressions of relief, as I carried on: “We’ll start with the register.  I can see we’ve got the right number of people, but so I can match faces to names, when I call your name, please acknowledge, and also confirm your primary magical attunement.”  I trusted Mel to have got the details right, but my thinking a student was an air mage when they were actually an earth mage could cause problems much graver than a mix-up of names, so it couldn’t hurt to confirm.

“Jenna Withier?”  

“Here!”  A lithe otter-girl enthusiastically stuck her hand up.  “Earth attuned.”

“Cordo…”, I hesitated a little over the surname before pronouncing it as written,  “...Moswick?”  

I knew it was the gray-furred rabbit boy even before he raised his hand, just from the exasperated twitch of his ears as I read out his surname.   “It’s pronounced ‘Mozzik’, Professor.  And, here.  Water mage.”

“Thank you, Mr Moswick.  And, moving on… Seneth Covissey?”   The squirrel-kith girl acknowledged her name and confirmed the register’s note that she was attuned to fire.

“Evanise Helair?”

The remaining girl, a roan deer, half-raised her hand, and spoke quietly,  “Here, Professor.  L- Life mage.”  She stumbled over the word, and the lad behind her snickered derisively.  Evanise ducked her head and fell silent.  I could guess why:  life mages were commonly known as ‘lust mages’.  Skilled life mages often qualified as healers and were in high demand…  the more weakly talented frequently found less reputable paths for their gifts.  It was an awkward power for a teenager.

I moved on to the last of the five, the boar-kith boy who’d laughed at Evanise.  “And, by elimination, I’m guessing you must be… Jorith Nemtall?”

“That’s right.  And I’m an air mage.  Like my father: Magos Joren Nemtall.”  He stuck his snout proudly in the air.  “I assume you’ve heard of him?”  

I had, of course: the man ran a highly influential spell-broker consortium but, judging from the quiet sighs and shuffles of the rest of the class, they had already heard far too much about Magos Nemtall from Jorith, so I kept my expression neutral and cocked my head slightly to one side.  “I don’t think so.  Does he live in the forest near Arcwright?”

Jorith sputtered, “What? No!  He’s…”

I cut him off, “Irrelevant to this lesson, in that case. Thank you, Jorith.”

I stepped back and surveyed the group again.  They were all wearing the hiking kit that the Academy supplied, and they all had their backpacks – although, of all them, only Jenna’s looked to have been properly adjusted to her frame. I glanced down and noticed that Jenna had also known to put in some pre-wear on her boots; the others were all pristine.

“Alright. We’ll be heading out on a gentle hike this afternoon, camping in the forest tonight.  Tomorrow, we’ll move through the forest to a second site, camp, and then return to the Academy the day after.  We should be back in time for lunch, but you’ll have no afternoon classes that day anyway, just in case we’re delayed.  Does anyone have any questions before we set out?”

Seneth, Evanise and Cordo all raised their hands, but Jorith just butted straight in without waiting to be acknowledged:  “Why do we all have to do this course anyway?  We’re here to learn magic!  And,” he looked me up and down, “I don’t see how you can teach us anything about that.”

I smirked and ran a finger over my whiskers.  “So you know that I’m the non-mage on the teaching staff.  Did you work that out yourself?”

Cordo answered quietly, his ears down, “That was me, Professor.  Sorry.”

“No need to apologise.  Observation and deduction are important parts of this course.  Have an extra credit point.”   Cordo’s ears perked up.

“Anyway,” I continued, “You do raise some good questions, Jorith. To begin to answer them, I think a small practical demonstration might help.  Could everyone clear some space between me and Jorith, please?”   The other four leapt to obey.  They might not have known what was coming, but they plainly wanted to be well clear of it.

I hefted my walking staff.  “Jorith.  I am going to walk slowly towards you, and if I reach you, I am going to hit you with this stick.  I want you to use your magic to stop me.”

He looked suddenly uncertain, “You want me to…?”

“Oh yes, any spell you want.”  I took my first step forwards and he reacted instinctively, leaning into his native element, calling up a wind to push me backwards.  Swirling currents of air rushed towards me, picking up dust and fallen leaves from the flagstones, but I never felt it, because the moment the front of the current hit me, it died immediately.  All the detritus it had picked up fell back to the floor, momentum carrying them past me as they went, and the only traces of his spell were a faint crackle of dissipating energy over my skin.

I moved another three steps forwards before he stopped gaping in confusion and got another spell off.  This time, he tried a barrier, coalescing the air between us into a solid wall to bar my path, thickening it into a translucent mass that blurred my view of him.  I walked straight into it, and it erupted into a shower of falling green sparks as it instantly collapsed.

I was nearly to Jorith but he got one last spell off, a crackling blast of gathered lightning that leapt from his hands towards me, the flash illuminating the courtyard.  But all it earned him was a very pretty light show, as I was briefly framed in an aurora of multicoloured glints of light, and a raised eyebrow from me:  I ended up doing this demonstration most years, and – even with my advance permission – few students had both the nerve and the skill to try a war-spell on a professor.    

Stopping in front of Jorith, I met his eyes.  I was short, but he hadn’t come into his full adult height yet, and we were on a level.  I could see white all round his irises as he boggled like his world was ending.  “Y-you, you’re not just untalented, you’re a, a…” He stammered as I stared him down.

“A Null.  Yes.”  I tapped him on the forehead with the tip of my staff.  Not hard, I had no intention of hurting him, but it did make a very satisfying ‘thunk’ and Jorith staggered back like he’d been pole-axed.

“Extra credit quiz!” I called out to the class, while continuing to stare at Jorith.  “Define a ‘Null.’”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cordo’s hand go up first, and I pointed to him. “An individual entirely incapable of casting or interacting with magic. Mana-weaves break on contact,” he piped up – a near-perfect textbook quote.

“What proportion of people are Nulls?” I continued.  Cordo was, again, first to raise his hand, and I indicated to him.

“Estimates vary at between one-fifth and one-tenth that of the proportion of Magos-class talents, which is to say, Nulls are between one in two-hundred-fifty-thousand to one in five-hundred-thousand of the population as a whole.” I started to wonder if he had memorised the entire book.

“Can animals and plants also be Nulls?”  Cordo raised his hand, but I shook my hand at him.  “I can tell you know, Cordo.  Have a point anyway, but give someone else a chance too.”

This time, Evanise was the first to half-raise her hand, the tip of her boot twisting against the flagstones.  I gave her a nod, and she hesitantly said, “Yes? I think?”

“You think correctly.  Well done – it’s not widely known.  And what proportion of wildlife is Null?”  This time no-one, not even Cordo, put their hand up.  I carried on:  “Correct!  No-one knows!  It’s one of the topics of research here at Arcwright.  But what we do know so far: it is much, much higher than in kith and we think it is increasing over time.  It may even be in excess of one percent in some areas!”  I choked down my suspicion that it might be higher even than that – the evidence I’d gathered was still patchy and the other Professors were very reluctant to accept that it could be so prevalent.

“So, think quick – you’re in the woods,  a wild black bear is coming at you, and it’s not walking slowly!  Your first spell shatters – it’s a Null.  What do you do?”

Jenna leapt in: “Climb a tree!”

I shook my head ruefully, “Ooh, bad luck.  Bears can climb trees too!  You’ve given it some nice exercise to work up an appetite before supper.  The supper is you, by the way.”  That got a few scattered chuckles as the tension eased.

“So one of the things we will be learning in this course is what you should do if confronted by a bear.  And better, how not to annoy the bear in the first place!  And similarly for a wide range of other hazards of the wild.  As well as a wealth of other useful information about the flora and fauna of the realm, and about how to best spend your time outdoors.”

Cordo lifted a hand, and I inclined my head towards him.  “Professor?  I now understand what the course is aiming to teach, but the fact that it’s mandatory indicates an assumption that we will all be spending time out in the wilds.  And,” he hesitated, “I haven’t quite grasped why yet.”  

“Other than the proven fact that time outdoors in the fresh air is good for both mental and physical wellbeing?  Simple, really.  Reagents.  Someone define ‘reagents’ for me.  It’s an easy one, so no extra credit on this question.”

Seneth piped up for the first time since I took the register.  “Reagents are,” she paused, seemingly gathering the words, “animal, vegetable or mineral components used in more complex spell-working.  I know almost all item enchantments need them.”

“Thank you, Seneth.  You’ve probably all seen reagents for sale in shops.  Generally ones that have been farmed. But components like that are only good for low-power spell-working.  The mana in them is quite crude.  More refined spell-work demands reagents gathered from the wild.  The best reagents – the sort needed by a Magos for their work – often need to be gathered from deep in nature, under incredibly precise circumstances.  Maybe they have to be gathered with magic.  Maybe without any magic touching them at all.  Sometimes, they are unstable such that they have to be incorporated into an ongoing working within minutes of harvesting.  And that is why almost every practising Magos spends at least some of their time out in the wild, collecting what they need to work.  And my job is to make sure that when you are all Magoi and you go out into the woods, you have the tools you need to make sure you come back with your reagents.”  I took a deep breath as I came to the end of my spiel.

“Any other questions before we set out?”  I looked around the five.  There didn’t seem to be any takers.  “Very well, let’s go.”  

It was a good day for walking, overcast but dry, with a steady breeze.  Despite the cloud-cover, I still wedged my sun-hat firmly on before I led the class out of the courtyard and onto the road that wound its way down the hill on which the Academy perched, towards the forest below.

By my standards, the pace I set was that of a gentle stroll.  Nonetheless, before we even reached the bottom of the hill, I could hear muffled sounds of exertion from behind.  I snuck a glance over my shoulder at the apprentices strung out in a line, like ducklings following their mother.   Unsurprisingly, Jenna was close behind me, wearing a goofy grin and striding along like she’d left all her cares in the courtyard.  Slightly more surprising was Jorith, close behind her.  He still looked disgruntled, but it didn’t seem to be due to discomfort or exertion.   Then there was a gap before Evanise, who was ambling along, seemingly lost in her own little world, another gap, and then Cordo and Seneth bringing up the rear, seemingly in competition for who could make the hardest going of an easy walk.  I rolled my eyes as I looked forwards again, and decided that I would – again – talk to the Headmistress about including some mandatory exercise lessons in the class schedule, even if I ended up teaching those too!

I stopped at the bottom of the hill, where the road forked, and leaned against the way-marker to let all the apprentices catch up.  “Doing all right, Jenna?”

“Fine, Prof.  We stopping already?!””  

I subtly nodded up-hill to where the two laggards were still one and a half zig-zags of the switchback road away.  “Be nice…  I can tell you’re used to this.”

Jenna grinned as she leaned on an adjoining side of the marker pillar, her shoulder brushing against mine.  “My family are traders, so we’re up and down the roads all the year round.  Never spent much time in the woods, though.”

“Yeah, I guess feral bears don’t buy much.”

Jorith stopped in front of us, and I nodded to him. “You’re doing well so far.”

“My father always insisted on the importance of a healthy body to support a healthy mind.  He says its the only way to really master a Magos’ power.”

“Sensible.  High-level channelling can put a lot of strain on your system. The better condition you’re in, the more you can take.”  

Jorith grinned before looking down and frowning.  “These boots are bloody – sorry Professor – really uncomfortable though.”

“No need to mind your language around me.  And yes, new boots always are.  Hopefully, this expedition will start breaking them in for you all – without causing too many blisters.  And one of the things we’ll cover is how to break new boots in without getting blisters for future.”

“Wouldn’t it be a good idea to cover that before we set out?”

I smirked.  “I find a few blisters make sure the lesson sticks. Don’t worry – I packed plenty of salve.”

Evanise reached our little group and seemed set to carry on straight past, her eyes fixed vaguely on a distant horizon.  I coughed gently, and she startled, head snapping up and eyes looking round, before focussing on me.

