Wish upon the Stars chapter 1124 (Patreon)

Callie, naturally, had way more information about the academy than I did (though the Mythcrafting stuff WAS new to her, fortunately, so I contributed something). She’d made friends immediately, with more than just one person, and her first order of business had been to figure out what all twelve of the majors were. She’d managed to gather a shocking amount of information over the short time we’d been here, and I was once again both in awe of and deeply grateful she’d been willing to marry a schmuck like me.

“So, do we know where the others ended up?” I asked first thing. “I assume Jessie ended up in the Biology department, given I got offered the choice based on my Life attribute.”

“A few of them,” she confirmed. “Benny probably ended up in the Department of Peculiar Mechanisms. It’s the catch all for crafters, with the exception of Alchemy and Enchanting which seem to each have their own departments. Fade and Alanna probably ended up in the Department of Martial Excellence under Dean Corey Dowd, also called the Unrelenting Edge. That one is for weapon masters I think, because it was one of the three I was offered.”

I nodded along. “Ok, what was the third?”

“Department of Atypical Phsicality,” she said with a shrug. We were inside her vault at the moment, having decided a face to face would make things easier and was just more enjoyable. “Bethy is almost definitely in that one. As far as I can tell it’s some kind of catch all for students with traits. The Dean’s name is Wallace Harper, and apparently his divine soubriquet is “The Monstrosity”, which admittedly made me a bit less inclined to pick it, but will probably make him sound like a favorite uncle to Bethy.”

I snorted at that mostly accurate assessment. “So that’s eight down, then? What about the last four?”

“Department of Business Engagement, Department of Stellar Studies, Department of the Lost, and Department of Cryodynamics,” she listed off immediately. At my strange look she smirked. “Yeah the last one threw me off too. Apparently the Dean of Cryodynamics and the Dean of Temporal Studies founded the academy together. Frozen Moment. Dean Sela Windermere, also known as the Permafrost Priestess. Apparently she and Gibbons are married. Apart from them, the other Deans are mostly unrelated, except Alchemy and Runes, who are ACTUALLY related, as far as I can tell Preston and Alvira Willow are twins. The Concoction King and the Polyglot are the respective heads of the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Language Studies.”

I blinked at her in opermouthed shock. “How could you POSSIBLY have learned that much information in just a couple of hours,” I demanded. “You’re some kind of gossip savant! It’s not fair that I’m a LITERAL politician getting tons of politics related recursion and you’re still so much better at this.”

“You’re an intergalactic despot,” she giggled. “I don’t think anyone expects the Wishmaster to do actual politics. You’ve become a much more confident leader and much more charismatic dealing with dignitaries, if it helps. Anyway, I didn’t do anything special. I just caught a few people alone and leveraged the information I had that they didn’t to trade for knowledge. I MIGHT have used Murmur to make sure I wasn’t overheard so I could trade the same info more than once, but that was just common sense.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t get invited to the business major,” I snarked. “Speaking of, I wonder what they learn there? Like do they just spend all their time trading credits and buying stuff?”

She shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. I know the names and the deans, but they didn’t offer much extra information. The two pieces of data I had was enough to roughly figure out what each major does, but the in depth mechanisms are probably only known to the students themselves.”

“Did you get to Intermediate by the way?” I asked with interest. “I don’t know about your department but our time in Common City is dependent on rank. Intermediates get a weekend, Beginners a day, and any lower…well, I can’t imagine you got lower than Beginner. I’d be shocked if you didn’t get as far as me.”

“I got to Intermediate,” she laughed. “I passed on trying the Advanced trial. A hundred thousand robots was WAY too much. I only barely managed the ten thousand. I’m betting Abel is Advanced if he didn’t get bounced. Possibly Bethy too, but it’s hard to say with her. She might just have not cared enough to try.”

I snorted at that. “I’m guessing she did. I’m curious where my sister ended up. My cousin probably went with Benny to the crafting department, but Chelsea’s abilities are more esoteric than most. Department of the Lost, maybe? Assuming that’s what it sounds like.”

“Assuming is basically ALL we can do,” she acknowledged. “But yeah, I came to the same conclusion. That Department is probably for Miscellaneous applicants who don’t fit in the other boxes. The Dean, Kell Drave, is also called the Silent Seeker, which is both mysterious and supremely unhelpful when it comes to giving us any information.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Fair. Anyway, I think we have enough information to make assumptions about everyone, but we’ll need to wait for our Common City visit to confirm. I take it you were ALSO told that you had to wait three days?”

“Yup,” she agreed. “I think they pushed it back so that all of us would end up there at the same time when we first went. When some people only have hours and some people have days, if they let people just pick at random with no method of contact they’re going to miss each other. Speaking of, methods of contact can be purchased with credits, but I think we could do a bit better.”

