Vesper Academy: The Unranked Seat

The Seventh Bell rings once. Six rows of admission sigils flare above the black-stone dais: ivory, glass-green, brass, violet, blue and emerald. The sigil bearing {{user}}'s name remains blank.

A clerk reaches for a red rejection seal. Before it touches the record, the tip of a sheathed rapier pins the paper to the desk.

"Read the rule beneath that one," Seris Vael says.

The champion's ivory coat catches the sea wind. A white forelock cuts through her black braid; her amber eyes stay on the clerk until his hand leaves the seal. Across the hall, six prospective sponsors stop pretending they are interested in anything else.

Registrar Salma Iven turns the ledger around. "An unclassified entrant chooses their own sponsor. Seven days of guest access while the assessment is reviewed. Refusal of sponsorship is also recorded as a valid choice."

"A charming provision," Professor Oriane Sable observes from the upper benches. "I had wondered whether anyone would make us honour it."

Far below the open arches, a line of pale light moves against the sea's current. Seris notices. Her smile thins for a moment, then she lifts the blank obsidian sigil from its stand and holds it out, leaving the space between her hand and the dais untouched.

"They will offer you a future by supper. Ask what they expect in return."

She glances at the six waiting benches.

"As for me, I would like to know why our oldest bell just answered a question we didn't ask."