When the students returned to Amos, they weren't allowed to teleport into the receiving building. They were brought to the end of the drive and had to walk up with whatever of their items they could carry. Whatever they couldn't carry was left behind, leaving many students scrambling as civilians began lining up, eying the belongings left behind.
Maeno only had a small bag.
Which had his clothing and one book in it.
It should have had his razor and the small cleansing knife he had purchased the year before but Nendan had taken those from him. Like he couldn't be trusted with the items. The cleansing knife was duller than a butterknife, meant only to cut through the magic of a latent spell before it activated.
The fact that Nendan was surprised Maeno had one and ordered an inventory of his room, workroom, stores, and hidey-holes didn't help Maeno relax any. He had a coin burning a desperate hole in his pocket and a visit four days overdue. He didn't have time to worry about the secrets Lugh would dig up.
Just as long as the coin wasn't found.
Though, the look on Nendan's face when Maeno had asked what a hidey-hole even was, had been priceless.
They returned to their rooms only to have a Kaulu pair enter in spelled leather armour. Maeno wasn't sure if he should have known what that armour was called. It had the carved representation of the cockatrice scaling, but Maeno could feel the spells writhing on the inside. His right arm itched as their belongings were carefully searched.
The Kaulu took Feon's razor, nicking him on the cheek with it, and a cleansing knife that vibrated with magic as they removed it. The troll babbled at them, but they just patted it on the head and promised that it was in good hands.
Healers weren't seeing to those nicked by a razor, they learned shortly after.
The next morning the first and second years were gathered together and sat down in the grand hall in the same seats they had during the council meeting. As they sat there, books were handed out, heavy things almost as thick as Maeno's hand. Gilded on the front was the name of the university.
Aelynn Magi o Scalea.
No one ever explained that Amos University wasn't the name of the school. If it weren't for the council gathering, he might never have learned that. He didn't recognize the language, didn't know what any of it meant besides Magi, that gave him some indication. He had tried the obvious, asking Nendan. The man had nodded, grunted, and agreed that's what it meant. His heart skipped a beat as he thought of the implications.
That they were about to be taught of the Magi history.
The Kaulu representative stepped before them. His back straight, head held high as he looked over the gathered students. Because of the intermarriage between mages and the Seven, there were several in the crowd who looked Kaulu or Pan in descent. They might be undercover Seven, or simply mages making their way in the world.
Nendan had been recognized as having Lugh blood but no one knew he was Lugh until his second or so year. Nendan hadn't exactly been clear on that part but once his brother died, he had been outed because he became heir. Anyone besides heir entered Amos without the backing of their lines, sometimes with a fake family name.
The heirs, though, they tended to hold the standard, recognizable features.
The recognizable features that the Kaulu representative carried. Where Pan was the knight in shining armour, the prince charming sort of creature—and why wouldn't they be when those myths arose because of their actions?—Kaulu were the boisterous Northerners broad of shoulder and nose, tall and built to carry muscle. They still had throwbacks, men born to their line with a shock of red hair.
Nearly all Seven men were clean-shaven at all times.
Except for the Kaulu who grew red beards.
The Kaulu representative had dark brown hair and the starting of a red beard, just being grown. The stubble looked ridiculous but once it grew out the man would likely look distinguished.
"You each have before you a handbook," Kaulu called out. "You will read this book and tomorrow the tests will begin. You may return to your lessons when you receive a perfect score on your tests. This is not percentage based, this is absolute obedience. You will then follow the book to the letter. Yes, Naena?"
Naena stood, clutching her book to her.
"I know the book says certain things about clothing and hair—"
"There were too many exceptions to the hair, the length has been removed," Kaulu said. "Clean and orderly. As to clothing, well, we aren't about to tell you whether you need to wear skirts or not. That is your choice to make."
"So if I want to wear skirts, I can?" some student in the crowd called out sarcastically.
"You will be in skirts for the remainder of the year or you may leave the school," Kaulu responded steadily. "Boys, the Lord of the Seven had very low expectations of you and you still managed to disappoint him. With that comes consequences. The rules for your classes will now change mid-term. Mid-day, even, if need be. Per the handbook, anyone caught with a blade of any sort will be—yes, Naena?"
"I was given a blade and it was taken from me."
"Yes, you are not the only one. Heirlooms and gifts from the Seven have been passed to those who will hold them until such a time as you are permitted to hold the blade again. Yours went into the care of your sword."
