The Houses of Fire and Earth

"Did she say twenty-seven other professors? Why weren't they at the Masters' Table yesterday, then?" Isaac continued his flurry of questions.

Elwin shrugged. "There has to be. Otherwise it's impossible for 5 professors to teach, what, 600 people?"

"640 to be precise," Katherine added.

"I wonder what they're like," Mirai added, "hope they aren't too frightening."

"Well, frightening or not, we've got to –" paused Elwin, because as he and the rest of the Fradihta cleared the gate of the quadrangle with Professor Aionia leading the way, this time facing the northeast – they saw a colossal pyramid climbing to the heavens ahead of them.

No, it was not a pyramid but a ziggurat – in place of triangular sides finishing to a pointy top, it had trapezoidal sides ascending in a series of storeys, each storey smaller in area than the one below, finishing in a flat summit that was adorned by a façade of a temple Elwin could barely make out with his eye.

"What in the world?" he spluttered, taking in the visage of something that he only saw in books of ancient history.

"Behold, the great and esteemed ziggurat of House TERA," said Professor Aionia, her floating staff pointing on its own accord. She refracted the air so that everyone could hear her speech with clarity, even though the Fradihta were behind her stride. "Let's get a closer look."

The one-hundred-and-sixty Fradihta made their way like little ducklings on an adventure, past the wide boulevards of limestone and brick, flanked by celestion-pine, verdant cherry trees, and antiquated lamp-posts.

As they approached, Elwin began to feel the fierce glint of the morning sun reflected off of its structure. The ziggurat looked to be constructed entirely out of metal – or perhaps, at least its outer structure was coated in metal – but from where, when, why, and how House TERA obtained such vast quantities to make this monstrous statement of architecture possible popped as a question into everyone's head. Leonardo said 'the ziggurat must grow' during breakfast, and now, Elwin realized that was far from a passing jest. House TERA, like their motto that nothing is beyond the reach of mahn and frhi with the power of earth, had made and was manifesting their motto into reality just like the contents of their chant.

"Well, it's certainly not as impressive as I heard it was," remarked Katherine, until a few more steps took them in closer view of the ziggurat and revealed people moving in them. The number of moving figures and bustling activity upon its structure made it apparent that this was not merely an empty mass of earth shaped like a ziggurat to impress passers-by, but where every member of the House of TERA resided, slept, ate, worked, and held their advanced classes. Vines upon vines of climbing plants and flowers drooped over the metaled terraces like hanging gardens, and water descended in controlled streams and falls from the top to feed those plants and refresh the basins below, cooling the interior in no small feat of environmental engineering. Each side of the ziggurat's base must have been at least 250 yards across, and top to bottom no less than 200 feet, surpassing even the tallest spires on the campus complex proper down south.

"Nevermind, I take that back," said Katherine, cupping her head. "Should've expected nothing less of Aeternitas."

Professor Aionia let out a chuckle.

Some upperclassmen of House TERA, noticing the Fradihta on their tour, waved and jumped about on the exterior, waving the banners of their House. In their shouts and chants Elwin picked up faint hymns of 'the ziggurat must grow' intermixed with mirthful laughter. What a first impression, Elwin mused. Even though his Maht was Water, he found himself strangely convinced by the mission of House TERA.

"This ziggurat found its origin about seven hundred years ago during the time of the Second Republic," explained Professor Aionia, turning to face the audience. "It began as a small architectural undertaking by the Viatira in House TERA as a memorial to the fallen in war. Back then, the entire structure was only about 30 feet tall. Now, it's two-hundred-and-fifty-two feet from top to bottom, having weathered the rise and fall of nations within its lifetime."

"Does House TERA have an establishment anywhere else?"

"Establishment? Yes, their old halls and residences reside in the campus complex proper. But those have been converted for purposes of research, and to accommodate guests and other visitors of great import."

"Wait, you don't mean to tell us everyone lives in that!" piped up a boy, starry-eyed at the marvel.

