Chapter 105 — "Two Weeks In"
Two weeks passed.
Not quietly.
Not smoothly.
Not without incident.
The lift had stopped being terrifying around Day 5.
Started being interesting around Day 8.
By Day 14 it was the part of the routine Seraphina looked forward to most.
She wasn’t examining it.
The notebook had twelve new pages.
The routine had unlocked things she hadn’t known were locked.
Sleeve constructions.
Fabric flow problems she had been stuck on since the city.
The way a body moved through space when it trusted something completely.
She had filled three pages just on that last one.
The thimble lived on her desk now.
Not in her pocket anymore.
On her desk where she could see it while she worked.
She wasn’t examining that either.
Day 15.
Practice hall.
Four forty five pm.
They were in the middle of the sequence when the door opened.
Not a student.
Not a professor.
Daren.
Seraphina lost count immediately.
Stopped moving.
Stared.
Kael stopped too.
Both of them looking at the door.
At Daren standing in it.
Holding bread.
Obviously.
Holding bread and looking at the practice hall with the expression of a man who had achieved something significant and was choosing to be casual about it.
"Hello."
He said.
"HOW."
Seraphina immediately pointed.
"The token system—"
"I have a token."
She stared.
"You have a token."
"Yes."
"Since when."
"Since this morning."
"Which token."
Daren reached into his pocket.
Produced a small silver token.
With the academy crest.
She looked at it.
At the academy crest.
At the silver.
At Daren holding it like it was the most natural thing.
"That’s a guest token."
"Yes."
"For the festival."
"Yes."
"The festival is in 14 days."
"Yes."
"Why do you have it NOW."
Daren looked at the token.
"Rowan said the process completed early."
Seraphina stared.
"The noble path process."
"Yes."
"Completed."
"Yes."
"Early."
"Apparently."
She looked at the token.
At the silver.
At the academy crest.
At all of this happening while she had been practicing a routine for two weeks.
"Rowan managed it."
"He manages things."
"While I wasn’t—"
"You were busy."
"I forgot about it entirely."
"He didn’t."
She looked at the token.
Then at Daren.
Then at the bread he was holding.
"Why do you have bread."
"I brought bread."
"To the practice hall."
"Yes."
"Why."
"I was hungry."
"Daren."
"Seraphinaaa."
"You can’t bring food into the practice hall."
"There’s no sign."
"There are many signs."
"I didn’t see them."
"They’re very visible."
"I was looking at the tower."
Kael was watching this exchange.
His expression had done something when Daren walked in.
Not surprise exactly.
The expression of someone recalibrating the day’s plans.
He looked at the viewing area.
At Daren now sitting in it.
With bread.
In a space that had been carefully kept empty for two weeks.
Tax appeared from somewhere.
Landed beside Daren.
Looked at the bread.
"Hello."
Daren looked at him.
"Tax."
"You’re inside."
"Yes."
"With a token."
"Yes."
"Silver one."
"Yes."
Tax looked at the bread.
Daren looked at Tax looking at the bread.
Broke off a piece.
Handed it over.
Tax took it.
Both of them settled into the viewing area like they had been there for years.
Seraphina watched this.
Then looked at Kael.
He looked back.
The question in both their expressions.
Do we continue with an audience.
Specifically this audience.
She looked at the viewing area.
At Daren eating bread.
At Tax eating stolen bread.
At the specific audience that had somehow made it inside the academy token system.
"We continue."
She said.
Kael nodded.
They moved back to their positions.
The sequence restarted.
From the top.
The middle eight arrived.
She moved through it.
Kael opposite.
The face to face moment.
Four counts.
From the viewing area:
"Oh."
Daren’s voice.
Quiet.
Involuntary.
She lost count.
"DAREN."
"I didn’t say anything."
"You said oh."
"That’s barely a word."
"It’s a word."
"It’s a sound."
"DAREN."
"I was reacting to the sequence."
"Don’t react to the sequence."
"It’s a very good sequence."
"I know it’s a good sequence."
"The face to face part specifically."
"DAREN."
Tax looked at Daren.
"You should be quieter."
"I was quiet."
"You said oh."
"Very quietly."
"It was loud enough."
"For who."
Tax looked at Kael.
Kael was looking at the floor.
His expression doing the controlled thing.
The specific controlled thing.
With something underneath it that was different from usual.
Not the calm underneath.
Something closer to the surface.
Seraphina looked at him.
Then at Daren.
Then at Tax.
Then at the ceiling.
"Again."
She said.
"From the top."
Kael moved to position.
She moved to position.
The sequence started.
This time Daren was quiet.
Tax was quiet.
Both of them watching.
The middle eight.
The face to face.
Four counts.
Nobody said anything.
The sequence continued.
To the lift.
She stepped forward on six.
He moved on seven.
Eight.
The lift.
From the viewing area—
Absolute silence.
She came down.
Stood.
Looked at the mirror.
From behind her:
"hHHHHHH—"
Daren’s laugh finding its volume.
She turned.
He was covering his mouth.
Both hands.
Completely failing.
