The Academy: Chapter One

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If there was one thing she wouldn’t miss about this place, Eryn thought as she dodged another first-year, it was the narrow, crowded hallways. At twenty, she was taller than almost everyone else, although really, that was her fault, wasn’t it, for deciding to stay longer than she had to?

I’m motivated, she thought as she turned a stone corner and saw her destination ahead of her, lit up like a warm, welcoming beacon. I didn’t have to stay. I care about my education.

But she was glad to be getting out of here soon, anyway.

Eryn entered the library, taking a moment to breathe in a sigh of relief as the noise and chaos of the hallway behind her subsided. This was her sanctuary, this library. Always brightly lit, kept warm, and, most importantly, shut off from all but the most advanced students with a sophisticated and complex barrier that knew the age and position of every person in the Academy, and whom to allow in.

Eryn looked around the room, wondering if the person she was waiting for was going to be late again, but then she grinned as she spotted him sitting at one of the corner tables, his head buried in a book. Walking over, she loudly dumped her bag onto the table next him, startling him so that his head snapped up.

“That can’t be something for class,” she teased. “You’re far too engrossed.”

Bethen shrugged and closed the book. “I thought it was time to buckle down and get to work. You know how it is.”

“I suppose,” said Eryn, who really didn’t. She prided herself on her work ethic, and always had. Never a procrastinator, always waiting until her work was done before going out with friends, making sure she made an impression on her teachers. That was the way to get ahead in life, as her father had always told her. “So did you talk to the committee? What did they say?”

It was Bethen’s turn to shrug. “I don’t think I’m going to bother. I already know what their answer will be. I didn’t do nearly well enough on my exams.”

“You should at least try,” Eryn said, sighing.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“Do what?”

Bethen waved a hand at her. “Scold. I hate it when you scold. Fact is, I don’t think I would be happy spending even more time here. I’m not like you, satisfied to slave away in the library day and night. I want to get out and see the world. Or at least have some kind of life outside of this place.”

“That’s what academic tour is for,” said Eryn, feeling a little thrill of excitement for herself in spite of her best efforts. She really should be sympathizing with Bethen, but her anticipation was threatening to overwhelm her.

“Oh, brilliant,” sighed Bethen. “So instead of being here, I could be slaving away in libraries in other parts of the country. I could keep a scrapbook of libraries. See, this one is built from stone, and this one from wood, and this one has funny buttresses that look like gryphons.” He mimed writing down a list.

“There’s no reason to be so sarcastic,” said Eryn.

“I’m sarcastic? Me? Really?”

Eryn rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you do get to see the world on academic tour. It’s not all libraries and things. You get real hands on experience.”

“You sound like a brochure,” said Bethen. “Besides, I would still have to spend who knows how many years here before I was even eligible for academic tour, and I doubt I would even have the scores to be accepted. I haven’t even been accepted for advanced study.”

“You won’t know if you don’t try,” said Eryn, knowing she was scolding again and unable to stop herself. “Isn’t this what we planned? Being together in advanced study?”

“That was two years ago, Eryn” said Bethen gently. “I didn’t know I would have to spend an extra year in Standard, and now you’re going on academic tour. I’ll bet you won’t have a year left when you come back.”

He had a point. “I could stretch out my time here,” she replied. “Not do as much work…”

Bethen laughed. “You wouldn’t do that. You couldn’t do that.”

“I would for you.”

Bethen shrugged. “Plans change. I just don’t think I want to be a Dionos. Think of it. Living the rest of my life here?” He shuddered. “That’s not what I want.”

“That’s not what I want, either,” said Eryn, but now that she thought about it, she wasn’t so sure. Wasn’t this what her studies had been leading up to? Hadn’t that been what she always thought? That she would one day become a Dionos and pass her knowledge on to other students like herself, make sure all the learning and education that made Ethilikos great was preserved and given to the next generation? “Well,” she amended, “perhaps I do want to be a Dionos. But I could maybe be a traveling Dionos?”

“Why would you want to do that?” asked Bethen.

Eryn shrugged. “I don’t, really. But I do love it here.” She waved an arm, indicating not only the library, but the entire Academy as well.

Bethen smirked. “And yet you can’t wait to get out of here on academic tour.”

“Well, yes,” said Eryn. “But it’s academic tour! It’s an opportunity that will only come once. I have to do it now, while I’m young, before I make a life for myself here.”

