It had been a day since Yuki had unloaded her history onto the group. And it had been twelve hours since Yuki had locked herself in her room. Her story had moved something inside them and the three were working as hard as ever. Yuki’s disagreement with her parents and her subsequent exile had left them wondering about Alfheim’s current state.

Embla mindlessly swung her swords in the yard of their house. It had been an intricate dance to the others. However, Embla lowered her blades and let out a sigh. It was a long and tired sigh.

Annalise said a few days but it’s been nearly a week, Embla thought. She held out her hand and created a small ball of shadows. The Tournament had been pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances. However, as with any organization, rumors flew from the mouth of all the guild members. All of them stating that Eschamali’s presence delayed the tournament this year.

“At least this gave us more time,” she said, sitting on the grass. Her red eyes stared at the clouds above as the cool breeze passed over her. There was one detail in Yuki’s story that kept hammering itself into her mind.

There was a Valkyria in Alfheim.

“Val,” Embla murmured. She shook her head and grabbed her swords. “I think I might be hitting a wall,” she muttered, glancing down at her swords.

“You might be.”

Embla turned to see Cal walking out into the yard. He had his bow blade strapped to his back.

“How’s Yuki?” she asked.

“She hasn’t come down yet. I think she’s still coming to terms about spilling to her friends. Who knew that Yuki was here on political refuge,” Cal said, pulling a few arrows from his quiver. He aimed at the target and let the arrows loose, all hitting the bull’s eye.

“Yeah… anyway, I think I’ve hit a wall with this. There’s only so much I can do from here on. I think I need to contact my teacher,” Embla said, sheathing her blades.

“Oh yeah, you mentioned your teacher a few times before. Why wait until now? The delay isn’t a year. The Guild said they’d be pushing it back by four days due to-”

“Unforseen circumstances, I know. But, if I want to progress, I need to get past what my teacher taught me.” Embla grabbed her water bottle and took a sip.

“You’re heading down to Ataraxia?” Cal asked.

“Yeah. I need to use their Communication Screens,” Embla said, strapping Chromatic Slicers to her back.

Embla walked into the guild, silently contemplating how to greet her mentor. It had been a few years since they last spoke and she hadn’t made the effort to reach out. Sighing, she made her way to the communication screen booths.

“Can this even reach the screens back home?” she muttered to herself. Embla looked up at the terminal.

The Communication Screen Terminal was a large machine that resembled that of a slot machine at some of the casinos she had been to. But instead, it lacked the glass screen that lit up when activated. The communication terminal projected a magical solid light screen that the user could use.

“Five bullions per ten minutes?” she read. Embla sighed as she pulled five coins from her pocket. “It won’t be long anyway.”

The screen whirred to life, projecting itself before her.

“Please enter the area code and the house number you are trying to reach.”

Embla placed a hand on her chin, trying to remember her town’s code and her teacher’s house number. “Uhh, let’s see. Hnitborg’s area code is 3-4-9 and Teacher’s house number was… was,” she scratched her cheek. “Ah, it was 2-6-9-4-1.”

The screen changed as an hourglass rotated for five seconds on-screen in front of her. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for someone to answer the terminal.

“I’m sorry but the number you are attempting to reach is currently unavailable. At the tone, we will record a message for you.”

Embla sighed and turned the screen off. “Well, I just lost five bullions to the machine. I guess I’ll call back later,” she said.

She walked away from the terminal, walking past the guild booth and some adventurers. As Embla walked by, her ears perked up at some of the conversations she passed by.

“Hey, did you hear the rumors?”

“About…?”

“About why they delayed the tournament. Apparently, two Sages decided to come here after Eschamali arrived a few days ago. They’re busy preparing their seats for the tournament.”

“Really? Are you sure you’re not drinking too much?”

“No, what? I haven’t taken a sip since we sat down.”

Sages? More of them? She thought as she exited the building. Embla sighed and shook her head. “No, you’re overthinking this.”

Kojiro sat in his office, eyes closed and hands folded. The clock ticked away on the upper corner of his desk and his ears picked up the sound of sipping from his sole companion inside. He opened his eyes and gazed at the sipping Sage in front of him.

Mizore had her eyes closed and enjoyed her tea. It was odd that the Knight Master asked for an impromptu meeting. She opened her eyes and gazed back at him. He’s probably as blindsided as the others about those two arriving so suddenly in the city. Though, how long will they plan to make us wait?

The door swung open, catching their attention. A tall, rather lean man walked in. His black coat billowed in the nonexistent breeze. He had a nonchalant smile on his face as he walked in. His most eye-catching features were his hair and eyes. His eyes were icy blue and his hair was snow-white. The hair was tied in a pony tail that reached down to the base of his neck and two short bangs framed his face. If he stood next to Mizore, he could pass off as her brother.

