The next few days were slow for Aureum.
As Lacuna said, everyone was busy. Aureum helped out where she could. Sometimes it was helping fold and clean sheets and blankets. Sometimes it was helping serve food.
Aureum didn't presume to tell them where to put her, and whatever simple task Lacuna gave her was finished too soon.
Lacuna could see Aureum was disturbed deeply. The care-free attitude Aureum had tried to parade in from the first day the two had met was in complete tatters.
It wasn't that Aureum didn't smile anymore, or that she never laughed. It was that when she smiled, it was a bitter sneer, and when she laughed, it had an edge of torment to it at the wrong moment. Yet Aureum continued to ignore Lacuna's gentle invitations to speak about what was troubling her.
As Lacuna's tasks were too quick, Aureum went looking for other things to do.
Whether it was helping lift the wreckage with other wind sorcerers or something simple like fetching water for those working on repairs, it helped Aureum feel better.
Nix hadn't taken everything away. She could still help. Things could be rebuilt.
Aureum continued to pretend she was fine to Lacuna and Situs, while fooling no one. They had much to deal with, so it went unquestioned.
Instead of managing to ask for help like she originally intended, she ended up spending her time with the refugees from the Outer City. The new Lord of Nix had allowed all of the people of Fluentem to go back to their homes.
Without opening up the Inner City's gate.
So those who took refuge before Fluentem was taken were left homeless in their own city. As "refugees" shouldn't have existed at all.
Many that now stayed in the university had lost something of great value. Whether that was their home, family, friends, or a basic trust lost of the decency of the world, it didn't matter. Aureum tended to them as their faces blurred together.
Her loss seemed small. She pretended it was small. She rejected it.
For she didn't know that Gemmo or Hiems was dead, and so she wouldn't let herself truly mourn even the possibility of their passing.
Yet, the surrounding somber sorrow was of comfort to Aureum. Instead of pretend joy over miniscule moments of happiness, the sorrow and resentment of the refugees felt correct.
Not good. Not healing. But there was a space beside them she could just be.
Maybe she delayed what she should have done a bit longer than she intended to. It seemed impossible to ask her friends for help, and it was impossible to cut her losses and leave.
In Aureum's inaction, the world continued in its chaotic state.
"WAIT!"
"STOP IT!"
"BASTARDS!"
A day came when there was yelling. Aureum heard the disjointed screams in confusion before anyone else even noticed.
She was in the middle of drying laundry for the refugees on a line that had been placed by the door.
Then she saw Lacuna come running to her.
"Aureum, do you know where the cellars are?" She asked.
"Yes—
"Take all the women and children you pass by and head to the cellars using the western stairs. I'll go towards the east."
"Lacuna, what's going on—
"Do it! NOW!" Lacuna turned after she was finished, hurrying away.
Lacuna never yelled. So Aureum followed her words with no more questions.
She could hear the cries on the wind herself. She knew trouble was coming.
The refugees of the outer city had taken refuge in many classrooms and auditoriums. Aureum entered them. It was evening, so most of the refugees should have been getting ready for sleep.
The first room looked at Aureum with expectation.
"Is it happening again?" One of the women asked.
"Lacuna told me to lead you to the cellars," Aureum replied.
The woman nodded. The men, who already stood, headed out the door around Aureum and parted ways.
The women and children lined up quietly and readily before her.
It frightened Aureum more than the shouts did.
"STOP! You have already taken everything!"
There was more shouting. It was closer, and everyone flinched.
"Go out in front of me," Aureum said.
The other rooms were led out quickly, almost wordlessly. Soon, the hallway was filled with women and children, lined up and heading in the same direction, with Aureum mostly only watching.
Quiet sobbing was broken only by the louder and louder shouts. As Aureum watched the refugees go down the last staircase to the cellars, she turned to check the windows.
The soldiers walking across the university's land were a dark horde. It confirmed what she had heard but explained nothing.
"…"
Aureum didn't have the words.
The fighting should be over. They've already won?!
