Lysette arrived a moment later, weaving her way through the crowd in a blur, slinking between the gathered students without attracting even an errant glance in her direction. Her use of just a touch of her shadow dissolution helped with that, helping her blend in with the darkness of the night sky. It also let her dematerialize her body as she weaved through the crowd, avoiding making tangible physical contact with the crowd and letting her look a bit shorter, such that she could easily pass for one of the other thousands of students at the Academy. Only when she arrived in the center of the crowd and returned to full height did the crowd finally turn its attention to her.

“I was asked to attend this meeting by a pair of students whose name I was not given,” Lysette said after a moment of awkward silence. “I know the general idea of why I’ve been summoned and what this group is about, but I’d like to withhold judgement until after I’ve heard your stories. Only then will I decide what help, if any, I will offer to your movement.”

The two students who’d invited Lysette earlier that day approached her and shook her hands in succession. The woman was named Kristil, and was actually the older of the two siblings, despite being quite a bit shorter and more youthful-looking than her brother, Nicholas. Both of them were upperclassmen— Kristil a fourth-year, and Nicholas a year behind her.

As their telepathic abilities all-but-confirmed, the two specialized in Mental Cultivation— techniques for distracting and interrupting the opponent’s concentration and abilities, as well as ones which manipulate the senses and even emotions of their targets at higher proficiency. Lysette wasn’t convinced she wasn’t being manipulated subtly by one or both of them even now, but as long as their goals were in line with her raison d'être, she would still assist as best she could.

Lysette listened to more stories of the aggrieved students, all of which followed the same patterns of small or fabricated grievances being met with outlandish demands for retributive justice. One student knocked over a suspiciously-placed book on a young master’s desk, and found himself forced to wear an elaborate dress and makeup for the next two weeks as a way to be ‘properly humiliated’ and ‘reminded of his place’.

Another student showed a mark on her left calf, a disgusting looking crest not unlike a cattle brand. It was later explained as being just a magical tattoo imprinted on her, and Lysette’s aurasight confirmed that no part of the symbol interfered or could be made to interfere with the flow of Essence in the woman’s body. It was just as it looked on the surface— a tattoo.

And one by one, each student told their tale, their grievances against the nobility, their children, the crown, and the entire social order upon which Domaria lay. The starlit conversations continued late into the night, late enough that the detestable crescent moon began rearing its ugly head over the eastern sky. And throughout them all, Lysette simply watched and listened, rarely speaking but probing a bit with her aurasight from time to time to confirm any of the allegations she found farfetched. With her superhuman hearing, vision, and brain, it wasn’t too difficult to notice the physical microexpressions and racing when a student was particularly nervous about something.

But while some of the statements were somewhat exaggerated for effect, none of them struck her as being false. And her own unpleasant experiences with these haughtier-than-thou types lined up quite well with the ones the others had shared.

After hearing enough stories to form an opinion of the group, she called Kristil over, figuring she was the leader of the group, and asked her a question.

“I understand your group and your grievances now. But I still don’t understand what you want with me.” She had an idea, of course, but still wanted to hear it exactly out of the group leader’s mouth.

“When my brother and I started this group two years ago after our own experiences, we weren’t really expecting anything tangible to happen. We just created this little group to give us a chance to vent our frustrations and commiserate with like-minded individuals. But last year, Serrena arrived on campus and had a meteoric rise, quickly making quite the name for herself. And that’s when we started to allow ourselves those faint glimmers of hope, that maybe we could effect real change.”

“And then you arrived on campus a few weeks ago, Lyse, and everything flipped completely on its head. We want— no, need— you to lead us,” Kristil said after a moment of silence. “You have a certain quality about you. You have an indomitable will within you, one which spurs you onward, allows you to fight against all odds, to turn what ought to be impossible into the realm of potentiality. And so if anyone has a chance of truly reforming this campus, this society, it’ll be you. So please, Lyse.”

Lysette took a deep breath before uttering her answer. “No.”

“You won’t… help us?” one of the students near the back of the congregation asked. Sighs and dejected groans filled the gardens and some of the students muttered curses under their breath. A couple even wandered off back toward the dorms, shaking their heads held low

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you. But I won’t lead you into battle, if that’s what you’re after.” Lysette took a deep breath. “Think about it, everyone. I may be a gifted Cultivator, but what I have in talent, I more than lack in experience. I might be strong by the standards of students, but that doesn’t mean I can hold my own with the heads of the great noble houses. Or the Chancellor, or even the professors here!

