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On his first day at Corarica University, Simon was handed a blueprint and a key. “This will be your dormitory room for the duration of your studies here,” the RA told the new students. “Your room can only be drafted using your key, and if you misplace your key, it will reappear in the Residence Office. Now line up, and I’ll show you how to add your rooms to the Residence Hall’s draft pool.”
“It’s so exciting,” said a girl beside him. “We’ll be able to put our rooms anywhere we want!”
Not that exciting, thought Simon, since the Residence’s corridors were static. He supposed the University couldn’t make the new students live in tents until they learned the basics of drafting. He examined the blueprint while he waited; it was a fairly plain dead-end bedroom layout, with no additional properties besides the key requirement. The key was more interesting; at Mount Holly, draft-locked objects reset at 1:30 am, along with all the rooms, and he doubted they’d make a student wait until the Sacred Hour to retrieve a lost key. He guessed that if he checked the key with a Directory, he’d find that it was locked to himself, the room, and the office in that order, and would reset every ninety minutes.
“Stop daydreaming, Fennling,” a taller student grumbled behind him. Simon startled and dropped his floorplan in the slot beside the office door.
***
The tall student was named Robart, and he kept calling Simon ‘Fennling’ every time they crossed paths. It felt weird. Though Simon was technically a citizen of Fenn Aires, he hadn’t honored to the Red Banner for several years now. Not since he inherited Mount Holly and all its secrets, but he couldn’t tell Robart that. So he held his tongue and concentrated on his studies.
He had come to Corarica to study dynamic architecture and history, in order to better understand the tiny kingdom he now claimed. However, he was starting to think that his experience with Mount Holly gave him a leg up on his classmates.
“How do you always manage to put your room right next to the study?” Julia asked.
“I just … look for two open spots on the floorplan and draft the study first? Sometimes it takes a couple of tries, but there’s not that many common rooms in the pool.” Compared to Mount Holly’s hundred-plus floorplans, it was barely a challenge. Simon laid out his current project and rummaged in his bag for his slide rule. It wasn’t there; he shrugged – he’d have it back by morning – and took out a scratch pad instead.
Sure enough, he woke up ninety minutes after midnight, to the bluish glow of his slide rule reappearing on his desk. At the same time the view from his window went wavery because the room wasn’t exactly there anymore. Simon rolled over and went back to sleep. In the morning, he packed up his school bag and picked a slot near the cafeteria to draft his room into. After breakfast, he locked his door to drop the room back into the draft pool, and went to class.
His classmate Julia walked beside him. “Doesn’t it bother you to wake up with your room in a different spot than when you went to sleep?”
“No? I like being in the middle corridor in the morning because they put the cafeteria there. And in the evening, I like to be in the west wing to catch the light.”
“Brent was complaining that you took his spot.”
“After 1:30, it’s not his spot though?” He found his desk and laid out his tools (and boy did it feel like cheating to have a set of tools that didn’t vanish into the draft pool every night.) When he took out his slide rule, there was a muffled squawk of “How? ” It sounded like Robart.
Huh. Simon was so used to the idea of draft-locking valuables to specific floorplans that he’d brought along a pack of blueprint paper for just that purpose. He’d hoped that his classes would go into the principles behind the function. It hadn’t occurred to him that other students might not know what draft-locking was.
At least his would-be bullies were looking elsewhere. There were other Fennish students in his year, who were much easier to get a rise out of. Perhaps Robart and his cronies were descendants of Orindian loyalists who had gone into exile after the war. His drafting professor seemed to be one too. A loyalist, not a bully, luckily. There was a notable amount of black in his office decorations, and Simon had spotted the emblem of Orinda Aires here and there. Here in Corarica, he didn’t have to worry about the Red Guard asking pointed questions.
***
A week later, the professor announced that the lesson would be about draft-locking objects to floorplans; Robart turned and pointed at Simon. “ That’s how you did it!”
The professor raised an eyebrow. “Did what, exactly?”
“I, uh, borrowed Jones’s slide rule a while back – ”
“Without asking,” Simon pointed out mildly.
