Aether's Apprentices

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Two ranks,” Ling said, watching her friend with amusement. “We’re at the fourth rank now.” She pulled out her medallion, showing off the glowing, sunflower yellow circles.

  “We ranked up, too,” Jenn said, showing them her medallion.

  “Aww...” Clover’s excitement faded slightly. “We’d hoped we’d started to catch up.”

  “You will in time. The ranks are supposed to be harder to gain as we advance,” Yukiko said, looking a little distracted as she said it.

  “That’s supposed to be true,” Ling said slowly, “but since we’ve known you, we’ve grown faster. We match the majority of our class now and outrank the clanless.”

  Gregory said, “But you know why we grow faster.”

  Ling bowed her head. “We follow Aether’s Path. I will follow as you lead. It feels right.”

  “Do you think the others gained two ranks?” Clover asked suddenly.

  “We should go see,” Jenn said.

  They found the novices coming their way when they made it to the next floor.

  Daciana rushed forward with her medallion out. “Ninth rank.”

  “Two ranks for you, too,” Nessa said, seeing Jenn’s medallion, which was still outside her clothes. “And you, as well.” She smiled at Clover.

  “We all grow so strong!” Clover beamed.

  “Indeed. Our young magi will be the talk of the academy again,” Dia said. “Are you going to breakfast?”

  “Yes, Dia,” Yukiko said, motioning the others to start moving. “We just paused to greet each other.”

  “Ah, very well. I, myself, am quite hungry, as Aether smiled upon me last night.” She slipped her own medallion out. Eight cyan circles were glowing on her medallion. “Lightshield left me some alchemical aides that helped push me over the edge last night.”

  “Congratulations, Dia,” Gregory said a second before the others echoed him.

  “Thank you,” Dia smiled. “Let us go share our joy with the others.”

  When they made it to the dining room, they found Bishop already there, smiling broadly. “Novices, Apprentices, Dia,” she greeted them as her smile grew. “I was fortunate last night…” She trailed off when she caught sight of all their medallions, including Dia’s. “Ah, I see you all grew as well.” She pulled her own medallion, illuminated with six bright, cyan circles.

  “So much younger than me, and yet not that far behind,” Dia said. “You were always fast in your growth, but as you can see, our current young are growing even faster.”

  “Yes,” Bishop said, her eyes showing true happiness. “You will have your work cut out for you in the coming year and beyond, Dia.”

  Dia bowed her head. “Yes. It will be challenging, but rewarding.”

  “Breakfast will be ready shortly,” Ravol said from the kitchen.

  “We don’t have a tournament game today, do we, Dia?” Gregory asked.

  “No, which means you will be training today.”

  “Can we ask that Farin be brought over so we can discuss tactics with him?” Jenn asked. “We have to decide which of the three of us will be the first players for our class group.”

  “A good idea,” Bishop said. “Building strong alliances is always good.”

  Dia nodded. “It is, indeed.”

  “I’ll go after breakfast, but he might decline,” Bishop said.

  “Understood, Bishop,” Gregory said.

  “We think he’ll be willing,” Yukiko said. “He’s as focused on winning as we are.”

  “He is,” Clover nodded.

  “We will see,” Bishop said.

  “Breakfast,” Ravol smiled as he pushed the cart to the table.

  ~*~*~

  Coming back to the clan hall after the archive, the apprentices smiled and waved at Farin sitting on the porch. Farin bowed to Dia, then stood and waved back to them.

  “Thank you for inviting me to your clan hall,” Farin said when they were close enough to talk. “I must ask, do you mind if I share the basic tactics we discuss with my clan?”

  “No, as long as it’s nothing specific,” Gregory said. “I’d rather have the Iron Hand go to the tournament than some of the other clans.”

  The others agreed with Gregory.

  “Thank you,” Farin exhaled. “I’d also like them to be there.”

  “We were going to use the war room,” Jenn said. “This way.”

  Once they were inside the war room, Yukiko spoke up, “We need to decide which of us will be in play first. On top of that, I believe our individual games will combine into a joint battlefield.”

  Farin frowned. “But Egil said we wouldn’t be on the same board…” Trailing off, he considered things.

  “Connected boards,” Ling said suddenly. “Oh… I can see that. Pigeons to scout for the others?”

  “I knew she’d get it,” Jenn grinned.

  Clover’s eyes widened and she nodded. “Oh, I get it! If we send messages to each other, we can help or even combine onto a single board. Then, we walk over the single opposing magi, then turn and do the same to the others.”

  “Unless they do the same thing. This might also be wrong,” Gregory said. “This is speculation, but investing in pigeons and sending them out should be a low-cost investment at the start.”

