The Faculty of the Mundane was founded a few months after the rest, explicitly to handle the parts of city management that the other archmages could not be bothered with. It’s first Dean was described in the official minutes of their appointment as “impressive enough to be respected, weak enough not to be a threat”. The day to day running of the city rely on this foundation of mediocrity and antagonism.

  -Tzu Ye, High court Historian of Ao Guan

  Kave punched the door frame as they left the Faculty of Agriculture’s campus. Taking his one chance to strike back now that no one was watching. The building didn’t react to the hit. To his credit, Kave didn’t react either as his hand cracked against the brick. Komena kept walking, hyper aware of the amulet jingling against her chest with each step down the stairs to the street.

  “So, who do you suspect?” Kave asked, catching up behind her.

  “She was the only one I was confident about. We could have tried a few others, but they would be gambles. More than we’re already taking.” She answered, already turn down the street.

  “I almost want that old witch to be the one who did it. I could enjoy throwing that back in her face.” He muttered as he followed her.

  He looked prepared to march along in comfortable silence, stewing in his grudges. Silence wouldn’t be good for the investigation though. He knew more about the faculties, either from experience or stories from Struth, than she did and if some trivial bit of gossip was what it took to solve the case, then she wanted it all.

  But panic won out over good sense before she could ask. Kave glanced up to see her shoulders shaking, gasping like she was sprinting.

  “What’s wrong?” Kave asked, his brow unfurrowing, old care taking reflexes kicking in.

  Komena swallowed hard, hand on her chest like she could stop her racing heart.

  “We’re committed now.” She said.

  “We’ve been committed since once of them murdered Struth.”

  “No, you were committed since then. I’ve been loosely involved for the last few days, a little more since the plaza.” She snapped, pulling up the chain round her neck. “When I asked the old hag about joining her investigation, I didn’t expect us to be the entire investigation. I thought she would have the decency to actually build a team, not just have us interrogate the other Dean’s on our own. And now that she’s got a collar on me, I’m committed.”

  “You complain a lot for someone who got what they wanted.” Kave said with a sigh. “What difference does it make? We’re still doing it. The last thing we needed was some fat headed green thumbs trying to throw their weight around on our time. Besides, we’ve got protection now.”

  Komena shook her head. Kave had spent his whole life just as afraid of those above him as she had, had felt their blade on the back of his neck more than she ever had. But the threat had always been political to him. Now, he had a shield from that and a deadline he couldn’t change. He was safe until this business was taken care of, and then he would be shipped off to some hell beyond revenge. Komena didn’t have that luxury. She hadn’t hit the absolute depths he had yet; she was just racing towards them. Revenge would still very much be an issue for her if she made it through this.

  A few long roads later, gone through as quickly possible, and they came up to their first stop in the investigation.

  ***

  The nearest stop was the Faculty of the Mundane. Close enough to walk since they kept a quick pace, only slowing to check around to for tails. Stepping inside, the halls were almost comforting in their mediocrity. There were no creatures besides bureaucrats running through the halls, no spells except the occasional floating object, too heavy to be carried. Even the stares directed at Kave were duller, as they all looked away once the bypassers recognized the face under the horns. They acted more like he had an embarrassing sun burn than demon’s blood.

  Kave led the way to Taim’s office, eventually coming to a sheet of tempered glass. Through it, they could see the Dean’s slender back turned to them, as he worked over a table. The room had both a desk and drafting table covered in papers, along with a black board dominating the entire right wall, covered in chalky formulas. The other side was filled floor to ceiling by a bookshelf, full of texts and scrolls.

  Komena rapped the glass wall with her knuckles. She wondered if a tap would have produced a gentle chime to get his attention. Her blow caused a blast of sound that made the Dean jerked in shock, sending vials he’d been filling flying into the air. He managed to throw out a spell before they hit ground, sending them floating like dust motes instead of shattering on the tiled floor. Turning around, his expression calm in a way that only seemed forced for less than a second.

  “Ah, I expected you sooner. Please come in.” He said, snapping his fingers. A central section of the glass slid into itself, making an opening for the two to step through as he worked to set the vials back into place.

  “Komena, I would have thought you’d have gone to ground by now. Though I appreciate you taking an interest in the boy’s wellbeing.” The Dean ignored Kave’s grimace as he turned away from the boy. “It’s good to see you put away that ridiculous turban, Kave. I’m sure Struth would be glad to see it gone. I assume you’re here for assistance with your situation?”

