Theo wasn’t sure if he was getting lost, or if everywhere inside the College of War looked the same. Either way, it felt like he was moving around in a circle, and that he’d been here before.

Regardless, he trusted the Coins to know where to go, even if he had absolutely no idea how they managed to find not only things but people, but that was something that hopefully Chrys could provide some insight into, now that she had the blueprints.

He shrugged, walking along as Jenny’s hand somehow had found its way into his, and then stopped.

They were closer than he realised.

In fact, Theo knew where it was located.

And so did Jenny.

Because it was the random room where they had been, minutes before.

Theo flushed, as Jenny almost fell backwards laughing.

---

The room was still a little stuffy from their…prior activities.

Without Jenny’s face blocking 90% of his vision, however, Theo could get a good look of what was actually in the room. And without the taste of her breath and tongue keeping him occupied, he could smell how stale the air was. It had been a while since anyone had been in this room (until very recently).

It was pretty sparse, except for some incense-holders and some mats on the wooden floor. It reminded Theo of the room that Sparrow taught Motion in, oddly enough.

“So, we kissed in a Meditation room.” Jenny looked around, nodding to herself as she inspected the mats.

Theo looked at her, prompting her to explain. “Meditation is how a person without much mana can still make decent progress in internal magic, so it’s part of the curriculum.”

Given his own experiences with Meditation, Theo could see how.

He took a second pass around the room. Besides the incense-holders and mats, there was absolutely nothing at all. A completely bare room. Which did make sense for Meditation training, but still.

Theo picked up the nearest mat, and found it came off the floor easily.

Underneath it was more floor.

He checked the Coins of Unity again.

Yep, still this room.

Theo sighed, resigning himself to examining each and every one of the mats. “You take that half and I take this half?”

Jenny nodded, and began pulling up mats.

“Theo?” On her second mat, Jenny called out.

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Glancing over, he saw that there was a square seam in the floor. Jenny picked at the edge, and pried the piece of wood flooring up.

She gasped, and pulled out…a bottle.

Holding it up to the light, she looked into it. “It looks like an old drink!”

Theo moved closer, and gestured for the bottle. Jenny passed it over.

Theo examined it, trying to see if anything was inside it.

Nothing but wine.

“Well, it’s not a total disappointment. Do you like wine?” Theo sighed, going to place the piece of wood back in its place, when he noticed that the compartment underneath it was also wood. And it also had a seam in its surface too.

“I like beer more, frankly. I don’t like the taste, and it’s so much more expensive too. How about you?” Theo nodded in acknowledgement at Jenny’s response, as he drew closer to the compartment.

Reaching a hand into it, he felt around…and pulled out the false bottom.

And underneath that, was a chest.

“Theo?” He raised his other hand to tell Jenny to give him a moment, focusing entirely on how to extract or open it. There wasn’t any space in there for a lid to swing open, and it didn’t seem to budge. There wasn’t any way to pull it out with just one hand, and he didn’t know how much leverage he’d be able to use if both his arms were in the hole.

“Hey, what’s going on?” He looked up, seeing Jenny’s concern.

He had an idea.

---

They were both lying down, one arm in the hole, facing each other. Theo’s right hand was braced against one side of the chest, and Jenny had hers against the opposite. The plan was to work together to dislodge it, and hopefully bring it out.

“You ready?” Theo asked.

“Just a sec.” Theo wasn’t sure what Jenny needed to do, but he gave her time anyway.

She gave him a quick kiss on the nose, and giggled as he flushed. Ah. The position did leave their heads quite close together. “Now I’m ready.”

Theo nodded, and focused on the chest.

“On three. One, two three!” With an unsteady heave, their cargo began to move. It wobbled like a drunk, then fell back into the hole as it slipped from their hands.

In retrospect, it was wishful thinking to try something that required that level of co-ordination, but at least it was now freer. Hopefully they could just carefully pry it out.

It took another few tries (not helped by another game that had developed where the two of them tried to sneak in as many kisses as possible) before it was clawed out of the hole, and in doing so enough dirt had been disturbed to find a very thick layer of clay near the surface, which is what had made it so difficult to remove.

As they stood back up, Theo realised that this old, dusty room had stained the entire front of Jenny’s very lovely dress.

“Ah, shit sorry.” Jenny was confused, before following his eyes and noticing the grey caked onto her pink dress. Her eyes widened in realisation, before they closed as she let out a throaty laugh.

“This isn’t my style anyway. Just bought it because I thought it’d be nice for a date, y’know?” She tried to brush it off, and gave up as it only rubbed it in.

Theo felt another pang of guilt. She put so much effort in and he was so thoughtless.

But if there was one thing he was good at, it was making things up as he went along. “I think I prefer the leather, but even so… stay right there. And maybe hold your breath.” She cocked her head, but did as he said.

He began to hum a tune, making it up as he went along, finding his voice and words to go with it as he walked around Jenny.

Soon, he wasn’t walking, but dancing, feeling mana flowing through his arms and legs and lungs and words.

A wind that had no place being in-doors came into being anyway.

Theo whirled and span and sang, as the dust that filled the room came under his command, rats to his piper man, dancing along. Jenny turned around, keeping him in sight as all the specks of grey became stars, a cape that trailed after his every motion.

The wind picked up, swirling around the two of them, Jenny in the eye of a hurricane as it tousled her hair, and watched as the dust that covered her dress joined its brethren in a celebration of life by the lifeless, of magic both literal and ephemeral.

As the conclusion of the song found its way into his throat, Theo slowed down and let the wind return to its rightful place in imagination. The dust settled to the floor, in waves and pulses, one last heartbeat before returning to rest.

He cupped Jenny’s face in his hands and they kissed, the two of them spotless, standing in the centre of a rose.