B3 – Chapter 2: Enrollment

Tristan glanced at the woman holding the staff next to the door. She gave him an appraising look, “All done?” she asked.

“I’m good,” Tristan replied. “I need to go back to my ships.”

The woman got closer to him, tapped the stave several times, and then placed her hand on Tristan’s shoulder. The world blinked around them, and they were standing in the same guest entry room as before. She let him go, “Thank you for visiting. If you wish to stay, go through that door,” she gestured with the staff to the inner, wooden door. “You will find decent accommodations. We ask that you tip the staff, and not stay too long.”

Tristan nodded and headed out of the room, entering the main tower. He glanced into the other room he had passed by, but Shandra was gone, the chalk board empty along with all of the seats facing the front. Going down the road, he gave a brief wave to the Drakonid manning the gate house, and spoke to Felicity as he walked to the docks. “What do you think we should do? Once we get grandfather up on his feet, I mean.”

She made little paw-claw biscuits on his head, “Lots of options. Could go hunting dragons out here in the Mortal Realm and get you more power. Go back into the Fey Realm and just focus on what you know already…b-u-t…I think I could pull some amazing pranks in a school for essence-weavers!”

Tristan chuckled and shook his head, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. They might catch you and want to experiment on you.”

She scoffed, “Please. I’ll just turn into a mouse or something innocuous. After all, I’m so innocent,” she said coyly.

Tristan rolled his eyes as he spoke, his booted feet causing his armor to clink slightly with each step onto the stone docks. “I think getting access to all the books they have here. All that spell knowledge, that could be extremely valuable. I’m sure I could trade artifice services for access.”

“The question boils down to this,” Felicity stated confidently, “Do you want to explore the Mortal Realm trying to find dragons? Or stay here where they apparently have regular field trips to places where dragons live?”

Tristan thought on that, chewing on it in his mind. If I did that, what Bertram offered as joining up with him protecting students, I could get easy access to a means of not only quickly growing my essence crucible…but also new spell types. Plus, every new spell type I acquire I can…I don’t know, take classes about it? Maybe rent a spell book?

He arrived at the ships and checked in with Captain Bitters. He had handed his gold bangle to an essence-weaver hired on from recent graduates, a red-haired young man with some trace of Demihuman running through him. Then, Tristan headed to Admiral Yokain and gave him two of the remaining Golden Bangles. “I want you to find two more ships, and you’ll need another two essence-weavers to assist with these and the boxes.”

Yokain smiled and chuckled, “You want to expand rapidly, don’t you Lord Tristan?”

“I think that the sooner we build up a trade fleet, the more reliable this slapdash communication network will be for my usage.”

Felicity interjected, “We’ll find someone who can help us make better ones for when we meet up in a bit over a year. So we can talk anywhere around the world!”

Yokain raised a single eyebrow, “Interesting. Well, Lord Tristan, as long as you keep putting trade goods into that box for us to distribute…I’ll manage your trade fleets as per our agreement. Plus, next year, we can start shipping that mead from the Maladonia contract.” That statement came with a huge grin.

“You hired on your essence-weaver?” Tristan asked.

Yokain shook his head, “They had three people myself and Bitters interviewed. One of them seemed to want on board, and I wanted Bitters to hit a port town for shore-leave with his crew. I’ll be here for a few days until the next batch of interested folks come over from the Citadel. But don’t you worry, I’ll hire someone. Maybe a few of them, so when I get a new ship and crew into your fleet, they can have an essence-weaver with them immediately.”

“Wise,” Tristan stated. “Well then, admiral. I wish you well, and you may hear me chat occasionally through the communication bangle. Otherwise? I will see you in a year’s time.” He held out his forearm, and the Admiral clasped it in a shake.

Obadai walked out from the ship interior and approached Tristan, “You’re staying then?”

Tristan nodded having made up his mind, “I’m going to enroll as a student here. I get access to different Realms, lots of spell books, and can reconnect with Bertram.”

“I hope you enjoy yourself,” Obadai replied with a soft smile. “Don’t forget – the empire would welcome you as an ally.”

“I won’t forget.”

Obadai looked up at Felicity, “And you, missy. Keep this one safe, eh?”

Felicity saluted, “Yup! I’ll keep watch over him all the time!”

“I may visit the Fey Realm from time to time once I’m back on imperial soil,” Obadai stated. “I’ve been there once, I can use a realmwalking spell to get there again.”

“Just make sure you check in with The Matriarch,” Tristan replied. “There’s some militarization going on – fairy dragons training for combat, Nymphs putting together a regimen-”

“Why?” Obadai asked.

Felicity explained, “There are sealed off portions of the Fey Realm. Who knows what has been going on in those sealed bits?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Obadai grimaced, “Ah…then the cautions are warranted. Well, in any event, if I visit and you are not present, I will leave correspondence.” He took a step forward and opened his arms for a hug, and Tristan embraced him. “Take care of yourself, Tristan.” He pulled away. “You’re the last of your kind, and it would be a shame if they died out with you.”

“I am going to be careful,” Tristan replied. “Goodbye.”

Getting back to the gate house, Tristan checked in with the Drakonid. “I’m going to enroll. Do I just go up and sit in that room?”

The yellow scaled man nodded and pointed up without looking from his book. “Into the tower, first door on the right.”

Tristan followed the instructions and entered the room he had seen Shandra sitting in. There was the chalk board in front of several rows of seats, but otherwise the chamber was identical to the guest-area-waiting-room that he had been in. I wonder if there’s a door hidden behind the board? He thought as he sat patiently.

Felicity hopped off his head and sat on the chair next to him, flicking her tail back and forth. “So exciting! Essence-weaving school. I’m going to get up to so many pranks!”