CHAPTER ONE

“You know, I used to be a lot like you; always getting into trouble over silly things.”

“That’s bullshite,” the girl sitting across the desk from me muttered.

“Watch your mouth, young lady. You’re allowed to talk like that at the guild or wherever, but when you’re here, there are rules and people that you have to respect.”

“Sorry…” she mumbled, shrinking away from my gaze.

A sigh escaped my lungs as I held out my palm. “Let me see your hand.”

Leroro reluctantly placed her bruised knuckles into my palms, wherein I gently traced my thumb over each splotch of purple and red. A little bit of focus was all I needed to return the skin to its normal color.

“Now, what in the world is going on with you, kid? You’re not usually this quick to anger.”

An, “I don’t wanna talk about it,” told me everything I needed to know. There was very little I couldn’t get out of her these days, being that I’d known her most of her life.

“They’re allowed to talk about me. I mean, you used to speak plenty of things about your old principals, teachers-”

“They weren’t talking about you as headmaster though.” She suddenly shot up, throwing her fist, and my hand with it, into the desk. “And it wasn’t just you they were talking about, it was Ore and Kina and everyone else in the guild too!”

That’s where I got stuck. While I truly wanted to help and deescalate her anger, I easily understood why she was so angry. To hear things being said about your family, even if they aren’t your blood family. Honestly, I probably would’ve done the same thing in her position. Which put me in a tricky consideration of what would be the right thing to say as a figure of authority in this matter.

“Well, then,” I hesitated, thinking through my words a second time, “Let’s stick to using our words, not our fists, next time. I’d much rather break up a screaming match then have to send a kid to Nurse Jasmyne with a broken nose again; she deals with enough from combat class accidents.”

“So you’re saying I have permission from the headmaster to yell at anyone who pisses me off?” She grinned.

“Definitely not. I would still prefer to not break up a screaming match, but it would be better than sending a kid to the hospital.”

She giggled, seemingly proud of herself. I really hated having to ruin her mood: “That doesn’t mean you’re not in trouble, ‘Roro. You’re going to be confined to your room for the rest of today and tomorrow.”
Her face dropped, but she nodded softly. “Okay, I understand.”

I got up from my seat, motioning her to follow, and walked across the hallway to a classroom which I knew would be empty of students at the moment. I poked my head in and asked the professor, who was sitting at her desk, to walk Roro to her dorm. After which, I found my way down the stairs, past the theater, and into the nurse’s office.

Being headmaster was a tricky thing. As much as I wanted to take sides sometimes, to take personal attacks as personal, it was specifically in the job description not to do so. It was, however, my job to make sure that everyone is treated fairly, and that those who act out get consequences. Did I always think they deserved it? Not really. Most of the time, I honestly thought that kids defending their families and friends was something to be rewarded. But alas, punching, and fighting were not. And therein lies the trickiness of dealing with teenagers.

I let out an exasperated sigh as I approached the nurse’s office. My only goal was to check up on the other student involved in the altercation, but I found that one of the seniors had beat me to it. I quickly thanked the gods for that; I was having trouble coming up with a script in my mind. 

She was finishing wiping the blood from the boy’s nose as she lectured him, “I know she shouldn’t have punched you, and she’s going to be heavily reprimanded for that, but you need to watch what you say about certain people. The guild is a second family to most of us, even a first family for some, and we kids are defensive about our families.”

“That’s no excuse to break my nose,” the kid mumbled.

“I know it's not.” She stared him down through her bangs. “But you wouldn’t like it if I started talking about how incompetent and useless your family was, would you?”

“No…”

“My point stands. Just be careful what you say about the headmaster and his friends here, okay?”

The kid nodded as she placed a bandage over a small cut on the bridge of his nose; no doubt from one of Roro’s rings.

“Thank you, Miss Morozov,” I spoke up.

Her head turned and she smiled at me, “Mr. Vaughn! Already handled the other one?”

“She was surprisingly understanding.”

That’s good.”

I turned to the boy, “And how are you doing, kiddo?”

“Fine. Better.” His face had gone red when he realized how long I’d been there.

“Why don’t you head on back to class, then? If it gets worse or doesn’t get better, come back.”

“Okay,” he hesitated, “Sir.” Then briskly left the room.

“Seriously, Anya, thank you.”

“Should be thanking Roro,” she chuckled, “I would’ve ended up in your office if she didn’t.”

I furrowed my brow, “That bad?”

