A week had passed since Cross Company received permission to compete in the late qualifiers, and Rina had been growing increasingly restless. Lowell yawned as he stepped off the trolley, wondering what disposition he'd find her in today on the actual day of the qualifiers. The guild hall facilitating the late qualifiers in Ulster wasn't far from the trolley stop, and Lowell soon had his answer. Rina paced back and forth outside the small guild hall, almost as if she sensed his presence, her eyes snapped to and fixed on Lowell as he approached.

  Rina wasted no time, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the entrance of the building. "Come on, come on!" she exclaimed.

  "How long have you been waiting?" Lowell asked, wondering if he was the first to arrive or the last.

  "Bart's inside." Annoyance sharpened her voice. "We need to talk."

  Lowell wasn't late, he knew that much. And while it wouldn't be out of Rina's character to consider Lowell's still-early arrival to be late regardless, there was something else bothering her.

  She had made it very clear to Bart and himself that on time meant arriving early. Her temper, however, was more than irritation. There was still plenty of time for them to discuss strategy and prepare for the events, even though they wouldn't know which events they were participating in until just before the start of a test.

  The main room of the Aurora Athletic Assembly guild hall was large and spacious. It had an open foyer with tables and accompanying seating. Two large fireplaces surrounded by chairs and couches were arranged to facilitate conversation. One of probably several small libraries was tucked away in the corner of the first floor, also with seating, for the guild's members. The stairs led to an open balcony on the second floor and there were several doors leading to adjoining rooms and halls.

  Bart, already in the guild hall, sat without an apparent care in the world making friendly conversation with a group of girls—another team—from an all-girls academy. Next to him was a long box with a strap attached to it, the box bore a mark of the Allston Trade Collective, his family's guild company, and he was propped up leaning against it.

  He'd returned to his smiling, charming self, although his swagger was still slightly stiff since he hadn't healed fully from the bout with the nightmare. The girls were laughing, and seemed to be enjoying the attention. Bart was completely oblivious to Rina as she marched up to him, with Lowell in tow. Rina proceeded to grab Bart by the shirt collar and dragged both Bart and Lowell off, a scowl on her face.

  Lowell exchanged a curious glance with Bart, who shrugged in response to Lowell's questioning look. "I don't know what's gotten into her," he mouthed silently.

  Finally Rina stopped, having found a quiet area of the main hall apart from the other guild academies. She was fuming and her expression dark.

  "What's gotten into you?" Lowell finally asked.

  Rina's anger flared, her cheeks flushing with indignation. "The headmaster is stacking the deck," she accused. "He wants Helena's team to succeed and ours to fail."

  Bart and Lowell looked at one another then back at Rina, still clueless.

  Just then they heard a door open from an interior room of the guild hall, exiting the room was Helena Oxford with a team of five or six others. Helena's team scanned the room with an air of confidence that made Rina's scowl deepen.

  "What's going on?" Lowell asked quietly.

  Bart studied Helena's group from afar as they found an area to make their perch. His voice dropped low. "It's Helena's team, and..." He paused and then nodded as if confirming it for himself. "Well, I think some of them might not even attend our school." He shook his head. "I'm not even sure that they're eligible to compete."

  Lowell watched Helena's team for a while, studying them. Bart's assessment could be accurate, Lowell thought. Several of the "students" looked older than a third-year, more experienced in the way they carried themselves. Probably still early in their career, Lowell guessed. There were a few new recruits in the Black Boars that carried themselves with the same confidence until they saw real combat.

  "Should we alert the judges?" Lowell asked, without taking his eyes from Helena's group.

  "No." Rina's answer was defiant. "No. We'll win despite the headmaster cheating."

  Lowell looked back to Rina and Bart. Rina's anger was still palpable, but it had transformed into a determination that was unmatched.

  In that same moment, Lowell's attention was drawn away from his team toward another school guild just arriving. They arrived in a group, joking with one another. Carefree and laid back. One of them broke away from the group to speak to the agent responsible for check-ins

  The recent arrivals were participants from Weston Guild Academy, by the patches on their uniforms. After checking in, they scanned the reception hall for a place to settle, waiting for the qualifiers to commence, and walked in the direction of Cross Company.

