Adventurer’s academies had certainly existed throughout the history of the land of Aeritelles. A favorite amongst the wealthy - the laws of many a land made it profitable to fund academies and public services such as these - and amongst the heroes of legend - they had to do something once saving the world at least once, after all - these establishments drew interest from far and wide to all of those who had dreams of something greater - as long as they had the money. However, by the beginning of the Fourth Age of the Divine Lady Monlejn, the noble role of “adventurer” had been in decline, and as such, only three adventurer’s academies remained.

Of these, the Republican Council’s Academy in the Republic of Orrhidell was perhaps the most prosperous. Using its position as a neutral republic nested within the mountains of the Traellen Ridge, Orrhidell was able to be a hub for trade, attracting wealth from the richest trading guilds in south-west Aeritelles. Much of that wealth was then redirected into the Republican Council’s Academy, where many a wayward or otherwise unruly mercantile youth would be sent, partially because it offered good education, and partially because it was an effective way to get rid of any offspring that had reached adulthood, but wouldn’t be sufficiently contributing to their home guild.

One such offspring was Lennha Oernhiss. While the Oernhiss family ruled the largest banking guild in Liellhen, the guildmaster struggled to find their eldest daughter a suitable candidate for marriage amongst the guilds in neighboring lands, and decided that it was for the best if they simply shunted her off to the adventurer’s academy. Perhaps there she could learn a thing or two that could be of use to someone, they hoped. And thus, two years ago, Lennha’s suffering as a cleric had begun.

—

For most students, the end of a semester heralded joy and celebration. The small breaks between semesters allowed for a variety of activities and fun - whether it was visiting family or hanging out with friends, these few weeks were a time to be enjoyed. However, before the semester could truly end, the final practicums served as one last barrier. An exciting test of physical and mental capability, it served as a way for the academy to determine the students’ capabilities - and thus the curriculum for the next semester - while giving the students a chance to have the fun and thrill of battle in a controlled setting. But for Lennha, it was far from exciting. She’d been underperforming as a cleric for some time, and these only served to remind her of her shortcomings. And, as it would happen, today marked the final practicum for her fourth semester.

—

Finishing his end-of-semester announcements, Headmaster Knoellan spoke above the training grounds. “...and now we shall begin the battles for the Fourth-Terms. Teams Ecclesia and Reidhi, take your places.”

The six competitors walked to their set starting positions in the training ground. Notably, the grounds had been renovated by the academy’s higher staff earlier that morning so as to give it a new layout for the day’s examinations. Adaptability to new situations was part of the exam, after all. Once they had all taken their places, the Headmaster’s booming voice began once more.

 “Teams Ecclesia and Reidhi - are you ready to begin your practicum final? Remember, this is not a battle to the death, but a way to showcase your skills - both as an individual and as a team - so while you may want to go all out, try to have mercy towards your opponents. Please. Every year someone tries to be a hero, and that never ends well for them - or their victim. All you have to do is keep an engaging battle going for a half-hour. Don’t over-exert yourselves, just do as much as you are capable of. Now that you are all ready, we shall begin in…”

“Three!”

Lennha turned to her right to look at her fellow members of her team - team Ecclesia.

Next to her, Maelsz the druid was staring forward through his long red hair, probably in focus. His off-hand fell to his side, stroking his wolf companion’s fur. Lennha thought she could detect a slight worried shake in her elven teammate’s stance, but it was hard to tell. He was quiet at the rowdiest of times, and she found his usual blank stare impossible to read. Frankly, he unnerved Lennha a little.

“Two!”

Beside Maelsz knelt Sjorrhan, their paladin, deep in prayer to Divine Lady Monlejn - the head goddess of the Age, and patron goddess to most divine adventurers that passed through the RCA. Someone from an older Age might have found this sight funny - after all, a half-chthonian praying to a Divine Being of Good would’ve been quite novel when conflict between the races of Aeritelles was commonplace. But, those days were long gone, and conflict between various lands was far more common than conflict between, say, humanity and the elves.

In contrast to their druid, Sjorrhan wore her emotions on her sleeve. Impassioned and bold, she was the spirit of the team. And yet, Lennha had never seen her show any fear or anxiety. She wondered how much of it was an act, and how much was real. Still, the energy was appreciated, and it got the team through many a tough time.

“One!”