“He’s Mata’Aghan, both his parents died in the war. His rage comes from an easily understood place; it's just a little mistargeted.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, pondering the reasons behind the words that started the fight. The war’s beginning and continuation were not the guild’s fault, but it couldn’t be denied that they were heavily involved. Much more involved than I had wanted, but involved nonetheless. It was the reason I had left in the first place. Still, Anya was right; any rage targeted towards the guild is not targeted at the right people. I would love nothing less than to end the war once and for all right here and right now, but even the thought of  that is absurd to anyone who knows better.

“I see,” I finally said, “There’s not much we can do there, unfortunately.”

She nodded and sighed, “well, I better get back to class too.”

“Yeah, you should do that.”

I thanked Anya for helping. She didn’t have to, and yet she did. I had to admit: I sort of admired her in a way. She had only ever been helpful, and despite her status as a student, she seemed to act more mature than some of my staff. We said our farewells, and I headed back to my office. When I got there, I sat down and pulled a stack of letters from a drawer. They detailed all the developments of the war that the guild was allowed to share with me, which was more they could share with the public. I sifted through them to get to the most recent one; which read:

Octavius,

Hope you’re doing well! It feels like it’s been ages since we got to meet. Hopeful for that to change soon. Ore and I are heading out to Néve for a while to assess the situation over there, and see if we can learn a little more about what they have planned. They’ve been rolling troops back from Tempeshold, so we’re a little worried they’re planning something big. If they were to attack Norilensk or Kosyid, we’d be horribly defended; that’s why we’re just trying to get an insight on what they have planned. I think we’ll be able to come visit you once we’re back..

Your Dearest Friend,

Turakina Davaa

I read over it a couple times, popping each one of my knuckles individually as I did so. I silently cursed anyone who was involved in sending the two of them to Néve. They should’ve been returning soon, but what if they were caught, or got into some other trouble? It was a cruel thought to realize, but a reality I needed to envision. What would happen to the guild? To Leroro? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to stop my thoughts from running too wild. I had things I needed to do as headmaster.

I was jolted to alertness by a knock on the door. Sitting up, I found that my hand dripped with drool, and my watch showed a time an hour later than I last recalled. I rubbed my eyes and wondered how in the world I had fallen asleep at my desk. Was I really that tired? Another knock re-alerted me to my reason for waking up. I rubbed my face and asked for patience as I got up to walk over and open the door. Where I was met with two familiar, smiling faces. 

“Octavius!” the taller one exclaimed as he grappled me into a hug, “You doing alright? We haven’t seen you all week.” 

A second grin appeared behind Varin, his face suddenly switching to concern as he noticed my apparent drowsiness. “Oh! Are you okay? You seem really out of it.”

A tad bit overwhelmed by the sudden conversation, as well as Varin’s strangling embrace, I could only squeeze a “help” out of my lungs. He realized his mistake quickly and let me go. I took a deep, almost therapeutic breath before answering any questions.

“I'm alright, just dozed off a bit; didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Varin’s expression changed as he raised an eyebrow. “You’re not running yourself ragged, are you?”

“Well, listen, these kids-”

“Tavi, come on.” He frowned disappointedly.

I sighed, “I know, I know. There’s just a lot going on right now.”

“Then come on.” He grabbed my arm, much to my protest. “If you can’t take care of yourself, then we will.”

I fought the pulling. “Hey, wait! I still have things to do!”

“We can help later! You need a break first.” The second boy chimed in.

“At least let ‘Rifi and I treat you to lunch? Pleeaasseeeee…” Varin trailed off as he begged.

I looked back at my desk before deciding. The stack of papers hadn’t gotten too tall yet; I probably had at least another day or two before it became dire. Plus, a new Mata’aghan restaurant had recently opened in town, and I’d been dying to try it. I thought for another minute before sighing in surrender.

“Fine, alright. Do I get to pick the restaurant?”

Before I knew it, we were on the other side of town at one of the tables in the currently very crowded restaurant. My leg was bouncing as I deliberated the menu. So many dishes that I had grown up on, but who knew if they were true to source or even half-good? At least with something simple like chicken, I knew it was probably going to be decent. But then again, lettuce and tomatoes were rare around Kosyid, and I had been craving something of that type.

“What are you guys getting?” A’rifi asked.

“Not sure…” Varin deliberated, “I kinda want to try this lobster pasta.”

I had never been a fan of seafood, and was especially skeptical of it in the middle of the desert, so Varin’s choice was definitely a pass for me. I had just barely decided by the time our waitress came over.

