By late morning, the Imperial Academy had begun to change shape.
The buildings were the same, the avenues unchanged, yet the temporary order of the Examination Period was already breaking apart. Students crossed the central grounds carrying newly issued Academy cards while luggage followed behind them by hand, spell, servant, or some increasingly unreliable combination of the three. Above the major junctions, projected notice boards had replaced examination schedules with permanent residential assignments and directions toward the Academy Blocks.
Some had apparently decided that three days was far too generous.
Two young men were already dragging trunks toward the western carriage station, their argument about the Martial Courts surviving every set of steps between them and the next carriage.
"They cannot seriously expect us to walk that every morning."
"You joined the Martial Arts Block."
"For swordsmanship. There was nothing in the registration packet about pilgrimage."
