Dear Diary,

I think I've managed, somehow, to push myself to a point where I'm noticing fatigue. Don't get me wrong, I've definitely felt 'oh, hey, that took a lot out of me' before, but in most cases, rather than 'I want to sleep for a week', I generally pass out and wake up in fits and starts for a couple days. The closest I remember coming to this was my Cure-A-Thon during the plague, which was in pretty much similar conditions, only instead of standing still doing endless Cures, this time I was sprinting up and down forested hills. Snowy conditions both times, although I think this time was colder. Hard to tell without a National Weather Service measuring and recording all that shit. I also didn't get in any fights during the Cure-A-Thon, and definitely did not wind up getting used as an impromptu Dire Bear butt plug. On the other hand, nobody vomited on me this time.

I think I'd rather be vomited on.

So I definitely think that if I'd have had the option, I would have gone straight to bed on getting home, but my lovely ladies informed me that at my Deific insistence, they'd also shorted themselves on sleep for the past week, completing Saffron's earlier intended modifications to Assess Health, then adding the modifications I'd requested. When my eager little Ice Pop announced they needed me to help roll out the new Spell Globally, I slumped.

"Does it have to be tonight?"

Siobhan got just a tiny bit terse. "You have class tomorrow."

I sighed. "Fuck. You're right. Sorry. Okay. When and where, ladies?"

Siobhan turned to Saffron, who said, "some altitude would help, and the West Tower is, I think, a little better insulated than your little shelter at the top of the Bore. It also has a place for a fire now, so if you'll bring some wood?"

Half an hour later, after finding where the women stored all the burnable scrap wood, I stepped to the top floor of the West Tower to join my lovely little ladies. The spot for the fire was a weird looking perforated metal trough around the hole down the center of the Tower; I loaded all the wood into it, then after getting a nod of approval from Saffron, lit it up.

"What's with the hole in the middle?"

She pointed at a stone bar hanging across what looked like a chimney through the roof. "That's for hanging a fire and melt proof vessel to melt metals in. With water filling the bottom floor, this makes an excellent shot tower."

"Shot... like guns?"

She nodded. "We haven't finished the prototype yet, but for simple round shot, the type you'd use in 'shotguns', this will do nicely. Also, it's good for forming ball bearings."

"Dayum. You do think ahead."

She nodded, then sighed. "Eventually it will be obsolete. The view will still be nice though, and having a firepit does improve things on cold nights. Shall we get started?"

I Shaped a simple Mana Network between the three of us, because it really was more efficient than doing the Stabilize thing, and I was still tired as fuck. "Good to go. I'm just the Mana Battery here."

Siobhan looked at Saffron, who just smiled serenely back at her. "Well, go ahead. You did at least half the work this week."

"I... I couldn't!" Siobhan squeaked.

"You most certainly could. I'll be right here to assist if you require it. As will Tabitha. Go on. I have faith in you."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Siobhan's eyes got real big at that, but she drew Mana from the Network and moved her hands through Shapes I vaguely remembered, yet somehow intuitively understood. This was layers upon layers deeper than the previous time we'd replaced Assess Health though. Long before she finished, Saffron had me pick Siobhan up and move her out to the roof of the Tower, standing close to the little chimney in the middle, the warm smoky air coming out of it taking the worst of the chill out of the air. Also keeping the worst of the light snowfall that had started away. Just to be sure I Booned her with the Jotnar anti-cold whammy, but she was so involved in her Shaping that I'm not sure she would have noticed her legs freezing off, let alone a little frostbite.

After an hour and a half, maybe two hours of Siobhan Shaping while Saffron leaned back into me with my arms around her over her shoulders, Siobhan's hands slowed to a stop. "Saffron?" When Saffron just made a little inquisitive humming noise, Siobhan said, obviously nervous and edging toward panic, "Saffron, I don't know what to do next."

Saffron chuckled and stepped away from me, putting her arms around Siobhan's waist and laying her cheek between Siobhan's shoulders. "That's because you're done. Well, almost done. Done with the Shaping proper. Now all that remains is to power it and release it."

"How do I..." Saffron reached around, gently guiding Siobhan's left wrist until Siobhan said, "oh! I see. Right there?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

Saffron chuckled. "I'll tell you when it's enough. Beyond that every bit you can manage to stuff in there will make it faster and harder to displace."

"Oh! Well then," I very carefully did not stagger as she used the Mana Network I'd set up to draw way more Mana than she'd normally be able to handle straight out of me to pour into the Shape. "Wait, what if we find a way to improve it?"

Saffron chuckled. "I've thought of that. It's part of the Global Spell itself. Any who know how, who understand the intricacies of the Shape, can use the Shape itself to modify it."

"Is... there were parts I didn't quite understand. How would I go about doing that?"

Saffron hugged her. "Hopefully with my assistance. But I'll show you later, when we're in out of the cold."

"So much Mana. I'm not sure I could ever be properly cold holding, Shaping this much."

It took another half hour, even with me pouring Mana in, before Saffron said, "that's enough."

"How much more should I put in?"

Saffron shrugged. "As much as you feel you can handle. Don't risk losing control of it though."

She nodded, but kept pouring in Mana until I could see the Shape glowing. Maybe fifteen minutes later, she nodded. "How do I release it? Before Saffron could say anything, Siobhan said, "oh, wait, this?" She reached forward, entranced, and the Shape sprang into motion, rolling itself into a torus, then exploding outward toward the horizon, crackling as it went.

In the deafening silence after that, Saffron whispered, "congratulations... Archmage."

Siobhan just stared, entranced for a few seconds until she squeaked out, "what? Me? No, I can't be an Archmage! I'm... I'm just..."

"Just the one that, over the past few hours, Shaped, Empowered, and Cast a Global Spell."

I stepped forward and scooped them both into my arms. "Congratulations, Ice Pop. Wait, sorry. Archmage Ice Pop." I waited for her blush to die down just a little, then whispered, "no, that should really be Archmage Darling."

Saffron chuckled into my ear and murmured, "see, now you have to wait, my Champion."

"Wait for?"

"I recall someone wanting to be pleasantly deprived of consciousness?"

I scooped them both up and stepped us all to the Bedroom. "Oh, yeah. Forgot about that."

As Siobhan blinked her way back to consciousness, a smile perma-etched onto her face, she rolled out of my arms and flopped back onto the bed, arms outstretched. Saffron copied her action, grinning up at me. "Of course, you've now an opportunity to do something I'm not sure anyone in history has had before you?"

"Pretty sure I've done this before, though?"

"A threesome with two Archmages?"

Yeah, she had me there. Then they both did, and I absolutely lost consciousness in thirty minutes or less. Dreamt of giggling popsicles and soup dumplings.

Marie lifted me upright in the morning and walked me through a cold shower to wake me up. Not fun, but I needed it to be even slightly awake. I crept back into the bedroom, kissed my ladies and kids farewell for the day, then stepped down to the Dining Hall. Got me some spicy eggs, jalapeno scrapple, and sausage, with another of me Co-Located to the Practice Yard. When the Cadets came up, I ran them a few miles to warm them up, then pairing them up to get themselves loose and limber. Then I set them up playing basketball.

Had to implement another rule; if anybody caused an actual injury that made somebody get sent down to Sister Siobhan or Doc DeLeon, the other team got two free throws while the offender escorted the injured party down to the Infirmary.

How in the hell have I wound up the person who not only enforces the rules, but makes them up?