“But why does it have to be an opportunity that only comes once?” argued Bethen. “That’s what terrifies me. That I’ll get one chance to see the world, and no time to linger over it, only to live out the rest of my days in this place.”

“There’s nothing out there that we can’t get in here,” said Eryn. “I, for one, would like some stability in my life.”

“I suppose,” said Bethen, echoing Eryn’s earlier words, and perhaps with as much understanding. Eryn was confused. Always Bethen had been by her side. They had planned to eventually become Dioni together, and spend their lives in the pursuit of knowledge. There really was nothing left to learn out there. Every bit of Ethilikos was explored and settled, every native danger defeated and subject to the will of the people, every challenge faced, from one coast to the other. All that was left was pursuits of the mind. In some ways, Bethen’s sentiments about academic tour were true. She would experience a succession of the insides of libraries.

But there’s always a chance of a discovery, she thought. Some old book, some forgotten history, lost in the shadows of a crumbling library at the ends of the continent. Waiting for me to find.

Eryn wasn’t particularly interested in history, nor in the scribes’ work, but a happy warm feeling always accompanied the thought of finding something that no one had never seen before, or something that no one had seen in perhaps a thousand years, containing knowledge that had been lost, and that she would always be known for having found again.

“Of course,” she said, continuing her thoughts out loud so that Bethen could hear them, “the real value in academic tour is the people, isn’t it? Different ways of thinking. It could all lead to me discovering something new. That’s how I really want to make my mark upon the world. Isn’t that true for you?”

Bethen shrugged again. “You’re going to keep wearing me down until I go to the committee, aren’t you?”

Eryn smiled benevolently. “You’re one of the most talented agatischkoth I know. If you only applied yourself…”

“So they’ve been telling me for as long as I’ve been here.”

Eryn glanced at the large crystal clock hung upon the north wall of the library. “Oh, I have a meeting with Dionos Argay. He’s all the way over in Nine O’Clock. I’ll have to leave now.”

“What?” said Bethen. “You just got here. I thought you were going to help me go over my anatomy notes?”

“Sorry,” said Eryn a little breathlessly. She tried to control herself. “It was a sudden appointment, he couldn’t get me in at any other time before I left. We’ll meet for dinner tonight, all right? How does that seafood place in Five O’Clock sound?”

“Expensive,” said Bethen. “My loans haven’t come through yet.”

“I’ll pay,” said Eryn.

“You paid last time…”

“It’s fine,” she said, unable to keep the note of impatience out of her voice. She didn’t want to argue with him about this, not on top of everything else. “I really have to go. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Yes, go see Dionos Argay,” muttered Bethen.

Eryn looked at him for a moment, wondering what the problem was and whether she should stay and see what was really bothering him, but she really did have to see the teacher, to finalize her lodging situation during the southeast part of her tour. She dismissed Bethen’s attitude for the moment, making a mental note to talk to him about it at dinner. She stood up from the table, grabbed her bag, and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. “Dinner time. Seafood,” she reminded him.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Lovely,” she replied, and left the library, sighing as she stepped out into the crowded halls of the back Circle once again. She made her way through the stone corridors, turning corners and lightly running down runs of steps, twisting unthinkingly through a convoluted route she had memorized years before. She went through the entrance separating the back Circle, the oldest part of the Academy, from the middle Circle, where the hallways were wider, brighter, and newer, although no less crowded. She made her way to a coach stop and waited with several other students (all Standards, she noticed) as transportation came around another corner and settled to a silent halt at the stop. She glanced back in the direction of the library as she boarded, momentarily troubled again with how Bethen was acting. He had been surly for awhile. She’d hoped it was just a mood, but it had gone one for several weeks now. Probably since she had started finalizing her plans for her tour, actually.

Is he jealous? she wondered as she took a seat in the coach and it started off toward Nine O’Clock, moving soundlessly and smoothly along the road. She idly looked out the window as the coach passed shops, more crowds, some residential halls and classrooms. It stopped near the entrance between the middle Circle and the outer Circle to let people on and off. A large tour group of children and parents came through the entrance, the tour guides clearly trying to catch a ride on the coach, but the anotischkoth driver shook his head, indicating there wasn’t enough space for the whole group. The coach left them behind.

Why would he be jealous? Eryn asked herself as the coach approached the district of the Academy known as Nine O’Clock, named for its position in the giant circle that composed the building. I’m older than him, and on faster track besides. We knew I would have my academic tour before him. We planned for this.