“And he had it again the next day.”
Professor Raine turned his raised eyebrow on Simon. “It seems you are once again ahead of the class, Mr Jones. Securing valuables against theft is indeed a common use for draft-locking. Mr Hendricks, see me after class.”
The professor went on to describe the process of draft-locking, the calculations which would associate an object with a floorplan, though he didn’t go into any of the more intricate setups that Mount Holly boasted. At the end of the period each student received a sheet of blueprint paper and a Corarica U pennant, with instructions to lock the pennant to their dorm room. Since Simon had already done the assignment, he was allowed to leave his slide rule with Professor Raine overnight for his grade.
***
When Simon dropped by te professor’s office the next morning to show him that he had the slide rule back in his possession, Raine asked, “How do you have so much experience with drafting? It’s unusual for someone your age.”
“Well … I live at Mount Holly.” A professor of architecture had probably heard of it, right? A small frame on Raine’s desk caught Simon’s eye. “Oh wow, is that a blackprint?” It was titled the Colonnade, and was, at first glance, a simple two-door floor plan.
“It’s a treasure of mine,” the Professor said. “I would very much like to see it drafted, but the University’s substructure seem to be incompatible with blackprints.” Unsurprising, since blueprints had superseded blackprints as the preferred drafting method centuries ago.
“You should visit Mount Holly,” Simon said. “If you’re comfortable travelling in Fenn Aires, that is.”
***
“Today, we will be discussing mirrored floorplans,” Professor Rayne said. “That is, drafting effects which cause a temporary copy of a floorplan to appear in the draft pool. Mr Jones, have you encountered this phenomenon before?”
“Yes, Sir, I know a few ways it can happen. For one, a room can have a property that you will always draw, say, the Library from that room, and if the Library is already drafted, you’ll get a second Library. Or there’s a floorplan with the function of mirroring other floorplans in the pool. And then you can set it up with Computer-Aided Drafting, and that’s how you get infinite aquariums.”
“Do you, like, live in a Mora Jai box?” said Julia.
“Kind of.”
***
Professor Raine accepted Simon’s invitation to visit Mount Holly for the winter break. Simon sent word ahead to the staff and rather than pack his bags, he pulled his dorm room from the Residence Hall pool and brought the whole thing with him.
“I’d appreciate if you could give it a thorough cleaning,” he told Mrs Babbage. “The key should stay put as long as it’s on Mount Holly’s grounds.”
Mrs Babbage chuckled as she took the key and floorplan. “Whatever would you do without us, my lord?”
“Sleep in a tent in the orchard, probably.”
***
“This is my guest, Professor Emil Raine. He’s here to check out some unusual floorplans on Mount Holly’s grid.”
“Welcome to Mount Holly, Professor. Did you need the Manor set up in a particular way tomorrow, Simon?”
“I don’t believe so – just leave a corner open for us to poke around in. I’ll do any setup I need just before we start.”
“As long as you don’t drown us in aquariums again, my lord.”
***
Mount Holly’s staff were well versed in its quirks. Simon woke late, lulled by the hum of Mount Holly’s substructure in the notional space of the draft pool. He checked his directory and found that a tile had been left open off the Morning Room for his bedroom; the Guest Bedroom was also connected to the Morning Room by a corridor. (Simon could be trusted to draft his room in a sensible spot; guests generally weren’t.) The northwest corner was left open, as he’d asked, and someone had thoughtfully placed the Drafting Studio nearby. Simon’s dorm had been drafted in a different corner right next to the laundry. He snickered and went out to breakfast.
Professor Raine was already sitting in the Morning Room with a plate of eggs and toast. “Simon, your manor is … remarkable.”
That was one way to describe it. “Would you like a tour, professor, or do you want to check out your floorplan first thing?” Raine thought about it while Simon buttered his toast. On the tray beside his breakfast was a small box; last night, he’s used the Manor’s computer to request the Emerald Bracelet, which was quite helpful when he wanted to draft a specific room – and moreso when dealing with blackprints.
“While I would like a tour at some point,” said Raine, “I must admit overwhelming curiosity regarding this blackprint. Will Mount Holly truly be able to draft it?”
