Mission Report: Prologue
“Fall in!” Xenia shouted, the command clear and crisp in the morning air. Five young bodies hastened to line up. Backs straight. New, unusual, school uniforms pressed and clean. Xenia looked each of them over closely, making sure ties were tied, ruffles were properly fluffed, then backed away, with a satisfied nod. This was the future of the Empire, these young people before her…
Adele, whose sleepy gaze often meant she was underestimated. Mind like a steel trap, powerful mage from a family of powerful mages, Adele was Xenia’s childhood friend. Xenia stepped up to straighten the collar at her throat.
Josef-2 stood so rigidly that Xenia’s back hurt. He took after his grandfather, one of the Empresses’ trusted counselors, with his impeccable manners. Xenia clapped him on the shoulder and gave him an approving nod.
Simon was having a hard time not fidgeting. Understandably, this mission was causing him some misgivings. Due to a small calendrical difference in the way Bauer and Nur reckoned time, Simon was not going to be in high school with the rest of them, but in middle school. Simon’s role here was critical, so keeping him in the loop had to be priority number one.
And herself. This was an important responsibility. It could make or break her military career.
Xenia took a deep breath. “Good morning. Today is the beginning of our mission as a diplomatic exchange to Bauer. Our job is to gather as much information as we can in the time we are here. The Empress is counting on us. Does everyone understand the brief?” Xenia finished briskly. Three nods. No wasted words, no assumption of dereliction of duty. Her team was the best Nur had to offer.
“We’ll meet at the end of every week to debrief and send home our observations. If you hear something critical, tell me, I’ll tell Simon. We can’t have us all wandering in and out of the middle school until we know what the situation is. I’ve gotten permission to visit him as needed.” Three nods.
“Any questions?” Three heads shook. “Good. I’m sure you’ll all be excellent. Nur expects no less. Dismissed.” Three sharp salutes, Xenia’s salute in response. The boys took their leave to head to the boy’s dorms. Xenia and Adele closed the door to their room behind them.
Xenia turned to look at her friend. Adele heaved a sigh. “Tomorrow’s going to be weird.”
Xenia could only nod.
***
Weird did not wait for tomorrow.
As Xenia and Adele took a few minutes to read intelligence reports about Bauer, they heard someone shouting and doors slamming. The sound seemed to be approaching at a rate that meant someone was running down the hall.
Before they could stand up, the door flew open. Xenia leapt to her feet, ready to scold the intruder when a cherubic face thrust itself into her room and shouted, “Rosemary has chocolate!” the disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
Adele and Xenia stated at one another for a long moment.
“Is this a good thing? Adele asked.
“What is chocolate?” Xenia responded.
“Which one is Rosemary?” Adele added, reaching for her papers.
Xenia shrugged. Then she said, “Listen to them…it’s good. Whatever it is.” After another look, they opened the door, to find a procession of girls walking quickly through the hall, voices raised in excited chatter. They joined the wave of humanity heading for the common area. The chatter around them was light, the atmosphere anticipatory.
When they reached the common area, they found everyone clustering around a smiling girl with beautiful ebony curls surrounding a perfect doll-like face of incredibly smooth, skin in a ruffled night dress. The girl was holding out a box from which everyone was taking something.
Someone behind them shouted out, “Rosemary, Rosemary, our guests from Nur are here!”
Xenia stiffened, pasting a neutral smile on her face, expecting the worst. But Rosemary handed the box to a girl standing at her side and clapped her hands. “Oh how wonderful! I’m so glad to meet you! My name is Rosemary Martine.” She reached out to take Xenia’s hand, then Adele’s and turned to everyone, “Everyone! Please give our new friends your kind attention!”
Everything Rosemary said seemed to be punctuated with an exclamation point, Xenia thought. Standing to attention, she thanked Rosemary and introduced herself.
“My name is Xenia Grunwald, I’m a third-year and this is my friend Adele Stein, a second-year. We’re both from the Nur Empire. It’s very nice to meet you all.”
Adele echoed the sentiment.
The crowd surrounding them squealed with excitement. Before anyone else could say anything, Rosemary, who had regained control of the box, spoke. “Do they have chocolate in the Nur Empire!? My mother has a friend at Blume! She’s sent me enough to share! Please try some!” she pushed the box towards Xenia as she spoke. As she approached, Xenia could smell something. It was bitter and sweet and nothing like she’d ever smelled before. Small, dark brown pastilles, nestled in thin, crinkly paper were the source of the smell.
“These are chocolates!” Rosemary was ebullient. “Please take one!”
Xenia nodded and took two carefully into her hand, then handed one to Adele. With so many people eating it around them, there was low chance of it being poisoned.
Adele sniffed the pastille, looked at it and took a bite. Her eyebrows shot up to her hair line.
“Oh!” her voice had risen an octave, closely resembling Rosemary’s. Was that something the chocolate did? Was it a drug?