  “It would explain why we’re being separated into different rooms,” Clover said. “Most will think it’s one-on-one matches for the first round, at least.”

  “Unless I’m right, and you winning just means you have to face the winner of the other team if one of your allies loses,” Yukiko said.

  “Most will want to play a little more defensively at the beginning, since your army is what you keep moving forward,” Farin said. “I like the idea of pigeons to check for allies at the start, if they don’t cost too much. If they cost as much as normal messengers, I’d opt for the light horse messenger.”

  “That’s a good point,” Jenn agreed.

  “How do we pick who plays in the first round?” Clover asked.

  “Most will expect us to field three of our clan,” Yukiko said. “We should opt for the best combination of magi we have.”

  Clover and Ling agreed, even if they looked disappointed.

  “But we should see about getting the others into the game as quickly as we can, too. Might not be the first game, but if the army and pay chest carry over, it would be easier to get them in, then,” Gregory said.

  “Agreed,” Farin said. “If it does become a combined fight, the more magi we have, the better. We don’t need to place first, either, just in the top three.”

  “I expect Egil to throw another twist or two into the tournament,” Gregory said. “So don’t overcommit, but make sure to bring enough force to bear.”

  “Okay, so we’re agreed on who and the idea of looking for each other?” Clover asked to make sure.

  When they nodded, Ling spoke up, “Okay, starting tactics— we should discuss what each of you is likely to do given each terrain type.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  A little over a week flew by for Aether’s Guard. They had Farin over every day during the two hours the novices were in their economics class. They talked strategy and about how different scenarios might affect each of them in different ways. Clover, Ling, and Gregory were just as intent on offering ideas and solutions, knowing this was the best they could do to help the team before the games started.

  They spent the rest of their time during those days training— they did magic training, physical and weapons training, meditation with the Peaceful Fist, and they discussed magics. Yukiko took three days explaining shadow magic and demonstrating different things. After her, Jenn had spoken about physical enhancement and how it felt to her. Like Gregory, there was nothing external besides the aether flame when she pushed her aether to do as much as it could.

  During those study sessions, Gregory did his best to touch their magics the way he had with Daciana, Ling, Clover, Nessa, and Victoria during the solstice. Both wom
en had slowed speaking, watching him, but it didn’t stop them.

  As they were saying goodbye to Farin after the ninth day of strategizing, Dia informed them that they would be playing the following day. The rest of that day was a blur for the apprentices, who were eager to play.

  ~*~*~

  Third bell woke the lovers from their sleep. They didn’t tease or banter— they got out of bed and started dressing. Yukiko and Jenn were already reviewing possible strategies in their minds, and Gregory didn’t interrupt them.

  The first words spoken were to Clover and Ling when they met up on the landing between floors.

  “Good morning. Are you two ready?” Gregory asked them.

  “We’re as ready as we can be,” Ling said. “We know that we might not even play during this round, but we’ll be reviewing different strategies while we wait.”

  “We’ll get you in as soon as we can without crippling our units,” Yukiko said.

  “We know,” Clover smiled. “We’ll be ready, but make sure to stay strong.”

  “That is paramount,” Jenn nodded.

  “Let’s go,” Gregory said.

  A floor down, they found the novices waiting for them. “Good morning,” Daciana said. “Nervous?”

  “Not as much as we could be,” Jenn said. “We’ve done all we can to prepare for the unknown.”

  “A little, but like Jenn said, we’ve prepared as much as we can,” Yukiko added.

  “We’ll miss you over the next few days,” Victoria said. “We’ll do our best to keep striving while you’re busy.”

  “You’ll be playing back-to-back games, won’t you?” Nessa suddenly asked.

  “We think so,” Gregory agreed. “The number of teams and the days that have gone by means that two sets have already played, putting us in the last set. Gin has been here twice, indicating a day between games. Hopefully, we get something similar.”

  “That’s what I’d thought,” Nessa nodded. She bowed to the apprentices. “We’ll be wishing the best for you.”

  “For Aether’s Guard,” Yukiko replied, bowing back just as formally.

  The others all murmured the same before heading down to breakfast.

  The table in the hall held the majority of the instructors. Only Gin, Inda, and Indara were missing. Dia gave them a bow of her head when they entered the room.

  “We all wanted to wish you luck today,” Hemet said as they took their seats.

  “Gin wanted me to convey that, as well,” Bishop added. “He opted for a few more hours of sleep, since he’ll get little over the next few days again.”

  “Understandable,” Gregory said. “We’ll all be in a similar state soon enough.”

  “Not all of us,” Daciana muttered.

  “Next year will be your turn,” Dia told her. “Since your seniors won’t be here, if you wish to have me explain more of Empire’s Gambit, I will do so during those times you normally study with them.”

