Dusk shook her head, and the dragon nodded.

“It’s unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. Your privacy will, of course, be respected, Dusk,” the river dragon said. “Malachi?”

“She gets the call,” I said. “As much as I’d love some more Dott’s Draught, I’m not going against her for this.”

“Alright, then,” she said. “Spirit of the Library, Return.”

The void swallowed us, and then Dusk and I were standing in a corner of the library, behind one of their pillars.

“Was there anything else you needed help with?” the river dragon asked.

I watched her, a bit on edge. She seemed entirely okay with the decision. She had said it wasn’t unexpected, but I was also a bit worried that she was pissed, and just had a good customer service mask.

“I don’t think so,” I said.

She just nodded, waved, and turned to leave. I glanced at Dusk, who just peeped like a bird, telling me she’d explain later.

I spent a short while in the library, looking for any spells that caught my eye. Not that I exactly needed more spells, but there was always a chance that Dusk or I would find something perfect for us, or even for Kene or Liz.

Once we left, and were several streets away from the library, I glanced at Dusk.

“Was it just wanting your privacy and to protect the eggs?” I asked. “Or is there something deeper than that?”

She made a wind-in-grass sound, saying that the libraries were nice, but she didn’t trust them with the secret of the eggs, and while she was talented, she wasn't confident that she would have been able to hide them from the library.

I liked to think that even if she couldn't, the library would have recognized that there was more good to be done for the world by letting me keep the eggs than not, but it was better not to risk it.

Ivy’s own words came back to me – he and his mother trusted people, not institutions.

That was… fair. I didn’t know if I entirely agreed. It wasn’t that I was some absurd patriot or anything, but Mossford had been good to me. It was easy to change my name, for instance.

Some places weren’t nearly as open and accepting, and I was lucky to be born somewhere that was. Even fifteen years ago, Mossford hadn’t been this way, after all. It was only the rapid growth of Elohi that had convinced the courts to adopt some of their social policies.

As I flew home, I wondered just how much of that was Orykson’s influence. I was guessing only a little bit – he didn’t like to get involved much, and even arranging the location of the tournament had annoyed him.

Still, he was an Occultist.

I spent the rest of the day polishing my skills for the Idyll-Flume. I wasn’t able to master any other spells, but I did spend time sketching each of them, just to get closer. Dusk continued working on her pit of earthen hands spell.

The following morning, I flew out to Teffordshire. Without the ointment that Kene had used on our brooms to help them charge faster, I had to break for much longer, and I didn’t arrive in the city until late in the evening.

When I did eventually arrive, it was past the hours of the enchanter’s shop that Ivy’s dad owned. For a moment, I debated knocking until one of them came down to check on me, but I dismissed it. I could just pick the items up in the morning, after all. There was no need to be a pest.

Even if it did sound kinda fun…

But Ivy and I didn’t have the same relationship as Kene and I did, in any sense of the word, so I let it be.

I didn’t have much left in my bank account – the loss of income from Orykson’s apprenticeship contract was really hitting my wallet – so I got some cheap convenience store food for dinner.

After my meal, I set up the spatial tripwire wards in the park. Dusk was actually able to help me by molding some of the physical aspects of nature to allow me to lay my transivy vines in a more convenient location.

“Thanks!” I told her, “And… Thanks for putting up with me sticking around in your Astral plane.”

She told me that I was like her older brother, and she’d put up with me as long as I wanted to stick around. I rubbed her head, then chuckled.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I’m not sure Ed would agree with that idea,” I said. “But I take your point.”

I was joking – if I had nowhere else to crash, I was confident that Ed would let me crash in Liz and his apartment once they got one.

I really was fortunate…

I closed my eyes and let the winds sweep across my mana-garden.

My dad may not have had much disposable income growing up, but since my dad ran a bakery catered to the wealthy, and had used his business loan to purchase a bakery with a three bedroom loft over it, I’d been able to live in a safer area, go to a nicer school, and let Ed launch a good career.

That hadn’t been fortune on his part, that had been intelligence and wanting to do better for his kids than had been done for him. But it was lucky for me and my brother, to be born into a nicer position than some.

I wasn’t sure why I was thinking about this now. Maybe being in Teffordshire made me think about Kene’s family, and how lucky I was compared to him.

I felt the winds blow across my spirit again, and then they were gone. I practiced magic for a half hour, then went to bed.

The following morning, I picked up the enchanted items from Ivy’s dad.

“Before you go!” he said, sliding into the back room and vanishing from my senses.

I waited for a few moments, and he did eventually re-emerge with a bunch of large chunks of solidified mana – solar mana in the third gate range, by the feel of it.

