Book 5, chapter 6

The news that the emperor was her great-grandfather on her grandma's side had been startling, but not overly so. It's not like Zee herself was actually an imperial. From what her parents told her, they were technically commoners.

Her grandma Verenia had revoked her imperial title when she married Julian, so any children of the union like Cylia, and grandchildren were all commoners. The only chance for getting declared an imperial was if the emperor himself recognized her as one of the heir to the empire.

That was something Zee hoped to avoid like the plague. She had absolutely no desire to get anywhere near that overly glorified seat of power. Zee wanted to go to the academy and push herself so that she could hopefully rank up to D grade in the future.

Getting involved with the scheming nobility and backstabbing courtiers of imperial politics was not on her bucket list. She was going to lie low, attend her classes, and educate herself.

Bastion's joking about her not being able to stay out of trouble was not true. Zee was going to be unremarkable, just another cadet in the academy.

Before she knew it, Zee was belting on her sword, and preparing to leave. Three weeks had come and gone in what felt like only a few days. 

"Don't forget to use the crystal I gave you to contact me," Cylia reminded.

"I won't. Don't worry Mother, I will send you messages every other day," Zee promised.

Alister offered her a cloth-wrapped bag. "This should have all the essentials you need for going to the academy," her father said.

Zee loosened the drawstring and peered inside the heavy sac. 

"Dad, this is just full of different types of candy. How is that going to help me at the academy," Zee asked, furrowing her brows.

Her dad slapped her playfully on the back. "Have I taught you nothing? Candy can be a more effective weapon than a sword. You can bribe your professors, your classmates, or just eat them. They have a lot of utility if used properly," Alister reasoned.

She laughed," Never change Dad." He winked 

Cylia offered her own gift. There were two small glass vials, each with ten softly glowing pills inside. 

"These might not be as delicious as your father's gift, but they will be useful. The green pills stop you from bleeding out and dying. The brown pills will fill about half your energy reserves. Only use them in an emergency, they are peak quality E-grade pills, but they still have a lot of impurities that will be a pain to get rid of," Cylia said.

"Thanks Mom, and thank you, dad," Zee said, giving them both a hug.

Her dad leaned over, towards Bastion. "Don't forget to look for those things I asked for," Alister said.

"I will find them. My network is getting good these days," Bastion replied.

Her dad nodded. "Good luck you two. Oh, and Zee, do come back sometime soon," Alister said.

"Sure thing Dad, I will be back in a few months at most," Zee said.

With that, they left, walking through the forest and into Othera. 

The teleportation hub was busy, even so early in the morning. There were only a half dozen gates, most of which were empty. 

The portals were not always active. Having an active portal took power to keep open, and a sufficiently powerful spatial cultivator on hand. 

Complex arrays were set in place to maintain the portal, but someone needed to open it first. She was excited, as she watched an older woman approach the archway that led to Lorocos. 

The woman had the aura of a middle-D-grade noncombat cultivator. Even with that kind of power, it took the woman a few minutes to open the gate. 

None standing in line seemed surprised or upset at the wait. Opening a stable gate by yourself was a tricky task, and doing so in only a few minutes was impressive. 

People like Julian, who could open a gate with a gesture, were not normal. Even the woman opening the gate to Lorocos was a talented spatial cultivator. She would have to be, or she wouldn't be in charge of opening the gates in the transportation hub of a city.

Given that Othera was small in comparison to Lorocos, she was probably not the most talented at her grade, but it was still impressive.

Zee snorted to herself in amusement. Here she was, pondering the talent of a cultivator a whole rank above her. It was ridiculous, given that the woman was probably a few hundred years old. Reaching D grade was not something most people could achieve, ever. 

Even in the heart of the Lorocan empire, D-grade cultivators were rare. Out of the trillions of citizens in the empire, there were estimated to be only a few million in the D grade. 

It sounded like a lot, but the odds were not great.

Zee was a good example of just how dangerous climbing through the ranks was. She was approaching the peak E grade, and she had almost died more times than she cared to count.

