I was tempted to immediately start looking for the assassin, but I restrained myself. If I wanted to sell the idea that his memory alteration had worked, then I needed to act as if I had no idea that this had happened at all – at least, not until I found Yushin and could talk to her about it.

So, thoughts racing, I continued picking my way to domestic magic, running my regeneration techniques. I was so lost in thought that I very nearly missed the classroom, walking right by the grand observatory.

In my defense, despite the name, the map's marking was quite small, only painted as a simple shack. Sure enough, a ways past the shadesilk forest and close to the snapping gardens, in an area of the school I'd never been to before, was the observatory.

It didn't look like much. It was roughly the size of a latrine tent, made of wood with peeling white paint and rusted nails. The words 'grand observatory' were lettered above the door in black ink, faded away with time.

When I stepped through, however, it was an entirely different story. At this point, I wasn't surprised at space being bent at this school, but not being surprised did not mean I was any less impressed by it.

I was in a small vestibule, which led out into a massive, circular room, with fine marble tiled flooring and a ceiling so high that an ember-roc would have been able to fly about within. The roof was covered in runes, and had a series of seams that seemed to suggest that the stone could be pulled back, to let the telescope view the sky.

In the center of the room was a telescope that was as tall as a two story house, surrounded by a baker's dozen of different crystals and other apparatuses that ranged from the size of my torso to bigger than a horse. A couple of students were working on it, polishing lenses doing maintenance on the telescope, and bustling through the additional rooms that were located all around the outer edge of the circle, much like the entry vestibule was. Each door was labeled with neat gold printing to indicate classrooms, study rooms, laboratories, affinity experimenting rooms, supply storage, and more.

I started to pace around the edge of the room, finally letting myself relax. While technically it was possible that the assassin could pop back up and attack me, despite everyone else around, I didn't think it was all that likely for multiple reasons. Eventually I found room one-oh-four and stepped inside.

The interior of the classroom wasn't quite like any of the other classrooms that I'd been in before. While professor Gemheart's had been a laboratory with long black tables, Caeruleum's had been a normal classroom with extra space for practice mats, and Toadweather had hosted it in a ballroom, this one was more like a weird fusion of a common room and a half dozen kitchens.

A fireplace with a cheerfully burning bonfire dominated one end of the room, complete with a blackboard set over top of it. All around the fire were large, plushy, almost overstuffed chairs. On the other end of the room, however, there was what seemed like a fusion of ten miniature kitchens and a woodworking shop.

The professor, a tall, willowy man with bright green hair and glowing purple eyes, who smelled of pain and suffering, approached, extending a hand. Apart from his hair, eyes, and scent, he looked like an ordinary human.

"Welcome to my class," he said, then gestured to a chair after I shook his hand. "Please take a seat."

I glanced at the two students already in chairs, and waved to Kybar, the tall minotaur student from one of the central holds of Cendel. The other one, I didn't recognize – Salem wasn't here yet.

"I'm going to wait a moment, if you don't mind?" I asked. The professor nodded and returned to his chair, while I loitered by the door, keeping an eye on the entry vestibule. When I spotted Salem enter, I rushed over. He looked up and blinked.

"Are ya' okay? Ya' been in a figh' or somethin? Ya' don't look righ'."

I waved my wand and muttered a few words, letting the hidden conversation spell settle in around us. Salem's eyebrows rose, and he drew his own wand, flicking it and murmuring a brief incantation as well, connecting our minds together. It bumped against my mental shielding, and I let the spell pass through. An instant later, Salem's voice echoed in my mind, despite his lips not moving.

"Wha' happened?"

I flushed a little around my neck as I realized my hidden conversation spell, while great for concealing casual conversation, probably hadn't been needed when talking to a psychic.

"I was attacked on the way here by someone looking for Yushin," I responded, focusing on the words and pushing them along the mind bridge. I went through the tale, describing how the half-demon had been equipped with an incredibly powerful artifact, one too strong for him to properly command.

Salem listened, asking occasional questions, and his face started to go ashen – an impressive feat, considering his fair skin. He fiddled with one of his silver earrings, then shook his head.

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"Glad ya' said somethin'. The fact that they wen' after you jus' cuz Shé Rui was in the box prolly means they'll go after the others too – Me, Jackson, Charm an' Fable, maybe even the professors."

I imagined one of the Divine King's shadow assassins trying to contain one of my mentors the same way they'd contained me, and my brain short circuited at the very idea. Caeruleum had been able to lock down an entire arena with their affinity, professor Toadweather had found a battle against dozens of deadly demons to be funny, Fable had been able to open portals that the demons couldn't pass through with the wave of his hand, and Charm had been capable of slicing through demons with a single note.

