My study had changed significantly in the past two years. With the laboratory moved to its own floor, I was able to expand the room to contain books and scrolls along all the walls without the need for a bookcase to stand out from them. These shelves weren’t entirely full, either, which gave my literature collection room to grow. The sitting chairs were now better positioned, and I acquired new finely-crafted oaken tables and desks from Lark. Lark’s [Carpenters] had something of a breakthrough in levels after the handful of new quarries began their excavations. The quarries needed lifts and stronger wagons and a multitude of other wooden products. While Lark had always been one of the biggest producers of timber in the kingdom, the updated roadways and advanced carpenters meant it could now export everything from barrels to tables. Such as the one my latest correspondence lay on. It was a rectangular table that came up to mid-thigh, with carved wooden forest animals in motion and a smooth marble slab inlaid into the center. Polished to a high shine and stained in a soft brown, it made for an excellent centerpiece for my study. The missive on it, however, did not. That scroll, the latest of forty-seven, was yet another complaint from a jeweler, this one in a remote Laxtoni town. I had been using my remaining funds in Sena City to purchase as many gemstones as possible over the last two years, even at ever-increasing prices. I made a mistake upon receiving the first such complaint. I responded with sympathy and included a note to allow for the withdrawal of five gold pieces against my accounts. Such hubris and charity, of course, could not go unpunished. Hence, the complaints kept arriving. I didn’t believe there were even forty-seven jewelers in the entire kingdom, but I’d never bothered to count them either. Next to that scroll lay two others, with their responses already written. After my ascension to the fifth tier, word had spread across the magical community. I suspected that one of the merchants that stopped by had a skill that mirrored the [Analysis] spell, but that wasn't something I could prove. In the past year, I’d been inundated since with missives pleading for information on the [Wizard] Class. Regardless, the responses to these vultures all held the same response. A general vague answer that only the ‘chosen one may be able to unravel the secret contained within this letter’ and a subtly hidden enchantment that caused diarrhea to any who read it. A second, even more hidden, enchantment caused constipation and severe stomach cramps to whoever attempted to dispel the first. I pitied the person that tried to do both at once. Admittedly, that was a bit vulgar, even for me. But I will defend my decision to any who asks under the basis that their requests were vulgar as well. I still remember when mages had the decency to try to find answers for themselves. The information about fifth-tier classes is bought not shared. Most of the mages asking were only second or third tier, to begin with. Expendable cat's paws for mages of higher education and renown. I imagine their masters likely tacked the letter to a wall in their medical ward to cure constipation. The only fourth-tier mage to submit a formal, serious inquiry was one who couldn't afford the answer. While I didn't give her what she requested, I did grant enough hints for her to find it should she make the attempt. While my response to those requests felt rather repetitive, I’d begun to enjoy my responses to the jewelers. In fact, I picked up the latest to read it through again. To you who have arrogantly assumed, That my hand is holding your purse, I offer you this great boon, In the form of a curse, May your greed turn you green, On your body’s greatest shame, Whether that be seen or unseen, For as long as your greed remains. I followed that up by enchanting the scroll to turn the first reader’s rear green. Last time was their feet, and before that was their lips. I’d made three people bald. Oh, my spell would only last for a year. I wasn’t so angered that I would make it permanent as I did to whomever sent the second letter accusing me of gem hoarding. Still, I quite enjoyed making poetry. I could see why the powerful wizards and witches in children’s tales always rhymed. It adds a unique flavor to my missives that allows me to enjoy responding to the mundane just that little bit more. Not that I am overly proud of my poems. I’m simply obtaining some mild enjoyment in writing them now, even if the actual message is disinteresting. Satisfied with my response, I rolled and sealed the scroll into its case and gathered the other two responses to head downstairs. Today was an important day, as it was the day that Lilly and Walker departed to Sena City. I had two gifts prepared for them. On the first floor, Chelsea had prepared a feast to celebrate their imminent departure. Wine and ale on one side of the table, and five different kinds of meats on the other. The center held baskets of bread and bowls of roasted vegetables. For some reason, a huge platter of fried eggs sat in the very center, but I wasn’t about to question my servant’s food placement on such an auspicious occasion. The first floor hadn’t changed much. The large circular room, with a bronze door outside, was crowded now. The stone table and uncomfortable stone benches still curled around the