Those six days of travelling, holed up in the troop transport for the better part of the day, blurred in Yuriko's memories. They stopped once every couple of hours, at a waystop to relieve themselves. Unlike when they took the Commuter Tram, the transport did not stop at any of the towns along the main road. Instead, they trundled until they reached the last town they could get to before dusk. Troop transports, much like any other landcrafter, required sunlight to augment the engines. They could run on the pilot and co-pilot's Animus but it was incredibly draining, and they could keep it up for an hour or so at most, Yuriko knew from half-remembered lectures.
The main road didn't run straight to the north, of course. It wound and weaved around hills, crossed rivers and streams, and meandered down fields. There was no straight line of towns and villages from Rumiga City to Aegermonth. She remembered that it was two hundred leagues as the crane flew from the city to the northernmost border. Aegermonth was about ten leagues south of it, but since the road wandered so much, the distance they had to travel was closer to three hundred than a hundred and ninety leagues.
There was only so much attention Yuriko could pay to the countryside. One set of fields looked much the same to her, especially since most were wheat fields anyway. Most of the fields were covered in snow too, the hardy plants hidden underneath. Come the Season of Earth, they would shoot up out of ground.
That first night, they bunked in a small inn along a village she didn't catch the name of. They had a simple dinner, filling but bland. It wasn't quite Ration Bar stew, Yuriko decided. Maybe old grains and a little bit of meat to flavour. Despite spending the entire day seated, she was exhausted. Training had been constant but the reading had been the one to give her trouble. Still, she wanted to indulge her curiosity a bit. The plainly-dressed boy had been on her mind every now and then.
She walked up to him after dinner, finding him just standing outside staring at the sky. He started when she came within a couple of paces of him, his eyes widened in surprise, then his cheeks reddened slightly. Yuriko cleared her throat.
"Apologies for startling you. You seem familiar, have we met before?"
He stared at her blankly long enough that she shifted her weight between her feet to stem the awkward feeling, then he blinked and his face turned completely red.
"Er, ah, yes, sorry for staring. I mean," he coughed. "We've met, briefly, though not introduced."
"Ah." Yuriko frowned. "Pardon me, but I don't recall."
"Er, at the Mid Ring, in Mazer's Emporium's warehouse. You were with Orrin and Braden Foster then."
"Oh! That was nearly two seasons ago."
"Yes."
"Ah, I'm Yuriko Davar."
"Lukas Nadir."
"You aren't a student of the Academy?"
"No." He shifted uncomfortably.
"Oh, I see. Well, no matter. We're on the same mission, so good luck to us."
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
Her curiosity satisfied, Yuriko nodded and returned back to the inn. It wasn't until she was in the bedroom that she realised she forgot to ask him why he was with them. Well, no matter, that was his business.
The journey continued with nothing truly memorable happening. She and Heron trained some evenings, sometimes Seniors Kale or Rorke would join them. Often, either Orrin or Braden asked for training from her, which she obliged. Braden's swordsmanship was improving, but Orrin's was not.
She and Orrin discussed Rune Scribing some nights though, and also while they travelled.
"What's the difference between the Elite class and the regular?" he asked one time. "Are you taking advanced lessons?"
"I honestly wouldn't know," Yuriko said with a laugh. "I've only been in the Elite class so I've no idea what they teach the others."
"Oh, wanna compare notes?"
"I suppose it won't hurt. But the only classes we have that's exclusive are Animus Manipulation, Guidance, and Specialties."
"Right, it's the same for us. We've mostly tackled theories. We've only learned a few effective manipulation techniques."
"Such as?"
"Well, how to divide the flows in two, for one."
"Eh, but I could already do that even before we came here."
"Yeah. What did they teach you then?"
"Well, how to combine multiple strands in one. Some exercises to improve control, and theories too."
"Master Alfein taught you what?"
Someone else butted into the conversation. Yuriko and Orrin looked at Ella-Mai who happened to walk by the aisle to stretch her legs.
"Animus braiding," Yuriko repeated.