“Glad you could join us, Evanise.  Are you all right?”

“Oh.  Fine, Professor.  Just thinking about stuff, I guess.”  Her stance was easy, no sign of any discomfort from the boots.  Life mages did tend to be resilient.

“Well, now you’ve reached the bottom of the hill, do try and pay attention as we head into the woods.  Bears, remember.”  She nodded at my admonition, abashed.

Eventually, the last two members of my little squad reached us.  Both looked miserable, Cordo’s ears and Seneth’s tail all drooping.  I feigned reaching for my pack.  “Now you’re here, we can carry on…”  

Cordo’s ears lost any perkiness they still had, and Seneth’s nose crinkled like she was about to cry.  “All right, all right,” I said hurriedly, “We can take a break.  Put your bags down.  And, all of you – there’s canteens in your pack.  Have some water.  First, and most important lesson:  stay hydrated.  Water in you is water you’re not carrying.”

Both dropped their packs, and everyone pulled flasks out.  Cordo and Seneth both drank greedily – more than they should have needed so soon after lunch.  I leaned forwards to look closer at both.  Cordo’s clothes were damp and clinging to him; Seneth’s utterly dry, no trace of any sweat-stain at all.  I addressed them, “Both of you, hold still a moment.”  They froze, looking puzzled.  

I glanced at the others, “I’ll need some help here.  Evanise? Could you hold a hand close to Seneth – not touching – please? And… Jorith? Could you tell me about the air around Cordo?”  

As Evanise stepped towards Seneth, Jorith’s eyes went distant for a moment, then his forehead furrowed.  “It’s… wet?  Like fog?”  

Evanise brought a hand to a hairs-breadth from Seneth before snatching it away.  “Hot!”

I cursed under my breath as I stepped swiftly forward, and then simultaneously flicked both Seneth and Cordo on the ear.  Sparks flew as I touched them and they yelped.  “You young idiots,” I snarled.  “I’d expect better mana control if you were newly-awakened ten-year-olds!  No wonder you were struggling! Seneth – you’ve been heating up your close surrounds, and Cordo – you’ve been calling water into the air around you, meaning you couldn’t cool down by sweating.  How did you not realise?!”   I was well aware the warm glow of anger in my chest was masking a knot of guilt in my gut – I should have checked on them much sooner.  

Seneth’s eyes screwed closed and the only reply she gave was a little sniffle.  Cordo’s whiskers trembled, but he did find words: “I’m sorry, Professor.  We were talking as we set out and fell behind, and then we had to hurry to try and catch up, and we must’ve got distracted, and unfocused, and then it just seemed so hard and you were all making it look so easy…”  

“A bad start, which proceeded to make everything worse.”  I stepped back and sighed.  “Well, at least you now know – and more importantly know what to watch out for in future.”  I looked around.  “Everyone, sit down. Off to the side of the road.  We’ll take a slightly longer break.”

As they all sat, I rummaged in my pack and pulled a pouch of dried fruit mixed with nuts, which I handed to Cordo. “Split this with Seneth and eat it before we carry on.  You’ll need to replace the energy you lost to the channelling. And both keep drinking.  You’ve probably lost more water than you realise.  We’ve got plenty and can always redistribute later.”

I’d no sooner got them sat down and eating than I turned around to see Jorith about to pull one of his boots off.  I dashed over to stop him: “It might feel good now, but your feet will swell, and it’ll be even worse once you have to get the boots back on…”  That minor crisis thwarted, I took a moment to step a little bit away from the class, face down the road, scrub my fingers through my cheek-fur and scream silently to myself.

A few deep breaths later, I fixed the smile back onto my face and returned to the group.  “How’s everyone doing?”  I got a mix of nods and affirmations in return.  Cordo and Seneth were looking much recovered with benefit of water and food.

“Great. We’ll carry on then.  As you can see,”  I waved at the dense treeline that lined part of our horizon, “We’re at the forest’s edge.  We’ll follow the road a bit further, and then veer off onto a trail into the woods, that will take us to tonight’s campsite.  For this leg, we’ll all stick together.  Don’t get too far ahead, and if you start falling behind, call out.   We should make the campsite with time to spare before twilight.”

Jenna popped a hand into the air.  “Professor?  Our packs have bedrolls but no tents.  And only some trail mix for food.”  

“Given this is the first time on a camping hike for many of you, I didn’t want to overburden you.  Some of the Academy staff have been out before us and have left supplies and tents at the campsites.  Don’t get too used to it!  Over the course of the year, you’ll be expected to carry more and more of your own kit.”

“Supplies… just left in the woods?”

“Warded, of course.  Neither kith nor animals should see them.  Unless a Null stumbles through the supply dump – but this close to the forest edge, the risk of that is low.  And there’s a few non-magical tricks to lower it further, which I’ll show you when we get there.”

Jenna nodded, slipped her pack over one shoulder, and pulled herself to her feet, using her walking staff as a prop, with easy practice.  Evanise, seeing that, tried to mimic the movement but didn’t seat the butt of the staff properly and tumbled back down.  I gave her my hand and pulled her up, while the other three settled for just picking themselves up and then collecting up packs and sticks.   Before we set off, I went around four of them, adjusting pack straps to rest better on their frames, explaining how it should sit, using Jenna as a model.  She pivoted slowly as I talked, posing, grinning widely.

I explained what trail blazons to watch out for to guide us, and we set out once more.  Jenna and Jorith still set a slightly faster pace but now paused for a few breaths every so often to let everyone else catch up a bit, and while Cordo and Seneth still lagged a little, they were keeping up much better, so there was never a long wait needed to keep everyone in view.  And this time, in order to maintain that eye on everyone, I stayed in the middle, which put me walking alongside Evanise.

Evanise was silent for a while until shortly after we’d passed under the boughs of the wood, when – seemingly out of nowhere:  “Is it difficult?”

I shot her a sideways glance, “Is what difficult?”

“Being a Null.”

“It’s certainly got its downsides. If I get hurt, I can’t benefit from healing magic.  But then, most people couldn’t afford a healer – so in practice, I’m not that different from most people in that way.  And it has its advantages:  there’s some magical hazards in the deeper wilds that I can ignore completely.”

“But Arcwright’s full of enchanted items. Don’t you risk breaking them?”

“That’s not as bad as you might think.  A Null will break a shoddy enchantment by touching it, sure.  But if it’s been imbued properly, it will just shut down and resume as soon as I move away.  And everything in the Academy is top-notch.” I chuckled briefly.  “I’m actually part of the qualification examination in Enchantment most years – test if the apprentice-crafts can survive me.”

“All right, but so much of how things work in the Academy is based on the enchantments... How do you manage?

“With difficulty sometimes.  There’s a few places in the Academy I can’t get to.  Things I can’t do.  But a lot of the Professors have actually modified standard enchantments to turn them into things I can benefit from.”

“Like what?”

“Well, take the fireplaces in your rooms.  You can all light or put them out just by willing it, right?”   She nodded.   “Well, I can’t do that.  But, generally, you’ll only need do that when it gets cold – you wouldn’t light a fire on a summer’s day.  So, the fireplace in my suite is enchanted so that it ignites and extinguishes itself based on how cold or hot the room is. Things like that.  I’ve got a glow-stone that lights up when its dark – so long as I’m not holding it, I can put it down and still use it to see by.”

“Oh, that’s clever!”

“Advantages of working for the Academy.  Puts me in a much better position than most Nulls, I imagine.”

She cocked her head quizzically.  “What do most Nulls do for work?”

I hesitated, but answered, “There’s few enough of us that it’s hard to make generalities.  Some just work in trades that don’t rely on magic.  There’s several who have ended up in the army.  An elite unit that doesn’t have to worry about enemy war-spells.”  I didn’t want to elaborate on that too much, because it hinted at another possible employment for Nulls like me: mage-killers; assassins who could breach wards and take down even Magoi – only a rumour, but frighteningly plausible.  

I struck out for a different topic of conversation.  “Evanise Helair… unusual name.”  I left an unspoken question hanging in the air.  It was a terrible segue, but she seemed unbothered.

“My grandparents immigrated.  I’m named for my grandmother.  Most people just call me Ev or Evie.”  She pronounced the former with a short ‘eh’ sound, as just the first syllable of the full name, but the latter with a long ‘ee’.

“Do you prefer that?”

“I like Evie.  ‘Ev’ sounds like someone coughing.”

“As you prefer, Evie.”

After that, we mostly walked in silence, Evanise retreating into her thoughts, except for the few times I called the group together to point out some salient feature of the wilderness.

It was getting on for late afternoon before we drew near to our campsite.   I paused the group on the path and bade them to smell the air.   They all sniffed.  Jenna sneezed.  Cordo, Seneth and Evie all shifted uneasily, looking round.  I could see hackles raising on the back of their necks.  Only Jorith seemed untroubled, taking deep draughts of the air.  I pointed to the trio who had drawn closer together:  “I can tell that you can smell it, even if you can’t put a name to it.  What are you scenting?”

It was Jorith who answered though,  his eyes closed, snout still raised.  “Musk.  Very strong. Fur.  Traces of blood and carcass.”  He thought about it for a moment, and opened his eyes as he concluded.  “Predator.  Big one.”

I nodded,  “Good!  Well done.  All of you take note.  In this instance, it’s fake:  the non-magical deterrent to anything that might disturb the campsite – the only thing that will generally trespass on a large predator is another predator who claims the territory.  And there aren’t any near here.  But if you ever smell something like that and you don’t know it’s fake, be very very careful.”

I indicated forward towards our campsite for the night, a small clearing around a rock formation, from which a spring welled up to make a stream. Even from the edge of the clearing, I could hear its merry burbling.  I stepped forwards from the cover of the trees into the clearing, and as I passed under the last tree there was a glittering rain of mana-sparks, my presence breaking the boundary of the wards that had been left behind to guard our supplies.

Before the apprentices’ eyes, the air in the clearing shimmered and the seemingly empty space filled with bundles of canvas-wrapped packs and dismantled tents.   I turned and beckoned the class in, and as they came, I pointed out the ward-amulets and the bundles of alchemical scent-mix that hung from the branches by the path and at other strategic points around the clearing.

“Let’s see… first things first.  The spring,” indicating the rock formation, “Is pure and safe.  Tomorrow, we’ll cover safe water sources, but for now, just know you can drink from where it wells up without worry.  Next – who needs salve for their feet?”  Jorith, Cordo and Seneth all raised their hands.  I handed out small pots, with advice to apply it before bed and again in the morning.

I carried on, “Now, I’ll walk you all through how to put a tent up, so we can get that done while there’s still a decent amount of light.  Then, how to build a fire.  After that, there should be still be time to follow the stream down to where it joins another brook – there’s a pool there large enough to wash.  Then food, campfire tales and an early night for an early start tomorrow.  Any questions?”

No-one seemed to have anything urgent to raise, so I called Evie over to one of the dismantled tents, and had her assist me as I walked them all through the process of assembling it and staking it down.  Once it was done, I indicated the gear piles.  “There’s two more tents.  Jenna and Seneth on one, lads to the other.  Jenna, I’m guessing you’ve done this before?”  She nodded, and I continued, “You should be fine then.  Evie, you can help Jorith and Cordo if they need a spare hand.  Anyone gets stuck, just yell.”

The four of them immediately started unpacking their tents.  Evie stayed stood by the tent we’d just erected though, her hands twisting together.  “Professor? These look like they hold two people.”

“Yes?  They’re cosy but not too tight.”

“...And there’s three tents.”  A statement, but uncertain.

“And six people.”  

“Are you planning that I will sleep with you?”

“Uh…  ‘With’ being ‘in the same tent’, yes?”

Evie’s voice was very small now, so that even with my over-sized rat-ears, I could barely hear her over the chatter of the other four.  “Why?”

