Harlan rushed from the grave where he kept the body under stasis.

Was it morally wrong to dig up someone else's grave and then use enchanting and soulsmithing to make a safe storage place for a spare body? Of course. Did Harlan care much? No.

The only reason he didn’t keep this one buried out in the woods somewhere was the fear that an animal would dig it up.

There was some commotion when he popped out with full armor and a back up blade in hand, but Harlan didn’t care.

It didn’t take much time to reach the Academy again, with gates no longer being disrupted he could go almost straight to the building; the gate offices had been reactivated.

Even if nobody there really knew Harlan, everyone knew Harlan’s unique gate.

They waved him through.

He made his way through the halls and back to the infirmary, occasionally being redirected by academy staff who were identifying bodies and readying them to be sent back home.

Some of the halls had parts strewn across the length of them, mostly from the tall blue man, but also some from the Ascended who were there.

While Harlan and the other man killed one each, there were eight more of them on academy grounds, and they were mostly deployed to fight whichever teachers were left, the staff housing building was left as barely better than rubble.

Along the way, he encountered someone he knew.

That she was kneeling over a body forced him to stop, he didn’t want to look, but he needed to know.

He approached Selen from behind, on the ground laid a boy, not 15 years of age.

“Selen… Is that?”

“No, Wulrun was hurt, but he will live. This is another of my students, I knew him.”

“I’m sorry to leave, but-”

“I know. You’ve got a newborn. I’m just helping to identify the bodies, everyone gave up a blood sample, and I can smell through it all, find the bodies that they belong to.”

Harlan walked away.

When he got to the infirmary Dawn and Sepul were there as well, but oddly, Safira was also waiting.

“You missed the birth of your child, I’m shocked. But, with you here, I should go back out, no sense in someone like me being here for clean up.”

“Did you hold her?”

“I did. I hope that we are finished in time for a celebration of a new life party.”

“I don’t think I’m familiar with that.”

“Northern tradition, it comes from the fact that we no longer had our reproduction restricted by the beasts that ruled us, and the hope that by having more importance placed on that new life, it might last through childhood.”

He didn’t wait for Harlan’s reply before he teleported away.

Dawn gave him a hug.

“Shut your eyes.”

“What is wrong?”

“Why were you here already?”

“What?”

“I saw you, that was your armor, he tickled my connection with you, but you had horns and blue skin.”

“He said that The Darkness sent him.”

“So you don’t know who that was?”

“Never seen him before in my life. Are you sure that you felt something?”

“I’ve never had it do anything with anything else.”

“If we hug any longer things are going to look odd, we can talk more later.”

“I’m glad that you are alright, and I’m sorry that I couldn’t get in here faster, I was part of the first wave of soldiers from Ragne.”

“Along with Safira?”

“I am here to transfer you and Adina to the palace along with the rest of your family. Considering everything that has happened, Yggdra has decided that this is the best way to keep you safe.”

“Adina, are you alright with going there instead of home?”

“Just get me out of here, it smells like a slaughterhouse.”

“Safira, I would be happy to go there.”

“Very well. Please, name your child.”

“That can wait.”

She gave him a look.

“Can it not wait?”

“Superstition, a newborn should be named before it is brought to others.”

“I didn’t think you were the superstitious type.”

“Just something I picked up as a child, I know it to be nothing, but such a thing is held in my mind.

Ignore that I ever mentioned it.”

Harlan moved over to Adina and reached out for his baby, he knew as soon as he entered the room that it was a girl just by the hue of her soul.

“I know we thought we had a name, but it feels wrong for just me to name her.”

“I had another idea. but what were you thinking?”

“Fina, I think it sounds nice. What was the other one?”

“ Viviane, Vivi.”

“Hmm… it does sound nice. Flip a coin?”

“That’s fair. Heads for Fina?”

“Sure.”

He flipped the coin 10 times, each was tails.

“That is…”

“I know fate isn’t real, but this is really strange.”

“10 flips.”

