It was a good hour after the battle, but Nick leaned against the surprisingly sturdy tent wall as they waited. Grizzizzik had reached another level, but they couldn’t do anything about it. His warlock levels were within reach. The message was obvious. Grizzizzik couldn’t level up until Nick did something chaotic tonight. Nick almost wondered what would happen if he did something chaotic now, but he wasn’t sure what. It was a thought, though. Do something chaotic with his friends, so they wondered. Get them curious enough to dig. Not too chaotic that he completely messed up their friendship, though. It was a tough thing to balance.

The slime they fought was tough. Grizzizzik learned early on that slicing at it with his non magical rapier damaged his sword and also cut the creature cleanly in half, creating two new creatures. That was a tough thing to figure out, but at least no one got hurt too much.

Nick glanced over at Hraktar and Calawit. Calawit was at her desk, reversing the slime’s acidic effect on Hraktar’s armor. That was a really strong piece of slime. Hopefully with Calawit’s magic, it wouldn’t give Hraktar any permanent damage, considering that a point might be taken off his armor class.

Nick waited against the tent wall, watching his friends. Tyler and Sylvar whispered together. Sylvar was still coming to terms with his necromantic powers, and Tyler did a great job of helping him out. Sylvar also leveled up because the druid prince now had twenty hit points instead of twelve. Tyler had talked with Derek about another group was interested in taking Sylvar, but they wanted him to be level four at least. Sylvar was well on his way to reaching that, especially if they did sessions every day.

Milo was tinkering with something Nick realized was night goggles. They looked absurd, but they also fit his character. There were strange baubles on the outside of the goggles, with some connected to springs and bouncing around with any slight movement. Derek craned his neck to watch Milo work.

Hraktar had his arms folded. Nick was struck again by how solidly built Hraktar was. Even wearing a simple shirt and pants, it was like his muscles had muscles.

Rafael walked over to Nick, gesturing over his shoulder at the tent opening. “Should we go check on them?”

“No. Pretty sure we’d hear screaming if the two started attacking each other.”

Rafael snorted. “I guess you’re right. Of anyone in the group, though, those two would be the least likely to fight each other.”

“True,” Nick said.

Movement from Sylvar grabbed Nick’s attention. Sylvar had picked up the staff and walked over to Clarissa. Clarissa and Ezekiel were talking in the book aisle again, but their conversation stopped when Sylvar approached them. Sylvar glanced at the staff, then handed it to Clarissa. She made no move to get it. She ran her eyes over the staff before watching Sylvar with a curious stare.

“I’m testing a theory. The staff will tell me if I’m right. Take it, Clarissa.”

Clarissa’s face fell, then she reached out. Once Clarissa’s fingers closed around the staff, all five branches glowed. The druid princess was lifted off the ground for a split second before gracefully dropping to her feet again. Tears filled her eyes.

“It is as I suspected. The staff believes I’m dead,” Sylvar said.

“No.” Clarissa shook her head. “You are not lost. When we get home, we’ll have our people look into it.”

“How will we get home?” Sylvar asked.

Clarissa could not answer. Sylvar studied the staff again. “Perhaps, if we ever return, I shall take you up on that offer. But while we are here on earth, take the staff. Protect it with your life. It will help you focus your mana, and it will be a powerful tool to protect this realm.”

Clarissa nodded, then threw her arms around Sylvar. “I love you, Sylvar.”

“I love you, too, Clarissa,” Sylvar said.

Nick raised an eyebrow, wondering how two siblings, emotionally reserved elves at that, expressed their love so easily. He couldn’t imagine saying that to Evelyn, despite their closeness. It felt weird, somehow. Her calling him a dork and Nick rolling his eyes was about as expressive as they were about their love for each other.

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The tent door opened, and Evelyn and Alejandra walked in. Nick straightened his back, watching those two. Evelyn and Alejandra had looped arms together, and Nick tried to figure out why that terrified him so badly.

Alejandra and Evelyn walked right up to Nick and Rafael, and Nick gave Rafael a look that he hoped didn’t reveal how terrified he felt. Alejandra pulled out her phone, reading a note from there. “Here are the rules and boundaries you must follow if you’d like to take me to the winter ball.”

Nick swallowed, not sure if he should say anything.

