Time passed by, and Yenni focused on her breathing as name after name was called. She fidgeted, worried at her hair, hummed the hymn to the strength rune, until finally she was the only one left in the room.

“Yenni . . . Ajana Femmy. Kayirba.”

The man butchered her name, but who else could he mean? She stood and followed him through a door at the front of the room to the left of the podium. Inside was a little office taken up almost entirely by a large, dark desk, behind which sat the administrator of the test. She was surprised to see Captain Augustin standing by one of those colored-glass windows. He turned from it and ran a hand over his short hair while nodding at her. “Please have a seat,” he said, gesturing to a cushioned bench in front of the desk.

The magical instructor—Professor Mainard, as he’d introduced himself at the start of the test—scowled at her. “I will be blunt. It’s as if you know nothing of magical principles whatsoever.”

Her cheeks stung with a sudden flush. “I am accomplished at runelore,” she said. “If you will give me the chance to show you—”

“Runelore? That primitive rubbish? Here there are theories, laws, principles! Have you studied any of this on the, ah,”—he waved a hand as he read from a sheet of paper—“Moonrise Isles?” His bushy, gray eyebrows rose and he scoffed.

Yenni frowned, not accustomed to being addressed in such a way. Didn’t this man know that she was—no, of course he didn’t.

“Yes, I am from the Moonrise Isles. We do things differently there.” She glared at him, and he matched her with a simmering glower of his own.

“We’re offering you a spot at the academy,” Captain Augustin cut in, interrupting their staring contest, “on the strength of your battle aptitude test.” He smiled slightly. “That was, well, full marks there. Combined with what little you could achieve on the magical exam, it’s enough to get in.”

“Just barely,” Professor Mainard spat. “You have taken, quite literally, the last open spot. We’ll have fewer true-or-false questions on next year’s exam, you mark my words,” he grumbled. “You’ll be expected to pass all four sets of yearly exams, both battle and magical, like any other student, or, believe me, we won’t hesitate to cut you loose.”

Yenni burst into a smile and stood. “Thank you very much,” she said to Captain Augustin. “I’m very grateful!”

The captain handed her a sheet of rolled paper. “Take this to admissions to sort out your student identification. They’ll also be able to help you with housing. Oh, and they can set you up with a tutor.” His eyes shifted to Professor Mainard and back before he whispered, “You wouldn’t be the first talented fighter to struggle with magic, en? But it would be a shame to lose you.”