fireplace. Copper and amethyst geometric patterns on the room were still beautiful in my eyes. I had added three long thin windows opposite of the entryway, each filled with thin layers of amethyst that let in a purple-tinted light during the day. Mena, Rolf, Meathead, and Eni were gathered around Lilly as she was hugging them with tear-filled goodbyes. Chelsea was hovering around the food, making sure that everyone got a plate of what they wanted. Tond and Kine were sitting with Walker discussing his decision to join the war effort. I was personally disappointed with it, but I didn’t let that show. Walker was a young man and felt he needed to prove himself despite all the monsters he’d helped clear from the bog. Or maybe because of them. Both he and Kine, as well as three of the guards, were now at the third-tier. Getting to the higher tiers was always a progressively more difficult journey. I regretted that all their conversations stopped when I arrived. I’d have preferred to be able to join the celebration without great notice. I would have preferred to be welcomed as another guest. Unfortunately, when all the people here lived under my roof and either worked for or studied under me, that wasn’t meant to be. I coughed into a hand, “Don’t stand on ceremony today. This farewell is for the two siblings. Let us all bid them goodbye together,” I said with a pleasant smile. Truthfully, I would miss them. Lilly had grown into a fine young woman, once she started acting her age. Walker had grown increasingly confident and competent throughout the last two years. “Hear, hear!” Eni said, and lifted his cup. The others soon followed in the toast, except for Chelsea’s son Rolf who watched wide-eyed. With that, the conversations began again, though more reserved. Lilly and Walker would be leaving within the hour, and parting was never easy. First, I was joined by Chelsea, who provided me with a goblet of fine strawberry wine and an empty plate to fill from the feast. As my servant, I allowed her to dress outside the normal servant’s smock at her leisure, and today she was wearing a nicer peasant’s gown of faded yellow that displayed parts of her thicker body that I’d have preferred she kept hidden. Not that I deemed it important enough to tell her now. She seemed to be enjoying herself, with the large smile on her face displaying why she had so many laugh lines. “Well, milord, I tell you that this is the biggest feast I’ve ever prepared, and I once cooked for Merchant Faunter’s wedding, which hosted thirty people!” She began her latest long diatribe of irrelevant folktales while dishing a roasted fish onto my plate. She’d been with me for two years now, and while her brown hair showed grey when it didn’t before, I’d grown accustomed to tolerating her unstoppable mouth. The enchanted copper bracelet I gave her for her first year of employment that dampened volume of her voice certainly helped matters. “But I said to myself, who else is gonna cook a farewell dinner for these young ones if Ms. Chelsea ain’t? You don’t have magic for that, now, do ya?” She continued and turned to look at me, her blue eyes indicating she actually expected an answer. “I certainly do not,” I said with a controlled smile, though my eyes tracked the spoonful of mashed potatoes she held not quite close enough to my plate to stop it from dripping onto the floor. “Hmmph! Exactly. So, I told myself, now is the perfect time to prepare a feast to show them that they’ll be missed. Even if we spent more than the allotment for food we were given. I told myself that Lord Nemon wouldn’t mind,” the spoon finally deposited the potatoes on my plate, but she reached it back for another helping as she kept talking. “I knew it in my heart that you would want to see young Lilly and that fine, upstanding young Walker off with a proper meal. One to remember us by,” The second large scoop of potatoes landed on my plate. Now there was little room for much else. She reached to scoop a third helping, “Young folks, they need to eat right so they can grow up healthy I say—” “Miss Chelsea,” I interrupted her sternly, and she reacted as if I startled her. Maybe I had. “You have done a fine job with this meal, and the allotment for food will be updated. Thank you.” There was an uncertain look between me and the scoop of potatoes she just realized she was holding, before she answered, “Yes, milord.” With that, I set the plate down on the table, and moved around her to join the conversation between Tond, Kine, and Walker, “Good morning.” The three young men all rose to give me small bows, “Master.” “Master.” “Boss.” Walker had grown nearly half a foot in his time here. The height looked good on him, given his and Lilly’s coastal features. The sand-colored skin, blonde hair, and tan irises all went well with the blue mage's robe he wore. I personally would have chosen a yellow sash instead of green, but he had time to learn. “Assistant Walker, if you would walk with me?” I asked and motioned with my head towards the staircase. “Yes, master,” he said with a bow. I chided him as we walked away, “None of that master business now. I was never your instructor at the Arcanum, and tomorrow you will no longer be my assistant. You don’t want the Army hearing you say that word or they’ll assume you to be a Mirktallian spy.” “So, what should I call you from now on?” He asked. It was a fair