His eyes snapped open, and he looked over at Jad, who had stepped forward in the line and raised his hand. Virtually every head in the crowd also turned to look at him.

“Me and my buddy here,” Jad continued, gesturing at Enusat with his thumb.

Xerxes saw Enusat’s eyes widen, but to the shorter young man’s credit, he didn’t breathe a word to contradict Jad.

“I congratulate you on your honesty, young man,” the High Archon said. “After the assembly is adjourned, please see Archon Adonia to take care of some paperwork.”

With that, the assembly proceeded with some less dramatic announcements, and then morning prayer.

Shortly thereafter, the students were dismissed.

Jogging over to Jad before he had a chance to go find Archon Adonia, Xerxes said, “Jad, what the hell?”

Jad grinned. “It’s the second time I screwed up trying to help you. I deserve it.”

“No way. I was the one who—”

“Nah,” Enusat interrupted. “Jad’s right. Our advice is just making things worse for you. We can deal with a few weeks locked on campus.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, my dear friend,” Jad said, “we have some paperwork to fill out. Don’t worry. After this, things will get better. Our next plan will be foolproof!”

When Jad and Enusat showed up late for class, Mystic Rabya cleared her throat. “I guess I shouldn’t have put off the lecture on covert infiltrations.”

Everyone laughed, even Jad and Enusat.

Xerxes had trouble paying attention. It just didn’t seem right to let his friends take the fall for him. But, what could he do now? If he confessed, it would prove his friends to be liars, and would surely make everything else worse.

That was when it hit him.

I’ll share in the punishment.

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. When Jad and Enusat spent time meditating instead of gallivanting outside of the school, he would join them. He’d share his stipend. No. He would draw on his loan money to completely compensate them for their lost money. It was only fair.

“Got something important on your mind, Seer Xerxes?” Mystic Rabya said.

He pulled his chin out of his hand and sat up straight in his chair. “Sorry, Mystic.”

She grinned. “No problem. But if I’m really that boring, I’d like to know, so I can up my game.”

The other students chuckled, and Xerxes grinned wryly. “Really, Mystic. You’re great.”

In the dining hall, after they all had their lunch, he looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then said, “Guys, I made a decision. I’m going to stay with you on campus for the entire time you’re locked down. And I’ll make up for your lost stipend.”

“Fuck that,” Enusat said. “I don’t care about money.”

“Agreed,” Jad added. “Besides, what’s the point in us taking the fall if you end up getting punished anyway?”

“Xerxes has his honor,” Kashtiliash said.

Xerxes had to hand it to the bearded mage. He could sum things up quite well. “Exactly. It’s fair. Maybe nobody else will ever know the truth of what happened, but I’ll know.”

Jad thought about it for a moment. “Alright, fine.”

“Good,” Xerxes said.

“But, we still have to come up with Operation: Kat Walk… Part Two.”

Enusat groaned. “Can’t we at least take a break for a few weeks?”

Xerxes popped a cherry tomato into his mouth. “Yeah. Let’s calm things down on that front. Besides, worst-case scenario, I can just walk up in front of her friends and ask her out.”

“To where?” Kashtiliash asked. “Aren’t you grounding yourself?”

“Oh, true. Well, the point remains, let’s take it easy for a bit.”

Which is what they did. For the following days, the Humusi Swordmasters attended class and participated in training during the days, while focusing on meditation and rune study in the evenings. They quickly developed a routine.

Rabya was pushing them hard, whether in lectures or in practical training. All of them were advancing in their Epitome basics. And on Secondays, she’d arranged for personalized training in spellcasting for each caster type. Xerxes’ confidence in fighting on the battlefield was growing.

He was still obsessed with Katayoun, but he kept his feelings in check. He was convinced that, sooner rather than later, everything would happen naturally.

After all, she’d started looking at him furtively. At least, he thought she was. Every so often, he’d glance in her direction to see her looking away. And sometimes, out of the corner of his eye he was absolutely certain she was eyeing him. But then he’d turn his head only to find her staring somewhere else.

When the weekend came, Kashtiliash revealed that he would stay on campus with them. And thus, all four young mages began to advance toward Flushes.

The week ended.

A second week began. He and Gandash occasionally crossed paths and exchanged greetings, but they never seemed to have time to do more than that.

There was one big upside to being stuck on campus: the extra access to the spell formations. The slots on Sixthday were assigned. But slots on Restday were up for grabs. And since even the most studious students found it hard to resist the temptation to wander the streets of Sin-Amuhhu, it was usually possible to get double slots.

Extra access to the spell formations meant Xerxes’ progress toward a second chamber hastened.

Rabya added something new to their Epitome lessons; Abhorrent combat theory. After all, it was one thing to face another sword wielder in a duel, but a very different thing to use the sword to fight monsters that could be either much smaller or much larger than you. Before long, a few other members of their class joined their sessions with Mystic Rabya, namely Dasi and Atra-Hasis. Xerxes hoped beyond hope that Katayoun would eventually be one of them. But even going into the third week, she didn’t seem interested.

On Seconday of the third week, Xerxes performed his second Flush. It went smoothly, although the empty feeling afterward, which he had only experienced once before, was extremely strange. And now that he’d done that, he knew that Flushes would be easier. In the subsequent days, all of the Humusi Swordmasters performed Flushes, as did most of the other members of Black Jackal classroom. Everyone was making progress.

The situation with Katyoun continued to be infuriatingly exciting. He was still convinced something had changed. On at least two instances, he managed to catch her eye, only to have her look away.

What the hell does it mean? he thought. He’d heard jokes in the past about women being impossible to understand, and had always assumed they were just that: jokes. But now he was starting to get the feeling they weren’t.

On Restday that weekend, as usual, they gathered in the grove for longsword practice.

“Where the hell is Enusat?” Jad said after they went through their warmup routine. “He’s usually not late.”

“Beats me,” Kashtiliash said.

They reviewed some of the key lessons from Mystic Rabya and then broke into pairs to do sparring.

A few minutes later, Enusat came tromping out of the trees.

“That fucker,” Enusat growled as he walked out of the tree line. “That fucking fucker.”

“Your swearing’s as imaginative as ever,” Teucer said.

Enusat spat and kicked a boulder lightly. The others ceased their sparring.

“What happened?” Kashtiliash asked, reaching down for a water skin.

“That motherfucker embarrassed me in front of everyone. Arwia was there. Ningal too. And they laughed.” Huffing, he crossed his arms, and leaned back onto the boulder.

Jad stabbed his wooden practice sword into the soil and crossed his arms atop the pommel. “Back up. Who did what?”

“I was rushing ‘ere and I ran into that bastard. It’s not my fault ‘e walks around with a thousand books in his arms. And so what if I knocked them down? But ‘e just had to pull rank. Yelled at me and made me pick up all ‘is damn books and give them back.”

“Who?” Kashtiliash asked.

“Randy Gandy,” Enusat growled. “And I’m not going to just let this stand.”