Chapter 25 – Calisto

Arcane Mathematics was one of the few courses Mirian was perfectly happy to listen and take notes in. The third time through was just as valuable as the second, maybe more so. Even now she still had to ask questions—they were just different questions this time. Another application of the math Professor Jei was teaching might result in more accurate mana flow equations, which in turn could lead to much higher efficiency gains in even devices as simple as wands. Then she wondered: If arcane energy flowed through a fourth spatial dimension, could people? She’d always been told teleportation was for stories, and there was no physical basis for it actually being possible. But it was mathematically possible, that she could see. The equations didn’t change when the energy type changed, as long as there was a mana conduit. Arcane energy conduits could be built around matter, too, not just energy, it was just going to take magnitudes more mana. No person could have enough auric mana, but she wondered—if spell engines could lift an airship as big as the ones she’d seen during the attack, could it power a genuine teleportation spell?

She didn’t actually ask the question in front of the whole class. It still felt silly to consider.

After class, Mirian was tired as anything. She still wasn’t quite sure how it worked, but it sure felt like whether or not she’d eaten or slept mattered when the month repeated. Now there was a question she had no clue how to answer. How was the time travel happening? Her physics classes had made it pretty clear time travel was impossible. Only the prophets knew the future, and that was knowledge bestowed upon them by the Gods. But Mirian was starting to come up with her own theory about that. What if the prophets had experienced what she was experiencing? What she needed to do was investigate the stories about them. Mirian had always made sure to go to the temple each week and tried to be a good member of the Luminate Order. It wasn’t like she tried to fall asleep during sermons, but like history class, something about the droning voices and setting just made it easy to slip into sleep.

Still, Mirian had important things to learn today. Like, where did Professor Jei go after class? Where exactly was this secret research project of hers taking place—or was that just a rumor going around?

As the class got out, Mirian decided to do a bit of light spying. She was supposed to meet Nicolus at Bainrose in ten minutes, but she deliberately lingered, taking her time paging through her notes, then slowly putting them away. Then she slowly made her way outside. The class took place in the Griffin Hall, which was just one of the generic lecture halls, not a special math building. Mirian pulled her enchanted cloak on and sat down on one of the public benches outside it and waited for Jei to emerge.
And waited.

It was strange; as far as Mirian knew, the lecture hall only had one exit, and she’d been the last one out of class. What was Jei doing in there? Maybe she was just taking her time. Mirian wasn’t going to find out today. Bainrose wasn’t far, but Mirian didn’t want to be late. She abandoned her world’s shittiest stake-out operation and hurried to the castle. Sure enough, Nicolus and Nurea were there—but so was a third person.

Calisto.

That threw a wrench in her plan.

As far as Mirian should know, this was normal and Calisto was just part of the serious study group. As she approached, she could hear Nicolus was arguing with her.

“—and I’ve already said I don’t have any input on family business, not until I’m a full adult, which is next year.”

Calisto said, “But you do have a voice in family affairs, and I’ve outlined all the ways the arrangement would benefit both of us. You can’t back out now.”

Nicolus sighed. “Nur? Any help?”

Nurea shrugged. “You got into this mess, against my advice, I might add. You can extricate yourself.” Noticing Mirian, she said, “Your new study partner is here.”

“Uh, hi,” said Mirian eloquently.

“Is this your new maneuver, Nicolus?” Calisto said, looking at Mirian as if she were a nasty insect that had just shown up.

“Did you want to study for the exam tomorrow or not? Hi, uh, Mirian, right? This is Sire Nurea March, my tutor who does other stuff too and—”

“—Calisto. Nice to meet you.” She said this in a way that made it abundantly clear it was not nice to meet her at all.

If it had gone down like this the first time, Mirian would have fled the premises and just studied by herself. This time, she needed to get close to Nicolus and figure out his role in all this, so she endured it and said, “Nice to meet you too. Where’s the study room?”

They made their way into the private study room Nurea had reserved for them. All the books and notecards were laid out in neat piles. They got to work, with Mirian doing her best to keep the group on task. It was a good thing she already knew the concepts pretty well, because the constant subtle rhetorical jabs Nicolus and Calisto kept launching at each other were quite distracting. Mirian didn’t want to pry, because she was sure that would get Calisto to start coming after her like a half-starved bog lion that just saw prey, but she tried to pick up on what exactly the problem they had with each other was.

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From what she could tell, Nicolus and Calisto had known each other in preparatory school in Palendurio and dated. Calisto came from a family of wealthy merchants who ran trade routes across Baracuel, mostly procuring special materials and magic items from the Labyrinth and distributing them to wherever paid most. Mirian knew from history class (she paid attention sometimes) that Labyrinth materials had made up a key part of the economy even a hundred years ago. Then the spell engine revolution had totally eclipsed them. Nicolus had been interested in Calisto and her connections, until he hadn’t.

“Tell your family to trade with Akana Praediar, or get a majority of the spellforges or factories in a city,” Nicolus said at one point.

Calisto replied, “You know the Palamas and Corrmier families have strangleholds on those! And it’s the Akanan companies who own all the trade across the Rift Sea—helped by Akanan tariffs as a matter of policy, I might add.”