Tears of Dusk

In the silence of the auditorium, Jadwia could only hear the frantic beating of her heart in her ears. She could see the Primary Tutors seated a few meters from her in the front row, the assistant Tutors in the row behind and the outsiders of the Academy in the back. They were all staring at her as she stood there alone on the dais.

Sweat ran down her face but she didn’t dare wipe it off. Of course, they were staring at her, she was in the middle of her Evaluations! It had been going well; she’d already answered the mathematical demonstrations of Tutor Al-Kwara, the biology questions of Tutor Nowski, the literature questions of Tutor Popwaski, and the historical questions of Tutor Albinez. All of that without much issue. She had prepared a hundred or so possible questions across all the courses and had dutifully studied them. She had not been surprised by a single question.

Until now that is…

Tutor Albinez cleared her throat, watching her expectingly. As the silence stretched further, it was the Doyen who interrupted it.

“Young Jadwia, do you have an answer?” he asked.

“I… er… Could you… Could you repeat the question please, Tutor?” Jadwia struggled to say.

“You just explained to me how Vilriver was founded by King Vilem II in the year 717 to fight off the Seaborne Invasion…”

The words Jadwia had memorized by heart burst past her lips before she could stop them. “He will finally vanquish the occupying forces by rallying to his banner the Duchy of Krov and the Duchy of Lubel and pleading support from the Patriarch in Aazken. The Patriarch will agree in exchange for King Vilem's conversion to the One Faith. It is then the year 724 and it will be the first time the One Faith will be embraced by a member of the noble society in the Central Highlands…”

Tutor Albinez waved her hand impatiently. “Yes, yes, I had heard you the first time… My question was what were the consequences of the Patriarch’s decision in the Holy Union at that time?”

Once again, Jadwia’s thoughts froze. She didn’t know what to say. There had to be a mistake surely… Her mind was racing through everything she had learned this past semester and she couldn’t find anything. This question wasn’t part of the course… They had not learned anything about the Holy Union past the fall of the Sequene Empire, the rise of the Khrusamen and the Western Migration. The majority of the course of History I was focused on the Central Highlands and the Low Plains that would eventually give rise to the Commonwealth. Could Tutor Albinez have made a mistake and mixed questions from other groups? Should Jadwia point it out? Perhaps this was also part of the test? Otherwise, why would the Tutors deliberately ask questions out of the scope of the course? Maybe she wasn’t supposed to answer it…

Her heart clenched in her chest. No, she couldn’t give up now!

Come on! Just say something, damn you!

The answers had to be there somewhere, she just had to think back to everything she’d read. The dates were jumbling in her mind as she tried to remember anything from the lectures about the Patriarch alive at the time. They had spent so little time studying the Holy Union that most of Jadwia’s knowledge on the subject came from sources outside of the course, books she had heard, stories her Mother had told…

Jadwia’s eyes snapped back open. There she had something! From the recess of her memory, she’d remembered bits and pieces her Mother had shared long ago. Jadwia wasn’t sure it was the answer Tutor Albinez wanted, but at the point she was, she didn’t have anything better to put forward. Before she could second guess herself, she spoke up.

“The establishment of the One Faith in the Central Highlands will solidify the power of the Church back in the Holy Union…” Jadwia said hesitantly. “It will increase the number of people answering to their authority… and it will eventually give them enough power to launch the First Inquisition… The Witches… I mean across the Holy Union and the Central Highlands many will be convicted of witchcraft and persecuted… This happens a bit later, however…”

Realizing that she was rambling, Jadwia forced herself to shut her mouth. Tutor Albinez had a pensive pout on her face as she considered Jadwia’s answer. Eventually, she nodded to herself and waved her pencil as a way of dismissal.

“I am satisfied,” she said.

“Tutor DeVins, please proceed with your Evaluations,” the Doyen said.

The man stroked his beard and cleared his throat. “Oui…let us continue in the same theme, shall we? Young Jadwia, you mentioned the First Inquisition; do you know which was the Patriarch leading the Church at that time?”

“Patriarch Benesh III,” she answered.

“In which context is his Holiness relevant to the class of Language and Rhetoric?”

Jadwia let out an inaudible sigh of relief. They were back on course at last. She had prepared for this line of questioning.

“The Patriarch Benesh III wrote many religious essays and edicts during his tenure. His extensive bibliography is used by scholars to distinguish the period when the Middle High Khrusama language evolved into the High Khrusama, the last linguistic step before the modern language we know today.”

Tutor DeVins nodded. “Give me three examples of such writings.”

“‘The Bridge between God and Men’, ‘On the Role of the Father and the Mother’ and ‘The Sins of the Weak and the Corruptions of the Witch’.”

“In what manners does his writing differ from his predecessors to make His Holiness stand out? One example should suffice.”

Jadwia hesitated briefly. It was a strange question because the course didn’t focus on the Patriarch beyond what Jadwia had just stated. This time, she had to think before she could give an answer.

“The Patriarch Benesh III was the first to shift away from the use of pathos in the Papal writings into the use of logos instead. From a tradition of primarily appealing to the Soul, the Grace and the love of God, the Patriarch preferred using logic and theological precedents...”

Jadwia hesitated to say more, but she decided to be conservative with her answer. Since it wasn’t the exact question she had prepared, she’d prefer not to take any chances of saying something wrong by overextending. Watching Tutor DeVins, Jadwia had a hard time deciding if he’d been satisfied with her short answer.

“I see… One last question: you mentioned the text ‘The Sins of the Weak and the Corruptions of the Witch’ before, can you quote me a passage of it?”