  The student in the lead caught Lowell's eye and raised a hand in a friendly wave, which Lowell awkwardly returned. A brief moment later one of the students broke away from the group of Weston Academy students and walked up to Lowell and the others.

  "Hi!" His excitement matched Rina's own level of anger. Neither Bart nor Rina had been paying attention to the arrival of the Weston students. "I'm Ryker! A first-year. We're trying to qualify for the Acadethalon for Weston—"

  "Weston Guild Academy." Lowell nodded.

  "Y-yeah!" Ryker's smile was sheepish and he rubbed the back of his head. "And you're from Orus Guild Academy, right? I mean, you are, but are you part of Helena Oxford's team?" He asked somewhat cautiously, having the presence of mind to notice that there was seemingly more than just a physical distance between the two teams from Orus Guild Academy.

  "No," Bart said, then he stopped. "I mean, yes." He thought for a moment. "Wait..."

  "What he means," Lowell interjected, "is that yes, we're from Orus but Orus is fielding two teams this year. We're one of the teams, Helena's is the other."

  "Ah." Ryker paused, considering the situation though he didn't really understand it.. "Well, if you're interested we're going to play a card game while we wait..."

  Bart perked up at that and immediately looked to the group of students. They had each pulled out a deck of cards and beginning to shuffle their decks. "You play Ydze?"

  Ryker nodded. "I play a Risk deck, you?"

  "Fortify." Bart said, producing a leather case from his satchel and shaking it. "Although, I've been building an Overrun/Risk deck, but haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet."

  "Want to come over?" Ryker asked, gesturing to his classmates.

  "Absolutely!" Bart said, beaming and began to follow.

  Lowell blinked, not having any idea as to what just happened. He looked to Rina who seemed to be happy to take her mind off of the situation with Helena Oxford for the moment and followed everyone over to the table that the Weston Guild Academy had claimed.

  Ydze, as Lowell learned, was a popular card game among the guild academy students. It was, for all intents and purposes, designed as a means of strengthening tactical reasoning in a fast paced and low-stakes environment. Players would pair up, or compete in a battle royale with decks of cards that they constructed. Most decks were built with certain themes to them: risk, overrun, fortify, among others.

  Lowell watched the first few turns of one of the games played by the Weston students, but still didn't quite grasp the rules of the game. He was, however, surprised to see that Bart was so invested in it. Bart seemed to have instantly befriended these other students. Not a surprise, Lowell thought, given Bart's nature.

  Rina was uninterested in the Ydze matches, her attention still focused on Helena's group.

  "I'm surprised not only to see Orus Guild Academy in qualifiers, but that Oxford is participating in a late qualifier." Another one of the Weston students said, sitting down next to Lowell. This snapped Rina's attention back to the group. "I'm Aleksie," he extended a hand to Lowell and Lowell grasped it with a firm shake.

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  "Lowell—"

  "The increasingly infamous Lowell Brandt." Aleksie grinned.

  "A lot of people seem to know my name."

  "And reputation." Aleksie nodded. "But I imagine that is something that is slowly becoming a bit of a legend in its own right. I'm glad to have the chance to meet you in person."

  Lowell looked skeptically at Aleksie. "Rina," he gestured to over to Rina "is our captain."

  "Ah, nice to meet you." Aleksie gave a wave that almost seemed like a salute in and of itself. "I'm the captain of this group, and a third-year. Can I ask, why two teams in the late qualifiers?"

  "It's a bit complicated," Lowell began, but was quickly cut off by Rina.

  "Orus Guild Academy hasn't participated in a while, but only wants to field a team that can win." Rina stated. She'd suppressed much of her anger but there was still a bitterness in her voice that was unmistakable. "As much as we're competing with the other academies," Rina glanced at Helena "we're also competing with our own school."

  There was a second or two of silence before Aleksie spoke up, offering an answer to a question that hadn't been asked. "Weston just didn't make the decision until last minute. This is my third, and final, chance at qualifying for the Acadethalon."

  "Third and final?" Lowell asked.

  "I'm a third-year," Aleksie looked back at his team, "I took over the school guild when my friend, and mentor, graduated last year and I really want us to place, for his legacy. Is this your first time entering?"

