At the top of a slender winding mushroom staircase, there was no door.

There should have been.

Some tangible boundary she could slam behind her.

Not just a transition into a natural-seeming tunnel of gray-white stone and the gradually strengthening scents of roasted pork and vegetables.

Then again, lunch wasn’t a bad consolation prize. Following her nose, she stumbled out into the welcoming heat of the afternoon sun.

Funny, she’d found that light oppressive an hour ago.

Now? She gladly closed her eyes and razed her face to bask in its rays. Stretching her arms out, grimacing as the still wet fabric proved fairly restrictive. The light was a physical force gently impacting her face and exposed arms, visible even through her eyelids. It was far too humid for her clothes to dry with any reasonable speed, but the shivering that she hadn’t been able to stop at last began to die down.

It was enough.

The twisted maze below was something else. Beyond any playground, she had ever heard of. Hundreds (Well maybe dozens) of twisting interconnected paths. Jumping puzzles from a video game, timing puzzles of pendulums and high-pressure water sprays even a series of water slides combined with rope swings! She’d felt like Indiana Jones swinging over what looked like quicksand.

It had been sheer joy to work through! Something worth paying money for. Like an amusement park.

Then she’d missed a trap.

She hadn’t noticed the platform she was jumping to was set to pivot and into the depths she’d fallen. Her heart in her throat and a scream trailing behind her until silenced by the lake below.

The nothingness lake.

Where no light existed. Not even when she looked up.

Where no sounds rang down from above and not even her own voice could be heard.

Where, even though she’d never learned to swim, the viscous waters wouldn’t let her sink.

When she worked in the cafeteria at Runehold she’d once spilled a good bit of oil because she’d looked away, trusting her sense of touch to warn her when she’d filled the container enough. Unless the oil was hotter or colder you couldn’t really feel it. Water you could feel. But not oil.

The lake was a little like that. Barely noticeable where the water gave up and the air began.

It was an abyss of empty sensations. Or almost empty. A ladder, softly glowing in that now nightmare-inducing blue. It was visible no matter how she swam. Despite what should have been a forest of pillars and pedestals in the way. Visible but without radiating any light to its surroundings.

She shuddered, shivering again despite the heat. Taking a deep breath she forced it away. Basking in the sunlight, a light wind caressing her cheeks and tossing rustling through her hair. The scent of porridge broke through the heavy cooking pork scent, not roast pork, she could determine now, but some kind of soup. Another breath and she picked out a few more scents. Luxurious fresh baked goods and something vinegary. Coleslaw or pickles, she couldn’t tell and it didn’t really matter. They were all familiar smells that spoke of happy times.

She took a few moments just breathing them.

*Gurgle*

She blushed slightly, glancing around to see if anyone heard her. She stood at the base of a 15 ft cliff, a naturally rocky surface that showed no sign of a cave mouth, not any other opening that she could have stepped out from.

Typical.

On the other side a series of picnic tables stood, she might have said ‘assembled’ but frankly they looked more like they had been grown in place.

Someone has far too much of a fascination with mushrooms…

Indeed the tables only needed to glow blue, she held off a shudder, and shrink a bit to be identical to the stairs she’d both descended and ascended earlier.

But mushroom tables surrounded by mushroom chairs couldn't hold her attention once she got a good look at what occupied them.

A good dozen of her classmates graced the chairs while a massive spread of food did the same to a long thin mushroom to the side.

All the scents she’d made out earlier and a few more that hid beneath the more potent smells. A big pot of squashmeal porridge for the desperate. Or cheap, she amended noticing the discrete price tag. A stone twentieth! That wasn’t even a coin! The smallest Paradisian coin she’d seen was a stone tenth piece and not many bothered to carry them.

She shook her head, following her nose to another steaming pot, waving briefly at a few acquaintances, but refusing to stop short of some solid food. Her adopted mom Lilly said it best. There was frugal and then there was cheap. One was a virtue worth cultivating. The other just embarrassed you.

