Mazkina was surprised that Hoodisee came up with a name that easily.

— Meliora?

— Yeah! I had the idea while taking the tests, but I did hope to find a better one before meeting someone without my cloak.

— How could you find it in the test?

— There was a question about the motto of the organisation in which there was the word 'melior' meaning better.

— So the name you use means 'better'?

— It was the better name I could come up with.

— Haha, really funny.

— About Benjamin, I didn't think he'd be the one to come all the way here to give the answers to a test.

— He's not. I don't know why he did that. The answers you gave must have been really intriguing to him. Can we see them now?

— No, we need to wait for Ao'ry. He would like to be here when we read them for sure.

— You're right, but I don't know when he'll arrive.

— Just think of it like that; Ao'ry wants to know at least as much as you do.

When Hoodisee finished talking Ao'ry slammed the door open.

— So, what's the rating?

— See? Just as I expected.

— We were waiting for you before opening it.

— I know you passed. I want to know by how many points.

— I wasn't worried, but I'm curious as well.

Hoodisee unsealed the envelope and took the paper out. Everyone stopped talking. Ao'ry started laughing.

— 17,5 points on 30 plus a bonus of half a point. It's literally the lowest score you could have got.

— The bonus is given to the ones who complete all the questions. If you had left one question unanswered, you would have failed the test.

— Though, I'm pretty sure all the answers I gave were correct...

— Like I said, what you answered might exceed Benjamin's knowledge.

— Exceed Benjamin's knowledge?! He's like one of the smartest of this organisation.

— Yeah, but her knowledge exceeds our comprehension altogether.

— Mhm. That's true.

— For the psychological test either you pass or you don't, there's no ratings. If your mentality goes well with our values you can stay, if not... Well, it depends on your answers.

Hoodisee glanced at the other set of sheets. On it was written a huge 'PASS' in green letters. Ao'ry took it from her hands.

— Let me see...

He started to look at the answers she gave.

— Oh! I never thought of it like this. No, just kidding, I wrote something similar to yours.

— What? Which one? What was her answer?

Mazkina was in the dark. She wanted to know the answers Hoodisee gave too, but she didn't want to take the sheets from someone else's hands.

— The question with the train.

— The one in which either you push a cinotor to stop a train from falling down a cliff or not?

— Yes!

— I remember you answered you would transform yourself to stop the train with your body instead of pushing someone else. What did she answer?

— It's more like three answers in one. Either she would reconstruct the missing rails or stop the train with slowing magic or twist the rails to stop the train with gravity or friction. I'm not sure which one she can actually do.

Hoodisee wanted to know the answer Mazkina would have given to this question.

— And you, Mazkina, what did you answer?

— I'm the one who made this test. We have more than one psychological test, and I'm the one who created the one you took.

— What would you have answered?

— I would have made the wheels of the train fuse with the rails or use the wind to stop it from falling.

— So, even the creator of this question doesn't use an expected answer.

— The important thing is not what you do, but why you do it. There's no bad answer if you have excellent reasons to do something.

Ao'ry was a bit surprised.

— It seems a lot like the answer she gave to 'What is worst between murder, treason and lies? Why?'.

— What did she say?

— I said, everything depends on the situation. If you know that what your side does is bad, treason is better than loyalty. If you lie to protect someone, physically or mentaly, it can be the right thing to do. Murder is a bit more complicated. No matter the reason you killed someone, there's no going back, except if you're a necromancer or friends with one. Is it good to kill a 'bad person'? A 'démon'? No one is entirely bad. Killing is killing no matter who you are, why you did it or who it was. So murder might be the worst, but no matter what you do, if you do it for a bad reason, it will always be the worst you could do.

— Quite the elaborate answer, isn't that right, Mazkina?

— Mm...

— Nothing is all black and nothing is all white. We can't judge when we don't have all the information. How can we know what's worst when we don't know the reasons and the consequences? Treason and lies can sometimes bring more death than murder, if they done it for the wrong reasons or if they did it in a clumsy way. The best is still to do none of them if we can.

