Havier's seat was empty.
Arthur looked at it for two seconds and then looked away and spent the rest of the first ten minutes of class not looking at it, which meant he was thinking about it the entire time.
Cael had handled it. That was what Cael said he would do. And Cael had never said he would do something and then not done it.
But still.
He tapped his pen once against the desk and stopped.
The slam came without warning.
Two palms hit the desk in front of him and Kreasial leaned down and her amber eyes were not the eyes of someone who had come to have a conversation.
"Where is Crescent."
Arthur looked up at her.
'INSOLENT—' Vexis dropped straight down, arms wide. 'WHO DOES THIS COMMON GIRL THINK SHE IS PUTTING HER HANDS ON—'
"I don't know," Arthur said.
"You pulled him out of the academy yesterday. I saw you leave together." Her voice was flat and controlled, which was worse than if she'd been yelling. "And now he's not here. So I'll ask again. Where is he."
Arthur set his pen down.
She knew Havier. Actually knew him. Not the head-down version the rest of the class saw. Something older than that.
He leaned back in his chair.
"We talked," Arthur said. "That's all."
"That's all."
"I also apologized."
Kreasial stared at him.
'NO YOU DID NOT.' Vexis swung both fists down through Arthur's head. They passed through clean. 'I HAVE NEVER APOLOGIZED TO ANYONE IN MY LIFE. YOU ARE STAINING THE LESTILAUT NAME WITH YOUR GROVELING. THESE PEOPLE ARE—'
"For the record," Arthur said, keeping his voice even, "I know what I did to him. And I know why I ended up in this classroom. The arrogance." He looked at her directly. "I'm not that person anymore. So. I'm sorry. For whatever that's worth coming from me."
Silence.
Kreasial looked at him the way she'd looked at him after the headbutt. Revising something. Not done yet.
"Havier's fine," Arthur said. "He just needs a day."
She held his gaze for another second.
Then she straightened up and walked back to her seat without another word.
Vexis was floating above Arthur's right shoulder with an expression like he'd watched someone set fire to something important.
'You bowed,' Vexis said. 'To her. To a nobody from—'
She hits harder than you do. Show some respect.
Vexis made a sound and went up toward the ceiling.
The door opened.
Arthur glanced up out of habit.
Then he didn't look away.
Black hair. Long, straight, the kind that moved as one piece. Tall enough that the doorframe seemed like it had been built with her in mind. She walked to the front of the room the way people walked when they had never once in their life needed to announce themselves.
The room went quiet before she opened her mouth.
'Don't look at her eyes,' Vexis came back down, fast, voice dropping to something almost careful. 'Direct eye contact is considered a challenge from someone our age. Don't.'
Why? Who is she?
'A direct competitor to the Lestilaut family name. Not her family. Her specifically. She is twenty-nine years old. Sit with that.'
Arthur sat with that.
Twenty-nine and the room had gone quiet before she did anything.
'The ArchMagus council has been stalling her appointment for two years,' Vexis said. 'Someone filed an accusation. Said her records were fabricated.'
What records?
Vexis paused.
'She killed a forgotten titan. Single-handed.' His voice had lost its usual performance entirely. 'I don't believe it either but I also have not met anyone willing to call her a liar to her face.'
Her eyes moved across the room.
They landed on Arthur.
He felt it before he saw it. Like the temperature in that specific patch of air changed by one degree.
He looked at his desk.
"Oho." Roz straightened up on Arthur's shoulder. Both ears forward. His bow tie somehow even more centered than usual. "Now this is—"
Arthur pressed two fingers gently against Roz's side.
Not now.
"Oho," Roz said again, quieter.
Arthur closed his eyes briefly.
The novel. Right. Focus.
Vivienne Noctevar. The Crimson Matriarch. Side character in the early arcs, professor, occasionally devastating in battle sequences. Then the Vanishing arc started and she simply stopped appearing. No explanation. No exit. The author had written her out by forgetting she existed, which Arthur had mentioned in a comment that had gotten seventeen upvotes and zero response from LazyTurtle.
She was one of the three characters he had never complained about.
And she was standing at the front of his classroom.
"Your second year has reached its midpoint." Her voice carried without effort. The kind of voice that didn't need volume to fill a room. "A culmination event will be held between all second year classes. Each class sends a triad. They compete in the coliseum."
Arthur's pen stopped.
Tournament.
He knew this. He had read this. Xavier had used this arc to establish his dominance over the entire year level. Clean sweep. Chapter after chapter of the main character being excellent at things.
But it was supposed to come later.
He tapped the pen once.
The plot is moving faster than it should.
He filed that and kept listening.
"Sponsors will attend. Upper year students will observe. The winning triad represents the second year against higher levels." She reached into her coat and produced three small spheres, pale and faintly humming. "I will not force participation. Selection is by chance."
She held one sphere up.
Aetheric flow moved into it. Subtle. The sphere brightened at the center and three names appeared in the air above it in clean sharp letters.
KREASIAL.
CRESCENT.
VAUST.
Arthur looked at the names.
Then at Havier's empty seat.
"Those selected, please stand."
Kreasial stood immediately. No hesitation.
Across the room a young man with white hair and freckles got to his feet slowly. Head slightly down. Timid in a way that looked genuine.
Vaust. Arthur turned the name over. Nothing in the memory. Nobody from the novel.
The room waited.
Havier's seat stayed empty.
"Where is the third student," Vivienne said.
Arthur looked at Kreasial standing at her desk.
He thought about the Vak situation and the investigation and the death flag he still hadn't identified and everything he needed time and information to navigate.
Then he thought about relevance points and open slots and the kind of visibility that came from standing in a coliseum in front of sponsors and upper years.
He raised his hand.
"Professor."
Vivienne looked at him.
Up close or close enough, it was a specific kind of overwhelming that Arthur had no framework for. He kept his eyes at her collarbone and kept talking.
God.. she's gorgeous.
"The selected student is absent. Under informed consent law he can't be enrolled without his agreement." Arthur kept his voice even. "I'd like to take his place."
Silence stretched across the room.
Vivienne tilted her head slightly.
Something about the angle of it made Arthur's train of thought briefly leave him.
He dragged it back.
"Granted," she said. She took a paper from her coat and wrote three names. "Kreasial. Vaust. Lestilaut."
She said it like it was already decided. Which apparently it was.
'You are absolutely out of your mind.' Vexis appeared directly in front of Arthur's face, gold eyes wide, arms gesturing at nothing. 'I just told you that woman is a direct competitor to this family. I just explained to you ! with words, that she is operating at a level that makes grown archmagus candidates nervous, and your response is to VOLUNTEER to be in her vicinity for an extended—'
Relax, Arthur thought back. Let me cook.
Vexis stopped.
He stared at Arthur.
'Let you.' He said it slowly. Like he was checking each word for damage. 'What does that mean. What is cooking. Why are you cooking. This is not a kitchen.'
Arthur looked at the front of the room where Vivienne was writing something with the calm efficiency of someone who had already moved on.
Just trust me.
'I don't trust you! I have never trusted you! You are an impostor wearing my—'
Vexis.
'WHAT.'
Arthur smiled at his desk.
Vexis's face above him was the specific expression of panic, disgust and frustration.
That was enough.