Room eighteen was small, but it had everything it needed.
A narrow bed stood against one wall, its blankets folded with sharp corners at the foot. Beside it was a small wooden table, with a chair tucked neatly underneath it. There was a wardrobe, and a storage chest at the end of the bed, and a single window looking out over the courtyard. The walls were pale stone. A small lamp glowed on the table.
It was nothing like his rooms at home. But everything in it was solid, and clean, and exactly where it ought to be.
Owen walked in and looked around.
He sat on the bed and bounced once, testing it. It was firmer than he was used to. He opened the wardrobe and the chest and looked at how much space there was. Then he went to the window and pushed it open, and the cool night air came in.
From below, he could hear more of the new cadets coming in through the courtyard, calling to each other, comparing room numbers.
He found that he didn’t mind the room at all.
After twelve hours in those grounds, and the creature, and everything that had come after, a quiet room with a door he could close sounded very good.
He sat down on the edge of the bed.
His thoughts went, inevitably, to the Infinite Arsenal.
Blades was finished. Firearms was open to him. And there was so much in it he hadn’t even looked at yet. Pistols. Shotguns. Everything he had scrolled past on that slope without a second glance. He wanted very much to open it and start going through it all.
Then he remembered the noise that rifle had made.
Summoning a gun in a stone building full of exhausted first-years, on their very first night, was about the worst idea he could think of.
It could wait until he found somewhere suitable. Somewhere a long way from anyone trying to sleep.
Someone knocked on the door.
Owen got up and opened it.
Elias was standing in the corridor.
"I’ve seen mine," he said. "It’s the same as this. Are you done settling in?"
"Are you planning on following me around all evening?"
"Not all evening. I haven’t even started exploring yet."
Down the corridor, a group of new cadets was passing on their way out.
"—serving a late meal in the dining hall, for everyone who sat the examination—"
"—hope there’s meat, I could eat a whole—"
Elias’s head snapped round.
"Food," he said.
Owen realised, all at once, that he hadn’t eaten anything properly in hours. He couldn’t actually remember the last time.
"I’m starving," Elias said. "I’ve been starving for hours."
Owen pulled the door shut behind him.
* * *
The dining hall was enormous and bright.
Long tables ran the length of it in rows, with benches on either side. High windows lined the walls, black now against the night, and Academy banners hung over the doors. The air was warm, heavy with the smell of roast meat and fresh bread.
The hall rang with the clatter of cutlery and the hum of a great many voices. Older cadets sat together at some of the tables, eating and talking. Others had clearly been set aside for the new arrivals, and kitchen staff stood behind the serving counters, ladling food out for the long queue of first-years who had come straight from the examination.
Elias looked at the food the way some people looked at a sunrise.
They filled their trays and turned to look for somewhere to sit.
"There," Elias said.
Eveline and Marianne were sitting at the end of one of the tables. Marianne saw them first and waved them over.
Elias didn’t need to be asked twice. Owen followed with his tray.
For the first time since they had woken in that field, none of them had to watch the trees. There were no scores to think about, and nothing coming for them. They simply ate.
"I can’t believe it’s actually over," Elias said, through a mouthful of bread.
"You seemed to enjoy it well enough," Marianne said. "Whenever you weren’t flying through the air."
"I could have done with fewer moments where I nearly died."
"How are you feeling?" Eveline asked him. "After the healers?"
"Sore," Elias admitted. "But much better than I was."
Owen looked at the two girls. They were trying to carry on as normal, but they couldn’t hide how tired they were. Marianne kept propping her chin in her hand, and Eveline had barely touched her food. Both of them had done what they could with their clothes, but there was still dirt ground into the cloth, and a dark smear across Marianne’s sleeve that might have been anything.
Gradually, the talk turned away from the forest. To the rooms, and the size of the place, and what the training might be like.
"I’m excited," Elias said. "I am. But I’m a bit nervous, too." He pushed a potato around his plate. "I got in. But everyone else out there had been hunting since they could walk. Half of them have families with soldiers to train them. I don’t want to spend three years just trying to keep up."
"That’s what we’re here for," Owen said. "To learn it."
"He’s right," Eveline said. "If we already knew everything, there’d be no point coming. We’re supposed to come out of here better than we went in, not just prove what we can already do."
"And if it were easy," Marianne said, "they wouldn’t need three years."
Elias looked at the three of them. Then he shrugged, and some of the worry eased out of his face. "When you put it like that."
"What about you?" Owen asked Eveline. "What do you want out of it?"
She considered the question.
"I want to be a good officer," she said. "Not just good at fighting. An officer has to make decisions for other people. Sometimes about whether they live. I want to learn how to do that properly." She turned her cup slowly in her fingers. "The strategy classes, the command training. That’s what I’m most looking forward to."
"I just want to fight better people," Marianne said cheerfully. "Proper opponents. I’ve been doing the same drills with the same spear-masters since I was eight. I want to find out what happens when I go up against someone who doesn’t fight the way I expect."
"What about you?" Eveline asked.
"The instructors," Owen said. "I want to learn from people who know more than I do. And work on my armament." He paused. "And I want to see what’s out there. Beyond the walls. Whenever they send us out."
"Expeditions," Marianne said. "Now that sounds fun."
"Says the girl who got stuck in a spider’s web," Elias said.
Marianne pointed her fork at him. "We don’t talk about that."
"And speaking of things we don’t talk about," she went on, "I hope you’re ready for your first inspection, Elias."
