‘I have a feeling this won’t be the last memorial service I attend,’ Alex thought grimly, his eyes falling on the stone monument as a sombre feeling welled up in his chest.

A grim image formed in his mind: another monument being erected somewhere in Thameland or Generasi, one that had familiar names etched into the stone: Lady Isolde von Anmut, Prince Khalik Behr-Medr, Thundar, Son of Gulbiff; Grimloch…maybe even Theresa Lu.

He quickly shoved the image away, but it made his mind turn to a graveyard in Alric where two gravestones stood, each bearing a name: Roger Roth and Anna Roth.

His and Selina’s parents.

Alex’s opinions about those stones had shifted over the years. At first, he’d hated them: those tombstones had seemed like nothing more than a sick joke to him, two cold pieces of rock sticking out of the dirt to replace their parents—with cold ash and bones buried deep below—and he was supposed to like them? It was hard to even look at them without getting mad, and he remembered one awful evening when he’d stood in front of them for hours, screaming for them to give his mother and father back.

Yet—time went on—and so had he.

The emotional wound began scabbing over, then faded to a scar. It still hurt, it always would, but it wasn’t as raw anymore, and that slow healing had changed how he saw their graves. Once, they’d been two rocks that were ‘poor replacements’ for his parents, but he’d come to see them as someplace where he could go…to talk to them.

It was like the stones were banks on a vast lake and—if the wind blew just right—maybe someone could hear him on the distant shore. Emotions welled up in him, and he felt his face grow hot. He looked up at the audience.

‘I hope they can heal some day, and that goes for everyone from Thameland who has loved ones fighting there.’ Frustration tugged at him. ‘Still, what would be best is if there’d never been a demon summoner. Or a Ravener.’

His mind remembered something he’d thought about yesterday while practising Life-to-Mana: how he would’ve liked it if there could be a note in a book in the future about some incredible contribution he’d made to magic.

‘What would be even better is if a history book had a notation that said: Alex Roth helped destroy The Ravener of Thameland once and for all. Yeah. That’d be a pretty nice way to be remembered…and it’d make for a lot less memorials.’

“And last but definitely not least,” Baelin announced, cutting through Alex’s thoughts. “All who stand before you are heroes in the eyes of the University of Generasi, but there is one who deserves special commendation.”

The chancellor was standing beside Kybas—holding a silver pin—while a city official smiled down at the confused looking goblin wizard. A plaque and very large sack were gripped in the official’s hands.

“For his pivotal role in finding the demon summoner and bringing his whereabouts to our attention,” Baelin continued. “And for risking not only his own life, but the life of his familiar as well, I recognize Kybas of the Clan Chulu with the Milnos Thalaniel reward.”

Baelin placed the pin on Kybas’ shirt while the city official made his own announcement.

“And for his service to the city in capturing a dangerous criminal,” the official said in a warbling voice. “We award Kybas of the Clan Chulu with the Generasi Award for Heroism and Service, along with a twenty thousand gold coin reward for the capture of the demon summoner.”

‘Holy shit, go Kybas!’ Alex thought.

He began to clap, and applause soon swept through the stadium. The little goblin’s eyes—filled with shock—darted between the official, the audience, the plaque, and the sack. He smiled, then gave a shy bow to the people in the stands.

The applause thundered throughout the arena for a long time before slowly dying away to let the ceremony continue. Friends and family of those who had died—both in this attack and in past ones—were invited to speak, and they expressed feelings of anger, sadness, grief, loss and even gratitude. Alex listened to every word, letting them wash over him, giving them the respect of hearing what they needed to say. When the last person had shared their grief, Gemini floated back up above the sword of Roal.

“And now we have honoured the triumphant, the living and the fallen,” she said. “Know this, participants—as I close these Games of Roal—you can walk with your heads held high. You have done things that would make Roal proud. You are the sort who make others safer just by being near you, and that is a rare breed in this world. Walk tall.”

She floated down to the glass cauldron, wrapped her fingers around the hilt of Roal’s sword, and drew it from the seawater.

“With that, I declare these Games of Roal closed! Walk tall, friends. Walk tall!”

As the ceremony came to its end, folks began milling about in the centre of the arena, talking for a time before going their separate ways. Shiani, Malcolm, Evynder and Rhea made their way over to Alex’s group, visiting for a while before Alex excused himself to go looking for a certain goblin. He and Claygon found the very overwhelmed looking hero surrounded by a crowd peppering him with questions. Some were congratulating him and thanking him in earnest, while others—many who wouldn’t have given him a second glance without the pin on his chest and plaque and sack of gold in his hands—were asking him if he and Harmless could come to their businesses or houses for “a nice visit.” The scene was a little too familiar for Alex. He well remembered being mobbed after winning the Dual by Proxy. Kybas looked like he wanted to escape, so Alex called to him.

“Hey! Kybas!” He waved his good arm enthusiastically.

“Alex!” Kybas spotted him and grinned, relief washing over his face. “Excuse me.” He said to the swarm of people around him, trying to get away.

The little goblin and his crocodile familiar pushed through the crowd as Alex let Claygon lead the way toward them.

“Congratulations! You deserve this, mate,” Alex said, leaning down to clap his friend on the shoulder. “What you did helped so many people. Seriously.”

“T-thank you, Alex,” Kybas said nervously, but very brightly. “I’m sending a message to my Clan as soon as I can. I think they’ll be proud of me. The ancestors too.”

“They’d better be,” Alex said. “So…I’m guessing you’re going to be renting some mushroom beds?”

“Oh yes, yes!” Kybas grinned. “I’m going to grow so many mushrooms and make so many potions for Harmless! By the time I’m done, he’ll be able to use that big lava turtle as a warming rock!”

