[b][center][h3][color=FDC89A]ℜ𝔬𝔢𝔩𝔬 Ⅳ    [/color][/h3][/center][/b][center][color=#E1E3E2]──[/color][color=#E1E2DF]─[/color][color=#E2E1DD]─[/color][color=#E3E0DB]─[/color][color=#E4DFD9]─[/color][color=#E5DFD7]─[/color][color=#E5DED5]─[/color][color=#E6DDD3]─[/color][color=#E7DCD1]─[/color][color=#E8DCCF]─[/color][color=#E9DBCD]─[/color][color=#E9DACB]─[/color][color=#EAD9C9]─[/color][color=#EBD9C7]─[/color][color=#ECD8C5]─[/color][color=#EDD7C3]─[/color][color=#EDD6C1]─[/color][color=#EED6BF]─[/color][color=#EFD5BD]─[/color][color=#F0D4BA]─[/color][color=#F1D3B8]─[/color][color=#F2D3B6]─[/color][color=#F2D2B4]─[/color][color=#F3D1B2]─[/color][color=#F4D0B0]─[/color][color=#F5D0AE]─[/color][color=#F6CFAC]─[/color][color=#F6CEAA]─[/color][color=#F7CDA8]─[/color][color=#F8CDA6]─[/color][color=#F9CCA4]─[/color][color=#FACBA2]•[/color][color=#FACAA0]⋅[/color][color=#FBCA9E]⊰[/color][color=#FCC99C]༻[/color][color=#FDC89A]༒[/color][color=#FEC798]︎[/color][color=#FEC795]༺[/color][color=#FEC798]⊱[/color][color=#FDC89A]⋅[/color][color=#FCC99C]•[/color][color=#FBCA9E]─[/color][color=#FACAA0]─[/color][color=#FACBA2]─[/color][color=#F9CCA4]─[/color][color=#F8CDA6]─[/color][color=#F7CDA8]─[/color][color=#F6CEAA]─[/color][color=#F6CFAC]─[/color][color=#F5D0AE]─[/color][color=#F4D0B0]─[/color][color=#F3D1B2]─[/color][color=#F2D2B4]─[/color][color=#F2D3B6]─[/color][color=#F1D3B8]─[/color][color=#F0D4BA]─[/color][color=#EFD5BD]─[/color][color=#EED6BF]─[/color][color=#EDD6C1]─[/color][color=#EDD7C3]─[/color][color=#ECD8C5]─[/color][color=#EBD9C7]─[/color][color=#EAD9C9]─[/color][color=#E9DACB]─[/color][color=#E9DBCD]─[/color][color=#E8DCCF]─[/color][color=#E7DCD1]─[/color][color=#E6DDD3]─[/color][color=#E5DED5]─[/color][color=#E5DFD7]─[/color][color=#E4DFD9]─[/color][color=#E3E0DB]─[/color][color=#E2E1DD]─[/color][color=#E1E2DF]──[/color][/center][indent][indent][indent][indent][justify][color=bdbdbd]Class E found themselves in an arcade; one of several that exited the grand hall. The passageway, which offered access to the western wings of the academy, offered them welcome shade via its roof and columns; protecting them from the unrepentant sun, whose ire only grew as midday approached. Roelo noted how quickly his nine classmates seemed to herd into clusters. As each ensign left the hall into the loggia, following a brief intermission in which they inspected their new ceremonial effects and allowed their adrenaline to dull, they seemed to edge towards their neighbour. Smalltalk broke out; manufactured ice-breakers disguised as off-the-cuff musings. Subtly they prospected one-another, eager to find some commonality to latch on to — attempting to form the embryo of a clique.

“I hope that they teach us real swordwork, and not just parade drills.”

“Where’s your accent from? Sounds Herckelitzer to me. — — I thought so! I have cousins in Sanckt Prellin. Beautiful city.”

