Throne of Time [Magical Academy, Time Loop, Mystery]

It seemed that Maut-mai hadn’t been lying about knowing her way around campus: she easily escorted Suria directly to where she needed to go. There was a cluster of smaller buildings to the right of the entrance, like shrubs around the great halls’ trees, that Suria had looked straight past at first. The staff there seemed annoyed, but Maut-mai deployed her powers of complaining and soon an administrator met her in a cramped office.

”I’m not a proctor,” the man said, ”and you’ll still need to interview with someone. Probably tomorrow. But based on what I’ve heard, we can set up the basics.”

”Thank you.” Suria lowered her head. ”That would be...?”

”Basic identification, for a start.” After rooting around in a drawer, the man handed her a small piece of metal that looked like a button, similar to a ranked mage’s seal but smoother and duller. ”That will let you pass through the gates and enter basic buildings. I’m also qualified to assign you housing... there are lots of places in the eastern dormitories available, so-”

”Oh, but what about the Taedric Building?” Maut-mai interrupted. ”Couldn’t you give her a room there?”

”There aren’t individual rooms in the Taedric, and you can only make a claim if you have enough students to fill a room, so-”

”Then that would be fine, wouldn’t it?” Maut-mai immediately looked over to Suria, her elegant expression hiding a hint of nervousness.

It was obvious what she was suggesting, but Suria didn’t respond immediately. She had known she would need to stay with others, since even Darkmoon University didn’t give most students individual rooms, but she hadn’t considered this. Maut-mai had given her a bad first impression, but had been helpful so far, and Suria had few allies, so...

”I’d be happy to room together,” Suria said with a smile.

”Wonderful!” Maut-mai beamed at her.

”Fine.” The administrator wasn’t smiling in return - if anything he seemed annoyed at their cheer - and shoved a paper at them. ”Just fill these out and we’ll arrange something. You’re lucky you came early.”

Maut-mai took the forms and filled them using some sort of reed that seemed not to run out of ink. Suria looked over her shoulder at the paper, just in case she was agreeing to something unwise. It seemed like students had the ability to request quarters in multiple different locations, but Suria had no idea about any of the buildings, so she decided to go along with this.

Once they’d finished, they were each given a dull bronze key along with an exhortation not to lose it. Then they were away, leaving the administrator to his work and heading to their quarters. Despite feeling like she was being rushed along, Suria found herself growing increasingly weary.

”Where exactly are we going?” she asked.

”Trust me, you don’t want to stay in the main dormitories!” Maut-mai told her. ”They’re musty and drafty and just awful, and so many of the students are crammed into them. The Taedric Building isn’t the most stylish, but at least it has modern rooms, and you can get rooms for just two people.”

”And which building is that?”

The answer became obvious before Maut-mai responded, however. They had moved away from the cluster of buildings near the entrance to the eastern side of campus, and now that they left the maze of smaller dormitories, there was a single looming structure that was actually labeled with ”Taedric Building” across the front. It was multiple stories of sturdy gray stone, covered in large windows, with several towers rising even higher. She couldn’t see them all clearly from this angle, but one of them appeared topped in an observatory, another might be a bell tower, and a third seemed to have an empty flat top.

”The Taedric Building is the newest major construction on campus,” Maut-mai told her, ”only two hundred years old or so. It has all sorts of amenities, plus the cafeteria is inside. You’ll thank me for that come ethertide, believe me.”

When they arrived Suria wished she could explore the building thoroughly - it was only the second place she’d entered in Darkmoon University - but Maut-mai didn’t seem to want to give a tour and instead rushed them to their rooms. The interior of the building was more welcoming than the exterior, with wooden paneling softening the blocky stone. Some of the areas were large and open, but they turned away from those to smaller rooms on the second floor.

Once there, it took them a while to find the room for their keys, then they discovered that they were barely furnished. They had to go back to talk to staff about getting proper bedding and arranging other details. Maut-mai seemed to think everything was a little shabby while Suria was impressed with how much they gave students. The door had basic defensive wards and though the beds were rather narrow, each had a lockable drawer built underneath.

By the time they had sorted everything, it was past time to eat and Maut-mai dragged her across the building to the cafeteria. It was a surprisingly large room that spanned two floors and had open windows along both walls, which would make it quite bright during the day. Almost no one was there, yet a small amount of food sat on one of the tables. Suria wanted to appreciate it or pay more attention to what Maut-mai was saying, but once she got some food in her stomach her exhaustion only grew worse.

Even as sleepy as she was, it wasn’t hard to understand why she was so tired: she had lived through multiple repeated hours, so it was late into the night from her perspective. Maut-mai seemed disappointed that she wanted to turn in, but Suria was tired of talking and made excuses until she was able to curl up under the covers.

She was asleep almost instantly.

~ ~ ~

Suria woke up much slower, blinking in confusion at the unfamiliar room before events returned to her. She had spent the night in Darkmoon University, finally here after all her travel and the time loop ordeal. Maybe she wasn’t formally accepted, but she had been given a room, which made it all feel real.

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Despite complaining about going to bed early, Maut-mai looked to be deep asleep. Suria decided not to wake her and instead gathered her things and headed out to explore the building now that she was fully rested.

In her weary state the Taedric Building had seemed like a maze, but in the morning everything was much clearer to her. The majority of the first floor was dedicated to amenities for students, easily accessible from one of the entrances, in particular the cafeteria. Dormitory rooms covered most of the upper floors, a bit confusing at first but nowhere near as much of a warren as the old dormitories or the twists of Convocation Hall. Everything was clearly labeled and there were actually signs, unlike in the older buildings.

On the upper floors Suria found most things to be locked, including the tower entrances, what seemed to be a secondary library, and something called the ”Air Society Assembly”. Her identification pin opened normal doors but nothing that was closed, so she resolved to figure out those mysteries later and instead headed back to the cafeteria.