“It’s actually Academy policy for these expeditions.  Life mage students either bunk alone if we’ve got an odd number or with me, if not.  We’ve never had two in a class, I’m not sure what we’ll do in that case,” I rambled on before slowing to a pause.  

Evie was trembling slightly now, hands still twisting, and ears flicking.  I glanced around – I was clearly missing something, but nothing in the clearing gave me a clue.  I tried to explain, “It’s no personal judgment, just that – as it’s been explained to me, life mages are the most prone, at your age, to sleep-channelling.  And of all you, your attunement is the one where that could be most… awkward.”  ‘Awkward’ being an understatement for a teenage hormone-fuelled dream accidentally driving their tent-mate into rut.  “But it won’t affect me at all.”

“It’s just, just…”  I had to lean in to hear her. “I know what people think about life mages… ‘lusties’.  But, even if you are a teacher, I’m really not comfortable with sharing a tent with a man!”  She blurted that last bit out at volume and everyone looked up.  I took a step back in astonishment.

“Huh.  I see.  Um.”  I cleared my throat awkwardly.  “That’s actually entirely reasonable. I wouldn’t expect you to.”

She looked up in puzzlement “It is? But...”

“I’m not male, Evie,” I said gently.

Everyone in the clearing was now watching this little drama, until I shot a glare round the circle and they all at least pretended to be busy with their tents.

“You’re not?”

“I’m not.  I’ve checked.”  There was a quiver in my diaphragm and my face was twitching, as laughter tried to well up, looking at the confusion written across her face.  To try and keep it down, I kept talking, rambling, “Don’t feel bad.  I don’t exactly lean into my feminine side, you know?  And the gods know I’ve not got the build for it.  You’re not the first person to make that mistake from looking at me…  It’s generally my voice that gives it away.”

Evie was scuffing the toe of her boot in the dirt again, staring intensely at her feet.  She mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out.

“Pardon?”

“I thought… I thought it was because you’re rat-kith.  You know, um,”  her voice trailed off into another indecipherable mumble.

I should have let it be, but I couldn’t resist.  “Because I’m a rat, I’m…?”

“Squeaky?” She admitted in hopeless desperation, not meeting my eyes.

I nearly lost the battle to suppress my mirth right there, a snort forcing its way out before I wrestled it down.  I quite deliberately bit my tongue, literally, using the red thread of pain as last line of defence to stop me from laughing in the face of an upset student.

“I see.” Slightly muffled as salt-iron taste welled up. “Well, cultural tip: I’m not offended, but I would not recommend calling any other rat-kith ‘squeaky.’”

“m’sorry.”

“It’s okay.  Honest.”  I reached out and lightly touched her folded arms, “We good?”

I got another mumble in return, but she did, at least, look up and meet my eyes. I held her gaze for a moment, before giving a little wink and looking around.  “Evie, how about you just help Jenna and Seneth get the last of their tent-pegs set?  I’ll help the boys finish getting their tent up.”

She nodded and scurried to join the other girls, while I took a deep breath, discreetly spat blood to one side, and went to investigate the mess that the boys had made of theirs.  It turned out that they’d been so busy watching me and Evie that it was a complete shambles so far but, under my supervision, they soon had it standing.

With tents finally up and packs stowed, I had the class scurrying to fetch dry wood and kindling for a fire.  I’d camped here many times before thankfully and the firepit needed only minimal clearing to be ready once more.  To recoup some lost time, once I’d walked them through how to stack the fuel, I let Seneth spark the blaze rather then mess around with flint and steel.  As flames warmed us, I assessed the state of the apprentices:  grubby, tired but excited, in need of a warm meal but more immediately in need of a wash before I let them handle food.  

“Who’s having the first bath and who the second?”  I indicated Cordo and Jorith on one side, and the three girls on the other.

“We could all go together,” suggested Jorith with a broad grin.  Jenna seemed tickled by the idea, but he just got flat glares from both the other two girls and Cordo.

I limited my answer to the practicalities:  “We don’t ever leave a fire burning untended in the woods.”

Jenna made a fist and held it towards Jorith.  “Play you for first bath?”  He made a fist in response, they shook their hands three times in the ancient ritual and then threw out shapes.  His rock crushed her scissors, and she sat back, “Go, wash.  I know how to watch a fire, so we’ll be fine here.”

I stood up, “Come on then lads.”  

“You’re coming with us?!” Cordo piped up, as suddenly squeaky as I’d been accused of being.

“Since I know where the pool to wash in is and you don’t, yes?”

“But, but…”  he sputtered.

I sighed.  The earlier contretemps with Evie had clearly managed to wedge the fact of my femininity in the fore-front of his mind.  “I promise not to watch. Now, move.”

I led the pair through the gloam, following the little brook that flowed from our clearing to where it joined a larger flow, and just downstream of their joining it had formed a pool deep and easy enough to access for a quick wash.  “Face and hands, minimum.  Wash anything else you like, just remember that putting clothes back on when damp isn’t much fun.  Don’t fall in.”  I turned my back on them and allowed myself to relax for a moment, albeit with one ear wary for particularly loud splashes behind me or calls from the camp.


It was a surprisingly long while of splashing before Cordo piped up behind me to say they were done.  I turned and gave them a once-over – they’d clearly stripped down and dressed again – shirts slightly askew, buttons left unfastened, but both seemed totally dry. “Did you actually wash?” I enquired, sceptical of teenage boys in this regard.  I leaned in and sniffed.  They smelled clean, or as close as they’d get without soap.

“Yes, Professor,” came the patient reply.  “I pulled the water off us after we were done.”

“Good call.  Come on, lets get you two back to warm up by the fire.”

A short while later, I was stood back by the waterside, but now with Jenna, Seneth and Evie, giving the same speech I’d given the boys.  Jenna was already pulling her boots off  before I started, was down to her small-clothes before I was half-way through and, as I concluded, she finished stripping and dove gracefully into the water, surfacing out in the centre of the pool.

“Otters,” I sighed.  I looked at Seneth and Evie as I started to take my own top off.  “I do not recommend joining her unless your fur’s also waterproof.”  They both shook their heads and copied me in a much more limited undressing, shedding coat and shirt.  After the earlier issue with Evie, I was not surprised to notice both Seneth and Evie sneaking a sideways glance at me, both seeming reassured to see that I too wore a breast-band under my shirt, even if it did contain somewhat less than either of them.

I crouched by the waterside, trailing my hands in the water, listening to Jenna as she swam back and forth in the confines of the pool, wishing I could join her.  I scrubbed my hands and then cupped water to pour over my head, rubbing the grime of the day off my face, repeating it until I felt I could pass for clean.  Standing, I saw that Evie and Seneth were also about done, so I called out:  “Jenna!  If you’re finished, we could all do with going back for dinner!”  

Jenna swam over to the riverbank and pulled herself out, water cascading from her as she stood.  Droplets flew as she shook herself, earning her glares from the rest of us.  “Oops! Sorry!”  She glanced over, “Sen?  Could you warm us up a little?”  Seneth nodded and furrowed her brow in concentration, then the other two turned towards her and all three basked in what I assumed was a wave of warmth that I could not sense at all.  I grumbled to myself a little as I pulled my shirt back on, the fabric clinging to the traces of water that had run down my torso.  

By the time three of us were dressed again and ready to go, Jenna had gotten her trousers back on and was knotting her chest-band.  She then just picked boots, shirt and coat back up as a bundle, “Good to go!”   I raised an eyebrow, then shrugged it off.  If she didn’t mind, I doubted the boys would object – although Cordo might blush so hard his ears would catch fire.

Night had properly fallen by the time we got back to the clearing.  The boys were lounging by the fire, and the girls joined them.  Jenna called over, “What’s for dinner, Prof?  Do we have to cook? I can roast a potato, but that’s about it…”

“No – much like carrying the kit, that’s sorted for us tonight.  We just have to warm it up.”  I opened up the supply packs, and carefully lifted out two large pots, each with the lid sealed on with a thin line of clay.  I carefully arranged the pots by the fire, near enough that the contents should heat through quickly.  “And, again, like the kit – don’t get used to it.  Classes cover camp cooking, starting next week.”

While the pots warmed, I distributed small bread loaves from the packs, and demonstrated how to hollow them out to make a working bowl; after that, it wasn’t long before the pots had been hooked out of the fire, and silence descended as everyone was chowing down on one of the thick stews that the Academy cooks had made for us, either mixed game or vegetable.  

Once the pots had been first scraped into bowls, and then wiped clean for any last traces with the remnants of the bread, and every scrap devoured, I turned the pots over and glanced around.  Plentiful, hot food after an afternoon of unaccustomed exertion had sent all of the kids into a sleepy haze, heads nodding and eyes heavy.  Seneth was, to all appearances, actually asleep; leaning against Cordo’s shoulder, tail wrapped around herself.  

I spoke softly, just loud enough to be heard over the background of chirping forest insects.  “I did promise campfire tales before bed, but it’s been a longer day than expected, and…” I indicated the slumbering squirrel.  “I think we’re best getting you all into your tents, and we’ll aim for an earlier start and finish tomorrow.”  There were no signs of dissent from the sleepy teens.  “Jenna?  Think you can steer Seneth to bed?”

Jenna stood but came over to me first and whispered, “Sure you don’t want to get Cordo to bunk with her? I know she won’t mind… and I’m pretty sure Jorith and me can cope together.”

I flicked her with the tip of my tail.  “Nice try, but no. Go on, and goodnight.”

She sighed, padded over to Seneth and gently nudged her awake before pulling her up and shepherding her towards their tent.  I’d always liked rabbit-kith for how easy it was to read their emotions from their ears, and watching Cordo as Seneth was drawn away was a treat as he seemed to flicker between relief and disconsolation.  

Cordo and Jorith also headed to their tent, both yawning widely, triggering my own yawns.  I glanced at Evie, still sat on a log near the dying fire.  “I need to finish banking the fire before I go to bed.  You can head to the tent now or wait with me, as you like.”

She didn’t reply for a long enough moment to make me wonder if she’d mastered the art of falling asleep sitting up but, “I’ll wait.”  She was gazing into the warm glow of the embers, as she’d gazed at the horizon earlier.

As I worked, the last red light of the fire faded, to be replaced by the silvery light of the stars spread out above us and a hint of moonlight from over the trees, and the rustling of preparations for bed from two tents were slowly replaced by soft snores.  Once I had the embers safely covered to hold their heat to morning, I stood and stretched, feeling my joints pop.  I padded silently towards our tent, only glancing back to make sure that Evie was following me.  

At the tent-flap, I took advantage of the boys already being in bed to strip down to my underclothes before getting into the confines of the tent, placing my boots by the flap, and bundling up my outer layers.  I couldn’t tell if she understood my reasons but Evie mimicked me, getting mostly bare in the clearing.  

I shivered slightly as a cool breeze ruffled through newly-exposed fur, and gestured to Evie to go in first, so I could fasten the tent flap behind us.  She crawled in, and then I ducked into the tent, sliding into my bedroll with familiarity born of long practice, while Evie was still getting herself sorted.

“You all right?” I whispered into the darkness.

“I think I’ve… Yes.  Got it.”  Evie whispered back as she stopped twisting about and laid down flat.

“Goodnight, Evie.”

“Good…”, yawn, “Nigh…”  Her voice trailed off and was replaced by soft, deep breathing as she fell asleep with a speed I could only envy.

I lay on my back, staring sightlessly into the dark confines of the tent, as I mentally reviewed the events of the day: the mistakes, minor and major, that I’d made and what I should have done.  I then, consciously, let those drop away and called to mind what I’d done well, luxuriating in that for a moment; then went over what I’d learned about my new class, what they’d learned and what I had yet to cover tomorrow.  I then let my thoughts drift back to my meeting with Mel at lunchtime and how we might spend the evening when I got back, and it was as those pleasant fantasies played through my mind’s eye that sleep gradually claimed me.  

