Lugh had started ‘sleeping’ on the bed with Harlan just to try it, but his body didn’t require rest.

He could be tired and fall into a sort of coma if he got weak, but he never rested the same as a person did.

Lugh felt like how Harlan did as a child, confused about why people slept.

He laid in bed for a few hours before he would eventually get up and go to read or ‘exercise’ his body.

After their encounter with Kleon they realized that his shifting was more than just shape.

The core of his blade now had pieces of each elemental metal just to see what he could do.

One thing he noticed was that while he could move them around they refused to mix into one another.

Testing it with normal metals just lowered the quality of the magical metals and it took a long time to pull them back out of it without needing to pay for a blacksmith to melt them apart.

Lugh was currently in the process of seeing how far he could stretch out his lightsteel part when Harlan woke up and immediately went to take another shower.

He went back to reading as he put himself back together.

Lugh could shift quickly, but when he messed with his body too much and played around with adding and removing parts of himself it took a short amount of time to reintegrate them and let his soul become part of them again.

When Harlan came out Lugh became little more than a set of legs, then when Harlan grabbed his handle he formed completely into his sword self.

“Harlan, what were all of those notes last night? I read them but I didn’t understand most of them.”

“Somebody wants to die, I am supposed to help them.”

They could have a quicker conversation if it was soul to soul, but Harlan wanted Lugh to be more used to talking out loud.

“Are you going to murder somebody? I don’t want you to do that. That would be bad, right?”

“That would be bad, but this person wants to die.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’ve just seen enough, they don’t think the world is worth living in but they are having a hard time actually dying.”

“That’s weird, I don’t like this. Why not try to save them?”

“Lugh. This isn’t my choice, I will ask them once before I do it, but if they want to die and they can’t, then I think it is better than letting them suffer.”

“What if you wanted to die?”

“I have before, but I decided that things can’t get better unless I am there to see if they can. Maybe I’ll live a thousand years, ten thousand years, and then I’ll lose all hope, I’ll want to die, and somebody will need to do this to me.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“I know, but maybe you’ll be by my side for ten thousand years, maybe I’ll raise my one hundred times great grandkids and marry my thousandth wife. I know it is sad to think about, but it doesn’t help to worry about that right now, all we can do now is live our lives and hope that we don’t fall into that despair.”

“Ok.”

Harlan would feel his turmoil for the rest of the week.

It was sometimes hard to remember that Lugh wasn’t even a year old yet, but he was being exposed to a lot of things and was growing up faster than Harlan did as a result.

He felt like a failure as a brother for letting him see what he had seen, to let him know what he had known.

When he reached the cafeteria Amber’s group was sitting with them.

“Amber, did you get your dress yet? Do you want any spells in your jewelry? Do I need to give or make anything for anybody before we leave? Do you all know the plans for the night?”

“I think it would be best to go over everything once more, we’ve got 6 days to double check everything.”

Yara was hiding it well, but the closer she got to the event the more nervous she got.

If Liat would be there it would be nothing since she knew that she would upturn Aarde and sky to keep her safe.

But instead it would be Harlan and Ximena.

She trusted them, but they weren’t blood, and Ximena was still meek.

If she stood by his side she was absolutely sure that Harlan would do just as much as Liat would, but Harlan could be pulled away from them whereas Liat could not be due to diplomatic reasons.

“Alright. Sepul will gate us there at 2 in the afternoon, at which point I am to have a private chat with his majesty. Then I will need to help with setting up the presentation. Assuming everything has gone well, you will have already been run through a short class on expectations about your conduct as my guests. We will mingle with whoever is already there. I will be back by 3:30, my family should be there at 4, that is also when others will start to show up.

At 5 appetizers will be passed out along with stronger drinks. We don’t really have a minimum age to drink, but I am going to ask that both of you avoid it, you are free to refuse an offered drink and the rings I’ll give you can detect poisons in a subtle way, but don’t openly check for poison with either words or hand movements. Until 7 I will be free to be with you, if you want to keep close then do so, but I’ll likely be approached by people I can’t ignore. I have more things to give you for personal defense depending on what you want to take, but that can wait until later. At 7 I will take part in a demonstration of the object which I have taken part in making. This should only take 10 minutes, at which point I will be free to do as I please. The party ends at 11, but if you want to leave later than 9 that is fine, technically you can leave whenever you want, but it would reflect poorly on you and me. But if you feel unsafe, then leave as soon as you want, I-”

He double checked the veil he already had up.

“I don’t give two shits what some nobles think about me, I can work for reputation, but I will not endanger you for a moment. Don’t get pulled into any deals at all if you can help it, think of nobles like talking to Fae, every word they say is laced in venom and lies. I think that covers it.”

They all knew Harlan expected something to go wrong, that was just the way he was.

But he also seemed to have put quite a lot of thought into making sure that things going wrong would only have so much effect on them.