There she again found the room mostly empty except for a few students awake as early as she was. Food had been placed on a long table on one side of the room and, even though she watched, she never saw any kitchen staff or anyone bringing food. Could they really manage the cafeteria entirely by magic?

As for the food itself, there was a variety of fruit and bread, as well as a little sort of cake that was called a ”muffin” according to the placard. Suria took several of them along with her, chewing slowly as she considered everything that she had seen.

”There you are!” Maut-mai suddenly burst into the corridor, all her jewelry on, her hair pinned, and her makeup done. ”How could you just abandon me in our room?”

”I, uh, got you a muffin?” Suria thrust one forward as a defense.

The muffin proved surprisingly effective at appeasing Maut-mai, who promptly insisted that they go to arrange all the rest of their business. Normally Suria might have been put off by someone who was so forward, but facing a confusing new environment after the ordeal of the time loop, she didn’t mind having someone who would drag her from place to place. Just like the day before, Maut-mai showed that she had a very clear idea of what to do.

Their first stop was a room on the first floor, filled with black and white cloth similar to the university robes. An older woman sat behind the counter, reading a heavy tome, with two mage seals on her collar. She set the book aside and beamed at them when they entered.

”New students, is it?” She peered at them both and nodded as if approving of something. ”And you’ll be wanting a fitting for your school robes, I suppose?”

”Both daily and ceremonial robes,” Maut-mai answered confidently.

”I’m afraid you can only purchase ceremonial robes after you’ve earned at least one mage seal, but we’ll keep your measurements on file. Come over here and don’t twitch around too much.”

The old woman picked up a piece of cloth with a complicated glyph, beginning some sort of analysis spell. Suria held still despite her nervousness - not about the spell, which was barely noticeable, but about being thrust into another transaction she didn’t understand.

”How much do these cost?” she asked.

”Oh, you get two pairs of robes as part of room and board,” the old woman assured her. ”Ceremonial robes, winter robes, and other types have to be purchased, but you don’t need to worry about them now.”

”You can afford to simply give all students robes?”

”Of course they can,” Maut-mai said from her own position, standing like a statue as the spell analyzed her. ”Modern magical weaving has completely transformed the textiles industry.”

”You know a thing or two!” The old woman clucked her tongue and shook her head. ”It’s always a big trouble when it arrives, but magical weaving means more clothing for everyone. These wraps... is that desert cotton from Febek-Rai?”

”The highest quality is not referred to as ’desert cotton’ even if it comes from the same plant. This is royal cotton, which has been carefully cultivated over generations.”

”Oh my, I’d like to get my hands on it, but I’ll have so many orders with the new students...”

As the two of them chattered about cloth, Suria remained quiet and tried not to seem like the provincial bumpkin that she apparently was. Back at home in the Westlakes, most clothing was still painstakingly made by hand. She had heard about magical looms but wasn’t sure about any of the details, or even where they had come from first.

Eventually they left the fitting room with a promise that their robes would be delivered to their rooms before the end of the day. Maut-mai seemed very pleased, but still urged them outside. Apparently their next destination was Convocation Hall again, to deal with everything that had been interrupted yesterday.

When the double doors swung open, Suria felt like she was walking into a dream. These were the corridors she had looped through so many times... cleaned as if nothing had ever happened. She was certain that a battle must have happened, and a professor potentially killed, yet there was no sign of it. The bronze statue greeted them as cheerfully as before.

”Hopefully they’ll have more staff today,” Maut-mai said as they made their way through. ”The wait yesterday was truly intolerable, even before that business with the wards.”

”Is it usually like this?” Suria asked.

”My elder sister says that the earliest days are mostly nobles, and the majority of students arrive just before the opening feast. Before then, the university is in preparation mode. It’s still better to come early so that you can secure a good position and beat the crowds.”

”You know the schedule, then?”

They returned to the waiting room and Suria found out what to expect: many students would arrive tomorrow, there was an opening ceremony the day after that, then five days for the late students to arrive, for orientation, and other preparations before classes began. Maut-mai told her that rules were lax during the early days, so many students treated them as a final holiday, but that the university became very serious about things starting from the first day of the term.

The conversation petered out uncomfortably, since the two of them still didn’t know each other very well. Suria considered looking around the building but restrained herself. On the way in she had seen no sign of Rije and there had been another guard at his position.

She had no way of knowing whether that was a normal change in staffing, but worried that he might have been caught up in any violence, since she had seen him die in the professors’ battle before. If the incident was being covered up, would she ever learn the truth about what happened? Rije was local and must have family, so surely he couldn’t just disappear.

For that matter, she wasn’t sure if she would meet Shuguja again and potentially learn more by implication. Suria considered ways to surreptitiously gather information and ultimately decided against them: she didn’t know whether anyone was watching or what clues they might glean from strange questions. Best not to make any waves or draw attention until she knew more. She had already been through the interview once and she could do a better job this time.

This time they didn’t wait for long before the main office door opened. Suria immediately froze, because she recognized the face: it was the middle-aged man who had walked across the building to join the professors.

”Well?” He scowled at them from the door. ”We don’t have all day.”

Suria opened her mouth to make some excuse, but Maut-mai was faster. ”You go first, Suria,” the other woman said. ”I need to re-do my hair anyway.”

”Uh, okay.” Suria got up and headed toward the office, telling herself that there was nothing to fear.

She had only met this man in another timeline and she had no reason to believe anything was wrong. Yet she found herself wishing that she was meeting Shuguja again, because she could have gotten through that easily. Instead of a minor functionary, she was being interviewed by someone much higher in the hierarchy of the university, potentially entangled with the conspiracy.

Too late to reconsider. The door closed behind her.