“We should do that again. I had no idea my underclassmen were so fun,” Cheese said, speaking with a lisp from a busted lip.

“Agreed,” Mark said. He wiped the blood from his nose and rubbed it off on his shirt. “I didn’t realize the higher year students at Blackmist were this much fun.”

A short distance away, Reva and Sylph glared daggers at each other, neither letting their guard down. Teddy gave Damien a slight nod.

“Not bad for a Year Two. You’re Stormsword’s kid all right.”

“He had nothing to do with my education,” Damien replied flatly. “And you were holding back.”

Teddy chuckled. “Course I was. I wasn’t about to go all out against a kid two years behind me. Wouldn’t be right. Find me again once you graduate and maybe we’ll really see how we match up.”

Sylph broke away from the other girl, grabbing a water skin from her pouch and tossing it to Damien. He grabbed it with his uninjured hand, giving her a grateful smile as he poured the healing water over his hand. His fingers snapped back into place and he let out a relieved sigh.

“Thanks.” He handed it back to her.

“You should really start carrying some around yourself,” Sylph admonished. “You’re the one that keeps breaking things.”

“You’re probably right,” Damien admitted. “I’ll get a waterskin once we get some free time.”

“I trust you’re all satisfied,” Derrod said, clearing his throat. “I wasn’t quite expecting an all out brawl, but I can’t fault any of you kids for wanting to get in on it. Real life doesn’t throw you predictable situations anyway, so this was a good simulation of what a real battle might be like. Does anyone have any doubts or questions about the students going to Forsad?”

Nobody said anything. Derrod gave them a satisfied nod. “Good. My main goal today was just to meet everyone and take care of introductions. I’ve got a fair amount of preparations to do before we head to Forsad, so I’ll be taking my leave. We’ll next meet on the day we leave – meet me at this pavilion, one hour before sunrise.”

He raised a hand and turned, walking out of the destroyed building as if he wasn’t responsible for all the rubble strewn across the ground. They watched Derrod go, not saying a word until he was completely out of sight.

“Sorry about your pavilion,” Damien said to Yui. “We kind of wrecked it.”

“It’s not your fault,” Yui replied with a shrug. “Blackmist will send someone to repair it soon enough anyway.”

“We’ll be on our way, then,” Damien said. “Lots to prepare before the expedition and all that.”

“I’ve got some work to take care of as well,” Quinlan said. Yui’s eyebrow twitched up and the three of them headed out of the pavilion.

They made it about five minutes down the road before Quinlan sped up to walk side by side with Damien and Sylph.

“Are we going to be able to finish everything up today?” she asked. “I did the runes you told me to practice yesterday.”

Damien chewed his lower lip. “I’m not sure. You’re still making great progress, but there’s only so much you can learn at once and you’re already moving at an incredible speed. You’ve still got a lot of material you need to cover if you want to make anything as advanced as your goal, even if I’m supervising you.”

“Are we going to be able to finish before the expedition to Forsad?”

“It’s hard for me to say since I really don’t know much about how complex your rune circle is going to need to be,” Damine replied. “It depends on the strength of whatever you’re binding, the strength of the person being bound, and a bunch of other factors that I need to teach you how to recognize. You might be able to make something that works close to what you want since I’ve been focusing on the runes that would help you, but I wouldn’t bet too much on it.”

Quinlan’s hands clenched. “I see. I’ll have to continue research back at Mountain Hall, then.”

“Well, we still have a little more time before the expedition,” Sylph pointed out. “And I don’t know exactly how the expedition will go, but nothing stops Damien from spending a little time continuing to teach you during our down time there. It probably won’t be as much as he’s spending now, but we’ll still have some time.”

Damien nodded. “So long as you don’t mind other people seeing. Then again, if we break off in small groups, it shouldn’t be an issue at all. Although I’ll be honest, even with the extra time in the expedition, it’s still going to be a tight call.”

“It’s better than any other choice I have,” Quinlan said, letting out a breath. “Thank you. I’ll take what I can get.”

