The New Bond

[As crucial as the body is, the mind cannot be forgotten. “A knight that lacks wisdom cannot defeat a dragon,” is how the saying goes. When it comes to attributes, keeping them balanced has always been a good choice. When it comes to practice, reading books, completing puzzles, and openly debating your ideas with others can help.]

-Body and mind, page 27

Aster

I was a bit nervous as I handed over the silk bowstring to Professor Fore. I was currently In his office. It was in the corner of the course room, an area that was usually off-limits to students. Technically, we still had another day to finish the project he had assigned, but I didn't think there was much left I could do in a day, and Kat had already turned her project in today as well.

He took the bowstring, giving me a smile as he set it on a table in the middle of the room. Walking over to the back of the room, which held rows of shelves and cabinets, he pulled open one, taking out an object that he held out for me to see. It was a small, shiny silver disk that had a crystal embedded in the middle. The entire thing was small enough to fit into his palm.

“This is a rune reader. As the name states, this device reads most runes as long as they're not too hidden, something we don't have to worry about here.” He said, then holding the disk with two fingers, and with a slight blue glow, he ran it over the string, not touching it but holding it close.

His eyes were unfocused as he looked at something I couldn't see, and then he nodded before he examined it with his own eyes. I felt my tail twitch nervously as the examination continued for one of the longest minutes of my life. After an eternity passed, he finally looked up with a smile on his face, and he rested back into a chair, gesturing for me to sit on one opposite of the table. Once I had sat, he spoke.

“You used an expensive material for your first project, but it worked out in your favor. Not many elastic materials can take enchantments, silk being one of the few that can, and I'm surprised you fit four runes into such a small area.”

At his words, I felt my shoulders relax, and that lasted until he continued speaking.

“That being said, the rune work could do with a lot of improvement. You used minor mana storage, minor increased durability, flexibility, and lesser mend. Can you explain to me why?” He asked.

I gave a nod, taking a small breath before I spoke, “Minor mana storage was a necessity because I can't infuse the bow with mana during a fight, so it needs its own pool, even if it's a small one. Increased durability was out there, so it can last a bit longer than a normal bowstring as my levels increase. The flexibility rune was to make the string easier to draw. The last rune lesser mend was to help with the maintenance and to fix any fibers splitting.”

“Sounds like you plan to use this for a while. If it had anything other than enchanting runes, I would have said the sting would fall apart within a few months of constant use, but all these runes do, discounting the mending rune, is to increase what's already there. The runes with the help of the quality of the string, I'd estimate it'll last at least a year before runes start to break down, and that will be because the runes are rated at common grade. I suspect as soon as you put some mana into the runes, you'll have an uncommon bowstring on your hands, mostly because of the silk and the craftsmanship that was put into the weaving itself. You did a fine job for your first enchantment, Aster.”

“Does this mean I pass the exam?” I couldn't help asking the question; this was one of my favorite courses, and I didn't know what would happen if I failed the project.

Professor Fore laughed, bending back. “You pass with flying colors in all fields besides rune work. Your mending rune is a bit on the crude side, but that's what's to be expected with only one year of practice.”

“Flying colors?” I asked, tilting my head.

“It means you did an excellent job. Now go and send the next student in. It seems you and Miss Kat approaching me this morning gave some others confidence that their project was done as well.” He waved me off as he got up going back to the cabinet.

I stood up, giving a smile as I collected the bowstring and stored it before I left the office. There weren't any windows out of the room, so I was surprised to see six other students waiting in line outside. Professor Fore either had amazing hearing or something to help with his senses.

For a slight second, I was a bit annoyed at the golden ring clasped on my ear. The downside of it is apparent at the moment. It had been created to use when sleeping, so it blocked out all noises besides nearby voices unless I was focusing on them or they were loud enough. As the next student entered, I looked at where Kat was seated and met her expectant look. She had been the first to go in to show her project, which was two dagger sheaths that were enchanted to clean and sharpen them when the daggers were inside. My face must have shown that I'd passed because she grinned as I made my way to sit down.