“Have you all decided what you’d like to eat?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Varin started, “I want the lobster pasta.”

“The salad for me, with balsamic, please.” A’rifi smiled.

I deliberated my choices a bit more and decided to fully commit. I picked the restaurant after all; why would I get something I could get at any restaurant around here?

“I’d like the chicken pita, please.” I knew it was traditionally lamb, but I wanted something a bit lighter than that.

“Sounds good,” the waitress smiled, “I’ll go get that cooking for you.”

We talked about essentially nothing as we waited for the food to come out. I instead took the time to study how my long-time friends' appearances had changed in the time since last I saw them. Varin’s blue-gray hair seemed lighter, sun-bleached almost. And stubble had begun to poke through on his chin. His eyes seemed a bit deeper in his face and lines had begun to appear around his smile. A’fifi, on the other hand, looked just as young as when he first stepped foot on Uiras’s campus. His dark blonde hair was a little shaggier than before, and his style had definitely evolved, but his face seemed just as round and smooth. Maybe he had a few more freckles? I wasn’t quite sure. I’d done enough staring at them, so I turned my attention to the rest of the restaurant, waiting patiently for my meal.

When the food arrived, it looked and smelled absolutely delicious. In my pita, the chicken had been cooked to perfection, and I spotted some crumbly cheese spilling out of the top. My mouth watered as I simply stared at it, not daring to interfere with the delicacy.

“You know, it’s gonna get cold if you don’t eat it,” Varin remarked; he and A’rifi had already begun to dig into their own meals.

“Ah, sorry,” I chuckled a bit, “It’s just been so long since I had anything like this.”

“Most people from around here haven’t ever had anything like this.” It was hard to say what Varin’s point was with that.

“Well, I’m not from around here, am I?” I shot him a teasing glance.

This seemed to be news for A’rifi. “You’re not?” He asked through a mouthful of greens.

“Huh? Oh. No, I’m not.” I’d forgotten that while Varin and other, more senior guild members knew, A’rifi - and anyone else who had joined after my leaving - probably didn’t.  “I was born in Astralis, but I don’t remember much from there. They shipped me off to an orphanage in Mata’aghu; they didn’t want a kid running around on the streets with all that new technology, I guess.”

“Was that before Néve conquered them?” A’rifi asked.

“I mean, yeah. Otherwise I’d probably be working for that new empress, or that commander.” I shuddered, nothing I’d heard about either of the two from Kina and Ore was good. The commander was cold, ruthless, and didn’t care about the cost of war. And the empress was…  hard to explain. She was unpopular amongst her own people, but enabled the commander to do all he did. It was easy to speculate that she’s got a lot more going on, though. Needless to say, I did not want me or my friends to run into either of them.

Varin jolted me out of my thoughts with an almost painfully firm pat on the back. “Helloo?? Tavi? I know you’re worried about ‘em, but try to live in the moment, yeah?”

“Ah, sorry,” I chuckled. Varin always seemed to know what I was thinking. Sometimes I wished he’d get out of my head.

“They should be back soon anyways,” A’rifi smiled. “At least, that’s probably why I’m here.”

“Huh?” This was news to me.

“Oh, yeah! President Aurum called for me. He said he’ll get some more details about setting up a meeting soon, but I assume it's got something to do with Miss Turakina and Mister Ore.”

“Oh, well,” I breathed in relief, “that’s good then.” 

“Now, you done eating?” Varin motioned to my plate, where one sad bite of pita still sat. It wasn’t enough to save, but the thought of eating it made me feel a little sick.

“Yeah. I think so.”

We called over the waitress, got the bill, left a substantial tip, and made our way out of the restaurant, lingering on the front porch as we talked.

“I should probably head back to the school now.”

“Nope!” Varin put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t think we’re letting you go that easy.”

“I have things to do.”

“You have time, don’t ya?” He pleaded. “Can we at least peek at the bounties? For old time’s sake?”

I sighed as I checked my pocket watch. I guess I might be able to spare some time. Plus, it’d been so long since I’d run a bounty with anyone in the guild, let alone Varin. He was always quick about it too -  it was his job, after all. Not to mention, when was the last time I’d actually gone out into the sun..? Sure, Kosyid had enough skylights to keep its citizens healthy, but actually going out into the dunes was something else.

“Alright,” I gave in, shrugging, “I don’t see why not.”

“There’s the Octavius I know,” he grinned, “It’s nice to have you back.”

“Yeah yeah,” I waved dismissively, smiling for once as we headed back towards the heart of Kosyid.