"But…" Ella-Mai's eyes widened. "Those aren't first-year materials." She frowned. "I'm not even sure Animus Braiding is taught until fifth year."
"Eh, but that's what was in the skill cube she gave me."
"A skill cube!" she spluttered. "Why would she give you one of those?"
"Er, I don't know? What did she teach you during Guidance then?" Yuriko asked.
"Dual control and how to split more than two." Ella-Mai gestured to Orrin. "Much like what was taught to them. Chaos, Yuriko, no wonder you're in Sharom despite your combat skills."
"Is it that unusual?"
Ella-Mai nodded. "Yes, very few can divide their Animus control into two naturally." She snorted and headed back to her seat.
Yuriko looked at Orrin and shrugged. "Well, there's your answer."
"Ah, hahaha. What Specialty did you choose?"
"I didn't get to choose." Yuriko's face turned sour. "Master Alfein said I'm on the Sorcery track."
"That means you have to learn everything?" Orrin raised an eyebrow.
"Yup. I've gone through the Neophyte Scribe book already. Exams were repairing broken runescript lines."
"Oh, what did you do?"
"Well, I've had to connect broken lines, smoothen out resistance points, and all that."
"Have you started on rewriting?"
"Not yet. Why did the regular class do that already?"
Orrin chuckled. "Hardly. That's self-study on my part. But since you're not pure Rune Scribe, you don't need to do more than familiarise yourself. Though I think you'd still have to memorise as much of the runescript dictionary as you can."
"Well, yeah. Master Alfein gave me a primer on Spellweaving after telling me to memorise runes on my own."
"Ah, that's tough." Orrin shrugged. "I still see you training every morning. How do you find the time?"
"I just do?" Yuriko chuckled. "I study after class, mostly."
"Ah."
Yuriko managed to finish reading the entire primer on Spellweaving by the time they arrived in Fort Aegerrmonth. On the fifth day, the cold outside was so bad that the troop transport's heating system could barely keep the interior temperature above freezing. Most of the kids bundled up and even she had to wear the cold weather cloak. Gwendith didn't seem to have a problem though.
Midway through their journey, the troop transport had to stop and the pilots attached a snowplough on the landcrafter's front. It wasn't until quite late in the sixth day that they finally arrived. Fort Aegermonth was a squat structure on top of a low hill. It was actually the highest point within the next couple of longstrides.
They were actually quite far from the eastern barrier now, though the fort was directly north of Rumiga City. The plane was just shaped that way. In fact, the Empire's Rumiga territory was at the narrowest point of the plane. It broadened towards the north and south putting them smack dab in the middle of two foreign powers. The northern barbarians couldn't quite be described as a nation but was, instead, a collection of varied ethnic groups with a shared belief system.
Aegermonth was several hundred paces to the side. The outer walls were made of stone treated so that it looked as if it were one single piece. No weaknesses for anyone to exploit. There were crenellations at the walls, sniper's towers, and Yuriko thought she saw the gleaming bronzed barrels of Plasma Carronades.
The road led right up to the gates, and they drove through the tunnel, halting once both transports were fully inside. Yuriko pushed aside the privacy curtains and set the windows to full transparency under the command of the pilot. She swivelled the chair sideways too. A few minutes later, someone peeked in from the rear entrance but didn't enter. Afterwards, they trundled into the fort.
From the outside, only the walls were visible, but once they were inside, she saw that the main keep was a few storeys higher than the wall, just that it was set far enough back that it was hard to see, and the sides were painted daytime sky blue. The interior courtyard was clear of snow so the transports easily made their way to a building built right up to the wall. The landcrafters came to a halt and they were ushered out.
"Volunteers here!" a middle-aged man called to them from a few dozen paces away. Yuriko had her backpack on, along with her duffle in one hand and her weapons in the other. She exchanged a glance with Heron and they made their way to the officer.
"Men over to the Grey Barracks, women over at Scarlet. You'll register with the aide over there, settle in, then come for the orientation before dinner."