"I don't think we need to worry about the professors, Charm, or Fable," I said. "But yeah, we need to warn Jackson and Yushin. Maybe tell the professors and my employers as well, just in case. I don't want them trying to wreck the shop for petty reasons."

Salem shivered and shook his head.

"Don' think they can get inta' the Charm and Fable Spellshop with malicious intent, but aye, it's a good idea."

"Why are you so freaked out by that place? It's really not that bad. Sure, the incense is a little strong, bu–"

My question was cut off by the professor who smelled of suffering sticking his head out and waving to us.

"Gentleman, our class is beginning."

The mind bridge disconnected, and Salem spoke aloud.

"We can finish talkin' later."

We both headed into the classroom and settled down into the chairs, where the multicolored professor began passing out a syllabus to everyone.

"Since we only have a single summer semester, instead of an entire year, I'm afraid much of the work that we're doing is going to have to be cut down to the bone, rather than in depth studies," he said, "But before we delve into the spells you'll be learning this year, how about we go into why domestic magic is offered as a course?"

He paused, waiting for an answer, and Kybar hesitantly raised a hand.

"Is it to make our lives easier? I know my mother used the clean spell just about every day back home."

I sat bolt upright. There was a spell to clean things? I'd seen the spell to summon a cleaning spirit, but it still took time and manually cleaned things – it didn't just magically wash clothes, or anything of the sort.

"That is part of it," the professor agreed. "Indeed, clean is one of the first spells we'll be focusing on in this course. It really is a masterful bit of first circle spell engineering. But I don't believe that Magyk gave us magic as we know it in order to be purely self serving. Any other guesses?"

There were a few beats of silence before he continued.

"Many of the spells in this course can be used on, or even given to, other people. The fertility rite ritual, for example, can be used as a form of birth control or as a guarantor of pregnancy, and is an incredibly cheap ritual. The chill chest imbuement draws on ambient ether to chill a chest and its contents. The ward from disease spell can protect an entire household from diseases, and can be used with permanency."

"Even the worst wizard to go here, one who flunks out of their first year, is still going to be capable of casting third circle spells just to get in," I said, the words coming from somewhere inside me that I didn't know. "They're going to have power, especially in regions with low ether, or where resources are distributed poorly. We have power, and the responsibility to use it well."

I could imagine Yushin disagreeing with that sentiment, but I felt like Jackson embodied the ideal better than I did. It was a good ideal to try and live up to, even if I couldn't match it fully.

"Yes – those who use their magic only to enrich themselves and make their lives easier, and never do it for others are much more likely to fall to the Creep. Now, I'm not saying that you need to dedicate everything to others. But it's a good thing to remember that if you move to, say, Summerbone, selling a few dozen chill chest imbuements at cost to the people around you might only cost you some ether and time, but it can be lifesaving to those who struggle to store food."

I nodded my agreement – when a harvest went poorly in white sands, people had to store food, and though that was often done via pickling or saltpacking, not everything could be stored. More than a few times people had to gorge themselves on dairy goods, simply because it would spoil in the hot sun soon. A chest like that could help those who weren't able to afford the time and expense of digging out a full cellar.

Salem leaned forward, clearly also interested in the philosophy of the sad professor. I smiled, trying to hide it behind my syllabus. It was cute to see him intently focused on the words, eyes flicking around as he thought.

"Uh, professor?" one of the students, a first year who must have just started, said. "What's your name?"

I blinked and flicked through my memories. Had he really not said?

"I don't have one anymore," the man said, sighing. "And it's not so easy to get a new one, not one that sticks. So far, 'professor' is the only thing that seems to stick around."

"Ah," Salem said. "Los' it to a faerie, then? Think i's worth lookin' at Gallidie's Book a' Name Magics."

"I read it already," the professor said irritably. "And anyhow, this is off topic. There will be a handful of other spells that we'll be learning, outside of the fertility rite and chill chest."

He waved his hand and began to draw spells out on the board.

"A handful of cantrips, but you won't be tested on those. They take up three months of the full course, but since we're on such a condensed time frame, we're mostly skipping them. This is for your reference. Clean is going to be where we start, before moving to the sticking charm and the rite."

I scrambled for loose paper in my Etherius locker and began to write out the cantrips he'd put up on the board, since even if they weren't powerful and he hadn't told us what they were, I wasn't planning on losing access to them just because I wasn't fast enough.

"Then we move onto second circle with the cure hangover spell – a favorite of most who take the course – and the chill chest. In the full course, we'd also cover the calefaction chest, but it's less important. Any fire can cook food. So we're skipping it. Finally, we're going to cap off our semester with the third circle ward from disease. Now, let's turn our attention to Clean. As you can see, it's an incredibly complex spell, almost as complex as many third circle spells, despite only being first circle. If you look in…"

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