Rising Shards

Tik, with Kara and Mars at her side, stared at the walls of the third dorm on the Rising Shards campus. Most of the floors looked much the same as the other dorms on campus, but the upper ones took on a different aesthetic.

”It’s like they just plopped another building into this one,” Kara said.

”Exactly,” Tik said. ”With the devil Cani on campus, Octa used void hopping to bring her lab that they’d been staying in here.” She poked at the walls where they changed from a hallway that looked like it’d be home in a hotel, with generic paintings, a patterned rug, and plain enough wallpaper to the sterile white of the lab.

”It’s a nice trick,” Mars said. ”How much are void movers again? Might be nice to get our place over yonder if we’re going to be staying longterm.”

”The affordable ones are always booked up, and the expensive ones are way too expensive,” Kara said. ”She must be real confident if she stopped hopping around, then.”

”Octa has been adamant she has nothing to do with Arctus Kathron’s current machinations,” Tik said. ”She agreed to speak with us today, so yes, she must be very self assured.”

Tik led the group inside. It felt like they’d left the campus completely inside, with a full Taramin lab before them, with workers scuttling about, not paying the River & Lyric trio any mind. They checked in with a receptionist, who told them to wait while she fetched Octa.

”Wonder how the regular staff feels about all these Taramin guys being around,” Mars said.

”Rising Shards and this school district in general has many ties to them,” Tik said. ”It may be unfamiliar having them this close, but their influence could always be felt around here.”

”Kinda weird to think they’re kind of our employers while we’re teaching,” Kara said. ”Don’t like that much.” She added, ”No offense,” when one of the lab workers looked at her like a sad puppy.

Fifteen minutes after the time Octa said they would be meeting, the receptionist brought them to the back like this was a doctor’s appointment.

Octa spoke to two students as Tik approached. If she didn’t want Tik to see this, her expression didn’t give that away when she noticed them.

”You’ll need to rest for now,” Octa said. ”You should be stable for now, but call me if anything changes.”

Tik recognized one as Aira Orbis, a student from the first year grade at Rising Shards. The other, a boy clutching a plastic bag to his chest, she didn’t know. The boy tried to keep the contents of his bag covered, just a glimpse had Tik fairly confident who he was, or at least the masked persona he had been using. The two looked sheepish as they left. She made a mental note to check in with them later about their involvment with Octa. 

”Greetings,” Octa said.

”Hello Octa,” Tik said. ”Thank you for agreeing to meet with us.”

”I’m sorry for the delay,” Octa said. ”Some students had an issue that required my expertise. And unfortunately because they went long, I’m not sure I’ll be able to meet today.”

”Why’s that?” Tik asked.

”Why not tell your receptionist chick that?” Kara asked.

Octa ignored Kara’s comment. ”I’m bringing my students to a play in a few minutes.”

”Why don’t we join you, then?” Tik said without missing a beat. ”Then we’ll have our chat afterwards.”