I am an early riser by habit.  I had expected to wake with the dawn, as usual, a birdsong chorus my alarm and accompaniment.  Instead, I awoke with a jolt of adrenaline, my subconscious telling me that something was wrong, something was out-of-place. I fought down the instinct to sit up immediately, instead forcing myself to lie still, to slow my breathing again, to work out what it was that had set ancient prey instincts jangling.  

I focussed on what I could determine about my surrounds.  Hearing first, my keenest sense.  Next to me, Evie was still asleep but restless, making soft sounds.  There was also a nearly inaudible rustling that I couldn’t place.  I could smell flowers?  It took me a moment to realise that I could see, dimly, in the tent.  There was no hint of daylight creeping in under the edges of the tent, it was clearly still night outside, but there was some dim, greenish illumination nonetheless.  I held a hand above my face and squinted at it.  Faint emerald phosphorescence danced across my fur.  I glanced back at Evie, as pieces of the puzzle dropped into place, and took another deep breath through my nostrils.  Yes, it was there under the floral notes, now I knew what I was smelling for.   Evie was clearly having a very pleasant dream.    

It was, in its way, fascinating.  Despite what I’d explained to Evie about why life mage students bunked with me, I’d never actually seen one sleep-channel like this.  Possibly the rest of them had just managed to keep it to a level that didn’t wake me.  Evie, on the other hand, was shedding mana at a surprising rate.  I realised that the rustling sound was actually the plants under and around the tent growing in response to her power.  Had I not been magically-null, I would have been feeling very very good just then.  Tired and grumpy but in control of myself was probably better – even if it didn’t feel it just at that moment.

I did need to wake her.  It was a pity, I doubt I would have wanted to wake up from a dream like that, but if she kept channelling like that, she’d be a wreck in the morning, even with the undirected life-energy mitigating the backlash.  I rolled over towards her, and hissed, “Evie!”

She made an incoherent little sound in reply but did not wake. And, if anything, the glow of the magic discharging against my skin got fractionally brighter.  

I tried her name again, waited, sighed, reached out and poked her shoulder.  As I made contact, the mana-flow collapsed and the green glow vanished in one bright flare that left me blinking away afterglows in the returned darkness of the tent.  I’d asked Mel once what it felt like when I disrupted an active channel like this.  She’d compared it to a tightly-drawn bowstring snapping against your arm.  So it was no surprise that Evie sat bolt-upright with a deep inhalation of breath.  

“Ahh-ow!  What?  Who? What happened?”

“Evie? Are you okay?”

“Hickory? Huh?! You…?  We were… Uh.  What?”  

I filed away the thought that, in the moment of waking, she’d called me by my name, not ‘Professor’ and answered softly, “You were dreaming and sleep-channelling.  I woke you.  Do you feel okay?”

There was a long pause and then a very tiny, “Oh.”  She took a slightly shuddery breath.  “Did I say anything?”

“No.”

“Okay.  I’m okay.  I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologise.  It’s fine.  Can you get back to sleep?”

“I think so.”  I could hear her wriggling back into her bedding as she lay down again.  

I rolled back over into my side of the tent and closed my eyes again.  “See you in the morning…”

Despite the interrupted sleep, I still woke as the dawn chorus started from the forest.  Evie was still asleep and I suspected that the other students would be too.  Moving as quietly as possible, I slid out of my bedding and wriggled into my trousers.  I held up my shirt before putting it back down on top of my pack.  The boys had coped gracefully with Jenna going shirtless.  Even if they did wake up, they weren’t going to lose their mind at me doing likewise.  Or so I hoped.  

I unlaced the tent-flap and crawled out into the clearing, blinking against the sun-rays filtering over the edge of the treeline, before standing up, wriggling my toes in the dew-damp grass.  I looked about, feeling my neck pop as I turned my head back and forth.  As I had feared, my and Evie’s tent had verdant overgrowth to at least a pace in every direction, further on her side of the tent.  The tent-pegs were now buried in deep grass and tendrils had coiled their way up the stays towards the canvas.  Closest to the canvas, the green gave way to a riot of colour, a mix of wildflowers all abloom, several out of season, their petals now opening to the sun.  Given that I had not packed a scythe, there was no way of hiding that from the class.  I could only hope that Evie would not be too embarrassed.

I turned my mind towards things that I could control and started my morning stretches.  Gently rolling my shoulders, twisting at the waist and hips, and then a deep breath as I brought my arms together over my head before bending forwards and planting my hands flat on the ground, resting the tip of my muzzle on my legs.  Flip my tail up and forward to come down over my head, giving me a counterweight as I raised my legs and moved into a handstand.  Hold for several breaths and then bring my legs down the other side, until my feet were flat on the ground again and I was stretched into an arch, belly up, white fur glowing in the early sun.  I breathed into the stretch, feeling faint stiffness in joints and muscles begin to yield.  The early morning sun was warm on my fur, in contrast to the cool air.  

Just for a moment, I was perfectly at peace.

Naturally, this was the point where Jenna stuck her head out of her tent.  “Morning all! Oh.  Hey, prof.  What are you doing?”

“In general?  Stretching.  Specifically?  This is the wheel pose.”  I then flexed my legs, gave myself a little push with my tail against the ground and brought myself up to a standing position, before bringing my hands together before my chest as I stepped forwards into a lunge.

“Oh, neat.  Can you teach me to do that?”

“Eventually, certainly.  You’re still young and flexible.  Want to try?”

“Sure!”

“Come over here then.”  

Jenna approached, and I demonstrated the forwards bend, which she copied easily enough.  “Now, try moving up into a hand-stand.”  

With some help, she made it to that point and managed to hold it for a bit, until Seneth emerged from the tent and Jenna called over, “Hey, Sen! Look at this!” At which point her concentration broke and she promptly toppled over.  She landed, laughing, on her well-muscled tail.   “Give it a go!”

And so it was that, as the apprentices gradually emerged from their tent, I found myself teaching an impromptu pre-breakfast exercise class.  Results were mixed.  Jenna and, slightly surprisingly, Evie took to it like ducklings to water.  Seneth and Cordo had to settle for the most basic stretches, with a promise that if they kept at them, then over time, they might manage something more advanced.  And Jorith had a lot of strength, but not a great deal of grace.  

On the positive, it distracted anyone from mentioning the unexpected greenery around my tent.

Exercise was eventually halted as stomachs started to growl.  I uncovered the embers of last night’s fire and demonstrated how to build the fire back up, at which point we tore into the remaining supply packs – more bread, toasted over the fire, spread thick with fruit preserves and honey, all washed down with water from the spring.  

Next, I walked the students through dismantling their tents, which was easy enough, and then the art of stowing tents and bedrolls back into bags which never seemed quite big enough.  Before we could finish packing up the campsite, a deep-voiced call from the forest trail:  “Ho, the camp!”

I straightened up and called back, “Is that you, Tey?”

“It surely is.”  

“Come on in, then. We’re running a tiny bit late, but we’re nearly done.”

Teyvor, a hulking bear-kith, so large that, were he not dressed, he could be mistaken for one of his feral cousins, came strolling in to the camp.  He was there to collect the tents and the now-empty supply packs to carry them back to the road, before going on to set up our next night’s campsite.  The fact that he could carry three tents and all the empty bags as easily as I could carry one made him a great asset to the Academy in these classes.  I was also glad to see him for a more personal reason.  

I darted over to grab a wooden mug from my pack, and then I sidled over to Teyvor, while the students continued to pack and patrol the campsite for any lost items.  I craned my neck to look up and meet his eyes.  “All clear on the way down from the Academy?”

He rumbled affirmatively.

“Were you able to bring… it?”

Another rumble.

“Please, Tey… Don’t hold out on me.  I need it.”

He withdrew a stoppered flask from his bag, and I raised the empty mug in my hands beseechingly.  Opening the bottle, he poured a stream of liquid into the mug, dark as sin.  He then furrowed his brow momentarily, and the liquid began to steam in the cool morning air, the steam carrying with it a complex, bitter scent that made my mouth water.  

I took a long drink of the coffee and sighed, contentedly.  “You’re a life-saver, Tey.”

He rumbled in amusement.  “You could just be bringing coffee beans with you, no?  They are not so heavy that even a little rat cannot carry them.”

I made a face.  “Campfire coffee?  Only if I must.  Only if I really must.  Besides, even at the Academy, no-one else makes coffee quite like your Ersa.  Give her a hug for me when you get back, okay?”

“Always happy to hug my wife, yes.”

I looked around, “Looks like we’re done packing.  See you tomorrow morning?”

“Surely.”

“With coffee?”

He grunted, then “Dinner when you get back? Ersa’s making pie.”

I made a tragic face.  “I’ve already got plans with Mel.  Ersa’s pie is as close to persuading me to cancel as anything ever could, but…”

“The day after then.  Pie keeps.”

“You’re on. Stay safe out there, Tey.”

“I will.  And keep all of you safe too.”

Teyvor placed the empty supply bags into his rucksack, added the ward-stones and herb-bags from around the perimeter of the clearing and then hoisted all three of the packed tents with no visible signs of effort bar ripples of muscle across his shoulders, and lumbered back onto the trail to the road.

I called the class together.  The first point of the agenda was to check who, if anyone, needed more blister-salve, but no-one had gone overboard with the application and those who had needed it all still had a little left from last night.  Then came a rapid-fire quiz of things they’d learned yesterday, on which they all acquitted themselves adequately.  Then I set them the morning’s route: we would follow the stream back to the larger brook, but rather than downstream for the pool where we washed last night, we would go up-stream, until it reached a lake, where we would stop for a while.  I reiterated my warnings on not getting too far ahead or behind, and then gave each student a list of things to try and find along the way: birds to be spotted, herbs to be harvested, trees to recognise...  

We set out and, with differing paces, it wasn’t long before our little band started to space out along the route, much as yesterday.  I would have preferred to be up front, but that would leave Evie alone in the middle and, given the tendency I’d seen yesterday for her to retreat into an inner world when left by herself, I didn’t want to find out where in the forest she might end up.  

We walked in silence for a while, the two of us, until there was enough space ahead and behind that I couldn’t easily make out the conversations between Jorith and Jenna or Cordo and Seneth.  

Evie suddenly spoke up: “Who was that bear at the camp?”

“Teyvor?  Have you not seen him around the Academy?  He’s our handyman, odd-job man, janitor… He’s pretty much always doing something useful.  He’s married to the head cook, Ersa.”

“He heated up your drink.”  She sounded oddly accusatory.

I raised an eyebrow, “You noticed that?”  I tried not to match her tone, despite the fact that she should have been clearing that camp at that point, not watching Tey. Or… watching me?

“Yes.”  Evie’s tone shifted to slightly defensive,  “You did say observation and deduction were important.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as my words from yesterday were turned back against me.  “Fair point, I did.  So, you observed.  What do you deduce?”

“He’s… got an enchanted item to heat things?  But I wouldn’t have thought that would work on something being held by you.”

“Potentially true of any sort of magic to heat my drink,” I pointed out.  “But in this case, I was holding the mug by the handle, with the contents extended away from me.  The mug isolated the contents just enough.  But you’re right, most enchanted items couldn’t be that precise.  So, question: why assume that it was an enchantment?”

“He’s Talented?”

“Yes.  Full Talent.  Fire, clearly.  Not Magos class, of course; the only Magoi at the Academy are the other professors, and you students, if you count partly trained talents.”

“But… why would a Talent be working as a handyman?”

I tilted my head slightly,  “How many untalented staff do you think the Academy has?  Not counting me.”