Tax beside him was looking at the ceiling with the expression of someone pretending not to have witnessed something significant.
"DAREN."
"I’m not—"
"You’re laughing."
"I’m processing."
"AT WHAT."
"The lift."
"What about the lift."
"It’s very—"
He searched for words.
Found none.
Made a gesture instead.
Vague.
Enormous.
Covering everything.
Seraphina stared at the gesture.
Then at him.
Then at Kael.
Kael was looking at the mirror.
At his own reflection.
His ears had done something.
Just slightly.
Just enough.
She looked at the floor.
"You’re not allowed to react to the lift."
"I didn’t say anything."
"The gesture."
"That was processing."
"Process quietly."
"I was quiet."
"The gesture was loud."
"Gestures don’t have volume."
"DAREN."
"SERAPHINA."
Tax finally looked down from the ceiling.
At Seraphina.
At Kael.
At Daren.
At all of it.
Made one sound.
Short.
Sharp.
Something genuinely caught off guard.
Gone immediately.
Seraphina pointed at him.
He looked at her finger.
"I was surprised."
"By what."
"The lift."
"You’ve heard about the lift."
"Hearing and seeing are different."
She stared at him.
At the crow who had been reporting to Daren and Rowan for two weeks.
Who had watched the lift multiple times.
Who had apparently not fully communicated what the lift looked like.
"You didn’t tell them."
"I told them it worked."
"You didn’t tell them what it looked like."
"I described it."
"HOW DID YOU DESCRIBE IT."
Tax looked at the ceiling again.
"I said it was a lift."
"THAT’S IT."
"Lifts are lifts."
"Tax there are many kinds of lifts—"
"This one is."
He stopped.
Looked at the ceiling harder.
"This one is a specific kind."
Seraphina pointed at him.
He became very interested in the architecture above them.
Kael had turned away from the mirror.
Was looking at the routine sheet.
With the specific focus of someone who had decided the routine sheet was the most important thing in the room.
His ears still slightly something.
She looked at him.
At the routine sheet.
At his ears.
At the practice hall.
At all of it.
Then from the doorway—
A voice.
Cool.
Precise.
"The form on the lift is wrong."
Everyone turned.
Evelyne Blanchett stood in the doorway.
Black hair.
Crimson eyes.
The expression of someone who had seen something technically incorrect and could not let it pass.
Seraphina stared.
"You were watching."
"The door was open."
"Since when."
"Since you started arguing about gestures."
Seraphina looked at the door.
At the door that had been closed.
That was now open.
That had apparently been open long enough for Evelyne to watch the lift.
"The form."
Seraphina said.
"On the lift."
"Yes."
"What’s wrong with it."
Evelyne walked in.
Not invited.
Not asking permission.
The way Evelyne entered every space.
Like she had assessed it and decided it was acceptable.
She stopped in the center of the floor.
Looked at Seraphina.
Then at Kael.
Then at the space between them.
"Your left arm."
She said to Seraphina.
"On the way up."
"What about it."
"It’s compensating."
"For what."
"You don’t trust the position fully."
Seraphina opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Evelyne looked at Kael.
"Your right hand position shifts on seven."
Kael looked at his hand.
"By how much."
"Enough."
She looked between them.
"You’re both compensating for things that aren’t problems."
"The lift works."
Seraphina said.
"It works."
"Yes."
"It could be better."
"It’s two weeks in."
"The festival is 14 days away."
The practice hall was very quiet.
Evelyne looked at the routine sheet on the stand.
Then at them.
"Again."
She said.
Using the same word Seraphina always used.
With completely different energy.
The energy of someone who had decided they were staying and that was that.
Seraphina looked at Kael.
Kael looked at Seraphina.
Then at Evelyne.
Then at the routine sheet.
Then at Daren in the viewing area.
Who had stopped eating bread.
Who was watching Evelyne with the expression of someone encountering a force of nature for the first time.
Tax beside him was looking at Evelyne with the recognition look.
The one they had exchanged since the courtyard.
Two things understanding each other.
Seraphina looked at the floor.
At the practice space.
At 14 days.
At the lift that was apparently wrong in specific ways.
At the request waiting for the winner.
At all of it.
"Fine."
She said.
The fine of someone who had run out of arguments not because they lost but because the other person was right.
She moved to her starting position.
Kael moved to his.
Evelyne stood to the side.
Watching.
With the expression she wore when she was about to have opinions.
Many opinions.
Specific opinions.
The kind that would be delivered without softening and accepted without argument because they were correct.
From the viewing area Daren leaned toward Tax.
"Who is that."
Tax watched Evelyne.
"Trouble."
Daren looked at her.
At the crimson eyes.
At the posture.
At the expression.
"Good trouble or bad trouble."
Tax considered.
"The kind that makes things better."
"Is there a word for that."
"Probably."
Daren looked at the practice floor.
At Seraphina and Kael moving through the sequence.
At Evelyne watching with her arms crossed.
At the 14 days remaining.
At all of it.
Then he picked up his bread.
Ate it.
Settled in.
Because whatever was about to happen in this practice hall was going to be worth watching.
Definitely.