Harlan almost made it back to his room before he was called to the headmasters office.

Hirum didn’t look up from his papers.

“When bringing in mega fauna for processing, you need to fill out a form. You also bypassed the gate office, don’t let it happen again. Though I am honestly more worried that you could bypass it in the first place.”

“Is that all?”

“No, we didn’t talk about Haldren.”

“I would rather not.”

“You are being expelled.”

Hirum looked up at Harlan and was ready for him to turn violent at any second.

“I understand.”

“You are being removed from school grounds, you can use the gate office, you can visit if you send notice and have an armed escort. You cannot attend classes, and you must clear all personal effects from your room and from the lab.

However, I would like to offer you a lab farther away from the academy itself. I think it is best that you are given more privacy and-”

“Cut the shit. You don’t want me here, but you can’t exactly bring yourself to throw me away, so you want me out of sight.”

Hirum snapped his fingers and a few large stacks of paper teleported onto his desk suddenly.

“Do you know what these are?”

“People requesting that I leave the academy?”

“More specifically, this is every complaint I’ve ever received against you, that I never told you about.

Half of these are from the last month. I have a filing cabinet specifically for you. And I do want you here, because I believe the best way to temper you would be to have you around others and show you the good side of them. Everyone who is trying to push you out of their sight is an idiot and their fear is only going to cause more trouble. Do you know how many archmagi live here?”

“A few hundred.”

“Exactly. And each one of them has given up their nation because-”

“I had this conversation once before with Yggdra, a mage is a nation, nobles screw them over for short term gain or jealousy yada yada. You don’t want me to leave, but you are being pushed to get me away from their children.”

“I’m glad you have been understanding.”

“They are just scared, and they are right to be.”

“Is that a threat or just a statement?”

“Just a statement.”

“Alright then. I’m going to send security, but they know that they are just there to look like they could stop you. Please don’t insult or assault them, they are just trying to keep the peace.”

“I’ll bring golems here and start moving everything from my room and the lab to the new one. Which is…?”

“Fill out this form for the wyvern corpse first, and then this one to transfer the lab back to academy ownership, and then this one to gain ownership of the new lab, and then this expulsion form that will explain what you can and can’t do anymore.”

“Anything else I need to sign?”

“No, and once you move out you will more or less be outside of my view, so I might not see what you are doing. And if you need something, you should come here to set an appointment, I don’t want you coming into my office without one.”

“Alright then.”

“Wait, there is this form here that opens your lab up to the gate office. You’ll need to submit that to them with a list of allowed and disallowed visitors, otherwise they aren’t supposed to send anyone your way unless it is for deliveries or royal notices.”

“Great, now I’m not a student.”

“Bureaucracy is half the fun of the job, your days of waking up, eating, learning, and playing around are over. When you do something on academy grounds, I want to know about it, and what you do on your lands, that is none of my business.”

“I’ll begin moving out immediately. And, I’ll try to convince the others not to bother you, but Zella just helped kill a wyvern and she might have an inflated ego.”

“Being yelled at by young people is the other half of the fun. I’m happy to see that you are mature enough to handle this.”

“Have a nice day.”

Outside of his room were two people, both of them older, mid 50s with minor balding and white streaks showing in their hair. Though in reality the men were in their 70s, the almost excessive amount of mana that had cycled through their system left their bodies highly tempered and slowed down the aging process.

“Harrow, good to see you.”

The man didn’t respond, but Harlan knew him as Amber’s combat magic instructor.

The other man, Walden, was the head of security; he and Harlan had not been allowed to clash because Hirum kept them apart.

Harlan reminisced as he emptied out the room.

“This was my first box of highly volatile poisons I made under Sepul’s watch. I nearly killed myself three times before I got the recipe right.”

Walden eyed Harlan with suspicion.

“And you kept it in your closet?”

“This thing is covered in skulls and written warnings, nobody who got into the academy and then also has access to my room should’ve ever missed that.”

“And the identical box under it?”

“I keep my personal letters in there. If they searched the poisons first, I hoped that they would be dead before they put their grimey hands on what matters to me.”

The man sighed.

“Ah, bombs.”

Harlan tossed them over his shoulder into a trash can.

Walden jumped outside of the door.

“They are failed prototypes. I was trying to use the principles of imbibing and telekinesis to create a spinning field of elemental shrapnel.”

Harrow hadn’t moved just just inside of the doorway.

“What was the failure point?”

“Only living things, things that contain souls and minds, can generate aura, life force, whatever you want to call it. Instead of a storm of swirling metal, it was just hot metal; If I wanted a molten ball of metal, I would just load it with fire spells inside of a hollow space inside. The cost and ethical issues of making a living bomb stopped me from trying. But I know I could’ve done it.”