“This place is a maze. I’m sure to get lost…”

Roelo, meanwhile, positioned himself a few steps afar of the others, glancing out at the academy grounds. He was keen to appear uninterested by his peers; too preoccupied with studying the layout of his new stamping ground. In truth, he chose careful moments to snatch a glance at his classmates. They reminded Roelo of the waterfowl that nested upon the riverbanks of île Mondin; goslings banding into gaggles for kinship and survival; drawn together by instinct and insecurity. Roelo would not satisfy himself with the shallow comforts of such a flock — for if he was to succeed as he stubbornly compacted so to do, he need not forget that [i]eagles fly alone[/i]. While it was true that he would one day need a rapport with his battle-brothers when the time came to march, Roelo dismissed the notion that he needed to seek out easy camaraderie. He thought instead upon legends and kings — men who won loyalty not through pleasantries or social standing, but through the sheer electricity of their presence. He would not fawn and flatter: he would sharpen his blade until it sang his name across the Empire. He vowed wordlessly to make it so; to rise above every lickspittle in his path, and to better each and every one, without once employing their craven etiquette. The gloams of his psyche whispered contradictions, of course. Of a longing for an end to his solitude — once involuntary, now self-imposed. But these contemplations fell silent when held against Hladekný’s sonorous words, which echoed still in Roelo’s mind: “where you may have found excuses and comforts as nestlings, you will find here only hard truths.” The others would find themselves ill-prepared, he thought, when the cruelty of war was revealed to them. [i]He was different[/i], or so he believed. [i]He knew that winter would come, even as the sun still burned above[/i]. But this itself was a naïvety, for never before had Roelo been [i]truly cold[/i].

The six other boys found themselves in a scattering: two small groups that were huddled close enough to seem as one. It was unintentional, of course, but their haphazard arrangement felt like a primitive military formation — built not for the defense of flesh, but for the adolescent ego. Now and then, they’d glance over at Roelo. They knew now of his noble standing, and he was sure they would seek to ingratiate themselves to him in time. There came great perks in befriending a de Barbroeck, after all — more fool them for assuming him to be one in anything more than name. He’d not ever spend another nonessential coin of his father’s wealth; not on himself, and certainly not on anyone who hoped to squeeze him for his goodwill. In truth, Roelo knew it not, but he was fortunate in moments like these that he carried such a prestigious name. Had his peers not been privy to the authority of his house, any sense of mystery and mastery that he presently carried would have been superseded by his incongruity. He was strange and unapproachable; a disparate outsider; someone who would undoubtedly be mocked and ridiculed as a freak had he been of common blood. While the boys would more-than-likely come to find his temperament unpalatable, many would forgive it — for such aloofness was not only uncommon, but perhaps even romanticised within the highest class of gentry.

Across from the boys, the three girls seemed also to convene, subconsciously self-segregated at the first opportunity. The shepherd of their ensemble was clear to see; the blonde, in her magnetism, seemed to have pulled the other girls into her orbit almost immediately. She stood slightly apart from her would-be-friends, though not in a way that suggested isolation. Rather, it was a studied sort of elevation… a peahen’s perch: and the others were already falling into step. She would be the matriarch of Class E, that much was already clear, and she had the looks and confidence that meant she would assuredly have her pick of the bunch should she seek a paramour among the boys. The brunette did not draw a second glance from Roelo, but he did take a moment to examine the dark-haired girl, who had, only minutes ago, seemed lamblike and unremarkable. Her posture seemed less shrunken, and she now held a fervour in her eyes that Roelo had not noticed upon first appraisal. Perhaps Hladekný had galvanised her with his words — still, she seemed content in acquiescing to the blonde’s uncontested campaign for class-queen.

A breeze drifted through the arcade, stirring the edges of cloaks and plumes. On the other side of the garden that the pathway bordered, Groups C and D followed their respective professors, gradually filtering out of sight. Schöst, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen. Minutes passed.