Harlan flipped it one more time, tails.

“Hey there little Vivi, you are so pretty.”

She reached out and pulled on his finger.

“You already have such a strong grip.”

She started to whine and opened her eyes, a deep emerald green, but they moved like Harlan’s eyes.

To him they seemed like swaying fields of grass.

“You look like your mother.”

“I want a real bed, and I need you to give me a bath.”

Adina sounded grouchy, her nerves were shot, she couldn’t sleep, but she was tired, and he could tell that her mind was racing about something.

Harlan opened the first gate, and then Safira opened the second.

They bypassed the gate room and were directly in the room which Harlan stayed during his time there.

“Your family is occupying this entire hall, nameplates have already been set up to tell who is where.”

“How long do you intend for us to stay if you made nameplates?”

“They are just soulsmithed, can be changed repeatedly.”

“Interesting. Dawn, would you like to bathe her while I bathe Adina? You could ask my mother for help if you want.”

“Lady Safira, do I have a room here?”

“You do.”

“I’ll clean her off and then bring her back, take your time.”

Harlan walked over to her, but he felt like his arms had locked up.

“I’m sure you want to hold her forever, but-”

“Harlan, give Vivi to Dawn and get me in the bath.”

He cringed and forced himself to hand her over.

“She’s so quiet. Did she cry when she was born?”

“Not much.”

“Elise cried so much when she was born, I didn’t think she’d ever stop.”

He held Adina in a princess carry, opening the bathroom door with telekinesis.

He set her in the tub and her clothes slipped off along with her armor.

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“I’ll clean those later.”

“Do you have another body running around with a free mind?”

“What?”

“That man, that was you, he admitted it to me.”

“Dawn said the same thing.”

“You really don’t know?”

“I can’t imagine that I would do something like that and not remember it unless… After Redmond, I don’t remember what happened that entire week.”

“No. He talked like you had been separate for longer, and he said he had a son and his own Dawn. It must’ve been before she got her own body.”

She averted her eyes.

“Could I really stop you from doing something terrible?”

“I can’t imagine what I would be without you.”

“I couldn’t help him, he seemed so hurt, but he pushed me away.”

“If we ever see him again, I will confront him about who he is. Until then, I don’t think either of us should worry about him.”

“He is you, without me, without Dawn, without your family, without your friends.”

“The Darkness told me that I am drawn to pain and suffering, that I get wrapped up in so many messes because power that I have beyond my control pulls me to those things. Ever since I was born and Eliza died, I’ve had a hunger for affection. He will find friends, I am strong and I am weak, no matter the quality of life, I am a survivor.”

They sat there in silence, the only sounds were the movement of water as he washed her body.

Dawn attempted to wash Vivi, but she fought back with more life than a newborn should have.

She gave up, heading to his parents’ room.

“Aida.”

“Dawn.”

The two had a rather tense relationship, even after Harlan explained anything.

“Please, would you help me clean Vivi?”

“That is her name?”

“Viviane.”

“Where is she?”

“In my room.”

Aida rushed in, finding Vivi sitting up in the tub with water barely past her chubby little legs.

“YOU CAN’T…”

She sighed, calming herself as she picked her up.

“You cannot leave an infant in water, they could drown in an inch.”

Aida moved Vivi to the sink and got a rag to wash her.

Vivi began to cry.

“What’s wrong?”

“The water is probably too hot.”

“Or too cold.”

“Babies are very sensitive to temperature.”

“But she is Harlan’s.”

“She is still a baby, Harlan didn’t like hot water either, not until he was a few years old, then he’d come out of the bath flushed.”

“Northern blood perhaps.”

Aida cooled the water some by sticking her finger in and using simple touch magic.

“Can I help?”

“Wet the rag and scrub her, but be gentle. They spend months inside of the womb, everything is so bright and-”

“I know, bright and loud and rough. Sounds a lot like Harlan actually.”

Aida laughed.

As they cleaned Vivi together the tension lessened.