“And even if I could, what then? Let’s suppose I were strong enough to completely topple the power structure on Domaria, which is what you all seem to suggest I do. Do you even know how many lives would be lost? Forget the nobles themselves and just think about all the guards and house staff— maids and doctors and butlers who haven’t done a thing to hurt anyone, who just want to make it through their life and provide for their families, who are probably dealing with exactly the same sort of shit you’ve been talking about all night.

“And even then, once I die or move on, what happens then? You think the lives of commoners are miserable now? Just wait until the counterrevolution! You’ll see retribution on a scale you can scarcely imagine!”

“So then, what do you suggest instead?”

“For now? Nothing. We continue to train and Cultivate. We hone our skills; we get stronger bit by bit. We work together, pool our resources, pull each other up, and grow our competency as a group. Just like the big noble families have their own minor branches and followers, so too will we create our own. It’ll be small and weak at first, but it’ll develop over time.” Though, a lot of that will be on me.

“We just… do nothing?” a trepidatious male voice asked. “We just sit back and allow this indignity to continue?”

“For now, yes. Unless you have a better idea.”

“Of course the young genius sits back on her mantle and says to do nothing,” a woman near the back of the crowd said. “What does she care? She can defend herself against the upstart nobles just fine. Just walks right up to them, demands a duel, and then wins without even trying. I don’t know why you’re wasting your time with her, Kristil. Lyse just wants to stay on the nobles’ good side so she can become one of them. Never suffered a day in her life.”

Lysette’s eye twitched, and before she blinked again, she’d dashed forward and nearly slapped the woman making such an insulting assumption in the face. But she held back at the last second. It would have been so easy. And moreover, her Domain agreed it was an appropriate response. But she still resisted; the last thing she wanted was to be exactly like Kiarra, Francis, and all of those other haughty nobles.

“Do you know what it’s like to lose everything?” Lysette asked, her voice cold and emotionless. “To wake up one morning to find your parents dead on their kitchen floor? To cradle your younger sister’s lifeless body in your arms? To burn the bodies of every friend and acquaintance you’ve ever had without so much as a shoulder to cry on? And to know that, no matter how hard it hurts, no matter how much you want to, you’ll never be able to forget the night they died and the morning that followed? Because I do.

“Hate me all you want. I don’t care. But I won’t allow you to impugn my family or their memories after they were murdered in cold blood.”

Lysette shook her head and walked back toward her seat on the bottom two steps of the tower staircase, the crowd silently dispersing to allow her to pass before reforming again behind her.

“I’m no stranger to suffering,” Lysette said after a long pause. “I know the feeling that each and every one of you have spoken of tonight. The feeling of being wronged by a being so much more powerful than you, one who towers over you, seemingly untouchable, like an insurmountable wall towering ahead. I know the temptation to give in to despair, and I understand your frustration, your anger. Including your anger that I cannot just wave my hands and solve all your problems.

“But I do believe that in the end, the wicked will receive retribution for their wrongdoings. And those who act with honor and kindness will likewise be rewarded in due time. It may take weeks, years, even centuries, but eventually, what goes around will come back around, for good and for ill alike.”

“That’s a pretty naive way to think about the world, don’t you think?” a woman in the back asked. “I haven’t seen anyone get their deserved comeuppance. Unless you’re saying you can bring it about yourself.”

“Maybe it is naive, but those are my terms,” Lysette said. “If you want my help, you’ll agree to them. And if not, I guess I’ll see you around campus.”

“When you said you’ll help us, how do you intend to do that?” a quiet voice asked, one spoken in little more than a whisper.”

Lysette paused, not sure if the question was sincere or just a rhetorical one. After an awkward silence, she answered.

“I’ve been told by Kristil and Nicholas that a number of students in my year are starting to advance rapidly. Almost all of whom are members of some little fan club that apparently started recently.”

“You… want us to join your fan club?” Nicholas said after an even more awkward silence.

“No. Nothing like that. I just… If you believe that I can make this work, I’ll find a way to do my part.”

“That’s pretty cryptic,” Kristil said. “And not a lot to go off.”

Of course it was cryptic. She’d been given a long leash by Zarielle, but revealing herself as a Godslayer was the one thing she was expressly told not to do. Even doing this much was probably not the wisest idea, but it wasn’t like she was an unknown quantity on campus by this point. Plus, it contributed to her understanding of her domain, and that, in turn, did seem to lead to her growth as a Cultivator, so it wasn’t all downside.

“Maybe, but that’s all I can offer you,” Lysette said after an even longer and more awkward silence. “Please, take some time and think about it; you don’t need to answer immediately.” With a somber smile, Lysette walked off back toward her dorm, eager to rest and Cultivate on her own bed tonight. It was far more comfortable than the bed in the infirmary.