One of the boys — the lean one with the hooked nose and Herckelitz accent — had taken it upon himself to entertain the others with some embellished tale of a chase and subsequent duel with a cutpurse. He gesticulated theatrically, and the others laughed, too readily. Roelo rolled his eyes, though nobody would have been able to see it. He folded his arms, drawing in a breath that carried heat-warmed grass and stone. He considered, briefly, what might remain of this moment in ten years — whether the faces around him would grow sharper or blur into anonymity. Would any of them rise high enough to be remembered? — other than himself, of course. He would brazenly ensure of his success, or die in the process. The academy would mould them all, certainly — but what shape would they take? Champions or failures? Or corpses?

From one of the shaded corridors leading deeper into the western wing, a set of footsteps approached. They lacked the dragging and clicking that would signal the arrival of Schöst, but nonetheless silenced the class. A gentlewoman of some perceived seniority emerged to regard them.

“Class E,” she spoke. “Please follow me.”

“Where is Herr Schöst, ma’am?,” one of the boys asked — an apt question, given that the other groups had been accompanied by their new tutors.

“He has returned to his quarters. You will meet him in class this afternoon.”

There was something in her tone — not curt, but clinical — that discouraged further inquiry. The boy who had asked merely nodded politely. With that, she turned on her heel, and the ten students scampered attentively behind.[/color][/justify][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][center][color=#E1E3E2]──[/color][color=#E1E2DF]─[/color][color=#E2E1DD]─[/color][color=#E3E0DB]─[/color][color=#E4DFD9]─[/color][color=#E5DFD7]─[/color][color=#E5DED5]─[/color][color=#E6DDD3]─[/color][color=#E7DCD1]─[/color][color=#E8DCCF]─[/color][color=#E9DBCD]─[/color][color=#E9DACB]─[/color][color=#EAD9C9]─[/color][color=#EBD9C7]─[/color][color=#ECD8C5]─[/color][color=#EDD7C3]─[/color][color=#EDD6C1]─[/color][color=#EED6BF]─[/color][color=#EFD5BD]─[/color][color=#F0D4BA]─[/color][color=#F1D3B8]─[/color][color=#F2D3B6]─[/color][color=#F2D2B4]─[/color][color=#F3D1B2]─[/color][color=#F4D0B0]─[/color][color=#F5D0AE]─[/color][color=#F6CFAC]─[/color][color=#F6CEAA]─[/color][color=#F7CDA8]─[/color][color=#F8CDA6]─[/color][color=#F9CCA4]─[/color][color=#FACBA2]•[/color][color=#FACAA0]⋅[/color][color=#FBCA9E]⊰[/color][color=#FCC99C]༻[/color][color=#FDC89A]༒[/color][color=#FEC798]︎[/color][color=#FEC795]༺[/color][color=#FEC798]⊱[/color][color=#FDC89A]⋅[/color][color=#FCC99C]•[/color][color=#FBCA9E]─[/color][color=#FACAA0]─[/color][color=#FACBA2]─[/color][color=#F9CCA4]─[/color][color=#F8CDA6]─[/color][color=#F7CDA8]─[/color][color=#F6CEAA]─[/color][color=#F6CFAC]─[/color][color=#F5D0AE]─[/color][color=#F4D0B0]─[/color][color=#F3D1B2]─[/color][color=#F2D2B4]─[/color][color=#F2D3B6]─[/color][color=#F1D3B8]─[/color][color=#F0D4BA]─[/color][color=#EFD5BD]─[/color][color=#EED6BF]─[/color][color=#EDD6C1]─[/color][color=#EDD7C3]─[/color][color=#ECD8C5]─[/color][color=#EBD9C7]─[/color][color=#EAD9C9]─[/color][color=#E9DACB]─[/color][color=#E9DBCD]─[/color][color=#E8DCCF]─[/color][color=#E7DCD1]─[/color][color=#E6DDD3]─[/color][color=#E5DED5]─[/color][color=#E5DFD7]─[/color][color=#E4DFD9]─[/color][color=#E3E0DB]─[/color][color=#E2E1DD]─[/color][color=#E1E2DF]──[/color][/center]