“None of the others have been a problem.”
“The others?”
***
Simon made a pass through the Manor for gems, dice and keys, because that was only sensible , then stopped by the pantry for a snack before showing Professor Raine to the Drafting Studio. The drafting table lit as Simon sat in front of it; Raine opened his briefcase and took out the precious blackprint. Simon laid it on the table and examined the readouts. The Colonnade, a black two-door straight floorplan, no drafting cost, no extra effects.
“It’s working,” Raine breathed. He had a notebook and was scribbling notes.
“Shall I add it to the pool?” At Raine’s nod, Simon slid the floorplan to the groove along the top of the drafting table. It shimmered and vanished. Simon checked the directory to make sure the Colonnade was in the pool, and took a moment to invoke Banner of the King for Black rooms. Then he approached the close door.
The draw panel appeared with its three floorplans. The Professor looked over Simon’s shoulder. “… The Throne Room?”
“Oh, yeah. Want to see it?” Simon tapped the floorplan; thanks to the Emerald Bracelet, he didn’t need to pay a stack of gems for it. He stepped inside and went straight for the next door. Raine, on the other hand, stood in the center of the room and gaped.
“This is the Throne of Orindia.”
“Yeah.”
“And you just have it. In your daft pool.”
“…Yeah.”
“According to historical accounts, only the rightful king could sit on the throne.”Raine approached the dais cautiously and stopped short, as if there was an invisible wall in front of him. (And that was one of the reasons the room cost so much to draft.) “It’s – it’s true. Steady is the sceptre, deadly is the stone – ”
“ Heavy is the crown and ready is the throne, ” Simon finished with him. Strange to think he might actually have crowned himself King, and not as part of one of his great-uncle’s puzzles.
“I do wonder why it’s all blue, though.”
“It was black when I found it.” Simon touched the right-hand door. He didn’t draw the Colonnade, but he did get the Treasure Trove, which would be useful. He drafted that, and ducked inside to grab the Sceptre.
“The Royal Scepter,” Professor Raine said faintly. Its gem slowly cycled through colors until Simon stopped it on black. To him, the Sceptre had long since become just another drafting tool for navigating Mount Holly. “And … the Crown was stolen from the national museum and never recovered. And the deadly stone?”
“It’s a figurine that drains your stamina, like in the Curse of Blackbridge. It’s not pleasant.” Simon walked up to the throne and purposefully sat down on it. He propped the sceptre upright between his feet. “Professor, I need to ask you to keep some things to yourself about your visit.”
He wasn’t quite expecting Raine to kneel before him. “I swear to guard your secrets, never to speak them without leave. And to faithfully serve the Blue Banner of, er …”
“Just Mount Holly, for now.”
“The Blue Banner of Mount Holly, in this, the …”
“Fourth year.”
“The fourth year of the Sixth Era. So witness the Eight.”
“Thank you, professor.” Though Simon had no idea what he was going to do with that. “Let’s see about drafting your Colonnade.”
***
The Colonnade was a grand room, with eight marble columns supporting a vaulted ceiling. Between the columns, there were alcoves lined with marble benches – the style matched the Throne Room, d Simon guessed this was a sort of reception area.
“I should have brought a camera,” the professor mused. “Though I suppose I wouldn’t be able to publish my findings.
“If nothing else, you could add your paper to the Mount Holly archives.” Out of habit, Simon was poking at the walls, looking for hidden panels and mysterious inscriptions. “Half the reason I’m studying architecture is to understand the manor better – aha!” He’d found a sliding panel. Behind it was a letter sealed with black wax, and a signet ring carved with the matching seal. Simon eased the letter open.
“ To our inheritors, ” it read. “ Today we close this old palace, and adjourn to our new capital. Who can say when this room will be drafted again? People of the future, I greet you, and thus enjoin you: remember the past, yet be not bound by it. Be you king or peasant, your path is your own to forge. – King Desilets III. ”
***
“So, did you get anything nice for Christmas?” Julia asked on the first day of term.
“Just some family heirlooms.”