They would learn when they saw what Harlan made for self-defense that his plans weren’t anything short of insane however.

“Well, thank you for explaining it all again. But this will be a gala, not a warzone.”

“Warzone would be easier, at least you can see the knife going for your throat.”

“You’ve been to one noble party, you can’t, no, you shouldn’t, assume that everything is going to be like that.”

At this point anybody who knew him expected this and they ate without paying too much mind to Harlan.

Everyone but Adina also just learned to tune out whatever happened when Harlan and Yara got into one of their civil debates.

Breakfast came and went, neither side letting the constant back and forth get in the way of their meal, it could almost be called skillful how easily they spoke with half full mouths and yet spoke with normal tone.

But it was also gross.

Harlan went through spellcrafting and advanced elements without anything out of the ordinary happening.

But after divination Hellon pulled him aside.

He hoped it wouldn’t eat his entire free period, but it was probably important.

“About your maid, she never got that letter back to me.”

“I am sure there is a good reason, maybe she is anxious about how to fill it out, I know she only received very basic schooling. That or she lost it and doesn’t want to bother me again because she believes she can find it. I will be going back after for a very short time tomorrow, I will ask her about it.”

“Thank you. And please remember to be discreet, nobody wants to have these things done, but if she ever wants to have children she needs this to be done.”

“I am the spitting image of discreetness when I want to be. I just rarely feel the need to be.”

“I will believe that when I see it, do not treat this as a joke, it is a young woman’s life.”

“If you know me, then you know what I would do to help a friend, I consider her a friend.”

“That is the trait I find most worrying about you. But I am sure you’ve heard this speech a thousand times, don’t be or do something that you cannot take back because you feel you need to help a friend.”

“Thank you, I actually have heard that speech a lot of times already.”

“Good, now you can leave.”

Harlan had a normal lunch, everyone just ate their meal in silence, there weren't any topics to bring up at the time.

Every other class went by normally as well, from the glare Sepul gave Harlan it was clear he already knew that Harlan was up to no good, but he did not broach the subject, it was Harlan’s lesson to learn.

At dinner Harlan asked that the girls come to his room so he could give them things for the gala, Zella and Adina were not a part of this.

What Harlan pulled out when they arrived was a stonesteel chest synced to his own mana signature to make sure nobody could open it, forcing it open would set off every item inside in an instant.

Yara held a lightsteel necklace full of black gems cut into a teardrop design, it was beautiful, and they wondered who actually designed it.

“I didn’t think you had such taste, it is a work of art.”

“Each gem in that thing is loaded with a single void nova spell.”

The group counted them out, 36 gems, 36 warmage spells.

This was not a self defense item, it was a siege weapon.

Yara quickly, but delicately, put it back in the chest.

“I can’t wear something like that.”

“Too flashy? I’m sorry, I don’t know what Golden formal wear looks like, I should’ve asked if it would clash.”

“What? You don’t seem to understand why I can’t take it. That thing is not for safety, if I met the king wearing that they would think I am about to destroy the palace.”

“Don’t worry, I learned how to cloak items, keeping spells in disconnected runes within the soul with another spell that reconnects them adds a few seconds of lag to arm the device, but until then it just looks like a piece of fine jewelry.”

“That still isn’t the problem. I am not comfortable wearing something like that, what if something goes wrong and that thing goes off.”

“I’ll take it then. Do you have one for Ava too?”

Amber draped it over her chest, it stretched nearly from one side of her chest to the other, somewhat conforming to her body.

As of that moment, only 2 people knew that he soulsmithed it in the same way as he made Ava’s armor.

If all went well, it would still only be only two people.

His explanation of how he cloaked items was a fabrication, but something they were ignorant enough about that they could believe he could do it.

“Of course, I made one for each of you and then one for her. Autumn and mom have their own guards. Also, here are the rings. Everyone in the family gets one of those.”

“Are those also full of dangerous things?”

They were simple things, just steel engraved with a bit of gold for flair so people wouldn’t look down on them.

“No, they just purge poison. Feel free to keep these if you want them. I also made one for everyone else, you never know when they might come in handy.”

“How do they work? What about unique poisons?”

Liat had been eyeing the one she was given, but didn’t want to put it on yet.

“They are loaded with a very powerful spell, I asked Sepul to help me make them. I should’ve said this at the start, but obviously don’t talk about anything I’ve shown you here. If anyone asks, the ring is a sentimental gift from me. It wouldn’t do to have Sepul’s name involved with any of this. And I am definitely committing a crime by just owning those necklaces.”

She slipped it on and grabbed a small bottle from an inner pocket on her robe.

In a few moments the liquid was turned into something else, yet it looked the same.

Sepul had designed so nobody would realize what had happened, sometimes it is best to fake a poisoning to get a confession, or at least justification for a killing.