“Well, they make up nine-tenths of the population so… um… that would make it…”  Evie clearly had no idea how many people worked behind the scenes to keep the Academy running, which she would need in order to do the arithmetic.

“Actually, while I won’t say who they are, there’s fewer untalented support staff at the Academy than there are Magoi as Professors.    Most of the non-teaching staff are half-Talents. But significantly more are full Talents than you’d expect based on the proportion you see elsewhere. So, word to the wise – don’t look down on the Academy staff, whatever their job role.  You might have more raw power than them, but almost all of them are very skilled in using their gifts.”

“But, why?”

I noticed a patch of woundheal growing not too far off the path, so paused my walking for a moment.  “Well, I’ve provided the observation, why don’t you see if you can deduce some possible reasons?  And, while you’re thinking about it, see if you can find one of the herbs I asked you to watch for.”

Evie cast about, looking through the woodland.  I casually turned, very slightly, so that the line of my shoulders pointed to the herb-patch.  Evie’s eye was caught by my movement, and then tracked sideways…  “Got it!”  She darted off the path and into the woods.  “Trefoil leaf, reddish border, ground cover… Woundheal?”

“Yes! Good spot!  Grab a handful and stow it.  It’s good for all sorts of things.”

She returned to the path, shoving leaves into a belt-pouch.  “Rituals!”

“I don’t think woundheal’s useful for rituals.  It might be?”

“Talents!  Why the Academy has them. Rituals!”

“Good! Yes: they can support the Professors and the senior students in major workings. With so many Magoi in one place, it demands an unusually high volume of Talents. So the Academy seeks out people prepared to work in ‘lesser’ roles for most of their time, but pays them the going rate for a Talent.”

Evie gave a little skip, started back down the path along the stream but then stopped.  “Is that the only reason?”

“No.”

Her face fell.  “How many reasons are there?”

“Beats me.  I don’t make hiring decisions.”

“Prof…!”  She wailed, but then narrowed her eyes.  “But you must know at least one more reason, because you know that there is more than one reason.”

I grinned, “You’re getting good at this.”  I hummed momentarily to myself, counting, before concluding, “I know three other reasons.  Might be more I don’t know about.”  I carried on down the path and Evie hurried to catch me up.

“Well?”

“Why don’t you discuss it with the others? See what ideas you can come up with between all of you.  Or even if not, just mull it over.  Maybe you’ll think of one of the ones I don’t know.”

“How would you know if it was right?”

“I’ll see if your logic makes sense.  If it does, I can go ask when we get back.”

We followed the stream around a bend to see our vanguard pair, who had presumably stopped to let us catch up a bit.  Jorith and Jenna were standing side by side, heads dipped and turned towards each other.  Jorith had a hand on Jenna’s back, drifting close to her tail.  She had a hand resting lightly on his arm.

I cleared my throat mildly and the two sprang apart. Jorith misjudging his space and teetering precariously on the riverbank, before a sudden gust of wind sent him staggering back onto the safety of the path.

I gave them a moment to sort themselves out before speaking,  “Thank you for waiting for us.  How’s your collection going?”  

They had both spotted a reasonable number of their targets so far, although they’d both missed the woundheal.  No criticism, Evie had needed a hint and there would most likely be more along the way: it grew well at this time of year.

I indicated they should carry on:  “We’ll wait and check in with Cordo and Seneth.  The lake’s not a lot further, fifteen or twenty minutes?  Probably fifteen at your pace.  We’ll see you there.  There’s should be a few items on your list to find around the lake, so don’t get too distracted by other things while you’re waiting.”   Jorith blushed, while Jenna just grinned at me.  

I leaned against a tree to wait, as the pair set off again.  Evie remained in the middle of the path, fidgeting.  

“You don’t have to wait with me for the other two if you’d rather not.  I can likely catch you up before you reach the lake,” I offered.

“I’m fine,” she assured me even as she kept shifting restlessly.

“Okay…”

“I… I’m sorry about last night!”

“Oh, Evie. Have you been fretting about that?  Please don’t.  You don’t need to be sorry.  You can’t be blamed for what happens in your sleep.”

“But we lost the tent-pegs!”  Several of the tent-pegs had proved unrecoverable when the tent was taken down, lost to the overgrowth.

“There’s a reason why there’s spares in the tent-packs.  They get lost regularly.”

“Oh.”  She did, thankfully, stop moving about.  “Does it happen often?  The sleep-channelling?”

I equivocated.  “Well, it’s the reason for the ‘life mage students bunk with me’ policy, you know?”

She looked at me, frowning a bit.  “That wasn’t a ‘yes.’”

I sighed and came clean: “It’s the first time it’s been bad enough to wake me.”

She looked downcast, “Oh.”

“Is it something that happens at the Academy? I mean, do you wake up with ivy growing up your bedroom wall?”

“No, never.”

“Well then.  It was probably just the sleeping for the first time in a new environment.  In a tent, out close to nature.  You’ll get used to it.”

She glanced up at me, away, back at me, away again.  “Maybe.”  She sounded dubious.

I rubbed the back of my neck.  “May I make a personal observation?”

“Sure?”

“It can be awkward. Seeing your peers pair up,”  I gestured up the path, “Feeling like a fifth wheel on a wagon.  But you’re young and it’s early days at the Academy.  It’s a ten-year course if you stick to the end.  You’ll get to know the classes above you and eventually the ones below.  And what’s going on between people now won’t necessarily last.  Very likely won’t, in my experience.  Anyway… I don’t know if that’s relevant.  Or if it helps.”  I sighed.  “I’m not very good at this stuff.  Sorry.”

She let out a strangled sound that was half-way between a sob and a laugh.  “I guess.  But, thanks.  For thinking about me.”  She gave me a look from under lowered lashes.  I had a sinking feeling that my advice might have backfired slightly.

We waited in silence for a few minutes more until our slowpokes caught sight of us loitering and hurried to join us.  Their lack of speed was explained and just about justified by the fact that they had managed to spot every single thing on the target list that they could have spotted by this point, even including one that I’d missed and had thought was only found around the lake.  Cordo had even taken notes of observations in a journal he’d brought with him, in a neat if cramped hand.  Seneth, on the other hand, drooped a little in ears and tail as Cordo volubly explained his notes at me.  I praised them both for their observational skills and Cordo for thinking to take notes.  Then, talking to both but looking at Cordo, I reminded them that on, a hike, timeliness and decent progress were also factors to bear in mind.  He looked slightly abashed, while she fluffed up a little and shot him a sideways glance that practically screamed “I told you so!”

I decided to try something different.  “There’s nothing left on your list that can’t be found at the lake or after it.  You two start walking and we’ll give you a head start.  I want you to focus on the walk.  Find your pace, something you can keep up.  We,” I indicated myself and Evie, “Won’t rush, but if we catch up with you before the lake, well, your fates will be dread and mysterious.”

I paused to let that sink in before continuing, “Or, you know, involve scrubbing the pans after dinner.  Go! Shoo! Move.”

Cordo and Seneth shot confused looks at each other then, as I flapped my hands at them, set off down the path together at, I was pleased to see, a better pace than I’d seen out of them so far.

I settled back in against the tree trunk I’d been leaning on.  “Sorry, Evie.  Hope you don’t mind waiting a bit longer.”

“It’s fine.”  Evie found her own tree to lean against, on the river-side of the path.  “You said something, Professor, about the Academy course and ‘if you finish’?  Do many students not finish the ten years?”

“No, almost everyone does.  Magoi are too rare and too in demand for it to be otherwise.  It’s very hard to fail out.  And anyone thinking of leaving voluntarily will have some long conversations with the Headmistress and, most likely, officials from the government to see if they can be persuaded to stay.”

“But some people do leave?”

“It has happened.  In every case I know of, it was at the end of sixth year.  That’s when your training puts you at the same level of skill as most full Talents and with more power than most.”

“What if someone wanted to leave sooner?”

“I hope I’ve not put you off hiking so much that you’re desperate to get out of the Academy?”

“No! No. Nothing like that… just curious.”

“Well.  You actually can’t leave until, let me think, end of third year. More or less.”

“Why then? Why ‘more or less’?”

“Two reasons:  You’d need to be a legal adult.  While you’re a child, the Republic can – and does – require you to be at the Academy.  And you would need to demonstrate that you’re in full control of your mana.  Because you’re all unusually strong talents, that takes longer than it does for most people.  And both of those things tend to come around the end of third year.”

“Oh.  So, you’re stuck with me for a while then.”

“Oh, Evie… Being your teacher is not a hardship.  After all, of the students in this class, you’re not the one who threw a lightning bolt at me.”

She broke into an uncertain grin, “You did tell him he could.”

I grinned back.  “I did indeed.  But, seriously:  don’t worry about me, or the Academy.  I’m looking forwards to teaching you.  And I am confident that you will finish out the ten years, and become a Magos that I will be proud to say I taught.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I glanced up the path.  “And on that note, shall we set off and find out if Cordo’s scrubbing pots tonight?”

Giggling, we set off again towards the lake.

We did not, in the end, catch them before they made it to the lake. It was a close-run thing, though:  when Evie and I left the treeline to step onto the gravelly lake shore, Cordo and Seneth were just putting down their backpacks next to those of Jorith and Jenna.  The boar and the otter by contrast had clearly been here a while and were sprawled on the ground, soaking up the sun.

I dropped my backpack next to the pile, crouched and rummaged through it to extract a large cloth-wrapped parcel.  I unknotted the cloth to reveal six smaller bundles wrapped in waxcloth.  Spreading the larger cloth on the ground by Jenna, I dropped five of the bundles on it.  “Lunch.  Make sure you have plenty of water with it.  Before we move on, I’ll show you all some ways to get clean water, that we can use to refill the canteens.   And, while you eat, Evie’s got a puzzle for you all to work on.”

Evie shot me a confused look for a moment, before remembering our conversation about the number of Talents at the Academy.  As she sat down with the others, I grabbed my own canteen, took the last bundle over to one of the scattered trees on the shore and sat down in the shade.  I opened the waxpaper to reveal black bread, a wedge of firm cheese speckled with herbs, strips of beef jerky and a handful of dried apricots.  

I let my awareness of the kids talking fade into the background, swivelling my ears to bring birdsong from the forest into prominence instead.  I stuck a strip of jerky in my mouth to gnaw on, while using my pocket knife to slice slivers from the cheese and add them to broken-off pieces of the bread.  

Given that the apprentices were all mixing food and chatter, I finished eating well before any of them.  I brushed crumbs off my clothing, and leaned back against the tree, tilting my hat over my eyes, confident that I would hear any trouble before it got too close.  I let my mind drift;  voices, forest noise, water lapping on the shore all mingling into a soft, soothing symphony.

I wasn’t quite asleep when my mind was dragged back to the present by a shift in the tone of conversation, and my ears pivoted back to the apprentices as I heard the crunch of gravel that suggested first one, then all of them approaching me.  Even keeping my eyes covered, I could tell that they stopped at a respectful distance, then one stepped forwards a little closer.  I took a guess based on the weight of the tread and who would be their likely spokesperson:  “Yes, Jenna?”

“Woah. Nice, Prof.”  She sounded genuinely impressed.  “We came up with some ideas.  About the Talents.  Wanted to see what you thought.”

I pushed the brim of my hat back and opened my eyes, squinting at the bright sun surrounding them.  “All right, amaze me.”

“So, Evie said you knew three reasons for there being so many talented at the Academy, plus the one she already worked out; but that there might be others.  We’ve come up with four more possibilities on top of Evie’s one.  My guess is that I think the Academy seeks out experts.  Talents who’ve really focussed on developing their abilities and coming up with specialised or niche applications – because that’s the kind of thing that a Magos could then learn from them.”

I nodded slowly.  “Good.  That is one of them, yes.  As you get into fifth and sixth year, you’ll likely have some classes with non-Magos talents, to share in the kind of skills that they’ve developed through a lifetime of focus on one particular element.”