It was all bad though. Zee was well ahead of the curve.

She was blasting through the E grade in record time and would reach the peak soon. Still, she could hit a bottleneck, and be unable to advance. On the other hand, she might be ready to evolve to D grade in two or three years. 

It was hard to say what would happen. Forming her fragment into a shard was no easy feat. And given the situation with her inner world, it might be even more difficult.

She would need to destroy the ritual protecting her fragment from exploding and form her shard all in one go. That would be an extremely difficult feat, especially since her inner world would be trying to tear her soul apart while she was forming her shard.

She still had several years to plan how to take that step. That is what she was going to the academy for, to get the knowledge and skill to accomplish the impossible. Zee shook the thought from her mind. No, it wasn't impossible, she just hadn't found the right opportunity to help her succeed.

Eventually, the portal snapped into existence, breaking her from her thoughts. In the archway, space twisted and warped. Drawing on a river of power, two places became one. 

The swirling green portal rippled chaotically for a moment, before stabilizing.

Looking a bit drained, the spatial cultivator moved on to the next gate, allowing the line to enter the archway. 

Zee was tugged along after Bastion with the shortening line, all the while, she studied the portal. 

It was disappointing, She couldn't get much because of the arrays around the archway. Now that she thought about it, that was undoubtedly why the arrays were there. The people running this place wouldn't want anyone poking around at their highly delicate portals. 

With one final glance back, she stepped through the gateway. It was disorienting, though not nearly as jarring as passing through some she had been through. She disappeared from the small quiet hub and appeared in a bustling courtyard. 

The arrivals section of the Lorocos teleportation hub made the one in Tartana look tame. It was a multi-floor complex, with hundreds of people arriving just like she was.

Several attendants, backed by guards with no-nonsense attitudes ushered everyone to keep moving, directing them to the exits.

There were signs everywhere in Lorocan, pointing towards other portals to take them elsewhere. Other signs thankfully pointed towards the exits.

Just getting out while pushing through the throngs of people took twenty minutes. There were human, lizard kin, and very rarely a Couilateen. 

The Couilateen were a super weird species, with mottled grey skin. They didn't have arms, or legs, only a pair of bat-like wings to fly their head-sized bodies around. Three eyestalks grew out of the top of their body, waving around as they flew. 

She couldn't get over just how weird they were. They were like a ball of flesh and creepiness, with those three eyes that could look in every direction. 

Zee shuddered as one flew over the crowds, each beat of its large wings creating a gust of air on those below.

More than one person shouted an angry remark at the Couilateen. This only made things worse, prompting the floating eyeballs to flap their wings harder. 

A very grumpy crowd pushed their way from the departure area, and out onto the street. It was chaos, with shouting and the rattle of carts. Rickshaws, lizard-drawn carts, and skimmers clogged up the streets.

Skimmers were a fairly new invention. Instead of being pulled, they were propelled by a combination of arrays, and machinery.

They were smaller than a cart but bigger than a rickshaw.

Given how expensive they doubtlessly were, Zee wasn't surprised that only the nobility could afford them. The average civilian wasn't permitted to fly in city limits, but the nobility didn't care about that rule.

One group of well-dressed young men boarded a nearby skimmer and it rose off the ground. Hovering above the hoards of people on the streets, the skimmer ignored the rules. 

Bastion nudged her with his shoulder.

"How much do you think it costs for one of those," Bastion asked.

"More than I am willing to spend. Come on, I see an empty rickshaw," Zee said.

"Spoilsport," Bastion grumbled. 

Paying the fair, they boarded the rickshaw and were off. 

Their porter was a small, heavily built lizard kin, with dark black scales, and a toothy smile.

"First time here in the capitol?" He asked, cutting off a cart as he pulled them out into traffic. 

"Hey! Watch it lizard breath!" the man driving the cart shouted. 

The porter grinned, completely ignoring the angry cart driver as he jogged forward with impressive speed. 