As for Lennha, the poor, frail human girl was sweating under her half-plate armor, the wooden shield she held to her chest felt heavy as her muscles twitched with dread, and her left arm shook as she clenched her scimitar - the divine weapon of Monlejn, not that that divine favoritism did her much. She tried to give a weak prayer to her patron goddess, but she felt no better. She often wondered if Monlejn even heard her pathetic pleas.

“Begin!”

Thunder boomed from nearby and jets of flame erupted into the sky from the sidelines. The competing parties rushed into position as they approached each other for battle.

Team Ecclesia took a single-file approach towards Team Reidhi. Lennha took the front of the group - much to her dismay - as her armor gave the most protection. Sjorrhan was next, as her greatsword had the reach to get around Lennha. And Maelsz held the rear, with his wolf at his side. He was frail, but his ranged spells and darts could cover the distance from afar. As they approached Reidhi’s formation, they found them in an inverse triangle backed against a dense grove of trees. A lean and moderately toned unarmed human fighter held the front to Ecclesia’s left, while an intimidatingly-muscular half-orc barbarian with a greataxe held the front on the right. An elven rogue lurked behind them, her cloak and hood obscuring all but the glint of her blue eyes, her ears, and a few strands of silver hair flowing about.

Lennha only felt a moment of anticipatory fear before she felt the whoosh of a greataxe to her right. Thankfully, he had missed. She shuddered to think of what could’ve happened if he hit. Another gust to her right, as a dart from Maelsz soared past her ear snapped her to attention, and she quickly drew her scimitar.

The dart hit its mark, causing the barbarian to stagger back, which Sjorrhan took as an opportunity to strike with her greatsword - resulting in another square hit. With this, the linear formation of team Ecclesia split - Sjorrhan heading right to deal with the barbarian, while Maelsz jumped back to command his wolf to engage the fighter. Although the wolf attempted a few lunging bites, the fighter proved too nimble, and was able to sidestep and outmaneuver each, using these dodges to get closer to an unsuspecting Lennha, whose attention was fully on the barbarian. Lennha had let loose a few wild slashes at him, but her technique was lacking and predictable, and the barbarian was able to use the head of his greataxe to deflect her blows with relative ease. Despite the two direct blows from earlier, he seemed hardly bothered, an intimidating thought to Lennha as she backed up from the recoil of each blocked slash.

Suddenly, Lennha felt a push from the side as the opposing fighter gave an unarmed strike. It didn’t hurt much, but was enough to push her off-balance, an opportunity that the barbarian took to bash her with his axe, which did hurt. Quite a bit, even. Before she could think, Lennha found herself lying on the ground, surrounded by two far stronger opponents. It seemed like she might soon be out of the battle, but the duo from team Reidhi quickly turned around as they were engaged by Maelsz’s wolf and Sjorrhan’s greatsword, locked in the heat of battle once more.

Lennha tried to cure her light wounds, but she found herself unable to connect with her magical abilities. She just couldn’t channel the power of Monlejn when she needed her.

“Sjorrhan!” Lennha shouted. “I’ll try to cover for you! Heal me!”

Lennha slowly brought herself to her feet, encumbered by her heavy armor - too heavy for her strength. Seeing that her teammate was once again on her feet, Sjorrhan changed her grip on her blade, using it to shove the barbarian back - right into a weak blow from Lennha. The paladin took this to rush forth and lay her hands on the cleric, channeling divine energy towards her bruised flesh.

As Lennha felt the soothing divinity flow through her, loud rustling came from their side, and a wave of grass, weeds, and vines emerged from the earth. It rushed towards her and Sjorrhan, but stopped just short - enough to entangle the opposing barbarian and fighter, who had been rushing towards the women of team Ecclesia.

They turned their heads to see Maelsz emerge from the forest nearby - just in time for him to topple over, knife in his back. Lennha and Sjorrhan looked at each other in horror.

“The rogue!” They exclaimed in unison.

Sure enough, the elven rogue from team Reidhi emerged from the forest a moment later, delivering a series of dagger swipes to Maelsz’s prone body. His teammates tried to rush to his side, but they found the barbarian and fighter upon themselves once more.

“Go! I can’t cast stabilize, and my healing needs to recharge for a bit!” Sjorrhan yelled. “I’ll hold them off until you can get back!”

Lennha rushed to her friend’s side, and found him far more wounded than she’d expected. It seemed he’d been fighting off the rogue in the woods for longer than she thought. Plus, commanding his wolf to engage the fighter… he was surely overexerted. She began to try to cast stabilize. Nothing. Again, stabilize. Still nothing. It didn’t require much magical ability, but she was unable to even cast a cantrip after two years. A thought came to her - she didn’t know where the rogue went. Despair set in. Stabilize. Nothing.