Elias groaned. "I was hoping I’d spend my mornings training, not worrying about whether my blankets have the right corners."
Owen laughed.
"Keeping your things in order isn’t so much to ask," Eveline said mildly. "Not for an officer."
"That’s easy for you to say. You probably fold your clothes for fun."
"I fold them because it’s sensible."
"See? Fun."
"I give it three days," Marianne said, "before Sergeant Shaw finds something growing in your room."
"Nothing is going to grow in my room."
"Two days, then."
"I don’t know," Owen said. "I’ve seen how he packs."
Elias turned to him in betrayal. "You haven’t seen how I pack!"
"I can guess."
Marianne burst out laughing, and even Eveline had to hide her smile behind her cup.
By the time they finished, the hall had begun to empty out around them. Cadets drifted off toward their quarters in twos and threes.
"We should probably go," Elias said, looking around. "Before Shaw catches us wandering about."
"It would be embarrassing," Marianne agreed, "to survive the whole examination and then get into trouble on the very first night."
"And we all need sleep," Eveline said. "After today."
They gathered up their trays and left together.
Outside, the lamps were still lit along the paths. It had grown colder, and most of the noise of the place had died away. There were still soldiers on duty, and a few older cadets crossing between the buildings, but everything felt slower now, and quieter.
Owen looked up at the halls as they walked.
He had spent all day fighting to get in here. And he had. Tomorrow, it was all going to start.
He found that he couldn’t wait.
* * *
They reached the place where the paths split, one toward the south wing, one toward the east.
"Good night," Eveline said.
"Night," Marianne said. She looked at Elias. "Good luck with the inspection."
"There isn’t even an inspection tomorrow!"
"That’s what you think."
Eveline smiled at the pair of them. "Come on, Marianne."
The girls went off toward the south wing, and Owen and Elias carried on toward the east building. Elias was talking about the long, low hall with the tall doors again, and what he thought it might be for.
"Owen."
Owen stopped.
He knew that voice.
He turned around.
Gareth was standing a little way off along the path, in his Academy uniform. Next to the dirty, torn clothes of the new arrivals, he looked every inch the senior cadet. Otherwise, he looked exactly the way he always did, tall and easy and sure of himself, with a familiar half-smile on his face.
"Gareth," Owen said, and grinned.
He hadn’t expected to see him tonight. Not this late.
Gareth came over and looked him up and down. His gaze stopped on the torn, bloodstained sleeve, and on the careful way Owen was still holding his side.
"Not even your first day," he said, "and you’ve already managed to find trouble."
"It found me."
Gareth laughed. But his eyes went straight back to the sleeve.
"How bad is it?"
"The healers have already treated it," Owen said. "I’m fine. Sore, that’s all."
Gareth studied his face, as though deciding whether to believe him.
"I heard," he said. "About the thing that got into the examination. And that you were the one who killed it." He paused. "I wanted to see you for myself."
Beside Owen, Elias had gone very quiet. He was watching with enormous interest.
"This is Elias Ward," Owen said. "Elias, this is my brother. Gareth."
"Gareth Ferrers," Elias said. "I’ve heard of you. Everyone’s heard of you." He held out his hand, and Gareth shook it.
"And how did you two end up together?"
"We met in the examination," Elias said. "Right at the start. I asked him to team up with me, and he said no straight away. Didn’t even think about it."
"We weren’t a team," Owen said.
"We fought together all day."
"You followed me all day."
"Same thing."
Gareth looked from one of them to the other. Owen could see he was enjoying this far too much.
"Well," Gareth said. "You’ve made a friend fast. That’s not like you."
Owen didn’t argue. There didn’t seem much point.
"So," Gareth said. "What do you think of the place so far?"
"I’ve barely seen any of it," Owen said. "But I’m looking forward to starting."
"You’ve seen almost nothing," Gareth said. "Once your induction’s done and you’ve got some time, I’ll show you around properly. There’s a lot here worth knowing about."
"I’d like that."
Gareth smiled. And then his face softened, just slightly.
"I’m glad you got in," he said. "Really. It’ll be good, having you here." Then the grin came back. "Though I should warn you. The examination was the easy part."
"The easy part?" Elias said. "Is the training really that bad?"
Gareth looked at him, and kept looking at him, without saying anything at all, for long enough that Elias began to look slightly worried.
"You’ll find out," he said.
Elias swallowed.
Owen had to look away to keep from laughing.
"It’s late," Gareth said. "Go and get some sleep, both of you. Induction comes round fast. And the Academy doesn’t care how tired you are from the examination. It won’t go easy on you because of it."
"I know," Owen said.
"Good." Gareth clapped him lightly on his good shoulder. "I’ll see you soon."
He turned and walked off toward the senior residences.
Owen and Elias went on toward the east building.
"So what is he actually like?" Elias said, almost as soon as Gareth was out of earshot. "When he isn’t being a terrifying third-year?"
"Mostly like that," Owen said. "Just more annoying."
Elias laughed. They came into the corridor, and Elias stopped at his own door.
"Good night," he said. "Try not to fight any more monsters before morning."
"I’ll do my best."
Owen let himself into room eighteen and closed the door.
He stood still in the quiet. Then he crossed to the window and looked out at the courtyard, at the lamps glowing in the dark.
He had got in. He had people here he liked. And Gareth was here, too.
Tomorrow, he would find out what it really meant to be a cadet at the Imperial Military Academy.