A week passed and Komena worked to return her life to normal. The first few days mostly consisted of sleeping from sundown to noon and lying to her neighbors about where she had been. Eventually, inevitably, someone knocked on her office doors with a job. A normal, idyllically minor job of finding a missing shipment of rope and tar. She needed the money now, anyways.

  So, she had returned to the shipping district, chatting up one of the supervisors. From what he said, it was clearly one of the sailors skimming off the top. The next matter was finding out which one. A few interviews and some paperwork to go through, then done by the end of the day.

  “Anything else going on? Any news from the docks?” Komena asked, filling space as the conversation petered out.

  The shipping supervisor ran his hand through a long, mostly gray beard. He was the kind of man that had worked the docks his whole life, only retiring to administration as his body started giving out. Skin like leather and still well-muscled, the only sign of him adapting to his role was a red felt fez hat perched on his head, too tall to stay on through normal labor.

  “Not much to report I’m afraid. A few impressive ships from the other continents pulled in recently. One’s already looking to restock and depart.” He said. “I’ve also heard rumors the deans are having another meeting. Third one this month and we’re not even halfway through. Puts my hairs on end that -Hey!”

  Komena fled the building, only breaking her sprint long enough to plant one boot on the door out and kick it open. She kept that pace as she ran through the streets towards the Grand Auditorium. When she saw an empty flying carpet on the way she hopped on, forcing her full wallet into the driver’s hands before they could protest. The ride was so quick that all she had time to do was catch her breath and beg for more speed before they arrived.

  She seethed as she ran. Taim should have told her when the trial was. She didn’t expect her testimony would have much weight. But there was a half chance it might sway someone. Even if it couldn’t, she wanted to see this through. Besides, Kave deserved someone other than academics at his trial.

  Still, she would have liked to be there from the start, instead of bursting in halfway.

  The room was how she remembered, though with another empty podium. The necromancer still was absent from their post and neither the Faculty of Healing nor Evocation had appointed replacements yet.

  The Mundane faculty’s podium was also empty. Instead, Taim was standing beside Kave in the center of the room.

  "How dare you?” Zai yelled from behind his podium. The Dean of Summoning waved him off.

  “Oh, let it be. If she doesn’t learn our decision here and now, she’ll know it before the day is out. But I will have her silence while she’s here.” She said. Komena caught a little smirk on her lips as she talked. “Now then, regarding The Faculty of the Mundane’s request for Kave Ironheart to be given a position within their organization. All for?”

  Taim raised his hand. His plan relied on some of his peers valuing the letter of the law. Komena was sure that it wasn’t as na?ve as it sounded. There was a mountain of precedent backing this decision, and with only five Deans, it would only take one or two agreeing for the motion to pass. Every motion to bring him in as a test subject for their own faculty would be split by everyone voting for themselves. They could vote for more than one, but that would a rare, suicidal willingness to compromise.

  But no other hands went up to vote. Taim’s disappointment was only visible as a slight deflation, his shoulders slumping almost imperceptibly. Kave didn’t show anything.

  The Dean of Summoning continued. “Now for the Faculty of Transmutation’s proposal that the Fiendblessed be given to them as research material. All For?”

  Only Zai’s hand went up, voting for his own motion. Komena wondered if he expected to reap any benefit from that research, or if he was simply following orders he had been given. Regardless, the motion failed.

  “And finally, my own proposition that it be given over to the Faculty of Summoning for the same purpose. All for?”

  The Dean of Summoning voted for her own motion. The votes were split three ways with one each. That meant another debate to bring the undecided Agriculture around. That was something she could help with, when Taim called her up to testify. They might not want to listen to her, but she could probably turn them against one another.

  Her relief lasted as long as it took for the Dean of Illusions to raise its hand, casting its faculty’s vote. Of course, those equivocating cowards had delayed. They needed time to debate whatever offer the summoner had made to them.

  “And my proposal is accepted with two votes. Unless there is another proposal?” The Dean of Summoning said, the smirk on her face blossoming into a full grin.

  Komena looked over to Kave to see his reaction. For the first time since Struth’s death, he seemed calm. That terrified her. It wasn’t a calm that came from knowing what would happen to you in a few hours. It was one that came from knowing what would happen in the next few seconds; the relief of agency returning to one’s life in one final flash. Kave’s future might have a dissection table in its future, but he wouldn’t be there for it.

  She knew the rest of them felt the same tension. They wouldn’t have become Deans if they could ignore it. The only thing keeping death from flying was their desire to not be the first one to blink. Kave was being given the right of first move by virtue of a glorified staring contest.

  He shrugged Taim’s hand off his shoulder and the Dean of the Mundane took a few steps away from him. Komena did the same, trying to put Taim between her and Kave, the closest thing to cover the room could offer.

  There was no critical observation Komena could make to stop this from happening. No way out except to run away. Komena realized that this was why she hadn’t been told about the trial. It was always going to end like this. She should have kept her head down and waited to hear the verdict when it was too late to for it to hurt.

