Chapter 16 – New Quarter, Again

Mirian didn’t have to wait long in the Myrvite Studies building before Valen met her in the hallway.

“Did you go by maintenance?” Mirian asked.

She nodded.

Mirian accepted that as good enough and went to Viridian’s door and knocked. They heard Viridian’s muffled “come in,” and entered.

“Hi, sir. I brought a classmate, if that’s okay. She saw what I saw. Or at least, one of the incidents.” Mirian then recoiled as she saw Viridian’s office. The place was a mess. Papers were scattered everywhere, cabinets torn apart with the drawers still out, and pieces of furniture knocked over. Supplies and books were in haphazard piles, and it looked like Viridian had only begun to clean. Plenty of the books had pages torn out. “Holy Gods,” Mirian said. It was horrible to look at. All her life, she’d been told to treat people and property with respect. Seeing the books that had been split open or torn apart made her especially distraught. There were things you just didn’t do, and damaging books was one of those things.

Viridian maintained his composure. She supposed he’d had some time to digest it all. Viridian had only uprighted one of the chairs for her to sit on, so Mirian awkwardly picked up another chair that was buried in a pile of papers and books and offered it to Valen.

“What happened?” Mirian asked.

“Well, you said you know something about it all,” Viridian said calmly. “So hopefully, you can tell me.”

Mirian told him what she knew, sticking to the same basic story she’d told Valen. There was no point in trying to convince them about the time travel.

When she was done, Professor Viridian went and stood to look out the window, his hands clasped behind his back, saying nothing.

Mirian had thought about what she might say to Professor Viridian, but most of it went flying out of her head. She blurted out the lie she’d prepared. “I have a friend who’s in Fort Aegrimere. He said there’s weird stuff happening. Strange ships sighted along the north coast. The officers are tight lipped, but something’s going on. If these are Akanan Praediar spies….”

Professor Viridian gave a loud sigh. “Things are bad enough, Mirian. Please don’t catastrophize.”

“Then what is it? What in the hells is going on here? I mean, someone ransacked your office and did something to the myrvites.”

When Viridian raised an eyebrow at that last part, Valen said, “You can’t hear them anymore. The wyverns are really loud. I used to like listening to their calls during lunch.”

Viridian seemed to accept this explanation. “I’ll bring what you told me to the attention of the Academy,” he said. “May I mention your names?”

“Will we be safe if you do?”

Professor Viridian didn’t have anything to say to that. He turned back to the window. “I’ll keep your names anonymous, then.”

Mirian opened her mouth to speak, but it was Valen who spoke next. “Is that it, then? Is there anything we can do?”

Viridian turned and gave them a sad smile. “I apologize. I must seem quite insensitive to you. But when you get as old as I am, you might understand better. The world is a complex thing, and the strange politics of the Academy and Baracuel leak everywhere in something far more volatile and unpredictable than any ecosystem we studied together. I have been working all my life to pull the levers of change on the strange mechanism we call civilization, to no avail. I don’t fully understand what is happening, but I assure you, you need not worry. This has everything to do with petty greed. Much is buried beneath Torriviol, and this too will be interred into the ground.”

“Ah,” Valen said. “I get it.”

You do? Mirian thought. She was more confused than ever.

“Good luck,” she said. “I’m sorry this happened to you. And… well, I hope the wyverns are alright. Come on, Mirian.”

“Thank you,” Viridian said. “And best of luck in your studies.”

Mirian wasn’t quite ready to leave, they’d barely said anything, but Valen was insistently pulling on her arm, and Viridian had clearly indicated the conversation was over.

When they were down the hall and out of earshot, Mirian hissed, “You can let go of my arm now. You understand? He just said a bunch of fancy words about how everything is complex! That doesn’t answer anything!”

“He said he doesn’t know what’s going on and he doesn’t think telling us what he does know will change anything. You know from his perspective we’re just two sixth-years that can’t be trusted, right?”

“I’m trustworthy!”

Valen rolled her eyes. “Gods but you’re thick sometimes. What was that nonsense about Akana Praediar invading?”

“Another rumor going around. I heard from the base—”

“No you didn’t, because I actually have an older brother at Fort Aegrimere. He likes gossip even more than I do, and he’s heard nothing. You’re full of shit, Mirian. What’s gotten into you?”

“Oh, because you know me so well,” she snapped. “Has staring at me during exams given you this great insight?”

“You’re avoiding the topic. What’s actually going on?”

Mirian made an exasperated noise that sounded like it should have come from a horse more than a person. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. And I can’t prove any of it, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Try me,” Valen demanded. She was trying to make herself tall again, but it never worked. She was just too short to be intimidating.

Mirian wanted to tell her, just to prove to Valen that what had happened to her was unbelievable that she was right, but she restrained herself. Her current plan depended on as many people hearing about the spies in Torrviol as possible and forcing the people with power to act. Then the Deeps or the Crown Bureau would hear about it and realize there was an imminent invasion. But maybe there was a shortcut. “Does anyone patrol the north coast?”

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“Answer mine first.”

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“Of course not! Why would anyone patrol anywhere along the Rift Sea? There’s no pirates, no conflict. If you’re worried about a ship crossing it, you can simply watch carefully on a clear day and watch it land in Akana Praediar yourself. With a good telescope, you might even see the dock workers unloading the ship! Sending people north would just be asking them to get attacked by myrvites. Sending ships north would just lead to ice-krakens attacking them.”