Not seeming phased by the encounter, Bastion leaned back in the chair next to her. "No, it's not our first time, we are going to the imperial academy," Bastion replied. 

"That's good. My oldest boy goes to the Haven Academy. Can you believe it, he is training to be a blacksmith," The porter said proudly. 

"Now that is impressive.. It takes some serious talent to get accepted into any of the academies in the capitol," Bastion replied smoothly. 

The porter beamed, exposing several rows of crocodilian teeth. "I always knew he had talent. He is the first one in our family to get accepted," The porter said.

Zee sat back, while Bastion and the porter talked about his son. In the time it took to reach the imperial academy grounds, it was like the two were best friends.

The rickshaw pulled to a stop, and the porter beamed. Bastion tossed him a sack that clanked with the sound of ether crystals.

"It has been a pleasure Ruald, thank you for the lift," Bastion said, leaping from the cart.

Zee followed suit, climbing off. The porter was very short, with the top of his head coming up to her chest, though he was wider than her by double. 

The porter gave Bastion a warm, toothy smile. "Thanks Bastion. If you ever need a lift, don't be afraid to give me a shout," 

Pulling his small rickshaw, the porter darted back out into traffic, towards two students waving at him. 

"What a nice guy," Bastion said.

"I don't think those cart drivers would agree," Zee said. 

Bastion grunted in amusement. "You are probably right." 

Zee watched the porter go, her brows furrowing. "Hey, Bas,"

"Ya,"

"Do you think lizards and the lizard kind are related to each other," Zee asked.

Bastion raised an eyebrow, glancing around at people walking on the street nervously.

"You should be careful, there are some people who will get very mad if they hear you say that," Bastion said.

Zee wanted to know more but decided to drop the clearly touchy subject. "So, where do I sign up for my classes," Zee asked.

"This way, at the administrative buildings," Bastion said, gesturing her to follow.

They walked into the academy proper, towards the same buildings she visited several weeks ago.

The large utilitarian building was still just as empty as last time, and as luck would have it, the same, grouchy lady was at the kiosk.

Zee walked up, and took a number, getting a raised eyebrow from Bastion. She shrugged and took a seat. They waited, while the lady behind the desk read what looked to be a newspaper. After ten minutes, the lady looked up.

"Number forty," She said in a bored tone.

Zee walked up and placed her obsidian black token onto the wooden counter. "I'm here to sign up for some courses," Zee said without preamble. 

 The look on the woman's face was priceless. Her dismissive attitude fled in a heartbeat, and her face turned pale.

"Which classes would you like to sign up for," The clerk asked, wide-eyed.

"Do you have a list of courses, and is there a limit to how many I can sign up for," Zee asked. 

"Here, this has a list of every course, and what it entails. And no, for you, there is no limit. But I would advise you to check the times each course is being held each day so they don't overlap," The lady said, practically stammering the words. 

Zee took the proffered crystal, a bit taken aback by her sudden change in attitude. Was the token really so special? It couldn't be that impressive right? She shrugged internally. Deciding to just roll with it, she probed the crystal with a trickle of mental energy.

She already had an idea of which courses she wanted to take. But still, she was hoping to get some inspiration by seeing them all. The list was long, but it was in alphabetical order, so she was able to find the one she was looking for.

Fundamentals and advanced applications of spatial manipulation. Slots, twenty of twenty. 

It was a long title, but it was exactly what she was looking for. 

Her brows furrowed.

"Excuse me, what does it mean by slots being twenty of twenty," Zee asked.

The lady behind the counter smiled," That means the class is full. But, if you want, I can sign you up anyway. With that token, you might get in regardless," The clerk replied.

Zee raised an eyebrow. "Alright. Sign me up for fundamentals and advanced applications of spatial manipulation. Also, I would like to do advanced ritual theory. The class on advanced Aura manipulation, and advanced sword combat," Zee said, listing them all off. Zee wanted to do more, but that would have her busy for at least twelve hours a day.

The lady behind the desk quickly scribbled it all down, pausing.

"Terribly sorry my lady, but I don't know your name and affiliation," she asked.