The metamorphe was curious about one thing.

— Have you done any of those?

Hoodisee fell silent.

— I... might have done two of them. One for sure. Maybe all of them in my past life. I have no way to know. What about you guys?

Mazkina was intrigued by Hoodisee's answer.

"What is the one she did for sure? I hope it's lying. Even if it was treason or murder, I do belive it was for a good reason. Though, she was so harsh on murder, I doubt it's that. The 'one for sure' must be lying by hiding her identity."

Ao'ry answered with a question.

— Is hiding the truth lying?

— Is it? Is playing a role and acting lying?

— I don't know... In any case, I do lie, I just wanted to know how far I was in it.

"So, lying is the 'might be two'. Leaving the 'on for sure' to murder or treason. She really is mysterious."

Ao'ry wanted to know the headmistress' answer.

— What about you Mazkina?

— ...You don't need to know.

— Oh, come on! We all answered the question. We don't need to know what you did, we just want to know if you did any of those.

— Yes.

— It's even more mysterious than what Hoodisee said... Or should I say Meliora?

— I guess it's the latter, since I'm not wearing my cloak or a hood.

— By the way, how did you come up with that name? I worked so hard to find you a proper one, it feels like all my efforts were in vain.

— Well, I would have prefered to have more time to think about it, but I had to use a name. I had the idea of this name with the motto of the organisation which was in the test I took today.

— So, I really worked for nothing?

— No, if you hadn't helped me, I wouldn't have thought about it. And you were the one who found Obeeneon's name. Without you, I would have had to say to Benjamin that my memory was a bit foggy because of the assault I sustained. That would have been enough of a reason. I could have found another excuse for not giving him my name... And I'm sure Mazkina would have helped me too if I couldn't have found an explanation...

— Wait, wait, wait! A guy assaulted you? Was it Kariator again? I'll show him...

Mazkina interrupted him.

— Don't overthink this. She was talking about her 'background story' as Meliora. Probably the reason she was in the infirmary and how she 'met' Hoodisee.

— Oh... Yeah! I knew that...

They continued talking about Hoodisee's answers for a while. Either the ones of the psychological test or the ones she got 'wrong' on the intelectual one. They all were very interesting. Neither Ao'ry nor Mazkina could tell if her answers were possible or not.

— If everything you said is true, it could change the way humans think.

— It could change our society.

— Hell, it could even change the face of the world.

Hoodisee couldn't see why her knowledge would change anything if it was true or not.

— The world will not disappear if what I say is true, it won't even change. The only thing that could change is the way people see the world. But even if their way of thinking changes, it doesn't mean they would change the things they're doing.

— Either way, what's important right now is that you passed. You're officially a member of our organisation. You'll get the badge and your uniform tomorrow. You could choose what speciality you would like and if you really want to become a knight or if you want to choose a different career.

— Like what?

— Doctor... teacher... whatever you want.

— What are the specialities in the knight path?

— There's the battlefield warriors... Though I highly doubt it's what you would like to choose. There's also the information gatherers, also known as spies. The explorers... protectors... leading officers, however, you habitually need at least five years in the organisation to have the possibility to choose the last one. There's the strategists and a lot of other specialities. All of them will be explained to you tomorrow, or at least shown to you.

— Ok. For now, information gatherer, explorer and protector seems closer to what I would like to do.

— If you're not sure you can also take an orientation test. It's easy to answer since there's no wrong or right answers.

— I think it would be easier to choose by taking the test.

— I would have been bored of taking tests by now if I were you.

— You didn't take as many tests as me, Ao'ry?

— No, only knights get to be thoroughly evaluated.

— What is your work here then?

— Well I don't really have a specific job. I do whatever Mazkina tells me to do. You could say that I'm her personal assistant.

— Yeah, sure, my personal assistant. I guess it is the closest we could go to the truth.