  “Oh, that won’t be necessary.” Komena as she strode into the office, Kave following behind. The Dean snapped his fingers, and the glass moved to click back into place with a soft musical note. “We were brought into The Dean of Agriculture’s investigation in exchange for being provided actual protection.” Kave went to one side, grabbed the curtain in a corner by the glass wall and dragged it closed over the wall, blocking the room off from the outside hall. Meanwhile, Komena went by the Dean’s desk and glanced at his papers. They covered mathematics, city administration, sketches of various animal skeletons and musculature breakdowns. There were even a few scattered lines of poetry in the margins, although none of the subject matter really interested her.

  “Well, you’re an intelligent woman, and Kave isn’t the type to trust easily. If you think this arrangement is the best solution, I won’t argue. Though that makes this visit a matter of business.” He said, looking at her and Kave, who had settled in the corner at the curtain’s end, before turning back to his lab equipment and directing the floating vials back to their stands.

  “We were wondering if you had any dealings with the Dean of Evocation before her passing.” Komena asked. Taim rolled his eyes.

  “Oh incessantly. All the faculties think they can impose on my time, but she was the worst about it. Anytime I wanted to get some work done she would pop up.” Kave’s head tilted as the Dean held up a hand, motioned like it was speaking and pitched up his voice. “Taim, can we put up a statue of me? Taim, expand the roads by my office because traffic is cramped. Taim, put massive copper rods into the port so that I can electrify the sea in case of invasion. Taim, help me drink these three bottles of wine.”

  “That fits with what I’ve learned about her. I expected her to be less casual when dealing with her peers.” Komena said. The response was a shrug.

  “She was a very casual person, with a generous definition of “peer”. It’s an infuriating quality in someone that talented.”

  “Did you work with her often?” Komena asked.

  “Officially, we cooperated to build the city’s defenses, but she was always getting distracted with some side project. I likely saw her the most, but I wasn’t the only one she would harass for resources or to show off to. I’ve lost count of how many times she would come into council meetings with some spell scribbled on a napkin and outshine us all.”

  “You’re awfully upfront about your jealously, Taim.” Kave said. The Dean turned to him, so he didn’t see Komena glare at Kave, finger pressed briefly against her lips.

  “Kave, I understand that you two must interrogate me, if only to be thorough. But I’ll be incredibly disappointed if your opinion of me is so low that you’d think I’d have someone murdered over petty jealousy.” Taim said. “I thought you knew me better than that, after all your time here. All those dinner parties Struth held. Wasted.”

  “Don’t you dare say his name!” Kave yelled, smoke following him as he marched on the Dean. “None of you respected him! Laughing at him like he was a joke dropped into your lap. The banished stray picking up strays.”

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  Kave’s was interrupted when one of his legs sank shin deep into one of the tiles. It immediately started to crack as he struggled to get free. It was a subtle spell, which hadn’t needed a word from the dean to trigger. Just a flex of the fingers to change the world. Komena stayed in place, but her attention shifted from Kave to searching for exits. The Dean wouldn’t be able to do anything to them, officially, as long as they were able to pass Kave’s outburst off as questioning, but they needed to reach someone to pass off to first.

  “So, this is what what’s behind the serving boy squire act. Fin, if this what an open discussion looks like to you, we’ll have it now.” Taim said, pulling a handkerchief and wiping at his brow. “Struth was a faintly ridiculous man, but also a noble and insightful one, despite the actions of his predecessors. I wouldn’t have made him the supervisor for the investigation if I thought it was beyond his abilities. And even if that killed him, I won’t apologize for putting the only person I knew would deal with the situation honestly on the front line.”

  “Then why is it that as soon as he’s gone that you all start circling me like hawks? I can’t mourn, I can’t even avenge him without you forming a line to cut me open!”

  “Kave, I understand your confusion but-” Taim said, still patting away. He dropped the cloth as Kave kicked himself free in a cloud of dust. The boy dashed towards the mage, a solid trail of smoke following him as he roared.

  Komena had started running when the tile had broken. Whatever would happen from this fight, she wanted as many walls as possible between her and it. Helping Kave could wait until he was in a situation she could help. In a few steps, she was halfway to the exit, still blocked by the curtain. But by then, Kave was already lunging onto Taim.