“We’ve got some free time now and I don’t really want to get tracked down by anyone,” Damien said. “If you already did your rune practice today, why don’t you show me how it went?”

“I don’t actually have it on me,” Quinlan said with a frown. “I’ve been drawing on the floor since I ran out of paper. If we head to my room, I can show you.”

“I’ve done that a few times,” Damien chuckled. “Sylph, did you have any more training planned with Henry today?”

“No, we finished up yesterday. I’m about as fixed up as I’m going to get, according to him. I can come with you.”

“Wait, really?” Damien asked, pausing to turn and look at her. “That’s great! Can you feel the difference?”

“Definitely,” Sylph replied. “It feels a bit strange, but all my magic comes easier to me now. I still barely have any magical energy to work with, but at least the spells are almost like second nature now. I didn’t realize how much I was struggling to control some of my powers before this.”

“What happened to your magic?” Quinlan asked, cocking her head to the side. “I’ve never heard of someone getting an injury that made it difficult to access the magic they already know. There’s breaking your core, but I don’t think you’d be talking about that so casually. From what I know, you can’t really come back from that.”

Henry scoffed and Damien mentally shooed him away.

“I had a pretty severe injury that Henry fixed,” Sylph said. “For now, that’s about all I’m going to say on it. The less you know, the less Henry’s spell is going to force you to keep quiet.”

“That’s a fair point,” Quinlan said, her face falling slightly. They turned the corner and started up a mountain path toward where her room was. “I still find it hard to believe that I’m learning runes entirely because I pissed Damien’s companion off.”

“Stranger things have happened because of him,” Damien said, shaking his head. “Just don’t feed his ego. I’m just glad we were able to find a way to make up what he did to you.”

“It’s fine. The strong rule,” Quinlan said with a one-shouldered shrug. “That’s just how it is. Mountain Hall isn’t any different. If someone had caught me there, things wouldn’t have gone nearly as well. Granted, I never thought someone that powerful would just be sneaking around my room.”

“The strong should protect the weak,” Damien said with a frown. “I remember Derrod used to say that mercy was the right of the powerful. I don’t like him, but he was right about that. I’m just not strong enough to do more than what I already am. I really hate the deal we’ve got to keep you under for now, but I can’t take any risks.”

“It’s fine,” Quinlan replied with a shrug. They reached her room and headed into it. She opened her dresser and pushed the clothes out of the way, starting down into the passage behind it. “I’m getting what I wanted anyway, and the rules of the contract aren’t anything that I can’t deal with. They’re more than fair.”

A distant groan reached Damien’s ears. He paused, glancing at Sylph. She gave him a slight nod, but shrugged, indicating that she’d heard it as well but had no idea what it was.

Quinlan didn’t seem to notice their hesitation. She got to the bottom of the pathway a few steps ahead of them and headed into a large circular room. Scribbled chalk runes covered the floor and walls, all considerably better than the chicken-scratch that she’d initially been writing.

About half of the room was taken up by an enclosure with six goats in it. Each goat had a knitted hat perched atop their heads and there were several large bowls of food laid out for them. A goat wearing a red hat bleated loudly, answering where the noise Damien and Sylph had heard earlier was coming from.

Quinlan cleared her throat. “Oh. The goats.”

“Henry?” Damien asked, trying to hold back a laugh. His shadow twitched and Henry rose up from it in his blobby, spherical form.

“What?” Henry asked.

“Are you responsible for the goats?”

“No. That’s Quinlan’s job,” Henry replied. “Why would I bother taking care of a bunch of goats?”

Damien tried to keep himself from laughing. “I’m sorry, Quinlan. I probably should have expected this.”

“It’s fine,” Quinlan replied. “They’re kind of cute, actually. They keep me company.”

The goat in the red hat bleated again. It slowly lowered its head, eating something within the bowl without taking its beady black eyes off the newcomers in its house.

“Where did the hats come from?” Sylph asked. “Is that also Henry?”

“No. I just like knitting. It helps me concentrate when I’m trying to think,” Quinlan said. She pursed her lips. “I’d appreciate if you don’t go around sharing that. It would ruin the persona I’ve built for myself among the other schools.”