Then, a cry from behind. Sjorrhan. Lennha turned quick enough to see her teammate fall to the ground, severely hurt by the tag-team of Reidhi’s fighter and barbarian, who were grinning viciously. As they began to charge toward to the last functioning member of team Ecclesia, thunder struck once more, and flames erupted from the sidelines afar.

“Stop!” Headmaster Knoellan’s voice rang across the grounds. “Team Ecclesia is too wounded to continue. We have to pre-emptively stop the practicum!”

Academy faculty rushed the grounds to retrieve Maelsz and Sjorrhan, and Lennha felt the world spin around her. Tears wet her eyes. Another failure. Hopefully her teammates could understand.

“And, Team Reidhi, report directly to my office tomorrow at eighth hour!”

 After all, it’s not her fault they got an opponent that didn’t respect the rules…

—

Thankfully, the academy’s faculty were able to care for Maelsz and Sjorrhan - who recovered in a few days - and team Reidhi were disciplined quite harshly from what Lennha heard.

With the practicums over, the true end of the semester was upon them. Grades were released, and Lennha found her grades were… subpar. At best. Honestly, she was failing as usual. And with failure came another meeting with the department head.

As it happens, Lennha awoke this early Summer morning to a knocking on her door. A visitor - one she’d expected and been dreading. Not to leave her unfortunate guest waiting, she opened the door in her velvet sleep gown.

“Hello Miss Oernhiss,” she was greeted by a graduate-level cleric. “As I’m sure you’re aware-”

“Yes, yes, I’m aware,” she responded groggily. “This is a summons to meet with Lady Inhervell again, right?”

“Correct!” He seemed overly enthusiastic. “High Priestess Inhervell wishes to speak with you once more.” His mood took a darker shift, and his tone quieted. “I’d be careful though. This is your fourth term meeting with her, is it not?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well, you’ve heard the rumors, I’m sure. Too many meetings and you might just vanish. We’ve all known someone who’s had it happen. That one student that was performing poorly in classes - or perhaps the exams - then just one semester… poof!” He waved his hands about for effect. “They’re gone. Not really expelled, but gone. As if they were never here to begin with. Their records disappear, and the faculty just says they ‘had to go home’ or whatever. Be careful to ensure that doesn’t happen to you, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard. I’ll be fine though. It’s just a rumor, I’m sure.”

“If that’s what you think, then I shan’t try to persuade you otherwise. Still, best of luck with her. As you know, she has a bit of a cold demeanor. She only wants the best for us, but y’know, it can feel a bit much at times. Anyway, she wants to see you today at half-till the 13th hour, just past her midday meal. I trust you won’t keep her waiting?”

“Of course, of course!”

“Great! Well, I’ll be on my way back to her, then. Have a pleasant remainder of your morning, Miss!”

With that, he turned and walked down the hall, leaving Lennha to prepare for her upcoming appointment.

—

“Miss Oernhiss. Take a seat.” High Priestess Inhervell commanded.

Shaky with nerves and all-too-aware of her superior’s steely gaze, Lennha pulled the chair from in front of the head cleric’s desk. It gave an unfortunate, awkward screech, eliciting a flinch from the poor girl. Abandoning her prior action, she chose to just sit down with the chair as it was. Lady Inhervell’s cold, grey eyes peered emotionlessly from behind her black bangs, fixed on the girl in front of her - a mere twenty years of age.

“As you know, Miss Oernhiss, last semester’s grades have just been received, and - as usual - your scores have been leaving much to be desired. I understand that Liellhen isn’t very pious, and that’s no fault of your own. Perhaps we should’ve considered a different class than the one your parents suggested when they enrolled you. After all, a great cleric from Liellhen is uncommon in this age, let alone a competent one. However, I am the head of the clerics’ department, and I won’t have one of my most important pupils continue to underperform. Our department has reviewed the evaluations at your practicums this past semester, and you’re falling far below our standards for a cleric that’s about to enter your fifth term. Your strength is lacking, your skill with a scimitar is poor, and you can barely walk in armor heavier than a breastplate. And you still struggle with casting spells, let alone stabilize! It’s an orison for Monlejn’s sake! Had we not intervened in your last practicum, your poor teammates would’ve been left dying!”