“You will not touch me unless I say you may. No dancing with me unless I ask you. Do not get angry at me or anyone in our group for the entire night. You will punch no one unless it’s Akshi or one of his henchmen. Hopefully they don’t show up, but you have my permission if they do. Us attending together is purely for the group to stick together, and it is not because there is anything between us. You have broken my trust by refusing to stop beating my brother in front of me that night, and that door has closed. If I feel at all uncomfortable being with you on the night of the winter ball, I shall instead hang out with Evelyn or Rafael or Derek, and you can go somewhere a safe distance away with whoever I’m not hanging out with. If you do not agree to these rules and boundaries, I shall pick a different man to be with, and you may go to the ball with one of Evelyn’s friends. We will all be in the same group date, but we will not be together. Do you agree with the rules and boundaries I’ve set forth? I am open to discuss any point you wish.” Alejandra read that all off her phone, then glanced up at Nick.

Every eye was on him. He cleared his throat. “Um… yeah. Yeah, I can… uh…. Yep.”

Alejandra glanced down at her phone again, scrolling a bit. Scrolling like she had every response he might say written out. In a completely different circumstance, he might even think that was cute, but he still felt dread at the sight of this.

She scrolled before coming to a stop. “Now that we agree, I shall write up the list of rules for you, and you may study them before the winter ball so you can be familiar with them.”

“Right.” The shock of it all trickled away. “Now… to be clear, I… don’t have to apologize for that night, right?”

Frost returned into Alejandra’s gaze. “No.”

“Nick,” Evelyn said.

Was that chastisement he heard in Evelyn’s tone? Nick raised an eyebrow as he looked at his sister. “What?”

“Come on,” Evelyn said.

He would have shrugged with his palms toward the ceiling, but his palms were currently stuck in petals. Instead, his shoulders raised. “It’s a fair enough question.”

“And I answered it,” Alejandra said.

“Okay, fine,” Nick said.

“Fine.”

The silence that stretched seemed like an eternity, but it was about three seconds. Three seconds of waiting to see if Alejandra got any angrier. If she wanted to attack. Instead, a flicker of sadness shot across her face and she looked away, glancing at her phone. “I’ll… wait in the car.”

She once again headed out of the tent, looking less angry. That had to be a good thing, right?

Nick heard another growl and turned to once again see a mouth full of jagged teeth. “Dammit, Quetzal. Seriously?” Nick asked.

The drake stood on the desk to be at eye level, flexing his claws. Nick about said something else when Quetzal snapped his jaws in Nick’s direction. He stumbled away, a flicker of fear making him wonder if Quetzal actually would. Something with that much teeth definitely would.

“Quetzal,” Hraktar said again.

The drake snarled at Nick before he scuttled off to the fighter, who picked him up like he wasn’t a hundred pounds, cradling him in his arms. Rafael and Evelyn still watched Nick. He didn’t know what to do with the attention.

“What?” Nick asked.

“Alejandra’s having a hard time,” Evelyn said.

Since when was Evelyn on Alejandra’s side? “Okay,” Nick said, enunciating every syllable.

“You hurt her brother,” Evelyn said.

Nick didn’t know why he felt so defensive, but he felt it curling his soul. It was a lot easier to talk to Evelyn than Alejandra. “Are you seriously suggesting I shouldn’t have hit Rafael?”

“No.” Evelyn’s shoulders slumped. Her eyes flickered in Rafael’s direction, and he backed away, giving them privacy. “No, Rafael deserved to get hit.”

“Okay. Fine,” Nick said.

“Alejandra agrees.”

This surprised Nick, and his mouth closed. He always found it easier to close his mouth when information surprised him.

“From what I could figure, her biggest concern is you didn’t stop. Which is where everyone also agrees you crossed the line,” Evelyn whispered. “You made it clear to me you were in the wrong by doing that. Perhaps you also talked to Derek and Rafael about the same thing. But did you talk to Alejandra at all about it?”

Nick stared at his sister, rethinking all of his interactions with Alejandra in the last month. He had talked to Derek. Talked when he wasn’t nearly so angry, and they came to an agreement. He had also talked to Evelyn, and they were able to move past it. He tried talking to Alejandra about it, but when he thought back on that conversation, maybe it was a bit defensive.

Okay, really defensive. He kept driving home the fact that he was justified in punching Rafael. The first one, at least. Maybe she assumed he meant all the punches.

But… if she had now come to terms with that first punch? Could they have another conversation? Try again, where he admitted he had been wrong, like he had with Evelyn, Derek, and Rafael?

Nick closed his eyes, knowing what he had to do, but he hated it all the same. Honestly, sometimes he wished for a phone that wasn’t watched by his father. He needed the safety of the screen because Alejandra was terrifying.

But that would never work. Not only would Alejandra not take an apology over text, but it would make things worse. He sighed, then headed toward the tent door. Before he slipped out, he made sure Hraktar had a good hold of Quetzal.