  The doors to the hall burst open behind Komena. An old woman with short cut silver strode into the room, her walking stick clicking on the tiles. She was followed by thirty soldiers marching in two rows, their boots darkening the tiles. They held long bows in their hands, axes and full quivers hanging from their belts. Chain mail jingled under tabards stitched with a dog skull insignia.

  “I am Beatrice Ironheart and I have come for my grandson!” The woman bellowed as walked past Komena, brandishing a handful of letters like a scimitar.

  “By the privilege of blood, stewardship of the boy falls from my son to me. I have record of his adoption here; and permission from his father to take him in event of his passing.”

  “If you think a handful of letters has the weight to overturn the sovereign council of this city, then you are gravely mistaken, corpse dog.” Zai said.

  The soldiers responded by nocking arrows and aiming at every Dean standing behind a podium. Kave didn’t stop his incantations, but the look on his face made it clear that he was too surprised to take advantage of the situation.

  “This is ridiculous. You can’t have sailed this far and seriously thought threatening us would work. You must have heard about what we can do” Taim said. Beatrice laughed in response, giving her cane a full twirl. It wasn’t a hard motion for her, but it took just enough extra exertion that Komena could see it was more than walking stick. It was weighted, making an elegant, little mace for the modern woman.

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  “Of course not! But negotiation is for allies, and I see no such thing here. So, we will resolve this the Ironheart way. Victory or revenge!” She said, grinning ear to ear. “You will give us the boy, or the troops I didn’t bring to this meeting will start bleeding this city, And you should know that more will come if we don’t return.”

  Komena glanced at the two empty podiums and tried to imagine a guerrilla war in the streets. One where the hospitals were already in chaos. The Deans had almost all turned their attention to the standoff, except the Dean of Summoning who stayed focused on Kave. He was still holding the spell he had prepared, but that look of certainty was gone.

  “But what will happen to all the soil you brought?” Komena asked loudly.

  “We’ve left men with orders to salt it and scuttle the ships we came in on! It’ll be unrecoverable!” Beatrice answered, her voice rising in excitement at the idea.

  “Wait, you brought soil to trade for the creature?” The Dean of Agriculture asked.

  “Struth mentioned it would be a welcome gift. Something about a garden. We have a long boat filled with the stuff.” Beatrice answered, before wincing slightly with a crinkled nose. “It made the sail here an ordeal.”

  “And how did you know about this, Inspector? Some conspiracy between you and Struth?” Zai asked. Her answer was to point to the black dirt tracks they had left as they had walked in. The tension didn’t evaporate, but his embarrassment did help.

  “The Faculty of Agriculture motions to return Kave Ironheart to the custody of the Ironheart family in exchange for the payment of an offered longboat and its contents.” The Dean of Agriculture said. “All in favor?”

  “Aye!” Taim yelled out, glaring down the Ironhearts. Behind them, the doors opened again and a squad of mages in uniform of the Grand Auditorium entered. The last line of invaders turned to meet them, axe in hand. A raised hand from Taim was the only thing keeping them from interrupting the vote.

  There was no vote from the Dean of Illusion. Either they had committed or couldn’t argue quickly enough to come to change their mind. That left Kave’s fate hanging in a tie vote. The Dean of Summoning wouldn’t vote against herself, leaving the Dean of Transmutation to decide. Shockingly, he had held himself back from making any of his absurd threats as the rest voted. Finally, he spoke, in a low, reluctant growl.

  “The Faculty of Transmutation votes Aye.”

  “The motion passes with three votes.” The Dean of Agriculture said. “Are there any other motions?”

  There was a silent moment, where everyone waited see what would happen next. No one else burst in and no one else tried to strike another deal. Then everyone realized a decision had been made. Arrows returned to quivers; mages let their spells fade into the air. The confident look Kave had been wearing washed away. No one was truly relaxed, but they were quiet.

  “What are you doing!” The Dean of summoning demanded. “We are being invaded by a foreign power and your first response is to roll over!”

  “Shut your mouth and stop thinking like a researcher.” The Dean of Transmutation said. “We haven’t seen war in centuries, and I won’t start one over this plaything.”

  ***

  The Ironheart’s wasted no time returning to the docks, bringing Kave along with them. Soldiers were slapping him on the back and shaking his hand as he went. He was even lifted into at least two bear hugs, his feet taken fully off the ground. Eventually Beatrice pulled him to the front of the procession, eagerly talking about introducing him to the rest of the family, showing him around the estates and beginning his training. Kave didn’t do much more than absently nod and stare ahead through all of this.

  The only one of the deans to follow them was Agriculture. Dirt was important enough for her to personally oversee this transaction. She offered no apology, but at least had the decency not to speak as she went. The rest of them slunk off, Summoning muttering to Transmutation as she went. Taim likely had already said everything he needed to Kave already and couldn’t appear sympathetic to the people who had extorted his government. Komena was too unimportant to worry about that and followed them to their ships.

  The longboats themselves were traditional Corlin vessels. Single mast with a large, square sail. The top railings had places for oars to be slid through. Each one of the prows had its tip carved to look like a snarling hound overlooking the sea ahead. They were already being loaded back up with supplies for their return voyage. The Dean of Agriculture immediately started ordering dock hands around as she marched over to the one vessel covered with a cloth tarp, which had been docked as far from shore as possible. Komena could still smell it, a damp pungency shot through with manure. Unpleasant, but rare in the city. It reminded her of the oasis garden, hidden away by the old woman’s faculty.

