The admission examiner, four clerks, and the waiting instructors remain in the central court with the sealed sponsorship record. Hemme accompanies Femme toward the Water Academy beneath blue-white banners, carrying only his quiet vigilance.
A faculty clerk leads them through an arched passage into a cool practice chamber. A shallow stone basin rests at its center, ringed by frost-bright sigils and chalked limits.
Faculty Clerk 4
Formation first, healing second. The basin will show whether you can shape water, preserve its pattern, and release it before your reserve answers too strongly.
The clerk pours a finger's depth of clear water into the basin, then touches each sigil. Frost gathers in precise lines, forming a contained lattice without sealing the surface.
Hemme Soule
Small and measured, Femme. Let the lesson show what you can control, not what the four branches can demand.
Faculty Clerk 4
The limits will halt overflow and disperse excess mana. They will not correct a poor formation, so attend to the pattern before the healing impulse.
Beyond the chamber, the academy bells mark the opening hour. Within the ring, the water lies still beneath the frost-bright design, awaiting Femme Soule's first deliberate response.