“They don’t let us take Judgments.” She shook her head. “Half-elementals, maybe. But pure ones? I don’t know.”
“Half-elementals? You mean…?”
“Oh, sure. There are some out there. But I’m not one of them. I’m just a Fragment.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “What’s that mean?”
“A specific classification of elemental. Stronger than a Figment, weaker than a Gatherer or a Harvester. We embody specific principles of our element.”
“And you are…”
“I’m a Researcher, of course.”
I nodded. “Right. Help me research something.”
“Of course!” She smiled. “How can I help?
I showed her the circlet. “I need to test an item that only works inside the spires outside of the spires.”
“Hmmm.” Researcher looked it over. “I see what you’re trying to do. Return bells work by drawing on a specific concentration level of ambient mana. There are a few school facilities that are designed to specifically mimic that effect. You can test normal return bells or something like that in one of them.”
She gave me some directions, and I thanked her.
I turned the circlet over in my hands, still feeling weirdly empty. “Hey…Researcher?”
“Yes, Arbiter?”
“Can I just stay and study in here for a little while?”
“Of course.” She paused and frowned, maybe finally picking up something in my tone. “Stay as long as you’d like. Nothing makes me feel better like learning.”
“I feel the same way.”
My words were mostly true, but entirely hollow.
Chapter XV – Replacements
I spent the next few days feeling like garbage.
I knew, intellectually, that it wasn’t worth worrying about what I’d done during the test. I’d failed anyway, after all, and there were far greater matters of import in my life.
And it wasn’t like I’d been entirely forthcoming with everyone about everything else in my life, anyway. I wasn’t above withholding information if I thought it was important.
And graduating was important. My goals might have expanded lately, but that didn’t mean I could give up on graduating.
Still, I couldn’t help shaking the feeling of disappointment in myself.
Ultimately, I think it was because I’d let someone down that I actually respected.
I was used to being a failure in my father’s eyes.
And my mother? Well, I had no idea what she felt about me now, because she hadn’t seen fit to write me or visit.
Vellum had always been critical of me, but she’d also been eminently fair. I think that was why I respected her as much as I did.
And by omitting a little detail on that test, I’d violated a contract in my own mind. I didn’t feel like I deserved her trust.
But I also didn’t have the confidence to just go and tell her about it.
It was silly. I’d failed the test anyway. It wasn’t like she could double-fail me.
Probably.
Either way, that wasn’t what I was worried about.
I was just ashamed.
It was fortunate that most of my finals were already over, otherwise my scores might have suffered during that time.
Maybe it would have helped if I’d shared my feelings with someone else.
But I’d never been good at that.
Why am I so weak?
I asked myself that question many times, but I never found a good answer.
I still wasn’t in a good frame of mind when Jin came to visit, and seeing him certainly didn’t make things any better.
Neither did his news.
“I believe we are both being followed.”
I nodded to him. It was hardly a surprise at this point.
I knew someone had broken into my dorm, and I’d figured out a plan for following the trail, but I hadn’t followed it yet. I’d had too many other things going on.
I also knew that Derek was having someone follow Jin. I wasn’t sure if that was still what was going on, or if whoever was following me was also following Jin.
Either way, it was worth finding out what Jin knew, and looking into it further. “Do you know who it is, or why they’re doing it?”
Jin shook his head. “No, but they appear to have countermeasures for my attunement.”
“That implies that they’ve done their research on us, and that they have considerable resources.” I rubbed my chin. “Okay. Let’s go find them.”
Jin blinked. I think I startled him. “I didn’t think you trusted me.”
“I still don’t. But I’m reasonably confident you’re not involved in what I found, I’m in an awful mood, and I’m tired of waiting for potential enemies to act against me. I’d rather get ahead of this. You up for some walking?”
“Yes,” Jin confirmed. “I am.”
“Give me a bit to get my things. I’ll meet you by our dorms in around an hour or so.”
Jin nodded and headed out.
By “my things”, I meant putting on Selys-Lyann, my sigils, and my demi-gauntlet. I was going loaded for a potential fight.
The next thing I did was check in with Derek. “Are you still having someone follow Jin?”
Derek shook his head. “No, Jin was stuck in the hospital for so long that I told my contact to stop bothering with it. I’ve considered putting a tail back on him now that he’s up and about, though. Why? Is he acting suspicious?”
“Because someone is still following him.”
Derek frowned. “Well, that’s awkward.”
I sighed in agreement. “Yeah. I’m going look into it. Can you help?”
“I’m busy. But use the stick if you need me?”
I nodded. “Will do.”
Then I excused myself to go tell Keras where we were going.
“Do you want me to follow you?” Keras asked. “I’m not great at stealth, even with the mask.”
I considered that, then agreed. “Give me a few minutes.”
It took me about a half an hour to put together a basic Arrow of Direction enchantment. It was a two piece item, like a return bell. When active, the main item would show the user a glowing arrow that pointed toward the anchor.
I threw it together in a hurry, so it was the weakest version of each of the runes. That meant the range was limited to about a mile, but I still thought that would be plenty. The concept was useful enough that I wanted to make more of them later, but this would be good for the moment.
I kept the anchor in my bag and handed the detection item to Keras. “You can use this to follow us from a good distance away. If you see us, you’re probably too close. Jin is pretty perceptive.”
“Are you expecting trouble?” Keras raised an eyebrow as he asked.
“Very possible.”
Keras grinned. “Good. I haven’t had a decent scrap in a while. Let me get my trouble coat.”
I met Jin back at the dooms, then we headed into my room.
“What’s the plan?” He asked.
“We start here.” I pulled up the cut in the carpet, revealing the enchantment that someone had placed on my floor.
“And that is…?”
Right. It was easy to forget that other people didn’t necessarily read runes the way I did. “It tells someone that we’re here. Someone planted it here while I was away.”
“And we’re going to ambush them when they show up?”
I shook my head. “No.” I drew my sword, causing Jin to take a step back. “Oh, sorry. Not attacking you. I’m taking this with us.”