The following morning was mercifully quiet as Emray woke up, only to find that said mercy was because she’d fallen asleep at her workbench. Her gauntlet was still perched on its stand, glimmering in the pale white light of her work lamp. A smile worked its way across her sleepy face as she gave it a self-satisfied pat. Stretching out and cracking every vertebra in her spine as she did, she shuffled her way out of the lab and into the hallway to go get her uniform.

The bright, twinkling light of mid-morning shone in through the windows, causing Emray to wince in pain.

“I guess this is karma for last night,” Emray groused, remembering her altercation with the devil-girl. She felt that she should feel bad about all of what happened, but calling her future into question, invoking her family history, and then feigning ignorance like the bubble-headed nitwit she was made for a potent emotional cocktail.

Just as Emray considered the idea of apologizing to her another student came hurrying down the adjacent hall that connected the common area to the dormitories. She was a human with a plump figure and face, and the sash around her waist indicated that she was a second year. Emray couldn’t be bothered to remember her name, but the glint of recognition in her eye showed that she knew who Emray was.

“Oh, just who I needed to see,” the girl said.

“Don’t see why,” Emray replied with a yawn. “What for?”

“Professor Irhüm wants to see you, and he doesn’t seem too terribly pleased.”

Emray’s heart fell down into her stomach at the mention of the Headmaster. He was a mammoth of an orc and had more arcane power in his right tusk than his students and some of his Professors had in their entire bodies.

And his wrath was the stuff of legends.

“A-Are you sure it was Irhüm?” Emray asked, her sleepy state suddenly clarified into the sort of wakefulness that only came when you were horrendously late for a very important appointment.

“Dean Miriam sent me herself, said it was straight from his lips to her ears,” the plump girl confirmed. “Good luck in there.”

The second-year made her way past Emray with a conciliatory pat on the shoulder, but Emray was too numb to feel it. The whole world was falling away from her, leaving her alone on a slab of stone in the middle of a sea of pure terror.

Like a girl possessed Emray shuffled to the exit of the common area into the Tower rotunda itself. A few other students passed her by on the way to either breakfast or early classes, and their voices were like insects buzzing in her ear. A few shoved past her in her stupefied state, turned to look at her, and quickly resumed their business.

The trudge up the flights of stairs to get to the top floor was the single longest series of moments that Emray had ever felt. Every step clanked against her boots, the swish of her leather apron grated like glass on stone, and despite her best efforts every moment stretched seemingly endlessly until the next moment took its place all too rapidly. She felt like she was walking to her death, and she knew exactly why.

The door to Professor Irhüm’s arcanium was unassuming. No ornate decoration, no shifting colors, not even a placard. Just rough mahogany, iron hinges, and an iron door knocker. With a limp hand Emray banged the knocker twice, the sound far louder than it should’ve been.

The door swung slowly open with a sickening creak, revealing a room just a spartan in furnishings as the door that led to it. The stone of the walls was nicely polished, and there was an ornate rug with tribal markings on the floor, but other than that there was only a wood desk, a few bookcases stuffed full with literature, and a pair of chairs facing the scowling countenance of Professor Irhüm. The fact that Elifas was seated in one of the chairs only further clarified what was about to happen to Emray.

“Have a seat,” Irhüm ordered, his voice low and gravely with age but commanding immense respect nonetheless. Not wishing to incur more anger, Emray quickly did as she was bade. The door closed behind her as she did.

Emray cast a worried glance over to Elifas, who she just noticed had a fresh bandage across her left cheek. Emray couldn’t quite tell due to her lack of pupils, but Elifas seemed to be pointedly averting her gaze and was on the verge of tears.

“Emray Alvurshi, I’ve heard quite a troublesome story this morning, one that I was hoping you could elucidate for me,” Irhüm began. “You see, I was told that last night Elifas here was checking on you in your workshop, provided for your exclusive use at some cost to the Tower. Am I correct?”