Jenna grinned and stepped back into the semi-circle of apprentices.  Cordo shuffled forwards a little.  “I proposed that it was credible that one or more of the Magoi at the Academy study Talent itself and not merely its applications.  The extent to which it is heritable perhaps, or environmental influences.  And that type of study would benefit from a concentrated population of Talents to research.”

“And you are correct.  It’s Professor Brinn’s primary field of study when he isn’t teaching.  It was, incidentally, also through one of his projects that I first came to the Academy, before I was taken on as a teacher.”

Jorith took Cordo’s place as the spokesperson for the circle.  “I think there’s a defensive element.  Arcwright’s is the single largest concentration of Magoi in the Republic and it houses every one of the potentials from a full decade of births.  If an enemy could successfully attack it… it would cripple the country.  The Academy’s built in a defensible locale and I’ve noticed that a lot of the Academy staff have the bearing of military veterans.  I think the level of Talents feeds into that.”

I grimaced.  “You’re right. We don’t talk about it much to the students, but yes.  The Academy staff, even without the Professors, should be capable of dealing with almost anything short of a full-scale invasion.”

I glanced round the circle.  “Well, I said I knew three other reasons, and you’ve managed three for three.  I’m now really interested to know what the fourth one is.”

They all looked at Seneth who shrank in on herself.  “It’s probably just me being silly,” she whispered.

“No, please, Seneth.  I’d like to hear it.  I did tell Evie that I probably don’t know all the reasons.”

Jenna and Cordo, one on each side, gently nudged Seneth forwards.  “I… I thought that maybe its because… Talents are rare.  That means its not always easy to be one among lots and lots of people who aren’t.  They’re valued, but that means there’s a lot of pressure.  But if you’re in a community that’s mostly talented, it’s like you’re normal.  And maybe not everyone wants that, but if you do, then that might be why you’d come to work at the Academy.”  She stuttered to a halt and fled back into the shelter of the circle.

I gave that idea due consideration before answering.  “You know, I think you’re very likely right.  Certainly in combination with the other factors, which explain why the Academy wants Talents.  It fills in the other half of the equation – why Talents come to work at the Academy.  I’ll ask some of them when we get back, but I think you’ve probably got that dead right for a good many of them.”  

Jenna gave Seneth an approving nudge in the ribs, which sent her sideways into Cordo, who in turn put a steadying hand on her shoulders.  Seneth beamed in happiness.

Jenna forestalled whatever I might have been about to say next by shooting her hand into the air so fast that she bounced on her toes.

“Yes, Jenna?”

“Can we go swimming, Prof?”

I eyed the rest of the class.  The number of students enthused by this idea appeared to be precisely one.

“Do you mean: can you go swimming, Jenna?”

She also looked round the others and looked crestfallen at the lack of buy-in for the idea before looking up defiantly, “Well, if no-one else wants to, yes – can I?  Or, how about you Prof?  I bet you’re a good swimmer.”

I ruefully indicated my broad-brimmed hat and the clothes that completely covered everything but my face.  “I’d love to.  But if I took any of this off and went swimming in the sun, I’d have an all-over sunburn like you wouldn’t believe in no time at all.”

Jenna’s shoulders sagged a little more.  “May I go swimming?”

I thought about it for a moment.  I didn’t want to just say ‘no’ outright; we did have a little time to spare.  “On either one of two conditions.”

Jenna’s ears pricked up.

I carried on: “One: you swim in your underclothes and Cordo agrees to dry you out when you’re done so you can get dressed again.  Or two, if everyone,” and I emphasised that word, “Agrees that they don’t mind you swimming bare.”

Cordo hastily interjected, “I don’t mind magicking the water out of your clothes.”  I was pretty sure he was trying to steer Jenna away from option two.  I did notice Seneth fold her arms at that statement.

Jenna grimaced, “Swimming in clothes is no fun.  Option two?  Anyone mind?”

To my utter lack of surprise, Jorith immediately said he’d be fine with it, to which Jenna gave him a saucy wink.  I looked at Cordo, expecting him to object, but he stutteringly said that if Jenna really wanted to, he didn’t mind.  Although from the way he was firmly looking away from Jenna when he said it, I expected that he would spend the whole time staring at the treeline.

I resigned myself to Jenna going swimming but glanced at the other two girls to be certain.  Evie chewed her lower lip for a moment but then gave a little shrug.  “Sure.”

On the other hand, Seneth’s eyes were darting around the group: to Cordo, to Jenna, down at herself, back to Cordo, and she seemed in an agony of indecision, but eventually, she just gave a little head shake and said in a tiny voice, “I’m sorry, Jen.”

Jenna’s jaw dropped at this betrayal from an unexpected source but before an argument could develop, I jumped in.  “There we go then.  Sorry, Jenna, but no swimming right now.  Just to check though:  you do know there’s a lake big enough to swim in in the hills behind the Academy, and that you’re free to go to it on restdays, right?”

From Jenna’s expression, she clearly had not known this.  Once again, I mentally cussed out the Academy’s neglect of physical pursuits, before continuing:  “It’s mountain-fed, so it’s pretty much always cold, but there’s generally at least a couple of students there on a restday, as well as some of the staff.  And it is both clothing-optional and mixed, but I’m guessing you’re fine with that.  Come find me the morning of next rest-day and I’ll show you how to get there.”

Jenna’s eyes were lit with glee, “Thank you, Prof! I’ve missed swimming so much these last couple of weeks!”
“Offer to show people how to get there is open to all of you.  Or I guess Jenna can show you afterwards.”

Evie spoke up, “Do you swim there, Professor? Or, oh no, sorry, I guess not, given what you said about sunburn…”

“Actually, sometimes I do, depending on who else is going.  Or sometimes on a summer evening, people make a party of it.  Take some drinks, build a fire, roast an animal, swim under the stars.”

“That sounds nice?  I’m not very good at swimming, but maybe Jenna will help teach me?”  Evie glanced sideways.  

“Of course!” Jenna seemed positively over the moon at the prospect.

I dusted crumbs off my lap.  “Well, if we’re done with lunch, we should probably cover the ‘clean water’ lesson I mentioned.”  I started to get my feet under me to stand but Cordo had his hand up.  I sat back, “Yes, Cordo?”

“I’m sorry if this is too personal a question, Professor, but something you said intrigued me.”

“If it’s too personal, I won’t answer, but I probably won’t be offended.  Go on.”

“You implied that you could sometimes go swimming in the day depending on who else was there.”

“I suppose I did imply that.  And that is the case.  Is that the question?”

“No. It’s just that… I’ve got a cousin who’s a white rabbit.  And they use life-enchantments to be able to go out in the sun safely.  So, my initial assumption was that you meant you could go swimming if a Life talent was with you.  But you’re, um…”

“Null?”

“Yes.  So, I couldn’t figure out why it would matter who you were with.”

“Okay…” I let out a long breath and made myself comfortable again against the tree-trunk.  I indicated to the class.  “You might as well all sit down.”  They all sat down, still in their semi-circle around me.  I was reminded of a wood-cut I’d seen once, of a philosopher teaching his acolytes in a very similar arrangement.  To amuse myself, I folded my legs so that my feet rested on my thighs and raised a hand, as that ancient teacher had been depicted.  

I carried on, “Now, this is a lesson that’s normally much later in the curriculum.  Like, several years.  But, since Cordo has puzzled his way into the question, you might as well get it now.  Let’s start by framing the question:  ‘How do you use magic on a Null?’”

Jorith:  “You can’t.” He huffed.  “That’s the whole point.”

“Technically correct.  But in a practical sense, wrong.  Possibly fatally so, in the wrong circumstances.”
They all looked at me, looked at each other, looked stumped.  I pointed at Evie.  “Evie got a clue to it yesterday.”  She looked startled, and I elaborated:  “When we were talking about enchanted items.  Can you remember what I said?”

Haltingly, struggling to repeat my exact words as best she could remember, Evie relayed to the others that part of yesterday’s conversation.  I nodded as she finished.

“Thank you, Evie. So, let’s reframe the question very slightly in the light of what you just heard and see if it helps. Not ‘how do you use magic on a Null,’ but ‘how do you use magic to affect a Null?’”

There was another long pause as they mulled over the new information. I waited patiently, unsure if they would get there – they were missing quite a lot of the magical theory classes they’d normally have before this came up.  Then, all of a sudden, Seneth’s furrowed brow cleared, and the realisation on her face was like the sun coming up.

“Indirectly!” She shouted.

I clapped my hands, “Yes! Very well done, Seneth!”  She beamed at the praise.  I glanced at the others.  Cordo looked like Seneth’s one-word revelation had been sufficient to clue him in.  The other three still seemed confused.

I explained:  “You cannot use magic directly on a Null.  We all know this.  You can, however, use magic on the world around the Null in such a way that the consequences affect them.  Simple example,”  I pointed at Seneth, “If you conjure a fireball and throw it at me, it will dissipate.  But if I’m standing amidst loose brush and dry grass, you can ignite that fuel.  The ignition is magical – but so long as it’s not right up against me, it isn’t affecting me and won’t be annulled. And then the resulting fire will be very real and will burn me just as it would anyone else.”

Now they were all nodding along to the explanation.  Although Jenna grumbled, “Sounds complicated.”

I smirked.  “I didn’t say it was easy.  You need to be precise and you need to be creative.  And if it’s a combat situation you will need to be quick.”  I shook a finger at her, “You shouldn’t complain though.  Of all the basic element manipulations, earth is one of the easiest to use against a Null, because you so rarely conjure directly and mostly manipulate existing matter.”

Cordo half-raised a paw and I looked at him questioningly.  “What about the higher magics?”

I made a face.  “Please bear in mind I’m not an expert on what each element can do once you get past the basics?  But of the ones I do know, air’s probably best.  That gets illusions, and although it gets complicated as to how and why, some illusions do work on Nulls.  But higher magic training is still several years off for any of you, so we can come back to this then.”

I added, “And, on the bright side, since you’re all Magoi-in-training, eventually you’ll be able to access all of the elements, so you’ll always have options.”

Cordo, again: “But what lets you go swimming in the sunshine?  I still can’t quite work that one out…”

I sighed, “I’m not surprised.  I don’t fully understand it myself.  The core of higher Air magic is actually control of light – which is the basis of illusions?”  Cordo and Jorith both nodded.  “Well, at some point, one of the Academy researchers discovered that it isn’t sunlight as such that burns exposed skin, but only part of it.   And a Magus or a full air Talent that knows that fact and knows how can filter that part out.”  

I shrugged.  “So, yes.  If one of the few people at the Academy that have learned how comes to the lake, they can put a ‘shield’ up in the air above that lets me swim safely.”  Luckily for me, one of those few people was Mel, which meant I got more swimming time than I might otherwise.

I looked at Cordo.  “Are there any other parts of the curriculum you want to jump ahead to, or shall we cover how to purify water like I was planning?”  I hoped it was obvious I was joking but he still looked abashed.

I started by explaining the principle of cleansing water by distillation:  boil and then re-condense into a second container.  I touched on the types of contamination it couldn’t remedy, none of which should be an issue with the lake water.  I then described what kind of gear you might need if you were to do it entirely without magic, none of which we had with us.  So, it was going to be a good opportunity for them to practice working together.

Firstly, I had Jenna shape two large basins into a large rock by the shore, exposing the inside of the rock to give us a clean surface.  Cordo filled one basin from the lake.  Seneth knelt beside the basin and stared fixedly at it, channelling heat into the water.  As it began to boil, Jorith funnelled the air over to the other bowl, and Cordo re-condensed the steam.

