Chapter 8: Brightsail Academy

The halls of Bright Sail Academy were just as luxurious as the wonderful white-bricked town that housed it; some might even say it was more luxurious. But Sen thought that would be unnecessary praise. The halls were lined with portraits of famous former students and faculty members, awards they’d received for rendering aid to various kingdoms, and even some trophies from some kind of competition between different schools. Most students wore the traditional uniform of Bright Sail Academy: gray blazers and pants or a skirt with ties of varying colors. At least they were allowed to accessorize somewhat.

Sen, Mori and Ilm were no exceptions. They walked down the hall in their new uniforms.

After leaving the entrance exam, they found Zeke waiting outside to see how things went. He’d led them to an inn nearby and offered to pay with the coin Sen gave him, but Sen refused. Sen rented a suite large enough for all of them and paid for several extra weeks for Zeke’s benefit. Sen and his friends would stay on campus, but Zeke was just getting back on his feet. He could use a nice place to live for a while. Before they’d left, he’d had Mori leave wards on Zeke’s clothes and the inn room they’d rented. He didn’t want anyone coming after the poor man for the gold in his possession now. Sen would feel responsible for something like that.

“I feel a bit out of place here,” Mori said, looking around at the much younger students.

Ilm giggled. “You look like you should be teaching here instead of learning,” she said.

Mori sighed. “That was uncalled for.”

Sen flagged down a student running around taking requests for dorm rooms. “Excuse me,” he said.

The student stopped and stared at him expectantly. “How can I help?”

“The three of us would like to share a room. Can you arrange that, or do I need to speak to someone else?”

The student paused. He looked between them, first at Sen and Mori, and then to Ilm. “Sorry, we don’t typically allow co-ed rooms. You can have whoever you’d like over, but…on paper, you know?”

“We’re all family,” Mori explained.

Their matching features, pure white hair, and blood-red eyes really sold the story, not that it wasn’t kind of true. Biologically, they could get away with a sibling label.

The man thought about it for a moment. “Alright, but you’ll have to pay for the—”

Sen threw him a coin purse. “Use that. We’d like a double room, four beds, and the nicest furniture you can manage. Impress me, and you can keep the change as a tip.”

The attendant’s eyes lit up when he felt the weight of the pouch. He nodded and hurried off to prepare everything.

“Master, you’re throwing around a lot of gold. More than most people seem used to seeing, we may not be able to replenish our funds as fast as we once could. Perhaps we should watch our spending a bit?”

[Sen’s used to having Ragmár bankroll everything.]

Mori had a point. Until they found a new source of income, he should probably cut back on spending. At the very least, he should get some lower-value currency for spending money.

“Why can’t we just make our own?” Ilm asked.

Mori gasped. “Ilm! I’m surprised at you! Do you know what happens when magicians artificially inflate the amount of currency in the world? Economic downfall! We mustn’t take part in such things.”

When the attendant finally came to retrieve them and take them to their room, Sen found himself impressed enough to allow the young man and those he gathered to help keep the excess coins as a tip. Despite the frown that left on Mori’s face. They’d be okay; he still had plenty of money for now. They’d received a corner room on the first floor. It was spacious, and they’d used magic to remove the wall of the room next door so they could have the extra room. Four beds were lined up perfectly, and they had a nice couch, a few decorative plants, and even a personal bathroom, complete with a toilet and shower. First-years usually had to use the communal bathrooms, but his new attendant friends had taken extra time to make the necessary adjustments. They must specialize in magic that manipulates buildings. They were good friends to have indeed. At least while they were here. Of course, they could make adjustments as well, but it was better not to reveal everything they were capable of.

“So what now?” Ilm asked. She sat on the bed and kicked her legs back and forth.

Mori slipped his hand under his cloak to a pocket somewhere around his chest. He pulled out a monocle to inspect the pamphlet they’d been given. “It says here we wait for our class placements. We’ll find out more information soon, and should wait in our dorms in the meantime.”

Sen nodded. “That gives us time to prepare. Until we get our temporal world back up and running, this will be our base of operations while we’re at the school. Mori, you’re in charge of wards. As for you, Ilm, I think it’s time I passed on some of my knowledge personally. Come, sit with me.” He sat on one end of the bed with his legs crossed. She hurried over and mirrored his position. It was time for a little upgrade.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“How do you feel, Ilm?” he asked.

Her head wobbled in circles in front of him. “Di…dizzy. Is that always how memory transfers feel?” she asked.

Sen chuckled. He uncrossed his legs and scooted over to lean against the wall and relax. “No, but I gave you a lot of information very quickly. Your brain is similar enough to mine, so you’ll be able to handle it. It’ll take you a few days to sort through all the information I gave you, but your arsenal of spells has grown tenfold, easily.”

Mori sighed, looking up from the wards he was casting on the door of the room. “By days, he means months, and by tenfold he means a hundred. But look on the bright side, you’ll be able to stand on your own here at the academy now!”

That perked Ilm up. She’d been a little nervous about how she’d perform when put to the test for real. Now, she’d be just fine. A knock on the door got their attention, and Mori hurried over to answer it.

“Hello? How can we help?” he asked.

The attendant squinted before leaning in the doorway and looking around. “Uh, I’m looking for someone with white hair and red eyes…but that’s all of you. Did…did one of you perform really well in the entrance exam?” he asked.

Mori and Ilm pointed at Sen. Sen pointed at each of them in turn.