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and the dean followed and the three of them put the office behind them.
    Once the door was closed, Marc let out a deep sigh. “Thank the Two Goddesses for midday meal. It will be a while before I have to go back in there.”
    Gib thought to smile, but all at once an arm closed around his shoulders and Liza was pulling him in close. He looked up at her, wondering why she was hugging him, but he should have known already. The look on her face caused a cold knot to form in his gut.
    “I have to go, Gib. I need to report in.”
    He grabbed her hand. “You have to go now? I mean, don’t you want to know where my room is? In case you should need to find me?”
    “I know where the new recruits’ wing is. I’ll come find you as I have time.”
    Gib swallowed. “Are you sure you know where to find me? You would have stayed in the girls’ wing, right?”
    She smiled and nodded as if to assure him but before she could say anything, Marc cut in. “Actually, I think I’m going to take him over to the eastern wing. There’s an older student there who has an empty bunk. This draft has filled my halls so full that I’m going to have to get creative.”
    Gib’s insides froze, but Liza smiled. “Eastern wing? That’s fine. I know where it is. I’ll come see you when time permits. Probably in the evenings, after dinner.” She hugged him again, squeezing him so tightly Gib found it hard to breathe. “You’ll do well, Gib,” Liza whispered into his ear. “You always have.”
    Gib wanted to say something—anything—but his voice had vanished. He managed a nod before Liza turned away, but not before her tears got the better of her. His sister all but ran down the corridor. He was comforted by having been witness to her tears. Liza’s grief made his tears more acceptable. Marc’s hand rested on Gib’s shoulder, and he allowed himself to be guided away.
 
     
    By the time they arrived at the room where Gib would live for the next two years, he’d been led through so many different corridors that he had no idea where he was or where he’d come from. He wasn’t even sure if he was in the same building anymore. Somewhere along the way, the grey limestone used to construct the walls near the front of the collegium had shifted to a pearly-colored marble. The arches in the doorways were also free of cracks and showed no sign of erosion, suggesting this section of the building had been erected much later.
    Marc must have noticed Gib eying the architecture as they walked, for the older man cleared his throat and struck up a conversation. “You lucked out, Gibben. This wing of Academy is a lot newer than the side my office is located on.” The dean’s voice seemed to boom after such a long period of silence.
    Gib wasn’t in the mood to chat, but he felt he owed it to Marc for being so kind. “Was this dormitory built recently?” Gib asked in a soft voice.
    “Recent by a historical standpoint, perhaps. I was a boy—younger than you are now, I would wager—when the late King Eitan Viran suggested the academy building at the time be expanded to include a larger dormitory so more trainees from outside the city walls might have a place to live while they studied in Silver.”
    “King Eitan was the ruler of Arden before King Rishi Radek?”
    Marc nodded. “Aye. His daughter, Jorja, who was queen until her death, married King Rishi, who has since been remarried to Dahlia Adelwijn. Anyway, after the plans were laid out, the dormitory was built over the next twenty wheelturns. When Eitan died, King Rishi made certain the project was not abandoned.” The dean rolled his eyes with distaste. “As you can probably imagine, the High Council balked about the additional expenses throughout the entire process, but—” He reached forward and touched his fingertips to the fine marble as he walked. “—I dare say it was worth every copper spent, if only to see the privileges of the few be extended to the less fortunate. Now we have