Free Red Madrassa: Algardis #1 by Terah Edun

my test, I could only assess the patient’s health. She was dead by the time I returned.”
    That is precisely why you’re here , the Initiate told him. You will learn that the healing arts aren’t limited to magic. You know this in your heart already; and you applied some of those techniques during your test. Science and manual techniques can be just as beneficial as magic. This is where you belong: for your own sake, and your clan’s.
    “If you say so,” Sidimo said, adding fervently: “I will do my very best.”
    I know you will.
    *****
    And just like that all of their conversations ended and the ring dissipated. As the new students turned towards the Madrassa instructors, they saw that they were already filing out the doors. The Air Initiate Cris alone stayed, conversing with a matronly woman who had her broad hands raised to her hips. The woman did not look or sound happy. With no other direction as to what was next, they settled where they were and waited for Cris to finish his business.
    Sitara frowned as she looked at the two staff members. The woman was waving her hands around in an agitated manner; indeed, it almost looked as if they were shouting at each other.
    As she concentrated on the conversation and their lips, Sitara could almost hear the words emerging from their mouths. It was as if the vibrations of sound that they were forming in the air were echoing outwards . As the echoes traveled further and further from the mouths of the woman and Initiate Cris, they dimmed and faded.
    Frown lines appeared on Sitara’s face. Odd that she could see the vibrations caused in the air by the echoes, but still couldn’t hear the sound they carried.
    A rude poke to her shoulder interrupted her train of thought. She turned to snap at the boy who had jostled her, and then realized she didn’t know his name, so settled on a terse, “What?”
    “What…‌um, what,” he started and coughed to clear his throat, “are you looking at?”
    Sitara raised her eyebrows as if to say, “Isn’t it obvious?”
    “Yeah, I mean, I know who you’re looking at. What I meant was why ? It’s not like we can hear, them right?” he said with a short laugh.
    “Actually,” said Sitara stiffly, “I could almost hear them, and might have if you hadn’t broken my concentration.”
    When the boy scowled and opened his mouth to retort, the other girl said sharply, “Enough, Maride. Look, we’re all tired. Can we just…‌chill for a minute?”
    “ Chill ?” said Vedaris, from where he was perched leaning back against a column. “Ha! Sure, we can do that, but I just faced a drecking ninja who shouldn’t be a ninja, we’re now enrolled in school that has a stick up its bum like it or not, and I haven’t eaten since this morning.”
    “Vedaris‌—‌” Sitara began, but was interrupted.
    “Frankly, I’m not sure how you passed,” said the young Deathkeeper with a casual shrug. “You certainly don’t have the… look of a typical candidate, and there’s no magical signature anywhere about you.”
    “ What did you just say, landwalker ?” Vedaris shouted.
    “My name is Sidimo,” said Sidimo, “and you heard me. If it’s not true, then what’s your School?”
    Before Vedaris could surge forward and deck the insufferable lout, Initiate Cris and the matronly woman intervened.
    “Enough!” exclaimed the woman, with a thick accent. “I am Wilhemina, Head of Dormitories and Student Cleaning.” With a pinched look on her face she said, “You come in the middle of school year, no warning, no preparation from your patrons or family. Unlike the other candidates.” With that last word she directed a glare at Allorna, whom she knew came from a proper family‌—‌not wealthy, perhaps, but good enough that they should know the proper form for sending their daughter off to the academy.
    “Even if you had come at the beginning,” Wilhemina said with a long-suffering sigh, “I would be hard pressed to find places