“You are like she said.”

“I hope she only said good things.”

“She was quite a bit more talkative in her first two years, then it seemed she only wanted to talk about you.”

The man looked Harlan dead in his eyes.

“Ever since you came back, you have been the topic of conversation many times, you’ve driven those who were near, but not close to her, away, you’ve caused her to have outbursts and lash out more than she ever had in the years before.”

Harlan stood up, stared at the man, and then went back to sorting and packing things.

“Backing down?”

“Hirum asked that I avoid insulting or assaulting either of you. So I intend to play nice.”

The man scoffed.

When Harlan missed lunch, Adina went to his room to check on him.

“What is this?”

“Archmage Changeling is being expelled for repeated assaults against his fellow students and a general disregard for the orders given by staff.”

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“I’m going to Hirum, I’ll-”

“Adina, stop. I’ve got just about three years of learning done here. Perhaps in 10 years I can finish my years, just for the sake of it.”

“This is bullshit, you would’ve never been thrown out for what you did if you didn’t get him to be more harsh on this shit.”

“I know, and that is why I need to do this peacefully. I made my bed, and I am happy to-”

“I’m not happy with this, so fight it.”

“I’ll break rules, but not these ones. I made this happen, and if I need to leave to be an example of what happens when the rules are broken then so be it. So I don’t want you or Ximena or anyone else bothering Hirum about this.”

“But what if when you leave someone tries something against me or her or-”

“Then call me, I don’t give two shits about the rules if you or anyone else, I will be there in an instant.”

“Archmage Changeling, after today the wards and arrays will be updated by Archmage Dust, don’t think that you can bypass the office again.”

“Well, I guess we will know when we know. Adina, do you want to help me look at these things?”

“Fine. What is this box?”

“Mementos.”

“An orange orchid, is this from the ones you got me after you got back from the frontier?”

“No, I took that one from Blackstone’s garden.”

“Is this my old uniform?”

“Well, once you switched from white to gold, I thought I should keep one of the old ones.”

“Archmage Changeling, that is academy property. You must return it.”

“You are free to try and take it, but then I’d react.”

“I’ve been head of security for 30 years, I will not be intimidated by a child.”

“I’m not saying that you should be intimidated, I’m just saying I think-

Harlan had a gate at the ready and another Harlan sitting on the other side.

He didn’t have to take a single step to toss it through the gate and then close it.

“I don’t want to fight, so go back to standing guard and pretend that I am going to change my ways in the slightest.”

When Walden put in a call for reinforcements it was Mary who showed up instead.

“Sir Walden, why don’t we use some de-escalation techniques instead of-”

“He needs to learn some respect for authority, and clearly all of the time he spent speaking with you was a waste of time. If it was my choice, you-”

“This is not your choice.”

“You don’t have the authority to do that.”

“Harlan, I’m going to have a chat with Walden outside, please, continue packing.”

Mary forced the head of security and the archmage out before she gently closed the door.

“What do you think they are doing?”

“As much as I would like to say she is kicking the shit out of him, they are just talking. He keeps getting more angry as things go on and so is she. I’d give this about 10 minutes before she gets him to calm down and then this will all be settled.”

“Sounds like she could still decide to kick his ass.”

“Mary had gotten angry in her mind when talking to me a lot, but she can put that aside and do the right thing anyway. And if she fought them, it would be a poor example to everyone who comes to her.”

“Moving past that, why is that uniform so important to you? I didn’t even know you had one until now.”

“It reminds me of when we first met. I helped you even though you had a white robe and I was wearing gold. I didn’t do it for selfless reasons either, I didn’t do it because it was the right thing to do, but because you reminded me of Ava. When I look at that robe, I see what I was, and I think about what I would be if I let myself be consumed by the hate between our nations so much that I could ignore what I saw.”

Adina looked through more of the box.

“A rock?”

“Remember the camping trip?”

“Oh, right. I can’t believe they are expelling you a week before we go on this year’s trip.”

“I can. I mean, who would they even stick me with? If I go with nothing but friends, then it doesn’t help us to split off and meet new people. If I go with randoms, then nobody will want to be with me or they will pretend that they aren’t terrified. It would ruin the trip for both sides. Also, that isn’t the same rock, it is more the idea of that rock.”

“Giant bat fang?”

“The first time I spoke to Ximena it was to work together on divining, I didn’t even remember who she was until the camping trip though.”

“Hellon let you keep this?”

“Academy security is very lax and she kept it in a drawer.”

“Maybe you are just a little klepto.”

“Maybe.”

Mary cleared everything up, Harlan didn’t need to fistfight the head of security for a robe, but he didn’t mind at all.

“Thank you.”

“Not a problem. Now, why don’t we see your new home.”