"Oh, I do. The ziggurat is sufficiently voluminous at its current size that all of House TERA and its facilities now reside in it. Each year, they seem to add a bit of extra height along with the rest of its dimensions, and shuffle the metal, concrete, and wood in the interior to fit the new space."

So it was not all made out of metal, thought Elwin.

"Where do they get the materials to expand it?" asked Isaac, awestruck.

"I understand they haul the materials from a quarry and mine, off-campus. They do so in the middle of the night, so it always remains a mystery. Some say House TERA has had a secret deal in place with House MANASURA since a century ago, so that they can use the port docks by the lake to bring in the stone and ore to the campus grounds. I for one don't know of any such deal," she explained, winking briefly.

"With House TERA introduced, let's make haste to House SUNNA."

"Aww, we don't get to go up the ziggurat?"

"You will in a month, to forge your Quans. Save your legs for when the time comes."

Elwin and his kismets were glued to the view of House TERA until they passed its length and it receded from view behind them. They were now heading northeast past the tall pines, and when they had emerged onto a brief clearing, all of them witnessed the verdant canopy of a colossal tree looming in the distance to their left.

"What in the MAHA is that?!" squawked a girl.

"Don't tell me that's a single tree," remarked Lucian, his arms crossed.

"Ah yes. The giant tree of House ARTAIA," explained Professor Aionia, continuing her pace. "We will visit the base of its trunk in, let's say," she continued, glancing at her pocket watch, "in half an hour."

The canopy of the tree spread out like an anvil upon facing the heavens. Neither Elwin nor the kismets could tell whichever stood taller: the tree, or the ziggurat.

As if all such sights were mere appetizers, there emerged yet another vista ahead of them. Hammered into the cliffsides of marble on the northeast, rising in a series of lustrous marble tiers and ending in a colossal statue of DEIA TANA flanked by five spires, stood House SUNNA in its graceful repose.

"I guess it isn't as tall as those of the Houses we've seen..." said a girl robed in a uniform of crimson. Her gaze drooped as if disappointed.

"Not so fast. From the words of Professor Helen, who is the Head of House SUNNA," stated Professor Aionia, putting on a fiercer air like the Master of Fire, "'we need not match the competition of statures between other Houses, for a very simple reason: because we are already the best, and we know it so.'"

Lucian let out a muffled snort and an eye-roll, shaking his head at the audacity of the Master of Fire to say such a thing. 

But the girl's eyes lit up. "Professor Helen really said that?"

"Certainly," Professor Aionia replied, giving a cool smile.

"What are those on the spires?" pointed Katherine, other hand on her hip.

"Sunbeam reflectors. You could call them mirrors, but that would not do them justice."

"Why?"

"Because those at House SUNNA have forged the reflectors to move and track the Sun, as well as change its focus and distance, unlike a standard concave mirror."

"What're they for, though?"

Both Elwin and Katherine shot up their hands. Sandora had hinted at what those reflectors did back at breakfast.

"Who shall it be?" pondered Professor Aionia.

Katherine didn't budge her raised hand. She was practically standing on her toes, so Elwin relented.

"They use it to heat up the water for the campus."

"Correct! Do you know exactly how?"

"How? Well – I'm assuming they focus the sunlight onto a tank of water?"

"Close, yet not quite," answered Professor Aionia.

Lucian put up his hand, but without waiting for Professor Aionia to pick him, he gave his analysis.

"If those sunbeam reflectors appear giant to us even at this distance, it means their combined gathering power when the sun is up is potent enough to vaporize a stream of water with a single strike. Not much use when the water you wanted to use turns into mist right away. Instead, they must be using another sort of transitory medium like rock or salt which can melt at high temperatures, which they then can use to heat water. Better yet, I'm guessing all the antaricity from the Academy is generated that way. Now," paused Lucian, having dissected the phenomenon in impeccable logical steps, "was I right, or was I right?"

