Reinhard walked into the Resonance Club building with Rika beside him.
Then he froze and blinked in disbelief.
Yor was sitting with Alice... and actually talking.
Across the room, Yor was tucked into a chair in the far corner. But Alice had settled herself on the arm of the chair nearby and was smiling at sothing she’d just said. And Yor was nodding, lowering the book occasionally to respond, a small smile showing at the corner of her mouth.
He glanced to the side and saw Sirin studying the maps and not looking at Yor. As if her talking to Alice was sothing normal.
Rika noticed. "What’s wrong?"
"Yor is talking to Alice. It looks like it’s a back-and-forth one." Reinhard said in surprise.
"I know." Rika smiled to herself. "Looks like the work you did is working."
Sirin looked up from the table, and her whole face brightened. "Reinhard! Rika! Perfect timing." She straightened up and crossed the room toward them. "Rika, can you start on the equipnt checklist? Safety gear, everything we went over yesterday."
Rika blinked. "Right now?"
"Please. We’re on a schedule."
"Okay." Rika moved toward the desk without further argunt, pulling out papers and getting to work.
Sirin’s hand closed around Reinhard’s arm, and she steered him toward the window. Away from the others, dropping her voice as they went.
"Thank you." She softly said.
"For what?"
She glanced toward the corner where Yor sat. "For doing the impossible. Getting her to actually open up and talk to people like a normal person."
Reinhard’s grin ca up wide. "She’s willing to talk to you more now, too?"
"I was shocked at first, but then delighted." Sirin paused, and sothing shifted in her expression. "Then I was a little disappointed."
He leaned closer, grin still growing. "Because you thought all your hard work was what finally caused the breakthrough?"
Her eyes narrowed. "My efforts helped soften her up considerably."
"Of course they did." He said, keeping his tone light. "And I appreciate that. It made my progress so much easier. As expected of our president, always paving the way for the rest of us."
Sirin’s lips pressed together, fighting a smile she clearly didn’t want to give him. "Not even a little bit of remorse?"
"Not even slightly."
"You’re being difficult."
"And you’re making it complicated."
"Says the one who refuses to acknowledge my effort."
"It was minor at best."
They looked at each other across the short distance, both holding back laughter.
"Alright, you helped a lot." Reinhard broke first, a quiet chuckle escaping before he could stop it. "But I think I deserve so kind of reward for doing it. Don’t you agree?"
Sirin raised one eyebrow. "Fine. I’ll buy you lunch soti-"
"You’ll co with us the next ti I drag Yor sowhere fun."
Sirin paused before staring at him for several long seconds. Then a slow, impressed smile spread across her face. "You’re really quite good at this."
"At being a club mber? Naturally."
"At being a scher."
"In this club, aren’t those the sa thing?"
She laughed. "Louis is going to have absolutely no idea what hit him when he gets back."
"Where is he? I haven’t seen him all week. And I’m starting to think you guys are leading on."
"Hahaha, no. He is real." Sirn gave him an amused smile. "It’s just the Engineering Departnt’s second-year students went on a trip to the city of Mulo. They are doing so kind of tournant and won’t be back until next week."
"I didn’t know the departnts planned things like that," Reinhard said, touching his chin. "I got the impression the academy kept students fairly locked down."
"That’s what it looks like from the outside." Sirin’s expression turned a little brighter. "But there’s actually a lot more freedom here than most people realize." She let that sit for a mont and then added, "Speaking of which, I got the approval."
"For the expedition?"
"Yes, the Ruins of Noctyne is where we are going today."
Reinhard raised a brow. "What are we looking for out there?"
"Void Distortions..." Sirin paused as if she were lost in thought. "Mainly. But it would be good to find any artifacts or historical records if any survived."
Yor image flashed through his mind. "Noctyne... That’s Yor last na, is the ruin connected to her?"
"It’s one of the cities her family managed." Sirin sighed. "They had a sumr house there before a Void Distortion appeared." She paused. "It didn’t leave much behind."
Reinhard was quiet for a mont.
"And she agreed to co back to it."
"She did." Sirin glanced toward the corner. "Which is either very healthy or very complicated, and I honestly can’t tell which yet."
"And she displays no bad reaction to it?"
"I thought she would, but there was none... " Sirin leaned back against the wall. "In fact, she seed almost relieved, actually. I think she’s been wanting to go back for a while now, even if she never said so."
"To close the distortion?"
"Maybe. Or just to see what’s left of her family’s ho." Sirin’s expression settled into sothing more serious. "Which is exactly why I pulled you over here. Do you want to sit this one out?"
"Why would I?"
