In the mess hall, Vis recounts to Callidus how he guided Eidhin through the Labyrinth only to be disqualified by Dultatis, and how Veridius later confirmed Dultatis’s bias. Callidus is impressed, noting Vis’s use of Cymrian. Their attention briefly turns to Eidhin, who sits apart from Class Six, as Callidus relays widely spread but dubious rumors of Eidhin’s Cymrian mountain origins and a violent past.

The talk shifts to the Academy’s structure. Callidus argues the system mirrors the Republic’s inequities, citing Thavius’s ideas and concrete numbers from his father, the Censor: high ranks are far rarer than the ideal pyramid implies, and the Academy’s intake is calibrated to expected vacancies over an eighteen-month cycle (their cohort: 174). This, he says, ensures good positions for students like them and reveals that advancement depends on opportunity and taking, not merit alone.

The meal bell ends the conversation before Callidus explains why he is in Seven. He warns Vis not to repeat the confidential figures. Vis feels a rare affinity for Callidus’s candid view, though he remains guarded about his own identity.

That afternoon in the Labyrinth, Veridius does not return and neither Vis nor Eidhin is called to participate; they simply observe more failed attempts. During the lull, Vis finalizes his plan to scale the Academy wall after lights-out: he will use stirrups as rope and a cataphract saddle piece to cover the wall’s spikes, slipping over at a darkened stretch beyond the horse paddock. Despite concerns about guards or Will-wards, Dultatis’s smugness steels Vis’s resolve. With the Festival of the Ancestors two weeks away, Vis commits to investigating the ruins to learn what Religion is doing there and to gain leverage with Ulciscor against Dultatis.