The heavy oak doors of the academy swung shut behind Alaric with a soft thud.
He paused on the threshold, letting his shoulders drop slightly.
The courtyard stretched before him, filled with the organized chaos of departure.
Carriages lined the gravel drive like sleeping beasts, their polished surfaces reflecting the late afternoon sun.
Coachn checked harnesses while guards stood at attention, waiting for their charges to erge.
His gaze swept the scene until it found what he was looking for.
At the far edge, leaning against the polished side of their carriage, Elina stood with her arms crossed.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Her foot tapped impatiently against the gravel, while her golden eyes remained fixed on the doors.
Waiting.
Alaric descended the stone steps at his own pace, hands sliding into his pockets.
"Took your sweet ti," she said coolly the mont he approached. "Did the professors find you so fascinating they refused to let you go?"
Alaric’s lips curved upward.
"Maybe I just wanted to see how long you’d stand there looking like you were planning soone’s murder."
Her foot stopped tapping. The look she gave him could have lted steel.
"Get in the carriage," she said through gritted teeth.
But instead of moving toward the door, Alaric glanced around the courtyard again.
Other examinees were climbing into their family vehicles, faces bearing mixtures of relief, exhaustion, and nervous anticipation.
So would celebrate tonight. Others would spend the evening dreading tomorrow’s announcent.
The thought of sitting in a cramped carriage, enduring Elina’s pointed silence for the duration of their ride back to their inn, held little appeal to him.
"Actually," he said, studying the academy’s imposing facade one last ti, "let’s walk."
Elina blinked. "Walk where?"
"Through the city. When else will we have the chance to see Velmont properly?"
He was already moving toward the carriage door, but only to address their coachman.
"Take the luggage back to the inn. We’ll make our own way."
"But sir—" the man began.
"We’ll be fine." Alaric waved off the man’s concern.
"The capital’s safe enough during daylight."
Behind him, he heard Elina’s sharp intake of breath.
"You can’t be serious. We should return and—"
"And what? Sit in our rooms worrying about results we can’t change?"
He turned back to her, noting how her hands had clenched at her sides.
"Co on, sister. Live a little."
For a mont, he thought she might refuse outright. Her gaze darted between him, the carriage, and the academy gates beyond which the city beckoned.
Finally, her shoulders sagged slightly in defeat.
"Fine. But if we get lost in so back alley, I’m blaming you entirely."
"I wouldn’t expect anything less."
Then they turned and set off through the academy gates, joining the flow of foot traffic that moved along Velmont’s main thoroughfares.
rchants called their wares from every corner—silk ribbons, fresh bread, bottles of essence-infused wine that promised to boost energy or calm nerves.
Elina walked beside him with asured steps, her posture carefully controlled.
But Alaric caught the way her eyes darted to shop windows, how she paused almost imperceptibly when street musicians struck up particularly lodious tunes.
"You’re allowed to be curious, you know," he said after they’d walked for several minutes in silence.
"No one’s going to report back to mother that you showed interest in sothing."
She shot him a sideways glance.
"I’m observing our surroundings. It’s called situational awareness."
"Is that what you call it when you stare at flower stalls?"
Her step hitched almost imperceptibly.
Up ahead, a vendor had arranged his wares in brilliant cascades of color—roses that seed to glow with inner light, lilies whose petals shifted hue as the breeze moved them, and clusters of small blue blossoms that shimred faintly with contained essence.
"moria blooms," the vendor called out, noticing their approach.
"Fresh from the eastern groves! Clear the mind of fatigue, sharpen concentration. Perfect for young scholars awaiting important news!"
Elina’s pace slowed despite herself. The flowers were beautiful, their petals catching the afternoon light like captured starlight.
"If you want so, just buy them," Alaric said casually.
"Standing there looking like you’re planning a theft isn’t particularly subtle."
Color flushed her cheeks.
"I wasn’t...I don’t need—" She turned away sharply.
"Don’t assu you can read my thoughts so easily."
She turned and increased her pace, while Alaric just followed slowly.
They continued deeper into the market district, where the press of people grew thicker and the sounds more varied.
Children darted between adult legs, chasing each other with paper kites that bobbed and weaved overhead.
A scribe with ink-stained fingers had set up a small table where he offered to write letters for the illiterate, while beside him another man sold charms that supposedly enhanced mory for nervous students.
The diversity was remarkable.
The academy’s examination had drawn people from across the kingdom, and many had chosen to explore the capital while they awaited results.
They’d been walking for few minutes, then... the rhythmic sound of drums began to echo off the surrounding buildings.