The pot held a stew. Pork, cooked until it shredded, and a mess of vegetables thickened with what she suspected were cattail roots. At a price of a stone quarter per bowl, it certainly wasn’t flour. The null sign above it was a bit of a disappointment, indicating that it was safe for norms to eat and thus the meat certainly wasn’t anything to write home about, but it did fit with the price.

She glanced longingly at a platter of scones before resolutely walking away. At a full stone for each of the palm-sized treats it just wasn’t worth it.

She walked over, finding an empty seat next to Basil, his tall blonde good looks were worth a discreet look, or several. Especially with how his wet clothes were pasted- she quickly quashed that thought. He was a decent guy, a rarity she'd found in the good-looking. Not free of faults by any means. There wasn't a humble bone in his body. But if you could get past that initial stiff-necked attitude he could be both charitable and kind. She just wished his default was decency, rather than a stop-and-think correction.

“Heya Ba-” She stopped abruptly, abruptly torn. Runefather told them to find new names that fit, but until she did what was she supposed to call everyone?

“R.” He shrugged. They shared a glance and a small chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. “There will be a lot of ‘hey you’ and ‘that one girl’ in our near future. I can’t say I am looking forward to it. Shocking breach of politeness and all that.” He took a sip of what had to be tea, his spine perfectly straight and without dipping his head. It was only missing him holding it with two fingers with his pinky sticking out.

She held in a sigh. She’d forgotten that pretty fought with pompous at every breath with him.

Pompous. That was the word, not arrogant. Momma, she ignored the familiar pain of that thought, used to say that just because you enjoyed looking in the window, didn't mean you had to buy. She shrugged internally, it wasn’t like they were that close. He was a Bloodhaven native while she was from Runehold. It might have been less than 20 miles direct distance, but that might as well be forever for the unawakened. The only reason they knew each other at all was that he’d participated in a three-week exchange student program. They’d been in the Runefather’s awakening classes together and had been on fairly good terms, despite the significant age difference.

Letting her thoughts slide to the back of her mind she answered a few small questions about the last few weeks and how she was doing. Responding with more of the same. To both basil and the other four who shared the table. An even split of the sex's for now, though the empty chair on the other side of Basil would change that. Until then it was rather nice. They ate and chatted to her heart's content. Shallow babble really, mostly brainless.

But she wasn’t complaining. Brainless was exactly what she needed. Like a balm, the simple conversation warmed away that last bit of nonphysical chill the emptiness had left behind.

The other benefit was it left her plenty of mind space left to think. Something she used to good effect, keeping a sharp eye out as a slow but steady trickle of fellow sufferers made their way out of the cliff face.

It only took a few examples to realize how silly it looked. Both her and them. They were all following a similar pattern.

Step out of the cliffside (Not even all from the same spot!) looking haggard and wide-eyed. The shock and sudden stop as the sunlight hit. The simple time spent simply basking in it. Living in the moment, perhaps. Then the flaring nostrils as they realized the sunlight was perhaps not quite their first priority.

She giggled briefly as one small boy broke into a sprint, forgoing the sunlight entirely.

It shocked her for a moment. Giggling after that? But as time passed the emptiness faded from memory. There was nothing there. And that left very little for her to hold on to. It just slipped away. Leaving a memory of dread but dread that almost happened to someone else.

“Ahem.”

Rachel flinched. And she wasn’t alone in that response as the hugely pregnant woman with beautiful, free-flowing, long black hair cleared her throat. She was of middling height. For a guardian at least. She was 5’10 at least with that peculiar look of large people who were so proportionate that the height had to be magically induced, not grown. It was an obvious thing. A mark that everyone picked up on. It was the gold star of someone worth listening to. The odder thing was how the Runefather didn’t share the mark.

She was dressed in a loose flowing, long gown, not quite a mumu, but definitely something specially made for pregnancy. A simple, if vibrant, green dress dotted with embroidered flowers. Her own work, probably. It was becoming a bit of a social requirement to decorate your own clothing. Either with embroidery, leather armor plates or dangling bone trophies. Everyone did it slightly differently. But everyone did it.