"It's Zee. Of clan Viotti," Zee said.

The clerk quickly scrawled it down, "Is there anything else?" 

"I still need to be fitted for some uniforms, and assigned to accommodations," Zee said. 

The woman pulled an etched key from one of the drawers and touched it to Zee's token. 

"Of course. This key is now bound to your token. It will give you full access to suite number three in district one," the woman said. Looking a bit frazzled, the woman offered a sealed envelope, one with the wax still hot. 

"Take this to the tailor in District One, he will get your uniform situation sorted out," The woman said.

"Thank you for the help," Zee said.

She took her token, the key, and the sealed envelope, stowing them in her spatial storage. 

The clerk cleared her throat softly.

Zee glanced back over at the clerk.

"What is it," Zee asked. 

"If the young lady would like, I can personally show you to the tailor's shop," The clerk offered.

Zee raised an eyebrow at the offer but decided to decline. "No thank you, we can manage," she said.

She gestured Bastion to follow and they left. It wasn't that Zee didn't want the help, but she already had a good idea where the tailor's shop in question was.

"She looked like she was about to feint," Bastion said as they walked out onto the busy streets. 

"I know right? I think this obsidian token is more valuable than Grandpa let on," Zee said.

"No kidding.... I think she would have given you the clothes off her back if you asked," Bastion replied.

"Now you are just being silly," Zee laughed.

"I don't suppose you are willing to let me borrow that," Bastion asked.

"No chance, I'm not risking getting kicked out," Zee said. 

"What, by me? I would never do anything to cause trouble," Bastion replied, looking affronted. 

She rolled her eyes. "Sure you wouldn't. Come on, let's go find that tailor shop," 

District one was by far the best part of the academy, with fancy estates instead of dorms, beautiful art, and richly dressed students. Everyone no doubt came from either nobility or boatloads of money. 

The skimmers and fancy carriages were one sign, but another was the overabundance of family crests on uniforms that everyone seemed to have. 

In her tattered cloak, and worn combat robes, Zee was getting a lot of glances. On the streets, her lack of proper attire could be ignored, but inside the sprawling shops it could not.

A richly dressed man in a well-fitted suit was already at the door when they opened to the tailor's shop.

"I would appreciate it if you stayed outside. I will not have a vagrant dirtying my shop," The man said, eying her worn clothing disdainfully. 

There were several students nearby whispering to each other. "What is a bum doing here?"

"Doesn't she know better?" 

"She should be in District Twelve with the rest of the filth," 

She could sense their jeering words. Zee didn't really care what strangers thought of her. Nor did she care what the tailor thought.

However, there was something she couldn't let go. If this man wouldn't even let her into his shop because of the way she was dressed, she didn't want to buy from him.

Feeling a bit vindictive, Zee smiled at the man. 

"You know what, I think he is right Bastion. Let's our business to a different district, perhaps district two. It appears that lowly peasants like us are not welcome here," Zee said.

She took the sealed letter the clerk gave her from an inside pocket, and tossed it on the ground at his feet. 

"Have a good day," Zee said. She turned and led a confused Bastion away.

"Wait," the trailer shouted. Striding down the street she glanced back, noticing the tailor having picked up the envelope she threw on the ground. The man had a mortified look on his face as he read the contents within.

Zee didn't slow, leaving the tailor's shop behind.

"What was that about," Bastion asked.

"It's just a little bit of politics," Zee said. 

"To what end," Bastion asked, confused.

"Based on the map in the administrative wing, there is one tailor shop in each district. I am willing to bet, that the shop in district two is a competitor of the shop here. We will take the long way. By the time we get to district two, I am betting they will have already heard of what happened here," Zee said.

Bastion gave her a sidelong glance. 

"That is devious. They will doubtlessly think you are some big shot given that tailor's reaction, and go out of their way to accommodate us," Bastion said.

Zee grinned, "Right on the money,"

"That is devious," Bastion asked, looking impressed. Zee grinned.