"Right on the mark," assessed Professor Aionia. "House SUNNA melts a mixture of unique salt using their reflectors. They use that to heat the water that supplies the campus, and turn a turbine which provides Aeternitas with the antaricity it needs. The hot salt remains molten throughout the night, so it also functions as a battery when the sun goes to slumber."

"Hm," smiled Lucian, giving a look of disdainful superiority towards Katherine.

Katherine's mouth turned into a frown, and Elwin could see her clench her fists beneath the robes so hard that they went white. He wondered how much it would take for Katherine to explode.

"Come, let's get a little closer. We'll be able to see the molten salt flowing through the ceramic canal," said Professor Aionia, wanting to ease the cloaked tension between the two distinguished Fradihta.

As they made their way, they came across what seemed like a moat of lava around the perimeter of House SUNNA. The heat on their faces felt intense.

"Don't be afraid. The canals are covered by alus-glass, which possesses a far loftier melting point than salt. The Celendir wools of your uniforms should be more than enough to shield you from the radiated heat."

Elwin cautiously stepped upon the alus-glass covering the moat of molten salt, flowing like lava beneath him, and immediately felt like he was enveloped in flame – or at least, a sauna whose knob had been turned to the extreme. The air above the moat sizzled and danced with the heat that emanated from below.

Such was the might of the Sun – and not all of it, but an incredibly minute fraction – the thought made Elwin shudder. If House TERA boasted their stature by raising their ziggurat as gigantic as they could, House SUNNA wordlessly gave anyone who entered or exited the House a taste of the force of their MAHA.

Even Lucian seemed to acknowledge the magnitude of its force. He crossed his arms and walked some way off, waiting for the rest to depart.

***

The Fradihta were approaching the gigantic tree on the northern section of the Academy grounds, which began on a steady incline. Elwin was not certain whether it was the network of roots underground that raised the earth like this, or whether such an incline was always there; beyond the shade of its canopy and the many gardens and open-air amphitheaters below, the campus grounds rose further into a forested park with embrasured walls of what seemed like those of a small arena, and beyond that, a very steep hill with many steps to its summit.

A refreshing scent of pine and petrichor wafted to his nostrils and all of the Fradihta as they clambered over the tops of its behemothic roots, dancing and rolling out of the earth, growing through the cracks in boulders the size of small houses. It seemed earth could not hold back the relentless tide that was living growth. 

Moss and lichen painted the umber-brown trunks with splashes of green, and in between the gaps on the ground where the roots did not emerge, there were wide and lengthy stone steps – perrons – for the visitors who could not jump high as those whose Maht was Ayu.

Breath left them as the Fradihta tilted their heads, craning their necks all the way to face the Tree's ascension into the sky. The width of the central trunk was half the width of the rotunda in the Hall of Eternity itself; if the space inside the trunk was empty, all 640 Artens and the faculty could conceivably pack themselves into its circumference. Following the trunk and rising in a spiral for nearly one-hundred-and-fifty feet were wide wooden stairways with balustrades and roof-covers of argent, and above them, several vast landings in shapes of oval disks rested in the sturdy foundations of thick branches that began to divide and scatter into the canopy proper, adjoining entire halls made of wood and other natural craft which seemed like it could accommodate all of the Fradihta below. Smaller wooden staircases climbed from those landings and halls into an entire community of cozy little houses and abodes with their own platforms and smaller skyroads, nestled among the trunks, the branches, the greenery of leaves and even the twigs – even though each twig was thicker than the torso of a grown man. Ladders and terraces all emanated up the thinning center of the trunk and joined with the very tops of the canopy like seed-patterns of a sunflower, adding at least another hundred feet to the inhabited altitude.

If anyone ever wanted a treehouse, House of ARTAIA was their best bet.

"Of course," Katherine sighed. "Why did I expect anything less?"

"So, what do you think?" chuckled Professor Aionia. "Does House ARTAIA beat House TERA?"