  Lowell and Rina both nodded.

  "Exciting!" Aleksie's smile was oddly comforting.

  "Do you think you'll qualify this year?" Rina asked.

  Aleksie's smile widened to a grin. "Not just qualify. We're going to win."

  Lowell sat quietly, listening to Aleksie and Rina's conversation. He contributed at most a few words here and there in response to prompts by Rina or questions from Aleksie. The two captains seemed to share an interest in all things Guilds. Aleksie's prior experience in qualifiers for the Acadethalon was of great interest to Rina, Lowell noted. She became so completely engrossed in talking with Aleksie that all traces of her previous frustration seemed to evaporate.

  The two shared some stories and reflected on the strengths of each of their teams. Though small, Rina pointed out that Lowell was their all-star, bringing martial and magical skill to the competition. After a brief interchange with Aleksie, Lowell conceded that while he had some magical talent, it was minor. Rina eventually conceded that they did lack a strong spellcaster.

  "And your other teammate?" Aleksie asked, looking over at Bart.

  Bart had been struggling to find a particular skill set that aided the team. Lowell was a strong swordsman, Rina was fast and excelled with daggers, thrown knives, and short blades. Bart, however, had little talent for weapons of any kind and his magical ability was, in Rina's estimation, practically nonexistent.

  Aleksie's team wasn't much larger, five students including Aleksie. Though they were more well rounded in terms of their skills. There were larger teams, granted, and the maximum number of participants in any match depended on the event itself. Some teams, like Cross Company, were limited in the events that they could participate in because of their small size.

  "I've heard that there's going to be a focus on the endurance run event in this year's late qualifiers." The topic of conversation changed, back to the Acadethalon itself.

  Rina perked up at Aleksie's comment. "I thought they didn't announce events until just before they started?"

  Aleksie shrugged. "Just something I heard. I also heard it was going to go through Sector 4 of Runis."

  "Sector 4!?" Rina almost shouted, surprised not just by the danger but by how easily Aleksie had learned about it. Aleksie gestured for her to settle down and keep her voice low. "Sector 4?" She asked again, this time in an almost hushed whisper.

  "What is Sector 4?" Lowell asked, looking confused. He still wasn't familiar with all of Dahncrest's boroughs. He knew Runis was still being reclaimed and dangerous, but beyond that he didn't know much about it.

  "Sector 4 was recently reclaimed, but still off limits except for authorized guilds. You hear a lot of rumors about Sector 4: it's haunted, that there's a Herald ruin being excavated, that it hasn't actually been cleared and that there's a hive of nightmares..." Rina began to trail off, looking to Aleksie.

  "Mostly rumors though. You can't pay any stock to them." Aleksie said dismissively. "Regardless, your captain here is right: Sector 4 is pretty locked down, most guilds working there are under strict contract not to discuss their work." He leaned backwards, his hands behind him supporting his weight. "I don't know about you, but I'm interested to know why Sector 4 was chosen."

  In their conversation, none of the three had noticed Helena approaching. She gave a cough immediately drawing their attention to her. Rina's expression turned sour again, almost instantly.

  "What do you want?" Rina couldn't hide her irritation.

  Helena regarded Rina opening her mouth to say something, but she caught herself. She then looked back to Lowell. "Can I speak with you for a moment?" There was a beat, then, she added "alone."

  Lowell nodded. "Sure."

  He knew that Rina wouldn't be happy and that he likely wouldn't hear the end of it. But, Lowell thought, now might be an opportunity to get Helena to acknowledge that the headmaster has been trying to fix the outcome of the qualifiers.

  They found a spot of relative privacy at a point about halfway between both of their teams. Helena stopped and spun around. "What is it, Helena?" Between Rina's focus on the Acadethalon and her recent bad temper, Lowell was already weary. He didn't need any additional complications from Helena Oxford.

  "Don't be rude." Helena scolded, before catching herself. Her tone softened. "I just wanted to..." She seemed uncomfortable and shifted her weight. "Well, I wanted to say that I never asked you to help me out the other day, but you did..." Lowell couldn't hide the surprised expression on his face. Helena's reaction should have been predictable as she slipped back to scolding him. "It was a dangerous thing to do, you should have waited for the instructors—"

  "There wasn't time." Lowell sighed. Always the same Helena, she couldn't come out and directly show her gratitude. "Look, it wasn't a big deal. You were in trouble, I acted."

