The service route ran along the eastern edge of the Academy grounds, where the old retaining walls met the newer drainage works. It was a stretch of infrastructure that predated most of the current faculty — stone walls built when the Academy was smaller, drainage channels cut when the eastern terraces were expanded, support buttresses added whenever a section started to sag.
Halden met them at the eastern gate at second bell. He had a slate in one hand and a rolled map under his arm. He didn't greet them. He just handed Drake the map.
"Route's marked. Seven sections. Inspect each one, note visible damage, structural irregularities, blocked drainage. Stay on the route. No independent intervention without my say."
Drake unrolled the map, looked at it, and handed it to Xander.
"Understood," Drake said.
Halden nodded and started walking.
---
The first section was a retaining wall that had been reinforced two years ago. The stone was clean, the mortar intact. Drake ran his right hand along the surface, checking for gaps. Luna knelt by the drainage channel at the base, brushing aside leaves to look at the water flow. Kara stood a few paces back, hands in her sleeves, watching the wall the way someone watches a fire they're not sure is out.
Xander didn't look at the wall. He looked at the grass on top of it. It was leaning east.
Halden stood ten paces behind them, slate in hand. He didn't say anything.
"Section one's clean," Drake said.
Halden made a mark.
They moved on.
---
Section two was a drainage channel that had been cut through a slope. The water ran clear. Luna crouched at the edge, watching the flow, then stood and nodded.
"Clear," she said.
Section three was a support buttress. Drake checked it. Solid.
Section four was another wall. Kara noticed a faint discoloration along the base — moisture, maybe, or mineral leach. She didn't say anything. She just looked at it longer than the others.
Halden noted that too.
---
By section five, the pattern was clear.
Nobody was giving orders. Drake wasn't directing traffic. He was checking what he was closest to, and the others were checking what they noticed. Luna was already at the drainage channel before anyone told her to look. Kara had drifted three steps off the path at section four because something on the wall had caught her eye. Xander had stopped twice to listen to the air, and both times the rest of the squad had adjusted around him without being asked.
Halden watched all of it.
He had supervised student rotations before. Most squads performed. They straightened their posture when he looked at them. They asked for confirmation before making calls. They waited for instructions, or they overexplained what they were doing so he'd know they knew what they were doing.
Squad 7 didn't do any of that.
Drake checked a wall because the wall needed checking. Luna crouched by a drain because the drain was there. Kara drifted because something caught her eye. Xander stopped because he heard something.
None of them looked at Halden to see if he approved.
He made another mark on his slate and kept walking.
---
They reached section seven just before midday.
It was the oldest part of the route — a long retaining wall that supported the eastern edge of a service terrace. The wall was thick, mortared, and had been standing for decades. There was nothing visibly wrong with it. No cracks. No discoloration. No shifting.
Drake ran his hand along the surface and shrugged. "Solid."
Luna checked the drainage at the base. "Clear."
Kara looked at it for a moment, then looked away. Nothing caught her eye.
Xander didn't move.
He was standing at the center of the path, head tilted slightly, eyes unfocused. His hands were loose at his sides. He wasn't looking at the wall. He was listening.
Halden noticed. He didn't say anything.
---
Xander stood there for a long moment.
Then he walked to the left side of the path and stopped. Then to the right. Then back to center.
He crouched. Stood up. Walked three paces forward and stopped again.
"What is it?" Drake asked.
Xander didn't answer. He held his hand out, palm up, at chest height. He wasn't casting anything. He was just feeling.
"There's a draft," he said.
Kara looked around. "I don't feel anything."
"It's not on your skin. It's in the air." He moved his hand slowly to the left, then to the right. "It's coming from the base of the wall."
Drake frowned. "The wall's solid."
"I know."
"Then where's the draft coming from?"
Xander didn't answer. He walked to the wall and crouched at the base. He pressed his palm flat against the stone. Then he moved it along the surface, slowly, until he reached a section near the drainage channel.
He stopped.
He stayed there for a moment, palm flat, eyes unfocused.
Then he stood and walked to the drainage channel. He crouched at the edge and held his hand over the water. Then he walked back to the wall. Then back to the channel again.
"What are you doing?" Halden asked.
"Checking something."
"Checking what?"
Xander didn't answer. He stood between the wall and the channel, looking at both.
"The air's moving," he said finally.
"Moving how?"
"From the wall. Toward the channel." He paused. "Consistently."
---
Halden stepped forward. "Wind's from the north this morning. Air would move south, not east."
"I know."
"So the airflow you're sensing doesn't match the weather."
"No."
Halden looked at the wall. Then at the channel. Then at Xander.
"Could be a gap in the mortar," he said. "Small enough to miss."
Xander shook his head. "I checked the mortar. It's intact."
"Then where's the air coming from?"
Xander looked at the base of the wall. He didn't answer immediately.
"I don't know," he said.
"You said there was a draft."
"There is."
"Then something has to be causing it."
Xander was quiet for a moment. He held his hand out again, over the grass at the base of the wall. The blades leaned slightly east. He moved his hand along the length of the wall. The lean was consistent. Then he stopped at the section near the drainage channel and held his hand there.
"It's stronger here," he said.
"Stronger how?"
"The pressure's different."
"Different from what?"
"I don't know."
Halden frowned. "Then how do you know it's different?"
Xander looked at the wall.
"Because it's changing the air," he said. "I can feel it. I just can't explain it."
---
Halden was quiet for a moment.
He walked to the wall and crouched at the base. He ran his hand along the surface, the way Xander had. He held his hand out over the grass. He waited.
Nothing.
He stood up.
"I'm not feeling anything," he said.
"I know."
"Then how do I know you're not imagining it?"
Xander didn't take offense. He just looked at the wall again.
"You don't," he said. "I don't either."
---
They finished the route and walked back to the eastern gate. Halden dismissed them without comment and walked toward the administrative offices.
Squad 7 stood at the gate for a moment.
"So what was that?" Kara asked.
"I don't know," Xander said.
"You said the air was wrong."
"It is."
"But you don't know why."
"No."
Kara looked at the wall in the distance, then back at Xander. "Then how do you know it's wrong?"
Xander didn't answer right away. He looked at his hand, then at the wall, then at his hand again.
"Because it didn't behave the way it should," he said. "I can't explain it better than that yet."
Kara shrugged. "Okay."
They walked back toward the barracks.
---
That evening, Halden filed his report.
Section seven. Retaining wall. No visible damage. Drainage clear. Cadet Xander noted anomalous airflow at the base of the foundation. Consistent direction, steady rate. Not attributable to weather conditions or visible structural gaps. Recommend verification.
He read it once, then submitted it.
He didn't add any notes about the rest of the rotation. Not about how nobody gave orders. Not about how they didn't perform. Not about how they moved around each other without being told.
Those weren't reportable observations.
They were just things he'd noticed.