Inhervell paused for a short bit to regain her composure, then began once more:

“I’m sorry, I’m sure this is as hard for you as it is us. Intervention is needed, as I’m sure you can tell. And, well, there are a few ways to go about it. For one, you’re not a dull student - I’m sure you’re aware as well as we are - and there are plenty of options for students such as you. You have skills, and plenty of them, they’re just being horribly utilized in your current class. Of course, the obvious option here is to simply change your class program. Of course, I say simply, but it’s not quite a straight-foward process. Especially in a case like yours. You see, your parents are very committed to you becoming an excellent cleric, and honestly, we think that’s a waste of your talents. I’m sure you can agree, right?”

Lennha gave a scared nod. “Y-yes, Lady Inhervell.”

Inhervell sighed, her shoulders slumped, and her cold demeanor seemed to fade - something Lennha didn’t realize could happen. The high priestess began to pace behind her desk.

“I’m sorry if I’m being too harsh. It’s really not your fault any of this is happening. At the end of this, I promise, you’ll be doing much better. Our evaluations tell us that you’re quite agile when you aren’t limited by your heavy armor, and your formal examinations reveal that you’re quite smart, even if it’s mostly book smarts. There’s a department here that would love a student like you - the magus program would be a perfect suit for your talents. Using swift bladework to channel powerful spells - it’s perfect for you! The problem - like we’ve had with so many other students - is getting past the wishes of your parents. But, we have a solution. It’s a… weird solution… but it hasn’t failed us yet.”

Inhervell stopped her pacing and looked Lennha directly in the eyes.

“Are you willing to be someone else?”

“I’m sorry, what?!” Lennha spat out.

“Are you willing to be someone else?” Inhervell repeated herself in earnest. “Because, well, we can make you into someone else. Honestly, we’ve been planning this for a while. We have it all sorted out for you. If you just say yes, you can switch to a class that will suit your skills better, and you can be free of the expectations of your parents.”

“They- they have been pretty harsh to me. They’re so traditional too!” Lennha became angered. “We found a suitable marriage arrangement, but they weren’t approving of the future guildmistress being married to a woman! I’m pretty sure they want me to be a cleric just as punishment for that, anyway. They know I’ve never been devoted to my religious studies. It’s not like Monlejn is particularly fond of Liellhen after our ancestors’ actions in her Second Age anyway. They set me up to fail! If being a magus will let me use my actual talents, then please, make me one!”

The High Priestess grinned. “Great! Follow me. The Department of Respecialization has all that we’ll need.”

—

Lady Inhervell led Lennha to a small, rather inconspicuous building off to the side of the magical sciences part of the campus grounds. Lennha hadn’t been around here much herself, as it was mostly the alchemists, wizards, and other similar classes that would study in these areas. That said, she had been under the impression that the building had been closed for some time due to the numerous “Keep Out!” and “Under Renovation!” signs that surrounded it. As they approached, Inhervell performed some high level spell - one that Lennha didn’t recognize - which seemed to dispel said signs.

“What was that for?” Lennha inquired.

“The signs keep out honest students, but many of the craftier ones, like the rogues, like to try to break in for fun.” The High Priestess explained. “That was just a counterspell to give us access to the actual building - instead of the one that students might see if they were to try to break in.”

The two opened the door to the building, revealing a small, but lively room full of bubbling cauldrons, workstations for writing magical spells, and a door off to the side that seemed to lead into some kind of changing room. Lennha recognized some of the higher ranking campus members darting about, handling scrolls, potions, and magical items as they moved from one workstation to the next. Two important members of the academy - one she recognized as the head of the alchemist department, and the other she believed was a high ranking druid, although she wasn’t perfectly sure - came to take her from her cleric overseer, and guided her to the back of the room.

“Ah, Miss Oernhiss! Such a pleasure to meet with you!” The alchemist spoke. “I’m Aeddhyn, the head alchemist here at the academy. One of my greatest accomplishments while here has been our great improvements to the Department of Respecialization - as you will see in a moment. I’m really proud of it! Absolutely can’t wait for you to see it!”

The druid aside him gave a mock cough.

“Ah, yes.” Aeddhyn spoke. “And here is my colleague - Lead Researcher Fjellrun. She’s a shifter - a special kind of druid from far off whose magic lets them shapeshift. Her magic has been irreplaceably important to this project, and we would still be at step one now if it weren’t for her. But, well, we’ve chatted for long enough.”

The half-elven alchemist gestured to the odd storage chest that he had guided Lennha to. A brutal rectangle, it was made of some black wood, and adorned with pulsing green runes. It gave an eerie, off-putting vibe, and looked fairly out-of-place.