  “We accept, Dia,” Nessa said. “We look forward to going to Gin’s home on our day off and starting instruction on games, too. We were sad to miss last week, but staying here to train with them was good for us. We’d like to stay and train with them if a day off aligns with theirs.”

  “I will let Baylyss know when to expect you so the game instructors can be ready,” Dia said.

  “I have breakfast ready,” Quilet said. “Since you were all up, I opted for a buffet instead of the normal meals.”

  “That’s fine, Quilet. We’ll serve ourselves,” Dia said.

  ~*~*~

  “Good morning to you all,” Rafiq greeted them as they entered the archive. “Excited?”

  “We’re looking forward to the chance to show how strong Aether’s Guard is,” Yukiko smiled.

  “I’m sure the academy knows already,” Rafiq chuckled, “but strength and strategy are different things. Considering how studious you’ve all been, I won’t be surprised when you win this match.”

  “Thank you,” Jenn beamed. “I think we’re all still good on our books.”

  The others agreed with her.

  “Very well,” Rafiq said. “Good studying to you.”

  A round of thanks was given to him before the group headed to their normal table. As they approached, they were surprised to find two people already there.

  “Aether’s Guard,” Hayworth said, bowing his head to them.

  “Hayworth,” Gregory greeted him back. “We didn’t expect others to be here.”

  “Walun expressed interest in coming to study with your younger magi today. I came to make sure he wasn’t bothering your clan,” Hayworth said. “I was surprised when I heard you all come every day.”

  “Studying is always a good idea,” Yukiko smiled.

  “True, but unless one is on the mind path, it doesn’t do as much as it could,” Hayworth replied.

  “He isn’t bothering us,” Nessa said, breaking into the conversation. “Walun’s been very respectful. If he stops being so, we will cordially disinvite him.”

  Hayworth gave Nessa a raised eyebrow, then stood and bowed his head. “Very well. I’ll not bother him about this matter again unless I’m told I need to intervene.”

  “Thank you,” Gregory said.

  “I don’t want to embroil my clan in a needless conflict. If he was just so besotted with one of the novices that he was pressing them too much, I would curtail that now.”

  Walun was looking at the table, his face burning.

  “Now that that’s done, do you mind if I join your study session today?” Hayworth asked.

  “We normally sit with our juniors first,” Yukiko said, “but considering how awkward that would be for some, maybe we should head upstairs now, instead.”

  “Yes,” Gregory nodded. “What have you been studying, Hayworth?”

  “Imports and exports,” Hayworth replied as they made their way toward the stairs. “I hope to get a border posting for my magus years, at least.”

  “Which border?” Ling asked.

  “Doesn’t matter. I’m studying for all of them, just in case. The prestige to a clan for holding those positions isn’t small,” Hayworth said. After a small pause, he added, “I also like the idea of being there if trouble happens.”

  “Didn’t think you were fixated on combat,” Clover said.

  “It’s not combat, it’s the chance to make a name for myself and the clan if I can quickly quash any trouble,” Hayworth said. “The more one does, the greater the chance you’ll be posted to better things later. The empire still requires clans to provide magus tier and higher magi for some postings.”

  “Like ambassadors,” Jenn said.

  “Well, yes,” Hayworth conceded as they took their seats on the second floor. “There is also the academy. Being able to shape the younger generations seems like a rewarding post.”

  Gregory chuckled. “Between those two, I think you’d rather be an ambassador.”

  “True,” Hayworth nodded, “but there are postings for just a clan, too. Every city has a true magus or higher to keep the peace. It’s possible for your clan to post you under an empire-appointed magi there.”

  “Huh,” Gregory said. “I didn’t think about that. I’d only really looked at postings that we might see when we leave the academy.”

  “Most only think that far out. All clans have uses for the magi. My clan posts magi with important cargos to deter potential trouble.”

  “The Han clan does something similar,” Yukiko added. “All the merchant clans do.”

  “Magi Squares?” Hayworth asked when he saw them bring out their blank grids. “I’m doubly surprised to see you with them.”

  “They help focus us for learning,” Clover said. “We just started them not long ago.”

  “But these three are on the advanced ones,” Hayworth said. “Interesting.”

  “Care to join in?” Gregory asked, pulling out another blank advanced grid. “We make them for each other, then finish the one made for us.”

&n
bsp; “Which would double the effectiveness of the lesson,” Hayworth nodded slowly. “Thank you. I will. I will also mention this to my clan, as we should’ve been doing similar. The clan staff makes them for us, but I can see where making them for others of the clan would be helpful, too.”

  “Unexpected allies can be profitable,” Yukiko said.

  “True,” Hayworth nodded. “Your class is playing this round?”