She nodded and sat back down.
"If you take that blade back from him, the next time we find it, we keep it," Kaulu added.
Maeno heard Naena mutter a curse and he swore Kaulu almost smiled at her response.
"Magic is, henceforth, forbidden outside of curriculum, the workroom, or personal hygiene. Yes, Naena?"
Naena stood again. She made a bit of an apologetic motion.
Kaulu raised a hand slightly to stop her from speaking.
"If your life or the life of someone else is in immediate danger, magic is permitted. Immediate danger, boys. If a dragon comes down from the sky, you may not attack it. And, yes, Naena, I'm looking at you when I say that."
"What if I know a spell to send it back?" she said. "What if I knew a spell that absolutely would not hurt, damage, or kill the dragon and the coven failed again?"
"If a dragon comes this year? The coven will not participate. They are not capable of creating the spell. If another dragon arrives it means the death of one or more Seven to turn it back. So, Naena, I doubt you have a spell that can turn back a dragon without hurting it. You will not engage. If you do? You will answer to the Lord."
"Of the Seven?"
"Who takes charge of the scene. Your sword not being capable of stepping into a scene you made."
Naena paled considerably. Everyone knew the unuttered threat, that Kaulu would get involved and then they'd have their way because no one would dare interfere.
"One more," she said. "If... if I go off..."
"That's a very good question," he said.
And then Kaulu began going over magical charges and how a mage may or may not be held accountable for their charge and discharge. It made sense in many ways. If a mage took inaction around their own care and created a charge which then discharged they could be held accountable.
Which made Naena question because part of that 'discharge' revolved around sex.
"There are men in the red district who are sterilized," Kaulu said. "Plenty of women if that's your preference. You forget, Naena, you are now crossborn. No one is allowed to speak of your sexual exploits anymore than they do that of their male friends. If you discharge because you don't care for yourself you will be held accountable."
Maeno raised his hand. He had become increasingly aware that he was unsure of his control over the magic collecting he did. He wasn't sure if it was detectable, if the Seven knew about it, or if he could stop or start it at a thought.
It just seemed to happen after months of practicing.
"What you do is personal hygiene, Maeno. Put your hand down."
He lowered his hand.
Amos employed barbers to care for the hair and beards of the students. Unmarried mages were not permitted beards at Amos. Students were only permitted knives in classrooms for lessons and the dining call for dinners. Anyone caught with a blade otherwise will receive one cut for each infraction that had taken place.
Maeno had a problem with allowing someone near him with a razor. If the blades were sharp enough to cleanly cut hair, they were then sharp enough to slit a man's throat.
And he knew a man with a slit throat did not die easily.
They were sent off to read their books and study up for the test.
The book was very, very long. Maeno didn't read all that fast. He took it with him when he met with Nendan. There he explained the issue with the razors, his fear of what might be done. Nendan frowned, but relented and agreed to a... somewhat compromise. Nendan would perform Maeno's shaving while they were at the school.
There was a hesitance to Nendan's tone, like something was starting to fall into place. He was curious why Maeno harboured such a fear when nothing was said before.
Then they sat down and Nendan began reading the book to Maeno. It was easier that way because Maeno wasn't stupid, he just didn't read as quickly as others. There were a couple of strange things Nendan said that stuck out in Maeno's mind. Things that were just weird.
Like a student was not to lay out birdseed in the yard for the express purpose of drawing birds, rodents, and the like down and using them as sacrifice in a spell.
Who even thinks of stuff like that?
The next day when he took the test, all those little things jumped out at him. He answered every question and then was called up during marking.
"Here you say a mage shall not carry a load," the Kaulu man said, pointing at the page. "Please explain what a load is."
"Uh, it's a... uh, a rock. That, uh, I'm not great with—"
"A rock," the Kaulu said, holding up a hand to stop him. "So you did not mean a mage shall not carry a burden or stock of some sort?"
"No, I meant, like the... is it only called a lodestone?"
"Ah, spelling, as I suspected," the man muttered to the page as he marked the answer correct. "Congratulations, Maeno, you've passed."
Naena also passed, along with a small handful of others. They returned to class but Naena was suddenly in a couple of the second year classes. She appeared as baffled as the second-year students as she was ushered into Intermediate Research by a gruff Kaulu. The puzzled look only deepened when she was moved into Intermediate Potions later in the day.
Maeno, of course, headed right for Nendan the second he was free. Lord Lugh greeted him with a little grunt and an arched eyebrow.