“For the enchantments I set up for our project,” he said. “They need a lot of heat, and while you could just build fires and let it act like a kiln, I figured it was easier to offload some of the mana that I wasn’t using right now and let you have it. Or well…”

He focused on Dusk.

“Let you have it, not Malachi.”

“We’re a package deal,” I said with an easy smile.

Dusk laughed and hopped off my shoulder, floating over to the mana to start absorbing the chunks and placing them into her treasury, so they could easily be put into the hidden egg room.

“Thank you,” I said, smiling and shaking his hand.

“Oh, it’s no problem,” he said. “It’s going to a good cause. If it runs out, though, build some fires in there.”

He’d already mentioned that once, but I tried to take it as an abundance of caution, rather than an insult to my intelligence.

“Got it,” I said.

A bit more idle chatting later, and I was flying out towards Kene’s village. When I eventually found Kene, they were talking to Alice about the stock of potions that they’d left the village.

“Everything ready?” I asked them once they finished.

“Yep,” they said, giving a final goodbye to Alice before mounting their own broom.

When we arrived back home, I found that, to my surprise, my dad was in the kitchen – the smaller, personal kitchen, not the industrial kitchen that was part of the bakery.

“Hey Mal, hey Kene,” he said, waving to us as we came in.

“Hello Mr. Baker,” Kene said, smiling nervously.

“Oh, no need to be so formal,” my dad said, shaking his head.

Before it could get more awkward, I slid into the kitchen.

“What’cha cooking?” I asked, glancing at the pot.

“Well, since you’re having Kene over, I traded some leftovers with Gary, and got some lamb,” my dad said. “I’m throwing together a classic shepherd’s pie.”

Kene drifted over to join, and before long, we were delegating tasks. I took over the potatoes, while my dad and Kene finished the vegetables and meat insides.

Once the pie was in the oven, my dad broke out the deck of cards, then glanced at Kene.

“You’re not a knowledge or mental mage, right?” he asked.

“Dad!” I protested. “Kene wouldn’t cheat, even if he could!”

“I’m not,” Kene said with a soft chuckle. “I promise.”

They glanced at me and arched their eyebrow.

“What makes you think I’m not willing to cheat, though?”

“Are you?” I asked. I put my hands on my hips for a moment, then quickly put them in my pants pockets instead.

“Not on you,” they said.

“But to beat me at a card game?” I challenged.

“...Still no…” Kene admitted. “But come on, spare me some dignity.”

My dad laughed at that and began dealing out the cards for us.

The weekend flew by after that. Ed wasn’t there – he was spending as much time as he could with Liz before they were apart for a full month with zero contact – but Kene enjoyed being in the city, picking up a few spare clothes for the Idyll-Flume, and spending time with me and my dad.

Part of our days were devoted to training, of course, but part of them were also dedicated to enjoying civilization before we had to leave it behind.

Before either of us were ready for it, Solsday had rolled around, and everyone gathered at the house.

First came Meadow, to give me my pass, and to see me off.

The pass was about the size of a business card, and made of a firm white material that almost felt like stone, but was surprisingly light.

Ed and Liz arrived next, along with an incredibly bland looking man. Brown hair, brown eyes, slightly dark skin, and a generic corporate smile on his face. He could have been just at home standing as a bodyguard behind the Chancellor of Mossford as he could be working at a sandwich shop.

Shortly after they entered and introductions were made, Liz waved to Dusk.

“Hey, I got you something. Since you’re carrying so much for us, I felt like it was only right.”

Dusk let out a curious noise, and Liz held out a small blue vial.

“This should help beef up your first gate’s walls some,” she explained. “I haven’t seen you in action, but I’m sure you’ve got some nifty spells.”

Dusk thanked her and drank the potion then and there, shuddering as it ran through her system.

I tucked her into my front pocket to let her work on that, then glanced around.

“Everyone ready?” I asked.

“I’ll miss you,” my dad said, giving me one last hug.

“Miss you too, dad,” I said.

We walked to the docks then, my dad waving goodbye from the porch before he had to return to work.

The loading dock for our ship was packed with people – at least a few hundred of them, and most of them clutched one of their own white cards to board.

They were an interesting bunch, but with so much magic conflicting, it was hard to get a sense of any one person.

“The best and brightest of Mossford’s practitioners,” Ed said. “Oh, and Malachi.”

I punched my brother in the arm, but he just swept me into a hug.

“Be safe, Malachi,” he said, then let me go and hugged Liz. He shook hands with Kene and Travis.

Meadow hugged me a moment later

“Good luck,” she said, before hugging Kene, Liz, and even Travis. Travis looked slightly uncomfortable at that, but went along with it.

Ed and Meadow waved as we joined the throng of people, and slowly made our way to the boat, and I waved back until the crowd blocked them from my sight.

-

End of Book Two