— So, one of your assignments is to welcome the newcomers?

— Just at night. No one else wants to do it, because it goes against most of their needs. So I ended up being the one who does it most of the nights.

— Aren't you also sort of testing the ones who come at your shift?

— You noticed? Of course you noticed.

— It's Hoodisee you're talking about, she notices way more things than she cares to admit. What I'm more curious about is, what am I hearing? You test them?

— Uhm... Sort of... I'm pretending to sleep with the appearance of a poor old man to see if their judgment will stop them from approaching me like Hoodisee did. You realized it really soon by the way. If they approach me I know they might accept me as a shapeshifter, like both of you did. So you passed some tests even before the official ones.

— I knew that.

— I'm not surprised.

Mazkina did not approve of what her 'personal assistant' admitted doing.

— You know, Ao'ry, you should always welcome everyone, judgmental or not.

— I know, I eventually welcome them after some time, before they decide to head back.

— I highly doubt that the one before me knew you were the one who he should talk to.

— That's true, he did not. He walked in circles for about 15 minutes before thinking he might have come too early.

— Where is he now? What do people do when they lose the combat test?

— I know that someone took him to the infirmary, other than that, I have no idea. It's not like I care about him anyway.

— He certainly went through the same procedure everyone goes through after failing a test. Depending on the failed test we ask them if they really want to be a knight, if they want to redo the test or if they want to do something else or quit. I don't know what he decided, but I can look into it if you want.

— I was just curious, I don't really care. I believe he might have decided to change his career. He won't become a knight. He did train his body, so he will choose something that can make use of his strength or his build. I'm not sure if he'll choose something like builder and farmer or more something like cook or some sort of helper. He smelled like fresh bread and had some flour on him, so he's probably from a family of bakers. He'll probably work with food, but people can be surprising sometimes. I think he dreamt of becoming a knight, but he probably realized it's not something meant for him. However, he doesn't seem to be a simple baker either. He wants to help others. His entry test must have been something like giving bread to someone who looked poor and/or hungry. His parents probably didn't agree with his choices, that might be why he came here at night. Most people who would come at night instead of at daytime are people who either work during the day or want to hide for some reason. I have no doubt he'll stay in this organisation. He believes in your cause

Mazkina and Ao'ry were dumbfounded.

— Are you sure you met him only today?

— First time ever seeing him.

— And you saw him for like five seconds?

— ... Probably a bit less.

Mazkina couldn't believe her ears.

"Now I need to know where he's at. She can't have deduced all of that in less than five seconds..."

Ao'ry did not doubt anything Hoodisee said.

— Now, I feel a bit bad for leaving him walking in circles for as much time as I did...

"Even if she's not entirely right, at least she made Ao'ry realize that actions and words don't show everything on a person. I still wonder if she got everything right. With the description Ao'ry made of him, I thought he would just go back to his old life, but everything she said makes total sense..."

— You couldn't have known.

— You knew and you saw him less than I did.

— It's just part of my abilities. I can notice things other people can't. You don't have to feel bad for not being able to do something someone else can. I can't shapeshift into a chair, but I have my own strengths. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.You should focus on the ones you have. Using your strengths to help you and trying to work on your weaknesses so you can become a better person. Now that you know people who come at night make more efforts than the ones who come at daytime, you'll understand that it's even more important to welcome them properly.

— Do you know that you're a really inspiring person?

They talked a bit more before Mazkina realized it was time for them to go.

— Well, Ao'ry, we should get going now, we've used way too much of her time. I'm sure she has other things to do.

— Oh, that's right, I almost forgot that I need to go to my daily check up with the doctor.

— Do you really need to do it?

— I should listen to what my doctor says and it will reinforce my identity as Meliora.

— Nice overalls by the way.

— Thanks! I had to come up with something and I  really hoped it was ok.

Mazkina and Ao'ry finally left Hoodisee's room.