“Harlan explained it, but, how long have you been with him?”

“Since he was about five months old, but I only started talking to him when he was about 15 or so. Everything… it all feels so long ago, some chunks of time would just pass by without me remembering them.”

“I feel like I missed so much of his life, like all of the important events passed me by.”

“I feel the same. Ever since I was conscious enough to really know him, he’s been… volatile.

I wish I knew him better when he was just a happy little boy.”

“He liked insects, bugs would just land on him. And he spent so much time reading anything he could get his hands on that he nearly wore through whatever old papers we got for him.”

“He was always taking Autumn’s magic book, he probably read it more than her.”

“You remember that?”

“Like I said, time would pass me by. I have pieces of him when he was younger, but things only really started to get clearer at 10, I think he was fighting that werewolf, and I told him to put his hands on it, I think I focused the magic for him that killed it.”

Vivi was much happier in the water that stayed the right temperature, and she smashed her hands down, but when the water splashed, it didn’t go back down.

“Oh, she is talented.”

Dawn moved her fingers around, pushing and pulling on the mana but casting no spell.

She followed the motes with her eyes.

“She can sense.”

“Really?”

“Fomorian physiology, and she probably has Adina’s boon as well. She’ll be good at magic, if she wants to be at least.”

The two of them got into conversation about how she should be taught, and if they should tell Harlan about this or just let him find out for himself.

As they finished drying her off, Dawn noticed a rash.

“Is this normal?”

“Let me see.”

The skin over her heart was rough.

“My magic isn’t saying there is any abnormality, so we should just ask Harlan if there is an explanation.

It could just be a birthmark, something that her body doesn’t think is wrong and will fade away in time.”

Harlan drained the water and refilled it again.

“I didn’t realize giving birth would make you so dirty.”

Adina didn’t respond back, she had fallen asleep 10 minutes ago and he was just talking to himself.

“I think we’re going to be good for her, she’s going to be smart like you, gentle, we can keep her away from all the bullshit that I had to go through. And I’m going to say this now, because you won’t remember, and you can’t hold me accountable for what I’m going to say, but I’m going to be better. I don’t want to fight anymore, I just want to keep our little girl safe. I want to be there to watch her first steps, to hear her first words, I don’t want to miss a second of her life because I was out there killing someone.”

He kissed her head and kept washing away afterbirth and blood and whatever else was on her.

He got her cleaned and dressed and moved her to the bed, just in time for a knock on the door.

He opened it, Dawn and Aida stepped in.

“She has a rash, nothing I see with my spells shows anything wrong though.”

Harlan felt Vivi’s chest.

“Scales.”

“Scales?”

“Scales. My and Adina’s bodies are made from dragonoid flesh, there was always a chance that it would bleed through. That rash is the scales starting to grow. When most dragonoids are first born their scales are soft and tiny, they look naked. I could get rid of them, but I won’t. A little natural armor is a good thing.”

“Oh, alright then.”

“No, not alright then. Your daughter has scales, our granddaughter has scales.”

“Mom, it’s fine.”

“It’s not.”

“Please, keep your voice down, Adina is sleeping.”

“This really doesn’t bother you at all?”

“No, not really. I don’t put much stock into how someone looks, and if it does become an issue for her, I can get rid of it. Has dad had the chance to hold her? Autumn? Amber? Ava is here, right? What about Balor?”

“Everyone is here. You were the last to come because your body died and Sepul wouldn’t let Adina be moved without you there.”

“I’ll have to thank him for that. But for now, I’d like to take Vivi and rest. When Adina wakes up everyone can see Vivi.”

Harlan sent them away and crawled into bed with Adina.

Not five minutes passed before there was another knock on the door.

Harlan opened it with Vivi in his arms, and found Hirum on the other end, accompanied by royal guards.

“You are done with the monsters?”

“There was a situation with that. Once it became known that Fae were behind the wyvern surge Sepul was allowed to go all out, and then Marigold and Xol arrived. From there, it didn’t take long.”