“Inside this chest awaits your future! …If you want it, at least. Please! Open it. We’ve worked hard at it, after all.”

Lennha stepped forward and lifted the lid of the chest in front of her. A gentle green column of light shone from within as she lifted the heavy top off of the box. Off to the right lay a satchel of goods, some casual clothes, a rapier, and a set of leather armor, while on the left lay a strange garment that Lennha wasn’t familiar with. Carefully, she went to pick it up. It was odd and warm to the touch, not unlike that of a living being, and she swore she could feel her heartbeat coming back to her through it.

“What… is this?” She asked Aeddhyn.

“A skin-suit!” He responded quite happily. “A wonderful little garment that we’ve developed here that allows you to assume the form of someone else! In your case, we’ve developed a quite attractive elven male persona for you to take!”

“A- …a male? Why not a female elf?!” Lennha was astounded, albeit quite intrigued. “After all, I’m a woman!”

“We thought you might like to try being on another end of things. Plus, it obscures your identity further - not that you should worry about that - we have it all covered. If you don’t like it, we’ll give you a female skin instead. It’s no real challenge for us.”

“I… sure, I suppose. I’ll try it. …Is it permanent?”

“Oh, certainly not!” Aeddhyn responded. “You can take it off whenever you want - although we recommend keeping it on while around the academy, just to keep our little invention a secret. The only other department that knows of these are the rogues, and even then, only the high-ranking ones. Although we’ve heard bits and pieces of it have leaked to people elsewhere…” He became oddly upset for a split second before resuming his enthusiastic self. “Still! You can resume your normal self as Lennha Oernhiss whenever you so wish. But, as long as you’re here, you will be your new elven male self, okay?”

“Sure! As long as it gives me the freedom from my parents, I’m in!”

“That’s the spirit.” Fjellrun’s voice chimed in.

Her voice was a fair bit huskier than Lennha expected. It made her think. Perhaps this wasn’t her original form either - although, she was probably thinking too much into things.

Lennha was commanded to enter the small dressing-room-like stall at the side of the room, and to put on her new skin-suit. She quickly stripped out of her casual dress, and set the other contents of the chest to the side, focusing just on the skin. Just as she was told, there was a small, hair-thin slit at the back of the pale male’s back that she gently pried open, revealing a weird, dark, and sticky mess inside. Cautiously, she inserted her left leg in first. Just as the skin was on the outside, it was awfully warm on the inside. It clung to her leg, but she found it wasn’t too hard to slide it in, and it soon reached all the way to the end. Her leg felt an odd tingle to it for a moment, but it dissipated quickly. She wiggled her new toes, realizing that it didn’t feel like she was wearing anything on her leg anymore. Excited, she sat on the small bench in the room, and slipped on the other leg. She noticed that her new pair of legs were quite a fair bit longer than her old ones - and far more slender too. She was by no means overweight for a human, but this new self seemed to be quite fragile.

She blushed as she raised his crotch to hers, made uncomfortable by the penis of the suit. She had never seen one in real life before - she was an adult, but just didn’t swing that way - so it was awkward having one of her own now. Vowing to explore it at a later date, she moved on to putting her arms into the suit’s corresponding arm slots. Left first, then right, they gave little difficulty to put on, with a slight exception to the digits on the hands, which took a quick second to align fully. As the elf’s flat chest sucked onto Lennha’s breasts, she noted the odd sensation of being flat there. Another intriguing feature of the suit.

Taking in a large breath, she underwent the last step of her transformation, plunging her head into the head of her suit. It didn’t take long to align the features with her own, and she wondered whether there was some magic in the suit helping her with it. Regardless, she opened her eyes and sealed the seam at her back, making whole her male persona, and removing any last trace of Lennha from her current being.

The new elven male donned his given clothes - a simple cloth tunic and some beige pants, far too basic for his tastes, but it’d have to do for then - then stepped out to greet Aeddhyn and Fjellrun again.

“Ah! How are you taking to your new form?” Aeddhyn asked with great interest.

“Uhmmm, it’s… certainly interesting.” The male elf responded. “I think I like it. We’ll see.”

“Good, good! A promising start, at least! …Have you given a thought as to your new name?”

