"The greatest weapon isn't a sword. It's a reputation you never wanted in the first place."
***
The main courtyard was loud. Not the good kind of loud, like a festival or a tavern brawl. The bad kind. The political kind.
Students from all four Houses clustered around the central fountain in their little tribes. Aurum kids held court near the fancy benches, their golden pins catching sunlight like they'd paid extra for that effect. Probably had. Argent students argued about mana theory while eating pastries that cost more than my monthly allowance, waving their hands around like the fate of the world depended on who could sound smartest. Vermillion members sat in the shadows, watching everything, saying nothing, being generally creepy about it. Their crimson robes pooled around them like spilled wine at a dinner party nobody wanted to attend.
And House Onyx? We hunched over our sad little meals at the margins, trying not to exist too loudly.
Perfect.