That got a grin from me. “Just a bit. Not sure Wishcrafted gear would be able to outdo some of the high end shit the real artisans here can make, but in terms of custom work I don’t see anyone beating me for utility. I wonder if the Wish scrolls can bypass the limitation in direct credit transfer? It would be pretty fantastic if they could, though if not I bet we can still make some money through the postings, just at a markup.”

“Now who should have been in the business major,” she teased with a laugh. “But there’s definitely some room to look around. Have you checked in at the credit exchange yet? Everything is done through there, including signing up for classes. Speaking of, are you going to take any of those? Or just use the time to gather resources. I think the competitions were the potential boost to binding our pages that someone mentioned.”

“Agreed,” I nodded. “But I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. Honestly, given the Mythcrafting angle, I’m leaning towards possibly doing the one hour counseling session with the Dean. The way he phrased it made it seem like a hidden benefit that will pay huge dividends. Azazel is pushing me in the same direction. How about you, did you get the same offer?”

“Dean Desmond did offer,” she confirmed. “I’m not sure about it though. I can take classes for spatial knowledge, and I’m already kind of naturally suited for it. Not to mention my whole thing is kind of off brand for spatial manipulation. I’m not sure how much help he would be. I think I’m better off spending my credits on a few high end lectures and maybe some of the unique environments they mentioned. If I’m parsing that right, they’re like…special places that have special kinds of power and insight and can help with getting new attributes and refining concepts.”

I snorted at that. “More attributes isn’t something I’m worried about at the moment. I do get your point though. I considered trying some of them out, but I think passing up the chance to understand my time attribute would kind of fuck me over. Limbo is one of my most effective abilities, and that moment chop from the lemur king on the dryad planet made a big impact. Time is fascinating and deadly.”

“So we do different things,” she giggled. “I’ll check out some of the special locations and let you know how they turn out. If I run out of credits though, I’ll have to borrow some. As your wife, I AM entitled to half of everything you own.”

“I knew you married me for my money,” I teased. “The truth finally comes out.”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t HAVE any money. You’re the brokest intergalactic crime boss I’ve ever heard of.”

“Well, I didn’t say you were a genius,” I shrugged, my eyes sparkling with mischief.

That got another eye roll, but I could tell from the way her lips twitched she was suppressing a laugh. “You’re an idiot,” she said fondly. “Try to be on your toes, ok? This place is fascinating, but it’s not HOME. We don’t know how safe we are here.”

“I’m good,” I said confidently. “Besides, I did make at least one friend. Sorwen said she has my back and my scent of truth didn’t pick up any deception.”

“Ah yes,” she said archly. “The pretty elf girl with the blue hair. Not super thrilled you’ve been SMELLING her, but it’s nice to know you aren’t out there alone. I can’t wait to meet her, we have so much to talk about, I’m sure.” 

I raised a brow at her steely tone. “Is this really something that bothers you?” I asked slowly. “Because you know I’d never-”

“Of course I know that,” she said immediately. “You’re not my dad, and my issues with him don’t impact the way I see our marriage. I’m not JEALOUS. Well, I’m not VERY jealous. I’m concerned she might be using you. Your powers are…unique. We’re all pretty used to the wish thing, but for the higher dimensional crowd it’s probably pretty novel. I just want to make sure she doesn’t have bad intentions. You have a blind spot for people you consider friends. It’s something I love about you, but I worry.”

I grimaced, but she wasn’t wrong. It had gotten me into trouble before, with Travis, and again with Roland. I tried not to let bad experiences color the way I interacted with new people, but I had to admit I was somewhat wary of my own judgement.

She must have caught that over the bond, because she grabbed my hands tightly. “Hey, that’s not what I meant,” she said sternly. “You have AMAZING judgement. You’ve put together a group of some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met, and I’m so proud of your taste in friends. I’m just being paranoid because we’re in a new place and this is a chance to slip in under your radar. If it’s a big deal, I don’t need to meet her. I trust you. Completely.”

“No, you’re right,” I said immediately. “Having a second opinion never hurt anything, and besides, I’m always happy to show you off,” I winked. “I clearly married up.”

She beamed, buffing her nails on her dress after blowing on them. “It’s true, I am VERY impressive. You’re ok too I guess. I’ll have to introduce you to all my new friends at the spatial department. Did you know I met a SPACE elf?”

“What even IS that?” I asked in confusion. “All elves are from space, right? That’s where the planets are.”

I managed to hold my face in a mask of confusion for a few seconds before it cracked and we both burst out laughing. Then Callie told me all about her new friends, including the space elf. We didn’t end up going out to check the credit exchange, just spent the evening together in her vault. I couldn’t have thought of a better first night at a new place.