“I thought it was a lab?”

“I decided that you needed more than just a stuffy old place to do experiments in. You need somewhere to take Adina and be in absolute privacy. Away from everywhere else, but just a gate away. Now, why don’t we go while she goes back to her classes.”

“I guess I’ll see you later.”

“I’ll have to go there after dinner, so long as you remember to give that paper to them.”

“We can make a party of it.”

Marigold smirked, which Harlan took as a bad sign.

With a clap of her hands they were hundreds of miles away in the southern section of the learning zone and Adina gracefully landed on her feet in her class. She had become used to being suddenly teleported after enough time with Mary and Sepul.

“Wow, this place is a pile of shit.”

“Exactly, it’s perfect for you.”

“You want me to spend my time working to bring the house into good condition so I can take my mind off of everything else.”

“You know me so well. Also Xol and I can visit without worrying about who might see us.”

“And I have a perfect place for Dawn to stay.”

“Huh?”

“She wants a body now, and I’m going to give her one.”

“I would love to be able to talk with her privately.”

“As soon as I get that wyvern body here and butchered I’ll have the materials to make it.”

“Shouldn’t you start her off at human levels?”

“I already talked with her and we have all of this clear, even the awkward conversation about bust size.”

“Well, she was a vain woman who loved herself a bit too much sometimes.”

Harlan’s eyes flashed.

“I’m not telling her that.”

“I like to think I know what she is saying anyway.”

Harlan and Marigold stepped inside, the door fell off of the hinges when he pushed it open and the boards inside were so rotten that they sagged just with the two of them standing there.

“Alright, I might as well tear it down and start from scratch.”

“No no no no no. You need to fix this place, not tear it down.”

“I’d still be using time and building something.”

“No, I didn’t give you this place so you could destroy it.”

“Just a moment.”

Harlan turned up his hover and looked around the house for a bit.

“This was yours, wasn’t it?”

“How’d you guess?”

“It has the same layout as your home outside of space, but it's smaller, it lacks certain add-ons.”

“I lived here with my first husband, I gave birth to my daughter in the master bedroom.”

“I can’t accept this. I’ll fix it, but I don’t want to live here.”

“Why?”

“I can see it in your eyes and I can feel your emotions. However many hundreds of years it's been for the enchantments to wear out, you are reminiscing, remembering dozens of stories in your head.

If I rebuilt this place, changed up the decor, added on rooms, and then you came to visit, you wouldn’t be in my home, you’d be back to when you watched your children learning to walk.”

She walked between a rotted couch and a table that had already fallen apart.

“No, I’m fine, I want you to have this place.”

“Look down.”

She saw little golden footsteps light up the floor.

“Maybe I do have too many memories of this place. I’m sorry, I should never-”

Marigold began to cry.

“Shit. You shouldn’t see me like this.”

“You have 15 centuries more lived experience, but you and I are just human.”

She sat down and the couch’s legs fell off, the springs inside crumbled to dust.

“I made this couch, mammoth bones and fur that I hunted myself.”

“I’m sure it was beautiful when it was new.”

“Ha, it looked like crap.”

She rubbed it, chunks of matted down fur fell off.

“But it was comfortable at one point.”

“I know you came here to help me, but I have a better idea.”

“If you are asking me to go on a mammoth hunt, don’t. Tear down the house, I didn’t think that I needed closure for a place I haven’t been in 600 years.”

“And you are sure that you want that?”

“Yes, I don’t want to come back here and find that this place is fixed or you built an exact copy or that you made me a new couch. I’m serious, I just want to get past this.”

“Come on, we’ve talked enough, and you’ve helped me get past enough to know that you aren’t getting closure, you are just trying to bury it.”

“I hate that you are turning this back on me.”

“You hate that I’m right.”

“Alright then, Counselor Fomoria, what do you suggest?”

“I will repair this place, leave it, and then make a home for myself.”

“And can you explain the reason why you would do that?”

“By keeping the house you have time to get closure, when it is decorated in exactly the same way as it was before, well, to the best of my ability, then you can remember exactly how things were instead of this decayed mess. By keeping it like that and then only using it as a second home, you are going to keep this at a certain distance, you can then choose to get closer or to push it away for whatever gives you the closure you actually need.”

“Alright, let’s get to work then.”

Harlan started casting a spell to give life back into the wood, but suddenly his magic was gone.

“We are going to do this by hand, even if we need to replace every single board and nail.”

“Would it really even be the same house then?”

“You know what, my husband has a saying about that, something about a ship.”

“I’ll start cutting trees then.”

When the rest of his friends arrived both of them were covered in sawdust, one new, one old.

----------------------------------------

Safira returned with Dahlia to find the room empty, but the king’s whiskey bottle was sitting on the balcony railing.