They worked well together, and soon had a steady stream of water filling the second basin.  Evie muttered to me, “I don’t feel like I’m contributing much here…”

“It’s all valuable learning for when you can channel other elements, Evie.  Also, you’re going to be needed fairly soon…”

I was keeping a close eye on the three students doing the distilling.  Jorith was bearing up well, although starting to breath heavily.  Seneth and Cordo though were both starting to sag, though not yet looking quite as sorry as they had been yesterday at the foot of the Academy hill.  

As the clean water reached the point where we could refill all the canteens with some left over, I called, “Enough!”

All three exhaled loudly as they released their channels, looking like they’d run a race.  First Cordo, then Seneth reached up to rub their temples.  Jorith didn’t, but was squinting.  

“Headaches?” I asked, sympathetically.  They all nodded, and I looked at Evie.  “Over to you?”

She nodded and closed her eyes.  A green light built around her palms, then formed tendrils which snaked across the ground to each of the three, winding up them and connecting the four together.  As the vines embraced them, the three distillers all relaxed.  After a few breaths, Evie opened her eyes and the light vanished.

“I could do more… but it might go a bit weird,” Evie said.

“Feeling better?”  I asked of the three.  Jorith let out a contented grunt, and I looked back at Evie, “Good job.”  She beamed under the praise.

We refilled canteens, and then I gave a quick talk about the biota of the lake and the lakeshore.  I then gave the kids a run-down of what trail we’d be following to get to tonight’s camp.  As backpacks were re-hefted, I noted from the corner of my eye that Jenna was whispering to Jorith.  After she finished, he raised one eyebrow, shrugged but then nodded.

Jorith approached Cordo, who was still strapping his pack back on.  “Hey, Cordo?  Did you guys manage to spot the, uh, the tassletail cones on the way up to the lake?”  He carried on without waiting for an answer, “I missed them, but I reckon you’ll have got them, and if I know you, you’ll’ve taken notes on what they look like.  Would you mind walking with me, to make sure I don’t miss them this time?”  He paused, then added, “Please?”

Cordo looked taken aback but, “If I can help, I’d be happy to. Do you want to join...”

Jorith cut him off, “Great!  You and me, my man.  Come on, let’s show the Professor that we can put in the paces and still spot everything!”  He wrapped an arm round Cordo’s shoulder and hustled him off towards the path, near dragging him for a few steps until Cordo got his feet under him.  They disappeared into the trees following the path, leaving all the rest of us staring after them.

“Oh, I’ll keep Seneth company then if you’re going to keep paired with Evie, Professor,” Jenna piped up with forced nonchalance.  Seneth’s tail wavered nervously at this proposal.

I stared at Jenna from under the brim of my hat as I weighed my options.  “Al…right.  Don’t lag too far behind.  Come on, Evie.”  I started walking, but looked back over my shoulder to make sure that they were also headed for the trees and weren’t just going to hang back on the shore.

As Evie and I got a little way away, Evie whispered, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

I murmured back, “Don’t worry – I’m not going to leave them unsupervised.  Are you okay to carry on by yourself for a bit?”

Evie looked confused but nodded nonetheless, and I smiled at her, “Good lass.  I’ll catch up with you soon, I hope.”  As I whispered that, I was looking about for the right opportunity, and it didn’t take long until it appeared.  At a moment when a screen of foliage blocked the view from the path behind, I pulled myself up into the spreading branches of a sturdy tree, then climbed a little higher, before bracing myself and waiting.

It was less than a minute before Jenna and Seneth passed below me.  They were walking in silence, Seneth huddled in on herself, Jenna looking antsy and uncertain.  Once they’d passed a little ways, I dropped softly back down to the ground, and followed.  I could sneak up on most wild animals. Stalking a pair of distracted first-years should be well within my capabilities.
I’d timed my eavesdropping well.  It was only a moment later that Jenna broke the silence:  “Sen…”  Her tone was not angry as such, but had an edge to it.

Seneth, who’d clearly been dreading this moment, let her get no further, cutting across whatever Jenna was about to say, “I’m sorry!  Please don’t hate me, Jen!”

Jenna was taken aback by the pre-emptive apology.  “Oh, for…”  She stopped and took a deep breath, before carrying on in calmer tones.  “Sen.  It’s all right.  I’m not mad.”

Seneth sniffled.  “Really?”

“Really.”  Jenna paused and then added honestly, “Well, I mean:  I was mad.  For a bit.  When you first said ‘No’ about me swimming.  But, if you hadn’t said it, then the Prof probably wouldn’t have thought to tell me about the lake at the Academy.  So, if you think about it, you cost me a quick swim today in exchange for getting me swimming every rest-day from now on.  Which is a pretty good deal.”

“Oh, good.  I guess?  But, then, why?”  

“Why did I force a situation where we could talk alone?  Because I don’t know why you said ‘No’ and I was worrying about it all the time you guys were distilling the water.  I know modesty concepts can vary between kith and regions.  Did I offend you when I stripped off to wash last night? If I did, I’m sorry.”

“No, that was fine.”

“Then…?”

There was a long pause and then, so quietly I could barely hear it from my distance behind them, “Cordo.”

“What about him?”  

“You’re so pretty, Jen!  You’re so sleek and fit, and…”  Seneth trailed off.

“Thanks?”  

“And, and I’m not!  I’m a fat fluffball! And I know any boy would look at you and want you and not me.  And… and thinking about Cordo seeing you like that and wanting you…”  She let out a strangled sob.  “Hurts.”

“Oh! Oh… Oh, Sen.”  Jen’s tone ran at speed through the spectrum from surprise to understanding to compassion.  “Come here, you silly squirrel.”

I froze in my cover as the two girls stopped in the middle of the path, Jenna drawing the shorter girl into a hug, making soft shushing noises and stroking Seneth’s hair as she sniffled into Jenna’s shoulder.

Eventually, Seneth pulled away.  “Thank you, Jenna.  I’m sorry I’m so daft.”

“You are silly, but not for the reason you think…”

“What do you mean?”

“Use your eyes, girl! Cordo’s only got eyes for one girl on this trip and it’s not me.”  Jenna let that sink in for a moment and then hastily added, “And before you panic, it’s not Evie either!  Or the Prof!”

“You mean…?”  Seneth sounded confused, but a hint of hope was creeping in.

“Starry gods above! The boy’s head over heels for you, Sen.  I don’t know if he realises it, the bookish types never do.  Gods know you clearly didn’t… But the way he acts whenever he’s near you?  I’m pretty sure I could be dancing around naked and screaming his name and he’d still be looking at you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Oh!”  Seneth let out a happy little squeak and hugged Jenna again before letting her go.  “Thank you, Jenna!”

“You’re welcome.  Now, good luck getting him to realise it!”

“We’ll manage.  Somehow.”

“I know you will.  Now, we’d better get walking!”

“Yeah!  Or we’ll be scrubbing pots tonight!”  

The two of them headed off down the path with renewed vigour.  And with that little drama laid to rest, I followed after until the path reached a point where I knew that by cutting off-path and going over a hill I could get ahead of them again.  I scrambled up and back down, landing on the path with broken twigs clinging to me, but hearing Jenna and Seneth now to my rear.  I set off to see if I could catch up with Evie.

A quick hustle later, I rounded a bend to see Evie up ahead.  She was going slow and glancing back over her shoulder.  She immediately perked up on seeing me and waved.  I waved back and broke into a jog to close the distance.

“You’re back!  Everything all right?”

I nodded as I slowed back to a walk, “Yeah, I think it’s all sorted.”

Evie reached over and pulled a bit of stray foliage free from my pack, before offering it to me.  “Were you wanting to keep that, Professor?”

“Thank you, but no.  If I need it later, I’m sure I can get another one.”  I gestured to the surrounding woods.  Our eyes met and we managed to keep straight expressions for whole seconds before breaking out into grins, as Evie tossed the leafy twig aside.

Soon after, we saw Jorith and Cordo waiting up ahead.  We sped up slightly to join them. They were standing in an awkward silence, and Jorith looked relieved to have other company.  “Hey,” he piped up.  “We, er, we found the things, the…”

“Tassletail cones,” interjected Cordo.

“Yeah. Them.  And we, I mean, I…”

I interrupted him, “You figured you’d bought Jenna enough time for whatever she was planning?”

Cordo looked confused, glancing between me and Jorith.   Jorith shrugged in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Yeah.  Pretty much.  Everything… okay, do you know?”

“Should be fine.  I don’t think they’re far behind us.  Shall we wait and regroup, go on ahead together?”   Everyone seemed fine with that plan.  I unhooked my flask from my belt and took a long swig, and the three apprentices followed suit.

Jorith made a face as he swallowed.  “This water tastes weird.  Kind of flat.”

I nodded, “The distilling process does that.  As well as dangerous impurities, it leaves behind all the safe ones that add flavour.  If we’d carried on until the first basin was empty, you’d’ve seen a layer of minerals on the bottom.”  I carried on, “Which is – and I’ll come back to this in future classes – something to be wary of on longer trips.  When you sweat, you lose salt, and this kind of water can’t replace it, so you’ll need to get it from somewhere else.”

My ears flicked as I heard footfalls from behind us, and I stepped to the side of the path to look back.  It was, as expected, Jenna and Seneth.  I glanced sideways at Cordo and it really was amazing how, as soon as he saw Seneth, his entire affect changed: he stood up a little straighter, his ears perked up, eyes brightened.  I couldn’t help but smile.  Looking round, I could see that Evie and Jenna were also watching Cordo with warm smiles, and as for Seneth…  Finally clued in by Jenna to what had been obvious to everyone bar her and Cordo, Seneth reflected and magnified Cordo’s radiant affection.  Never unattractive,  whatever she might think of herself, she was now made beautiful by young love’s light.

Cordo just drank in the sight of her for a long moment, before some instinct clued him in that he was the focus of attention of the hike’s entire female contingent, and he suddenly panicked. “What?  Do I have something on my face?  Is it a bug?”  He twisted around, trying to look at himself.

Seneth hurried to his side, brushing past me and Evie, to put a reassuring paw on his shoulder.  “You’re fine, don’t worry.  We were just pleased to see you all.”

“Oh.”  He settled down.  “It’s… nice to see you too?”  His words were anodyne, but as his eyes met hers, their gazes locked and silence drew out between them.

Until I cleared my throat and broke the spell:  “Right. Yes, we’re all glad to see each other.  But unless you two girls need a break,” I looked questioningly between Seneth and Jenna, who both shook their heads, “We should carry on.  Let’s keep together for this next leg – it’s the last bit before we get to camp, and you can all compare notes and work together to spot anything else on your lists before we get there.”

Moving as a group this time, we were making good time along the path.  The last few items on the list of ‘things to spot’ were rapidly ticked off with all of them working together, and the kids were laughing and chatting as we went.  I reckoned we’d get to the camp with plenty of time to set up for the evening, and was mentally reviewing my stock of campfire tales to keep my promise and make up for the previous night’s lack.

It was, in short, all going too well.

From the front of the pack, my ears twitched as they caught an unexpected sound.  I paused on the path and held up a paw, causing the apprentices to stumble to a halt behind me.  One of them started to speak, but stopped as I hissed, “Quiet! I’m listening…”

As silence fell, I focussed my attention ahead.  There was definitely some unusual commotion: something moving heedlessly through underbrush and odd vocalisations.

“Wait here,” I instructed, “Quietly.  I’m going to scout up ahead.”   I matched deed to word, moving cautiously towards the noise, staying low and moving from cover to cover.  

It wasn’t long before I got a look at what was making all the ruckus.  A full-grown wild boar, but not one that was peacefully foraging.  Even from a distance, I could see two broken arrows protruding from high on its side.  The boar was panting and drooling, weaving back and forth across the path, through the bushes and every so often would let out a grunting roar and half-charge some inoffensive shrubbery.