 By the time they arrived at the tailor shop in District Two, there was a well-dressed human who greeted them at the door. 

"Greetings, I am Raina. How can I help you two today?" He asked with a friendly smile.

"It's nice to meet you Raina, I was wondering if you could fit me for my academy uniforms," Zee asked, pulling out her obsidian token. The tailor grinned ear to ear. He looked like he had just won a contest. 

Bowing deeply he said, "Of course my lady. Come with me, we have private rooms in the back for honored guests,"

With Bastion in tow, followed him through the immaculately adorned shop, surprised at just how neat and stylish the uniforms on display were. 

Once in the back room, several aids quickly brought in several racks of uniforms. There were three separate types, each neatly displayed for her to see. 

The aids brought in a tray of steaming tea and a platter of delicious-looking pastries.

Once the aids had left, the tailor walked over to the uniforms on display. "On your left are Combat uniforms. In the middle are for more casual outings, whilst on the right are the formal uniforms," the tailor said. 

Zee whistled in approval. "There are so many good choices. What style do you think I should choose," Zee asked overwhelmed by the variety.

The tailor gestured and one of the combat uniforms slid off its hanger, floating over to hover in front of her. 

"This is cut in the Hadrian style, with minimal flare. It's loose around your joints, and snug in all the right places. Clackson hive queen thread lines the inside, granting comfort, and some protection from stabbing and slashing." 

Zee took the dark grey uniform, putting it on in a side room. 

She came back out and got a look at herself in the full-length mirror. It didn't quite fit, but the dark grey uniform looked great. 

"If you would allow me, I can adjust that for you," Raina said with a smile.

"Sure, just let me take it off real quick," Zee said.

"No need for that," Raina said. He waved his hand, and the uniform pulled snugly around her.

The fit was suddenly perfect. She did a few stretches noting just how easy it was to move. The tailor wasn't exaggerating. 

It was light, offered great mobility, was comfortable, and even looked good too. 

Belting her sword belt around her waist, she posed in front of the mirror. 

She could definitely see why he suggested this uniform. It was mostly grey, but the stitching on the uniform coat was a light purple, that brought out the colour in her eyes. 

"Do you have this style, the havrien? For the other uniforms," Zee asked.

"That uniform brings out your beauty even more my lady. And yes we have the Hadrian style for each type of uniform," Raina said. 

A compliment, and a correction all in one. Zee smiled inwardly. This tailor was quick on the uptake. No wonder he owned a shop in District Two of the Imperial Academy. 

"Could I get ten of each, all in the Hadrian style," Zee asked.

"An excellent choice. Would you like some boots as well," Raina asked.

Zee glanced down at her overused leather boots. They were practically falling off her feet, with their laces having frayed and broken in several places.

"Yes, please. Do you have any combat boots for sale," Zee asked. 

"Of course. We have a cobbler on staff, she has a wide array of footwear that may suit your fancy," Raina said.

A nice older lady fitted Zee for five different types of footwear. There were two pairs of durable combat boots, two pairs of more formal shoes, and a single pair of high-heeled shoes that made her leery. She could hardly walk in the last pair, but Raina said they were the latest fashion for parties. 

By the time all was said and done, it had been over three hours. Turns out, there was a lot she needed. Bastion looked about ready to fall asleep as they left the tailor's shop. 

"Finally, that took forever," Bastion exclaimed. 

"It didn't take that long," Zee replied, glancing around the bustling afternoon crowd.

Bastion raised his arms above his head in a stretch.

"I feel like I got older in there," 

"You are being so dramatic, it wasn't that bad," Zee replied.

"You took two hours to choose a new pair of boots," Bastion replied dryly. 

"You can't rush picking a new pair of boots," Zee said defensively. 

"Sure you can, you just pick one pair and move on," Bastion said. 

Zee rolled her eyes. "You have no sense of style," Zee asked.

"My sense of style is just fine. I am just quicker at choosing," Bastion said.

"Whatever. What do you wanna do now?" She asked.

"Let's go check out your new place," Bastion said.