In long, fident strides, Instructor Robihem out of the administrative building. After a short walk, it became clear they were headed for the entrance of Te and thus onto the streets of Aradon. Natalie had assumed they'd at least be staying on campus.

  " I, uh, ask where we're going?"

  "My home," Instructor Robin replied easily.

  She stumbled a step. Her home? Why in the world would Instructor Robiakio the pce she lived? What sort of 'mentorship' did she have phat couldn't be handled inside her office, or some other spa the Te campus?

  Naturally, Natalie's thoughts went toward less appropriate pces, but she squashed those down—an inability to trol her fantasies was how she'd ended up in this mess in the first pce. Though really, taking a student back to her private residence had to be inappropriate, right? Was Te aware Robin was doing this? Maybe they didn't o be; it was her prerogative to haalie's mentorship as she deemed fit.

  Putting aside the surprise, Natalie found herself eager to see what Instructor Robin's home looked like. She was a decorated academy instructor, someone aplished even more so than the average high-ranker, who, as a whole, were already among the upper echelons of society.

  Leavi's gates behind, Instructor Robin guided her to a carriage and opehe door for her. Natalie hesitated, but stepped up and inside. Instructor Robin followed.

  Thus, it was just the two of them. Instructor Robin didn't o give dires to the an; without a word, the carriage stuttered forward and began plodding alo's streets. Probably, he was under her employ, the same man who drove her back to her house every day.

  Instructor Robin sat across from her, fag her with that usual cool demeanor. Blue eyes searched Natalie's face with a quiet, intense ption.

  "It's not a far ride," Robin said. "I don't io keep you long, a few hours at most, but especially for our first session, I would rather host you somewhere more fortable—a pce where eak freely."

  "Uh," Natalie said, still caught off guard by all of this. She frankly couldn't see why she would o be taken to Instructor Robin's home under any circumstahe vague expnation had cleared up nothing. "Sure?"

  "I would like to remind you that this will be guidance-giving as much as punishment," Robin tinued. "In normal circumstances such sessions would normally involve grueling physical training supplemented by discussions of the fw that brought you to one-oraining with an Instructor. sidering the partiature of the mistakes you've made, though, I've decided other methodology is more appropriate."

  Natalie barely stopped herself from replying with another ineloquent, 'Uh.'

  "And those pns are?"

  "You will discover shortly," Robin said. "o rush." The Instructor crossed her legs and leaned back. "Before we get to the crux of the matter, I would prefer to get to know you."

  "Get to know me?" she echoed.

  "Te keeps files on all of its students, yes, but such reports are ical in nature. I would like to hear your story from you, if you don't mind. Briefly—o divulge what you don't wish to. Let's begin with, say, what brought you to Te?"

  "Ah." That sort of question, at least, was more or less what she had expected from a mentorship session. And she didn't mind answering. Instructor Robin erson she respected, and while the 'punishment' to e was somewhat foreboding, she didn't mind a did versation. "I have to figure the same reason most people end up at Te. I want to level up aret better at what I do. Delving, bat, my css, so on."

  The Instructor's lips quirked. "Distilled, yes, that is the essence of what brings most students to an academistitution. But I meant the particurs." She cocked her head. "You e from a small vilge to the south, no? Along with your two teammates?"

  Ah. The full story, then. Her life in brief.

  The ride sted fifteen minutes, and Natalie and Instructor Robihat time getting to know each other. Or, well, it was mostly Natalie responding and Robin asking, but there were a few times Robin interjected some insight into her own life, like how she had also attee however many years ago.

  She olite and attentive listener, and Natalie nearly fot her circumstances, rexing into the easy flow of versation. When the carriage shuddered to a stop, though, she was reminded.

  The carriage had takeo Instructor Robin's house. Though 'house' was an ie word. The pce Robin lived was closer to Barowood's manor than it atalie would call a home as she khem. Not quite as spacious and gaudily structed, but not far off, either.

  It was another reminder of Instructor Robin's status withiy of Aradon, or society as a whole. Delving was a lucrative career even for low-rankers, hence why so many people, both prepared and unprepared, were willing to risk their lives down in the dungeon. Natalie aeam could pull in more money in a single weekend delve than her parents would earn in months. And they were only level twos and threes. Instructor Robin, who was somewhere between ten and fifteen? Not to mention the signifit paycheck she must be earning from Tehis woman was ri the way even many noble families weren't. The three-story manor in front of her robably well beh her means, even.

  Or…maybe. Property in the middle of Aradon, with an expansive grounds to go along with it, probably quadrupled the value of the manor, if not more. Natalie wasn't sure what real estate was worth, especially in the capital city.

  "It's somewhat ostentatious, I admit," the Instructor said, catg the way Natalie had paused to look around at the manor and grounds. "I do believe I would have been fih something simpler. But Is came from a less affluent background than I, and it was obvious she admired the spectacle." Her eyes roamed across the lush green grass and the elegant structure. "I find myself uo resist spoiling her."

  Natalie bli the genuine affe in Instructor Robin's voice, then smiled. Whenever Robin spoke about her wife, her calm and reserved tone didn't survive—fondness always leaked through. It was more than a little cute. The woman was obviously still in love, evey-seven years of marriage ter.

  "Please, follow me," Instructor Robin said. "We should begin this session in ear. I don't wish to waste your time."