“Are you really interested in all that?” Han asked Dancer as they crossed the quad for the midday. It was raining again, a dreary, cold downpour from a fish-belly sky. A bone-chilling wind drove raindrops into their faces like needles of ice. “I couldn’t stay awake. There’s so much to learn, and there’s nothing practical we can we do with that.”

“I am interested,” Dancer said, scuffling through soggy leaves. “Remember? Before all this happened, I’d hoped to apprentice to Elena Cennestre to be a flash metalsmith.”

“I know.” Han swung around to watch a pretty girlie splash across the lawn, laughing, lifting her skirts to expose a fine pair of legs. She ducked under one of the galleries and disappeared. He turned back to Dancer. “Have you ever made anything magical?”

Dancer nodded. “When I was younger. Simple pieces, but they seemed to work.”

“But…now you’re a charmcaster,” Han said. “And wizards can’t…”

“I’m still clan,” Dancer said, lifting his chin. “I don’t care what the Demonai say. I haven’t given up on my chosen vocation.”

“But…how would you learn to work with magical materials?” Han said. “Elena won’t teach you, even if you have the gift of flash metalsmithing.”

“Firesmith says the library here has the best collection of texts on magical materials in the Seven Realms,” Dancer said.

They climbed the steps to the dining hall, taking shelter under the porch roof. Dancer shook his head, flinging water in all directions, then stepped to the side, out of earshot of the other students streaming into the hall.

“But clan artists learn by apprenticeship,” Han said. “Firesmith won’t teach you either, if he knows what you’re up to.”

“He doesn’t want to know what I’m up to,” Dancer said. ”He’s thrilled to have a student that’s actually interested. I signed up for a special project with him next term.” Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he strode on. “I’ll teach myself if I have to.”

Dancer has a hard spine in him that would be easy to overlook, Han thought. He chooses his battles and plays to win.

Just then a Southern Islander in Temple dress spotted them. She broke away from a group of her fellow students and strode across the porch toward them.