  He wasn’t fast enough. The Dean sent out a wave of force that blasted the Fiendblessed though the air and against the glass wall. He didn’t crash through it, just slammed hard enough to make a deafening boom. Komena felt it like a blade in her ears and a blow to the stomach.

  Kave shook his head clear from the impact and focused back on the Dean who had thrown him. Whatever counter he had planned stopped short. Instead of the archmage preparing a coup-de-grace, the man was collapsed on the floor.

  Luckily, he had maintained enough wherewithal to control his fall before losing consciousness. Enough to not crack his head open on the floor tiles. Komena checked his pulse, found it beating weakly through his neck. That was a relief. One dead Dean had caused her enough problems.

  “What happened to him?” Kave asked. The trail of smoke that marked his arc through the air was quickly dissipating and he had calmed down enough to be breathing normally again.

  Komena flipped the Dean onto his back and delicately opened one of his eyelids. The eye was moving slowly but erratically. It looked bloodshot, except instead of red it was with the full spectrum of color, shifting kaleidoscopically.

  “It looks like arcane exhaustion. He cast more spells than he could handle and tapped himself dry.” She said as she pulled out her knife. “It used to happen to me all the time, back when I still used magic to try and solve my problems.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. He’s a dean! He should be throwing thunder around like loose change.”

  “I agree. He could be faking. I once saw someone to do it for an alibi. Training to mimic catatonia, illusions for the eyes. Do you sense anything?”

  Kave took a few seconds to look him over, focusing on the opened eye.

  “I can’t sense anything from him besides all the ambient magic he’s soaked in. He could be hiding enchantments beneath it though.” He said with a shrug.

  Komena hummed in agreement, then rolled up Taim’s sleeve.

  “How are you at healing spells?” She asked.

  “Adequate. If this was physical trauma, I could put him back together. Exhaustion an entirely more complicated situation.” Kave answered.

  “That’s good. Get ready then.” She said, then quickly jabbed Taim’s arm with her knife. She traced a quick cut up from that point, a line from forearm to elbow rapidly dyed itself red. Taim didn’t react, asides from a quiet moan like he was having a nightmare. Komena could allow him that.

  “Well, that proves he’s not faking.” She said as Kave rushed to his side and began casting.

  Healing magic was by all rights easier than it should be. The body was more complicated than a fire or bolt of lightning. The spells should have either been impossibly complicated or crippled the patients. Instead, whatever force kept spells from being able to simply stopping hearts from beating drew the blood back into the cut and guided the flesh as it stitched itself close. You still needed to know how things were supposed to be and fit them together how you would to heal it normally, but that was easier than most basic spells. They called it the Corpus law, one of the fundamental rules of magic.

  “That was reckless.” Kave said when his work was done.

  “I don’t want to hear that from you right now.” Komena said, re-sheathing the cleaned knife. “Will his arm be alright?”

  “There shouldn’t be any real damage, but it will be sore when he wakes. Don’t think you I’ll let you pass this off on me.”

  “If you were worried about that, you shouldn’t have picked a fight with him. I understand that you have more reason than most to hate them, but if you go fighting duels for Struth’s honor every time we talk to a dean, all we’ll get is incinerated.”

  Whatever anger was left in Kave’s eyes flickered out as he looked away from her. “Is there anything we can do for him?” he asked.

  “Not really. He’s already doing what he needs to fix it. The best thing we can do is get him somewhere comfortable while we wait for him to come to. He could probably use some broth or something then, but he can call a servant for that himself.”

  A few cushions were thrown together in a mattress like way behind the Dean’s desk. The two of them picked Taim up off the ground and put him onto the makeshift bed as carefully as they could.

  “The question now is if Taim has enough energy to summon the Flauros. I don’t really know how these things scale against one another.” Komena said.

  “No, he only cast three spells and the first two were small things. Delicate, impressive things, but not powerful. That blast was the most intensive, but I’m sure some dockyard brawler could do the same. I’d say even summoning an imp would take his reserves for the day.” Kave said, stretching out the leg he’d kicked free from the floor with the barest wince.” Someone should really keep an eye on him until he wakes up. I think the vice-dean is doing a lecture in the main hall about now. I’ll go get him, then we can continue on.”