She shook her head, clearing it of her thoughts. She was going to see Dionos Argay now, and she couldn’t be distracted by thoughts of Bethen. She would see him later tonight. Until then she would just have to be content in not knowing what was wrong with him.

#

“You’re signed up for seven stops,” said Dionos Argay, glancing down at the document he held in front of him. His gaze flicked back up to Eryn, his gray eyes contemplating her over the top of his spectacles. “I’m surprised. I thought you would go for the full ten.”

Eryn smiled and sat up straighter, in order to project as most confidence as possible. Dionos Argay Caryaga was her main sponsor for the academic tour, and the one to sign off on her suggested itinerary. She knew Argay well and was certain she would have no trouble getting what she wanted, but that was still no reason to slouch or appear uncertain in front of him.

“I’ve always thought ten was a bit much,” she said carefully, trying to give her words the air of someone who had thought long and hard about just this subject. In truth, she just liked the number seven. “Whereas four doesn’t present nearly enough opportunities. Seven is a good middle number.”

Argay nodded, his eyes still fixed on her. Eryn kept her smile, waiting for his answer.

Argay sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers, still regarding her. “That seems a fair answer,” he finally said. “Although I have known students who have done ten and quite enjoyed it. More learning opportunities, perhaps?”

“The tour only lasts a year,” Eryn pointed out. “I want to maximize my experiences while still making those experiences mean something. Ten stops in one year seems to make for too full a year. One needs time to process information, after all.” There, that was a much better answer, and Argay seemed more pleased with it, if his sudden smile was anything to go by.

“Excellent,” he said, leaning forward again and taking up his pen. He signed the bottom of Eryn’s itinerary with a flourish. “I think that’s all, then. Give a copy to the Advanced Studies office, and you’re ready to go.”

Eryn couldn’t keep the stupid grin from her face. “Thank you,” she said, standing up and bowing her head toward Argay.

“I would suggest one change to the itinerary, though since I’ve already signed, it’s completely up to you.” Argay’s voice became serious again.

Eryn sat back down. “What change is that?”

Argay held up the paper. “You’re not planning to leave until this next month? I wonder why the delay?”

“No delay,” said Eryn quickly. “I just wanted to get everything signed and legalized as early as possible. That way I won’t be delayed when the time comes.”

Argay nodded. “Eryn,” he said, putting the paper down and pushing it aside. “If I may give you some advice, as an experienced friend rather than an instructor.”

“Certainly,” said Eryn, a little confused.

“The nation’s most talented minds come to the Academy,” Argay began. “In your time here, both once you return from your tour and after you become a Dionos, you will meet many more people.”

“Yes,” said Eryn, furrowing her brow. What was Argay getting at?

“If there is some reluctance on your part to leave for your tour…”

“Of course not!” Eryn couldn’t help but interrupt. “I’ve been looking forward to academic tour for the past two years!”

“Please let me finish.” Argay’s voice and face were strict, and Eryn sat back in her chair, chastised. “If there is some reluctance from you, and if that reluctance may come from certain personal relationships you have cultivated during your time here…”

He’s talking about Bethen, Eryn suddenly realized. </i>He thinks I’m delaying my trip because I don’t want to leave Bethen behind</i>. How to convince him differently?

“…I just think that it would be good for you to consider what it is that you really want,” Argay continued. “You have one chance at academic tour. You will have many more chances at establishing certain close relationships.”

He seemed to be finished talking, so Eryn leapt to her own defense. “Of course I understand, Dionos. I have no plans of letting anything like that get in the way of my leaving for tour on time.”

“Then would it be possible for you to move your departure date up? To, say, next week?”

Next week? Eryn looked off to the side, at a momentary loss for words. “That’s a bit sudden,” she finally said.

“But as you’ve taken so much care in preparing everything, I thought perhaps you would embrace the chance to leave earlier. The earlier you leave, the earlier you come back, and the earlier you will be finished with your final research.” Argay’s face grew grave again. “You’ve been on the fast track your entire time here, Eryn. Extra Standard finished in a year and a half! Academic tour at your age! It’s extraordinary, and there’s no reason to delay your further education.”

“I suppose,” said Eryn.

“I only want what’s best for you,” said Argay. “You have so much potential; it’s why I agreed to be your sponsor even though I rarely have time for such things. I don’t want to see you waste that potential because you’ve been…dragged down by someone, or something, else.”

He’s talking about Bethen, one part of her insisted, indignant that her best friend and lover was being described as a bad influence on her education. But that part was silenced by a louder voice, clamoring excitedly about leaving for academic tour several weeks earlier than planned. Isn’t this what she wanted?