—

And so, Lennha was re-enrolled as a first-term at the Republican Council’s Academy under his new identity - which he had decided to name Tjeln Undyrlhenn - in the magi’s school. He wasn’t sure what the academy had told his parents to let him continue and extra two years to make up lost time, but it seemed effective, so he didn’t complain. That said, it was a bit lonely at first, since he found himself isolated from his few friends he had made in the clerics’ school. But, he grew accustomed to the new students, and found his wild and eccentric magus classmates much more to his liking than the stuck-up pious-types he found in his old department. And, soon, another semester had come to a close. However, unlike before, Tjeln had found himself quite the successful student, and felt quite confident going into this term’s practicum final.

—

“...And with a fantastic one-two punch of the grease spell and his rapier, Tjeln wins the practicum for team Taubras!” Headmaster Knoellan’s voice boomed above the grounds as thunder and flame erupted from the sides.

A roar of excitement and applause came from the stands beside the grounds as Tjeln, his teammates, and his opponents we escorted off the grounds for the next set of teams’ practicum to begin. It was nice, winning for once. He hoped he would be able to continue doing so, now that he was in a better class for his skills.

—

“You guys go on without me, I need to take care of something.” Tjeln told his teammates as they went to leave the small preparation tent just outside the training grounds.

“Alright, man. Take care. We’re heading back to our dorms to rest.” His teammate, Dzoniss told him. “Shit’s tiring, y’know? Thanks for helping us win though. We got good scores from the professors for sure.”

“No problem, my dude. Take care.” Tjeln told them.

“You too, mate.”

Tjeln waited a bit before leaving, just to make sure the coast was clear. He’d seen Sjorrhan around the exit to the training grounds before he went in, and after a few awkward encounters earlier in the semester, he wanted to make sure he didn’t run into her again any time soon. Once he thought it was safe, he darted out - only to be interrupted almost immediately.

“Hey! Tjeln, you said it was?” A familiar voice came from the side of the grounds.

‘Oh fuck, oh fuck.’ He thought. He only had a split-second to panic before he was suddenly approached by a tall, muscular girl that was technically two years his senior.

“I’d been waiting for you for-ever! Good job on your practicum today, though.” Sjorrhan told him. “You seem to be one of the star pupils of the first term. I heard some of the professors saying they’ll be keeping their eyes on you.”

“Oh, really? That’s good to hear. …But also like, I’m sure you didn’t just wait for me to say some praise. What’s up?”

“Well, you dropped one of your notebooks last time we met, and I’ve been looking for you to give it back.”

She extended her arm out, notebook in-hand.

“Oh! Thanks. I’d been wondering where that’d gone off to. Made my cantrips class a little harder. Not that they’re any different from orisons, really.”

“Oh, are you familiar with any orisons? I thought only those in the Academy of the Divine dealt with those. Y’know, like druids and clerics?”

“Shit.” He muttered under his breath. “Ehh, not really.” It’s not a lie if it’s technically correct, he figured. He never was very good at orisons, and only cast a few ever in his two years as a cleric. “I just… had a friend who knew some. She wasn’t very good at them, though.”

“Oh, really? Same. Although, I dunno about your friend, but mine just kinda… up and disappeared a bit ago. The academy said she had to go home for a ‘family emergency’, but I don’t know if I believe that, to be honest. I think she got expelled.”

“Oh… weird, ha-ha.” Then, he thought of something. Perhaps he could rekindle some old friendships after all. “Actually, yeah. I think we might’ve had the same friend. Lennha, in the clerics’ school, right?”

“Oh. Yeah! Nice! You heard the same about her, then, right?”

“Yeah, definitely. As far as I know, she is back with her family.” It hurt a bit to say, but he had to keep to the academy’s official statement if he didn’t want to actually be expelled.

“Ah, dang. I might write her a letter then, sometime. I miss her, even if she did hold our practicum team back a bit. …Not that I’d ever tell her that, of course! Please don’t tell her I said that if you see her again.”

“Oof, yeah… I, ehh, definitely won’t tell her.”

“Good. Good. Thanks. …By the way, some of my friends are meeting up after the rest of the practicum finals wrap up. You’re welcome to join us if you want. I’m sure they’d welcome any friend of Lennha’s.”

“Oh… yeah! Sure!”

—

And so, Tjeln found himself in the midst of a far more successful life. He found himself engrossed in his studies for the first time in two years, he found himself amongst new friends, and even found himself starting fresh with his old friends. Of course, he still wasn’t quite sure how he’d deal with his family in the future, but the academy said they had it all sorted out. What he’d do after he graduated from the academy - he wasn’t sure. Still, that was four years off. He’d get to it when the time came, surely.