  “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell that bottom feeder anything about this.” Taim said from his seat, voice slightly slurred. The two looked back to see him still laying down, eyes open in slits, rubbing his jaw to work out the stiffness. “I’ve worked quite hard to keep my condition out of the public eye, and they’ll plaster the walls with the news.” He rolled and brought himself onto his knees with a struggle before opening one his desk’s drawers. From it, he took out a small, wooden box, a half empty bottle of white wine and a short-necked crystal goblet. He pulled the cork out of the bottle with his teeth and started filling the glass as he unlatched the box, taking out an apricot sized square that looked like it was made from old tar. Grimacing, he ate the square in a few bites and chased it down by quickly draining the wine glass.

  “You shouldn’t be drinking after collapsing like that.” Kave said. Taim was still squinting, so Komena couldn’t see his eye’s roll, but she could feel the motion behind his lids.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve been studying this longer than you’ve had those horns. These will have me back up in a moment, the wine is just to make the flavor bearable.”

  “Couldn’t you just add sugar to them?” Komena asked.

  “I tried, but it causes combustion. But we’re not here to talk about my secret recipes, are we?” Taim said, resealing the box and putting back in the drawer; before pouring another glass of wine.

  “We were here to discuss you committing murder, but you and Kave have settled that matter.” Komena said.

  “What, not worried that these squares could increase my power enough to have done the summoning?” Taim said, before finishing the second glass of wine. He immediately began pouring a third as Kave watched concerned.

  Komena snorted. “If you had made something that improved anyone’s capacity for magic, you would have either announced it for the prestige or started a revolution.”

  “True enough. What’s relevant is that I was born with a slightly limited capacity for spellcasting. Nowhere near as bad as your case, Komena, but still something to be worked around. I’ve managed to keep it a private matter, by focusing on efficiency and proper recovery methods.” Taim said, putting the goblet back in the drawer, but leaving out the now empty bottle out. “But certain feats are simply out of my reach.”

  “The other Dean’s must know about this. There’s supposed to be a whole initiation for new Dean’s.”

  “For the Faculty’s they consider important. I was able filibuster my way through with a presentation on public infrastructure. I also perform better in formal duels, against those I don’t want alive.”

  “This does raise the question of why you didn’t want me to continue the investigation or offer either of us protection.” Komena said.

  “Ignoring your blatant disinterest in the case? It struck me that any protection we could offer as a collective would be compromised by the culprit. Instead, I thought to offer you something individually. Evidently, the farmers had the same idea. Better resources too, if your confident enough now to be strolling about for her now.” Taim said. “Of course. there’s also some business with Kave that I’m sure she’s unwilling to settle.” Taim said, struggling to his feet. No matter how good the medicine he had was, you couldn’t expect to shake off a collapse like his in minutes.

  “Kave, with Struth gone, you’ve lost what little diplomatic protection you had. Once this issue with the murder is sorted, custody of you will likely be the next issue of debate. Assuming arrangements haven’t been made with Corlin for you?”

  Kave didn’t answer right away, didn’t even look at Taim.

  “No, they haven’t. Struth was sending letters back to his family, but we know what to expect from them.” He said eventually.

  “I’m disappointed in your lack of foresight, Kave. Fortunately, we can work on that going forward. Struth had enough pull to get you a proper education, which qualifies you for a novice position here once the investigation is complete.” This got Kave to look the Dean in the eyes.

  “That sounds like you’re just staking your claim first.”

  “From a certain point of view. But as a colleague, not as research material. I’ve seen your marks. Mathematics, languages, all excellent. Poor aesthetic sense, but we can work on that. Besides we don’t study magic here. Whatever breakthroughs the other’s think they can make out of you, are irrelevant here.” The Dean said with a wave of his hand.

  “This seems like a loophole that the others won’t allow you to exploit.” Kave said.

  “If they want to tear apart the laws protecting their own faculty members, they’re welcome to try. It’s been a while since the cities last riot, and the repair fees are good for our budget.” The Dean put his hand on Kave’s shoulder.

  “Any risk for this is worth it. Kave, you’re already one of the most powerful mages in our faculty. I want you to consider what someone with your talent could do with proper political backing.” Taim waved a finger and the glass door slowly slid open behind them.