A woman as obviously pregnant as that had no business sneaking up on them. If she did… Rachel twisted a bit more to get a good look. The table in front of the woman was filled with a large bowl, partially emptied since she couldn’t see its contents from this angle, a dirtied handkerchief and a teacup that was no longer steaming. She’d obviously been there for quite some time. Yet she never noticed and judging by the wide-eyed looks she wasn’t the only one.

“Welcome all of you. No, no. Keep on eating. Even go back for seconds- yes or thirds you-” she pointed at Basil who had two empty bowls stacked in front of him. He blushed but took her at her words. Standing up and moving over for another serving. For a guy as skinny as him, he could put it away. “But do it quietly. In case you haven't guessed I’m your teacher for the next segment. And-” She paused to give a rather sharp look at the raised hand on the young Asian girl who’d aced the Runefathers test earlier. “Yes dear?”

“nhieu hon nua dang den.” The words were nonsense sounds to her, but she was only three or four feet behind Rachel and the intent came through. It was a bit choppy but something like; Not everyone is out yet. She hadn’t been counting but it didn’t take a genius to see she was correct. At about 7 per table and 6 tables… Ya definitely a few short.

“No, not all of you are here yet.” The teacher repeated, “Kind of you to speak up for them dear, but there are consequences for everything and-”

“Losers! Are there rewards for the best performance?” A redheaded boy yelled out joyfully. He’d been here when she got out. Apparently the same was true for everyone else as well. Why was it always the assholes?

“Don’t interrupt dear, and if I did give a reward are you so sure that you would get it?”

“I was first!” He looked confused.

“Was it a race? Did Parkour say anything of the kind?”

“No… “ he muttered but petulantly continued, “But I was still first! What else matters?”

“An excellent question. Any answers?”

Another tall boy, one whose clothing conspicuously didn’t have the wet rat look that graced most of the rest of them raised his hand. “Driest.”

“More time but fewer mistakes? Sounds reasonable, what else?”

Another hopped up and down, his hand raised and waving wildly. “Style! When I watched the X games with my Dad it was awesome to watch the guys who did the coolest tricks!”

“Also valid. Grace and verve are a fine standard!"

"Perseverance!" One of the last to join them blurted out.

"Alright, getting back up and trying again despite repeated failures is an admirable trait as well. No." She gestured for everyone to put their hands down. "No more for now my lovelies. Spend a bit of time and think up some more for later. It’s a good exercise, and not just for the obstacle course. Always be careful that you don’t win at a game no one else is playing, hmm?”

The redhead positively drooped in his seat, a fact Rachel was greatly enjoying. Even if, as a small voice inside insisted, he did have some bragging rights.

The woman continued, “I believe Parkour told you, this isn’t a competition. At least not with anyone but yourself. That’s not participation prize logic. There will be plenty of places to compete later. For now, I want you to think about this win condition. Who learned the most from this? Those who made no mistakes, made a lot of mistakes or who made a few and didn't repeat them? Think about that for a bit, why don’t you?”

“In the meantime, to return to the original question, those who aren’t here yet will just have to pay for me to repeat this class later.”

Pay? Did that mean? Before she could ask someone else beat her to it. The tall willowy nordic blonde with the stupidly large ches- she stomped on the little green monster inside and focused on the response.

“Of course! You heard the Runefather, you will be paying for everything. From the food in front of you, “ A few alarmed looks said they hadn’t paid attention to the price tags. And considering the sunflower (perhaps sunflour?) scones were completely gone that was going to hurt. “to school supplies, teachers time and lodging.”

She let that sink in for a moment. “On the other hand, many of those are optional. Including this class. Eventually at least. All classes are mandatory for the first week, the same length of time that the Runefather is giving you a loan for and the same for your housing. It’s not safe for you to be around the unawakened until your aura’s stabilize. After that, you get to choose what is worth spending your hard-earned dough on. I have a week to convince you that this class is one of those things.”

She winked at them and continued, “It's not charity. This will be a nice bit of pocket money for me. Something I can use since I was recently forced into a career change.” She gestured to her expansive belly. “I won’t be going back out on a hunting team anytime soon. On the other hand, I’m not so hard up for coin that I would cheat you youngsters. What I have to teach is critically important, both so that you don’t get taken advantage of and for the people you might eventually boss around.”