The steady beat was too organized to be street musicians.
Other pedestrians were already moving to the sides of the street, clearing a path down the center.
Parents pulled children close while shopkeepers stepped out from their stalls to watch the approaching procession."
What’s happening?" Elina asked, though her tone suggested she might already know.
The answer ca into view monts later.
A column of figures in pristine white robes advanced down the street, their movents perfectly synchronized to the drum beats.
Gold trim caught the sunlight as they walked, while silver staves topped with elaborate sunburst emblems rose and fell in rhythm with their steps.
The Church’s delegation, returning from so ceremony at one of the capital’s many temples.
The crowd’s reaction was imdiate and telling. Heads bowed automatically as the priests passed, while many pressed hands to hearts in gestures of reverence.
Even those who didn’t actively participate in the religious display stepped respectfully aside, maintaining the clear path the procession required.
But not everyone showed such deference. Alaric noticed how so faces remained carefully neutral, how a few people found sudden interest in shop windows rather than acknowledge the passing clergy.
Beside him, Elina had gone very still. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she watched the white-robed figures glide past with ceremonial gravity.
"They’ve grown bold," she murmured, voice barely audible above the drumming.
"Appearing so openly even here, so far from their strongholds..."
"You disapprove of religious ceremony?"
Alaric asked, though he kept his own voice low.
"I disapprove of them. Period."
The words ca out with more venom than she’d probably intended, because she imdiately looked around to see if anyone had overheard.
"Their... theatrics serve no one but themselves."
Before Alaric could probe further, the procession had passed, taking their drums and their intimidating presence with them.
The street slowly returned to normal as people resud their activities, though conversations seed more subdued than before.
"Personal experience?" he asked as they began walking again.
Elina’s step hitched slightly. "What?"
"With the Church. You sound like soone who’s had dealings with them before."
"Everyone’s had dealings with them."
Her response was too quick, too practiced.
"They make sure of that."
She picked up her pace, clearly wanting to leave the subject behind. Alaric let her, filing away another piece of information about his complicated sister.
anwhile...
The academy’s stone steps had grown cold beneath a young man as evening approached, but he remained seated with his back against one of the massive pillars that flanked the main entrance.
Most of the other examinees had long since departed, eager to escape to comfortable lodgings and familiar faces.
He should have left too.
But sohow he couldn’t bring himself to move.The examination token still pressed into his sweaty palm, its edges worn smooth by his fidgeting.
Should have elaborated more on the trade route analysis, he thought for perhaps the hundredth ti.
Should have been more confident during the essence manipulation trial. Should have, should have, should have...
"Rough day?"
A voice startled him from his spiral of self-recrimination.
A young woman approached him, while he was lost in thought—soone about his own age with the kind of practical clothes that marked her as neither nobility nor poverty, but sothing comfortable in between.
"You could say that," Oliver managed, looking up at her with tired eyes.
She settled onto the step beside him without invitation. "
Academy examination?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"The glazed look of soone who’s been thinking too hard for too long."
She smiled sympathetically.
"I’m Elena. My brother took his exams today too."
"Oliver." He shifted the token to his other hand, relieving his cramped fingers.
"How’s your brother handling it?"
Elena laughed, though not unkindly.
"Better than you, I’d guess. He has this annoying habit of appearing completely unworried about things that should terrify any reasonable person."
"Lucky him." Oliver’s attempt at humor fell flat even to his own ears.
"Maybe. Or maybe he’s just better at hiding his panic." Elena studied his face.
"Want to talk about it? Sotis saying the worries out loud makes them smaller."
For a mont, Oliver was tempted to spill everything.
But. The words stuck in his throat.
"I keep thinking I made mistakes," he said instead. "Things I should have done differently."
"Probably did," Elena agreed cheerfully, which was not what he’d expected to hear.
"Most people do. The question is whether you made enough right choices to balance out the wrong ones."
She stood, brushing dust from her skirts.
"Results co tomorrow regardless. Spending tonight torturing yourself won’t change anything, but it might make you too tired to handle whatever cos next."
Oliver found himself nodding despite his lingering anxiety.
"Thanks," he said.
"Don’t ntion it. Besides," Elena grinned as she walked away, "If both our brothers get accepted, maybe we’ll see each other around the academy. Soone has to keep an eye on them."
Oliver blinked and watched her disappear into the evening crowd, then finally managed to push himself to his feet.
The stone steps had indeed grown cold, and his muscles protested the movent after sitting still for so long.
But as he walked toward the inn, Elena’s words echoed in his mind.
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