Emray nodded her head shamefully, doing everything she could to avoid looking into his piercing yellow eyes.

“Answer the QUESTION! With WORDS!” Irhüm bellowed, the force of his voice blowing Emray’s shoulder length hair back.

“Y-Y-Yes sir, she did c-come to check on me last night,” Emray hastily answered, eyes now locked on her Headmaster. His green skin and tusks shone in the light of his oriculum lamps, and his eyes were just as soul-rending as she remembered.

“As she tells it,” Irhüm continued, “she was worried that you’d hurt yourself, and when that wasn’t the case you invited her in to show off your practicals submission. Some sort of enchanted glove, if I’m not mistaken?”

“A g-gauntlet, sir, but y—”

“You are in NO position to be correcting me!” Irhüm interjected. “This is not a discussion, this is an interrogation, and you will treat it as SUCH! Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir!” Emray answered, now on the verge of tears herself.

“Elifas seemed suitably impressed with your submission, and as she recalls she went into a trance as she looked over it. My own study of divination magic allowed me to pinpoint the cause of her trance to the gifts that her mother and grandmother had that she is attempting to hone, but apparently you are far too insensitive to the fickle nature of this branch of magic. Any guesses why, Ms. Alvurshi?”

“Because I struck her wh-while she was in the t-trance?” Emray answered at barely above a whisper.

“I can’t hear you!” Irhüm shouted.

“Because I slapped her when she brought up my parents and told me everything I’m working towards doesn’t matter! Is that what you want to hear?!” Emray hollered back, tears running down her face.

Irhüm slowly leaned back in his seat as Emray softly weeped. Elifas was practically trying to merge with her chair from fear, but as the tension in the room slowly abated she gingerly put a hand on Emray’s back. Emray was happy for the comfort, if almightily angry at the source.

“Well Elifas, does this match up?” Irhüm asked after a few minutes. Elifas nodded her head, to the Headmaster’s approval. With a creak of his chair Irhüm stood to his full seven-and-a-half foot height, the gray fuzz of his close cropped hair nearly touching the ceiling as he turned to face his bookshelves. Calmly he perused them before pulling one out and setting it on the desk. He shoved it towards Emray, a copy of ‘Divining and other Practical Applications of the Inner Eye’.

“You will not be submitting your practical this semester, Emray, as it is painfully obvious that you do not have the temperament nor the appropriate level of skill to advance to the second-year classes,” Irhüm stated with a surprising amount of restraint. “Next semester, in the spring, you will be placed in a remedial divination course alongside a repetition of your selected artificery and evocation coursework from the last year. Your lab access will be cut off effective immediately, and any projects worked on in there are forfeit to the Tower until such time as you prove worthy of having them back. Perhaps going through an entire year of study that you’ve already completed will give you some time to reflect on your failings while you gain a greater appreciation for the talents and travails of your fellow students.”

The tears stopped flowing down Emray’s face as Irhüm made his declaration, and before she could protest he put a hand up to silence her.

“Were it up to me I would have you expelled from my Tower,” Irhüm continued, “but given your current familial situation as well as a plea from your victim for clemency, I am instead giving you a chance to redeem yourself. Don’t make a fool out of me and make Elifas’ faith in you misplaced.”

The door slowly creaked open behind Emray, the only sound she could process save for the beating of her own heart.

“You are both dismissed. Enjoy the day off, and good luck on your practical, Elifas,” Irhüm finished before picking up the book on his desk and returning to work.

Emray shuffled out of the room with Elifas trailing a fair few feet behind. She gripped the railing at the edge of the stairwell, the cold iron bringing some sensation back into her body.

“I’m sorry Emray, but I had to do something,” Elifas said, her voice mewling and sad. “I really did beg him not to expel you, but I didn’t think your punishment would be so severe.”

Before she did something she would regret, Emray hurried her way down the stairs. The devil had ruined her life and Emray wanted to be as far away from her as possible