Chapter Text
Painter, Szeth, Sarene, Adolin and Ham filed into the room.
“You may be seated,” Hoid called.
“You!” Painter and Adolin called out in chorus.
“You! And no, Design is not here. She’s got her own class to teach.” Painter frowned before taking a seat. Adolin did so, but only after neatly arranging his swords out on the floor beside his desk. Ham nodded in approval.
“Why are there only 5 people?” Sarene asked.
“That’s how this school works. You all know my name already - or at least, one of my names - so I’m not going to introduce myself. You have 10 minutes to talk amongst yourselves while I get things sorted.” With that, Hoid puffed into smoke.
Ham was the first to speak.
“Nice sword collection you got there, erm,” he began.
“Adolin,” Adolin said.
“I’m Hammond. You can call me Ham. I prefer duelling canes, but swords are great too.”
“Nice. You wanna duel?” Ham grinned.
“Challenge accepted.”
Adolin and Ham got out of their seats, weapons in hand.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Sarene called, getting out a wooden fencing sword.
“Uhh… I don’t think a blunt sword will be enough,” Ham replied.
“Can I borrow yours then?” she asked Adolin. He nodded, handing over a sword of moderate length. Ham stuck to his dueling cane.
Sarene was the first to move, dashing towards Ham. Ham quickly downed some pewter before leaping out of the way and attempted to slam a cane into her shoulder. She dodged, however, and that gave an opening for Adolin to make a move towards Ham. Ham parried his strike and rolled, disturbing Painter who was attempting to paint the scene. Painter threw a paintbrush at him, which hit square in the forehead, allowing Sarene to touch a sword to his side.
“I win,” she said before parrying Adolin’s strike. Szeth was sitting in the corner, eyes closed and muttering something. As Painter got out a new canvas, Adolin entered Flamestance, noticing how Shallan-like Sarene looked. Apart from the hair and eyes, they were almost indistinguishable. Even the height was a near perfect match.
A failed parry later, Adolin smiled after winning the duel. Ham remarked how unfair it was to be beaten with Allomancy. Everyone stared at him. He guessed that no one here knew what Allomancy was.
Szeth abruptly breathed in Stormlight and proceeded to hover above the ground. His eyes remained closed.
“A glowing coinshot!” Ham called. Adolin stared at him again.
“Is he an Elantrian? Or ChaySan?” Sarene asked. Painter, immersed in his painting, didn’t notice.
“What’s a coin?” asked Adolin. Sarene, Ham and Painter (he had finished his painting) stared at him. “What?”
Painter admired his work; he’d got an image that captured the feel of the duel as well as the faces of his four classmates. Sarene asked to keep hers and Painter obliged.
Hoid walked back in the room to see a broken chair from the duel, a paintbrush lying on the floor and several swords. He sighed, before addressing the class.
“Class A1!” he began.
Sarene cut him off. “What kind of name is that?” Hoid Lightweaved his Wit face and…
“NO!” Adolin screamed. “This is school! There is no room for wit!” Wit looked thoughtful for a bit before dropping the illusion. Adolin heaved a sigh of relief.
“Ok. Class A1, you are to have your first test - maths!” Everyone except Szeth frowned.
“A test? Already?” Ham asked.
“As I believe you have guessed, this school works differently.” Adolin scowled before he could say something Witty. Hoid handed out the test papers and everyone got to work.
An hour later, Hoid announced the scores. “Sarene - well done, you got an A+. Szeth, you got an A. Ham and Painter, both Bs. Adolin, you got a D. I feel like I wasted so much time getting Connection to work to write yours in glyphs. Remember, this test was easy, so no one failed. The next one will be harder. Anyway, class dismissed.”
No one complained about a one-hour school day. Szeth, before leaving, asked Hoid to show him every rule in this school. Deciding it must be a Skybreaker thing, he handed over a sheet of paper. Szeth nodded before leaving. Everyone else had left already, except Painter who was painting Yumi on the wall beside the front gate until Szeth showed him the policies around that and got him to stop. His highspren appeared briefly as he Lashed himself away.