“He has to hold back?”

“That isn’t what matters now.”

Hirum looked nervous and greatly upset.

“They weren’t there to just kill the students, ruin the heirs to so many families, they broke into the vault of knowledge.”

“What all is down there?”

“Everything that we’ve accumulated across over a thousand years. But what they stole, they knew exactly where to find it.”

“And that is?”

“Your box, my box, and a half dozen others that I can’t tell if they were targets or if they just broke into at random to hide that they stole from you and I. They got golem armors, flesh sculpting, what I can do.”

“I don’t remember ever giving golem armor information to you.”

“It wasn’t that hard to replicate it and put that information in your box.”

“Why would you even do that? For what possible purpose?”

“We do it for everyone, so that in the future we can more easily find knock off products or to determine if one’s techniques were actually invented independently. Claims of plagiarism are handled very seriously.”

“You can keep a record without having any information on how my things work. What stupid fucking-”

Viviane started to whine as Harlan got heated, if it was an early onset of empathy he couldn’t tell.

“I’m sorry, to both of you. Is there a reason you came yourself to tell me?”

“Archmage Bloodgem, we had his information in the vault in preparation for his official announcement as an archmage, and that is the problem. He was there when the attack happened.”

“He’s dead?”

“No. We believe he was part of the attack.”

“I don’t believe it for a second.”

“We keep the vault defenses on the highest alert at all times, the only time we lessen them is to bring in an archmages materials, Bloodgem asked to come in person and put the papers in his lockbox himself.”

“I don’t… no, I don’t believe it.”

“Why? Is it really that hard to think that he would do something?”

“He doesn’t have friends, I am one of them, I just can’t believe he would put Adina in danger by taking part in such an attack, I don’t believe he would do anything so terrible. He’s meek, he doesn’t have the-”

“We have proof that he personally killed several members of staff, their bodies were drained of blood, and we have witnesses who can accurately identify him through sketches.

I am here to tell you that if he contacts you, if you see him, do not assume he is friendly, bring him in, that is a direct order from me to you, and I don’t want a single bit of misunderstanding between us.

He is a threat, a rogue archmage, and he has already directly attacked the academy and taken part in a slaughter of students and staff.”

Harlan looked down at Vivi, and she looked up to him with her big green eyes.

“I want to make a world where I don’t need to worry so much about my enemies, my mistakes, bringing danger to her. If he tricked me, if I let him finish his research and I made a monster, it is my responsibility.”

“She is a beautiful baby.”

“Would you like to hold her?”

“I like children, they can converse and learn, I can guide them to a better future.

I don’t care for infants. I gave my warning, and I need to go. I’m here to visit with Yggdra as well, it is very likely that archmagi will be joining to wipe out rebel forces, an attack on the academies cannot be allowed.

Oh, and we recovered your body, though it was terribly burned, at least your armor survived intact along with that cursed blade.”

“If you would, have someone bring them here. Without studying them.”

Hirum wanted to say something more, to scold Harlan for his tone, but he wasn’t wrong, they were planning to study the blade at least.

Or they would, if anyone could pick it up without complaining about how strange it made them feel.

Harlan laid back down, his mind was racing a thousand miles a second.

Had Magruder been turned? Was he always evil? Did he trick him? Did Sheron know?

David was clearly either leaning towards or outright sided with the noblists.

Did he know? What about Parnell? May?

He began to question every relationship related to this.

David and Parnell, it was questionable, but May? He might’ve failed to know Magruder, but he knew her for too long, there wasn’t a chance in his mind that she was able to lie to him and fake a friendship.

But he had been wrong before.

He didn’t want to ever let go of Vivi, but he had to know, he had to look into this, if he needed to handle these things, he would rather do them while she was too young to understand what was happening.

If he could calm down for a few years, a decade at least, then his public image would be better, and he wouldn’t need to worry about everyone looking at him like he was a monster and tainting his image in the mind of his daughter.

Just so long as he got everything done before then, no matter what he had to do.