She smiled beatifically at them for a moment.

“Now, what I’m going to teach you is a bit of a scramble. Three main subjects in fact, with a host of minor ones. But they do all tie into each other and as the Runefather wasn’t willing to put up with more than one such class, I get to teach them all.”

She gave a lopsided smile, holding her extended waistline and with an inner glow fit for an angel. Then spoke again. “Let me start again. Welcome, to Indoctrination, Agreed Upon Lies and Controlled Violence.”

…

…

Wait what?

“Excuse me?” Basil finally managed to squeak out.

“You are here to learn about magic. But what might have slipped your mind is being a pathfinder or wizard or whatever you want to call it also makes you part of the ruling class. And while a good wizard may be required for protection and comfort, that doesn’t magically make you a good leader. It’s my job to bridge that gap. In particular, this is basic schooling in who we, the surviving humans in our loose network, are as a people. Also known as indoctrination. Teaching you to accept and propagate the culture that we are slowly evolving, and that you will have a chance to help shape.”

“That leads into why our culture is the way it is. ‘Agreed upon lies’ also known as history. It might be a bit grandiose calling a few years in this world and seven that you didn’t experience history, but we will add a bit from the world before to round it out. Those two subjects lead us into the finale and at the same time back to the beginning.”

“Now that you understand who we are, and how we became that way. We need to talk about why our society is structured the way it is. What as leaders are your duties and responsibilities and how do you go about fulfilling both. As a wizard, you have a very big stick, both political and practical, but you don't really know when or how to swing it yet. Teaching you how to ‘Control Violence’ also known as governance. If you are wondering, an old definition of government is that it is the entity with a monopoly on the use of force within its bounds.”

She stopped talking, raising a spoon full of what looked like squashmeal to delicately sip at. The first was followed by several more spoon fulls, giving them all time to think that confusing mash of ideas over.

She gestured a few hands that slowly made their way up back down. “There will be plenty of time for questions later. More than that, once you are here in smaller groups I won’t even have you raise your hands. This isn’t a blackboard class. It's not about memorizing dates or pop quizzes on who said what. And none of you are even capable of taking notes. Not yet at least.”

Rachel had to force herself to make eye contact as the woman looked around. She had a presence to her, despite the Mona Lisa smile.

“This ‘class’ is going to be a discussion. About ruling. About following. And a lot in between. Now, despite my desire to bait you in, I am going to start you all off with homework. Not particularly odious homework, the Runefather has that end covered, but homework nevertheless. I want each of you to have at least three answers to this simple question. Your own three answers so don’t try to copy your neighbors.”

She smiled a bit naughtily as if sharing a particularly good prank. Even with that expression, her face was magnetic, Rachel couldn’t bring herself to look away. “What do you get out of being in charge?”

“No talking please. I want you to think about it first. We’ll talk later. Now, as this is the first-day Yongder over there,” She gestured at an approaching old man. Not older, but actually old. His head displayed a number of liver spots and what little hair he had left had said goodbye to gray long since. Leaving only wispy white behind. He was wearing a loose set of overalls, dyed blue but a more vibrant color than the denim she bet he’d aimed for.

They were nice overalls, but that was all he was wearing. No shoes and no shirt. It left a fair amount of flesh with solid muscle definition despite his years on display. His walk was steady and confident in a way Rachel found hard to describe. She glanced sideways for a moment, taking in Basil. He was confident as well, but it wasn’t the same thing. More about perfect comfort in, and understanding of, himself. Realizing that she had fallen behind a bit she forced herself to listen.

“-available chores and where you can find the work billboards for yourself in the future. I strongly recommend you not wait on this. Day one of next week, you pay for everything. This is a learning time, and you will learn the hard way if that's all that works. If you don’t have the money, then you will learn to do without. Even if that means no food and sleeping on the ground. I’d like to have a bit of leeway, but the Runefather was quite explicit. No mercy will be offered.”

“Now move along with you.” She gestured and a knot of around ten or twelve students stumbled out of the rockface. “It’s their turn now.”