“We won’t say a word,” Damien said, walking over to the fence and examining the goats. Red hat walked up to the short fence and eyed his clothes. He took a healthy step out of chomping distance. “Henry, do you know how to knit?”

“Why in the Eight Planes would I know how to knit?” Henry asked. “I learn magic. I can knit magic. Not yarn.”

“Well, you should learn,” Damien said. “If I remember correctly, you stole Yui’s hat and fed it to a goat.”

“The goat was hungry.”

“Not for a hat,” Damien said. “And taking someone’s stuff, especially something personal, is honestly pretty messed up. That would be like someone grabbing my scarf while I was asleep. I’d be furious, so you’re technically in Yui’s debt. That means I am too, and I really don’t want to be in her debt.”

“Bah. Fine. Why don’t you just buy a new hat for the girl?”

“Because she can buy a new hat herself. She probably didn’t even notice the monetary loss. It’s the thought that counts.”

“More of Stormsword’s teaching?” Quinlan asked.

“No. That’s my mom,” Damien replied, a slight grin crossing his face. “And I’m sorry – I didn’t even ask you if you wanted to teach Henry how to knit. It’s not part of our deal or anything, so you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Quinlan eyed Henry, thinking over Damien’s words. “I can teach him after I get my practice in for my runes, but I really need to get as much progress in as I can. I can’t say much, but I’m on a time limit.”

“And I haven’t said I’m going to learn,” Henry said crossly.

Damien raised an eyebrow. Henry crossed his tentacles and glared at him. After a few seconds, he threw them up and let out an exaggerated sigh.

“What is this emotion you’re making me feel? I do not like it. Stop that.”

“That would be guilt.”

“Take it back. How do I make it go away?” Henry asked.

“By making the hat, probably,” Sylph said, trying to hide a smile.

“Eight Planes, you’re all on the same team,” Henry complained. “Fine. I’ll make the damn hat, okay? Now teach the girl the runes so I can get this over with.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Damien said, holding up a finger. “You’re done fixing Sylph up, and you’ve forgotten more about runes than I’ve ever known. You teach Quinlan. It’ll be way better and more efficient than anything I can do.”

One of the goats bleated.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You just want me to do your work for you,” Henry complained.

“Are you saying that I’m better than you at drawing runes?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Am I a better teacher than you?”

“Not in this lifetime. I’m the best at everything I’ve ever done.”

Damien cocked an eyebrow. “Then…”

“You are the lamest host I could have gotten,” Henry decided. “If I’d landed Sylph instead, we would have destroyed the world a dozen times over already.”

“I’ll keep your complaint in mind. But honestly, wouldn’t you rather hang around the goats than me and Sylph?”

Henry paused. One of his eyes flicked over to the goats. “Hm. You are quite lame.”

“Then it’s settled,” Damien said. “Quinlan, I hope you don’t mind. Henry really is your best bet if you want to learn faster, though. He should be able to teach you more and better than I ever could. Just… don’t agree to anything too crazy. Are you okay with learning from him?”

Quinlan nodded once. “I’ll do it, if he’s willing.”

“There are goats here. Why wouldn’t I be?” Henry asked, forming an eye and sending it floating toward the goats. “Now show me those runes you made. Let’s see if I can salvage whatever you’ve learned from Damien’s ham-fisted teaching.”

Quinlan pointed at a section of runes at the corner of the room and Henry went over to them. He turned, glancing back at Damien and Sylph. “Why are you two still here? Get lost. I’m teaching.”

“We’re already gone,” Damien said, raising his hands in mock surrender. “Good luck.”

He and Sylph retreated back up the pathway while Henry started instructing Quinlan.

“Nice one,” Sylph whispered. “But what do we do now? More training?”

“We’ve done enough of that these last few days. How about we get some dinner instead? Henry’s busy, so he can’t complain if we go somewhere,” Damien said with a smug grin.

Sylph shook her head. “Did you have that all planned from the start?”

“I might have gotten an idea once I saw the goats,” Damien replied. “So, what kind of food are you feeling?”