“I would love to leave early,” she said, “although I’ll have to change some things in my itinerary. My first stop isn’t expecting me until next month, and…”

Argay held up one hand. “Think no more on it. I will arrange any changes that need to be made. All you have to worry about is reaching your coach on time next week.” He smiled.

“Thank you,” said Eryn breathlessly. She could hardly believe it! She had approached Dionos Argay this time last year, asking him to be her sponsor and fully expecting to be turned down. Argay was one of the Academy’s most well-renowned Dionosi, a top scholar as well as an incredibly talented krotischkoth. Eryn had taken as many classes from him as she could, so that he would learn and remember her face, but she had hoped for nothing more than perhaps a letter of recommendation from him someday. But that he had taken a personal interest in her education in the past year was unbelievable. He had even helped her with her itinerary, giving her personal advice and recommendations on good places to study. He was well-traveled, and the information he had given her was invaluable.

Argay’s smile turned indulgent. “I have always had my eye on you,” he said. “I think you’ll go on to do great things, Eryn.”

“Thank you,” she said again, knowing she sounded a bit like an idiot but not knowing how else to express her gratitude.

“Now,” said Argay, sitting back in his chair, “I do have other work to see to, so perhaps you should go prepare for your departure?”

“Yes, of course,” said Eryn, bowing again. “Apologies for keeping you so long.”

“Not at all,” said Argay. “I will see you in one week, the eve of your departure, to make certain everything is in shape.”

“I look forward to it,” said Eryn. She walked out of the office feeling almost giddy. She had to tell someone, anyone, the first person she came to!

The first person she came to, as it turned out, was a coach driver, who pulled up to the empty coach stop just as she approached it.

“Where to?” he asked.

“I’m going on academic tour!” said Eryn. She almost hugged the man. “Next week!”

The man paused for a moment. “That’s good, I suppose,” he said. “Where to?”

“Oh! Sorry.” Eyrn thought for a moment. Where would most of her friends be this time of day? Probably back in the library. “Three O’Clock Back Circle,” she said.

“Right then,” said the coach driver, and the vehicle gently floated up and started moving smoothly forward as Eryn seated herself near the back. The coach was nearly empty, with only two younger students seated near the front. Looking at the bags under their eyes, their tired expressions, and pale skin, she took them to be Standards in their last year, probably in the midst of studying for the exams that would determine their placement in Extra Standard. She remembered that year not quite fondly. She had done very well on those exams and she loved academics, but that year had been rough even on her. In contrast, the placement exams between Extra Standard and Advanced had been relatively easy, which was why she wondered why Bethen wasn’t even going to bother trying to take them again.

The coach wound its way around the Academy, always moving clockwise and in order through the Circles. Thankfully, this one was already in Back Circle, so as soon as the coach reached Three O’Clock she was able to get off and make her way to the Advanced Studies library.

Which was closed.

Eryn stood in front of the door, puzzled. The Advanced Studies library wasn’t like the ones for the Standards, which kept specific hours. It stayed open all the time. In fact, until right this moment Eryn hadn’t known the large iron double doors were even capable of being closed.

But closed they were, and locked, as she found out when she tried to handles. What was going on? Had there been an announcement? Surely not, as she had been Dionos Argay’s office almost the whole time, and any announcement relevant to the Academy would have surely been delivered there.

She was just turning away from the library when a figure came running down the hall, calling her name in a breathless, high-pitched voice. Eryn jumped in surprise, then relaxed as the figure resolved and she could see bouncy blonde curls flying every which way around the girl’s face.

“Illina,” she said, waving. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Illina was a good friend of Eryn’s, one of the first she had made when she had come to this school at the age of eight. One of the only ones her age she was still friends with, given that she had left all the others behind when it came to academics. Not being in the same classes or even in the same level tended to put a distance between her and her peers, and of course many of them were gone now, having stayed no longer than Standard or Extra Standard. But Illina had always remained a true friend. The cheerful blonde girl was no longer a student, but employed as a scribe in one of the Standard libraries.

As she came closer, Eryn could see that Illina’s normally happy face looked worried, her freckled cheeks flushed with red as if she had run a long way. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“You haven’t heard?” said Illina. She reached Eryn and stopped, panting slightly. “Oh, it’s horrible! They’ve closed everything down except for the coaches.”

The normally busy hallways of the Academy had seemed very empty, Eryn now realized. The coach had been the same. She just hadn’t taken full notice, her head full of visions of herself on tour. “But what’s happened?”