  "It is a big deal." Helena stressed the present tense. "Whether I like it or not, I am indebted to you."

  "So?" Lowell looked at Helena's team, "why don't you come clean about your team over there?"

  This time Helena sighed. "I had no choice in this matter, Lowell. The headmaster told me that I would be leading a team in the late-qualifiers. The headmaster assembled this team and although they would normally be outside of regulations, he somehow managed to register them as members of Orus Guild Academy. I don't like it either."

  "Why don't you forfeit then?"

  "Because," her tone became exasperated as if giving a lecture to a child, "if you, myself, or anyone exposed the headmaster's meddling, not only would my team be disqualified, but Orus Guild Academy would receive a ban from participating again and Cross Company would also be disqualified as a result."

  Lowell hadn't anticipated the unexpected revelation that Orus Guild Academy had once been banned from competing in the Acadethalon. Nor had he expected Helena to show concern for anyone other than herself. As he processed this, trying to figure out how to respond, Helena continued speaking.

  "I didn't come over to talk to you about that though."

  Lowell waited, expectantly.

  Her lips tightened, irritated, as if the words tasted bitter. "I wanted to say... thank you." There was a pause just before the words "thank you". It wasn't long, but Lowell imagined it must have felt like an eternity to Helena. Expressing her gratitude had clearly made her uncomfortable but, Lowell could tell it had the weight of sincerity behind it.

  Lowell was taken aback by her words, feeling a twinge of awkwardness himself. In hindsight, Helena had probably telegraphed her motivation for wanting to speak to Lowell; in her body language, in how she spoke. In that moment though, Lowell hadn't noticed any of it. As such, when Helena thanked him, the look of surprise on his face was sudden and unmistakeable.

  "No need to thank me, Helena" Lowell replied, trying to play it cool. Helena's gaze seemed to bore into him, making him feel like he was under a microscope.

  Helena flushed red with embarrassment, that turned to an outburst of anger. "You are impossible, Lowell Brandt."

  Just then an announcement came over the comms system of the guild hall: "All teams, please gather for a briefing from the coordinators." The announcement was followed by some reminders about where teams should gather based on the number of members.

  Helena turned to walk back to her team, before pausing and turning back to Lowell. "Good luck. And, be careful. The Acadethalon, including the qualifiers, invite vicious competition—don't get too friendly with other teams."

  Rina had come to fetch Lowell, and overheard Helena's comment. "You're just being distrustful," the accusation sharp with anger. "After all, you're one to talk." Rina didn't have to say any more than that, Helena knew she was referring to the out-of-regulation team that she would be leading in the qualifying matches.

  "Just... just be careful, okay?" Helena said again, her expression turning cold before she spun and stormed off. Lowell watched her go, a growing sense of unease settling in his stomach. He exchanged a quick, apologetic glance with Rina.

  Aleksie and the other Weston students had already said their goodbyes and good lucks. Bart was waving to Ryker as he joined Lowell and Rina. "Nice guys," he said, smiling. "I didn't expect to get a game of Ydze in before the qualifiers, it was—" Rina's tension was still evident, "—hey Rina, you look worse than before, are you alright?"

  Rina simply shot a glare of daggers at Bart, and the conversation quickly changed. "Was that Helena you were chatting with? What did she want?" Bart asked Lowell. He knew it wouldn't improve Rina's disposition, but he was still curious.

  "She wanted to say 'thank you' for the other day in the courtyard." Lowell explained. He followed the movements of the Weston Guild Academy students with his eyes, observing that one of them broke off from the group again, making his way to the registration desk. "And to caution us against getting too friendly with other teams."

  "Which is ridiculous." Rina fumed. "Weston was nothing but pleasant and helpful. Though I wonder..." She paused midstride, causing Lowell and Bart to turn around. "How did they know about the events though, and especially about the endurance run?"

  There wasn't much time to consider it, one of the team coordinators saw them and motioned for them to come over.