Jadwia looked at the Tutor as if expecting him to change his question. Surely, he knew that they hadn’t been asked to read the text, let alone memorize it! The text was familiar to her but only because her mother had forced her to read it. The recollection of it felt bitter and as sharp as the whacks of a wooden ruler on her hands used to be. The memory jostled something in her and kicked her out of her anxiety.

“‘It is my holy belief that the wicked machinations of witchcraft, wielded by those who consort with dark powers, doth assail the very fabric of our Graced realm. Let not the husband spare his wife, let not the brother spare his sister. They, who forsake God’s Graced light for the temptation of power, shall meet their end in the cleansing of a merciless fire…’”

She had recited the whole excerpt in Khrusama without stumbling once on the words. Tutor DeVins straightened on his chair and stroked his beard.

“Hmm… You are from the Holy Union, Young One?” he asked in Khrusama with a heavily accented voice.

Jadwia nodded weakly, already regretting her demonstration. She could have simply translated the text instead of reciting it in her native language. She may have made a few mistakes doing so, but it would have been better than revealing she was from the Holy Union.

Another Tutor spoke up. “You got outsmarted, Rem!” the man jeered. “You should have known she’s from Khruss, she has the accent!”

Jadwia didn’t know the Tutor but she had already seen him around. He was a burly, moustached man with a barrel chest and thick limbs. His square face was crisscrossed by scars that made his mocking smile unsettling. Jadwia disagreed firmly with the idea that she had an accent, her mother had made sure of that. Plus, Jadwia wasn’t from the Duchy of Khruss per se…

Tutor DeVins scoffed and looked down at his papers.

“I am satisfied,” he eventually said.

Jadwia let out a sigh of relief and turned towards Tutor Milwyk, the last one left.

“Tutor Milwyk, please proceed with your Evaluations!” the Doyen called.

The Tutor of the Applications straightened on his seat and offered her a wide smile.

“During this semester I had the pleasure of teaching Young Jadwia,” the old man said. “I know her to be one of the most dedicated of my Pupils. She’s motivated and intelligent and I know that she will reach great heights if given the opportunity to thrive at the Academy. I am satisfied!”

Jadwia gave him a timid smile, but inside her heart clenched slightly. Is he taking pity on me? She knew that the Applications of the Arts was her weakest subject and the one she feared the most to pass. Difficultly, she forced herself to discard those negative thoughts and just accept what Tutor Milwyk had said, no matter his intentions behind it.

“This concludes Young Jadwia’s Evaluations!” the Doyen said. “Before we go to the deliberation, I must ask you to test your Openings.”

The [Arcane] was imposing but Jadwia tried not to show her nervousness as she approached it. She put her left hand on the centre of it and closed her eyes, hoping for the best. There was a brief spark of warmth on her palm and the grooved circles flooded with white light. It filled the first circle and then pooled onto the second circle in its entirety. The light tried to expand further in the third circle but failed to complete it.

“1st Opening, it is,” the Doyen said. The Tutors that had Evaluated Jadwia passed on their notes to him and he read through them. “I recognize your aptitudes, Young Jadwia, and your Tutors have shared with me your motivation for your studies. To be an Artyst demands more than knowing a couple of [Spells] and your dedication to the other courses shows me that you understand that. This is only the beginning of your journey with the Holy Arts, so I hope you will not be discouraged in the future. There are many paths ahead for you and one of them shall be here at the Academy with us I hope. I look forward to seeing your progress, Young Jadwia. Bursar, write it down: I declare her tuition to be 10 Golds, 2 Silvers!”

Jadwia bowed deeply in front of the Doyen, trying to hide her disappointment.

10 Golds and 2 Silvers… She could afford it, but it was much more than she’d hoped. It basically was all her savings gone just for the tuition of the next semester. And she was only a 1st Year…

A bit in a daze, she received the paper the Doyen handed to her and thanked him and the Tutors for their kindness. She then headed out of the auditorium, shoulders down and mind exhausted.

Naeht, seated in the back of the room, watched her go with a pensive pout on her face. Without losing more time, she flew up and through the thick walls of the Academy effortlessly and appeared outside. A flip in the air later and she launched herself toward one of the towers where she knew to find Isyd. Indeed, he was sitting cross-legged on the cornice of the Library tower, eyes cast eastward. He smiled at Naeht when he saw her appear in front of him.

“So, how did it go?” he asked.

Naeht proceeded to recount Jadwia’s Evaluations in detail. “10 Golds and 2 Silvers is her tuition,” she concluded. “Is it a lot?”

“It is a substantial sum, not one that everyone could afford,” Isyd said with a grim face. “Way too much for a Pupil as talented as Jadwia. I can’t say I am surprised, however…”

“I also listened a bit to those strangers at the back! How did you guess they were from the Merchant Guilds?”

“Not all of them are, but I finally recognized their uniforms. My Master used to deal with them from time to time back in Old Ziemia.”

Naeht cocked her head one way. “What are merchants doing here in the Academy and in the Evaluations? Is there something I am missing?”

“That’s what I want to understand as well. My guess is that they were invited to do some reconnaissance.”

“Reconnaissance? What for?”

“What if I tell you that it is not in the Academy's best interests for all the Pupils to succeed?”

It took her a second to understand then Naeht’s eyes went wide and her translucent form sparkled. “You don’t mean…”

Isyd shrugged and got up from the ledge. “I say we go and meet with Hidrss. I have a few questions for him…”