“Oh, star-spit,” I muttered as I turned and started to hightail it back to the group.  A wild boar was problem enough.  One that had been injured by a careless hunter, far worse.  Addled by infection setting in from the wounds?  About the only worse option would be one in rut defending its turf.

As soon as I reckoned I was clear of line of sight, I moved as quickly as I could while still remaining quiet.   The teens were where I’d left them, huddled uncertainly, waiting.  They looked surprised to see me coming towards them at speed.  As soon as I was with them, I briefed them on the problem, in quick quiet sentences:  “Change of plans.  We’re headed back towards the lake.  There’s a wild boar on the path, he’s injured and he’s raging.  He doesn’t know we’re here.  We’re downwind, and his eyesight isn’t great.  But if he hears or scents us, he’ll come for us.   Move as quickly as you can, while keeping quiet.  If he does charge, scatter and climb trees.  Use your magic if you have to but best plan’s waiting him out.  Now move!”

They exchanged fearful glances, but all obeyed without hesitation, turning and moving back down the path with commendable speed.  By unspoken agreement, they rearranged themselves such that Cordo and Seneth were at the front, furthest from the boar and where, as the slowest, we could all take our pace from them.  Evie was in the middle, with Jorith and Jenna at the rear.  Other than myself, of course, who was last of all.  

As we went, I was calling down curses in my head on whatever fool of a hunter had sparked this mess.  Bad enough to injure your prey and not finish the job, leaving it to most likely die slowly.  But what sort of thrice-damned idiot went after a boar with bow and arrow in the first place?  I stopped dead in my tracks as an unpleasant thought rose up from my subconscious.  

Casting a nervous glance backwards, Jenna noticed my halting and also paused, gradually bringing the rest of the group to a stop.  I closed the gap and said quietly, “I need to go back and check something.  Keep moving.  I’ll catch up, but even if I don’t, do not stop until the lake.  Even there, keep near trees you can climb.  If all else fails, the lake is a rendezvous point where the Academy will come to look for you, so stay there. Got it?”

They nodded and resumed their march, while I doubled back towards the boar.  It took me far less time than I would have liked for it to come back into view.  I had an unpleasant feeling that it had picked up our scent, and while it probably wasn’t sure we were out there, it was now headed down the trail with far less meandering and far more impending menace.

As the slightest of positives, the boar’s more forward trajectory gave me a good angle to see what I’d wanted to check.  I slipped my folding spyglass from a belt pouch and opened it to get a closer view at the broken arrows, specifically their fletching.   Even in the waning afternoon light, I could make out the colour banding:  black, red, black.  

“Drowning dark,” I swore under my breath.  And as I turned tail and fled down the path as swiftly as I could while staying silent, I offered a prayer of apology to the spirit of the hunter I had earlier maligned – for I was now near-certain that he was as dead as we would be if the boar caught us.  That colour banding, here, meant that the arrows were Academy-made for sale, enchanted to bring a swift and painless end to any prey even grazed by them.  That they hadn’t…

Again, I caught up with the apprentices faster than I wanted.  Whether from fatigue, reluctance to leave me behind or both, they had slowed down, although they did pick up the pace as I hurried to rejoin them.   I updated them as best I could, while trying to catch my breath.  “Don’t bother using magic on the boar.  It’s a Null.  If it comes to it, just get up a tree as fast as you can and wait it out.”

Although the prospect of fighting should never have been more than a last resort anyway, the news that they couldn’t rely on their magic sent a new frisson of urgency through the class, reinforced by the sound of a grunting bellow from behind.  Without speaking, we all picked up the pace.

Maybe we would have made it to the lake, if everything had gone right.  We did not have a chance to find out.  As best I could reckon what happened:  I snapped shut the spyglass that I was still holding, meaning to stow it back in its pouch as we went to free my hands.  Evie looked back at the sound and did not see a protruding rock in the path.  She stumbled, breaking stride and Jorith, close on her heels, could not stop in time.  His bulk collided with her slight frame and sent her flying forwards and off the path, straight into a bramble bush.  All things considered, I couldn’t even blame her for the startled shriek that ripped through the quiet of the forest, putting those few birds that hadn’t already fled to squawking flight from their roosts.

An enraged bellow from behind us put paid to any faint hope that the cry might have gone un-noticed.  I barked orders, no point in stealth now:  “Trees! Move! I’ll get Evie!”

The four teens scattered off the trail as I darted for the bush where I could see flashes of roan and white fur in the greenery.   I had to trust that Jorith and Jenna could climb.  I spared a sideways glance for Cordo and Seneth, where he was giving her a boost into the lower branches before heading for a shelter of his own.  
I grabbed Evie’s waving hand and pulled her upright, just as the boar hoved into view.  It was steaming in the cool afternoon air, slaver dripping from its jaws and tusks.  It bellowed once more and charged.

“Shit, shit, shit!”  I shoved Evie away from me, adrenaline lending me strength, hurling her back into the undergrowth, as I used the reaction to leap the other way, aiming to let the boar pass between us.  As it passed, in a thunder of hooves, musk and sweat, something hit me, sending me tumbling off the other side of the path.

I rolled and came back up to my feet, as the boar wheeled around to come back for another pass.  It swung its head back and forth, squinting, looking between me and Evie, fallen like the leaves in which she lay.

As I turned to look her way, my right leg buckled under me.  I glanced down.  The boar had not merely knocked into me.  Its tusk had opened a long rip down my trousers and into my thigh, and even in the dimming light of the day, I could see white fur turning carmine.  Now the pain hit.  I gritted my teeth and inhaled to yell.

“Evie! Get to a tree! I’ll keep him busy!”  

She stirred and started to rise.  The movement drew the boar’s attention, so I resorted to desperate measures.  I threw the spyglass that somehow I’d held on to through all this.  The brass cylinder bounced off the boar’s head with a very expensive shattering sound.  As the boar’s gaze focussed on me and it started to move, I offered up two, admittedly contradictory, prayers: that my death would be quick, but that it would buy enough time for Evie to get to safety.

I crouched, preparing to jump at the last moment, knowing that with a bad leg, it was unlikely to be enough.  But as it closed the distance, suddenly, a bush a few paces ahead of it exploded into bright flame.  The boar veered, as startled as I, and a breath later, before it could reorient to me, a thunderbolt crashed down into the undergrowth with a flash of light, sound and steam, sending the boar even further off course.  I leapt into the opening, landing badly as another jolt of pain shot from my leg, but without further injury.  I shot a look upwards.  Jorith and Seneth were both clinging desperately to their perches, trying to get a decent view of the path and the boar.  Jorith had crawled so far out on to the branch, I was sure he must be supporting it with magic. Jenna was gesticulating wildly in the boar’s direction.

I looked back at my nemesis.  The boar was trying to turn for another charge, but was being hindered by the fact that the path kept rearranging itself, as Jenna raised berms and ledges, digging gullies and trenches in circles around the beast.  It wouldn’t last forever, but for a moment, I dared to think it might last long enough.

No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than the boar lost patience and charged at one of the infuriating earth features that kept appearing around it.  Jenna couldn’t release the magic fast enough and I heard her yelp as the boar hit the raised ground, shattering her mana-weaving with a flash.  The boar was beyond infuriated now.  As it crested Jenna’s earthworks, it didn’t even seem to notice another shrub bursting into flame.

I tried to crouch, to leap again, but my leg gave out entirely, sending me to my hands and knees.

An agonized cry, Evie:  “Hickory!”

I looked her way, hoping that I would, at least, see her half-way up a tree, on her way to safety.

What I saw instead was a young goddess.  Evie, standing amidst the trees, entirely limned in emerald light, a rack of phantasmal antlers crowning her, blazing in verdant fire.  

The boar charged.

Time seemed to slow.  Each heartbeat, thudding in my ears.

Evie raising a hand.  

A slow, deep, ripping sound.  The earth buckling and parting as tree roots thrust themselves up from the soil, growing and twisting, all outlined in that same green fire that surrounded Evie.

The boar, halfway to me now, I could see the spit dripping from its tusks and the delirium in its eyes.  

The roots, twining together, thickening, forming a palisade.  A wall of living wood between me and the boar, with long, sharp stakes angled outwards.

The boar hit the palisade.  The green fire vanished in a flare of shattered mana, but it was too late for the boar.  The roots were entirely real and needed no further shaping.  The boar’s momentum drove the stakes deep into its chest.  It kept coming, heedless of the fact that it was impaled, uncaring that it was killing itself.  Onwards it came, slowing as the stake got thicker, gradually losing momentum, its legs no longer driving forward, but still it frothed, shaking its head, seeking only in its last moments to take me with it into the darkness.  

It hit the fence at the end of the stakes.  It bashed its tusks against them, throwing what weight it could still muster against the root’s aegis.  Living wood groaned and creaked, but held.

From where I lay, I could feel its hot breath.  Our eyes met, two lives marked by the same stigma, both leaking life’s blood into the earth.  Saliva spattered my boots, as the boar frothed and raged.  Shadows hovered around the edge of my vision. And finally, gradually, as the light left its eyes, darkness claimed me too.

I awoke to warm sunshine on my face and the sound of voices.  I opened my eyes a crack, squinting against the light.  I was lying on a soft bed, tucked into sheets as white as my fur.  For a moment, I did not know why I was there, and then memories of the boar slammed back into my consciousness.  I essayed a tentative wiggle of my toes: both feet still seemed to be there and responding, although I did get a warning twinge from my thigh.

I opened my eyes more fully and glanced about.  I was in the Academy infirmary.  Mel’s favourite coat was draped over the chair next to my bed.  Mel herself was sat next to the bed opposite me, chatting to its occupant:  Evie, sitting up and smiling.

Evie was the first to notice my stirring.  She shrieked, “Hickory’s awake!”
Mel, not quite literally, flew across the room, and as I started to pull myself up to a sitting position, she caught me up in her arms, and pulled me close to her chest.  We hugged for a long moment, saying nothing, until she reluctantly let me go.

“Hey,” I said.  My voice was hoarse, my throat dry.  Mel passed me a cup of water and I drank, gratefully.  “How long was I out?”

A new voice answered: “Eighteen hours, near enough.”

I looked towards the door to see Professor Kellen, a lanky fox-kith who doubled up as the senior healer for the Academy.

Kellen continued, “I’m fairly sure I can guess your next questions, so I’ll save some time.” He held up one finger and pointed at Evie with the other paw: “She will be fine.  She’s on bed-rest for today to recover from channel-burn.”

A second finger, other paw now pointing at me, “You will also be fine.  You will have an impressive scar.  You can go back to your quarters this evening provided you can stand up.”  

Third finger: “You owe your life to your apprentices.   Although, from what I understand, also due credit to your teaching.  The otter and the rabbit treated your wound with some of the herbs you’d had them collect, bandaged you up and got you stable.  The boar and the squirrel figured out a way to send up a distress signal that we could see from the Academy.  Without both parts, you wouldn’t have lasted until we came looking for you this morning.”

Fourth finger, “And since they didn’t have any classes scheduled for today, they have spent all morning lurking around the infirmary asking when you will wake up.  You’re awake, so I’m letting them in before I turn them into toads.”

Kellen threw open the door that led out to the corridor and barked, “One hour, tops.  Then, out!”   He promptly stalked away.

He was immediately replaced by far more congenial companionship, Jenna and Jorith first through the door, laden with bouquets of flowers; hot on their heels Cordo and Seneth, two hands joined, the others carrying baskets of fruit.  

As they swarmed into the room, clustering round Evie and my beds, I squeezed Mel’s hand and smiled up at her, grateful for these people, this moment, and this chance for further days.

", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Arcwright Academy", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "4", "name": "Sexual Themes", "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal", "rating_id": "2" }, { "content_tag_id": "5", "name": "Strong Violence", "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "2", "views": "39" }