“Maybe a week? I’ve been part of Sergeant Keele’s desk for the past couple of days, and I need to continue for a bit. I’m worried about Mrs. Erickson.”

“Teela said you arranged to have her tested for magical aptitude.”

“I did. We talk to Sanabalis tomorrow.”

“You’re taking her?”

“It’s the palace. I think she’d be more comfortable if we went together.”

“Does she know about this?”

“Sort of.” Kaylin shrugged. “She was tested when she was young; she was judged a waste of time. I want Sanabalis to assess, and if she does have magical potential, I want him to turn the jerk who dismissed her to a pile of ash.”

“He’s probably dead, given Mrs. Erickson’s age.” Severn offered a half smile and a shake of the head. “Lose the rage,” he advised her as Kaylin marched toward the bridge across the Ablayne.

“I am. I’m walking it off.”

The Academia was unusual in a number of ways. First and foremost—at least from this remove—was its geography. It was almost impossible to add the Academia to a regular map because it overlapped every fief, while being part of none of them. Anyone could, if they knew the road, reach the Academia—from any fief. Choose the wrong street, and the Academia was practically invisible.

Kaylin chose to enter the fiefs through Tiamaris. She trusted the Dragon fieflord. Or perhaps she trusted his Tower. Tara was a friend, and Tara had made choices to make Kaylin’s visits more comfortable—for Kaylin. Tiamaris accepted this; the cohort felt it was beyond stupid. There were no portals to bar entry to the Avatar’s heart for those who had not been invited, because Kaylin’s magic allergy rendered portal use a nauseating agony.

The Tower watched its borders; it was sensitive to intrusion. This didn’t mean that the Tower always reacted to Kaylin’s entry; sometimes she was busy gardening. Given the emptiness of the streets across the bridge, this was probably one of those days. Kaylin didn’t need a guide to find the street that led to the Academia, and she was, as Severn guessed, still angry. No one approached her.

She started to work to lose anger as she headed down the winding street. The buildings on either side of the road became larger and in much better repair. She was certain some of those buildings were now occupied by the fieflings who, as Kaylin herself once had, found themselves homeless. Homelessness was not something that was safe in the streets of the fief.