“So, how much do you trust the ring?”

“Give me that bottle and I’ll show you.”

For all of his faults, Harlan believed that Sepul had his best interests at heart.

He drank the potion, it was very, very, bitter, this was how somebody would know that their drink had been poisoned when nothing had changed in smells or looks.

He made a disgusted face but since he didn’t pass out after a few minutes she believed that it was safe.

“Do you always carry around a vial of poison?”

“You don’t?”

Harlan didn’t answer, he just scoffed.

Since he felt he was somewhat confident in his alchemy he kept a vial of acid, firetar, and poison on him at all times, just in case.

He explained a few more items.

Hairpins with enough sound magic that everyone in the dorm room would be bleeding from their ears.

Earrings that put up veils.

Bracelets with a directed soul attack that would, in theory, disable but not kill anybody who was hit by it, an improved design on the item he gave to Adina after she had been attacked.

Brooches that looked like a desert rose for the Golden and one that looked like a normal rose for his sister, each with pedals of shadowsteel with a white gem as its base the size of his palm.

“This one, this one is my masterpiece. No cost to great, nothing was spared for these.”

Yara was scared to ask, but Amber was intrigued.

“What do they do?”

“Just don’t use them unless your life is in danger at that very second. They are based on something else I am working on, they should just… call somebody.”

The hair on everyone’s neck stood on end.

Names had some power, but even without being told who they all felt that there was something dangerous involved in making them.

Coronach would be in a sort of stasis during the gala, hidden in Ava’s shadow to slip past the security.

The brooch would wake him up, and he would be slightly cranky in such an event.

Everyone hesitated to even touch them at all.

“I won’t ask that you take anything but the rings, but, if you trust my ability to make things, then please take at least one self defense item.”

“Everything you’ve made ranges from mild to a crime against humanity. None of these things would care about collateral damage. I am sorry, but I refuse to take them. After all of our talks about right and wrong I thought you would be better than this.”

“I have made things pretty clear I think, when it comes to my friends or family, I become morally…”

The first thought he had was bankrupt, so he ignored that.

“Flexible.”

Ximena took a deep breath, she was disappointed in him, unable to accept how he justified making these things.

“Harlan.”

Then she punched him with all of her might, enough to draw blood from his nose.

“Harlan, you are infuriating. Do you know what I’ve heard of you before I met you? That you were some kind of monster who snapped the moment something got in your way, that you put on a fake face of kindness to draw in weak people. What do you think I felt when I saw you during the camping trip? Terror, I hid it, but I was a coward, and I still am. Then how do you think I felt when you helped guide Adina around, when you shared your food with people who had done nothing for you. I was still afraid, I got letters from my parents when Rosamet returned and said that a Fomorian was attending the academy. It was a big deal, and then you kept being nice even when people didn’t deserve it, and I warmed up to you. Then you blew up at me over a lot of things and I realized that you really are just another person. I can handle the Harlan who would tear someone apart with his hands, I can handle the Harlan that would throw himself on a sword, but I can’t accept the one that let go of himself to help me. I don’t know what you were doing with Sepul, but you were acting really weird for a few days at least and I don’t like that, you shouldn’t do anything for us that you wouldn’t do for yourself.”

Harlan had been letting himself bleed on his robes, he wanted to hear her out and see if he deserved what had happened to him.

Then after she was done he realized that her knuckles were turning black and blue.

She didn’t know how to throw a proper punch and Harlan could be hurt, but he was still solidly built, so there would be harm back on his attacker.

He grabbed her hand and healed it, she was being flooded with adrenaline and hadn’t realized that she was hurt yet.

“And don’t you dare start warping yourself even more to be what I want you to be. I look up to you because of who you are, not who you want to twist yourself into being so you can calm me down.”

Harlan chuckled, she hit the nail right on the head, the first thought that crossed his mind was how he would change to make her happy.

“And stop bleeding on everything damnit.”

After a short minute his nose was back to normal and he cleaned the blood up as best he could.

It would be the cleaning staff’s problem tomorrow, but he would at least leave a note to apologize and say that he hurt himself and not to worry about the blood.

They would take samples to verify it was his, but they did like that he seemed sorry to make them work more.

Liat watched everything with a smile on her face.

“Amber, why didn’t you step in?”

“Because Harlan is a smart idiot. I’m not going to get in the way of him becoming a person who doesn’t self-destruct at every possible chance. I wanted to talk to him about that anyway, Ximena just did it better.”

Despite the time Harlan spent with both of them, Liat and Amber hardly ever met one another for an extended time.

They talked on the way back to their rooms and found that they enjoyed one another’s company.

Harlan thought over what Ximena told him for the next few days.

He really didn’t think it was such a big deal, she didn’t even know half of what he had done, the him that lived in her head wasn’t really him, but maybe that was for the best.