Somehow, Serenity found himself in the lead after that. He wasn’t sure how it happened; he didn’t even really know where he was going. Even so, he found his feet leading him down a semi-familiar path to a side entrance. The farther he went down the path, the more familiar it seemed.

While he hadn’t gone into Stallet Center much, he had routinely left the Academy’s walls and practiced in the greenspace outside. Any student of Stallet Academy could probably say the same, at least any student with destructive magic or large area Skills. Those were practiced outside, usually in designated arena areas. It was far easier to repair a field of packed earth and broken stone than a building, after all, and students weren’t expected to have rough control to spare the building once they were high enough Tier to actually damage the walls.

The walk brought back memories Serenity hadn’t realized he even had anymore. Stallet Academy wasn’t a great time for Vengeance, but it was in many ways a place of calm. He faced no challenges he couldn’t overcome and no permanent losses threatened him.

Serenity thought he’d been horribly lonely, but Vengeance had preferred that at the time. Friendship just meant someone to lose. He could manage the relationship of being classmates. That was supposed to end after school ended, after all.

They passed a small clearing that Vengeance remembered very well. There was one girl who simply wouldn’t accept that he didn’t want to do things and kept inviting him to small events. They were all public or at least had half a dozen people and Vengeance found himself accepting them. That clearing brought back the memories because it was where he’d put his foot in his mouth by explaining he wasn’t interested in her as a woman; she’d looked at him like he was crazy and told him that she wasn’t interested either. She simply thought he looked lonely and wanted to do something about it.

He found out later that she wasn’t romantically interested in anyone. It simply didn’t interest her.

What was her name? Serenity couldn’t believe he couldn’t remember it. At the same time, why should he expect to remember it? The incident was a very long time ago and would never happen in this timeline anyway. She was probably only in her early teens right now, anyway. Possibly early twenties? He wasn’t even certain how old she’d been at the time.

“Ah, Serenity? We should turn left here.” Raz’s words pulled Serenity out of his memories.

Serenity paused. He was a few steps down the path on the right, but he knew it was the right way to the entrance he usually used when he came this way. “Why? The entrance over here is closer. Is there a reason to avoid the practice halls?”

Grandma Tillon had an oddly high-pitched laugh. “Now I know you were a student, only the students would try to go in the side entrances because it’s closer. There’s no one to open the gate for you and they’re one-way.”

One way? Serenity didn’t remember any difficulty with opening them from the outside; you just had to know the trick. “They wouldn’t have a handle on the outside if they were one way,” Serenity countered. “You just have to tell the ward who you are, that’s all. I was told it’s an exercise in aura control?”

Come to think of it, he was pretty certain that the girl whose name he couldn’t remember was the one who let him in on that particular open secret. Before that, he’d needed to wait for someone to open the door for him or go the long way around.

“An exercise in aura control?” Grandma Tillon sounded confused. “Stallet Academy doesn’t train aura control. You can’t do anything particularly useful with it until at least Tier Five.” Her words were stronger than her tone of voice. She muttered the next sentence. “That does sound like something the First Headmaster would have done, it wouldn’t be the only hidden place where people who work ahead have things easier.”

Raz glanced back and forth between the two Hands. “So it sounds like we’re going to the right?”

Grandma Tillon looked along the path Serenity was on, clearly staring past him. Her voice was firm. “Yes. I want to see this aura control method. We’re probably also less likely to immediately run into enemies; I expect to find them in the living areas and probably the large field, but the practice halls are probably pretty deserted.”

Serenity wished he’d been able to set up a ritual to see what was happening inside Stallet Academy the way he’d done for the Viper’s base, but it wasn’t possible. Stallet Academy did have a ley line nearby that probably ran through the Academy at some point, but in addition to the other defenses, the entire Academy was warded against observation spells, even rituals.

Unlike the Viper’s wards, the Academy’s wards were specifically designed to cover almost the entire Academy and expected that people would be trying to break them; students would try to break them for all sorts of reasons, after all. The Academy’s wards meant he’d have no idea what was there until he actually opened the door.

Assuming it even would open for him, that was. He still didn’t know if he’d be counted as a student or not.

Serenity shook off those thoughts and headed down the path. It was a decent walk to the wall; the Academy’s grounds were extensive. They had to be.

The wall was exactly as Serenity remembered it; even the discolorations and chips in the stonework looked right. Serenity blinked as he realized that they were probably from the original attack on Stallet, an attack he didn’t remember ever hearing about as Vengeance. Perhaps he had, but if so he must not have cared.

Serenity could see where the wall was patched into the side of the building. The wall had probably been built first, but it didn’t look like it; it looked like the building came first and the wall was an afterthought that was melded into the solid side of the building. Serenity didn’t know why it was built like that, but every single entrance that went through the wall led into a building and the buildings each had their own construction; some were similar, but very few were the same as the wall.

