The elf Dorgan made Oz’s sense for trouble itch. He was tall and had the pale parchment coloured skin of a Dawn Elf. His flowing chestnut hair in a delicate bun, a purple gem studded hair pin that matched his immaculate cravat.

  The thing that made Oz wary was the hollow smile and the two elves behind him. Something about it did not feel friendly. It did not help that his accent marked him as a Dynasty student, there was a kind of voice only a lifetime of tutors could craft. He was trying to appear genuinely friendly, only the male elf behind him was looking at him and Angie like they were monkeys in a zoo.

  Oz pinched his nose, that was another Ozzer thought. They came out more when he was studying and he still found them, and the contextual images that accompanied the Ozzer’s thoughts, disorientating.

  This sadly gave Angie the opportunity to swing wide open the conversational door before he could shut it.

  "Oh nice to meet you. I’m Angie and this is Oz. Who are your friends?" She smiled. They had not stopped heading to the cafeteria. They walked through the wood panelled halls, dodging other students.

  "This is Rinaire Azroot and Stellare Crocuslin." The pair offered vague greetings, sweeping in behind Dorgan. The man Rinaire gave the barest of nods, while the girl gave a more genuine smile and wave. She seemed to be about to speak when Dorgan cut her off.

  "We’re all very excited to test our classes soon, sadly Stella and I have to wait till tomorrow. Rin has to wait till last."

  "It’s unfair. We shouldn’t be behind…" Rin began to complain, only for Dorgan to shoot a glare over his shoulder. "I’d prefer if it was sooner, but I’ll just have to wait."

  That did not stop Rin from staring at Chops, who walked beside them. The jealousy was clear on his face.

  Oz sighed. He should have hidden things better. While having his familiar out was normal now people had classes, the fact that Chops was so well behaved and was somewhat well known, at least in the gym, would have tipped them off that he had his class for a while now.

  Rin looked about to ask a question but then Angie jumped in.

  "I can appreciate that. I mean I know it’s for safety and they try and get through everyone as quickly as possible."

  Oz let Angie continue to chatter as he silently regarded the group. He did not like them. Years of fighting his fellow students had given him a sixth sense for bullies, ranging from the blocky tough louts to the snarky mouthy types.

  Dorgan screamed mouthy sod to his senses, the exact kind of person who would be first to stir stuff up and get everyone angry, yet would be first out the door when a fight actually started. Oz hated that type of sod with a passion. Oz’s general solution was to hit them first. They were not used to taking a beating, they had minions for that.

  Oz had a suspicion why Dorgan was talking to them. He kept an ear open as they spoke back and forth about the basics of the course, the last lecture and other small talk.

  So far it was all benign. They arrived at the huge cafeteria, picking up trays to wait their turn to pick their lunch out of the vast range of warm dishes. It was only when they were locked into the queue that Dorgan’s focus shifted.

  "So have you got to know anyone else on the course? Our families were close so we knew each other beforehand, but we’re keen to get to know the others on the course." Dorgan explained, gesturing to his, well friends was too strong a word given the sour look on the girl’s face, lackeys, that was the word.

  "We probably know less people than you." Oz cut Angie off before she could say anything. He was not aggressive in his tone but he made no effort to soften his voice. Beside him Chops’ ears perked up. His tail stopped swishing as he picked up on his master’s mood.

  "Oh but I saw you wave at another student in that lecture?" Dorgan’s smile continued. Oz pulled back from snapping, he had been expecting him to ask about Bless.

  "That’s Glittershank, he’s a housemate of ours. We’re all in one of the forest houses. That’s how we know him. He’s a crafter, has a lot of knives." Angie chatted. She had still not picked up on it, or was hiding it well.

  Or maybe Oz was reading too much into it. Not everything had to be like Grey Water. Maybe Dorgan was like him, cursed with an unfortunate smile.

  "Oh how lucky, the dorms here are serviceable but I’d prefer a smaller group. How are the houses?" Dorgan asked, his smile never faltering. The question was natural and smooth. Maybe Oz was being paranoid and this lot was not just a trio of more subtle Starers.