  “Won’t you need to take time to make repairs? Or to rest?” Komena asked.

  “Struth made it clear that this would best be done quickly. We never planned on staying long.” Beatrice said. “We’ve done what maintenance we could on the voyage, and I didn’t bring any thin bloods for this. The trip will be faster without that reeking anchor anyways.”

  Komena watched the Ironheart’s load the cargo they had, waddling awkwardly under the weight. They were working quickly and chatting among themselves. A few were taking a break, staring at the building towering over them in awe. Komena couldn’t imaging a Corlin city comparing to her own.

  “Right, Kave we should be good to leave in an hour. Is there anyone we should get for you to say goodbye to? Any final business we can take care of?” Beatrice asked.

  “I’ll need to stay here?” Kave said. Beatrice nodded.

  “Yes. For your safety.”

  Kave shook his head. “No. There’s nothing.” Another nod from his grandmother, this one a little gentler and clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Is there anything you’d like to eat before we go?” She asked. That didn’t get a response from him.

  “There’s a fish stand three blocks that way. Take a left turn and you’ll see it right across from a café. They’d be the freshest thing right know” Komena said, pointing down a wide road.

  “I’ll go make sure our preparations are going as planned then.” Beatrice said, looking Komena in the eyes before turning away. She sent a boy just a little older than Kave running off down the street that Komena had pointed out as she went down to the docks.

  Kave turned away from the ships and looked back to his home city. He didn’t say anything until the errand boy came running back with two wraps filled with roasted fish in a tangy yellow spice and pickled onions, along with two cups of chilled coffee. Komena regretted not giving him a specific order when he had left. The boy passed a wrap and a cup of coffee to them both, awkwardly greeted Kave, and ran back off to his work.

  More than half the meal passed in silence. Kave chewed slowly and drank his coffee like water between bites. Komena left hers for after the meal.

  “I don’t want to go” Kave said.

  “I know.” Komena said, sighing. “When my parents died, the only reason I still had a home was because of the people who took me in. An aunt, neighbors, old crew mates of my dad. That became home. It wasn’t easy, and I would give it up for my parents in a heartbeat, but it was what I got. And it was alright. Better than that, really.”

  Kave took another bite of food. “I almost had that here.”

  “I know that too. And it’s not fair that you didn’t get it. But you know how much fairness is worth.”

  Kave grunted before going back to eating. There were only a few bites left before he finished, leaving him with nothing but the cheap, conjured earthenware cup that held his coffee. He hefted it to smash against the cobblestones but couldn’t find the energy.

  “I’ll miss the view.” He said, putting the cup down. “It’s not the most the important thing, but it’s the one that’ll change the most. And then I’ll forget the extra details. The smell. The sounds. The heat.”

  “Don’t worry about that. You can’t forget the heat, even if Corlin is as foggy and gray as they say. That memory will stay fresh until you can come back.”

  Kave shook his head “Sabbelah isn’t a city for my kind. I won’t be allowed back.”

  “You were raised here, Kave. You bled on the streets and studied at the university. Even if you hadn’t, you aren’t the first whatever you are to live here.” Komena said.

  Kave turned to look at her, confused. Had he really never thought about this?

  “It’s not like you were hatched and if you were brought over as a baby on ship, you wouldn’t have been left on the streets. Your birth parents must have lived here for a few years at least.”

  “Struth always said that Corlin keeps pristine genealogical records. Family lines, biographies. Not just of my kind, but those ones are apparently exceptional.” Kave said.

  “Well, at least your book research skills won’t get rusty. You can follow that road as far as you can. I’m sure I can get letters to Corlin somehow. I’ll send you what I can find here. Maybe a few landscape paintings, if you’re that worried about forgetting what it looks like. And then in a few years, when you’re the high mage of Corlin, you can come back and threaten the Deans all on your own.”

  That thought made him crack a grin, though it barely reached his eyes.

  “Kave! We’re casting off soon! It’s time to come aboard!” Beatrice shouted from behind them. They turned around to find her standing on the nearest longship brow. Behind her, the soldiers were doing the last line checks and getting the oars in position.

  “Go on.” Komena said. “The sooner you get out of here the safer you’ll be.”

  Kave nodded a few times, then started walking down the docks. He climbed the boarding ramp up to the same ship Beatrice was on. The ropes keeping the ships tied to the docks were undone and thrown off. As the oars pushed of and started pulling the ship away, Kave waved to Komena.

  “Thank you!” he shouted as he threw both his hands over his head. Beatrice lifted her cane in a casual salute, before turning away and directing her men. Kave stayed, shouting until the distance turned it to a whisper. They were talented rowers, synchronized and strong, quickly picking up speed and racing for the horizon.

  Komena sipped her coffee, which had gone tepid in the noon sun, as she watched the ships leave. They dipped over the horizon just as she found the will to finish it. She turned around and walked back into Sabbelah proper, her city. She still had a missing shipment to find.