question. Master was the title used at the arcanum for instructors. Sir or Milord would imply a subservient station, which was no longer true. But that didn’t mean the perfect answer didn’t come to mind. With a smile, I answered him, “You may address me as Wizard Fargus for now. Hopefully, you will address me as friend in time.” We had reached halfway up the staircase when I stopped. From inside my pocket, I withdrew a blank tome, though that didn’t mean it was empty. I’d filled each and every page with small enchantments that would inflict everything from toe-aches to turning his teeth to wolf fangs. A tome of wizard tricks, for him to disable or inflict on himself. “This is a gift I prepared for you. An empty tome. I expect you to return to me with a chronicle of your time as a mage of the kingdom so that I may add it to my shelf,” I told him. Walker, having grown more astute in his time here, understood the implication. He received the book with two hands and a deep bow, “Master, I promise to return. I’ll make you proud.” I was already proud of him and Lilly both. He’d accomplished a lot both for me as an assistant and in his class, where both he and Kine had advanced to [Geomancer]. I wasn’t going to tell him that, though. I simply smiled at him and patted his shoulder. We walked back downstairs side by side, and I looked about the room again. Tond, one of four ex-soldier [Bandits] that I’d fostered into [Guards] had originally been a tier two [Ranger]. Now he was an [Elemental Sniper], the first of his class. Where he had been sitting with Kine and Walker before, now he held Chelsea in a hug. Kine had moved on to speak with Eni, one of the other guards. When I first met them, I couldn’t tell the difference between Eni and Tond, as they both held a smaller body type and a sneaky countenance. It was Eni’s broken nose that eventually made the difference, though after he had advanced to the third-tier class [Beastmaster], he had almost a feral look about him. A look which wasn’t helped in the slightest by how he smelled after spending his days in a wolf kennel or an owl roost. Mena had taken a stool to the left and was sullenly drinking by herself. Walker made his way to the [Elemental Guardian]. After their initial dispute, she had continued to make herself a problem around him, much to my satisfaction. He needed the thorn to grow, and she was happy to provide that. The thorn, though, somehow turned into a smoldering occasional romance fraught with loud disagreements. Walker leaving seemed to have put a damper on those disagreements, though I half expected one to occur at any moment. I pretended not to see them, as I made my way towards Lilly. Whatever words they had for each other should be theirs to keep. Walker’s younger sister, Lilly had grown as well. At sixteen, he’d adopted her from the same orphanage he came from and brought her with him. Now that she was eighteen and a first-tier [Apprentice], she needed to go her own way. So, they now journeyed to the Arcanum of Elementalus, an academy I helped found, to further her studies. She had grown her blonde hair long in the time she was here, and frequent brushing had left it straighter and shinier than any I’d seen. That and her tanned skin and yellow eyes went well with the green dress she wore. I wasn’t sure she had worn it before, but I approved. “There you are, Miss Lilly,” I said, cutting into her conversation with Meathead and Rolf. Both of whom were only humoring her at this point, their nervous eyes and posture giving away their desire to gallivant off to play. My interruption was more than enough reason for them, and they were gone before Lilly even fully turned around. With a big honest smile, Lilly performed the perfect courtly curtsey. I returned her smile with my own, “I trust that you found use of my gift?” She lifted her chin in a mock impression of a courtly lady as she answered, “Da—master, I don’t know if I can truly find a use for a trunk that holds all twenty-three of my dresses. Couldn’t you have secured one that could hold fifty?” She asked, not even a hint of a smile giving away the joke. I played along with a sagely nod of my head and a stroke of my beard, “I certainly could, but then you would have fifty dresses, would you not?” “My!” She said with a mock gasp and then a giggle. I gave her a half-smile. I was proud of how much she’d grown and that she was no longer acting childish, but to take it in this direction… She still had a lot still to learn. Hopefully, Sena City wouldn’t be too stern a teacher. She gave up her impression, and gave me a teary hug, “I’ll miss you.” “I shall miss you too, child. You will write,” I answered and patted her back. “Of course, I will!” she claimed fiercely. I didn’t doubt her, but I also wasn’t certain it would hold true. I also knew that it would be hypocritical of me to be upset if she didn’t. When we parted, it looked as though all the others were headed out of the door towards the bridge. There, a wagon had been made ready. The wagoneer and several nervous adventurers stood around it waiting. I tasked one of them with taking my three scrolls to the messenger’s station in Lark, and bid goodbye to the siblings. As I watched the wagon depart, I could only bite back my bitter smile. Two years seemed like a blink of the eye to me, and it seemed to have meant so much to them. A harsh truth, if there ever was one.