She turned back to the others and followed them down to the cellar. It was an empty room that was more like a fat hallway. The floor was dirt, and the walls were stone.
A large door with a mechanism and shining runes are what would be between them and the soldiers outside. Aureum stared at it.
"This place used to be used for dangerous alchemical and magical experiments," a woman said. "That's why there's such a door here. Another at the opposite end. At least that's what my son told me… before he…"
Aureum glanced at her before looking back at the door.
"Do you know how to close it?" She asked.
It took four of them, but they managed it quickly enough. The yelling quieted as they twisted it shut.
"If we keep heading in, we'll meet the others," the woman who spoke about her son said. "The cellar is connected."
Aureum nodded.
They met Lacuna and the others up ahead. Once the refugees were sorted, Aureum pulled Lacuna to the side.
"What is going on?!" Aureum whispered harshly, trying to keep her panic from spreading. "Why are the soldiers attacking? They already won."
"…It's not an attack, exactly…" Lacuna said, rubbing her mouth.
"We're hiding. 'The men' are outside. Despite definitely not being soldiers. And there are soldiers in force here?! What is going on if not an attack?"
"…After Fluentem was taken and the Council of Fluentem surrendered power, a new Lord took their place," Lacuna said. "Many of the soldiers that took the city are already gone, but obviously not all of them."
"And?!"
"The soldiers came one night a few days after things settled. They claimed that the university was against the new order of Fluentem. …As you say, they attacked… They didn't kill anyone. That first night they demanded everything of value we had, and. And we gave it to them. We weren't organized…"
"What is happening out there?!" Aureum said. "There are refugees out there. I can fight! I choose to fight! If I can help them, I should go!"
Lacuna blinked a few times rapidly.
"Of course, I won't stop you. Be careful of the door! Once we close it, you won't be able to get back in until we have the signal!"
"The signal?"
"It's just four quick knocks with a delayed fifth!" Lacuna said. "Beni and Verity, please help us!"
The last was directed to two women, who jumped up to join Lacuna and Aureum as they ran back down towards the door. It took a few sweaty moments to open. Aureum slipped out.
Lacuna's face of worry was the last thing Aureum saw before she turned back forward. The yelling hit her first, sensitive as she was to sound.
But it was different than she expected.
She had been in a fight before. Maybe not a battlefield, but definitely a skirmish. The sound of metal was an undertone to the whole cacophony.
But here it was absent.
There weren't even the sounds of any elements being used. Most soldiers were warriors, and mana went back into reinforcing their body mostly. But those from the university wouldn't all be like that.
When Aureum finally saw the field, she slowly out why.
There was a mass of men grouped against the soldiers. Their main goal seemed to be slowing the soldiers down with the weight of numbers.
This should have been a slaughter, but—
The soldiers of Nix kept their spears pointed at an angle. Their swords were sheathed to their sides.
The soldiers shoved at the wall of men that had formed before them, but they did not slaughter them.
While they attacked in this strange matter, many of those people from the Outer City were beneath them, being kicked and punched.
Those from the university fared better. They were easily distinguished by their skill, but they were outnumbered. Not since the wedding had she seen all of them gathered up so clearly like this. It made their small number so obvious.
There should have been many more people from the university. They should have been distinguished, as those few who were did, by their ability to fight. But there weren't enough of them to make a difference here.
Aureum didn't know if they had been missing at the university before this day. She hadn't been paying attention.
Standing there, seeing the wall of people getting shoved, she decided the spear she held was not the best solution. It was easily put away again.
In the afternoon sun, she leapt up towards the wall of the university, her burgundy cloak flowing behind her. She clung to the arm of a statue of some angry old man. She didn't know who he was. Her new vantage allowed her to look down at the mass of people shoving and fighting against each other.
It was odd how the change of perspective changed her understanding. The soldiers of Nix had borne down on them with what seemed an indomitable presence. But what Aureum saw from above was that the soldiers' line was incredibly thin.
Those from the Outer City not only outnumbered those from the university. They outnumbered the soldiers by a great majority.