Behind him was a woman of great beauty. She had pitch-black hair, as black as the night sky. The hair was styled in a ponytail, similar to her husband’s. Her eyes were an eerie shade of violet. The woman wore a white coat with a black sweater underneath and a black skirt. She wore black thigh-high combat boots to compliment the rest of her dreary outfit. Though, unlike her husband, her expression was anything but nonchalant. However, her face softened upon laying eyes on Mizore.

“It took a long time to find these two,” Valentina said, walking in after them.

“I could hardly recognize you, little flower. You used to be this tall,” the man said, placing his hand by his thigh.

“That was when I was seven, Sir Samuel.”

“Look Lili, she’s so formal now!” Samuel said.

“Can you focus, Antares?” Mizore said with an annoyed look on her face. She straightened her kimono and turned to face the two. “Let’s focus on the why. Why are you here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Samuel said, kicking his feet up.

Koji gave him a blank look as the Sage placed his feet on his desk. Lilim shook her head in exasperation while Valentina suppressed a smile.

“I’m here because of the Ataraxia Tournament. We haven’t been here since this one was still in training boots,” he said, pointing his thumb at Valentina.

“To be fair, I did this because of the money. Raising a child isn’t easy,” Valentina said.

“So you’re here for Embla and nothing more?” Kojiro asked.

“Oh, we’re also here to support this little fox here,” Samuel said.

“What he means by that is that we’re here to support our fellow Sage and watch the tournament. We even went as far as to buy tickets so we could watch Embla fight,” Lilim said, pulling two tickets from the pocket of her sweater.

“What about you, Val? Are you going to watch? Is your mission even done?” Samuel asked, taking his feet off the desk.

Valentina glanced in his direction before nodding. “I’ve gotten what I needed. I’m just compiling a report for now. I’ll hand my report in a few days from now,” she said, “There are some things I need to discuss with Lady Mizore regarding the Idunn and how they got it.”

“Hmm, that last intel report you sent me when you were in Alfheim three years ago right?” Kojiro asked.

She nodded.

“Welp, I guess I’ll head out. Lili, are you staying here?” Samuel said, getting up and stretching his back.

“Yeah, I need to hear this. I’ll tell you about it later?” Lilim said.

“Alright then,” Samuel said. “Hey, Dragon brat, you know where little Em is staying?”

“I’ll give him the address. You guys can start the meeting,” Valentina said, ushering the Sage out the door.

Embla opened the door to the house. She removed her cloak and headed over to the kitchen, grabbing some jam from the cooling box.

“You’re back.”

Embla jumped at the sound, almost hitting her head against the cupboard. She turned around, butter knife in her hand to see Yuki walking into the kitchen.

“That’s new. In the time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen anyone successfully sneak up on you,” Yuki said, grabbing a stool and sitting at the island.

“Oh, sorry. My mind was just out,” Embla said, grabbing some bread and closing the cupboard.

“Out? Is everything alright?” Yuki asked.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I’ve just hit a wall with my training, that’s all,” she replied. Embla bit into her sandwich and relished in the sweetness of the jam. “I went to Ataraxia since we didn’t have a comm screen in the house to call my teacher to see if he could come to Yggdrasil to continue my training.”

“Your teacher? The one who taught you that Burst that put you out of commission for a week?” Yuki asked.

“Yeah that one,” Embla said. “I was thinking of having him over here to help me train while we have this grace period.”

Yuki nodded as she watched Embla eat her sandwich. “Yeah, this delay’s really helping us out in terms of preparing. Everyone’s being so serious now. It makes me feel worse about how I treated all of you for the past week.”

“It’s fine,” Embla said. She gave Yuki a smile. “You were going through something rough. Next time, just remember that we’re all here for you to vent on. You’re not alone anymore.”

Yuki gave her a wide-eyed look before turning her gaze to the counter. Her bangs covered her eyes but Embla could see the small smile that was forming on her face.

As Embla returned to eating her sandwich, her ears made out an audible noise coming from Yuki’s mouth.

“Thank you.”

Embla nodded as she ate her sandwich.

As the two sat, relishing each others company. A knock interrupted them. It was an incessant knocking, one that Embla recognized. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

Calm down. You just called them. There’s no way that’s them.

“I’ll get the-”

“No, no. I’ll get it. I have a hunch it’s for me anyway,” Embla said, placing her sandwich on a plate.

“A hunch?” Yuki asked, placing her head on her hand. She watched as the huntress stiffened a little before making her way to the front door.

Embla walked robotically to the door of the house, knowing that this feeling could only be coming from one person. Gulping and steeling her nerves, Embla grabbed the door handle and opened the door.

“It’s been a while, Em.” Samuel grinned down at her exasperated face.

Embla looked up at the man blankly before slamming the door in his face.