Emily and Juliana board the train alone, Ivor having insisted on coming separately, and settle down, side by side, in a private booth. As the train slides out of the station, they quietly look out over the city, framed in the golden light of the setting evening sun. The mist around The Dome shimmers with a pale ethereal glow, curling around the nearby buildings and flooding the city with its presence.

“Did you ever ask about what the mist does?” Juliana asks softly after a few minutes.

“Yeah, I asked a few weeks ago in enchanting,” Emily answers eagerly. “It’s a supermassive array under The Dome that was set up when The Covenant was created. It fulfils two major functions, the first is one you already know, cleaning the city. It was an extra function requested by the royal family to keep their capital looking nice and shiny. The second is tracking. The array detects all movement within the mist and especially flags mana signatures to help spot any mages trying to infiltrate the city. It’s got to be an incredible array; I wish I could go see it.”

“Can’t you?”

“No. The teleport down to it is limited to only trusted members of The Covenant who’ve separated from their family and sworn a mana-bound oath of loyalty to The Covenant.”

“Aww, that’s a shame,” Juliana says with a downcast tone, reassuringly squeezing Emily’s hand.

Emily nods silently, falling into her own thoughts on the matter.

I may not be able to see it now, but maybe if I succeed in casting space spells I’ll be able to teleport into the array room to have a look when I reach third circle. I’ll probably set off their security systems, but they’ve got to be weaker from inside The Dome, and I can reset after memorising the full array.

They sit in comfortable silence for the remainder of the trip. After the train pulls into their stop, they disembark the train and Emily is slightly taken aback by the opulence of the revealed station. The platform is made of polished white stone, with gold metallic highlights tracing the edges. The ceiling is far above, an arched lattice of stained glass, forming a breathtaking kaleidoscope of colours on the white stone below.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Juliana says, drawing Emily away from her appreciation.

“Mmm, it is.” Emily nods in agreement. “Have you been here before?”

“Yeah, I came here with my mum once for a party.”

Juliana starts pulling on Emily’s arm, which is once again linked with hers, guiding her to an exit. They leave the station and step onto a long, winding gangway flanked by daunting behemoths of metal. Each hulking block reaches out of the dense, swirling mist below, all the way up to the gangway on the top level of the city. All the lower layers are industrial and robust looking, with few windows and dozens of pipes jutting out and dropping smog into the lower levels of the city.

In stark contrast, the top level of each metal structure is occupied by an expansive garden, filled with vibrant greens and bursts of other colours in the form of carefully maintained flower beds and fruit trees. The gardens are filled with the city’s mist, but it’s so thin it’s almost imperceptible, giving the gardens an unnatural, otherworldly atmosphere. Sitting in the centre of each garden are vast mansions, each styled in different woods and stones to show the personality of the noble house that owns it.

Emily and Juliana stroll past the mansions, admiring the stunning gardens, and soon arrive at an open gate with the Salvia crest embossed above. Standing on either side of the gate are mages Emily doesn’t recognise, wearing black robes with purple accents and bronze Salvia crests pinned to their chests. As they approach the gate, one of the guards reaches into his robes and Emily feels a faint fluctuation of wind mana.

“Welcome to the Salvia house, please enter at your leisure,” the guard says while removing his hand from his robes and bowing lightly.

I guess he just checked our identities.

With a small nod and a few words of thanks, Emily and Juliana step through the gate onto a stone pathway leading through the garden to the mansion. The walk takes them several minutes, and Emily sees dozens of servants tending to different areas of greenery as they go.

“They have so many servants just gardening,” Emily mutters with a shocked tone.

“Yeah, the big noble families like having lots of servants for everything,” Juliana tells her with a slight frown. “All of the levels below us are for their servants and storage.”

Emily’s eyes widen slightly as she considers that; a building spanning ten layers of the city, only filled with servants. The sheer scale leaves Emily speechless.

“Crazy. Does your family not have a lot of servants?” Emily asks after a few moments of silence.

“We do, but these families are just excessive. Who needs dozens of gardeners? Our garden is the same size as this, and we only need ten!”

They arrive at the main double door to the house as Emily giggles at Juliana’s outburst. The doors are once again standing open, this time with four mages standing guard and six normal servants in simple black suits and dresses waiting for guests on either side of the doors. The mages silently cast their gazes over the two without any reactions, and one of the servants steps out with a deep bow.

“Miss Madonna, Miss Coldstone, please allow me to guide you to the banquet hall,” he requests politely, waiting for a response without raising his body.

“That would be wonderful, thank you,” Juliana responds in kind.

The servant rises without another word and turns swiftly on his heels to lead them. They don’t have to move far, walking through a single long hallway and arriving at a large, closed set of double doors. They are forged from a smooth white metal and embellished with several jewels and runes, even having a few wind crystals slotted into a pattern around the centre.

The crystals glow slightly, their mana flowing into the surrounding runes and maintaining them as the servant raises a hand and presses against the doors. The doors swing open without a sound, and instantly Emily hears a flood of noise. The open doors reveal a vast hall, with a dozen crystalline chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, all adorned with light crystals, flooding the room with pure white light. The floor is filled with tables, each surrounded by six chairs. Standing around the tables are mages from The Covenant dressed in expensive-looking dresses and suits. Some of them Emily recognises, most she doesn’t.

The servant who had been guiding them steps to the side and bows again while gesturing for them to enter. Thanking him for his help, Emily and Juliana walk into the hall and look around for Ivor. A few of the mages turn to them as they enter, most turning away, uninterested, after seeing the new entrants, and only a few having stronger reactions.