"WHAT, DO YOU WANT?" She yelled down with little thought as to what she would be doing until it was done.
She amplified her voice across the wind, making it easy to hear.
Some looked up, but they were punished by others taking advantage of their distraction.
In all of her fury, she asked again.
"WHAT, SOLDIERS OF NIX, DO YOU WANT?!"
"AGHHH!"
This time Aureum didn't just make her voice loud; she made it resound in their skulls like a bell.
Nobody could respond. All before her held their ears like they had been attacked. Both allies and foes alike.
"YOU COME HERE, NOT TO KILL, BUT FOR WHAT? Our fear—
Aureum's voice broke. Amplifying her voice was an easy trick, but this was becoming something she had let get too big too fast. It drained her mana like a cup being spilled.
"OUR FEAR?! OUR COMPLIANCE?! YOU HAVE IT—
At this point enough of the soldiers of Nix stopped gritting their teeth and began focusing on her. A large chunk of ice flew at her. Aureum jumped.
THUD!
She spread her arms and flew as the sound of the ice hitting the statue resounded behind her.
Seeing that many of the soldiers were now aiming for her, Aureum realized the target she had made of herself.
Most common soldiers are sorcerers but use the mana to primarily reinforce their bodies. Luckily, these were not a small army of Hiems, with his precision and control, or Aureum would already be dead.
Aureum felt her heart race. That useless trick had stopped nothing and taken her mana.
But I can use this.
Aureum flew over the heads of the soldiers. The cloak, the sky, even her crazy smile. It all created a target they were focused on.
Yes, focus on me. Stop looking at the men of Fluentem you're beating into the ground.
They chucked more ice at her, and she laughed.
"Ha!"
The people of Fluentem gave another surge as one. They broke through Nix's thin lines. The brutality would end.
But even this brief moment of joy came to a quick end.
Aureum saw that the soldiers, though their line was broken, retreated without surprise or losses. Meanwhile, as the people of Fluentem pushed them back, still most of the refugees hesitated to truly push.
She could see their fear on their faces.
With soldiers no longer caring about her in their retreat, Aureum landed.
By this point, the sunlight was fading. Behind the people of Fluentem, she was but a small woman who had used her mana. Still, she joined her tiny body beside the rest.
The fight was really over at that point, and all she was rewarded with was a black eye.
She was exhausted. All she knew was that she had been shoving, and then a soldier was there. She was punched and she fell down. Then she looked up at a wiry man frowning down at her.
Aureum tried to place him. He was the one she had stood next to at the wedding. The wiry man who had helped her when Hiems had frightened her…
"I can't remember your name," Aureum said, looking up at him.
"Gaudi," he said. "Gaudium, but you may call me Gaudi. You'll want to find somethin' for that. It looks like it's gonna be a shiner. Don't—
Aureum touched her eye. It stung. She winced. Then she shook her head a little. She should not have done that.
"What… happened…?" Aureum asked.
She sat up. Situs was talking to a small group as people moved around.
"What do you think? They terrorized us and left."
"But what… why did they even come? To steal?"
Aureum had already seen the interior of the university for days. What had once been a luxurious interior had been robbed of any gold or silver.
She hadn't even seen the more mundane instruments that alchemists would be known to have in any of the classrooms.
"Does the university have anything left?"
"Hah!" Gaudi sneered after this spit of a laugh. "The university has nothing and almost nobody. Nix took that! We're just a symbol, but even that is enough of an excuse. We didn't throw out those from the Outer Walls when we had the chance."
"What," Aureum said. "Are you saying—
"Ah. I don't mean it like that. Don't be mad! I don't think that. But they, those at Nix, you know, they seem to think that us continuing to protect the people is a sign of dissent for the new lord. Let me help you up if you want to get up."
Aureum had begun trying to stand. She still felt dizzy and accepted his help gladly.
"What happens now?" Aureum asked, as he led her to a quieter place to sit up.
"Now, everybody is gonna wanna talk about what just happened. What else would they do?"
His words were not false.