The clamoring echoes of the sigil station were jarring to the ear, but that clamor wasn't what made Olivia flinch.

She hadn't been in a hall like this in a year, now. It wasn't like she had avoided crowds, and the sensory assault that came with them, in the time since she left Elliven, but they had been different.

Stifling taverns, stuffed full with people until all their noises blended into a single continuous roar. Packed markets, where the random density of moving people turned the crowd's noise into an ever-changing flow, like a river with random bits of white water. Barracks and offices where every one of a thousand different sounds had a clearly defined purpose, creating a discordant orchestra.

All of them were, in their own ways, the sounds of the common people. Of real people.

The sigil station though, with its abundance of empty space, was designed to turn even the quietest of words into an echo, making every sound impossible to ignore. It was the sound wealth, of prestige, of aristocracy. Only nobles could afford to waste that much hard stone and open air, and they seemed to go out of their way to do it whenever they could. Dueling halls, meeting halls, dining halls, greeting halls–nobles loved their big, echoing halls.

The sigil station sounded like everything she was terrified to confront on her return to Elliven.

"We have the delight of living in unprecedented times."

Adeline's words broke Olivia out of her reverie, and she realized the rest of the group had started moving. Olivia took a step after them–and Allana suddenly slipped an arm around her shoulders.

"Cheer up," the rogue told her. "Just think, if some goldshit tries to bother you, we'll be there to help!"

Olivia had to admit that the idea of an arrogant noble trying to snub the blunt, forceful rogue could be entertaining.

Or it could get her arrested. It was hard to say, with Allana.

The sigil platform itself was what Olivia had expected. She had never actually travelled by one–the Dennan family had barely been able to afford to send Arthur by sigil, much less any of his children–but she had heard plenty about it.

Two of the interior chamber's eight walls held an entrance, each with heavy stone doors that were barred whenever a sigil mage was working their magic. The other six each held a complex geometrical design, so winding and convoluted that even a brief glance at one gave Oli a small headache.

The sigil patterns didn't strictly fit into reality the way they were supposed to, existing in both physical and magical planes of reality simultaneously. Olivia didn't get how it worked, but she knew better than to spend too long studying them.

Cadence learned the same lesson the hard way, as she abruptly winced and wobbled in place a little bit, forcing her eyes shut to avoid looking at the sigils any further. Tenebres, on the other hand, seemed unperturbed, studying one of the other patterns with an intent frown.

"Alright," a voice suddenly declared, "let's get this over with!"

The voice preceded a man walking briskly into the room, dressed in the close-fitting, dark blue robes of a sigil mage–although Olivia didn't know what to make of the golden embellishments on the robe.

The sigil mage was on the far-side of middle age, with short gray hair that matched the neatly trimmed beard that lined his bony jaw. "Adeline Argent plus four others, good, that's everyone. Why are my doors still open?"

Olivia blinked, as surprised by the man's quick, energetic instructions as, apparently, the station workers were. Another pair of large guardsmen moved to quickly close one set of stone doors, barring them with an echoing boom before they hurried to the other side of the sigil platform to complete the process.

The sigil mage sighed, and Adeline smiled at him briefly. "They pried you out of Arsilet for this, Renault?"

"For extended duty in Elliven," the man told her, his face pinching with distaste at the words. "I have to spend a month enjoying the rural accommodations of these nowhere cities before I can return to the Disc."

"What a shame," Adeline said, her broad smile belying the words.

"Maybe not to you, dear girl, but some of us require certain comf-" Another boom signalled the barring of the second pair of doors, and Renault immediately changed subjects with a clap of his hands. "About time!"

The older man pointed at one wall, and the pattern there abruptly began to glow, outlining what Olivia expected was a perfect match for the sigil that suddenly flared to life in the floor under their feet.

Allana and Cadence jumped, while Tenebres calmly turned his attention downwards, examining the newly apparent sigil, which was now glowing with a blue light that almost precisely matched Renault's robes.

"Brace yourselves," Adeline said in warning.

Olivia swallowed, unsure of what she was supposed to be bracing herself for, and then Renault pointed at another sigil, along the opposite wall and–

Something happened. Olivia wasn't entirely sure of what. But there was an odd sense to it, a lurch like the kind you have when you stumble in a dream and suddenly start awake.

Below them, the pattern beneath them began to fade, and Olivia had just enough time to notice that it seemed to be different than it had been before, then it was gone.

"Well?" Olivia asked. "What happened?"

Renault clapped his hands together a couple times, as if dusting them off. "What do you mean?" he asked. "We're here."

"I-impossible…" Tenebres muttered. Olivia looked over at him, and was surprised to see that, while Allana and Cadence looked as bemused as Olivia felt, Tenebres was downright disconcerted, something very close to panic apparent on his face.

"Mage gifted?" Renault asked him.

Tenebres blinked, his face stricken, and he nodded dumbly.

"The first time's like that," the man said simply. He rested a hand on Tenebres's shoulder–and then turned to walk away. "You'll get used to it!" he called over his shoulder.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Olivia blinked, and was surprised to find the doors of the platform had already been opened, at the same time, by two men stationed at each set of doors.

None of them were the two that had barred the doors in Correnty.

"Wait, that's it?" Olivia asked.

"That's it," Adeline confirmed. "Welcome to Elliven, everyone."

#

Fifteen minutes later, Olivia, surrounded by her friends, was walking down the streets of Elliven for the first time in a year. Almost exactly, in fact–as much as it felt like a lifetime ago, her trial duel had been on the first day of spring, the year before. It had taken nearly a week for Adeline and Oli to settle Oli's affairs, plan a course, equip her, and set out for Correntry.