  The pair exchanged a couple more questions as they moved through the line. Oz stayed quiet, drawn into agreeing with Angie occasionally. Chops walked beside him, subtly on alert when not distracted by the smells. The smell of the food was not heavenly, but it promised solid amounts of protein.

  Oz had rather enjoyed the fact that he could assemble his own portion, as he could maintain the right nutritional balance.

  It was just as they arrived at the front and Oz was reaching out for a thick stew with some hearty root vegetables that Dorgan asked again.

  "I think I saw you speaking with someone before the inaugural lecture yesterday? Are they a roommate as well?"

  Oz sighed. He knew it.

  "Oh that’s Bless, she doesn’t live with us or anything." Angie took a breath to continue then frowned. It seemed she had finally cottoned on to what was going on. Oz took the opportunity to interrupt.

  "What do you want to eat, Angie? Stew looks good." He interrupted their conversation, giving her an out.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "Ah you were there as well Oz, is she a friend of yours then?" Dorgan’s smile stretched across his delicate elven face.

  It looked very punchable.

  "We just met." Oz replied bluntly. Beside him Chops moved in closer, glaring at the trio. Dorgan’s smile was looking thinner by the second and the other two elves were standing close to their boss. Their pointed ears kept twitching, little movements, but ones even Oz recognised as impatience.

  "It looked more…" Renaire, the impatient one of the group, the one Oz found himself thinking of as the muscle even though the elf was a willowy sort who was probably half his body mass. It was more in how he stood. His feet were planted, his shoulders squared, hands up and ready to react.

  Renaire, like any good muscle, could take a cue and cut himself off as Dorgan sent another glare at him. His smile was gone and his face promised death.

  "Oh well, no matter. Let’s go sit. Get to know each other." Dorgan’s smile was back again. It made Oz’s skin crawl. There was something he did not like in the elf’s tone, this was not a request, it was an order.

  "No, changed my mind. I’ve got to walk the dog." Oz grabbed one of the disposable boxes they offered and loaded up some food into it. The cafeteria allowed food to go, though Noxarcer had very strong opinions on where it was allowed. Anyone trying to bring hot food into a lecture tended to find it absent and themselves under a personal curse where their nostrils were filled with the smell of poorly reheated fish.

  The last thing Oz pocketed on the way out was an apple. He hoped he would not need it, because that would mean things had gone seriously wrong, but experience told him better safe than sorry.

  "I’m also busy. Thanks for the chat." Angie smiled back. Her expression was complicated. She looked hurt, worried and angry all at once. Oz could see a slight change in the colour of her eyes, switching to the amber colour of her wolf form.

  Moving quickly they exited the hall, but the elves followed. Dorgan’s friendly mask was barely holding on, while Rin looked outright murderous. Interestingly the woman Stella just looked tired, or maybe resigned. Like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

  "Wait wait. Stop for a second." Dorgan called.

  "He said stop!" Rin shouted.

  Around them the corridor quietened down. They had only just slipped out of the cafeteria. The line of students watched the drama unfold.

  Oz pinched his nose and kept walking, only to realise too late that Angie was not with him.

  "Why should we listen to you?" Angie snapped over her shoulder. Oz sighed. Angie was nice but she clearly had never had to deal with bullies like this. You either ignored them or insulted them so hard they attacked you so you could beat the tar out of them. Anything in between just gave them an opening.

  The Ozzer did not agree. It suggested that insulting them without the beating would at least be fun.

  "Because you don’t know who you’re even ignoring. You have an opportunity to—" Dorgan’s smile had changed, his smirk of amused contempt sitting naturally on his lips.

  "Angie, there’s nothing to gain from talking to a Starer." Oz snapped, cutting him off.

  "What did you call us? Is that some new scholar insult for your betters." Renaire growled, his fists coming up.

  Dorgan looked about to continue, some cocky nonsense about how they were lucky to even share the same oxygen as him, but then Stella, the female elf, pulled the rug out from beneath him.

  "You know what, I’m done. I don’t know why I followed you here Dorgan. This is just like how it used to be. This is embarrassing." Stella the elf broke ranks. The two other elves turned, looking like they had just been slapped.

  "What are you? This wasn’t…" Dorgan’s mouth opened and closed in confusion. His superior swagger was gone in an instant.

