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Nyra nods solemnly. "Agreed."

I look toward her. "You spoke in front of Professor Neris."

She nods once. "That was answering a question."

"What is public speaking if not answering a question for too long?"

Nyra considers this. "That is somehow worse."

Selena approaches with a cup of coffee. She reads the list once. Then tears it down.

Rowan gasps. "You cannot destroy public scholarship."

"It was blocking the dining schedule." Selena folds the paper and places it beside Rowan's plate.

By midday, the list has been replaced. This time there are thirty-four possibilities. Selena does not tear it down again. Perhaps even she recognizes defeat when she sees it.

Professor Neris begins Inheritance Studies by ordering us to remove the black bracelets. No one succeeds. She watches the attempts without comment. Several students pull. One tries sliding soap beneath the band. Another whispers what sounds suspiciously like a release charm.

The bracelet tightens around his wrist. Professor Neris waits until everyone has stopped.

"What did you learn?"

A siren near the front rubs at the red mark left behind. "That they cannot be removed." He sounds everything but conviced.

"No." Professor Neris walks between the rows. "You already knew that." She stops beside the student who attempted the charm. "What did you learn?"

He lowers his hand. "That I assumed the rule was a challenge."

Professor Neris's face doesn't move. "Why?" He hesitates.

"Because they did not explain the magic."

Professor Neris nods. "And when information was withheld?" Silence.

"I tested the boundary."

Professor Neris nods. "Without understanding the consequence."

His expression changes. "Yes."

She continues walking. "Uncertainty rarely changes who you are." Her gaze passes across the room. "It reveals which instincts reach the surface first."

The bracelets suddenly feel heavier. Nyra glances toward mine. I look toward hers. Professor Neris returns to the lectern.

"Your Trial has already begun." The room becomes completely still.

Someone whispers, "What?"

She opens her book. "Page one hundred and twelve."

That is all. No explanation. No reassurance. Several students remain frozen. Professor Neris looks up.

"If you require an invitation to continue learning, this institution may not suit you." Pages turn immediately. The lesson concerns instinctive manifestation. Not the personal gifts waiting behind our inherited doors. The automatic reactions that appear before conscious control.

A vampire's senses sharpening at the scent of blood. A wolf's body preparing for transformation when threatened. A fae reaching instinctively toward nearby life. A siren projecting emotion without meaning to. A Medusa's skin hardening beneath sudden pressure. Dragon-blooded students reacting to heat, danger or the distress of a bonded creature.

"Instinct is neither moral nor immoral," Professor Neris says. She writes the statement across the board. "It is unexamined."