“So we're on for tonight, then?” She asked, and I nodded. The idea of a get-together she'd brought up yesterday didn't feel like it would help, but it couldn't hurt to try. At the thought, I couldn't help feeling for the bond and sighed as the silence inside it seemed to loom. The bond felt dark without anything on the other side. A tap on my head brought me out of my thoughts, and I met Kat's gaze. She tapped me again on the head. “You need to think about other things. Thinking about your bond right now isn't going to help anything.”

I sighed. I didn't really want to think about anything else. I was worried about Umbra. What if she got terrible class options? Or she got a bad class evolution for her race class? I knew there was nothing I could do about it, but it didn't stop me from just wanting to know she was okay.

“Where are we even going? I know you said we were going out, but you never said where.” I asked Kat, looking up at her to give her a quizzical look.

“Oh, I didn't? Well, it'll just have to be a surprise then.” Her voice said she knew she hadn't said where. Then she rubbed her hand on her chin thoughtfully. “Do you have anything nice to wear? Not extremely fancy, mind you, just something decent and easy to move in.”

My first thought was the dress in my storage I had worn on one of my first days here when I had met the king, but that had to be way too fancy.

“No, but I can pick something up beforehand and change?” I suggested

She frowned for only a moment before she nodded. “There's a nice shop only a street down from the school. We can go together and meet Fernand at the…place.” She nodded after speaking as if setting the plan in stone.

“Oh, so he gets to know, but I don't?” My words were light-hearted and teasing as I tried to put on a hurt expression. The face had worked on Sandath, but it had no effect on Kat as her grin took on a playful look.

“He helped me find the place I was thinking of. I'm still as new to the city as you are, after all.”

I let out a groan of defeat as I rested my head on the desk, but I couldn't help the smile on my face. Both of them were good friends.

Kat was definitely not my friend. She was too evil to be that. The thought had just passed through my mind before I let out a yelp as I jumped sideways, avoiding the tile that had just turned red, then jumped again as it moved.

Behind me, I heard both of them laughing and could even see Fernand leaning over, gasping. I let out a growl of frustration as I jumped to the next set of blue tiles. It wasn't that funny that my tail had hit one of the red tiles a second ago. Turning, I jumped as all the tiles on the floor turned red, and I clung to the pillar.

While I had a moment, I looked over to both of them. “Fernand lost in the first round by falling over. Why is my tail hitting a tile funnier?” I asked, fuming.

“Fernand has almost no endurance and dexterity compared to us. His completing the first three levels was pretty good,” Kat said after collecting herself.

I let go of the pillar as the tiles changed colors back to blue, crossing my arms. As soon as the academy day had ended, Kat dragged me to the store, where I bought a loose shirt and a nice pair of pants that were comfortable and somehow stretchy. Then we met Fernand at a small restaurant where we had dinner, which was a nice stew and fresh bread. Then, I had been led here. The building was on the edge of the merchant district next to the outer district. The building was three stories tall and had a glowing blue sign that said ‘Fall Dock.’ Fall Dock, as it turned out, was a training building that labeled itself as entertainment. I was a little upset at the fact every activity had been fun because it gave me nothing to complain about. There were a total of five different things you could do, and Kat was leading me through each one. This was the fourth one, which left only one left. There had been an obstacle course that went around the entire building first, followed by a climbing wall that changed as you made your way up to the roof. Then, the next one had been a puzzle room in which we had to find clues to unlock a code to escape. It had been my favorite so far, even though Fernand had done most of the work. Then there was the one room we had just finished, full of tiles with a pillar in the middle and sitting at each corner. The goal was to go as long as possible while avoiding hitting a red tile and touching all the blue ones in a set time.

“I just don't think it's fair that my tail brushing a tile counts,” I grumbled as we left the room. Pulling out a cloth to wipe my face free of the sweat, I ignored the chuckles from Fernand and instead looked at the room we were making our way into. Compared to the rest, it was simple: two poles over a pit of what looked like leaves but gray instead of green. Off to the side stood a rack of metal sticks with a thick leather ball at the end. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together, and I felt my lips twitch up as I moved towards them, looking at Kat.

His face held the same simile as she looked at the poles. Fernand groaned and sat on the edge of the pit of fake leaves. “You two can knock yourselves crazy with this. I'm going to pass. My body already aches after everything else.”

I picked one of the poles up and swung it experimentally. It was light, really light, and the ball at the end bounced off the ground when I tested it.