“Heclan,” said Illina. “He’s dead.”

“What?”

Illina nodded. “Suicide, they’re saying. Hanged himself in his apartment.”

“Surely not,” said Eryn. “Not Heclan.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Heclan was another of her original first-year class, and nearly as advanced as she, being only a year or two away from academic tour. He was a talented sudanischkoth, and although her own krotischkoth studies rarely intersected with his, they had been friendly rivals for years.

He had also been her first lover, when both had only been sixteen, that night they had passed their Standard exams and had fallen into each other’s arms more from relief than from any actual attraction.

Not even Bethen knew that night had happened. Only Illina, and now she looked at Eryn with pity.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you would know, being good friends with him and all. I thought someone would have told you first. I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

“I was in Dionos Argay’s office until recently,” said Eryn, feeling numb. What was she supposed to feel? Heclan dead? She had never experienced someone close to her dying, not even in her own family. All her grandparents had died before she was born or before she was old enough to remember, and her parents and sister were healthy and safe. It seemed impossible that she would never see Heclan’s blue eyes and messy blond hair again, his crooked smile or his broad nose which he always insisted was noble-looking.

“I’m so sorry,” said Illina, looking even more flustered than before. “I knew you were close.” She suddenly seemed unable to look Eryn in the face, her gaze moving from the floor to some point above Eryn’s head.

Eryn tried to shrug, but her movements were shaky all of a sudden. “We hadn’t…I mean, I hadn’t really seen him for awhile…” She likewise couldn’t keep the shakiness out of her voice, and she knew she was on the verge of breaking down. “Oh, Illina, I don’t think I’ve even talked to him since our last holiday weekend.” She stopped, horrified, as she realized it was the truth. It had been two whole months ago. The two of them, with a group of mutual friends, had celebrated the holiday weekend and their newly-arrived stipend checks with a night out in the city of Ethilikos proper, away from anything having to do with studying, academic tour, or the Academy. Since then Eryn had been preoccupied with finalizing her plans for the tour. How could she have forgotten to at least write to him?

“Eryn,” said Illina soothingly. “You’ve been busy.”

“But suicide?” said Eryn, looking wide-eyed at her friend. “I can’t believe it. Heclan was always so happy. What did I miss? What if I could have done something to prevent this?”

“It was no one’s fault,” said Illina. “If it makes you feel any better, I had lunch with him just last week and he seemed fine.”

“It doesn’t,” said Eryn. She felt like sitting down. “So what now? What’s going on? Why has everything shut down for one student?” She was glad. She wanted everything shut down for Heclan. He deserved it. But the rational part of her mind knew that it was a huge undertaking, and Heclan was just one student, no matter what he had meant to her.

“It’s the first suicide in at least fifty years,” said Illina. “Those kinds of people are usually weeded out pretty early. Heclan was almost two years into Advanced…”

“What do you mean, ‘those kinds of people’?” Eryn hissed. “There was nothing wrong with Heclan!”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” said Illina. “Eryn, I think the Dionosi just aren’t sure what to do, what to say to the students. I overheard some of the senior scribes talking just before things closed down and I came to find you. The Dionosi are afraid that this is going to get around the Academy and encourage people.”

“To what? Kill themselves?” Eryn’s voice was getting shrill, but she didn’t care. This made no sense.

“I don’t know!” said Illina, her voice placating. She held up her hands to show her innocence in whatever the Dionosi thought. “I’m just telling you what I overheard. And maybe it does make sense. The classes here can be brutal.”

Eryn could say nothing to argue against Illina. “I don’t mean to take all this out on you,” she said, sighing. “It’s just that I had great news, and now I hear about this, and it puts things into perspective.”

“What’s your great news?” said Illina.

“I’m going on academic tour in a week,” said Eryn dully. It didn’t seem so exciting anymore. She was leaving on tour in a week, Heclan would leave on tour never.

How could this happen?

“That’s really good news!” said Illina, her voice full of false cheeriness. Eryn imagined that if the two of them were alone somewhere, under happier circumstances, they would have clasped hands and jumped up and down excitedly, like teenagers. But there was no excitement here.

“The coaches are still running?” Eryn asked. “Oh, obviously. I was on one on the way here.”

“Where do you want to go?” said Illina. “The restaurants are still open. I’ll take you anywhere. Hey, we could even go to a tavern in the city, if you want. There are no classes tonight.”

“I just want to go home,” said Eryn.

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