Elara woke to the faint sound of someone knocking. Not the energetic pounding of Lyria, or the dramatic, drawn-out rhythm Sylv sometimes used when she was in a mood. No, this was a soft, hesitant tap-tap. Almost apologetic.
She groaned, rubbing her face as she sat up. The sun filtered through the curtains, casting a golden light across her dorm room. The other beds were empty. Of course. Sylv and Lyria were already out.
Another timid knock.
"Coming!" Elara called, stumbling out of bed and toward the door.
When she opened it, she blinked in surprise. A girl stood there, barely more than a wisp of a person, with long, dark hair that obscured half her face. She clutched a small notebook to her chest like a shield.
"U-Um... Miss Elara Wyrmshade?" the girl whispered.
"Yeah?"
"M-Mister Tolan is... um... waiting downstairs for you. Again. I-I think he said it's important."
Elara groaned. "Of course he is. Did he say why?"
The girl shook her head violently. Then she mumbled something else under her breath.
"What was that?"
"I... I think I spoke with the Goddess," the girl whispered, eyes wide with a kind of fearful reverence, and then she turned and scampered away.
Elara stared after her.
"Okay. Sure. That's not ominous at all."
Getting dressed took longer than it should have. She wanted to be quick—just throw something on and go. But the outfit she reached for was the navy blazer dress from yesterday. The one with the golden buttons and the polished navy heels that had felt too natural.
She hesitated.
Then, with a muttered curse, she grabbed the matching stockings, pulled the outfit on, and checked herself in the mirror.
It looked good. Too good.
The way the skirt hugged her hips, the faint sheen of the heels, the soft fabric brushing against her legs—it all made her feel... elegant, poised, and infuriatingly comfortable.
Her frustration simmered as she took a step back. The heels clicked softly on the stone floor, and to her annoyance, the motion felt completely natural. No wobble, no awkward balance issues. Just grace.
"I am not sexy," she said aloud, narrowing her eyes at her reflection.
The mirror disagreed.
With a groan of betrayal, she grabbed her shoulder bag and stormed out of the room, heels clicking confidently behind her. Somewhere in her mind, the decision was already made: she was going to buy a pair of high heels for school use. Every day. If her body insisted on being this coordinated, she might as well lean into it—just a little.
Downstairs, Tolan was leaning against the wall by the entrance, arms crossed and looking every bit the brooding mentor.
His eyes flicked up as she approached.
"You dressed yourself like that?"
"Don't start."
"No, no," he said, raising both hands. "I'm just... surprised. And mildly concerned. Are those the same heels from yesterday?"
"I like them, okay?"
He gave her a long look, then nodded. "Alright. Let's go."
They didn't head into the Academy, much to Elara's relief. Instead, a private carriage awaited them—not one of the lurching, creaking ones Elara had grown to despise, but a sleeker model, polished to a mirror shine.
Still had wheels, though.
She sighed as she climbed in. "If I rattle to death before we get there, tell Mira she gets my design notes."
Tolan chuckled. "You might want to hold onto those. We're going somewhere special."
"And mysterious, apparently."
"The royal family has decided to support your efforts discreetly," he said as the carriage pulled away. "They don't want to draw attention to you yet, especially with certain factions watching the Academy closely."
"Factions?"
"Don't worry about it. Yet."
That was the opposite of comforting.
He continued, "More importantly, I've been petitioning for you to have your own lab space. The Academy rules are... inflexible. Especially when it comes to prototype testing. Too many explosions."
"One explosion!"
"A big one."
"That wasn't even me, it was the feedback loop from Mira's mana loop algorithm!"
He raised a brow.
"Okay, I refined the algorithm. But it was her loop!"
"Uh-huh."
Elara crossed her arms and stared out the window.
After a short ride, the carriage turned off the main road onto a private path lined with dense hedges. At the end was a modest-looking building—nothing flashy, but solid, clean, and new. A double-door entrance gleamed under the morning sun.
Tolan stepped out first. "Welcome to your new playground."
Elara followed, stepping onto the stone path. The moment she crossed the threshold, her breath caught.
Inside was a laboratory worthy of dreams. Wide open space. Reinforced testing zones. Modular rune arrays etched into adjustable stone slabs. Alchemical workbenches. A full materials archive. There was even a mana-conductive track for high-energy prototype trials.
She stood in stunned silence.
"They gave me all this?"
"They want you to succeed. And to do it somewhere far away from the structural supports of the Academy."
Elara slowly walked through the lab, fingers brushing over the polished surfaces, inspecting the equipment.
"This is perfect."
"Good," Tolan said. "Now I want you to show me what you've been working on."
They spent the rest of the morning reviewing her current projects. Elara pulled out her notebook and unrolled a series of detailed blueprints and sketches onto the worktable, each drawn with precision and enchanted ink that shimmered faintly under mana light. The mana projector was still a concept she'd been drafting, not yet feasible without stable light-phase modulation.
"This is the adaptive hover rig," she explained, flicking through pages. "It dynamically adjusts altitude and weight distribution based on terrain resonance feedback. It's meant for hover-karts, but with scale, it'll work for full carriages."
Tolan leaned in, squinting. "How do you account for magical interference zones?"
"Dynamic field re-calibration. The system constantly pings the local ambient mana field and offsets imbalance with counter-runes here and here."
He blinked. "This is... incredibly detailed."
"I've been dealing with potholes. You go over one in heels and tell me that's acceptable."
Tolan laughed. Actually laughed.
"You're serious about this."
"Deadly. I want the first hover carriage built yesterday."
"I'll make it happen."
"Promise me."
He looked at her. Something in his expression softened.
"I promise."
Elara lost herself in invention. Hours passed as she tested new energy modulation circles, designed compact shielding arrays for unstable enchantments, and improved her mana filtration process for the alchemical reclaimer.
By midafternoon, she had grease on her cheeks, chalk on her blouse, and a half-finished prototype of a floating stabilizer ring humming quietly on the side table.
Tolan didn't interrupt. He just watched, helped where asked, and occasionally raised an eyebrow when something sparked or hummed too loudly.
Eventually, she turned and handed him a crystal slab, along with a small bundle of papers bound with a ribbon. The papers contained her handwritten annotations, alternate material suggestions, and three proposed designs for future hover models—each sketched with mechanical precision and annotated with notes like "optimize lift-to-weight ratio" and "test against fluctuating mana zones."
"Blueprints for the new hover rig. Full specs. Material tolerances. Assembly order. You'll need precision-etched stabilizer cores. Don't cheap out."
Tolan accepted it reverently. "You're turning into a tyrant."
"Comfort does that to people."
He laughed again.
They left the lab as the sun was setting. Elara looked back at the building with a sense of real ownership. Her sanctuary. Her temple of creation.
"Thank you," she said.
Tolan just nodded.
The carriage ride back was quiet, but not uncomfortable. Elara leaned against the window, tired in that satisfying way that came from a day of real work.
As the dorms came into view, she straightened.
"Hey, Tolan?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks for not... treating me like I'm just a kid."
He didn't answer right away.
"You're not. You never were."
That stayed with her long after he was gone.
She climbed the dorm steps slowly, heels clicking against the stone. When she got to her room, the lights were off. Sylv and Lyria hadn't returned yet.
Elara toed off her shoes, changed into sleepwear, and collapsed onto her bed.
She was exhausted.
But for the first time in a long while, she was also at peace.
She had a lab.
She had a promise.
And maybe—just maybe—she was starting to understand what this new life could mean.