The door was made of wood and opened outwards; there was no way to see through it. Serenity could remember more than one occasion where he’d started to head inside the wall and been smacked by the door or narrowly gotten out of the way when someone came out instead.

The memory meant that he was cautious walking up to the door even though he knew there was no one to smack it into him. He reached out with his aura and quickly gave it the small twist that would slip it past the outer layer of wards.

Nothing happened for a long moment.

Serenity was about to try again when the door shifted and seemed to fall open a little, as though a lock holding it closed had been released. He didn’t remember it being that slow, at least not usually.

In fact, the only time he remembered this door being that slow was the first time he used it. Some of the others were slow, the ones he didn’t use often. That was probably the reason, then; it wasn’t like he’d ever used this entrance before in this timeline. He was lucky that it seemed to recognize him at all.

“You’re a ward-breaker, aren’t you?” Esme Tillon’s whisper was quiet enough that Serenity wasn’t sure the others heard; it was certainly quiet enough that no one else would. “That’s … I understand why you didn’t admit it. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it quiet. I know you haven’t met many other Hands, but every Hand has Skills like that, we wouldn’t be chosen otherwise. It worries me a little that the Voice chose a warrior, but at least there’s more to you than that. A warrior is a useful front; you sell it well.”

Serenity was fairly confident there was a misunderstanding there, but it probably wasn’t one that would do any harm. He could break wards, so that part was true, even if he hadn’t needed to actually break the ones here. He wasn’t certain how she got from there to assuming that being a warrior was an act; he couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag.

“I’m not acting,” Serenity rumbled quietly. “I don’t see how I can stop you from thinking I am, but to be clear, I’m not. For now, though, how about we concentrate on figuring out what’s going on here? I was expecting more obvious signs of the place being occupied; I’m more than a little concerned that it seems abandoned and the defenses haven’t been changed.”

“Raz has the key,” Esme started before she stopped short.

Perhaps she’d seen the same thing Serenity had. “Which he hasn’t used. We were able to get in without it. The only thing it’s done is stop the active defenses from noticing us as interlopers, and you said that previous students could get close even without the key. So where is the protection?”

Esme shook her head silently.

“Towards the Headmaster’s Office unless we see anyone?” Serenity asked. That was the plan, but it was good to confirm they were all thinking the same thing.

“Yes,” Esme confirmed. “No one’s been able to find the Headmaster’s Register, so it should be there. Hopefully they don’t have it.”

Serenity nodded. The current Headmaster wasn’t the intimidating human lady he half-remembered; instead, the current Headmaster was an elderly draykin mage who had been Headmaster for nearly two centuries and swore he was never returning to the Academy. He hadn’t even organized the evacuation; that was one of the teachers. Serenity hadn’t met her yet, since she was occupied trying to keep the students and faculty safe and still functioning as an Academy-in-exile, but he suspected that she was the Headmaster he remembered. It only made sense.

The current Headmaster hadn’t done anything to stop the invasion other than activate the defenses, the same thing he’d have done for an assault by monsters. Serenity supposed that he should be grateful the man had done that much, since it had probably slowed the invaders down. Unfortunately, he hadn't taken any of the Headmaster’s accouterments with him.

The Register was particularly problematic because it included a map of the Academy. A map that could be used to track anyone who was in the Academy. It also kept track of who was accredited as a current student or teacher, but that probably wouldn’t be helpful to anyone at this point. The new Headmaster would want it but that was all.

Serenity took that as agreement and turned back to the door. He grabbed the door handle and pulled. The door opened smoothly onto a poorly-lit corridor that Serenity remembered well, even if he did remember it actually having light. He glanced down the hallway and saw no one; that was a good start.

Serenity stepped inside, followed by the others.

The nearby rooms were training rooms, mostly for melee combat. They should check them out on the way, but they weren’t the focus. He could remember that much, but the only memory he had of the path to the Headmaster’s Office was the directions Esme had given before they left. He’d hoped that being here would jog his memory, but he wasn’t certain Vengeance had ever been there.

“You’d better lead,” Serenity admitted to Esme. “You know the way, don’t you?”

An odd smile flickered across Esme’s face. Serenity had no idea what that was about, but he suspected it had something to do with the conversation outside. Perhaps she’d taken his inability to remember the way as confirmation of her assumptions?

The smile turned to a frown as Esme looked around. “From here? I think I can, but we’ll have to get out of this building first.”

Lillene

I don't think I could find the University President's office at any of the universities I attended. It might have been pointed out at some point on a tour, but if so i don't remember. The Dean of the department, on the other hand? I know EXACTLY where his office was and could find my way there today - even though it's been more years since I graduated than I really want to admit.