And now, they had left Valley Hearth on the first day of spring this year. It had taken nearly a week to travel from the Valley back to Correntry… It was very possible that it had been exactly a year since she stood in this very spot.

Coincidence, Olivia wondered, or fate?

"It's beautiful," Cadence said. The celestial's words were breathless with awe as she took in the sights of Elliven. Tenebres seemed equally intrigued, studying the stones of the street with an oddly puzzled look.

Even Olivia had to admit that the celestial wasn't wrong. The city's center, the mansion district surrounding High Castle, was heavily constructed with blueridge marble, a variety of stone common to the area. Stark white, polished to a brilliant sheen, and shot through with veins of pale blue, Elliven was beautiful.

But Oli had seen too much of what that beauty hid to be all too impressed by it, the way her friends were. She saw the marble facade for what it was–a set piece masking the truth of a city founded on blood and ambition.

"Where is it we're going?" Allana asked. At least the rogue seemed as unimpressed by the city as Elliven. It was possible, given her background, that Allana might be as jaded to the wonders of Elliven than Oli, if not more so.

"There is an inn not far from here that has an arrangement with the Argent Order," Olivia explained. "I stayed there with Adeline after I first left my family."

Adeline herself had taken her leave of the foursome shortly after they left the sigil station. The knight-gallant planned to go to Highcastle in hopes of connecting with Kenton and her other allies in the city. She had been kind enough to give Olivia the excuse of taking the others to the inn, rather than making her face the High Court immediately.

And yet, that mercy didn't seem like it was going to last as long as she hoped.

"Oh Rogue, look at these three," Allana muttered. She was close enough to Olivia that she doubted any of the others could've heard her.

There were, indeed, three gifted walking down the center of the avenue ahead of them, in their direction. Their arms and armor declared them sentinels, and their comfortable swagger announced them as nobles. A dangerous combination, and one that had everyone on the street scrambling out of their way.

Everyone except for Olivia and her friends.

Fantastic.

"Well, well, well, look at these four!" the man in the center called out loudly as he approached. "New sentinels, I assume?"

"And pretty ones at that," the larger man, walking to the left of the group, added, loudly enough for his words to carry to them.

The woman on the right laughed, and drawled, "Mmm, we were looking for some company for the evening, weren't we Allid?"

Olivia's heart stopped, as the three noble sentinels finally got close enough for her to make out their features and confirm that, yes, that man in the middle, with his broad shoulders and lean build, with his golden-bronze skin and hair like spools of golden thread, really was Allid Gerrot.

She had been back in Elliven for less than an hour, and she had already found herself running right into the living embodiment of everything she hated about Elliven.

To either side of him were two nobles around Olivia's general age. Olivia vaguely recognized them. The girl to the right, with that long black hair streaked with blonde, was Kali something, Carli, Callis, that was it! Callis Venas. And the big man, with the brick jaw and no neck, was Slate Marst.

The trio finally reached Olivia and her friends, and Allid came to a stop with a cocky smirk had probably thought was disarming, his hands on his hips, showing off his broad shoulders and powerful frame.

"Well?" Allid asked. "How about it, new blood? Interested in an evening with the best cadre in the Arboreal Wastes?"

Olivia felt her hands ball into fists, and some distant part of her brain realized that it was all too likely she was about to punch the son of Elliven's most powerful noble in the face.

But this time, Olivia had her friends with her.

"Sorry," Allana said, her voice dripping with venomous sincerity, "but we're going to have to pass. We've got plenty to occupy us tonight already." The rogue slid an arm around Olivia's shoulder, and while that sort of suggestiveness from the girl normally would've turned Olivia into a blushing mess, today she found herself standing straighter, a small smile coming to her own face as the gorgeous wraith all but hung off of her.

Allid's gaze flicked between the two, and his eyes started to heat by degrees. "Are you serious?" he asked. "Do you know the chance I'm offering you?"

"I don't know how we'll recover from missing the opportunity to have an oily noble drip all over us for the night, but I think we'll get by," Tenebres said dryly. He didn't even look at Allid when he said it, instead looking around as if he had been making a general observation about the weather.

"We said we're all set," Cadence said. The celestial started moving, purposefully pushing past Allid as she did–and then Slate stepped right into her path.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" Callis asked. The girl had folded her arms under her chest, in a position that left her hands scant inches from her sheathed swords.

"Of course we do," Allana replied easily. "They have a picture of you in the sigil station, labelled 'Warning: Disappointing Date.'"

"Move out of the way, Allid," Olivia finally said through gritted teeth, her first contribution to the conversation.

"So you do know who you're talking to then!" Allid said, spinning on Olivia. "Maybe I don't like the way you're talking to me, commoner." As he spoke, the boy lifted an empty hand, his fingers curled loosely. An innocent enough gesture to most people, but given Allid's ensouled weapon, it was an obvious threat.

Around Olivia, the air practically boiled with violence. She didn't have to look to know that Tenebres would be prepping his magic, and Cadence's hands had slid towards her belt in the course of the confrontation, even as Slate had reached for the massive axe along his back.

Olivia twitched her lips in a grim smile. "Then I'd tell you that you're picking a bad fight."

"Agreed," Allana said, from right behind Allid.

The noble jumped and spun around, and his right hand was suddenly wrapped around the hilt of an ornate golden rapier.

Allana already had her daggers ready as Allid fell into a dueling stance, and Olivia reached for her sword while Tenebres started chanting behind him.

And then a voice barked out, "Are you kidding me, Allid!?"

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