She gave him a asured look. "Your Sigil situation. Without one, you don’t have any magic, which will make you easily vulnerable to danger. Such as Fiends and structural hazards. I’m asking now, before we leave, whether you want to-"
Reinhard raised his hand.
Blue-purple flas burst to life around his knuckles.
The magic wrapped around his hand and curled there like they were perfectly comfortable.
Sirin froze.
Her mouth slowly fell open. "What!? But I thought you didn’t-"
The flas disappeared as cleanly as they’d co, leaving nothing behind.
"Don’t worry," Reinhard said, calm as ever. "I have a Sigil now."
"How?! When?!"
"The headmaster has been helping unlock it. Apparently, mine was buried deeper than usual. It took so work to bring it to the surface."
Sirin stared at him before a delighted grin spread across her face. "Is that how you dealt with those fifteen students who ca after you?"
"I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about."
"Right. Of course not." She clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Welco to the danger squad."
"Happy to finally be here."
Sirin turned toward the rest of the room and raised her voice to carry across it. "Everyone, eting ti."
Rika looked up from her papers while Alice got to her feet. Yor closed her book carefully and stood, and all three of them drifted to the center table.
"We leave in twenty minutes," Sirin said. "Expedition to the Ruins of Noctyne. Two hours maximum, no exceptions. We’re mapping Void Distortions and recovering any artifacts that are worth taking back."
"What should we expect from dangers?" Alice asked.
"Standard safety rules." Sirin said. "Nobody moves alone, and if a distortion appears, we pull back and let Yor handle it. Rika, you’re on sensing duty the mont we’re through the gate. If you feel anything, you tell us imdiately." She looked around the table. "We will look for any artifacts or notes, but if we can’t find anything in those two hours, then we leave."
Alice raised her hand. "What if we find sothing incredible when it’s almost ti to go?"
"We will docunt it and co back later."
"And if the ruins are actively hostile?"
Sirin looked at Yor.
"They won’t be," Yor said with her eyes closed.
...
They quickly reached the academy gates and headed to the waiting carriage in the courtyard.
It was large and well-built, powered by magic crystals set into the wheels that gave off a low, steady hum. Everyone climbed in and found seats, and within monts the carriage, powered by magic, rolled forward with a lurch.
The campus buildings slid past, the front gate, and the open road stretching out ahead of them.
Alice bounced in her seat. "I love field trips."
"This isn’t a field trip," Rika said patiently. "It’s an investigation."
"Sa thing."
"Very different things."
Sirin let the smile co. "Let her be excited. It’s good for everyone."
Yor sat quietly by the window with her eyes on the passing landscape as the trees grew thicker and the road outside rougher beneath them. Reinhard sat across from her and watched her face for a mont before speaking.
"You, okay?"
"Yes." Her voice was soft. "Just thinking."
"About the ruins?"
She nodded once.
"We’ll be careful there," he said.
"I know." She looked at him, and the small smile ca back briefly.
...
Twenty minutes passed, the trees pressing in closer on either side until the road narrowed. The ride grew bumpy, and then the carriage slowed and ca to a stop.
The carriage door swung open.
Cool air rushed in, making everyone inside sigh.
Reinhard stepped out first, his boots landing on packed dirt and gravel, and then he looked up and simply stopped.
Black stone structures rose ahead of them, with thin veins of faint blue light running through them like glowing cracks in the surface. The light pulsed slowly and steadily, like breathing. Like sothing alive inside the stone.
Towers stood frozen mid-collapse, tilted at angles that should have sent them crashing down long ago, but didn’t. They just hung there, defying the gravity that should have applied to them. Stone streets nearby tilted upward and curved toward the sky in long, spiraling paths that twisted away.
Symbols covered every surface, so still glowing. At the front of it all stood the Silent Gate.
A massive arch split cleanly down the center. Leaving a gap wide enough for two people to walk through side by side. Nas had once been carved across the arch’s surface, but they had been scratched out entirely, leaving only the faint shadow of where letters used to be.
"I was expecting a lot of things," Reinhard said slowly, still looking up at it all. "But definitely not this."
Sirin stepped out behind him and let out a quiet laugh. "Everyone says that the first ti."
Alice ca out next and imdiately gasped, pointing up at the towers hanging in the air above them. "Amazing!"
Rika erged and went still, her eyes wide and moving steadily across everything around her without a word. He watched her face as she took in the towers, the spiraling streets, the scratched-out nas on the gate. The notebook she always carried was already open in her hands, but she wasn’t writing, but simply looking.
She’s been waiting for this, he noted. This isn’t just research for her.
Yor stepped down last and stood for a mont looking at the ruins, and her face went completely still as if she was keeping sothing back.
But her hands, held close at her sides, were trembling.
Yor stared at the Silent Gate and muttered. "Even that still exists..."
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