"Naena's in second year classes?" he asked.
"Oh, that, yes," Nendan said. "I should have given you a warning. Freatel and Narmer both remarked on their inability to keep the girl entertained. She is years ahead but Graydon put his foot down and refused to allow her to be placed into Potions and Advanced Research, which is where she belongs, really."
"What happens if she passes all the classes early?"
"She won't."
"But what happens if she did get into Advanced Research, what would she do in third-year? Or in fourth-year if there's a course for research I don't know about?"
"Nothing, she'd have free time," Nendan said. "Which reminds me, you won't be taking the classes on the Seven, I'll teach you that, or on squiring. That's really for those who will enter an apprenticeship. You might, before you go off the pier on that one, but I really think being a shield teaches one to be a squire. In place of those, I'm hoping to get you into Symbolism and Magic Creation next year as your standard classes. Then you need your four electives. I've signed you up for Art, Advanced Care of Perpetual Magic, Spells—to make Wyver happy—and Destruction. I really don't think you need a spell class but Wyver insists all spell mages take it. So, there we are."
"What about languages—"
"My family can and will teach you languages."
"I wanted to take a class on the Arch Magi and Theoretical Realms."
"Boring and stupid, you don't need them."
"But that's what I want."
"And those classes are useless to a shield, Maeno, this is one of those times where the line is drawn. This is the way it is. To say nothing of the classes that will be shifting around with Theon taking the helm of the war mage studies. He's already proposed war classes be taught to first years in place of the one on magic creatures. Don't really need that since you lot learn a great deal more on your own. And we do need war taught."
"So what I want doesn't matter?"
"I like living and breathing, Maeno."
"What's she taking?"
"I don't know."
"Is he deciding for her?"
"He's already made decisions for her. He will continue to make decisions for her."
"And you think she'll just go along with it? With a man dictating her life like this?"
"She's a woman, it's what they come to understand at an age a great deal younger than yourself, Maeno. You worry about you."
Naena would rain hellfire down on the school if she couldn't use it to her advantage. If the Seven told her she couldn't learn something, she'd just petition the conclave, which the book they were all made to read, and one of the questions on the test said any of them could do at any time.
"But if I take Destruction and she takes Balance, how am I supposed to keep up with her? Wasn't that the plan?"
"Maeno... you're in the middle of completing your Balance course."
"Wh—that's not my point!"
Nendan stared at Maeno for several seconds. The man relaxed, shoulders pushing back a little as his hands settled over his stomach.
"What's your point then?" Nendan asked.
Lord Lugh asked. Maeno was almost certain, but he had no idea why there'd be that switch in the middle of their conversation.
"I came here to fucking learn, and now you won't even let me learn what I want to fucking learn!" he bellowed back.
Nendan's eyebrows rose, almost meeting his hairline.
"Because you want to take Arch Magic?" he asked. "That's a course based entirely on lies, Maeno. It's meant to clip the wings of stupid mages."
Maeno sputtered out, horrified at the idea that the little fantasy he had spun about finding an arch mage's stash was completely shattered by Nendan's callous words. He wasn't a stupid mage. He chose that course because they said it would teach him about arch mage magic.
"Theoretical Realms is nothing more than a time suck to keep mages focused on more lies. Created entirely to garble their ability to comprehend Hell, which is the only other realm that we know exists. So you think about what you actually wanted to learn from those classes, you write it down and we'll see if any of it is real. All right?"
Maeno swore at Nendan.
"I figured that'd be your answer," Nendan muttered. "Just to be clear, you know you need to have a thesis written for Advanced Research, right?"
His anger drained away. There weren't many weeks left in the year. No one had mentioned needing a thesis for Advanced Research. The reading lists weren't even coming out for another two weeks.
"I'm sorry, what?" Maeno asked.
"Haven't they been building up to it all this time?"
"Is that why Graydon won't let Naena move up?"
"He knows she'd have something on the go but wants control over it. If she goes in now she'll verbalize an entire thesis, he's almost certain, and... well, Naena."
"Well, Naena, what?" Maeno demanded.
Nendan stared at Maeno for a long moment.
"I'm binding you from speaking of this to anyone, even her," Nendan said. "But Naena has a workroom and she's been practicing a powerful spell. Over and over, the magic she's using should have discharged her safely a hundred times over. She shouldn't be doing what she's doing and how she's doing it. We suspect that will be her thesis."
