Shady

“Yeah, basically. But they can get a lot more complicated than that, too. Like, you could have a little swirly that means ‘c-a’ but only be one symbol. Or you ...

“Probably the simplest one. You just use one symbol to replace something else. At its simplest you could just replace every ‘a’ with a ‘c’ for example and do that ...

“Hmm… a simple cipher…” Ky thought for a moment as they walked down the hall. “Do you know about substitution ciphers?”

“Um… I mean… I don’t know. Which one do you want to learn?”

“Um…” She gave a tight nod. “Sure, I guess.”

Ky shrugged. “A lot of ciphers can be adapted between languages — they have more to do with symbols and numbers than words, per se. So you can totally use ...

Ky blushed and forced a little smile. It felt like she was leagues behind them and would never ever catch up. “All kinds. I learned about different ciphers throughout all ...

“Um… I studied languages a lot under Aleth. And cultures, history, etiquette, penmanship, ciphers… and, um… a bit of psychology and economics? But that was a bit more limited in, ...

Ky nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.” As if she’d have time, what with heralding and all the nonsense coming up. But best not to scare Anneliese if she didn’t ...

“Gotcha… That’s pretty cool.”

Ky nodded. “Ah… and you and Lyra do the same lessons? Or are they more personalized?”

“Oh… and you do school all the time? Or…? I guess I just don’t understand your regimen fully.”

“Oh… so you’ve only had this one for one year, then?”

“… Did… you have a different one before?”

“Why not?” Ky furrowed her brow. “Is it a secret?”