Ignoring the judgemental gazes of their peers, Emily spots Ivor standing alone at the edge of the hall and starts pulling Juliana towards him. Before they can reach him, they are interrupted by Dante charging over, wearing a deep crimson three-piece suit and dragging an unhappy-looking Enzo along by the hand.

“Emily!” he calls out with a wide grin as he approaches. “Glad you could make it.”

“Nice to see you too. It appears you may be the only one who is,” Emily comments wryly, aware of the increasing attention from Dante’s shouting.

“Ah, who cares about them. They’re all boring anyway.”

“What, they don’t carry enough explosives for your taste?”

“Exactly,” Dante agrees, nodding completely seriously, drawing a small chuckle from Emily.

“Anyway, what’s with him?” Emily asks, gesturing towards the still-scowling Enzo standing behind Dante with her head.

“Ah, right. Enzo wanted to speak to you!”

Emily raises her brow inquisitively while focusing on the small boy. Reluctantly, he steps forward.

“I never thanked you for helping me on the first day of our group training. Thanks,” he mutters quietly, giving a small bow at the end before trying to step back again.

Dante throws an arm around his shoulder, stopping him from retreating, as Emily stares at him in slight shock. A light elbow into her side from Juliana snaps her out of it.

“It’s alright. I was only doing what I should.”

“The little guy’s been meaning to thank you for weeks, but was too shy without my assistance,” Dante states proudly, receiving a glare from Enzo in return.

“Don’t call me little, and I wasn’t shy. I just never found the right time to say anything.”

“But it’s true, though, you are little,” Dante says while tilting his head in honest confusion.

Enzo sighs tiredly, giving up on the argument. Emily resists the urge to laugh at them, changing the topic instead.

“I should probably introduce you guys. This is Juliana Madonna, my girlfriend. And, Juliana, this is Dante and Enzo.”

“It’s nice you meet you two,” Juliana says, bowing her head lightly.

Enzo silently nods at her in response, his signature scowl never leaving his face.

Huh, maybe he just doesn’t like people… How the hell did he end up friends with Dante?

“Nice to meet you too! What element do you use? Do you have any explosive spells?” Dante asks excitedly.

“Wind. I’m only first circle so I don’t know many impressive spells, and I don’t think my element is very useful for explosions,” Juliana answers with a mix of embarrassment and confusion.

“Tsk,” Dante clicks his tongue, looking towards Ivor, who has approached the group while they were talking. “What about you, Ivor, do you have any fun earth spells?”

Ivor simply shakes his head, crushing Dante’s hopes. Dante turns his disappointed gaze to Emily, and she lets him down before he even has a chance to ask.

“Nothing new that would interest you. I’ve been more focused on utility since we started training. Well, unless you count fl-“

Emily is cut off by a sharp noise ringing out through the hall. Everyone in the room turns to look for the source, finding Oscar standing at the far end of the hall on a raised stage wearing a smart black and purple suit, and holding up a glass and spoon, the source of the harsh sound.

“Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Now that everyone has arrived, please find a seat and settle down. The servants will come round to take your orders once everyone is seated.”

All of the groups in the room slowly begin picking their tables, sitting together in their small cliques and calling over their other friends to sit with them. Noticing the tables all seat six, Emily asks Dante and Enzo if they would like to join her, Juliana, and Ivor for the meal. They both agree, and they all settle around the closest table.

Chatting together for a few minutes, all of the tables in the room are quickly filled, but a few stragglers are left without a place. One of those stragglers approaches Emily’s group.

“Hey, can I sit with you guys?” Linda, one of the first circle luggage carriers on the expedition, asks while nervously fiddling with the skirt of her dress.

“Of course!” Juliana says with a smile.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Linda takes the seat between Ivor and Enzo while introducing herself to Juliana.

“I’m Linda Doria of house Ulex. Thanks for letting me join you.”

“No problem! I’m Juliana Madonna. If you don’t mind me asking, don’t you already have people to sit with? You are a member of this expedition, right?”

“I am, but I’m only going to carry luggage. The Ulex family doesn’t have any mages within The Dome at the moment, but they are allies of the Salvia family so Oscar is looking out for me by bringing me along. Most of the other vassal mages are sitting with their family members,” Linda answers, pointing out a few of the tables with nobles and vassals seated together.

“I see, that’s nice of him.”

“Yeah, Oscar’s lovely!” Linda says with a slight blush.

“Oh,” Juliana spots her blush and starts asking her more about Oscar.

Emily tunes their conversation out, turning her attention to the steady stream of servants, wearing identical black suits and dresses, entering the room through small side doors and approaching the tables, some pushing silver, wheeled trolleys with glasses and bottles of sparkling wine. They spread around the room, so a single servant is positioned behind each guest. As they wait, a wine waiter sets up a glass before each person, while another stands motionless beside each table with the trolley.

Emily turns to the woman standing behind her.

“Hello Miss Coldstone, what would you like to eat tonight?”

“Is there not a set menu?” Emily asks in surprise.

“Not at all. We can make you whatever you would like.”

“Hmm,” Emily considers her options for a few seconds.

Whatever I want? My first thought of food for celebration is a toasted salami sandwich, but that’s not really noble banquet food… Ah well, they said whatever I want.

“Could I get a toasted salami sandwich please,” Emily asks, to which the woman simply nods, asking for a few details on the dish before giving a deep bow and turning to leave.

The hall slowly empties again, each mage having ordered their meal, and the servants waiting with the drinks trays spring to action. Pulling the bottles of sparkling wine out of their buckets of ice, they pop the corks in sync with practised motions, and move around the table, filling everyone's glasses before stepping back.

The low chatter in the room falls away as Oscar once again knocks on his now full glass, standing on the stage and drawing everyone’s attention.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming. Please allow me to make a short speech.”