Maeno shrugged.
Her obsession all year explained that. She hadn't been quiet about it at all, grilling anyone who mentioned the Bard. It might have been an obsession before, but after the death of a dragon, it'd become a desperate repetition in the hopes of perfection.
"It's the Bard's dragon spell," he said.
"Why would you think that?"
"She asked today—"
"I know, if she could use magic to turn back a dragon if she knew for a fact that it wouldn't hurt the dragon. Maeno, that spell was used one time by one man. Don't get me wrong, the Bard was an amazing mage and a wonderful man. A good man who tried his best to teach us what he could do. Hell, from the way I hear it, he knew this all would happen that the lands over the seas... but that's a whole different issue."
Nendan sighed and shook his head.
"No one can repeat the spells of the Bard. No one. Maeno, look at me. When I say that, I mean it. We are the Seven. We know all. No one can repeat the spells of the Bard."
"Has anyone told Naena that?"
Nendan hesitated. He looked away, then back to Maeno.
"That's impossible," Nendan protested.
"So's a female mage."
The words hung in the air between them, brittle as the silence drew out. Maeno could see the truth settling over Nendan, but he also saw the resistance.
"She's got tits, Nendan," Maeno added.
"I know that."
"And," Maeno spun his finger around his belly, not recalling the word. "The thing women have to make babies."
"I know that too."
"And she enjoys both things. Hell, I've caught her playing with herself. She's not supposed to exist."
"Hell magic, her existence has been explained. Also, women like to play with themselves sometimes. That's not abnormal. A tit is like... well, like Naena. It's weird but you just want to play with it, and I don't even like them."
"Tell that to Naena then," he countered. "I bet you my income for life, she's been practicing the Bard's dragon spell."
"Yeah, and we'll, what, see the outcome of that in fifty years?" Nendan asked.
"Sure."
"Also, I don't pay you."
"Whut?" Maeno blurted out.
"You don't get paid as a shield."
"Then I'm not working," Maeno said with a shrug. "Good luck dying. I don't work for free."
He had left the last man who refused to pay him bleeding out in a ditch three days north of the Cape. Killing Lord Lugh would be infinitely more difficult, but he was already working out how to get away with it.
"Uh, that's not how this works," Nendan responded.
"I'll just go talk to Theon about how this works, then."
Nendan paled.
"Uhm, Nendan, I'm poking you because you pissed me off," Maeno said quickly.
"No, you're probably right, you probably should talk to Theon about how this works," Nendan said carefully. "And you are correct, you should have an income. I mean, how do shields get along in life? Handouts from their sword? It would be based on performance, though. And cattiness."
"Cattiness?"
"Bitching. Sass. Attitude. Demeanour. How many times you let me get stabbed before you rescue me."
"Oh."
"Just to be clear," Nendan said slowly. "You started an argument with me because I dictated your classes for you? Because I planned for you to avoid the classes that would waste your time?"
"You made those decisions without speaking to me about what I want or what I need," Maeno said. "On the streets, I got nothing. I was a leader, sure, but I didn't have an education. I came here, and they want to educate me. They want to teach me. Whatever I want to learn. The world isn't at my feet, but it's a lot closer than it was when I was running the streets and you just want to take that from me?"
"Oh," Nendan murmured. "I see."
"See what?"
"I've taken your control from you," he said. "In doing so, I've taken a great deal more from you. I was told to dictate. It's the best way. Most mages, I mean, they just go with it. Working for the Seven, all that nonsense. You're a street rat. You know working for the Seven is... what? What do you think it is?"
"Well, it certainly doesn't pay, and then there's Theon."
"What's wrong with Theon?"
"You people used him up and spat him out," Maeno protested. "You think that's the kind of life I want? She wants? All your shields are dead!"
"All right, you're going to speak with Shorel instead of Theon," Nendan growled.
Maeno frowned at Nendan.
"He's a shield, Maeno," Nendan said. "He's the kind of shield I want you to be."
"He's not a shield—" Maeno began to protest.
"He is," Nendan said, cutting Maeno off. "He has done innumerable missions for us and yet only me, my father, his sword, Luk, and now Theon and you, know what Shorel is. So, you're going to go talk to Shorel."
"And say what?"
"That Lord Lugh commands he attend."
"Attend what?"
"Lord Lugh's shield. Attend you."
"Attend me doing what?"
"No, Maeno, just go tell him that. He'll know what it means."