Yuriko followed the directions. In the group of about thirty, there were only ten girls and they had the entire volunteer barracks to themselves. Female legionnaires were quartered elsewhere. The aide, a young woman with flaming red hair gathered at the nape of her neck, made notes on her crystal screen.
After the process was complete, they headed inside the barracks, which turned out to be a single long room with dozens of bunk beds. Yuriko picked one that looked unoccupied, threw her gear on the top bunk and returned to the aide.
"Excuse me, where is the orientation held?"
"Hmm, ah, right here actually."
"Eh, for all of us?"
"Yes?"
"Including the boys?"
"Oh, no, of course not."
"The orientation is different per gender?"
"Yes."
"Thank you," Yuriko said and took a seat on one of the benches.
A few minutes later, the other girls walked back to the entrance hall, saw her seated, and did the same. When all ten of them were gathered at the entrance hall, the aide started giving them the orientation, which mostly consisted of abbreviated rules and regulations, and a bit on what their duties would be like.
"...tomorrow, duties will be distributed to the ten of you. Available duties are as follows for the next week: food preparation, clearing duties, sanitation, and meal service."
Yuriko waited for more but the aide moved on to other matters. Were there no patrol duties? She'd been under the impression that they would shadow actual legionnaires as they patrol the borders. When the aide finished talking she rose to her feet and was about to ask when Gwendith beat her to the punch.
"Excuse me, why are there only in-base duties available for us?"
Gwendith's tone was so frosty Yuriko thought she could see icicles forming in the air. Oh, there were real icicles. The aide eyed the ice crystal warily.
"Those are what the fort commander issued for this batch of volunteers. You are only cadets and this is a particularly sensitive period. And we're all women here. Honestly, I don't see why you'd want to risk your life and sanity by going out there."
Yuriko frowned at the breach in protocol.
"Please don't push your opinion on us," Gwendith reprimanded.
"Oh, no no, that's not my opinion," the aide replied, flustered. "If you have complaints you'll have to take it up to the commander, I'm afraid."
"Then where can we request an appointment?"
"In three days. The commander is currently on tour."
"Thank you." Gwendith's tone was a clear dismissal, and the aide knew it. Her face reddened a bit as she scurried out of the barracks.
"Well, this isn't quite what I expected," Yuriko remarked.
"I know, right?" Gwendith grumbled. "This is an insult to us and I intend to report this."
"Why is that though?" Ella-Mai asked. "Why prohibit us from taking duties outside of the fort? I actually wanted to visit the outlier camps."
"Who knows?" Gwendith grumbled. "Come on, let's head to the mess hall, I'm hungry."
Yuriko nodded, smiling to herself when the other girl had taken charge of the lot of them. They were actually the youngest cadets amongst the ten girls but the others seemed content to let Gwendith lead.
At the mess hall, Yuriko found the boys and hurried to their table after she took her food. The other girls followed along behind her, much to her surprise.
"Hey, Yuri!" Heron called out. "Where will you be stationed? I'm set to leave for Camp 1-2 tomorrow."
"We're headed to Camp 3-1," Orrin piped up.
"We're stationed right here." Yuriko complained. "For some strange reason, we're not allowed out."
"Huh, why though? What's the point in volunteering here if you're stuck at home base?" Orrin said.
"We don't know, but we'll find out," Gwendith butted in. The three boys looked at her curiously.
"Well, good luck is all I can say," Heron said.
After the meal, the ten girls talked before lights out.
"How are we lodging a protest?" Yuriko asked.
"We'll have to fill out a form," Gwendith said. "But for now we'll have to follow their arrangements. I hope the commander relents." Gwendith continued under her breath, "If he knows what's good for him."
"So, follow for now?" Ella-Mai asked.
"Yes, so we don't get disciplined for insubordination."
Which was how Yuriko found herself in the kitchen the next day peeling potatoes with a couple of girls and Lukas, of all people. She could practically hear Gwendith's teeth grinding from a couple of paces away.
Definitely not her idea of how to spend the break.