“Xen…try it!” Adele’s voice was wild with amazement.
Xenia lifted the pastille which, even on the thin waxed paper, was slightly softening in her hand and took a bite. There was a powdering coat under which was a creamy confection. It was smooth, and bitter and sweet and…
“This is delicious!” Xenia said. Applause rang out around her, as she colored, realizing that her voice too, had risen.
“You like it?!” Rosemary beamed at them. “Please, have another!”
Xenia had another.
Mission Report: Week 1
Mission Commander, Xenia Grunwald, reporting from Bauer Academy.
Integration has gone well. Simon Fafner has settled in to the middle school level. His small size serves him well, as does the fact that his academic and magic status have always been high. His report is as follows:
Simon Fafner
The boys of Bauer are polite, the girls accommodating. Classes are simple. We study magic theory, but do not practice. One of my classmates is the son of a high ranking military official of the Kugret family. I will cultivate a friendship with him, in order to collect intel. History classes are full of misinformation about the Empire. Classes here are tolerably high level in science and math but, we have classes in things I cannot understand. Why do we learn music? What is the point? I will investigate further.
Josef Gesner
I have befriended the leaders of my class. Richard Martine and Edward Notting. They are respected by their peers and members of the Academy Knights, the informal student-run administrative organization of the school. They also lead the school in athletic prowess. I’ve agreed play football with them on an ex tempore basis, as I cannot compete.
The Academy Knights are filled with Bauer’s future leaders, I believe I will be able to learn a great deal from these relationships.
Adele Stein
The girl’s dorm is very lively. They shared “chocolate” with us on our first night – that is a kind of confectionery that is popular among the decadent citizens of Bauer. Despite the recent revolution there are still remnants of income inequality among the denizens of the Academy. Noveau riche merchants and families with political power will always find ways to keep the poor downtrodden, rather than rewarding skill, as we sensibly do in Nur.
I am working on befriending the outsiders of the school, other delegations from Appalachia, Kiko, Souse and other countries. I expected to find a mass of discontent, but everyone seems very…pleasant. I will keep my eyes open for opportunities.
Xenia Grunwald
I have taken it upon myself to become friendly with Rosemary Martine, the apparent leader of the girls’ salon. Rosemary is an idiot, but her parents are influential merchants, and she is clearly a ringleader in fashion and politics. She has let slip that her brother is an Academy Knight and is planning to intern with the government when he graduates. Josef and I will coordinate.
First week report complete. Xenia Grunwald out.
****
Adele yawned.
“Sorry to be so dull, Adele,” Josef-2 growled.
“It’s not you, Josef! I was up late having a midnight snack! Have any of you ever heard of crème brule!?” Adele had been hanging around Rosemary quite a lot, Xenia thought. She was finding out useful information, but this verbal tic had to be nipped in the bud.
“Thank you your report Josef,” Xenia stood as she spoke. “Simon, did you get that?”
Simon looked up from a pad, “Troops are not increasing along the borders, according to the Academy Knights. Yes.”
“Good. How are things by you?”
Simon looked startled. “I…I’m fine. School is not complicated, but they make us do something called…art? We literally sit around drawing pictures? I don’t understand it at all?”
Adele nodded. “Yes! And we play music…not to be good, just to do it. How does this better the Bauer kingdom’s defenses? I don’t understand.”
Simon nodded emphatically.
Xenia thought about it, “I heard that one of the third-years uses music as her magic. She’s proficient with something called a “violin,” Xenia shook her head. “Perhaps these are not the trifles they seem. Be diligent in your studies.” Three nods. “Excellent work. Dismissed.”
This week, Xenia had been informed by one of her classmates that a seasonal “monster hunt” was scheduled. Born and raised on the border land with the Demons, Xenia was unfazed by magical monsters. More importantly, they would finally have a chance to show their skills. Bauer would shake when they could see what Nur could do.
Mission Report: Week 2
Simon Fafner
Several of the middle school students were invited to assist with the seasonal monster hunt on the school grounds. Inevitably, I was among them. My grades have been reasonably good, but my understanding of magic puts me in the top of my class. Of course, no one there understands my skills, nor have I shown anyone what I do for the Empire.
I have begun to use a new tool. This tool is called a flute. As a magical tool it intrigues me, but my school studies confine me to playing “music.” I have to assume that this is another kind of magical theory. I am intrigued.
Adele Stein
I’ve spent most of my time among second-year female students, which makes me long for our strong leaders and powerful mages. Rather than join the coteries of my year’s leaders – girls who have little interest in anything other than clothing and food and boys – I have continued befriending the disenfranchised leaders of foreign countries.
Esmerelda Juarez is the de facto leader of the Kiko faction. She cares deeply about her country – we have bonded over our patriotic fervor. She has also been teaching me about her country’s cuisine. This week I learned of a simple foodstuff made of flour and water that can be used to make portable food for easy eating while on the move. This “tortilla” can be baked or fried or even eaten dried once it is cooked. Paired with meats or vegetables, it will make a fine foodstuff for our armies.