“Hah! Wouldn’t that be a sight.” The young man laughed, glancing at the crowd. “Actually, I want to talk to you about something. Something private.”

The pair moved away from the crowd, well out of earshot. He leaned down and spoke quietly into one of Kybas’ large ears. “Hey…did the harvest go okay? No one caught you or anything?”

“No,” Kybas whispered. “I was scared about that: that demon summoner came around my tunnels just before I got the last of the mushrooms out and I had to hide them when I went for help, then sneak back to get them and fill the tunnels a few days ago. It was close too; the school’s started replanting the botanical gardens…they would’ve found my tunnels then I woulda been in big trouble. Not good for me and Harmless, not good at all!” He hissed.

“Well, you got all your stuff out, right?” Alex said. “Even if they found them, there was nothing to connect you to them anymore.”

“I dunno.” Kybas scratched his head. “I kept thinking that, but then I started thinking ‘What if I forgot something?’, ‘What if I left a footprint or something?’”

“Yeah, I get that.” He remembered his own paranoia after being interrogated by those investigators, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. “Well, all’s well that ends well. You’re flush with coin, and you got your stuff out completely free and clear. This is a good time to be Kybas.”

“Yeah,” Kybas took a quick look at the crowd at his back. “I think a lot of people think it's a good time to be Kybas’ ‘friend’, but I don’t remember any of them being my friend before I got these coins.” He said, shaking the bag.

“Yeeeeaaah, they kinda have a little bit of ‘thirsty Derek odour’ don’t they?” Alex said.

“Eh? Thirsty Derek?” Kybas asked. “Who’s that?”

“Like…he was in our alchemy class.” he reminded the goblin. “You know…red hair?”

“Oh yeah…I don’t remember him much.”

“Huh, okay. Well, you didn’t miss much. And speaking of missing things…” He glanced over at Theresa. “Listen, it's Theresa’s birthday today.”

“Happy birthday to her!”

“Yeah, well what I’m saying is maybe you can tell her yourself, I’m sure she’d love to have you drop by. Come on, come and celebrate with us!”

Kybas looked at the group for a long moment. “You know…if it’s all the same to you, I think I ‘peopled’ enough for one day. I kinda just want to go relax in my room…maybe I’ll come by a little later?”

“Alright, man.” Alex clapped him on the shoulder and told him where the party would be. “Rest up, and if I see you there, I see you there.”

For the daughter of tavern owners, there was really only one place on campus they could’ve held Theresa’s party.

A bunch of tables had been pushed together at the Brass Grapes to form one massive one, with Theresa sitting at its head. On either side, rows of family and friends were seated; the cabal was there, as well as Grimloch, Nua-Oge, Sinope, Hogarth and Svenia. Most of their friends from Baelin’s class had come—including a newly healed Rayne—and some of Theresa’s other friends from Life Enforcement, including Shi-Shi.

A chair scraped the floor as Mr. Lu stood up. “To our daughter: a happy birthday to Theresa!” he cried, holding up a goblet. “A medallist in those fancy games and a fighter of demons!”

“Father!” Theresa protested as her mother laughed. “You’re being too loud!”

Mrs. Lu held up her cup. “Saviour and warrior!” she joked. “Champion of-”

“Mother!” the colour drained from Theresa’s face as she looked around the bar; other patrons were looking at them with interest. It was a good thing Alex and the Lus had booked their table at The Brass Grapes well before The Games even started. After the memorial ceremony, the bar had filled up with people toasting friends who’d fought, stood, and fallen during the attack. There was no way their group could’ve gotten a table if they hadn’t made those reservations.

Everyone took a long sip of their drink for the toast; most had wine or beer, but some—like Selina, Shi-Shi and Malcolm—had stuck to water.

Khalik, of course, drank stronger stuff. “I also propose a toast,” the prince said. “A happy birthday to Theresa, and all honour and glory to those who fought and fell at The Grand Battle.”

“Here here,” Rhea said.

“Mmm,” Grimloch grunted.

“To those that fell,” Theresa said, raising her cup.

“You know, this is the way to do things.” Thundar went to wipe his mouth with his sleeve, paused, then grabbed a napkin instead. “In my herd, we celebrate births and deaths at the same time: ‘Glory to life at its beginning and end’, that’s what the elders say.”

“A good way of putting it,” Isolde said.

“Yeah…” Selina agreed. “I like that.”

Soon, the waitstaff brought out a feast. Roasted venison, beer-battered fish, greens with a garlic dressing, spanakopita and crispy falafel with goat cheeses on steaming platters. The aromas made Alex’s mouth water, but—just before they were about to tuck into the meal—Mr. Lu tapped the side of his goblet.

“Sorry to interrupt before we eat this wonderful spread,” he said. “But there’s something that we need to do first.”

He looked at his wife before standing, then moving to the front of the Brass Grapes to an area where cloaks and gear was stored.

Mrs. Lu cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s eyes.

“Theresa,” her mother said, leaning over and placing her palm over her daughter’s hand. “You have grown into a wonderful young woman…it seems like I blinked and that baby that kicked and screamed so much became that young girl walking into the forest and bringing back wild beasts-” She glanced at Brutus, who watched her from Theresa’s side. “-and then the grown woman who’s getting medals and silver pins and…who people are thanking for the things she’s done. You’ve really grown…which is why, well, I know gift-giving was supposed to be after supper, but we’re your parents. We’ll do what we want until you stop us.” She smiled, squeezing her daughter’s hand.

As she finished, Theresa suddenly gasped, looking past her mother. The older woman’s smile grew. Alex turned.

And gasped.

Mr. Lu was on his way back to the table with a pleased expression on his face.

In his hands, he carried a long, thin object. One Alex recognized well.

It was the second of Twinblade Lu’s swords.