  "I’m sorry we bothered you. I’ll leave you to it. Please don’t lump me in with these two." Stella then began to walk past them, trying to distance herself from the whole mess.

  Oz nodded with respect.

  Dorgan’s response, after he pulled himself together, was to laugh. Maybe he thought it sounded ominous, but to Oz it just sounded creepy.

  "Oh that’s your game Stella, throw us down and get into their good graces that way. You shouldn’t trust her, she’s a betrayer. She’s sacrificing us to gain more points with you."

  "I’m not I’m just—" Stella looked between the elves and Oz’s group before she growled to herself while her hands curled into claws like she was imagining strangling the elf in front of her. "I’m done with you Dorgan. I’m finally here at Noxarcer, there are so many more important things to do than this political kelpie shit. My regret right now is realising I could have just ignored you from the start. Rather than sitting here while you try and schmooze your way through things you should be earning."

  She then turned to Oz and Angie.

  "If it’s not abundantly apparent these two, and others like them, are going to be all over you two and the others who were in that cab yesterday. They spent hours talking about it at their party last night, while they all sucked each other’s dicks about how amazing their classes are and how surely the ‘Altharn’ would recognise their potential."

  "Yeah I’d figured out everything. Though I’d put him down as more of an arselicker than a cocksucker." Oz replied deadpan. It was an Ozzer insult, swift and sharp, that slipped out before he could stop it.

  "You plebeian fuck. I’ll teach you." The elf Rin, who had been steaming himself up behind Dorgan, launched himself at Oz. The elf was unnaturally quick. His [Deftness] had to be his main attribute, or he had an amazing passive. In most situations, launching a surprise strike like that would have spelled an easy hit for him, but he had made three big mistakes.

  First he was telegraphing the clumsy uppercut before he even launched it.

  Second, he vastly underestimated his own momentum.

  Third, he failed to appreciate just how solid a half dwarf, half troll could be.

  Oz did not bother to attack, he just snapped up an elbow. Knocking the blow off course so it barely clipped his side. Oz did not move, nor did his elbow as it acted as a single point of contact to absorb every scrap of his opponent’s wild uncontrolled momentum.

  Oz felt something go crunch.

  It was not him.

  "Heurgh." Rin bounced off, tumbling to the floor. Oz gave him a look over and with the practised eye of someone who fought idiots regularly, sighed. Rin was far from done, already trying to push himself up, with veins appearing on his head. The second he got up he was going to attack again.

  Oz deployed the apple.

  Dorgan, exactly like every smartmouth ever, backed off and immediately did what he did best. "Teachers! Help! There’s been an attack."

  "You ugly peasant! You dare attack me!" Rin spluttered from the ground, pushing himself up shakily off the wall.

  "Rin stay down! Don’t get in more trouble." Stella looked conflicted. It was one thing to try and move away from shitty friends, it was another to stand idle and watch them get hurt.

  "Shut up you traitor, you just want to hang out with them for an easy ride. Maybe you’ll fuck them too like scum Gregory." Rin spat at the floor in front of her as he pulled himself up from the floor. The tension on Stella’s face disappeared. She looked ready to spit on him.

  Dorgan turned back to the fight and his pleas for aid hitched. His brows rose in surprise before he shouted again for help, this time with a genuine level of desperation in his voice.

  "Now you…" Rin frowned. "Where did you get the knife?"

  "Knife! Knife!" Dorgan shouted.

  Oz just calmly peeled a strip of apple off with his clanknife. The ultra fine edge shaving the skin off with a satisfying schlick. He looked over the apple directly into Rin’s eyes.

  He did not say anything, even as the Ozzer lined up countless barbs.

  It was of course at this moment that a teacher arrived. Pushing through the students appeared a dwarf, broad and with a slate black beard streaked with grey. The teacher glowed with power to Oz’s sight, runes floating across every inch of him.

  "What’s going on here?" The teacher looked at Oz first. He sighed. Why did everyone assume he was to blame for these things. At least he knew exactly the right thing to say to defuse the situation.

  "I’m eating an apple." Oz replied, the apple peel still stuck between the blade and his thumb.