Josef Gesner
I am now spending my time with the Academy Knights almost exclusively. Although I may not join the Knights officially, I have been allowed to unofficially assist them. They primarily do paperwork on behalf of the student body. Of course they may not be showing me critical papers, but based on what I have seen, the Bauer kingdom Is softer than we imagined. Students complaints are small and ignorable – perhaps in the aftermath of revolution no one wishes to rock the boat. There is, however, almost no crime, no unrest, no militant rebellion here. The Academy and Bauer are exactly as they look; peaceful and largely unaware of outside forces. But I am coming to admire their good nature. Peace does not appear to mean that they are unprepared.
This week I am playing with the Knights in an informal football match against another school. This will be a good opportunity to test the mettle of another academy.
Xenia Grunwald
This week was a seasonal monster hunt. Both Adele and I were participating as part of our usual studies. A teacher – a dual caster of mid-to high rank – coordinated the students. When someone identified the largest monster as a giant serpent, Adele and I, as two of the most powerful mages in the school joined the elite squad send to contain it. Josef-2 accompanied the Academy Knights. I thought this an excellent chance to show Bauer what Nur was made of on a different field of competition.
I had to quickly explain to the teacher what we could do, but was amazed at the alacrity with which my plan was accepted. I had assumed I would have to convince them…but apparently the teachers here are unexpectedly sharp.
The teachers took up positions shielding students from the serpent’s earth-blasts, the other students formed a wall between us and the serpent. With our ears stuffed against its hate cry attack, Adele and I stood, holding hands. I created my Earth Knight with my Earth attribute, hardening it’s armor and lance to steel, while she animated it through her water magic.
The guarding wall of mages parted, as our Earth Knight charged at full speed and struck directly at the heart of the great serpent, piercing it though. As it fell, the Earth Knight struck at the magic stone in its brow. As we ran up to retrieve the stone, the other students were busy cleaning up the small fry.
Both myself and Adele have been given an accommodation in thanks. Compared to fighting the demons, this was nothing, but I’m glad to show Bauer the power of the Nur Empire. If we two are among their most powerful, what can they possibly do to stand against us?
Xenia Grunwald out.
****
Mission Report: Final
“Is this it?”
“So far.” Dole smiled, as he took the papers back from Rae. “Our people are working on the later transmissions now.”
Clare poured them all tea, smiling gently. “We never even thought about sending reports back. I don’t think we make good spies.”
Dole thanked her for the tea. “Admittedly, you’ve been a little busy since you got here.”
“We did write for help when we needed it.” Rae insisted.
“Which you did pretty regularly.” Dole agreed.
They all sipped in contemplation of the final days of their time in the Nur Empire.
Rae’s expression clouded. “I never thought about the consequences for the students,” she admitted reluctantly. “It’s all well and good to say that we’ve created a better world, but they’ll return to a county completely changed. The government, even the food is different.”
“I almost wish I could have met them, “Clare mused. “They’ll come home to a Nur radically changed from the one they left. It seems…unfair.”
Dole was suddenly struck by something. “You will be able to meet them. We’ve asked Empress Philene to extend their stay in Bauer and they have all graciously agreed.”
“Really,” Rae’s expression was complicated. “Any particular reason?”
Daole smiled slightly. “For some reason, they all have…adapted…rather quickly. Adele Gunter is considering transferring to the Roya…National Cooking School. Josef Gesner is being seconded to the new Nur diplomatic mission. Since he’d become so friendly with the Martine boy, who was going into diplomacy after graduation, they’ve decided to room together and work on developing better relations between our country.
“Simon Fafner turns out to be the key piece in this puzzle. His wind magic was utterly unique, but related to your friend Misha’s powers. While Misha can amplify sounds loudly in a local area, young Fafner was able to send messages across a tightly controlled line over long distances. He’s requested to stay at the Academy. Apparently, he’s enjoying playing the flute.”
Dole sipped his tea. While Rae and Claire stared at him, waiting for the punchline. Claire broke first.
“And the fourth, father? You’re saving the best for last, I can tell.” Clare scolded lightly.
“Xenia Grunwald has been requested to stay as a temporary instructor of magic at the Academy. When you return home, you’ll be working with her. Since “ Dole leaned in closely, “she and Stein can do paired magic like the two of you. It was too much of an opportunity to lose.”
Rae hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath. Paired magic. Maybe those two had something to teach them….
“Well, I’ll certainly look forward to meeting them soon.” Clare stood. “And now it’s time for us to write our own reports.”
“Really? Write reports at this late date?” Rae looked confused. “We’ll be back in Bauer in a few days.”
Clare shook her head. “Reading these, I suddenly thought that our experience have been so extraordinary, they really do need to be put down in writing. Otherwise,” Clare turned with a smile, “Who would ever believe any of this?”
Fin