“How does a place like this not get more people?” I asked as I looked over to Kat, trying to think of a way I could knock her off.

“It's a new place, and it's only been open for a month. It's just starting to gain some traction.” Fernand said, “There's a possibility that more of these places will appear if it's successful enough.”

I nodded as I gave the stick a few swings and made my way over to the pillar. The only way over to the pillars was to wade through the surprisingly soft fake leaves that reached up to my chest. Each pillar, roughly seven feet above the leaves, had built-in rungs. Making my way up one-handed, I sat on the top, taking a look around while I waited for Kat. Each room in the building had a wide arched doorless entrance that, mixed with each room reaching two stories high, gave the entire building an open feeling. I found myself enjoying the style.

“You climb faster than a squirrel, but don't think that's going to let you win,” Kat grunted as she hoisted herself on top of the other pillar.

The pillars were only four feet apart, which left plenty of reach to hit the other with the stick.

Kat spun hers in one hand and leaned down, balancing her weight. I copied her stance, keeping my feet apart as I brought up my stick.

“I don't even know how to swing this!” I said, aiming to throw her off as I pushed my stick towards her gut. Kat moved like a blur as she batted my stick away and retaliated with a sweep at the legs, which I didn't react to fast enough. I fell into the leaves. The fall was surprisingly easy on my body, the fake leaves taking up most of the fall. I glared up at Kat as I got to my feet. She grinned down at me. I took that grin as a challenge. I wasn't going to stop until I'd won.

“How was I meant to know that was against the rules?” I asked, looking back at the building we'd been kicked out of.

“Tackling your opponent into the leaves? I think they'll be adding that to the list.” Kat hummed with a smile on her face. She wasn't the least bit upset. After all, why would she be? She'd won seven in a row effortlessly. Losing that badly really had me thinking about trying to learn how to use a closer-range weapon than a bow, but what could I use that would work with a bow?

As we made our way down the street and looked at the sky, there was only a slight glow in the far sky as the sun sank.

“It's a moonless night,” I said, looking around in the sky for any sight of it. The lack of any other twinkling stars also told me it was cloudy.

“The fourth day of the third week is always a moonless night. Let's get to the restaurant before all we have is mana lamps to see from,” Fernand said.

I didn't point out that my skill, Night Eye, had taken over when we had walked out, and the area thirty feet around me was as bright as day.

“Where are we even going? Didn't we eat before we came here?” I asked. I could tell we were heading back into the merchant district and closer to the academy, but I couldn't think of any places to eat that would be open at night besides inns.

“Fernand,” Kat gestured at him, “told me about a butchery that's also a sweet shop. It's a good way to end a night.”

I nodded, wondering for a moment if there would be anything Umbra would like. She still had at least four days before she would even wake up and maybe even another seven, depending on a lot of factors. While the thought didn't make me happy, the idea of having a lot of treats for her when she woke up did, and it put a slight bounce in my step. Tonight didn't really distract me from Umbra's advancement, but it had put it to the back of my mind.

“That sounds nice, let's pickup-” My words were cut off as something heavy hit me from the side, knocking the air out of my lungs. I bounced as I hit the ground rolling, and it was a moment of confusion before I heard the sound of metal on metal. I looked up while trying to take in a breath to see Kat where I'd been standing, knocking what looked like a small knife out of the air. My eyes moved from Kat to someone in all black who had his hand outstretched.

Wren

I sat looking at my father, not knowing what to think. I had given over the information that the group had requested, and our house had been paid, but it left a sick taste in my mouth.

“You did well, son. You made the house a lot of money tonight. We'll be one of the only houses ready when the war kicks off.”

I didn't respond to him, instead looking down at the plate of roast in front of me that was untouched. His words somehow made the taste in my mouth even worse.

I had no idea what was going on, but it wasn't my problem, was it? Finding out where Kat, Fernand, and Aster planned to go tonight wasn't hard. All it took was a little gold to get someone to follow Fernand and listen in that morning. Now, Father would be off my back for the foreseeable future, and I could focus on getting stronger. I let out a deep breath and picked up the cup of wine that I'd yet to touch. Maybe the taste of alcohol could wash away the taste.