The fountain kept running.
Somewhere behind us a group of third-years went past arguing about a football result, and Anouz was saying something about the admissions building, and I stood there in the sunshine and felt the entire floor of my chest drop out.
A friend of mine wants to go here.
'So I'm going too.'
That's it. That's the whole reason. He isn't chasing rank, or training, or a guild contract, or any of the eleven strategic reasons a prodigy might enrol in a first-tier academy.
Vanessa said she wanted to go to an academy, and Christian told her it was pointless, and she nearly put him through a wall for it, and I told him he'd insulted her dreams.
And he listened.
