I didn't need to be connected to the group chat to know that there was something going on. It was a seemingly innocuous Saturday morning breakfast. Russel and Jarec were arguing about something, but the tone was playful enough that I was content to leave it be. Fethris kept looking at Celica and I knew that he was telling her something.

Meanwhile, Celica was staring me down.

"What?" I asked between bites of fruit.

"What advanced classes are you thinking about testing for?" Celica asked. Or perhaps demanded was more accurate.

Huh?

"Uh…"

"You have thought about it, right?" She asked in a very pointed and accusatory way that made me want to hide under the table.

I hadn't. I didn't even know those were coming.

My silence must have been answer enough.

"Stewart."

I shrank in size.

"Friday. Advanced tests. If you want to take Advanced classes next semester you have to take them and pass."

Oh. "Is there any purpose to taking the advanced classes?"

This was the wrong question to ask. I knew that from the moment the words were out of my mouth. Fethris recoiled like he too was considering running.

Celica took a deep, heaving breath. It occurred to me that there were spells that enabled breathing magic. Like a dragon's breath attacks in tabletop games. "Students in advanced classes get greater access in the library."

"Neat."

"And," she exaggerated the 'a' sound, "the courses are different and you get more out of the advanced classes. The regular ones are for those who haven't even grasped the basics yet."

"No, I haven't thought about taking any of them."

"Well you should!"

"I'm pretty content in basic classes."

"Stewart I swear to the gods-"

"Celica, think about it. My best source of information for most of this stuff is unreliable. I'm not equipped for the advanced classes."

"You've done just fine in Alchemy."

"Yeah, because I've been studying science for years with the human equivalent of Gorgon for a dad."

"Humans have Alchemy?" Fethris asked, interrupting the growing tension between Celica and me.

"Kind of. Different name, same basics."

"Not important!" Celica slammed her hands on the table.

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"Celica, I'm not taking the tests or advanced classes next semester. Alchemy is a fluke."

Fethris was looking more panicked. But I was standing my ground on this.

"Why not?" Celica demanded. "You're not even going to try?"

"It's not about trying. Whether or not I'd make it isn't the point. The point is whether or not I want to do that to myself. I don't know why this matters to you so much."

"Because it's just us five. There's no room for hiding or missteps. We all have to be perfect."

"And me trying something I'm most likely to fail at will help that how?"

"And what does you, our representative, not even trying going to say to everyone?"

"That I have realistic expectations of what I can handle and other uses for my time and effort. And who even cares what the rest of the school thinks anyway?"

"I do! And so should you!"

This was getting nowhere and making my wrist itch. "Well, I don't. At least not at the level that I'm going to let it dictate what classes I take. But if it pleases you, we can bet on it. You win, I'll take some tests. I win, you leave it alone."

She didn't look happy about my idea. Then again our last bet hadn't gone well for her.

"Fine, but I'm picking what we do."

"Perfect."

She had also done that last time, but I wasn't going to point that out lest we get into an actual argument. I rubbed at my wrist and sighed.

(*********)

I had almost forgotten about the agreement with Celica by the time the sun started to go down. The rest of the day had been uneventful.

"You. Me. Dubium. Single hand." She said, interrupting my millionth readthrough of Living Accursed.

"Okay."

She slapped a deck of tarot cards between us. This was a different deck, not the one we'd played with a few times. That one belonged to Jarec. This one must be hers.

The backs were painted with silvery whites and purples. I closed the book and set it aside.

She shuffled and dealt out seven cards to the both of us.

I had the Five of Pentacles, the Queen of Wands, the Nine of Swords, the Ten of Wands, the Two of Swords, the Seven of Cups and the Three of Swords.

Lots of wands, some swords, and few cups and pentacles.

Okay. I could handle this. "You can go first," I offered, in hopes of keeping some semblance of peace between us.

Either it worked or the prospect of getting what she wanted cooled her off. "Ten Pentacles." She was less curt and more calm.

"Fifteen Pentacles."

She narrowed her eyes, maybe she was short on those too? "Fifteen Cups."

The other one I was low on. But she seemed confident. "Twenty Cups."

I swallowed as she kept those eyes on me. She seemed determined to see right through me. I had no idea if she was seeing anything. "Thirty Cups."

I was not nearly as confident as she was. "Thirty Wands."

"Dubium."

We placed our cards on the table.

She had the Knight of Swords, the Queen of Swords, the Queen of Cups, the Knight of Pentacles, the Ten of Cups, the Two of Cups, the Seven of Swords.

Not a single wand. Meaning I lost.

"Welp, your victory Celica. I'll see which tests I qualify for."

"Thank you." There was only a hint of sarcasm. I would take it.

(*********)

I had been stalling cracking open the class list. A packet of paper glued together. It was hard, to flip through lists and lists and see mostly chances lost to me due to circumstances out of my control. Out of the nearly three dozen classes only about eight were even an option. I would need to choose four.

Starter's Brewing, Fundamental Literacy, Beginner's Botany, Basics in Healing, Simple Stitchwork, Arithmetics, Beginner's Enchanting, and General Geography.

Only Brewing and Enchanting offered advanced courses. So that was two tests I would have to take and see if I could pass. If nothing else, Celica would be pleased. And choosing classes was going to be hard.

Brewing, whether or not I qualified for the advanced classes, was a shoe-in. I wanted to see this Professor Carmine, the only professor who had been picked by Dragon Tower, in person.

Botany had some potential, plants were neat enough to hold my attention for a few months.

Enchanted objects hadn't given me the same level of trouble as runes or Spellcraft, so perhaps I could make it work. Seeing how I faired in the advanced tests would be interesting.

The final class was stumping me though. I wasn't sure which would be the most worth my time. I felt comfortable ruling out Stitchwork and Healing. I saw myself doing well in Arithmetics, but the idea of coming this far to just take math made me nauseous. It was the same with Literacy.

Maybe Geography would be it by default.

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