"And missing your shocked expression? No way. Besides, what did you expect? You and Kamila have been together for almost a year, you live together for a while, and after helping Zinya, you sent her here for her recovery." Tista shrugged.

"If this wasn't your intention, you sure sent Mom and Dad mixed signals."

"I-" Lith was about to rebuke her when he started to look at things from their point of view instead of his own. Ever since he had turned into an adult, he had treated relationships exactly has he would have done back on Earth, except Mogar wasn't Earth.

'It's close enough, though.' Solus thought. 'I mean, living together, introducing each other to your respective families, and helping Zinya like that would have been a big deal even on Earth.

'The only difference is that there no one would expect for you to marry before you turn twenty.'

"Damn, you are right. It seems that Kami and I will need to have that conversation sooner rather than later." Lith said.

The dinner was delicious and the evening was lovely. Both grown-ups and children enjoyed themselves with only one exception.

Lith felt like crap most of the time, and even though after returning to the Ernas mansion he finally had some quality time with his girlfriend, the thought that it might be the last night that he spent with Kamila, almost made him not appreciate the event.

Almost.

***

City of Ocra, Griffon Kingdom

Even though it was late, Raagu was still working in her Warden lab, swapping and shifting the runes in her latest project to find the symmetry that would achieve the maximum mana efficiency.

Unlike fake mages, by altering the structure of their spells, Awakened could alter an array's properties. They could make a magical formation's casting time shorter, strengthen its effect, and expand or shrink their area of effect.

It was all a matter of properly arranging the energy nodes and words of power. True magic was akin to turn simple threads into fabric. The number and the position of the magical stitches could produce a simple blanket or a complex tapestry.

It was the reason why true mages were also known as spellweavers in the Awakened community.

Old and powerful mages like Raagu were capable of keeping together incomplete spells and alter their patterns at will, allowing her to achieve arrays of great power with an ease that fake mages could only dream about. Yet.

Unbeknownst to all, Yurial had done the same thing to turn Silverwing's Hexagram into a more practical formation.

Raagu's focus was so great that, even when Athung stormed into her lab, the old Awakened managed not only to keep her prototype spell active, but also to continue experimenting on it while talking with her former apprentice.

"You're alive. Good." Raagu nodded in approval while swapping the position of two runes, improving the mana flow of the makeshift array.

"Is that approval or just surprise?" Athung snarled.

"Approval. I knew you'd fail your mission the moment you departed."

"Did you set me up? Were you trying to have me killed?" Athung took deep breaths to calm herself. She knew that she wasn't a match for her old mentor. At least not inside Raagu's home.

Yet snapping that old, thin neck was a temptation hard to resist in her outraged stated.

"Silly girl, no. If I wanted to kill you, I'd done that myself." Raagu spoke with a casual tone, as if she was talking about the weather. There was no arrogance nor rage in her voice, which made her words even more terrifying.

Athung knew from experience that real threats weren't made by people yelling or flailing weapons, those were just the tantrums of overgrown children. Really dangerous people spoke softly and had the cold indifference Raagu had in her eyes.

"What I requested for you, like everything else ever since I took you in my home, was a test. A test that you failed, but at least not completely. It means there is still hope for you." Raagu explained.

"It was an impossible test! I even consulted with some of my friends and they all agreed there was no chance of success. Or did you expect me to seduce that runt?" Athung disgust was only matched by that of her mentor.

"If you did that, you would have lost more than my respect. I would have kicked you out of the Council. I trained a brilliant, powerful woman, not a harlot. As for your friends, I always told you they are idiots.

"As for the mission, I would never give you an impossible test. Did you read his file?"

Athung nodded.

"Then you should know that Kalla the Wight requested our mediation when he parlayed with the Dawn Court."

"Do you mean that…" Athung would have slapped herself for not thinking about it.

"Yes. Since I asked you to act on behalf of the Council, you could have requested her help and have her vouch for you. This Verhen is a dangerous individual with trust issues and a penchant for violence.

"Trying to talk to him was akin to smear yourself with blood and jumping in a lion's den."

"Why didn't you stop me, then? Why didn't you tell me these things earlier?"

"It was another test. For both of you. If you clashed and you killed him, it would have meant he wasn't worth my time. If you died, it would have meant that he was a deranged individual and you a failure." Raagu nodded as another rune fell into place, bringing her array a step closer to completion.

"Now tell me what happened."

Athung told her only the truth, leaving her mentor impressed.

"So, he wore cloaking devices that prevented you from discerning both his physical and magical strength, correct?" Raagu asked.

"Yes, but when we both went all-out the mana coming out of his eyes was blue, so he is likely to have a blue core. Also, his physical strength makes no sense. When he clutched my neck, it was like a vise. Even using both hands I couldn't get free."

"He's a man. If you two have the same core, he is bound to be stronger." Raagu tilted her head at such naïve remark.

"No, I spar with Zartan often and even if he is even bigger than Verhen, he's not that strong. I felt that kind of pressure only when I fought Emperor Beasts, or you."

"Interesting." Raagu took note of it.

"Interesting my ass. He also activated Silverwing's array in less than thirty seconds!"

"That's impossible." Raagu shook her head. "He is a Healer and a Forgemaster. It would require my level of expertise to accomplish such a feat." She waved her hand enveloping the room with the golden array.

"It's more than that! He even neutralized ten of my best spells without even flinching. Cloaked or not, his mana level was unaffected."

"Well, this explains everything, silly child. The more unusual an event is, the simpler to find an explanation for it. Lith Verhen is clearly a cunning bastard who probably has a contingency plan even in case someone tampered with his toilet paper." Raagu laughed heartily.

"What do you mean?"

"He had help, silly girl. It explains everything. How the array was cast that fast, how effortlessly he countered your spells, and why you were no match for him."