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Chapter 1 - Callan
Callan adjusted the collar of his shirt in the little mirror in his dorm room, pleased with what he saw. After he’d made the grim mistake last year of bringing his thick, warm clothes from home to the decidedly more tropical insula of Sanguine, he’d resolved never to trap himself in a suffocatingly sweaty suit again. What he was wearing now was made of a light, cool material that allowed the air to touch his skin… while still, of course, making him look professional and dignified. That was important, too. He was at university to learn first and foremost, of course, but it didn’t hurt to make a good impression on the people around you. It had been firmly impressed on them that their fellow students were most likely their future colleagues, coworkers, and competitors. The building of their reputations had already started, and Callan wasn’t interested in being known as ‘the sweaty guy’.
He’d been looking forward to the welcome party for weeks now, ever since about halfway through the break when he’d finished all his summer reading and found himself bored with so much time off. Some students found the event stuffy and tiresome, and far too long with all the introductions and speeches for the benefit of new students, but Callan had always had a supernatural amount of patience for that kind of thing. Besides, it felt good to be entering his second year at the university. He was still basically a freshman as far as many of the students were concerned—there were dragons here who’d been studying for decades, after all—but he still had a whole year on the intake of new students, and that felt good.
A lot had changed in the last year, he found himself reflecting as he headed up towards the Great Hall among the throng of chatty students. Maybe not for him so much as for his friend Morgan, but it was still a fairly major event when your friend found their soulmate, especially in the turbulent circumstances that had surrounded the first semester of their time here. Thankfully, things had settled down since then. Archer had finally gotten free of his controlling, domineering family and was building a new life for himself with his soulmate at his side… and as for Morgan, Callan was seeing her come out of her shell in ways he’d never thought were possible back home. Was it meeting her soulmate that had done that for her, or learning what she’d learned about herself here at Brisant? A little of both, Callan suspected. He knew she was benefiting particularly from her water magic classes.
It made him feel a little guilty that he’d prioritized other areas in his own academic schedule… but he had to be true to his interests, and his interests were overwhelmingly in history, politics, and current affairs. As soon as he found he had a bit of space clear on his schedule, he’d think about picking up an elective or two in magic, but for now at least, he felt he owed it to himself and his community to focus on what he was here to learn. He’d had some great conversations over the break with Queen Lana, who was very interested in his ongoing training as a diplomat. There would be a great need for the insights he was gaining in the coming years and decades, as the dragons and wolves of the Valley began to form ties with the world outside their insula. It was hard to believe they’d only known about the outside world for a few years now.
So as interested as he was in learning a little more about his own inherent air sign magic, he reasoned that he’d have to balance that interest with the more pressing need. He’d said as much to Morgan when they were choosing their subjects for the second year, which had made her roar with laughter, telling him that he couldn’t have sounded more like a Libra if he’d tried.
He felt himself smiling fondly as he made his way into the crowded Great Hall again, taking in the familiar high ceilings and the dull roar of conversation from hundreds of excited students and their families. It was traditional for families and loved ones to attend the first and last events of the academic year, which generally led to space issues. That must have been why the doors were standing wide open this time, with the courtyard outside the Hall available for the overflowing crowds of guests. Servers were circulating with trays of drinks and snacks, and he could hear the distant strains of music from a small orchestra up on the stage. Traditionally, this part of the evening had involved an elaborate sit-down dinner, with multiple courses served at long and overcrowded tables. That had been one of the changes Archer had made when he’d been appointed as the social director at the school. This free-range approach was much more pleasant, and more comfortable for the visitors, too.
Callan noticed that this year, school tours had been added to the agenda. That was a nice touch. When he’d been home over the summer, he’d fielded a lot of questions from curious friends about what the layout of the school was actually like. Speaking of curious friends… he scanned the heads of the crowd until he spotted a few familiar faces, grinning as he moved over to join them. Morgan and Acantha were deep in conversation at the side of the hall, with Acantha’s mate Cato standing nearby, scanning the room with a predatory glint in his eye. He always made a point of eating his body weight in hors d’oeuvres at these events, and judging by the sizable stash of napkins already stuffed into the pockets of his trousers, he’d already made a good start.
“Glad to be back?” Callan asked. Morgan smiled back at him.
“I’ve been looking forward to being back here since we left. Not that it wasn’t great to be home,” she added, shooting a ruffled-looking Acantha an apologetic smile. “I’m just really excited about second year. What about you? Did you end up deciding between those politics subjects?”
“Nope. Enrolled in both. There’s two weeks until enrollments are locked in, I’m going to go to both classes and see how I feel about them.”
Cato wrinkled his nose. “Seems like a lot of extra work. Why don’t you just flip a coin?”
“Callan’s not a man who leaves anything up to chance,” Acantha said with a shake of her head, flashing Callan a faint, approving smile. He couldn’t help feeling a warm glow of pride move through him. His days in the Palace Guard were long behind him, but Acantha had always been an intimidating commander, and approval from her still meant a great deal to him. “Always weighing his choices, always doing his due diligence…”
“You’re far too kind.” He took a sip of his drink, fighting to hide his grin. “It’s good to get all the information, that’s all.”
