cosmere_play Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 (edited) (Mild Oathbringer spoilers) The Blue Envelope with the Bronze Seal Rated Teen, 6000 words Summary: In a world in which soulmates exist, Sigzil rejects his to embark on an entirely different kind of adventure. Chapter 1 For being such an expansive auditorium crammed with so many people, it was unnerving to hear such a large silence. Sigzil was half-certain that everyone could hear the thumping of his heart. Certainly he could hear that one of the adjudicators standing against a far wall was chewing something. Focus. He stared at the top sheet of the pages in front of him, hands in his lap, willing the test to start. Would he even be able to concentrate while he was this nervous? He could hear clothing rustling as his fellow applicants adjusted their robes and wraps; the nervous tapping of pens, quickly self-chastened back to stillness; then at last, one set of footsteps, ringing clearly through the hall like bells. “You may begin.” Finally! Sigzil flipped over the first page eagerly, then skimmed through the length of the test, evaluating the difficulty of the questions to ease his mind a little. This would be a good place to start: actuarial questions. Get through those, and then he could start on the history of— The sound of whispering distracted him, and he glanced at the doorway to find a tall, large woman in high ranked scion’s robes in a huddle with two of the guards. They looked up, directly at him. Oh, Yaezir guide me, he thought miserably, and snapped back to the pages in front of him. If I get kicked out just for looking up, my parents will kill me. More footsteps, this time the heavy thud of boots. They sounded like they were getting closer, but Sigzil didn’t dare look up. He frowned, trying to concentrate. Calculate the merchant’s profit, and then subtract the taxes for the Prime, given Hazep’s Rule of Sixths. Consult the table of risks— The footsteps got louder, then louder. He covered one ear as he scribbled. Average distance of goods, value of goods…hold on. Are they delivered by ship or over land? Oh Pali, of course it’s both— Two looming shadows darkened the desk. A gauntleted arm knocked the pen from Sigzil’s hand, and it landed with a crack against the bronze floor. Sigzil watched numbly as his lucky pen shattered into a thousand pieces under the rows of desks. “Oops, I do apologize,” a gruff voice said, but Sigzil felt like the words were travelling to him underwater. Then two large hands grabbed him under the armpits and yanked him to standing. He hardly heard what came next. “I’m afraid you’ll have to come with us, Citizen Cheater.” Keep reading Edited January 11 by cosmere_play 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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