“You’re going to be a brilliant diplomat,” Morgan said with a grin, patting him affectionately on the shoulder. Then the group’s attention was pulled towards the stage, where the music had stopped and the Dean was tapping on a microphone and clearing his throat. His voice echoed effortlessly through the Great Hall, and Callan felt himself marveling at the unfamiliar technology yet again. It hadn’t been until he’d left his home insula that he’d realized how much more technologically advanced the world beyond his home was. Sure, they made themselves comfortable, and magic filled a lot of the gaps that technology didn’t, but there was so much out here that could improve their way of life back home. It was one of many points on his hypothetical to-do list… once he’d finished his studies, of course.
The Dean gave his traditional speech, welcoming new and returning students alike and extending gratitude to the families and loved ones who were there to support them. He also ran through detailed introductions of the teaching staff, which Callan remembered going by him in a blur last year. This time, most of the names were familiar, as were many of the faces. He took careful note of the teachers whose names were on his schedule, trying to get a head start on learning their faces, too. It never hurt to be prepared. The Dean finished by introducing the guest lecturers who’d be living on campus that semester, each one stepping up to give a short introduction. The university tried to strike a balance between the established wisdom of their long-term tenured staff and the fresh insights of a revolving cast of guest lecturers from outside the university, something that had ruffled a few feathers among more traditional dragons. But Callan felt it was a strength to introduce as many different viewpoints as possible, especially in an institution that was dedicated to building knowledge.
“Such a diversity of viewpoints,” Cato murmured in Callan’s ear, his mouth full of food. “Apart from the part where they’re all dragons.”
But Callan was distracted from replying by the woman who’d just stepped up to the microphone to introduce herself. She was tall and willowy with slate-gray eyes and white-blonde hair pulled into a simple but elegant bun, and she spoke softly in an accent he didn’t recognize. He realized with a start that he recognized the course she was attached to from the brochures he’d spent half the summer poring over—it was one of the two topics on politics he’d been tossing up between. There was something magnetic about the way she spoke, about the way her gray eyes took in the hall without even a hint of self-consciousness at speaking in front of so many people. Her specialty area was on the workings of a particular organization that operated across most known insulas, and how they maintained their own laws and obligations across such a wide variety of political settings.
“Mage’s Guild,” Cato muttered under his breath, sounding disgusted. “Why anyone would be interested in the goings-on of those hidebound old idiots is beyond me…”
Callan, at least, was interested. And when the speeches concluded and the evening gave way again to music and mingling, he found himself wandering through the crowds, vaguely hopeful of running into the gray-eyed woman. Kaya, that was her name… she was only presenting a handful of lectures as part of the topic, as well as taking a few tutorials, but he was already feeling the balance of his decision tipping in that topic’s favor. And to his delight, it wasn’t long until he found her, sipping a glass of champagne on the far side of the hall.
Callan had always been good at making introductions, at smoothing the sometimes-awkward step between strangers and acquaintances. But to his surprise, he found himself uncharacteristically nervous as he met her cool, level gaze. There was something about the way she looked at him that made him feel like she knew who he was, somehow. Like she knew more than she was letting on. Surprised at himself, he pushed down the nervousness and introduced himself. She shook his hand with a faint smile, and there was something startling and immediate about the touch of her skin that surprised him, too. What had gotten into him?
“I’m enrolled in your class,” he told her. “Well, I’m provisionally enrolled. Still finalizing my schedule.”
“Is that so?” She smiled faintly. “I hope I make the cut. Though it’s not really my class, so if it’s only the Mage’s Guild that interests you, it might be best to look elsewhere…”
“Oh, no. It’s politics that interests me. Insula politics especially—how so many communities with such different histories and ways of working manage to communicate with each other. My own home insula only very recently made contact with the outside world, so it’s definitely a subject of personal significance.”
Kaya nodded thoughtfully. “You’re from the new one, then. They mentioned there were a few students from there. Well, I hope you do choose us.” Another of those faint, cryptic smiles of hers. “I suspect your perspective would be valuable. Dragons get so easily stuck in their old ways of thinking, I’ve noticed.”
Another professor pulled her away shortly afterwards, leaving Callan surprised at how much the interaction seemed to have shaken him up. There was something so compelling about her, something that made him feel tongue-tied and nervous by contrast. He wanted to know more about her… and most of all, he wanted to hear her lectures. Wasn’t air sign magic all about following your intuition? Well, his intuition was telling him that there was no need to keep tossing up between the two topics. His choice was made.
And he was already impatient for the term to begin.
Chapter 2 - Inota
Surrounded by dragons, Inota smoothed her breathing, dropped her shoulders, and reminded herself to smile. Beneath her high-necked gown, she felt the familiar weight of the gemstone against the bones of her ribcage. She already felt strange about how long she’d remained in this shape—it was like wearing the same clothing day after day. But if she was going to pull this off, she was going to have to get used to looking like the same person every day for a while.
Part of her was still shocked she’d pulled it off. Dragons had always seen her as one of them, somehow interpreting her unique magical signature as resonating with their own, but part of her had been convinced that being around so many of them, at a high-level academic institution no less, would result in at least one of them realizing she was different. But no—ever since her final interview with the Dean when he’d offered her the position as a guest lecturer, the dragons had been nothing but welcoming. A shame they were only extending her that courtesy because they thought she was one of them.
